Bonded by Evil [COMPLETED STORY]

chapter sixty nine

Draco Malfoy POV

I turned the corner but felt Alora stop. Why was she stopping, we were so close to freedom. I turned around to see what distracted her, but I would never have been ready for what I saw. Her eyes were empty just like her mother's were when Alora killed her. This could not be happening, I couldn't lose her. Not now, not when she made me so crazy for her.

   The bloodcurdling scream left my lips before I could contain it. Bellatrix laughed in the distance but her amusement was cut short by Mrs. Weasley resuming their duel. As much as I wanted to watch that hateful bitch die, I couldn't. I grabbed her shoulders and sobbed into her chest, begging for her to wake up and tell me to grow a pair. It wasn't possible for her to die, after surviving so much, she finally has a glimpse at freedom and it's taken in an instant.

Time was going to by slowly, none of tbi seemed real. I felt a hand on my shoulder which I tried to shake off, but it wasn't letting go. Somehow, I brought myself to pull my eyes away from her and look at who it was. Molly Weasley. That must have meant Bellatrix was dead. Her whole family stood behind her with horrified and saddened looks across their faces.

Everyone else was running to the windows, something big was happening outside. The Weasley family didn't leave, they just stood surrounding me. I felt like such a moron crying like an infant in front of them, but she was it for me. She was the one I was going to spend my life with, and now all I had left of her were the memories. We barely had any time together, we spend our whole lives fighting.

"Malfoy, I'm so sorry," Ronald said, kneeling down next to me.

I sniffed and wiped my tears quickly, trying to regain some of my composure to save a fraction of whatever dignity I had left. She saved most of their lives today, Fred and Percy on the stairs, Ginny and Molly in the battle just then and breaking Ronald out of the Manor. After all of this, somehow she was the one who died. It's not fair. It's anything but fair.

There was a huge noise from outside, like an explosion. I nodded for them all to go and see what it was, they did. Every one crowded around the windows with their hands covering their mouths and hiding their eyes. It was silent again, everyone was just staring intently as though they were waiting to see what on earth was going the outcome.

Without any warning, the room erupted with cheers. Potter must have done it. The Dark Lord must be dead and Alora wasn't here to witness it. My entire body ached as everyone was celebrating. This was supposed to be the most rewarding moment, the happiest and most exciting, but it was awful. It was impossible to enjoy when the one person I wanted to share it with was dead.

Alora Slater was dead. It was really setting in now. I was never going to see her again. I was never going to hear her telling me to shut up or her laugh. She would never hear me telling her how much I love her. She wouldn't hold my hand ever again, she wouldn't kiss me ever again. She was gone. It felt like I was being stabbed in the heart, actually, that would be more pleasant than what I was feeling.

She didn't even die happily. The last two years of her life were a constant hell. She never got the happy ending that she so greatly deserved. We were going to see the world, it was the one thing she really wanted to do. So much that she was willing to pack up and go, no planning needed. She talked about it all the time when we were in bed at night, how much she wanted to leave Great Britain and see what else there was out there.

I didn't want to let her go. I couldn't. Once I accepted she was dead, that she was truly gone, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. What could I do? Everything that I had planned for the future included her, and now there was an Alora-shaped hole in my life.

"We've got to bring her downstairs, Malfoy," one of the twins said.

I froze again for a moment but ultimately decided it was definitely better than leaving her in the middle of the corridor. I scooped her up, one arm supporting her neck and the other under her knees, and headed for the stairs. She was still warm. I held her tightly and close to me, nobody else could touch her. The Weasley's all walked down either beside or behind me, I lead the way to the Great Hall.

The doors were open and it was calmer than last time. A tsunami of relief had seemingly flooded over everyone in the room. Potter and Granger were standing in the middle of the aisle and facing the other way. Ron broke away from our sober group and ran over to them.

Granger cried out and fell to her knees before sprinting over and coming face to face with me. She helped me place Alora down on the ground in the lines of the dead and then we both kneeled next to her. Normally I would have told Granger and the others to back off, but it seemed they had gotten close recently. I'm sure Alora would have wanted us all to get along.

"I'm sorry, Draco," Granger said softly.

"Yeah, me too."

I sat there for what felt like hours, never once letting go of her now frozen hand. I could never let her go, no matter how much she might have wanted me to.

I would just have to live, for both of us.