Running Out Of Time

Draco had been keeping a secret. A secret that could possibly destroy his life. Well, maybe not his life…but his reason for living. Weren’t they the same thing, really?

Everyone knew but her. Everyone knew that he was a spy for the Light. But he didn’t care whether everyone was hurt…only her. She thought that he had openly defied the Dark, and that the Order was hiding him from Voldemort. She knew, somewhere inside, that he wouldn’t survive a day if Voldemort was trying to find him, but she denied it. But this secret, this would tell her that he hadn’t openly defied the Dark…that he was a member of it. And she would push him away...he may never get a chance to tell the whole truth.

He sighed and pulled up his sleeve to reveal the ugly face of the Dark Mark. He had tried everything to avoid it…but you can only resist up to a certain point before being revealed as disloyal to the Dark Side. Which he was, Draco supposed. But he had to pretend, didn’t he? Potter was depending on him for information on the location of the Horcruxes.

Sighing, he renewed the glamour placed upon the brand, and an illusion of skin covered the Dark Mark. He had worked so hard to get Ginevra Weasley to give him a chance. It had taken months. He remembered trying to convince her…

“Draco, we’re pushing the limits of reality by even having a friendship! We are not supposed to even be talking to each other!” It was clear Ginny was frustrated. She never admitted to conforming to society under normal circumstances.

Draco asked desperately, “Since when have you listened to what you are supposed to do, Nevra?”

Ginny pushed him away. “It’s not the same, Draco. Harry and I have figured things out.”

Draco grabbed her hand. “Figured things out? After he pushed you away for the third time? When are you going to figure out that he will always push you away? When?”

Ginny ripped her hand away from his grasp. “Harry isn’t like that!”

Draco said softly. “He may not want to be. Hell, he may even try to be someone different. But eventually, he is going to have to become that person. You know it and I know it. Because he can’t have weaknesses like loved ones…Voldemort will exploit every single one of them.”

Tears ran down Ginny’s face. “Draco, he’s damn perfect! I love him!”

Draco’s eyes hardened and he stepped back. “He may be perfect…but he’s hurt you. That’s something I will never do. Ever.”

She laughed harshly. “Never? God, Draco, you work for the Dark Side! You – I shouldn’t even care about you…you stand for everything I hate! You hurt me more than Harry could ever! Ever!”

Draco bit back the secret he had to keep. He couldn’t ever tell her that he worked for the Light…if things ever backfired, she had to be safe. But he wanted to tell her so bad. He couldn’t.

It had taken many months after that. After Potter disappeared from her life. After he swore that he wasn’t a member of the Dark. After many late night conversations over hot chocolate. After many promises…of which he had broken one. That he would never associate with the Dark…but the Dark Mark on his arm shattered that vow.

He wished he could explain it now, while he had time. But letting her know earlier than when she found out herself would put her in danger. And he would save her…even if it meant she pushed him away. His heart broke, but his mind knew that he couldn’t live without her in this world. That his only chance at surviving this War is if she survived too. Even if it meant she wouldn’t be part of his life. He still had memories.

He remembered the breakthrough. After all this time, working for her trust, working for their love, he was running out of time. The time would come someday that he couldn’t hide…and he could only hope that his working for the Light would make up for the broken promise…hoped that he would have time to explain, that she would let him before she pushed him away.

He ducked into the kitchen and was greeted by Dobby. “Draco, would you like Dobby to bring you something?”

He smiled at Dobby. “Yes, please. I would love some hot chocolate.” Dobby smiled and said happily, “Why, Miss Weasley has the pot.” Draco smiled to himself. He should have known.

He walked over to the redhead. “Can you pour me a cup, Nevra?” Ginny looked up and smiled at the man behind her.

“Pour it yourself, Draco,” she said as she proffered a cup and handed the pot to him.

He sat down across from her and sipped from his mug. He could see the traces of tears on her cheeks. “Do you still miss him?” Ginny sighed and smiled wistfully.

“I can practically hear the ‘I told you so’ but yes, I still miss him.” Draco looked at her sadly.

“I’m still here, waiting. I’ll always be waiting…Ginny, I – I.” Ginny looked at him with hurt burning in her eyes.

She said quietly, “I know. But don’t say it. I can’t hear it yet.”

Draco smiled in assent and Ginny sighed again.

“What did I ever do to have two beautiful people waiting for me?” Draco frowned.

“Harry isn’t waiting for you. You’re waiting for him. And you don’t have to…just give me a chance…please, Gin?”

Ginny looked at him sadly. “Can’t you fall in love with someone better than me? Someone who realized what she had in her hand…rather than a man who didn’t want her?”

Draco sighed. She was hurting and he had to be strong for her, no matter how he felt. “Gin, he does want you. But he knows that it’s best for you to stay away from him. Yet he wants you so bad that he keeps coming back…and his mind wins him over. He pushes you away because he wants you to be safe, but he comes back because he doesn’t feel whole without you.”

Ginny looked at him piercingly. “Then why do I hurt so bad now?”

Draco looked at her softly. “Because you love him.”

Ginny stayed silent for a while. Taking a deep breath, she finally said, “Take me with you, Draco.”

Draco’s eyes widened. “What?”

She took another breath and explained, “This isn’t good for me. I need to stop loving him. And you want a chance. I’m giving it. Take me with you.”

Draco shook his head at her. “That is not what I want…Ginny, you’re beautiful…you’re pure…and taking you to my bed won’t heal your heart. It won’t even make you forget. When I touch you, you’ll see Harry’s face. And when – if – we do ever…well, I want it to be real, and I want it to be us…not you and a memory of another man…but the chance…I’ll take it now you’re giving it. How about a Quidditch match tomorrow?”

It had been 3 years since that conversation. He and she had laughed together, cried together, shared everything with each other. And eventually she had forgotten Harry Potter…and began to love him. Began to know what he had known for so long. Even though she had forgotten he hadn’t. He saw the bright emerald eyes watching from a distance…waiting to take her heart if he ever slipped. Waiting to break her heart again.

Now he was giving those emerald eyes a gleam of hope…if Ginny ever found out…Merlin, this was a mess. He sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and went to meet Harry Potter… the man who would save the Light, save his love…but was waiting to take her from him in an instant. What a paradox…

Draco walked up to the pacing Potter. “Potter, what’s up?”

Harry Potter turned to look at the man who took his love away from him. There was no time for bitterness, no time for regret. She was all that matters. She was happy. At least, that was what he tried to tell himself.

He pushed away those feelings, and began to speak. “Malfoy…are you going to tell her?”

Draco looked up at emerald eyes. “About the Dark Mark.” Harry nodded, gauging Malfoy’s response.

Draco sighed. “I wish I could explain to her…but I can’t put her in danger.”

Harry grabbed the other man’s arm. “You’re going to hurt her.”

Draco glared at Potter, his eyes fierce. “She will be alive…she will be safe. At this point, that’s the most that I can ask.”

Harry looked at Draco…the man had no idea what he was going to lose. “Mal – Draco, listen. Reconsider. She may never forgive you. And…”

“I know! I know the consequences, Potter! Hell, I watched her get hurt over and over when she went back to you! I know what I’m doing…and I know what I’ll be giving up. I just hope I’ll get a chance to explain – “

Harry shook his head. “She won’t give you a chance.”

Draco sighed. “That doesn’t mean I’ll stop hoping.”

Both men lost themselves in memories and regret as they walked down their separate paths. Paths that were destined to collide…and soon.

The Order was called to a meeting a few weeks later. McGonagall looked at everyone and slowly spoke, “We found a Horcrux…in the Malfoy Manor. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are already there. They will need backup…and we are it. We have to destroy that Horcrux…and protect Harry Potter…at all costs.”

McGonagall looked around at each of them and nodded firmly. Draco and Ginny looked at each other, and Ginny’s hand tightened on Draco’s. He could feel the words she never said, hear them in his head from so many memories. I love you.

They appeared in front of his childhood home…the screams from beatings long past rang in Draco’s ears. He pushed away the memories. There was work to be done. They were outside a locked gate. Draco smiled and held up his wand.

“Draconis Malfoy,” he said as he held his wand against the iron bar seventh from the right. The gates swung open, and Draco smiled tightly at the gapes on the faces of the rest of the Order. Ginny, right behind him, squeezed his hand. He squeezed back before letting go to find his father.

He swept through cold stone passageways until he found what he was looking for. A portrait of Salazar Slytherin towering over the bloodied masses of what Draco assumed were Muggle-born wizards and witches. He whispered, “Sangre Premeri,” and the portrait swung open to reveal a mossy staircase.

He nearly ran down them and threw open the door to reveal Lucius Malfoy’s favorite haunt. His secret dungeon…he brewed Potions, kept Dark Magic, tortured Muggles…did everything he loved here…although, Draco supposed, he didn’t think Lucius loved to punish his son. Draco still tensed at the memories…the scars still remained, not softened by time.

His father turned to face him and smiled. “Draco, what news have you –“

He stopped abruptly when he saw the upraised wand. “Where is it, Father?”

Lucius smiled. “What?”

“The Horcrux. Where is it?” Draco’s eyes were dangerous.

“Why, right here.” Lucius gestured at himself. Draco recoiled.

“You – you let him put a piece of himself inside of you? Your loyalty extends that far?”

Lucius grimaced. “It was the price of being the Dark Lord’s right-hand man. Unfortunate necessity.”

Draco looked at him in horror. “Father – that will poison you. Taint you!”

Lucius looked at him strangely. “Draco…I have had it for the past thirteen years…and besides, it will make me more powerful…more like the Dark Lord. That is in no way tainting myself. It would be helping me. Higher up in the Lord’s favor, more of his power…more of his cunning. That is something most Death Eaters would die for.”

Draco backed away. He hated his father…but he couldn’t kill his own family in cold blood. The choice was taken away from him. At that moment, Ginny walked in.

Lucius looked at her in shock, then turned to utter fury. “You bring a blood traitor into this house! Betrayal of this Family!” He raised his wand to curse her, and Draco could see only one way to stop it.

“Avada Kedavra,” breathed Draco under his breath.

Lucius crumpled to the floor. His father was dead.

Ginny was safe. That was all that mattered.

Ginny walked up to him, and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest.

“I’m sorry you had to do that, Draco,” came her muffled words. He reached up and stroked her hair.

“You are safe…that’s all that matters.”

She looked at him quizzically. “How come Lucius let you stand there…without trying to hurt you?”

Draco grabbed an excuse. “Usually Dark rhetoric…lording it over your victim before you kill them. He thought I wouldn’t kill him. I probably wouldn’t have…except for you coming in. You were in danger, and that was enough of a reason.”

Harry walked in and looked at the scene before him. “Ginny killed Lucius?” Both shook their heads.

Draco looked at emerald eyes. “I did. And he was the Horcrux…letting Voldemort put a piece of his soul inside of him…I didn’t think even my father would go that far. That’s disgusting.”

Harry nodded. “I’ll leave you two alone, then. See you on the outside. By the way, the Manor’s yours now…you’ll have to figure out what you want to do with it.”

Draco and Ginny stood there, holding each other, for the mere comfort of remembering what it was like before reality came in the way of their love. Until he felt wetness.

He looked down at his arm in shock. How? Mutely, he watched the blood trickle down his wrist and drip from his fingertips onto the floor. Ginny grabbed his hand.

“Draco! You’re hurt!” She exclaimed.

He grimaced. “I must have cut it on something.” Ginny looked around and spotted a knife sitting in a notch on the wall whose edge was tinted red with blood. She gestured at it quickly.

“You must have brushed by that knife and cut yourself. Let me heal it.” She pulled up his sleeve and muttered a spell under her breath. Then, she looked at his arm in horror. And Draco realized that it was his left arm…that the glamour had worn off.

She backed away from him. “That’s why he let you stand there! Because you are a Death Eater! Draco…how could you! How could you…I love you! And you – you’re no better than…” She seemed incapable of words.

He struggled to explain it to her. “Ginny, I can explain…”

She backed away toward the door as he reached out towards her. “No! No you can’t. You broke a promise…you betrayed the Light…did you ever love me?”

He said urgently, “Yes! Ginny I still do.” She had already gone. He turned and punched the wall. He hadn’t thought it would come this soon. He had hoped that she would give him time.

Now he watched. Watched her from a distance as she ignored his presence. Watched her accept Harry back again…he steeled himself to bear with her pain. Steeled himself to just stand by and watch while she cried bitter tears over a broken heart. Potter always led her to that. But at least, with him, she was safe from the Dark Side.

She did not betray him…although it wouldn’t really be betrayal because everyone already knew about it. But to her, since she was oblivious of the double-crossing, it would have been betrayal. And she didn’t betray him.

He had been counting on that much. Because if she had told anyone he had the Mark and had seen that he continued to meet with the Order, she would have known that he had not betrayed the Light, no matter how he was branded. She would have come back to him, and the Dark Lord would find out…and she would be dead. Simple as that.

Tears never fell. He couldn’t cry anymore. He hadn’t the ability after so many tears: his mother, his father…Ginny was just…too deep of a hurt to even realize. The buffer shock provided kept him from going insane. Sanity was a hard thing to hold on to when all it held was pain. He had to remain sane…the Last Battle was approaching. Draco’s betrayal of the Dark Side would play a crucial part in victory.

But was victory worth seeing his love…his life…going to the man who never deserved her? Yes. Because he himself didn’t deserve her…he had hurt her as much as Potter ever had.

The Battle came closer and Draco still watched. Watched as Harry pushed Ginny away again and ran to another woman. Watched Ginny soak her pillow with bitter tears and ached to go hold her, wipe her tears away.

The ache was always there. But she held her wand whenever he came within 10 feet of her. She glared at him as if daring him to come closer…daring him to say anything at all. He backed away. It was better she didn’t know…better she stayed ignorant…better she stayed alive.

Harry Potter faced Tom Riddle for the last time, wand raised. Voldemort sent a barrage of spells his way, but Harry was protected. Ginny Weasley’s magenta magic surrounded the Boy That Lived in a protective shield as tears ran down her face in a stream.

On the other side of the battle, a Death Eater watched. Watched as he had for nearly a year. Watched his love give everything for Harry Potter, while the Boy That Lived barely noticed.

Suddenly Tom Riddle smiled. “You don’t know, do you?”

Harry paused to deflect a spell. “What?”

Tom smiled. “You’ll have to kill her to kill me.”

Harry frowned. “Who?”

Tom smiled and Ginny cried harder. “Ginny Weasley. She’s the last Horcrux.”

Harry shook his head. “We destroyed six, and the seventh is within you…there aren’t any more.”

Tom smiled dangerously. “Want to take a chance?”

Harry frowned and said quietly, “Avada Kedavra.” Voldemort’s eyes opened in surprise as the green jet hit him in the middle of his chest. Potter turned away from the crumpled mangled body to the redhead that faced him.

Potter smiled. “Voldemort tries to twist people’s mind to distrust and hatred…tools of the Dark.” Ginny smiled into his chest as she sobbed in relief. She never saw Potter’s eyes harden. “But I can’t take the chance that he meant it. Avada Kedavra.”

The Death Eater could watch no longer. “NO!” As the green jet hit Ginny, a golden glow surrounded them both. And Ginny’s eyes opened weakly as the Death Eater threw off his mask to catch her falling body.

She looked up with fading eyes into stormy grey orbs. “Draco?” she whispered weakly.

His tears fell onto her face and mingled with hers. “Ginny, angel, I wasn’t a Death Eater…I was a Spy. I love you to Death and beyond, sweetheart. It’s all right…Death is the next adventure. And I will come for you.”

Ginny smiled at him. “Yes. McGonagall told me just before we left for this battle. I didn’t have time to find you…and that would have betrayed you to the Dark, anyways. But I love you…I always have. I tried so hard to push thoughts of you away by going back to Harry.”

Draco’s voice broke. “Gin – don’t leave…please. We have so much to do…our lives to live…Gin.”

Ginny’s last breath was her words. “We ran out of time in this world. We tried so hard and failed. But I’ll be waiting for you. I’ll be here. Come to me, Draco. I love you.”

Her hand fell away from his cheek and he felt her heart beat fade away. Slowly he looked up at Harry Potter. “You never saw her. You would have known that anything that pure could not hold Voldemort within. But you never saw her, so she’s dead.”

Potter brushed away that, as Hermione Granger wrapped her arms around his waist. Draco shuddered in disgust. They deserved each other…Ginny deserved better than the Boy That Lived.

Green eyes looked at him in suspicion. “What did you do? Avada Kedavra should have killed her immediately. What was the glow?”

McGonagall, battered and bruised, approached and broke in. “Felis Semperus…you two were literally meant to be…destiny meant for you to be together. The golden glow was there because her soul couldn’t leave this Earth without knowing that you would follow her and meet her in the Afterlife. Souls bonded like this can’t live without each other…literally. She really will wait for you in the world beyond. She couldn’t go on without you.”

Draco looked down bitterly at her crumpled figure at his feet. “We should have had time in this world.”

McGonagall quietly said, “She will be waiting.”

The events of the battle were publicized by Rita Skeeter from anonymous sources. Harry Potter was held in disdain for a time because of his rejection of Ginevra Weasley, but fickle-minded humans forgot quickly about a fallen angel and remembered only the glory of emerald eyes. The Potter-Granger wedding was a spectacular fiasco. There was no red hair in the crowd…the Weasleys had all died defending the cause that Harry got the credit for. Even as he betrayed the heart of the jewel of the family.

Draco Malfoy had survived seven years without his angel. But he could no longer. As he looked at the Potion in his hand, he remembered what he had done as Potions Professor here at Hogwarts.

He looked at the pictures adorning his wall of smiling couples, children of people who never knew one another. Anastasia Longbottom and Matt Parkinson. Raul Patil and Rose Flint. Countless other smiling faces covered the wall behind him. He looked at the will in his hand.

Ginny and he ran out of time in this world. Maybe, with this will, others would not. Maybe the wizarding world would leave behind the prejudices of yesterday and embrace their unity. Because as the famous saying said, “United we stand, divided we fall.” Ginny and he had proven that many times over and so had the magical world upon many occasions.

He tucked the sealed will into his pocket and downed the blood red Potion.

Now, now he had something to look forward to. After all, Ginny was waiting for him.

Headmistress McGonagall found him in his Potions office lying on the floor with a letter tucked in his robes.

I, Draco Malfoy, bequeath my whole fortune to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, provided that they remove the Sorting Process from the school.

The school will no longer be divided into Four Houses. The story of the division of Hogwarts through the Houses should be told. The tale of Ginevra Weasley and myself should also be added. Warn students not to judge each other…warn them of what can happen if you do. You can miss the love of your life, a best friend…so many good people because of that.

Signed,

Draco Malfoy Esq.