The Bottom Of Black

/asgfokhnat./ = thoughts.
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Draco’s hand shook as he brandished his wand at Harry, words he had longed to say for so long scoring his throat to get out. The world seemed to be at a standstill, and so many thoughts streamed through Draco’s brain all at once he felt as though he were not thinking at all.

Then it all cleared and, before anyone could even move, before anyone had even conceived of a response to Harry’s abrupt arrival, lucidity washed over him. A voice slid into his mind like syrup, like a calming draft, and he could not help but listen.

“Draco, do not kill Harry. He will try his best to harm you, but you must listen to me. He does not realize what he is doing. Turn your wand on Voldemort with me, and we will rid the world of him forever. There is no time. Trust me Draco. When I give you the sign, turn your wand on Voldemort.” All of this seemed to rush into Draco’s thoughts like one word as much as many sentences. Draco’s eyes darted to Snape, and gave him the slightest of nods. He might have been pompous, but he was not stupid.

***

Tonks pulled Ginny by the arm, but she couldn’t really feel it. Her feet moved cautiously, and her wand hand was gripping something very tightly, but she was numb, in shock.

/Voldemort is alive. Hermione is alive./

They stopped moving. Hermione was hovering, trembling a little, above the shard-ridden stone floor an arm’s length away. /How is this happening?/ Ginny’s heart was thumping against her chest, pumping the blood through her body so fast she felt she might faint. She considered lying down, then dismissed it; that would be ridiculous. Everything was so hard, so hard and now everyone she loved, everyone she had left, was in danger. /How did everything get so complicated?/ Images of her childhood came back to her, but she pushed them away and focused on the scene before her.

Draco and Harry were seizing that moment to kill each other, it seemed. /No. No, that’s not right. They can’t hate each other right now. What about Voldemort? Harry, bloody hell, forget about Draco and kill Voldemort./ But no one seemed to be moving.

***

He couldn’t let them hurt Harry. He couldn’t allow this evil to go unchecked anymore. He was ready. He could do this.

/I can’t do this./

Yet he was steady despite his nerves. He shut one eye and bit his tongue to concentrate; his aim was never something to inspire optimism. Trying to summon up the words he could barely even think, let alone say, Neville edged forward and braced himself. He would never be the same again.

***

Harry’s mouth opened. He was going to speak the words, the words that would mean Draco’s death. Somewhere to his left, Draco heard Ginny’s voice cry out “Harry, don’t!” but it was hollow to him. /Not even Potter cares what you have to say, you prat. Nothing will make any difference now./ What could she possibly say that would mean anything at this moment, these last seconds at the end of the reality? And then it struck him.

Draco focused his mind on Harry, and their eyes locked. Emerald eyes blazing in hate and anger, Harry shouted “Avada Kadavera!”

“NOW!” came a terrible roar inside Draco’s mind, and Draco, Snape, and Neville yelled the killing curse in the same instant. The world erupted into chaos. Green flashes of light shot out of their wands, and it was as if a great whirlwind had been conjured in the entrance hall. Debris and dust collected themselves up into great coiling circles, flying wildly about the room, hitting the walls and bursting from the fractured front doors. The cursed lake was swept into the cyclone, and the mad gray mixed with the silky black and bolts of fiery green, and a kind of night fell violently amongst screams of horror and pain.

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I was planning on one more chapter after this. We'll see how it goes. It may be that there is more story to tell, and I am sure there is, but I may not be the one to tell it.

I am, as I have said before, looking for a beta. Email me at absumoaevum@gmail.com if you are interested, or just for whatever. But seriously, though, i need a beta.

R&R, please!!
-TooMuch