The Daughter of He

Chapter 25

A few months had passed since that night. Unfortunately, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gotten away with Luna, her father, and some goblin from Gringots more or less unscathed. Well, not Ron. I fucked him up pretty badly.

We had a proper funeral for Novah, and ended up burying him in the forbidden forest. His grave was marked by a young lemon tree sprouting, and I looked forward to watching it grow. I felt it was more meaningful than just a tombstone. It showed the growth of new life and celebration of the old. Draco helped me organize the whole thing, and the only people who attended was Me, Draco, my dad, and, against my better judgement, Narcissa.

Now tonight was the night everything would change. It had taken so long to finally get here, yet somehow it had snuck up on me. The past few months seemed never ending, and now that they were finally coming to a conclusion...

I felt like I needed to linger in the useless time that had been drawn out between the night Novah died and today.

"We don't have to go. We don't have to fight. You're dad said it was fine. He wants you to stay safe." Draco said, slinging his arm across my shoulders. We sat comfortably on the edge of his bed, just like we've done since this morning.

All day I've been sitting and twiddling my thumbs as the gears in my mind grinded and the conflict in my heart battles itself out. Yet here I sat, knowing my father was currently storming Hogwarts and I was tucked safely away in Malfoy Manor doing absolutely nothing.

"I know, I know I just..." I groaned, flopping across his bed, "I don't know what I should do. Part of me want to help, but I know he wants me to stay safe. But I also can't just stand by and let him fight on his own. Ugh. Why is life so-so-"

"Complicated?" Draco quirked an eyebrow at me and I nodded, "I wonder that every day. But, in the end, Josslyn, it's your choice. I'll follow you wherever you go, whether that's down to kitchen to get some snacks or into the battle grounds we used to know only as Hogwarts."

And the more I thought about, the more I knew what I had to do. I would regret it forever if my dad died fighting and I had just sat back and watched. I knew that it would be a toll I wouldn't be able to handle.

"Grab your wand."

********

"Harry Potter is dead." My dad shouted across the court yard. Draco and I wiggled our way between the hundreds of students standing before him, "Anyone who wishes to join me, step forward now."

I watched my dad's eyes scan the crowd until the finally landed on me. He smiled at me, and even from though the distance between us seemed to be larger than earth itself, I could still see the warmth in his eyes.

After a moment, stepped towards us. To my surprise, no one flinched or moved back.

"Let my daughter lead through example. You all could learn from her. Darling, if you would?"

I grasped Draco's hand, leading him forth with me. Maybe it was inconsiderate of me, but he had been the one to say he would follow me anywhere. And so he would follow me across the courtyard and into the arms of my father.

"Of course, Dad. I would love to. After all, I came to support you, not hide in the back of a crowd." I chuckled, finding my place by his side.

I soaked in the stares that had followed me from my place amongst them all the way to where I had planted myself next to my dad. Some looked surprised, others were confused, many looked betrayed or hurt. But me? I felt powerful. I looked down on them like they were inferior to me in every single way. I desperately hoped they were ashamed of themselves for letting the daughter of the Dark Lord walk amongst them for seven years without them even growing the slightest suspicion of me until the very end.

I laughed dryly. They deserved what was coming to them. Every last painful bit of it.

I searched for Mati, my eyes thoroughly searching the crowd for her kind eyes. I wanted to find her and let her know I would protect her. I wanted to tell her that I wouldn't let anyone, including my father, ever even think about laying so much as a finger on her.

But there was nothing.

My heart dropped,

I assumed she was either in caring for the injured, or lying alongside the dead. I stopped the thought before it could pursue my mind any further. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't be.

Draco squeezed my hand, pulling me out of the thoughts that were slowly spiraling down into the darkest corners of my mind.

"That all?" My dad asked, glancing around, "What a shame. Well, you can't win them all!"

My eyes flickered over to Harry, his lifeless body twitching in Hagrid's meaty arms. Part of me felt bad for him. He was only trying to do what he thought was right.

Wait.

Dead bodies shouldn't twitch.

They shouldn't move at all.

My eyes focused on him for a little bit longer, and the harder I looked the more things I could pick out. The way his fingers were still clamped around his wand; the subtle rise and fall of his chest; the ways his eyelids fluttered.

Which meant he was still-

Before I could think twice, he was out of Hagrid's arms and sprinting across the court yard.

I stood still, a rush of dizziness plaguing my head. Everything after that happened so quickly.

And before I knew it I was sobbing over my dad's lifeless body for the second time in my life. Draco was somewhere, but he wasn't here. He wasn't next to me. Was he dead too? Did it really matter? How much more death did I have to suffer through until it was finally my turn?

"Josslyn!" A voice called, "Josslyn watch out!"

Draco. Draco was alive. He was calling for me. He needed me. I wanted to be with him. I wanted him to hold me in his arms and carry me back to Malfoy Manor. I wanted to to cry into his shoulder on his bed and have him stroke my hair and tell me everything would be okay. I wanted to fall asleep on his chest and never, ever wake up.

"Josslyn!" Draco called again. He was getting closer.

I turned around to tell him I was over here. I wanted to scream for him until my throat was raw and my lungs burned.

But instead I was met by a green flash of light, and I felt my body fall plummet into the darkness as the light faded away.