Guiding Light || OC x Draco Malfoy

Chapter 22:

All of it went by in a huge blur, and I barely had time to process anything, but at the same time, it felt like everything was happen at quarter-speed. When that second bullet hit, Hermione's full weight fell back onto me and the remaining foot of space that separated myself from the unguarded edge of the highest level of the hospital.

Draco stumbled out of the landing position from his awkward attempt to catch me, and got back to his feet, looking mostly horrified. He was relieved that I was mostly unscathed, but then a whole new wave of fear came over him as he saw me topple backwards off the edge of the roof.

I never got to see anyone else's reactions, because in the bare minimum amount of time it took me to see Draco's face for the very last time, my head was over the edge as well and everything that I had left up there was gone forever. Hermione was still in my arms, even though the life had left her body several seconds ago, and we began to fall together.

The wind was soft and warm as our two bloodied bodies sliced through it like warm butter. Just like when I first saw it through the window that was now torched, the French countryside was absolutely beautiful. Because of the torrents of smoke that were leaving the hospital as it burnt, most of the birds were far away, but all of the flowers still stood in the foothills, swaying in the same breeze that I was falling through. I hated myself for not taking longer to admire its beauty before I would probably die, but the floors were going past us faster than I could really register them and I had to switch gears in my head before I ran out of time.

There was no way to break my fall with anything, because it was all paved sidewalks and pressed cobblestone around the edge of the building. We were at least a hundred floors up, and just now reaching terminal velocity, that there was no way I could try to slow us down with anything like a makeshift parachute. And besides, if it failed and I died, which it most likely would, I didn't want to be found with my shirt in my dead hands rather than on my dead body. My mind was in too much of a mortal panic to be able to focus itself enough to produce any shield charm or fall-breaking spell, no matter how hard I tried.

I knew that no matter what I did, there was no way that I would live through this experience, and if by some miracle I did, I would never be the same. Too much had changed in such a short amount of time and regardless of how broken my body end up at the finish line of this marathon from hell, I don't think I would be able to forgive myself for the things I did up on that rooftop.

I had destroyed two entire hospital wards, made a man explode, ruined the life of a nurse just trying to do her job, and accidently cast several people off of the roof because I was mad. I was mad because they made me forget about the love of my life and made me think that he had never even existed. I fell in love with another man, and gre to love his family as well, and all of it was because I was reckless upon my first escape from this wretched place.

What made me most upset with myself was the fact that even once I was aware of my standings and engagement to Anthony, I still loved Draco. My brain got the go-ahead to cast Anthony out of the way in place of someone else. I loved Draco with most of my heart, and I was never going to forgive myself for falling so madly in love with him.

Tears pricked at my eyes, and when they fell, they were swept up immediately by the hurricane-like torrents of wind that were passing by my face. I was crying for a whole lot of different reasons, and I wasn't able to pin them all down.

I had buckets of tears for Draco and the way that I had destroyed his life before thrusting myself into the rubble. He was a good man, and did the one thing that I didn't think possible: He saw the good in me and chose to love me.

I had several tears for Scorpius and the fact that not only was his mother dead, but Draco would also be as good as dead once I passed on. I cried for him because he was too pure for this universe, and his own little world was crumbling around him before he even knew much about it.