the death eater and the boy who lived

Chapter 24: The Journey To You

      I finally got the strength to get up, and I found everyone looking down at something. It was Dumbledore. I walked over to him, I was the only one. I saw something around his neck, I took it off and it had a note inside of it. I didn't read it there, I just stuffed it into my pocket. I put my hand on his chest, crying. Hermione came up next to me, and hugged me as I cried into her. She was holding me, she could tell something was up with Draco too.

Professor McGonagall raised her wand in the air, she was crying too, just like everyone else. Soon everyone started to raise their wands in the air, and all of the light took away the dark mark that was lingering in the dark clouds above us. A few hours passed, and I went back to my room. Hermione and Ron walked me, and I allowed them to come in with me.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione asked me. I couldn't speak. I sat down on my bed, and put my hand on where Draco used to sleep next to me. "It's over," I said to them. "We're over." Hermione put her hand on my shoulder, and she saw me holding the necklace Dumbledore was wearing. "What's that?" She asked me. "It was around Dumbledore's neck, I just took it in case it was important." I looked down and looked at the note. He wrote me a note, about how to get Draco back.. how to defeat Voldemort.

"Guys, this is it! This is how I have to kill Voldemort." Hermione took it and read the note aloud. "You mean 'we,' right? We're in this together, Harry. It's been nearly six years, get it through your head." I nodded. "I remember Dumbledore telling me about horcruxes.. now we just have to find them all. Are you guys sure about this?" I asked Hermione and Ron. "You won't be able to come back to school next year." "Harry, I don't care.. we're coming with you." Hermione told me.

So, once summer hit, we were gone. I was going to get Draco back, I was going to end Voldemort.. no matter what it took. It was hard, Ron left one time, and Hermione wasn't too thrilled when he returned a few weeks later. But we managed through it all. We found Dumbledore's brother, who I never thought he had, and we made our way back to Hogwarts. The only two things we needed was to kill Voldemort's snake, and find something from Ravenclaw house.

Neville found us and brought us through a portrait, and I saw all of the Hogwarts students in a room together. Snape was the new headmaster. Not everyone knew about why he killed Dumbledore, so they thought he was a murderer by choice. "Harry! Thank goodness you're back!" Called Luna Lovegood. Everyone was greeting us, but we had to hurry. We didn't have much time. But before we started to search the castle for what we needed, I asked Luna if she knew anything.

"It could be Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem," she said to me. "But Luna, it's 'lost,' I said back to her. "Not everything's lost, I know where you could find that out." But before I hurried after her someone called from behind me, "Draco's been asking about you, Harry. He came back one day, he's been looking awful ever since last year. I don't know what's gotten in to him." Neville was taking to me. I couldn't move. He was here.. in the castle? "Thanks, Neville.." Was all that I could come up with, and I rushed after Luna.

I forgot to wait for Ron and Hermione, but they seemed to run off somewhere else together. Luna brought me to a run down place above the Ravenclaw common room. She told me to keep walking and soon I crossed paths with a ghost. It was Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter. It took me a while to get something out of her, but she finally said, "It's in the room where everything is hidden." "Thank you," I said finally and I ran to the Room of Requirement. I got in and started to look around.

But I heard footsteps, so I pulled my wand out. It was dark, so I said, "Lumos!" My wand lit up and I saw a shadow of someone. "Who are you?" I called over to them. "P..Potter?" It was Malfoy. "Lumos Maximum!" I yelled. There was Draco. Standing there looking at me. I don't think we cared about anything anymore, we just ran to each other and swung our arms around one another. "Draco.. what, I thought you were gone." "And I thought you died or something.." We tore apart and I kissed him.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He asked me. "I have to find something, but you should go. Why are you in here anyway?" "To find you. I heard someone say you were here and you were coming in here." "I love you so much, you have no idea," I said to him. "Now, you should go." "You'll need backup, I mean, if my family knew I was in here with you, they'd kill me.. but let me help you." I didn't feel like arguing, I just nodded and we started to look around.

All of a sudden Crabbe and Goyle ran in and started casting spells at me. Draco jumped in front of me and threw the spells back at them. "Get away from him! What are you two even doing in here?" "Taking you away, Malfoy. You're a death eater. You're not supposed to be helping the enemy." Crabbe said. Draco gave them an annoyed look. "You both better leave or else you'll be getting in trouble by me instead." "We don't care, Draco. If we bring Harry Potter, we'll be rewarded! We don't answer to you anymore!"

I was standing there, watching Draco protect me. I really loved him. But Goyle casted a spell, and flames rose. I ducked in front of Draco to cover him from the flames. Soon the whole room was becoming covered in flames. In the corner of my eye, I saw a twinkling jewel. That was it, the diadem. "Accio, diadem!" It flew into my hand and I put it in my pocket. Draco fell to the ground. He was breathing in too much smoke.

"Draco.. come on, we have to get out of here. What are you doing?" "Potter.. I'll just slow you down. Now, go.. save everyone." "And leave you?" He looked up at me. He looked so tired. He really did look awful, like all of the hope he's had has vanished from inside him. The flames were getting larger. I saw some brooms in the corner that were just about to be burned. I called them over, and I grabbed Draco up on one of them with me. I didn't even listen to what he was saying, I just rode out of the room as fast I could, holding him close to me.

There were screams in the background, I felt Draco wince. Crabbe and Goyle must have just been killed. Even though they did all of this, Draco was still friends with them since his childhood. I held him tighter and we flew out of the room just in time. The whole room blew up and we collapsed on the ground far enough away, but we were covered in ash. I looked over at Draco.. and he wasn't moving.