Blaire Zabini || Draco Malfoy

67 - The Sound

Everything seemed to move in slow motion.

The sounds; the sights; even the beating of my heart which had become a loud, steady thud pressing against my ear drums.

Thud-thud. Thud-thud.

Pain ripped through me as the jet of green light which had been soaring through the air hit Neville squarely in the chest.

I felt everything give way beneath me and I fell to the ground in an almost simultaneous motion as the boy before me.

Except, where I had landed on my knees, he slumped forward, hitting the ground with a deathly loud thud that matched my heartbeat.

Dead. Gone. Nevermore.

*****

Panic was racing through Draco's entire body as chaos ensued around them.

Typically, it had appeared that Potter had deemed himself too good for death and had jumped up the second Longbottom's body hit the ground causing everyone to start charging from all corners.

Blaire was clearly in complete shock and he needed to get her out of there, to get them somewhere safe. But she didn't seem to see him; didn't see anything but the lifeless body of her friend, slumped on the ground next to the sword he'd retrieved from the hat.

The sword. Gryffindor's sword.

It may have been Draco's imagination, but the way it glinted in the morning sunlight... it was almost like it was calling out to him.

Kill the snake.

He spun round on the spot, looking for the source of the voice, refusing to believe he'd just heard that in his head. But then the voice spoke again.

Kill the snake.

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. The exhaustion had clearly gotten to him, but now was not the time to start going mad; he needed to get himself and Blaire out of harms way.

"Come on," he demanded, grabbing her hand as he began to pull her towards the castle, Colin's wand poised ready in his hand.

"Nev," she whispered, panic flitting over her features, "we can't leave Nev."

"We'll come back for him, I promise," Draco assured her patiently; understanding that the shock wasn't causing her to think rationally. "But right now, we need to get somewhere safe, okay?"

She nodded, and he noticed that her eyes weren't quite there anymore, as though she hadn't even registered that the battle had recommenced.

Everyone seemed to be racing back into the castle and so, feeling that safety was very much in numbers, Draco allowed them to be swallowed into the crowd, gripping onto Blaire's hand as tight as he could, determined not to let her go.

"Look! They're duelling!"

Pausing at the castle doors, the crowd all seemed to swivel on the spot, looking anxiously at the sight of Voldemort and Harry Potter battling it out next to Longbottom's fallen body; just the two of them.

Draco took the opportunity to pull Blaire into his arms, holding her tightly to him as he silently prayed that Potter would somehow do it.

"Ron, we need to do something!"

Draco looked up sharply at the fretful voice of Hermione Granger. Her and Weasley were stood just behind them, both looking incredibly green and not as though they had much faith in their best friend's abilities.