Draco’s POV

Good-bye, Draco.

Those words had swarmed around my brain ever since she spoke them. I knew there was a deeper meaning in theme besides the usual greeting, and she had acted on it. It had been almost exactly two months she had even looked in my direction. My heart ached for her. Every time I saw her, just wanted to put my arms around her and never let her go. She looked so sad lately. I wished that I could reach out to her, but I know it’s not possible. I had written her a small note in class the day before, telling her how much I loved and missed her, but she didn’t reply. She was through with me.

I sighed, eyeing the cupboard that I had just fixed. Yes, it was entirely fixed. I managed to send a bird without killing it to and from Borgin and Burke’s. That cupboard was standing in my way. It had been my mission that tore Courtney and me apart as well as my soul. It would be so easy to destroy it. I could’ve caught it on fire and watched the flames engulf the damn thing with a smile on my face. It wouldn’t have been a good idea though. The Dark Lord wouldn’t be very happy with me if I ruined this plan. It had to be done. If Dumbledore was out of the way, he wouldn’t have no problem taking over. I didn’t understand how I was supposed to do the murder if he could never do it in the first place.

“Draco,” her voice whispered when I had exited the Room of Requirement.

It was like she was waiting there for me, note in hand. It lifted my heart to see her standing there in front of me, tears in her eyes. If that girl knew how much I loved her, she wouldn’t be able to stop smiling for a thousand years. I smiled weakly at her. We couldn’t be seen together, but it was three in the morning. No one would be around.

“Courtney,” my lips turning into a real smile, “what are you doing here?”

She licked her lips as she looked down at the note in her hands. “I’m here because of you,” she whispered, looking back up at me with tears streaming down her face. “I’m here because you wrote me this note. I figured you would be here. This place is important to your job, am I right?”

I nodded. “Yes, and my job is finished now.”

“That means that it’s not too far away, now is it?”

I shook my head. “It’s actually tomorrow.”

“Do you want to go somewhere? Perhaps the Astronomy tower?” she asked, wiping at her eyes.

“Sure, it beats just standing here.”

I was actually happy that she requested the tower. It was the first place that we had spent time together, real actual time. It was fitting that it was the last place we were together. It pained me that I had to let her go. It would’ve been so much easier if we hadn’t been paired together for the History project because we wouldn’t have fallen in love. It would’ve been a whole lot easier if I just believed that she hated me like at the beginning of the year.

“Draco,” she finally said something when we got to the tower. She looked so beautiful starring up at the stars instead of at me. Her eyes were glistening with tears as she turned to look at me properly. “This whole situation would be easier if I hated you. You know, like we did at the beginning of the year? Because I can’t keep this charade up any longer.”

“Two months is your cutoff date?” I smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes and playfully hit me on the arm. “No, dipshit. I wanted to come running back to you as soon as I stepped out of the Hospital wing that day. It pained me so to cut myself out of your life, even if I shouldn’t be there.”

“You shouldn’t be in my life?” I looked at her oddly before pulling her into me. “My life is exactly where you belong, and tonight, I’m not going to pretend that you’re not. This may be the last time I get to see you, and I want to make the most of it.”

“Draco-“ she went to say something but I cut her off by putting my lips on hers.

I pushed her up against the wall where she wrapped her legs around my waist. Her hands played with my hair as she let a moan escape from her lips. I started nibbling on her collar bone causing her moan again. I smirked at her. We both had been aching for a chance to do kiss and touch and caress each other again. Unfortunately, it would be our last, well at least until the damn war was over.

“Draco,” she whispered into my ear as I went down to nibble her collar bone again, “stop.”

I looked up at her with a smirk. “I love you, Courtney. Always have and always will.”

“I love you, too,” she smiled at me. “We can’t do this up here. Too risky.”

I nodded. “I know. I just got carried away.”

“It was easy to do,” she unwrapped herself from around me. “I found myself unbuttoning your shirt,” she nodded towards my abdomen, and sure enough, my chest was exposed. “I don’t want to leave though.”

I nodded and put my forehead against hers. “I know what you mean. We’ll leave all we have up here, never to return to again. Let’s just stay a little longer. We could watch the sunrise together just like the first time we were up here.”

“I like that,” she kissed me on the lips quickly.

We sat down on the cold floor of the balcony. It felt nice to have my arm around her once more. Too bad it had to end though. I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but I really didn’t want to leave that tower, especially when I knew I might not ever see the love of my life ever again. She belonged in my life, but she didn’t necessarily belonged there at that time. I found love in a hopeless place in my life, too bad I had to let it go so soon.

“Draco,” she whispered, her eyelids closing over her beautiful blue eyes, “are you still marrying that girl?”

I sighed. “I still have to, yes, but she managed to get the wedding moved to September. I don’t know how she managed it, but I’m grateful to her. Now, I just need to figure out how to get out of it.”

“Don’t get out of it if it’s going to kill you, Draco,” she murmured against my chest. “I’d rather you marry someone else and be alive than die for a stupid reason. Besides, you can always get it annulled after the war anyway. It’s not like you have to sleep with her or anything.”

“You’re right,” I leaned my head against hers, “You’re always right.”

She chuckled. “It’s about time you realized it.”

“I love you,” I whispered into her hair.

She smiled against my chest, her eyes still closed. “I love you, too.”

A couple moments passed in silence. I stared off into the distance happy that something actually went right for me. I just had to reach out and kiss it to get exactly what I wanted. Our last night together was flawless. I didn’t want to wake her up when the sun rose, but I told her we would watch it together. Her blue eyes shone brightly as she watched the golden glow come up over the horizon. It was a start of a new day. A start of what could’ve been just any ordinary day, but we knew otherwise.

“Court,” I grabbed her by the elbow when we got up, all sore from the stone. “You have to be safe, okay? Don’t play the hero tonight. Whatever you do, stay in the Gryffindor tower. They won’t bother you there, I promise.”

She smirked at me. “Dumbass, you know I can’t promise you that.”

“You’re the dumbass then,” I smiled down at her. “Just promise me you’ll at least be careful?”

She nodded. “I promise.”

I kissed her gently before turning to walk away. Oh, how I didn’t want to leave her. It meant that I was letting the day start. I was letting him have all the say so. I looked forward to the day that I could finally make my own decisions without there being serious consequences.

“Draco?” Courtney called.

I turned and smiled at her. “Yes, love?”

“Promise you won’t ever, ever forget me?”

I rolled my eyes. “What kind of question is that?”

She shrugged. “You never know what could happen. One minute you’re in love with me, and the next you could be snogging the face off what’s-her-name.”

“I could never, ever forget you, Courtney. No matter how hard I try to, I just can’t do it. Trust me, I’ve tried loads of time. You know, back when we used to hate each other. It never worked. My love for you shined through every time. So, ask me again,” I smirked at her.

“Promise?” she looked at me with worried eyes.

I held out my pinky to her. “I pinky promise.”