Green Eyed Monster | Draco Malfoy

108. Swan Song

Chapter 108 – Swan Song

I awoke suddenly, jolting upright with the same intensity I would have felt if I had been electrocuted. Using the adrenaline that had spiked when my eyes opened, I was able to push myself back onto my feet and cringe away from the dusty carpet I'd been shoved into, all in one quick movement. I tried to breathe deeply, I tried to get my bearings by taking account of everything that was around me. It was hard to see what was out of sorts in the dim light of the room, but I could tell that I was still in the Headmaster's office. But when? Was I in another memory? Was I about to watch another person I loved die?

My mind raced to catch up with everything I had seen within the silver wisps of Snape's recollections...I couldn't tell if seeing them had been a gift or a tragedy. To see my mentor, the man who I most respected fighting for me the way he had – and then to know he died while doing it...

I closed my eyes, trying to gather my thoughts and breath as the last, most important puzzle-piece finally crashed back into the forefront of my thoughts.

Harry.

I spun around in place as if I hadn't already examined the room – desperately hoping that I would see Harry in the dark, empty office. Yes, Harry had attacked me, but I didn't need to question why – Harry was going to leave to meet Voldemort and he knew as well as I did that the only thing that would have been standing in his way was me.

The door to the Headmaster's office was still swung open, taunting me to wonder just how long ago Harry might have run through it. I looked back up to the portrait of Dumbledore, wondering if he had seen any of what we had – his frame had been empty when we arrived, but something told me it would not be empty now. And I hoped it wasn't; I was ready to rage, ready to forcibly get my answers from the dead Headmaster.

How could he have pretended to care for Harry for so long?

How could he have let this happen?

How could he let Harry walk to his death?

"Hello, Audrey."

"How could you?" I demanded, my voice low. "How could you do this to him – set him up to die after all this time? Are you kidding me? What was the point of all this, of getting us all involved if he would have to sacrifice himself at the end? What was the point of keeping him alive if he was a Horcrux this whole time?"

"I did not know, at first, what Harry had left that nursery with," Dumbledore admitted. "And this can be finished by no one but him."

"Then why did you tell me that I was the destroyer?" I asked, my voice tight. "Why did you tell me that I was the one to defeat Voldemort? Is it that you expect me to kill my own brother and Voldemort? Because I won't do it, I won't!"

"Harry was not the only child born as the seventh month dies, Audrey. The plan has never changed: Voldemort must be the one to bring an end to Harry," Dumbledore responded alertly, but his voice and eyes looked tired. I did not feel sympathy towards the dead man. All I could feel was the shock of his words and the distinct inability to be able to absorb them. "And you, Audrey...you are the only one who can bring an end to Voldemort."

"So once my brother's dead, it's only me, is it?" I asked him with a sneer. I turned to head toward the door, my mind again going to how much time had passed. Outside the window, dawn looked close to breaking – our hour must have been up soon. "You know, for someone who is supposed to be so wise, you are incredibly stupid. Harry always would have sacrificed himself for this cause you drilled into him, without you lying to him. And you lied to him for years. And in the end he still didn't hear the truth from you, do you realize that? So to me, that makes you the most cowardly Gryffindor I know."