Last Stand

~*~

They stood back to back, blond hair against red, wands at the ready as a circle of Death Eaters closed in around them. They were cornered, and they both knew it. Outnumbered half a dozen to one.

Draco swallowed hard, staring down each masked face in turn. For once he was glad for those hideous things. He knew that underneath each mask was the face of someone he had known since childhood. People who had sat at his dinner table, presented gifts to his mother, talked politics with his father, and taught him the finer points of strength and strategy, these were the men that now surrounded him, wands poised, ready to strike him down where he stood. For all he knew Crabbe and Goyle were under those masks now, maybe even Blaise.

Ginny could feel the tremors coursing through Draco's body as they pressed tighter together. A twinge of guilt settled in her stomach. He had never wanted to be on the good side, never wanted to turn against everything he was raised to believe. He did it because he felt he had no other option, and now it seemed, if no one came to their rescue, he would die fighting for something he didn't believe in.

"Ginny," Draco whispered so softly his lips hardly moved. His eyes never stopped scanning the faces of the Death Eaters.

"Yes?" Ginny whispered back. She tried to hide the fear on her voice, but she knew he heard it. She half expected him to admonish her for showing weakness at a time like this, a time when everyone needed her to be brave, when he needed her to be brave, but when he spoke his tone was gentle, and his non-wand hand reached back to grab hers.

"We can make it out of here." His words held a promise he wasn't sure he could keep, but he masked his doubt successfully and gave her hand a light squeeze. "But you have to trust me."

"I trust you," Ginny breathed. For a moment it seemed like time stopped. There wasn't so much as a flicker of movement from the enemy, and the duo hardly dared to draw a breath. The only sound Draco could hear was his heart beating in his ears - or maybe it was Ginny's, he couldn't be completely sure. The tension grew more and more with every passing second, to the point where it was suffocating, as both sides waited to see who would strike first.

And then-

"Go left!" Draco shouted. With his command the tension shattered and their stand-off became a full-blown battle in what seemed like an instant. Curses blasted out of every wand, illuminating the dimly lit courtyard. Draco and Ginny dove in opposite directions, dodging hexes left and right, and firing back at their assailants. Green and red zoomed this way and that, narrowly missing intended targets, if missing them at all. Adrenaline kicked in and Ginny's fear evaporated; if this was how she was meant to die, she was taking as many of the Dark Lord's minions with her as possible.

Draco rolled skillfully out of the path of a well aimed Avada Kedavra and sent a jet of red light back towards the caster, catching him square in the chest and sending him toppling to the ground. He hated to admit it, but he was rather enjoying himself. The thrill of battle was warming his blood, and each curse that left his wand carried the revenge of a thousand wrongs done to him over his lifetime. Fighting with the Order was supposed to be about saving the world, not fulfilling personal vendettas, but hell if it helped him fight better he doubted anyone would truly give a crap what his motivation was. Besides, why should Potter be the only one who got to deliver payback?

Across the courtyard Ginny moved with such speed and agility her mind could barely keep up with her body, so it shouldn't have surprised her when a misplaced Expelliarmus! sent the mask flying off a nearby Death Eater instead of hitting his wand. For a few precious seconds, however, she froze and looked into the eyes of the unmasked villain: Blaise Zabini. He had been the one to inform the Dark Lord of Draco's failure in their sixth year, the betrayal that led to Draco having to come to the Order for protection. A brief image flashed through her head of the day he had shown up at the Burrow, beaten within an inch of his life, begging for protection, promising his very soul if he never had to face Voldemort again. Inexplicable anger heated Ginny's veins, and she repeated the disarming charm, this time hitting her mark. She then ran up to the defenseless bastard and brought her knee up, hard and quick, delivering a painful blow that brought him to his knees instantly. She swung her leg up, kicked him square in the chest, and watched in satisfaction as he fell to the ground. As soon as he landed a hex went flying past her ear, reminding Ginny she still had a battle to fight.

Draco smirked when a passing jet of red light allowed him to see Ginny bring Zabini down. He knew why she did it, why she made the attack personal. It was the same reason why she threatened to hex her brothers when they said he wasn't to be trusted, or why she taught him all the particularly nasty spells they liked to use against people they thought were a threat to her and how to defend himself against them. She felt the need to protect him. He knew the day he walked into her house bloody and bruised that she was the only one who was willing to give him a fighting chance, and she had. She had given him more than that. She had been his friend when everyone wanted to feed him to the Giant Squid. He had never had a real friend before.

His heart sunk into his stomach as she narrowly avoided getting hit by a stream of green light. Survival had never seemed as important as it did now.

It seemed almost ironic, that as soon as that thought crossed his mind, the mind-numbing sound of the killing curse filled the courtyard. Sure, it had been cast several times during the battle, but never with as much strength as it was now. The light from the charm flooded the courtyard in green, and Draco turned in time to see Ginny fall to the ground. For a brief moment the world came crashing down around him.

And then she rose to her feet, unscathed, looking down at a fallen Death Eater with malice in her eyes. Draco's jaw literally dropped when he realized it was her who had cast the Unforgivable.

That moment of shock was all it took.

He didn't see the Death Eater come up behind him, but he definitely felt the curse hit him squarely between the shoulders. The pain was so debilitating he could scarcely breathe. His muscles locked, his mind went numb, colors bled together before his eyes, and finally his knees gave out and he fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard her voice shout out his name in horror.

Ginny knew it was a mistake the instant his name left her lips, but she couldn't keep herself from crying out as she saw him hit the ground. She tried to run to him, but now all seven of the remaining Death Eaters had their attention fixed soully upon her. Her hand trembled as she raised her wand to defend herself, but as she looked into the blatant evil painted on every masked face, she knew in her gut she was about to die. She let her eyes rest on Draco again for a brief instant, and her heart surrendered. With a heavy sigh she let her grip on her wand loosen, and it slid out of her hand. She didn't even try to catch it. Seven wands raised in union, all pointed at her, and she closed her eyes, prepared to let it all end.

Ginny hit the deck, mostly out of reflex, as the unexpected spell came flying from behind her. She spared a look over her shoulder and saw half the Order come flying into the courtyard. The battle was on again.

"Ginny, MOVE!" she heard someone shout. It sounded like Remus. Not about to disobey, Ginny grabbed her wand, jumped to her feet and ran over to where Draco lay, limp and motionless.

She turned him over onto his back and lowered her ear to his mouth. She couldn't hear any breathing. Her heart began to race as she pressed her fingers to his wrist, praying for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. With care she cradled his head in her lap and brushed the hair back out of his eyes.

"Draco," she whispered. "Wake up...please wake up..." He didn't move. "Draco!" she said louder. No response. She shook his shoulders gently, panic now beginning to set in. "For Merlin's sake, Malfoy, wake the bloody hell up!"

He mumbled something, she couldn't tell what, and shifted slightly in her lap. Just as she was about to cry out in relief a barrage of spells went whizzing just over her head. She shielded Draco's motionless body with her own until the hexes stopped and then shouted Protego!, casting the shield charm over them both.

It seemed like hours passed, days even, before the sounds of battle ceased and the sounds of victory replaced them. Ginny lifted the shield charm and looked around the courtyard. Fallen Death Eaters were scattered all around, along with a few members of the Order, but they seemed merely injured, not fatally wounded. Hermione was throwing her arms around Harry, sobbing and laughing and screaming all at the same time. Ginny wanted to feel their happiness with them. After all, if they had been able to come to her rescue the main objective must have been accomplished. Voldemort must have been killed, the war must have been over. All Ginny could think about, however, was the wounded boy laying across her lap.

Tonks was the first to notice Ginny and Draco were still in the middle of the courtyard, and she ran over to see what was wrong.

"Is he..." Tonks trailed off, kneeling on the ground next to them and not quite meeting Ginny's eyes. Ginny shook her head.

"He's alive...but only just. Gods, I'm so stupid. I should've had his back, we shouldn't have split up..."

"He's a smart boy," Tonks said gently. "If he wanted to split up, he had a reason. Remember, he knows how the Death Eaters work better than any of us. He did what he thought was right, and obviously it worked, since you're not hurt."

Ginny blinked back tears as she processed the older woman's words. Obviously it worked, since you're not hurt. Of course the bloody idiot was more focused on protecting her than himself. No one thought she could protect herself, no one thought she could fight on her own. Ignoring the annoying voice in the back of her brain that reminded her she was about to surrender when the Order showed up, Ginny shook Draco gently by the shoulders again.

"Malfoy! Wake up!"

Draco's eyes fluttered open, and then closed again. Ginny swallowed hard and shook him again. She wanted his eyes open, she wanted to see the life in them. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to believe he was still alive. Slowly, his hand reached up and grabbed hers, giving it a weak, feeble squeeze.

"You fought like a warrior, Gin," he whispered. "You were brilliant. It made me remember why I love you so much."

Ginny's eyes grew wide at his confession, so did Tonk's. She looked at Ginny with interest, but Ginny payed her no mind. Draco's eyes slid open and he looked up at Ginny, waiting for her to say something, but she couldn't. Tears were clogging her throat, choking her ability to speak. Instead of words, she bent down and covered his lips with hers.

The kiss was slow and sweet, and said everything neither of them could bring themselves to. It said they were grateful to have found each other, said they were proud of each other, they loved each other...and hardest of all it said goodbye.

When she pulled away Ginny's eyes were wet with tears. The rest of the Order had come to join them now, and were in a tight circle around the couple. The tension was palpable. Everyone wanted to say something, but no one dared interrupt the moment, as they could feel Draco Malfoy slipping away from them.

"I love you to," Ginny whispered. Draco looked at her for a long moment, then his eyes slowly slid closed, and the hand that was holding Ginny's dropped to the ground. He was gone.

One tear slid down Ginny's face, then another, then another until sobs were shaking her entire body. She bent down over Draco's lifeless form and buried her face in his chest, clutching his shirt, drowning the fabric in her salty tears as she held on in a desperate attempt to feel him again. Tonks looked around the small crowd and was shocked to see somber looks of grief on every face as they watched Ginny shamelessly weep over Draco's body. With a heavy heart Remus pointed his wand towards the sky and shouted Morsmordre!

The Dark Mark took its form in the sky over the courtyard. Everybody glanced up at it with loathing and defeat. They had won the battle, but in their final stand the powers of evil had still managed to claim one of their own.

Ω