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Absurd. Simply absurd.
The situation you were in right now was simply absurd. More than that, downright ridiculously unreal.
Not even in your wildest dreams could you have imagined this, no matter how much imagination you had.
A week ago, the Death Eaters came to Hogwarts and stormed your beloved school.
You had fought, of course, you had, after all, Hogwarts was your safe place, your home, your life.
And Draco Malfoy had helped destroy it.
You weren't friends, on the contrary. You, the Gryffindor girl, Muggle-born, best friend of Hermione and friends with Harry and Ron.
He, on the other hand, is the Muggle-hating, Death Eater from Slytherin. Needless to say, what was your relationship like?
Some days you really thought you couldn't hate him anymore, but the night the Death Eaters stormed the castle and you had actually wanted to kill him, but he took your hand and ran.
You didn't know what he was doing, too shocked to react you let yourself be dragged along some corridors.
At first, you wanted to fight back, but when he cast a spell to throw a Death Eater against a wall, you just let it happen.
He took you outside, ran to the border, and wanted to disappear.
"No!" you finally said.
"I'm getting you out of here!" he retorted in a rush.
"I'm not leaving my friends behind, I'm going to fight," you said firmly.
"You will die."
"And if I do, I'll die for something worth dying for." with those words you were back in the castle, barely managing to save a Hufflepuff girl.
In the middle of the fight, blonde hair appeared next to you and pulled you aside before the spell could hit you.
"You're back?" you tried not to sound surprised.
"If you fight, I fight," he said firmly before casting another spell.
You made a good team, covering each other, taking over a spell for the other when you had to and together you spotted danger early enough.
Still, you were grateful when Harry, Ron, and Hermione showed up to help you.
"Malfoy?" came Hermione in surprise, looking at you questioningly.
You just shrugged, after all, you had just as many questions.
"So, what game are you playing here?" asked Ron, annoyed.
You had the castle back under control for now, but that wouldn't last.
"I'm not playing a game," Malfoy said, annoyed.
He had been subjecting himself to this line of questioning for a few days now. He couldn't explain why he was on your side, why he had helped you and why he was about to escape with you.
"Malfoy now spit it out. If you want to join our side and fight with us, then we have to trust you," Harry interjected.
"I've fought off at least twenty Death Eaters, isn't that enough proof?"
"Not if that was your plan," you said quietly.
The last few days you were rather quiet, you had to process and understand the whole situation for yourself first.
"And I knew you were going back to the castle?" he asked, slightly annoyed.
You eyed him, maybe he could have known. Then again, maybe he couldn't.
"Leave us alone for a moment, please," you said after a short pause.
"We're only one door away!" Ron warned him before the three of them left the room.
"And now the same questions again?" said Malfoy not quite so annoyed.
"You were going to apperate and you didn't."
"Is that a question?"
"Why didn't you leave?"
He looked at you as if he needed to put his words together first.
"You said you'd rather die because you have something to die for."
"So?" you probed.
"I was born in a world where I couldn't decide who I was or who I wanted to be. My life was planned, every single step of it, until I joined the Death Eaters. I made the decision that night that I wanted a life of my own and that I wanted to leave. Then you ran back in, you were ready to die for what you believed in, for Potter. And I wanted to know who I was and apparently, I'm someone who follows a girl into battle."
You stared at him, you had often thought that behind the cold and icy facade there was someone who could be good, but to hear those words. You were shocked, as you were the moment he stood beside you, watching your back in battle.
"I'm going to get Veritaserum and Harry will ask you which side you're on," with those words you left him alone.
"Just this one question!" you admonished Harry after Malfoy had voluntarily ingested the serum.
"Whose side are you on in the war?"
"Yours."
Malfoy sounded annoyed, tired, and powerless at these words.
"You're opposing Voldemort?" asked Harry just to be sure.
"Yes, I'm standing against Voldemort and I'll fight for your side and die if I have to," he said now powerlessly.
"Why?" shot Ron in between.
"Ron, stop it," you interjected immediately, handing Malfoy the antidote.
"It's more than a fair question." Ron defended himself.
"Yes, but not if he's forced to answer."
Hermione stood by, shaking her head, watching the whole thing unfold before, to her own surprise, she reached out and held out her hand to Malfoy.
"Welcome to the team."
With a small, grateful smile, he accepted her hand and shook it before abruptly letting it go.
And now? Now you were standing in front of a table on which Draco Malfoy lay, not moving.
And you were grieving, you were sad, angry, and helpless. Yet a week ago you yourself would have toyed with the idea of putting him in this position.
"What are we going to do?" your desperate question was directed at the group, but with your eyes you looked to Hermione, hoping she would think of something.
"(Y/N), I don't know. It's ancient magic, I haven't even read anything about it." she looked at you apologetically.
"But we must be able to do something?" angrily you swallowed your tears.
"I'll look through the books again and see what I can find," she said quietly before disappearing.
You could see from the look on her face that she didn't really have much hope, but you clung to every straw.
"Maybe Mum and Dad have another idea," Ron offered quietly before he too disappeared.
Gratefully, you looked after him, and finally, your gaze lingered on Harry.
Harry stared at Malfoy, who was lying on the table, not moving.
The Death Eaters had found your last hiding place and you had to flee. It all happened so quickly and before you realized it Malfoy was lying on the floor.
He had pushed Harry aside and thrown himself in front of the spell.
You remember shouting and casting spells in the direction of the Death Eaters, you also remember that Harry had grabbed Malfoy and carried him to the point where you appeared, but the rest is a blur.
You couldn't remember the spells spoken or how you ran, it wasn't until you saw Ron and Harry put him on the table that you were back.
"He saved me," muttered Harry quietly to himself.
"Who would have thought." you snorted in slight amusement at that. If the situation wasn't so serious you probably would have all laughed a little, after all, Malfoy had thrown himself protectively in front of Harry.
"We'll get him awake again," Harry explained quietly.
"Maybe. Too bad it's not like a fairy tale."
Harry just looked at you questioningly in response.
"In fairy tales, all it takes is one kiss of true love and every spell is broken," you told him quietly.
"That might work," said Hermione, who had come into the room a moment before.
"What?" Harry and you asked in confusion.
"Fairy tales and all legends and stories have their origins. People take what they know, that's why so many stories about creatures that really exist, mermaids, werewolves, vampires. None of it is made up, every story has its origin.
True love's kiss exists in many different fairy tales, from different times and countries. And not just in Muggle literature. Wizards from everywhere mention true love's kiss. Yeltsa Kcir, a wizard from 1669 reports that his daughter, who had an accident while mixing magic potions, was brought back to life this way."
It all sounded plausible to you somewhere, but still, there was little hope.
"And where do we find his true love?" you now asked hopelessly.
"I beg you," came Hermione.
You looked questioningly at Harry, but he just shrugged his shoulders.
"Did I miss anything?" you asked Hermione, who put her book down with a laugh.
"He decides to switch sides in the middle of the fight. He could just disappear like that and be free, after all everyone else was busy, but he takes you with him. He runs with you to the border and is almost free, but you turn around and run back into the battle. Malfoy could have just left, he could have been free forever, he had already fled the battle, but he runs back and fights with you. So to me, that's clear."
More than overwhelmed, you stared at her. You had spent every spare second wondering why he had taken you outside, why he had come back to the fight, but it made no sense to you.
"We hate each other... hated each other," you corrected yourself.
In the last week, you had almost become friends, though neither of you would admit that out loud.
"He had to hate you." now Harry interjected, apparently seeing the whole thing the same way Hermione did.
"Mione, Harry I beg you. He wanted to escape and maybe doesn't want to be alone, so he takes the first best person. Then he sees I have a reason to fight and he wants something like that too, so he runs back in. And even if, maybe he's really into me, but then you still can't talk about true love."
"Just try it, what have you got to lose?" now came from Ron, who had overheard the conversation from the doorway.
"I'm not going to kiss him without his consent," you interjected, a little irritated.
"You'll probably have a hard time getting it. In his condition." countered Ron.
"Go on, what can happen? If he wakes up everything's great and if not, it wasn't the right way and we'll find another," said Harry, trying to sound positive.
"And if it doesn't work out but it's the right way?" you now asked quietly.
"Then you're not his true love." came a shrug from Ron.
"But you'd like to be, wouldn't you?" asked Hermione quietly.
"I don't know," you said honestly.
The three of them looked at you for a moment before Hermione spoke up.
"We're going to go out now and you decide what you're going to do, if he wakes up then it's all good and you two are meant to be together and if he doesn't then we've just tried to take advice from a fairy tale. That doesn't mean he doesn't love you," Hermione clarified before pulling the boys outside with her.
Cautiously, you walked over to Draco. You never thought you would wish to be his true love, but at that moment you did. Not only because you really liked him by now, but also because you knew no other way to get him awake and he shouldn't die like this.
You slowly bent down, before his lips you took the last breath and then, then you kissed him carefully.
After the kiss, you didn't dare open your eyes, what if it didn't work?
Again you took a deep breath, you felt yourself trembling and nervousness spreading through your whole body.
"Please don't tell me the others kissed me too."
You opened your eyes suddenly.
He was awake, he was fine, he could joke and he was awake. Immediately you pulled him into a hug.
"No, just me," you reassured him.
"And I only caught the end, too bad." he quipped.
"We can do it again." Before you had finished your sentence, his lips were on yours again.