What Lies Within

"Okay," Draco says after he finally got Sophie to calm down. They stood in front of the cabinet now, looking up at it. "I'm just gonna... go in." Sophie turns to look at her husband.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" She asks him, unsure if she even wanted to let him do it.

"I need to know that it's working." He turns to look at her, taking her hands. "I'll be alright." He leans forward, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "I'll be right back."

"Hurry." She tells him. He nods and opens the door of the cabinet. He doesn't look back at her as he steps inside and closes the door. Sophie bit at her nails, beginning to pace back and forth. What if he didn't come back? What if he was off lost somewhere, or worse.. dead? She wouldn't know. She was stuck here, having to wait.

Two minutes later, though it felt like an eternity, the door of the cabinet opened again and out walked her smiling husband. Sophie gave a sigh of relief and fell into her husbands arms.

"Oh thank god." She breathes. Draco smiles, kissing at the top of her head. "I was so scared." She confesses. "Was it okay?"

"Yeah, it was good." He says, releasing her. He turns and closes the door of the cabinet before turning back to Sophie. "Borgin was there, he said he'd let them know that it was all okay."

"So," Sophie asks. "What do we do now then?" They had the entire afternoon to wait now until everything began. It was going to be dreadful, having to wait that long. They didn't want it to happen, but they had come to terms with the fact that there wasn't anything they could do about it now and just wanted it over already.

"We can go walk around the castle. Take it all in one last time before..." He trails off. They both knew what he was hinting at; before their entire lives changed forever. Today was their last chance to be in Hogwarts.

"Sounds like a plan to me." She answers, smiling up at her husband. Draco smiles back before pulling her into his arms. She melts against his chest, allowing herself to be folded into his arms while she wraps her arms around his torso.

"Everything is going to be okay, love." He tells her, his voice muffled in her hair as he hugs her tightly. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Not tonight, not tomorrow, not ever."

"I know." She whispers, closing her eyes and burying her face in Draco's shirt. "I love you, Dray." She lifts her head up to look into his eyes. He smiles back down at her. He brings one hand up, running it across her red hair.

"And I love you." He bends and places a soft kiss on her lips.They smile at each other when they pull apart and then release one another. They link hands and head out of the room. Everyone was in class so they wander the empty halls. Neither one of them speak a single word.

This castle had been a home to both of them for the last 6 years. They had so many ups and downs here. Draco didn't care much for it anymore, he was fed up with the professors, Dumbledore, and just school in general, but Sophie still loved every inch of the school. She loved the trick steps, the vanishing doorways, the talking suits of armor. She loved the warm and delicious meals everyday in the magnificent Great Hall and the nice and soft beds of the dormitories. She would miss it all, she would miss it so much.

As the afternoon dwindled down and turned to evening, the couple escaped to an empty classroom. They didn't want to be anywhere near the Room of Requirement right now, it just being about an hour until everything started. They sat at a table, not speaking. What could they say? They'd said all that they needed to, right now it was just time to wait.

Surprisingly, time passed quickly and they suddenly heard yelling and bangs from the floor below them. They exchanged looks before both of them stood up and made their way from the room.

"You need to go hide somewhere." Draco says, pulling her to a stop as they ran towards the commotion. Students were yelling and running in all directions. It was complete chaos.

"What?!" She yells back at her husband, thinking he had gone crazy. "I'm not leaving you."

"You need to get somewhere safe, Sophie! Now!" He released her hand and then turned and ran into the crowd of people. Sophie tried to chase after him but he was suddenly gone, losing her in the crowd.

"Draco!" She yells but knew he was gone. She knew where he was headed though so she ran there too. When she was in the Entrance Hall, spells were flying everywhere. She saw Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville fighting against Bellatrix Lestrange and many other Death Eaters. The cabinet had worked, Draco had succeeded, in one of his tasks at least.

"Sophie!" Ron yells when he sees her running through the crowd. She ignores him and rushes past everyone. As she was still running in the direction of the Astronomy Tower, the Death Eaters seemed to be following her. Draco was surely there by now, but was Dumbledore? She had to get to him, she needed to be there for him.

Students were chasing after them, shooting spells and hexes after them. Sophie narrowly misses getting hit in the shoulder with one but she doesn't stop to aim anything back. This wasn't her fight, she just wanted to get to her husband. The Death Eaters were held up, falling back behind her to fight back.

When she finally gets to the Astronomy Tower, Sophie basically flew up the stairs. When she was at the top of the tower, the sight in front of her made her stop in her tracks as she stepped through the door. The Dark Mark shown bright and green in the sky, looming above the tower. Draco stood with her back to him, his wand arm raised and pointed at Dumbledore who leaned against the edge of the roof, seeming to be very weak or even injured. Had Draco done something to him already?

"Sophie, go!" Draco yells at his wife when he sees that she has joined them. His voice shook, his hands barely steady as he points his wand. He also had tears on his cheeks. Sophie steps over to him, resting a hand on his arm and turns to her Headmaster who gives her a calm smile.

"Come over to the right side, Draco." Dumbledore speaks, looking back at Draco who was shaking even more. "You are not a killer."

"But he's going to kill me." He mutters, his voice wavering. "He's going to kill my wife." Dumbledore glances at Sophie. Sophie was beginning to shake now too. She had tears freely falling down her cheeks as she took in everything before her. This was happening, her husband, her sweet and caring husband, was about to murder someone, murder Albus Dumbledore.

"We can protect you, Draco." Dumbledore, still seemingly calm but he seemed to become weaker and weaker as the seconds passed. They could hear yelling and shouts from below. The Death Eaters would be here any second. "We can protect Sophie, your mother, and even your father. No harm will come to any of you, now put your wand down."

"Don't do this, Draco, please." Sophie pleads with her husband. She pulls at his arm. "We can get away from here, we can go somewhere safe."

"I have to do this." Draco says sternly. "He chose me." Before anyone could say anything, the door burst open and out came four Death Eaters. Sophie tuned them out as shock took over her body. She was shaking and leaned into Draco's side, her forehead against his arm. She wanted this to be over, she wanted to be somewhere that wasn't here. She wanted her and her husband to be somewhere safe.

"Severus." Sophie looked up when she heard Snape's name coming from Dumbledore's voice. Yes, he was here. He could do it. Sophie met Snape's eye for a second. "Please, Severus." Dumbledore pleaded with the dark haired man. Snape sneered at Dumbledore, raising his wand. Draco's wand arm finally fell to his side, defeated and knowing he didn't need to do this now. He had tried, he really had.

"Avada Kedavra!" The second Snape yells this, a flash of green light erupts around them, and they see Dumbledore fly backwards, dead instantly. Sophie watches as he tumbles over the edge of the tower and disappears from view.

"Oh my god." Sophie gasps. Draco finally wraps his arms tightly around his wife, burying his face in her hair. They were both shaking and holding onto each other tightly.

"Out of here, quickly." Snape says. The couple release each other and link hands as they rush from the tower, rushing after everyone. Bellatrix seemed to be having the time of her life as she cheered and threw jinxes and curses all over the place, smashing picture frames and windows, carelessly destroying the castle around them. Sophie saw her friends still fighting, some were collapsed on the ground. She tried not to focus on that too much and just ran, following her husband as he kept a firm hand in hers, pulling her from the danger.

They ran from the castle and across the grounds. Hagrid was suddenly in front of them, trying to stop their escape. Other's stopped to take him on but Draco, Sophie, Snape and Bellatrix continued past, almost to the gates. As soon as they were free of the grounds they would be able to disapparate out of there.

"Stupefy!" They hear someone yell behind them, Sophie recognizes the voice instantly. The jinx flies by them as Snape turns to face Harry.

"Run, Draco, Sophie!" He yells. They had stopped to turn and face Harry as well. Draco was again running, tugging Sophie's hand to make him follow but her eyes were locked with Harry's. He glared at her, pure hatred filling those green eyes. She shook her head, mouthed that she was sorry, and allowed her husband to pull her out of the castle grounds. The second they were free, he turns on the spot and they both disapparated with a pop.

When they came to a stop, they were standing in the front entry of Malfoy Manor. Sophie couldn't stop shaking and collapsed to the ground. Draco fell to his knees beside her, pulling her into his arms.

"Draco! Sophie!" They look up and see his mother rushing towards them. "Oh, thank god you're okay." She falls to her knees beside them and wraps arm around each of them, pulling them into her. Sophie falls against her Godmothers chest, letting out sob after sob, not even trying to hold back anymore. Draco folds against Sophie, sobs of his own falling from his lips.

This was it, it was all over. Draco had done, or at least tried to, what The Dark Lord had set for him to do. Sophie had not. Now all they could do was wait. Wait for whatever the Dark Lord has planned for them now. Sophie was terrified.