Sentence of Fate “I’m sorry, Harry, I must kill you…” She held the wand, her body trembling. As the words slipped from her lips, her tears burst out. The Dark Lord was threatening her parents' lives, leaving her with no way back. She had to force herself to do the cruelest thing in the world: take the life of Harry Potter, the boy she loved with all her heart. Never in her life had the choice between the person she loved completely and the lives of her family torn her apart in such a cruel situation. “Dracaena... Why?” Harry spoke slowly. “Don’t talk to me, Harry. Draw your wand... DRAW YOUR WAND, HARRY. DON’T LOOK AT ME WITH THOSE EYES!” She screamed, her voice lost in the howling wind blowing through the rock crevices. Dracaena’s hands holding the wand shook violently. She did not dare face those clear emerald-green eyes filled with no hatred at all, only deep pain and sorrow for her. She tightly closed her eyes and shouted the forbidden spell. “Avada Kedavra!” A bright green light shot out. But instead of dodging or fighting back, Harry just stood there. At the last moment, the internal conflict in her mind caused Dracaena’s hand to slip. The curse grazed Harry’s shoulder and smashed into the stone wall behind him, blowing countless fragments into the air. “Why didn’t you block it? HUH? DRAW YOUR WAND!” “HARRY! WHO ARE YOU LOOKING DOWN ON? DRAW YOUR WAND AND FIGHT LIKE A REAL WIZARD!” Tears poured out heavily from her eyes, blurring her vision. “Expelliarmus!” Only then did Harry raise his wand, shooting out a gentle red light to disarm her, but Dracaena blocked it in time with ‘Protego’. The wand duel happened rapidly and ruthlessly. Beams of red, blue, and yellow light collided continuously in midair, creating loud explosions that echoed through the corridor. Dracaena attacked wildly, pouring all her confusion and despair into every spell. But Harry only kept defending himself and stepping back step by step, refusing to cast a dangerous spell at her. “Stop holding back on me, Harry! Please...” She yelled hysterically while firing spells, choking through her tears. “How could you understand, Harry... How could you know the feeling of having to choose between the person you love and the lives of your family? He is holding a knife to my parents’ throats! If I don’t act against you... they won’t survive! What do you want me to do? They will die!” Harry rolled to dodge the exploding spell ‘Confringo’, then suddenly lunged forward to close the distance. He stopped using his wand and instead used his bare hands to tightly grip Dracaena’s trembling wrists, pushing her against the cold stone wall. The wand in her hand fell onto the stone floor, making a clear but helpless "clack" sound. Everything went silent. The two stood close together, their heavy breathing blending with the coldness of the night. Dracaena’s tears rolled down her cheeks, falling onto the back of Harry’s tightly gripping hands. “I know...” Harry whispered, his voice dropping low, full of heartbreaking gentleness. “I know the weight on your shoulders, Dracaena. If dying at your hands is what it takes for your family to live… I will never hold it against you” Those words were like a final knife stabbing through all of the Malfoy young lady's defenses. Her whole body went weak, and she collapsed in complete exhaustion. She did not celebrate victory; instead, she buried her head in Harry’s chest, clutching his shirt and crying loudly like a child. “You’re a fool... Harry Potter, you’re a total fool,” she stammered through her sobs. “How could I ever bring myself to end the life of the one I love?” Harry said nothing. He opened his arms and wrapped them tightly around her - a warm, deep embrace. In his clear emerald-green eyes appeared a gentle look, the warm light she had always craved during all those years living in the dark. “Wait for me, Dracaena. I promise... I will destroy the one who hurt you, and I will fully protect you and your family” His voice was low but firm. “Even if I have to cross the line of life and death, or fall before dawn... I am willing to sacrifice this whole life to keep you completely safe” That look and that fierce determination touched the deep bottom of her heart once again. This time, Dracaena decided not to let her heart suffer any more pain or regret. She stood on her tiptoes, reached up to pull his collar, and gave him a passionate kiss - a kiss filled with love, fear, and hope. Letting go of him, she choked out her words. “If you don’t come back... I will definitely go down to hell with you!” Tears poured out as she yelled into the howling wind. “You must... YOU MUST COME BACK, DO YOU HEAR ME?” Harry smiled, his eyes full of gentleness. “Of course, I will come back. And when I do, your last name will change to mine.” “You complete fool... I will wait for you to return,” she murmured through her sweet crying. “I love you, Harry.” “I love you too, Dracaena.” Harry’s back gradually vanished into the thick smoke and dust of the ruined corridor, leaving Dracaena standing silently in the cold space. She raised her shaking hand to gently touch her lips, where the warmth of his kiss still remained, and softly closed her ash-grey eyes to engrave that promise deep into her mind and heart. She knew she couldn’t fall here. Harry’s sacrifice and the promise to bring peace to her family could not be meaningless. With a deep and firm breath, Dracaena picked up her wand from the stone floor, turned around, and ran back toward the castle exit - where her mother was risking everything to wait for her. The night sky over the Hogwarts valley was heavy as lead, glowing an eerie blood-red from thousands of dark flames. When the ancient protective shield set up by the Professors and the Order of the Phoenix shattered with a loud scream, the final line between light and darkness officially collapsed. Voldemort’s army rushed in like a black flood. Giants roared, swinging massive clubs to smash stone walls that had stood firm for centuries. Tens of thousands of giant Acromantula spiders poured out from the Forbidden Forest, charging wildly, swinging their spiky legs to stab, tear, and kill anyone in their way. Inside the Great Hall, the air was thick with the smell of blood, smoke, and despair. It had turned into a field hospital, where bodies lay quietly under white sheets. Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Fred Weasley, and countless brave students and teachers had fallen. But no one backed down. Everyone stood together on the same frontline, trading blood for every inch of their beloved school. Passing through the faint smoke at the emergency exit, Dracaena ran toward a figure who was frantically searching for her in the dark. “Oh dear, there you are! Are you okay, Dracaena?” Narcissa immediately hugged her tightly as if afraid she would disappear, her blue, teary eyes hurriedly checking her daughter from top to bottom. “I’m okay, Mother... I’m fine” Dracaena nodded emotionally, squeezing her mother’s cold hand. The tear remaining on her dust-stained cheek broke as she felt Narcissa’s shaking embrace. The moment her daughter’s lips touched her shoulder, Narcissa choked back a sob and gently stroked her messy platinum blonde hair, as if trying to reassure herself that her only daughter had survived the bloody storm. “Hurry up, we need to get out of here right now!” Narcissa urge filled with panic, her blue eyes looking around in fear for her family's survival. They held hands tightly, forming an unbreakable bond in the middle of destruction. All out of love for her child, and for the promise of peace that Dracaena had left with the boy with the lightning-shaped scar… The artist : @Minxei