"It was her. You know? She did this to you. Hermione Granger is the Lady you have been warning us about. The Dark Lady." Malfoy scoffed as if realizing the irony of it all. "It’s funny how you create this vision in your head of someone, and one day you realize it was all made up of wishful thinking and you had been holding for so long to a fictional perfection that blinded you from the truth." Draco looked at the sleeping form of Potter in the infirmary bed. He looked peaceful, only because he was stuffed with pain potions and sedatives. Without them he was subject to night terrors and incoherent maddening screams. "Turns out, she is the most dangerous of them all. You will never see her coming until you are done for. And she is here to stay. Guess she has you to thank for that. So there is that. She can’t be killed, she can’t be saved, she is dragging us all to hell one by one." Draco ran a hand through his hair and sighed in defeat. "Listen, Potter. I... I will be away for a while. There is this thing with Dumbledore. He thinks he has found a way to destroy Voldemort, and he has enlisted me on this mad excursion. All very ambiguous, you know how he is. The less you know and all that. Anyway, I have not much hope left in me. At this point I’m just letting fate pull me by the hand." He laughed bitterly. "Oh, guess what? I will be taking the dark mark next spring. You didn’t see that coming. Uh?" He winced painfully at this fake attempt of a joke. "I’m been handled and fucked by both ends like a whore. So... Be glad you are sleeping this one out, brother. You’ll owe me big time after this. You were always the lucky one... And the handsome one too. Even without a fucking eye. I mean. Look at you right now. I could kiss you. Don’t tell Weasley I said that. I won’t hear the end of it... I will be off now. If I don’t come back, please promise you will snap out of it and get on your feet, and... and bring back our hopes. Potter you have no idea how important you are. No matter what they took from you, swear to me you won’t ever give up." He was angry. He was sobbing like an idiot. He was saying his goodbyes before marching to the gallows. He stood from his chair and kissed his friend on the forehead and walked away slowly.