XXIV

It was fourteen point two seconds after the fall, and Draco was losing the only person who actually cared about him. She had said she was immortal; that she couldn't die, but here she was, struggling to maintain a pulse.

He bowed his head over her neck, to keep her chest warm. Salty tears mixed with the iron of blood on his lips and the taste made him want to retch. He couldn't bear to see her like this. No one had come to help. It was as if these so called great wizards had let the fear freeze them to the spot.

He flung his head back. They were all still standing, mouths agape. "You cowards!" He screamed, voice breaking. "Help her!"

The first to move was Hermione, and he loathed her for it. Then, Blaise moved, but he moved to help Cho, who looked like a dam about to burst. Snape had just kicked himself out of his shock to help them when the barrier fell. It came suddenly, like a thick, angry mist and fell all around them, cutting off anyone from getting in and anyone from getting out. He had never seen such magic before, and it greatly worried and puzzled him. So, the professor turned back with a flourish of his robes and headed back to the castle to summon the headmaster.

Within the barrier were four frightened students; all enemies of each other, two barely conscious students, and one that seemed to be clinging for dear life.

"Who's doing this?" Hermione raised her wand at all of them. "We need to get help! None of us can do this-"

"Shut up, Hermione!" Cho burst out, shattered and shocked and scarred and angry. "We can't get out, so why don't you use something you know to heal them?!"

"How can I?! I don't even know what's happened to… Hether?"

Three heads turned swiftly to the body Draco was clutching tightly to himself. He hadn't taken his eyes off her.

Hermione's mind was amuck with different thoughts. She was right. She knew the girl was different. She knew she held secrets. She knew she was up to something. Her eyes flitted to Draco. He wasn't surprised. She was right. They were up to something. She knew. She was always right.

Cho felt as though her mind would shatter. She wasn't used to this, to seeing things like this; to even be part of things like this. It was a reminder that the world she kept tightly drawn around herself was fake, and that in the real world, things like this happened. She never begged to be a part of it, but yet here she was.

Blaise felt nothing. He didn't know enough to feel something towards the situation before his eyes. He didn't know Draco as well as he wished the boy would let him. He looked so troubled, and it was all because of the brat lying half-dead in his arms. Yet, he could do nothing, because of the brat that lay half-dead in his arms.

Draco used his thumb to wipe away fresh blood from a wound. She wasn't healing. She was dying, the very thing she said she was incapable of. "Don't give up," he whispered to her, even though he was certain she couldn't hear him. "you never give up."

He wanted to kiss her; kiss her and tell her she would be okay if she just opened her eyes; kiss away the wounds and the pain she was probably feeling. He couldn't tell. It looked like she had taken the injuries of that girl and cast them upon herself. A tear slipped from his eye and splashed unto her cheek, leaving a dot of clear skin.

Then, as if by magic – he smiled bitterly – her fingers twitched, and her eyes flickered open. His heart quickened. They were the same as they were when she was a dragon, but they were even more beautiful on her human face, standing out like two gemstones in a sea of black. Her fingers moved again and they grabbed his hand.

"We'll get help, as soon as we figure out how to take the barrier down." He whispered to her.

"She's awake?!" Hermione's voice warbled out.

"You can't take it down even if you tried." Hether gasped out in pain. Oh, she hated when she underestimated injuries. It always, always took her by surprise, and she never liked it. She did not know that the cutting curse was the least of the injuries the girl had. Her mind had sunk deep into an abyss of despair, and it would take power the size of a castle to draw it out. Not that she didn't have that power – she was the center of the galaxy, its guardian. These…situations just shook her off balance. "I put it up. Don't bother. There's certain things only I can do."

"Promise me you will teach me." He said firmly. So that problems like this would never arise again.

"I need to possess you." She simply said.

Draco froze. Possess? He had never heard of that kind of magic. It was possible with ghosts and spirits, but those were rare and very ancient ones. For a human to do that…right. She wasn't human. "What's wrong?"

"I can't heal myself like this. I'd kill you all because this shell would combust." She took a very laboured breath. "But if I can get inside your head, you'll be able to do it."

Draco's hand quivered.

"What's going on, Draco?" Cho asked. He ignored her and took Hether's hand.

"I'll do it."

Hether closed her eyes, and his muscles tensed in agony. He felt as if he had been fried thoroughly on the inside and outside. It was a lot to feel, but it was numbing enough that he felt good. Then came the mind. It was just for a split second, but it stretched out for all eternity. He saw all that she saw. Planets. Worlds. Realities. Histories. People. Spirits. Essences. Animals. Angels and demons.

He saw the Father. Lovers. Enemies. Laughter. Death. Betrayal. He saw times when she let worlds crumble, and times where her hands were a support for the One who molded worlds. He saw suns and stars and moons and galaxies. He saw others like her. Huge, celestial things; at the very core of existence, each holding every world in their galaxy, in the palms of their hands.

The names poured in, as did the memories, but they didn't blur into one another, as if she had been afraid of forgetting them. They filtered through his mind; thoughts and images lasting for a fraction of light but strong enough that he remembered them.

It overwhelmed him; all he could do was stare in awe and marvel in speechlessness. Draco couldn't even breathe. It was too much to take in that he feared he would lose it all if he so much as let out a sigh or blinked.

Just as quickly as the tsunami rushed in, it left.

Finally, Draco blinked. He was back on the castle grounds, seated on the grassy hill, staring at the pair of brown eyes he had grown so accustomed to. They were scanning him, to see if he was okay. The truth was, that she was worried. No mortal could have survived the revelation. And he had only seen but a second of it.

As for the others, they never saw anything. A student had fallen from a tower accidentally but had been rescued by the – of course – noble Harry Potter, and Draco had been knocked out when a terrified Grega had fainted on his windpipe.

Now he had come to surrounded by four faces while the crowd dispersed. He realised, that she had obliviated them all at once. He took in a shaky breath and looked at the faces. Cho, with her eyes still red from shock and crying; Blaise, who was holding her in such a tight grip that it seemed she might shatter if he let go; Hermione, who was more worried about the fallen girls and so kept her distance; and Hether, who was simply waiting for his reaction.

Draco frowned and moved back from the wall of faces. "What happened?"

"You passed out when Grega fainted on you." Cho said quietly.

Draco scoffed. "I did no such thing." He stood and dusted himself.

"Oh, yes, you did." Blaise smirked.

"Spinning lies now, are we, Zabini?" Draco marched up to the boy and shoved Cho out of the way so that they were only a few inches apart. "Perhaps you would like to say that to my-"

"He's not lying." A hand made itself comfortable on his shoulder. The familiar scent of lavender crept up his nose and he felt his body relax. "You did pass out. Grega knocked you out when she fainted."

Draco glared at Blaise, who simply narrowed his eyes at him. The former scowled and turned, walking around Hether's form and towards the castle.

Hether looked to see if the two fallen girls were okay. Grega had healed nicely and had woken up, but Veja was still unconscious. "You should get those two to the infirmary. I'll deal with him." She said and took swift steps towards Draco, who was angrily striding up the hillside.

"Draco!" she called out to him and he stopped, glaring daggers at her as if she were wasting his time. She sighed deeply and forced herself to perform the undistinguished act of jogging up the hill.

Draco pursed his lips at her. She wondered how long he was going to keep up the act for. "I know what I saw. That girl did not faint-"

"I know you know." She cut him short. "But that is what they remember. I possessed you so I could restore my body. You just barely took it. But I had to do it. If people think I'm that kind of metamorphmagus, bad things will follow. It wasn't worth it."

"Why didn't you just tell me there?" he sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets to hide his clenched fists. It didn't matter anyway; she saw everything.

"I don't trust them enough. And you're my priority, not them. Cho… has some issues with keeping mum, and I don't exactly trust Blaise or even Hermione."

"What about Grega? She's your roommate."

"It's a very troublesome variable." Hether quickly concluded. She turned her gaze to the side and refused to look at him. There was something she was hiding, he sensed. A part of him wanted to prod it out of her, but the bigger part of him was tired and knew she was even more tired than he was.

So, he leant down and lightly brushed her cheek with a kiss, as if he was afraid that her skin would crumble at the touch. "You're tired. You did well today. Get some rest." He said and spun around, continuing to the castle. After a while of walking uphill, he turned back for a second, but she was gone.