A/N: Under Voldemort's new regime, all mudbloods are to be publicly executed in Diagon Alley by guillotine. slight!Dramione. Warning: a bit gruesome (because of the guillotine), character death. I do not own Harry Potter.

Submission for:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): The Muggle Art Club - Round 2 - Photography. Prompts: fear, death, sadness

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): Divination Assignment #7 - Write an angsty fic about death.

Greek Mythology Mega Prompt Challenge (Always Open): Zeus - Write about the Wizarding World under Voldemort's rule.

Draco stood in the crowd of onlookers gathered in the middle of Diagon Alley. He heard of today's attraction. Who hadn't really? This sort of thing happened occasionally under the Dark Lord's regime, always drawing a crowd. But today the streets were packed to brim with an eager audience, for today was a special day. Today they had found Granger.

After the Final Battle when the Dark Lord had succeeded in killing Potter, everything had gone downhill for the Light. The army of Death Eaters swarmed the Order and those who had tried to defend the castle. Many people Draco had actually looked up to and admired had been taken down, including Professor McGonagall. Eventually, the Light had to surrender and those who had not ran from the warzone in time were captured and killed.

The Dark Lord then went on to attack the Ministry, the victory at Hogwarts inspiring and allowing the Death Eaters to once again take over the government. Those Ministry officials didn't stand a chance, and they too were easily disposed of. But the Dark Lord cared not for the actual building and quickly destroyed it. There was no one left to stop the Dark Lord from taking over the entire British Wizarding community.

Currently, the Dark Lord resided in his own headquarters, sending out his commands from a distance. Draco's own aunt, who had survived the Battle after taking out most of the Weasley clan, was elevated further in the ranks and sat at the Dark Lord's right hand, with the esteemed privilege of issuing orders to the Death Eaters.

The mission set immediately after the takeover was simple: remove the filth from the wizarding world. The muggles were easy to remove. They were taken by surprise and killed en masse, magic taking them down before they even realized the danger they were in and the death they faced.

The mudbloods were the next targets. Death Eaters were ordered to search for them as well but the Dark Lord had a sick sense of humour. Instead of killing them on sight like the muggles, the Dark Lord ordered public executions of the criminals who had 'stolen' their magic from more deserving wizards and witches.

Draco had seen many of these executions. Instead of using magic, each mudblood was lined up to face the guillotine. Some mudbloods went in screaming, some with tears in their eyes and the brave went in silently, accepting their fate. How they went didn't matter. They all were treated the same: their names and ages were read and then the blade was dropped without warning. Their heads rolled to the side and onto the stage, quickly removed and placed with the others.

This was the world now. It was gruesome and after seeing so many, Draco thought he had gotten numb to the whole thing by now. But today was different. He felt a stab at his heart and a wave of sadness as he saw Granger standing on the stage before the structure. She was another person he had admired. He didn't know what had happened to her after the Battle. He had hoped she had gotten away. He had hoped she had the sense to get out of Britain. But they had found her. Today was her death day.

She gazed out at the crowd proudly, showing no fear as she stood on the stage with her chest out and her chin up. The executioner called out her name and age, but instead of the usual silence that followed, jeers and shouts were hurled at the girl. They all knew of her involvement and association with the Boy-Who-Died. Now she would suffer the same fate.

Then her eyes fell on him, possibly spotting his telltale blond hair in the sea of black. Her shoulders drooped just a bit as she looked into his eyes almost pleadingly, her proud mask disappearing momentarily. Draco just stared back knowing there was nothing to be done.

The executioner led her to the guillotine. Granger said nothing and shed no tears. She was strong, just as he had always known. But Draco could stay no longer. He couldn't watch her head roll off her shoulders. He couldn't watch as the last good person he knew was about to disappear from this life. He couldn't watch as the girl he admired, and possibly even a bit more than that, was to be killed.

He walked away from the crowd trying to block out the sound of the falling blade and the heavy thud on the wooden stage that would haunt him for the rest of his life.