A/N: Hello! I want to thank you for reading my story. It is a song fic based on the song Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley. If you go and look at the music video, you'll see where I got most of my inspiration for this story. :) Please enjoy! Also, this story kinda starts off a bit weak, but I like to think it gets better later on. :)

~D~

I was finally home. After a long three month mission for the Aurors, I was finally home. Grinning, I entered the little house Hermione and I had bought together a month before I left. I couldn't wait to see my beautiful witch, and finally start our life together. I even had the ring I bought for her in my front pocket.

She and I had started dating about a year after the war ended. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, and was sitting in the pub drinking her sorrows away. I, being the gentleman I am, decided to keep her company, since it's never good to drink alone. We started talking, and I asked her out. The rest is, as they say, history. It has been three years now since we started dating, and I was more than ready to take the next step. I already had it all planned out. I would take her out to her favorite restaurant, and make it as romantic as possible, and then ask her to be mine forever. My grin widened, as I started walking up the stairs to our room.

Halfway up the stairs I could tell something was wrong. I could hear Hermione laughing, but I also heard a deeper voice. A man. I felt the grin slide off my face, as I started climbing the stairs faster. No. She would never cheat on me…

I heard a male groan, followed by a female one. One I heard only while we were intimate together. I feel my stomach drop, as I reach the top of the stairs, and start walking over to our room. Feeling sick, I slam open the door, to see my beautiful witch wearing next to nothing, underneath a man with red hair. I stare in horror, as her brown eyes meet mine, the horror I feel reflected in hers. I stumble back, and suddenly wanting to be anywhere but here, I race down the stairs. I hear her calling after me, begging me to stop, to let her explain, but I didn't want to hear it. I ran outside and apparated away.

She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette
She broke his heart, he spent his whole life tryin' to forget

"One more drink." I slurred, downing yet another glass of Fire whiskey. If I had to guess, I'd say this was my fifth glass? Sixth? I lost count a long time ago.

"Come on mate, you've had enough." Came the gentle, almost soothing voice of my best friend Blaise.

"I'll tell you when I've had enough!" I yelled at him, ordering another glass. It had been a month since I found Hermione cheating on me with the Weasel, but the pain was still as fresh as if it had only been yesterday. I took my glass, and took another gulp, trying to make the hurt go away. I've found that alcohol, while dulling the pain, never make the hurt truly go away. But it did help me forget. If only for a little while.

I heard Blaise sigh, before forcefully pulling me from the bar. I screamed, telling him if he did not let me go I would hex him so hard he wouldn't be able to stand for a week. He didn't listen, and just continued to pull me from the bar. I didn't have any fight left in me, so I just gave up, and let him take me home, knowing I would be back tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, doing the same thing over and over.

When we got outside the pub, he apparated me back to the manor. Ever since Hermione cheated, I had been staying here, since I had nowhere else to go. Blaise had offered to let me stay with him and Pansy, but I really did not want to have to see the lovey dovey bull sh*t they would no doubt have.

Once inside the manor, Blaise dragged me to my room, and dumped me unceremoniously on the floor. He scowled lightly.

"Really mate, you've got to pull yourself together. I know she broke your heart, but you've got to move on with your life." And with that, he left me there on the floor, my muddled mind thinking about what he told me.

In that moment, I realized I never would move on. I couldn't.

We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time
But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind
Until the night…

I sat up, and crawled over to my liquor cabinet. Blaise didn't know this was here, for if he did he would have taken it all. In this moment I was thankful he hadn't.

I took out a bottle of fire whiskey, and started drinking it. I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing. I knew that if I drank anymore, it would be too much for my body to handle. But maybe that was what I wanted. To end this torture. To end this madness.

And so I drank. I finished the bottle, before vomiting all over the floor. I felt horrible. I couldn't breathe. Everything hurt, but mainly my heart. It ached, with pain, and the hurt from Hermione's escapades behind my back. I knew I was about to die. I could feel it. I also knew I had to leave a note, so that b*tch would know what she did to me. How much she hurt me. I would have given her the world, and instead, she shat on me. I knew what I had to do.

With that, I crawled slowly over to my night stand, and got a self-inking Quick-Quotes Quill, since I was in no condition to write, and her picture from inside the drawer I kept it.

My head was aching, but I had to do this. I flipped the picture over, and started talking, the quill writing on the back side.

He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away her memory
Life is short, but this time it was bigger
than the strength he had to get up off his knees

"My Dearest Hermione,

Are you happy now? You broke me. I gave you everything I had, and you took it, and threw it back in my face. I loved you with everything I had. Was it not enough? Did I make you have to go to another man for comfort? I'm sorry I wasn't around; I was just doing what I thought you wanted me to do. I never really wanted to be an Auror, but I thought if I did something worthwhile with my life, it would make me finally worthy to have you. But I guess I was wrong! Cause look at me now, sitting on the floor of my room, dying from alcohol poisoning. I hope you're happy now, now that I've given you all I can. You're the one who drove me to this Hermione dearest. I hope you're proud of yourself. Now, remember love, I will love you until I die. Which won't be very long now, I assume. Goodbye my love. I'll see you on the other side.

With all the love in my heart,

Draco."

I smiled lightly as I took the picture. I held it to my chest, as I slowly slipped into unconsciousness. My last thought before death took me was about her. Funny how life works that way. That no matter how hard I want to hate her, I never will, not even in death.

We found him with his face down in the pillow
with a note that said, 'I'll love her till I die.'
And when we buried him beneath the willow
the angels sang a whiskey lullaby...
La la la la la la la, la la la la la la la.
La la la la la la la, la la la la la la la.

~B~

The service was short. All of his family and friends were there. His mother was crying as her husband held her, tears of his own falling down his face. It wasn't how things were supposed to go. He wasn't supposed to leave, not like this.

I was the one who found him. He was sitting on the ground beside his bed, his eyes open, and blank. I saw what he was holding, and read it silently to myself, as I felt tears come to my eyes. It took a lot to make me cry, but as I saw my best mate sitting there, his eyes dead and glassy, I cried like I was a child. After I finished crying, I sent an owl to the ministry, and they came to take him away. I looked down at the note he wrote, and decided to send it to her, since it was the last thing he wrote. I felt like it should be read by the person he wrote it to.

I look around the Malfoy graveyard, to see if she actually decided to show up. After a quick look over of the graveyard, and saw her in the back. Tears were rolling down her face, as she watched his coffin being lowered into the grave with a blank face. I saw his note in her hands. I turned back to the front in enough time to see them bury him in the ground. I put my arm around Pansy, who was now sobbing into my shoulder. A tear rolled down my face.

~H~

I was an idiot. I don't know why I cheated on him, really. He was all I've ever wanted, and I abandoned him. I got dressed in a hurry, and raced to catch him. I had to explain. I had to let him know I was sorry. But he was gone by the time I ran outside. I spent the next month trying to find him. I went to every pub I could think of, but I never found him. The wards outside his manor wouldn't let me in. I prayed that one day he would forgive me, and let me explain how I loved him more than life itself, and how stupid I was.

I still remember his note word for word. When I got it in the mail, I had hoped it was him forgiving me, but as I read it, my heart shattered. I feel to the ground, and sobbed. I went to his funeral, the willow tree swaying in the light breeze. I couldn't believe he was gone. I didn't want to believe he was gone. When the funeral ended, I walked up to his grave, not seeing the man behind me, and fell to the ground in sobs.

"He did it all for you, you know." I was startled, and turned to face the man who spoke. I recognized him as Draco's friend, Blaise Zabini.

"I watched. As he drank, trying to forget you. I guess he never could." More tears fell down my face, as I saw him playing with something in his hand.

"He would have done anything for you. I often teased him about it, telling him how wiped he was. He just laughed, not caring. I remember the day he came to me, and asked what would be the best way to propose to you. I knew then how serious he was about you. He bought the ring, and was going to ask for your hand when he got called away on a mission. He figured he would wait until after he came home to ask you. I had never seen him so in love.

"After he saw you with Weasley, he came to my house, and he sat there dead eyed as he told me what happened. He then took out the ring box, and asked me to keep it. He didn't want it anymore. I don't know why I kept it; I guess I had hoped you two would make up." He stopped there, and started walking towards me. I watched him, not able to say a word. He held out a ring box to me.

"Here. I think he would want you to have this." Wordlessly, I reached out, and took it from him, and held it in my hand. I opened it slowly, and saw a beautiful gold band, with a row of diamonds in the shape of a heart in the middle. My shattered heart ached as I stared at the ring. "Well… I have to go. I-I'll see you later Granger." He whispered, before walking over to a crying woman, and leaving the graveyard. I continued to stare at the ring. After a while, I got up, closed the box, and put it in my pocket. I then walked out of the graveyard almost in a trace, tears falling down my face. My heart aching.

The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself
For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath

I laughed. What he said wasn't even that funny, but still I laughed. It had been two years since Draco died, and I was a mess. I went out to drink nearly every night, trying to make the hurt go away. After a while, it did. But only while I was drunk. Otherwise it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I looked at the man who was sitting across from me. I didn't even remember his name. But it didn't matter, if he could make the pain go away for a little bit.

Grinning, I put down my whiskey, and reached to kiss the man. He responded eagerly. Getting up, I stumbled out of the pub with him in my wake. We apparated to my house. Our house.

I led him up the stairs, and he started getting us both undressed. I closed my eyes.

"Don't worry love, everything will be alright." A voice whispered in my ear. Opening my eyes, I saw Him. I smiled.

"Draco" I breathed, as he pushed me onto the bed. He started kissing me, but it was wrong. All wrong. This wasn't him. This wasn't my Draco. I pushed the man off me, and he no longer looked like Him. I screamed at the man to get out. He looked confused, but I didn't care. I felt dirty. I pushed the man out of the room, and locked the door. I sank to the floor and cried. I looked at the ring I kept on my right ring finger. I knew then I would never be able to move on. It was foolish of me to think I ever would. I got up, got a bottle of whiskey, and apparated to the graveyard. I had to say goodbye.

She finally drank her pain away a little at a time
But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind
Until the night…

I drank, and talked. It was the only way I could ever visit to him without sobbing. I told him all about how I would go out every night, drinking, trying to forget him, but how it was impossible. You can never forget the man you love more than anything. I then told him about how I didn't think I could take it much longer. The pain. The heart break. I tried being strong, moving on, but it didn't work. There was only on option left. After about an hour, I drunkenly stood, laughing my head off at something, and apparated back to our house. I stumbled up the stairs, to where I had my stash of fire whiskey, and drank. I started shaking uncontrollably. My breathing slowed. I smiled sadly. I stumbled, and fell to the ground. I then crawled to the night stand, and took his picture off the shelf. I held his picture tight to my body, and whispered my last words.

"I love you" I then feel into unconsciousness, and never woke again.

She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away his memory
Life is short, but this time it was bigger
Than the strength she had to get up off her knees
We found her with her face down in the pillow
Clinging to his picture for dear life.

~B~

Here we were again. This time, instead of Draco's family and friends, it was hers. I saw Potter and his wife holding each other while they cried. I saw Weasley and his new girlfriend, both with tear tracks on their faces. As sad as it was, I knew it was bound to happen. I saw her a few times, in random pubs getting blitzed. I knew she wouldn't last long.

I turned back to the graves. Beside the freshly dug earth, was the grave of my oldest friend. I knew this was what he would have wanted, to have her lie next to him in death. The service ended quickly, and everyone soon left. I stayed, and walked up to their graves. I gently laid down a single red rose across the two graves. It seemed fitting.

I walked away from the graves, and stopped at the small gate. I turned, and saw the ghosts of my friend and his love. They smiled at each other, and embraced. I smiled, watching as they turned, and walked away hand in hand. I don't know if it was just my imagination or not, but I like to think it wasn't. The two lovers, finally reunited. As I walked back to the apparition point, I could swear I heard a soft lullaby being sung.

We laid her next to him beneath the willow
While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby

La la la la la la la, la la la la la la la.
La la la la la la la, la la la la la la la.