Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione were busy fighting. On the way out of the school building Ron had taken a wrong turn and they went through a door leading to the main building instead, so they had suddenly found themselves in a hall full of Death Eaters. Hermione being weak and wandless, Ron had to do most of it himself.
´Oh! It´s no good Ron!´ said Hermione as more and more Death Eaters came milling into the hall.
´I´m not giving up Hermione! I´m getting you out of here alive if it´s the last thing I do!´
Hermione fell silent as Ron´s words touched her. He was so good... She glanced up at the ceiling to see several candelabras placed at intervals around the hall. She looked back down to see that there were many Death Eaters grouped underneath them. Then an idea hit her. She wasn´t completely helpless after all.
She leaped to her feet and poked her head out from behind the table under which they had been taking cover, thanking her lucky stars that Draco had taught her the terrible spell which she was about to use. She pointed at the thick chain that was holding up one of the candelabras and thought "Destructus!"
It crumbled immediately, and down came the candelabra, trapping several Death Eaters beneath it.
Ron looked around, surprised. ´Did you do that?´
´Yes.´ said Hermione. ´But don´t stop. Summon the wands from the fallen Death Eaters. I can use one.´
Ron did as he was told while Hermione brought down two more candelabras. When Ron handed her the wands he had summoned she took one, then threw the rest on the floor and stamped on them. Then she began to aid Ron in stunning Death Eaters.
The wand she was using, however, kept missing almost constantly. ´I need my own wand.´ she said, frustrated. ´D´you think if I try summoning my own wand it will work?´
´Yeah, good idea.´said Ron distractedly, while he dodged a Stunning spell.
´Accio my wand!´ said Hermione, pointing the Death Eater´s wand in no particular direction. She waited impatiently for it to come. A few minutes later she heard something whistling behind her, and she turned to see her wand fly miraculously into her hand. She quickly rejoined Ron in the fight.
´Hermione, d´you think you could block those big double doors over there? That seems to be where most of the Death Eaters are coming from.´
´Sure.´ said Hermione. She pointed at the door and all the wall around it caved in, completely blocking the entrance.
´Good. Now we need to start making our way over there.´ He indicated a door over to the right on the far side of the hall.
They began to edge towards it, still fighting, then Ron noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that a Death Eater was pointing upwards towards the ceiling above their heads. Glancing upwards, he realised that they were right underneath a candelabra. He grabbed Hermione and dragged her out of the way and they fell to the floor. The candelabra fell feet away from where they lay. Now they were in the open. Thinking fast, Hermione conjured a shield charm and signalled to Ron to get behind her. They walked backwards slowly, Ron stunning Death Eaters here and there from behind the shield. Like that they reached the door and sealed it off. Looking around they found that they were in another corridor.
´Come on.´ said Ron, grabbing Hermione´s hand and running down the corridor. Half way down a door banged open behind them and several Death Eaters came tumbling out.
´Get them!´ shouted one of them, and they all started firing hexes at them.
´Hermione, go!´ shouted Ron, ducking one hex and firing another.
´No, I won´t leave you!´ she shouted, stunning one of the men.
Ron had no time to argue as he dodged again, but this time he knocked into Hermione and they both fell to the floor.
Ron, like Hermione had done earlier, conjured up a shield charm and turned to look at her. She was winded. ´Are you OK?´ he asked.
´No.´ she gasped, clutching her chest. ´But I´ll live.´ She smiled slightly. Ron smiled back, worried, then turned to look at the Death Eaters that were still attacking them. He was too busy keeping the shield up to retaliate, and Hermione couldn´t do anything because she hadn´t gotten over her injury yet. They were stuck.
Suddenly Hermione shouted something and he heard someone yell ´Expelliarmus!´
´What the-?´
´Ron, it´s Draco!´ shouted Hermione again. Ron swung around and, sure enough, there stood Draco beside them, firing curse after curse at the Death Eaters.
´Ron, Hermione, go!´ he yelled, between shouting incantations. ´And turn left!´ Ron didn´t need telling twice. He broke off the shield charm, pulled Hermione to her feet and dragged her as quickly as he could towards the exit. But, for some reason, she was resisting.
´Draco! Draco come on! Ron, we can´t leave him!´ she was yelling desperately, hanging back.
´Hermione go! Go with Ron! I´ll hold them!´ said Draco, stunning another. There were now only three left.
´Hermione, come on!´ shouted Ron, pulling her arm as a stunning spell whistled past and hit the wall behind them.
´But Draco-!´
´Go Hermione!´ Draco thundered.
Ron tugged hard on her arm as she continued to cry Draco´s name, but finally she allowed him to pull her away, still struggling slightly, but he managed to control her. Once they were around the corner she stopped struggling and ran alongside Ron, still breathing heavily. Then they heard a yell behind them and realised they were still being chased. One of the Death Eaters had escaped from Draco.
The man sent a stunning spell that hit Ron, and Hermione tripped over him when he fell. Her wand flew out of her hand as she hit the floor. She rolled over, clearing the hair form her face, and saw the man walking forward, wand in hand and a manic grin all over his face. He began to laugh.
Hermione looked around for her wand, but it was far out of her reach, and by the time she got to it she´d probably be dead anyway. She looked back at the Death Eater, who was now only a few yards away. She had only one hope. With the pretence that she was shielding her face from the curse that the Death Eater was surely thinking about casting, Hermione aimed at a point on the ceiling somewhere above his head, thought the magic word and pointed at the last moment. There was a rumble as the ceiling began to fall in, and the Death Eater looked up, stunned and rooted to the spot. Hermione staggered to her feet and grabbed Ron´s hand and her wand. She dragged Ron´s dead weight as far as she could out of harm´s way and looked back. The Death Eater had dropped his wand and was now being engulfed by the rubble. Dust floated everywhere and Hermione coughed while she revived Ron.
´Come on!´ She said, as soon as he opened his eyes. He leaped to his feet and they both continued to run, just in case more Death Eaters renewed the chase.
Finally they burst through a door and out into the open air, but they didn´t stop. Ron aimed a couple of stunning spells up to the watch tower. By the sound of it one of them hit, but they found that the other hadn´t when someone sent stunning spells back. Hermione whirled around and conjured a brilliant Knock-back Jinx. The stunning spells bounced back and finally the Death Eater was hit.
´Nice one.´ said Ron. Hermione smiled. Then suddenly there was a huge explosion behind them. Both whipped around to see the wing that they had just exited from go up in flames.
´Draco!´ screamed Hermione, dropping to her knees and clutching her face as she stared in horror.
Ron knelt beside her and put his arms around her shoulders. As much as he had hated Draco in the past, he knew that Hermione cared about him as a friend, especially as he had just helped to rescue her. She began to sob into his chest, and he held on to her, resting his chin on her head as he watched the flames burning. Suddenly something caught his eye. The grass near the building was moving, as though there was a mouse or something running through it. Then, when the thing was only a few yards away, there appeared something much larger. It was Draco, crawling through the grass, his face blackened by soot and his robes ripped and torn.
Hermione looked around when Ron tapped her on the shoulder. She let out a little scream and shouted his name again when she saw Draco. She staggered forward and threw her arms around him.
´I thought you were dead! Oh, thank Goodness you´re alright!´ she kissed him on the cheek, and for once Ron didn´t feel jealous.
Then Hermione stood up, as did Draco, and Ron walked forward to stand beside them. One word came out of Hermione´s mouth as she looked towards the eastern wing of the burning monastery. ´Harry.´
They didn´t know how long they waited, whether it was seconds, minutes or hours. All the knew was that the moon was high in the sky and the fire had almost burned out when Draco suddenly let out a yell of pain. Ron and Hermione looked around in shock to see him drop to his knees, clutching his left forearm, his face twisted in agony. It lasted nearly thirty seconds, then it stopped as suddenly as it had started. Draco pulled up his sleeve to look at his Dark Mark, but there was nothing to look at. The skin on his arm was clear and unmarked.
´It´s... it´s gone.´ he stuttered, his voice full of surprise. The other two gathered around him, looking at him in confusion. Then Hermione realised what had been there before and gasped.
´Does this mean...?´ she asked in a whisper. Ron still seemed confused, but then comprehension dawned on his face.
Suddenly there was a loud noise of running and shouting, and looking around they saw a large number of Death Eaters exiting through a door in the East Wing. They all ran to the gates, not noticing the three kneeling on the grass, and opened them, leaving as fast as they could. All went quiet again as they continued to watch the door from which the crowed had just come, waiting fearfully.
Then, some time later, the doors swung open again and a lone figure walked out, standing straight and tall with victory, wand in hand and a long cloak billowing in the wind. But, most importantly of all, even from that distance they could make out the moonlit face and legendary scar of Harry Potter.
There was a knock on the bedroom door and Draco went to answer it. It was Hermione, and he let her in. She stood in silence by the door, watching him add the last few clothes to his trunk. When Draco had finished he turned to look at her.
´Must you go Draco?´ She whispered, still standing where she was.
´Yes Hermione. I need a fresh start. My job is done here.´ He said quietly.
She watched him sadly, but no tears came. And there´s no reason for them to come, thought Draco, not since the end of Voldemort. He went over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. ´I won´t forget you though, you know.´
She nodded, and smiled slightly. It was true that Hermione was the only one he would miss. Nothing made him happier than her smile, the newly returned sparkle of her eyes, the cheerfulness of her laughter. She was the old Hermione again, the carefree Hermione. The best he had ever known. But he had to leave. He had decided that soon after Harry´s victory. He celebrated with the Order and then did his NEWTs in June, waited for his results, which came several days ago, then announced he was leaving. Although everyone was sorry, no one tried to stop him, which he had feared might happen. They all had a feeling something like this might happen, but all they could do was wish him luck, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had reminded him that he was welcome to come back any time.
´Where will you go?´ asked Hermione.
´I don´t know. Definitely far away, somewhere my name isn´t known. A place where I have no history.´ He smiled.
Hermione nodded again. ´Thank you for all your help.´
´There´s no need. It was my destiny.´ he said. ´But you´re welcome anyway.´
Hermione gazed at him, then flung her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. ´I´ll miss you Draco. Will I ever see you again? Will you write to me?´
´I don´t know. I will write to you one day, but I can´t say when. The future is uncertain... Oh, and I want to give you this...´ He went to his bedside cabinet and pulled a small parcel out of the drawer. ´I´d like you to open it on your birthday. Seeing as I´m not going to be here...´
Hermione took it, smiling. ´Thank you. I´ll put it away for then. I promise I won´t open it before.´
Draco smiled back, then turned and heaved his trunk off the bed. He dragged it to the door.
´Well, I guess this is goodbye.´ He said, turning back to face her.
´Yes.´ she said, holding back tears.
´Take care of yourself. And don´t worry about me.´
She nodded. ´You too.´
´I love you.´ Draco studied her face for one last time, then kissed her forehead and left the room, leaving the door open.
Hermione stayed where she was, still gazing through the open doorway as she listened to him pulling the trunk down the stairs. Then she heard him saying goodbye to the Weasleys, and finally the kitchen door open. She went over to the window to look out and saw him making his way a little down the garden path, between the beds full of summer flowers. He turned around for one last look at the house and the Weasley´s standing at the door. His eyes wondered up to the window and saw Hermione. He smiled and waved, then turned on the spot and disapparated, still holding his trunk. A single tear ran down Hermione´s cheek.
Dear Hermione.
Well, I promised to write to you one day, and although it has been ten years to the day we last saw each other, I have kept that promise.
I visited England recently and found out as much as I could about you. I always knew you would marry Ron one day, and I´m sure you are very happy. I also heard about your two children (I expect they are as beautiful as you) and that you have written several books, including Harry´s biography. I´ve read all of them, and congratulate you on doing so well. I would also like to congratulate Harry and Ron for becoming such brilliant Aurors.
As for myself, I am also married to a lovely muggle-born named Laila and we have three children, a boy and two girls. I love them more than anything else in the world and nothing makes me happier than seeing them running into my arms every evening when they come home from school. In several years time Adam, the eldest at seven, will be starting at the Green Wand Magical Academy, Queensland, to begin his magical education. That is where Laila learned and he can´t wait to go.
As for my job, I completed my education and also became an Auror, but while it´s quiet at the moment I work at a Dragon reserve nearby, which I really enjoy doing. The best thing about being here though is that nobody knows of my family history, so I no longer feel separate from the crowd. I also changed my surname before I got married, so I am now Draco Mallory. It may sound like a strange thing to do, but I couldn´t bear to keep the name of the murderer who called himself my father, even less let my wife and children have it.
So now that we have been separate for all these years and we have both created new lives out of the ruins they once were, I would like to renew our friendship. It would be wonderful to hear from you again, and maybe even one day we could see each other, and you could meet my family and I could meet yours. I only ask this because you, Hermione, I will always love. You are the best friend I ever had, my sister almost. And I will never forget you, whether ten, fifty or a hundred years pass by. I will never forget you.
So now all I can do is await your reply, and hope it brings good news. In the meantime I will continue to live this life and enjoy every new day as if it is my last, because if it were not for you that day you called me back when I was about to jump, I wouldn´t have any of this now, because that day was the day I started to live. Rebirth was the gift you gave me Hermione, and I am forever grateful.
Wishing you all the love and joy and happiness in the world,
Draco.
Draco read through the letter one last time, then, finally satisfied that it was perfect, he rolled it up and tied it to his owl´s leg. He carried the owl to the window on his arm, then it took off and flew gracefully towards the horizon. He watched it until it was a tiny black speck, then finally it disappeared and he turned away, smiling contentedly to himself. Just then Laila walked through the door carrying their youngest daughter, Bonnie, and wearing a smile to match his own. They embraced and kissed each other lovingly, and Draco ruffled Bonnie´s curly blonde hair. Then all three of them left the room to meet the other two children coming home from school.
THE END
From the mind of J.K. Rowling and N.P.G. (AKA Anya)