A/N: Just a few more chapters to go! I'm excited/nervous to share the ending with you. I'll admit, I kind of put this story on the back burner a couple months ago, but I've been listening to this amazing song that literally screams Draco/Hermione (at least, the way they are in this story) and it completely restored my motivation. I'll share the song at the end of this chapter. Enjoy!

Draco flipped through the pages mindlessly and endlessly. After seeing Hermione and Severus safely home from the ambush, he'd detoured to the wizarding archives in search of information on the little ghost girl Olivia and her family. The young man didn't what to expect going in, but he definitely did not foresee this strange turn of events. As it turned out, Olivia was a Forbes.

Just like Richard.

Just like William.

…Just like Leanne.

It had been years since Draco had thought of her — of Leanne. So much had happened since those days. So much had changed. Their whirlwind relationship had been short-lived, and yet, her departure had been rough on him. He remembered vowing to find her after the war was over, but that obviously had not panned out. If Leanne wanted to be found, she would have left him with something — a clue or a note or anything remotely helpful.

But she had no done that.

One day, they'd been all over each other and the next day, she was gone.

Draco had blamed William for a long time, knowing William had played an integral role in Leanne moving back to America. Perhaps William didn't approve of the relationship, being the protective brotherly figure that he was. Perhaps Draco had unknowingly mistreated her in some way, shape or form. Or perhaps the rumours were true, and William harboured unnatural feelings for his cousin.

She was a beautiful girl. She was a smart girl. But Draco couldn't fathom a single reason why Leanne swear off her family and run away like that, even to please her overbearing cousin. Something had to have happened.

The wizard gathered several documents under his cloak and proceeded out of the archives, passing through the grand double doors and into wizarding Britain with every intention of finding the truth. His research had led him to one resounding fact. Olivia's home was the place Geraldine Forbes had been murdered all those years ago — and the place Cissy had been held after her kidnapping — which meant one thing.

The Forbes had his daughter.

Not only that, Leanne had his daughter.

She had to have been the girl in the ambush. She had to have been the one in Nott's vault, the one that shed that long, dark strand of hair. Severus had told him about the hair and the way the girl looked. Everything fit. The pieces fell perfectly into place. But amidst that discovery was the underlying question.

What could Leanne want with his daughter?

There had been no claims for ransom. There had been no communication between them and the kidnappers, since the initial letter sent to Hermione's flat.

Draco ran both hands through his hair, having Apparated to the flat. It was nighttime, and most of the occupants were either sleeping or tucked away in their separate rooms. Ron and Gemma had taken the master bedroom, Severus and his girlfriend in the guest bedroom, and Hermione in their daughter's room, leaving Draco the sofa.

He collapsed onto the beaten leather and felt the day's chaos wear down on him. It had been nonstop since the previous night. First with the letter. Then with going to Olivia's home. Followed closely by the incident in Gringotts. His trip to the archives was ill-advised, given the exhaustion that had been weighing down on him since Cissy's disappearance, but he couldn't sit still and do nothing. He had to keep going. He had to keep searching. He had to find her.

"You're back," Hermione voiced, moving into the lounge with her day clothes still on. She clearly had not slept. "I was worried."

Draco tilted his head in her direction, making room for her as she sat on the other end of his sofa. It was eerily quiet. The others were asleep. There were no sounds coming from outside — no voices, nothing — just the ambiance of midnight.

"How is Severus?" he asked.

The expression on Hermione's face showed there had been no complications as far as their former Potions Master's recovery went. "He's making good progress. I'm sure he'll be up and running in a couple days."

"That's good," Draco commented, thinking back to the state they found him in and the possibility of who had done it. "I found some interesting information in the archives."

"Did you?"

He nodded. "I — I'm not sure if you remember but William had a cousin in Sterling Harbour named Leanne."

Hermione blinked. "Your girlfriend."

"Barely."

"Continue," she prompted.

Draco swallowed, knowing his next words were important. "It turns out Olivia is a Forbes girl, which means —"

"The Forbes' are involved," Hermione interjected, speaking with relief rather than repulsion. There was finally a lead in this game of cat and mouse. "And you think Leanne has something to do with it."

"Yes," he confirmed, speaking gravely. "But I have no idea why, only that the facts are pointing in her direction. It — It just doesn't make sense."

Hermione gave him a knowing look. "Her cousin died because of me. It makes perfect sense for her to be involved in our daughter's disappearance."

"Leanne swore off her family all those years ago," Draco continued. "If she cared about William or about Richard, she would have come back."

"Didn't you tell me William took her from you?" Hermione furthered, recalling one of their previous conversations. "She obviously cared enough to leave with him."

Draco considered this. The cousins had been very close, as far as he could remember, but Leanne was even closer with her Uncle Richard. She would not have let her uncle for just any reason under the sun. There had to be something bigger at play, something he didn't know about.

"Listen," Hermione carried on. "I know this must be difficult, having to wrap your head around the fact that the girl you loved could quite possibly be involved in our daughter's disappearance but —" She exhaled. "I know what you're going through. You're not alone."

Her words resonated with him. She was, of course, speaking about Nott. They were in the same boat. People they had once trusted, betrayed them in the most unforgivable way. But there was one thing wrong about what Hermione had said.

"I didn't love Leanne," Draco uttered, turning to his former flame. The brunette was dressed in simple clothes — jeans and a white, long-sleeved shirt — but it was simplicity that made her beautiful. "Apart from our daughter and my parents, I've only ever loved one person." Her facial features softened. The world around them grew smaller and smaller. "I still do."


Hermione breathed in. His words repeated in the depths of her mind. She couldn't resolve to ignore it anymore — the tension between them. It started in Olivia's bedroom, when he kissed her, and it had now come full circle. There was something to be said about all the moments she thought of him instead of Nott, even before she found out Nott was crooked, even before Cissy had been kidnapped. Her bond with Draco — her love for him — had not suffered in the wake of their divorce.

The only thing that suffered was Narcissa Malfoy II. Her parents were practically kids when they had her. Neither of them had ever been in love before. Neither of them knew how to build the foundation of a happy, healthy relationship — alongside a happy, healthy environment for their daughter. It was one or the other, and they chose the latter.

But they weren't kids anymore.

All that remained of their painful separation were memories, memories that tore into Hermione's thinly veiled defiance and memories that haunted her in the late hours of the night. She remembered everything. She remembers their petty feuds. She remembered waking up one morning, relieved that Draco had already gone to work. She remembered craving the days without him. She remembered the moment it hit her — the moment she realized their relationship was suffering. She remembered the argument that ended it all.

But none of those memories burned brighter than the moment she first realized she loved him.

It was during their stopover in Sterling Harbour, after William had turned on her. In that moment, she did not think about her parents or her fallen allies. She thought about him. She thought about Draco. She craved him. She needed him.

More than that, he was there for her.

Through everything, he was there for her.

The feeling tugged and twisted her heartstrings. She turned to him, on the sofa, in the middle of her flat, and found those smoky orbs gazing back at her. The distance between them remained but there was a level of understanding and intimacy that drew their souls together, even when their bodies were apart.

Hermione pressed her eyes shut, hating the way she still craved him, the way she still needed him.

"I'll never forgive myself for letting you go," he confessed, speaking softly. "I hope you know that."

"It's not your fault. We — We were both so young and so idealistic. We had no idea what we were doing." She spoke with honesty, with genuine, heartfelt emotion. "If anything, we're both to blame."

Draco faced her. "That's not the point," he disagreed. "I shouldn't have left the way I did. I should have fought for you."

"You did fight for me," Hermione countered, recalling all those moments, moving closer to him. "The proof is right here," she whispered, using her hand to feel for the jagged scar along his back, from Fenrir Greyback's attack.

The scar was hidden beneath his black dress shirt, but she had been with him enough times to know his body. It was easy to find, easy to feel, easy to imagine the manner in which Draco had saved her that first time. She hated being a damsel in distress, as she had mentioned to him during the beginning stages of their bond with one another, but part of her loved being his damsel — part of her loved being his Sleeping Beauty.

The wizard laced their fingers together, as her hand drifted from his back. They had not touched like this, without confusion or without guilt, in quite some time. It came with ease. It came with experience. It came with understanding, and in an unexpected maneuver, he bent down and pressed his lips on both her wrists.

Her pulse quickened. She knew he could feel it. Beyond that, she wanted him to feel it. She wanted him to know.

"You're a fighter, too," Draco spoke, releasing one hand to feel along her left forearm, where she had a marking identical to his.

It had faded since Voldemort's defeat, but it was still there. It would always be there. She breathed in, unsteadily, having covered her Dark Mark for the better part of the past five years. It brought her pain. It brought her misery. But it was also a reminder for everything they had done, everything they had sacrificed to end Tom Riddle's fragmented life.

Draco traced the skull with the bud of his thumb, watching as the snake hissed and slithered away from him, overtop of the veins in her forearm, the same veins that pumped faster and harder the longer he touched her.


Gemma tip-toed into the master bedroom, careful not to make a sound on her way back from the loo. She heard voices coming from the lounge, belonging to Draco and to Hermione. It was no secret that Hermione's former boyfriend, Theodore Nott, had kidnapped Cissy and by doing so, ended their relationship. This meant, despite everything, Hermione was single.

It was insensitive, but Gemma couldn't help the giddiness that erupted in her gut every time she imagined her favourite couple — other than herself and Ron — getting back together. She had been cheering for them since the early days. There was something remarkable about their bond, about their connection.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Ron asked, sitting wide awake with his back against the headboard.

Her face blanched. "N — No," she denied. "Why would I eavesdrop?"

The red-haired wizard gave her an obvious look. "Any progress?"

"So much," Gemma blurted, clapping a hand over her mouth as soon as the words left her lips. She giggled then, noticing the amusement in Ron's face. "I think they're well on their way."

"I hope so," her husband remarked, lifting the covers for her as she climbed back in bed. "All the sexual tension makes me hungry."

"Is there anything that doesn't make you hungry?" Gemma scoffed.

Ron paused in thought. "Spiders," he decided. "Definitely, spiders."


The song is a mashup called "Forbidden Love" featuring the artists CHVRCHES, , Bastille, Avicii, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Marina. I'm not sure who made the mix, but I found the song on the YouTube channel "bvnny" so I'm sure you can find it if you do a quick search on YT. If not, feel free to message me and I'll send you a link.

It's kind of a cluster fuck of a bunch of different things (as most mashups are) but there is one resounding emotion, and it's love that you can't avoid no matter how hard you try. To me, that's exactly what Hermione and Draco are going through, and have been going through since the beginning.

Give it a listen! It's a great mashup. Trust me.


A/N: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to tell me what you think/what you hope will happen.

Cheers

xo.