All eyes were on her and she burned under their intense stare. The room was packed as she slowly told her story. This was not something she had wanted to talk about, not in front of so many people, both friends and strangers, she wasn't sure which was worse. But he had saved her life, so she would save his. That was just the way things worked.

She told them of how he had married her to protect her from other death eaters, how he had kept her safe after she was captured, even putting his own life on the line for hers. She told them of how he had let her go before anyone could come use her against Harry, and then she told them of what he had done at the final battle, how he had turned against Voldemort, killing his aunt and helping her hold off the death eaters while Harry finished off the Dark Lord. It was a long story, but although she started it in a shaky voice, the more she talked, the move she convinced even herself that this man should not be in Azkaban. By the time her story ended, her voice had returned to its strong, confident self.

As she finished her story, the ministry questioner stood.

"One cannot help but wonder, Miss Granger, about the accuracy of your testimony. I have to admit it seems unlikely. Has he paid you to lie for him? Has he tricked you into loving him? Are you only insinuating that he helped defeat Voldemort so that you look less like a traitor for marrying him?"

"No!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Granger, but.."

"Mrs. Malfoy," she interrupted. This trial had been over before it had even began. They had decided that he was guilty and nothing she could say could change their minds.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Malfoy, but your testimony alone cannot be counted as a credible account of events. If there is no one else that will..."

"I will," a voice came from the back of the room. Everyone looked up as Harry Potter confidently strode to the front of the room. "I will back up her testimony."

And there it was. No one could accuse Harry Potter of being a traitor. No one could doubt his testimony, no one could go against his word. To do so would be heresy. He was, after all, a hero. The hero. And although people might wonder in their own minds if he was just defending this man in order to save his best friend from prosecution as a traitor, they would never voice these thoughts.

He could vouch for no part of her story but the last part. However, it was the last part that mattered the most. It was in the last part that showed how Draco had decided the outcome of the final battle, how perhaps even more than Harry, he had been crucial in bringing down the Dark Lord. Harry told them that this one act of defiance meant more than years of loyalty. He wasn't sure that he believed it himself, but if he said it out loud, then everyone else would believe it without question. His power made him sick, but he exploited it anyway.

The jury conferred for only moments before the decision was read.

"You're free to go, Mr. Malfoy. Your properties and funds will be released from Ministry control within the next few days."

He walked out of the courtroom, half expecting someone to stop him, tell him it was all a mistake, and bring him back to Azkaban. Once he reached the hallway, he stood there, not knowing which way to go. Which way could he go? He had no money or property at the moment. He had betrayed his friends and allies. Where could he go until he could access his money?

"You can stay with me for a few days," a quiet female voice said behind him.

He shook his head and didn't even turn around. "You're already done too much for me."

"Then do this favor for me."

What choice did he have?

"Fine," he conceded and let her apparate them both away, both to Grimmauld Place.

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Harry had given him a room to stay in until his accounts were cleared and properties were returned. He had spent most of his day avoiding the two other occupants of the house. He sat by the fire, sipping his firewhisky and trying not to think of the woman in the room next to his.

There was a tapping at the window and he opened it to let the owl in. The owl dropped a letter in his hand which he opened and read. It was from the ministry, his assets had been cleared faster than expected. It was too late to do anything about it tonight. He would stay the night and leave in the morning. His thoughts once again drifted to the woman next door. This might be the last time he ever saw her. It was late, but he could hear her moving around in the next room. He wanted to taste her, to touch her one last time.

He crept into the hallway and softly knocked on her door. The surprised look on her face when she answered told him that he was obviously not who she expected to see. She took a step back and he followed her into her room, shutting the door behind him. He pushed her against the wall and lowered his lips to hers, kissing her desperately, letting her feel what he felt for her, what he could never say to her. He picked her up and carried her to the bed, setting her down on it and slowly stripping away her nightclothes. As he ran his hands over her breasts, he tried to memorize every touch, every sound she made so that he could replay them in his memory after he was gone.

When they were done, she reached for him, to hold him, but he pushed her arm away. He couldn't spend the night in her bed and then leave in the morning. If would be easier this way. He pushed the door open and returned to his room as she lay awake on her bed and scolded herself for ever thinking that there could be more between them than sex. She had thought maybe, after all he had done for her, that maybe he could love her, that maybe he had done it all out of love. This didn't seem to be the case. How could she really think that he had changed that much?

But there was something, something in the way he looked at her that night, something in the way that he had made love to her that had made her think it was a possibility, but just when she allowed herself that tiny bit of hope, he had pushed her away and gone back to his own room. She was a fool for thinking it could ever be anything more with him. It was just sex, it always had been.

xxxxxxxxx

When he walked into the kitchen the next morning, Harry was sitting at the table drinking coffee and reading the paper while Hermione stood at the counter absent-mindedly playing with her tea bag. He walked over to her and spoke quietly.

"I just wanted to let you know that the ministry has released my Gringotts accounts. I'll get out of your way now, let you get back to your life. If you want, you can ask the Ministry for a divorce. I won't stop you."

She nodded, but continued playing with her tea bag instead of looking at him.

"Do you want some breakfast before you leave?" She asked softly.

"No. I really need to get going."

She nodded again, still not looking at him and he turned to leave, but found that Harry had gotten up from the table and was blocking the doorway.

"So you're going to leave without telling her?" Harry hissed at him.

"Get out of my way, Potter."

"We had a deal."

"And I'm breaking it. Get out of my way."

"Not until you tell her. She deserves to know," Harry said, standing his ground.

"Tell me what?" She asked with a hint of trepidation, looking up from her tea bag to the conflict at the doorway.

Harry said nothing but continued to stare intensely at Draco.

"Tell me what?" She repeated louder this time, bordering on anger.

"Tell me what, Draco?"

"That I love you," he said angrily, still facing Harry, still with his back turned to her.

He heard a snort of laughter from behind him.

"Yeah, good one."

Wasn't this what he had expected?

"It's true, He confessed under veritaserum."

She advanced past Draco to face Harry.

"You did what?" Her voice was low and deadly.

"I had to know, Hermione. I had to know what I was letting you do."

Draco took this moment of distraction to slip past Harry and through the door. He could hear her footsteps behind him, he could hear her voice calling his name, but all he wanted to do was get out of there. He had said it and she had laughed at him. Wasn't that exactly what he had expected? Wasn't that exactly why he hadn't told her?

When Hermione didn't come back inside the house, Harry opened the front door. He found her sitting on the front steps, her head buried in her hands. He sat down next to her.

"He apparated. I don't know where he went."

"You love him too, don't you?"

She closed her eyes.

"He told me he loved me and I laughed at him. I just didn't think….I didn't think it was possible."