Chapter 11- I Love You

Disclaimer: I have not ever owned Harry Potter, I do not own Harry Potter, and I won't ever own it either.

"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul."
― Judy Garland

UPDATED: 12 August, 2016

The time had come. The world was dark. Everyone was running. Everyone was hiding. People were being murdered. Lovers were being separated from each other. Power took command. Purebloods became strong. Mudbloods were wrong. Death Eaters were taking over. You-Know-Who was getting stronger. The time finally came, the time to die.

Draco was lying on his bed, his body covered in wounds. His eyes were blood red and had bags under them. He slowly got up and picked his wand up from the night stand. He flicked it over his wounds muttering an incantation he had learned from the book 'Healing for beginners'. He flinched as his wound slowly began to close up. He wanted to scream in pain but the Dark Lord was downstairs and he didn't want him to hear his scream. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and stuffed it in his mouth. He flicked his wand over his wound, once again, but this time he did scream. He yelled, he shouted but all the noise was muffled by the handkerchief. Few tears dropped from his eyes as his wounds began to close.

After a few painful minutes, he took the handkerchief out from his mouth and got up. He placed his wand on the night stand and went to stand near the window. Looking over the Malfoy family garden, he saw his aunt disposing the body of a Death Eater in one of the bushes and then laughing at him. He sighed. He knew she would never understand, she was blinded by her lust for the Dark Lord. As far as he remembered, he had never seen her act like a normal person.

"Draco," he heard a soft voice from the door and turned to see his mother standing there. "Are you okay?" Narcissa asked hesitantly.

Draco smiled a little and shook his head, "I don't think I'll ever be okay."

Narcissa felt her eyes fill with tears, "Don't say that Draco, we'll get through this I promise. Just trust your father and..."

Draco let out a sarcastic laugh, "Father! Really! Do you really this that he is going to protect us? Do you really think that he'll man up in a day or two and actually protect his family? No, he won't. He's a coward, he is letting You-Know-Who live in our house, our home while he is hiding in his study. He won't do anything..."

Narcissa shook her head vigorously, "He will do some..."

"He won't!" Draco said sternly, "And because of that I have decided that I'll become the man and protect you, mum. I won't let any Death Eaters near you."

Narcissa shook her head again, "No, you are going to Hogwarts in a week and.."

"I know that I have to go but when I come back and even see one tiny scar on you, I will make sure that they don't live to see the sun, the next day," he enclosed his mother into a hug while she sobbed on his chest.

"You have to go, you both have to run away and it's the only option," Astoria said, looking at her father.

"It's not. We can easily stay here. Our house is safe. The ministry..." Cepheus said.

"No! The Minister of Magic is dead. Mum is not safe. She is a muggle-born and she has been called into the ministry next week. We don't know what these people are capable of; they could do anything to her. I am just telling you both to run to Germany and live with Orion for a while," Astoria stated.

"What about Daphne and you? We can't just leave both our kids here. What if they interrogate you about me? What if they do something to you, Astoria? I won't be able to forgive myself if something happened to both of you," Margaret said, sobbing on Cepheus chest.

"Your daughter is going to be a hit witch and Death Eaters don't scare me, mum. I'll protect Daphne. But right now, I only care for you and you need to get out of here before they do something bad. Please," Astoria pleaded.

Cepheus looked at Astoria, a hint of pride and pain filled in his eyes, "Will you be mad at us if we go?"

Astoria smiled and said, "No. In fact I'll love you more than ever. Here, take this." she took a coin out of the pocket of her school bag and gave it to Cepheus. "This is a coin which will help me in contacting you. We used similar coins in our fifth year. So, if there will be any type problem you'll know."

"But..." Margaret said, still sobbing.

"Astoria is right. Trust her, she is doing this for your protection," Cepheus whispered gently in Margaret's ear.

In a matter of three hours, Margaret and Cepheus had apparated to Germany where they would live with Orion, for the time being.

"What now?" asked Daphne, as she looked around the empty house.

"No idea!" Astoria sighed.

"Don't you have a plan?" Daphne asked.

"No," Astoria said biting her lip, "We should start packing. The Hogwarts express leaves in a week."

"Do you think Hogwarts will be the same?"

"With Snape as Headmaster I don't think so," Astoria stated.

Astoria was right. The train ride back to Hogwarts had explained everything and everyone knew, it was only the beginning.

"Where's is Dean? I didn't see him anywhere," Astoria asked as she entered the compartment occupied by Neville, Ginny and Luna and sat down next to Ginny.

"On the run," Ginny whispered, eyeing the Death Eaters roaming the corridors of the train. Immediately the door opened and a Death Eater swaggered in their compartment. He was almost six feet tall and had wild dark brown hair which was in a ponytail. He had crooked teeth and an evil glint in his eyes.

"Greengrass!" He shouted. Astoria flinched hearing her name but with all the courage she could muster looked towards him. "Where's that mudblood mother of yours, eh? They didn't show up at the ministry."

Astoria had merely shrugged her shoulders when the Death Eater grabbed her and pulled her out of the compartment and towards the area where the other Slytherin's where sitting. "Let go," Astoria shouted. Many head popped out of the respective compartments to see what was happening.

"Let her go," Neville said, his wand pointing directly towards the man.

"I am not going to do anything to her. She is a Slytherin and should sit in her side of the train; therefore I am taking her there. Now put your wand down," he replied.

"First, let go of her hand," Neville stated sternly. The Death Eater did so and turned around ordering Astoria to follow him. After a few minutes the man opened the door and beckoned her to sit in the compartment which had only one other occupant.

"Oi! Malfoy, see to it that she doesn't leave this compartment. I'll bring the Veritaserum in a few minutes and then we can hear the truth about where her fucking parents are," the Death Eater banged the door shut and went away. Draco looked at Astoria and she looked back at him. Their lips weren't moving but they were having a conversation through their eyes.

"Greengrass... I..." Draco started.

"Don't, please. I don't want to hear it," Astoria stated firmly, trying to concentrate on the view outside the window.

Draco took a deep breath and said, "I didn't kill him, I couldn't. He offered to help me... I wasn't able to accept it... I was scared... He said that he'll kill everyone I love. I... am sorry. I wish I could change what happened. I do, please forgive me Greengrass."

"You still disarmed him. That's equally bad," she replied, looking towards him now.

"No one even wants to look at me. I am talking about those who are in Slytherin. They all think I am a coward who wouldn't follow You-Know-Who's wishes. Huh! What do they know? They don't have the Dark Lord living in the room, of their house, down the hall," Draco mumbled. "They don't know how it feels when your family is being threatened. They have no idea how it feels to hear from the Dark Lord about how he is going to kill my mother or father or someone else. Is this what my life will be? I not allowed to love because of this, I wouldn't want to risk her life. I am not allowed to be me but a mere slave," Draco said, directly looking into her eyes.

"I..." Astoria began but was interrupted by the opening of the door of the compartment. The Death Eater was back with a glass filled with some kind of liquid. He swaggered towards her and pulled her up. He towered her while pushing the glass towards her mouth, "Come on love, drink up."

"No," Astoria snapped, her eyes closed, as she tried pushing him off her. Suddenly she felt the Death Eater not next to her anymore; she opened her eyes and saw Draco talking to him while the Death Eater looked her up and down. She felt disgusted by this and tried to relax herself. She heard the door close and looked up to see Draco holding the glass.

She shook her head vigorously but before she could say anything Draco came towards her, opened the compartment window and threw the potion out. Astoria looked at him, flabbergasted. Draco looked at her expression and smirked, "Nobody has to know." Saying that, he exited the compartment, leaving Astoria with a smile on her face.

"This year we have two new teachers in staff, Amycus Carrow and Alecto Carrow as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and the Muggle Studies teacher. We have some changes taking place in Hogwarts this year; Muggle Studies has been made compulsory for everyone. Any kind of rule breaking will not be tolerated and the person will have to deal with its consequences. Furthermore, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds for all students and there should be no strolling around the corridors after curfew. Our Head Boy, Mr Draco Malfoy and Head Girl, Ms Pansy Parkinson along with the prefects, will see to it that no rule breaking takes place. I advice you all to be wise in your actions and have caution in whatever conduct you take. Now, off to bed," Snape said in a serious tone and turned to exit the hall along with all the teachers.

All the students exited the Great Hall; it felt as if all the life had been sucked out of Hogwarts. It seemed like it had been infected by some kind of disease causing it to feel low like a child with fever. Everyone had the knowledge that no muggleborn had returned to school and this made them angrier than ever.

Later that night in the Slytherin Common Room when everyone had gone to bed, one boy remained sitting on his comfy armchair, by the fire, while sipping a cup of hot chocolate that he asked the house elves to make for him when he had been patrolling. Draco sighed and rested his head on the chair, trying to distract himself from the thoughts of his mother's protection.

"What are you doing here?" Draco looked up to find Astoria standing next to him, her hair was in a high pony tail and she was wearing a blue t-shirt and sleeping pajamas.

He simply shrugged his shoulders and averted his gaze towards the fire. She sat in the chair opposite to him and looked at him curiously.

Draco narrowed his eyes and said, "What Greengrass?! Haven't you ever seen a person drink hot chocolate?"

Astoria made a face and mimicked his sentence which made Draco chuckle. "Anyways," Astoria smiled and continued, "I just wanted to thank you for today. Yet, I am a bit curious Draco."

Draco smirked and looked at her, "You called me by my name, that's something new."

Astoria scowled and said, "Will you just listen already! I wanted to know why you didn't follow what that man told you to do."

Draco took a sip of the hot chocolate and sighed again, "I didn't like the way he looked at you. His eyes had some kind of forbidden desire that I didn't like. Bloody fucking bastard, has absolutely no respect for anyone, especially women. I have seen him look at my mother with a lustful gaze, too. He is nothing but a shameless prick."

"I understand why you feel so about your mother but why me? I am not anything to you," Astoria said.

Draco felt his heart sink; he remembered how he had removed the memory of them being together from her mind, he didn't regret it but a part of him wondered how she would've reacted if she remembered everything. Probably they would have been something more than just two Slytherin's. "You are not, you are something and I just need to find out what that something might be," Draco stated.

"Oh. Cool… I guess," Astoria said, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. "I should go to bed, you should go, too."

"Yeah." She briskly walked toward the girls' dormitory and closed the door. He took a long sip of his drink and departed towards his dormitory, too.

As the year commenced, everything began to change even more. A month after the new school session had begun; the new teachers started showing their true colours.

"A first year got detention. She is called to the dungeons tonight to suffer her punishment by Alecto Carrow, herself. What do you think might happen?" Neville asked Astoria during lunch.

"I have a bad feeling about this. I think I should see what they are going to do tonight," Astoria said, taking a small bit of the sausage kept on her plate.

"Don't go alone. On the other hand, I'll go with you," Neville said.

Later that night, Astoria and Neville had been hiding behind a tapestry in the dungeons waiting for the Carrow's to come.

"Here they come," Neville whispered.

Alecto and Amycus Carrow were swaggering down the dungeons corridor with the little first year Hufflepuff behind them, walking with her head bowed down. Behind her, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were walking. Malfoy's face looked as if he was petrified and Crabbe and Goyle had a victorious smile on their face.

They all entered a room at the end of the corridor and closed it. Neville and Astoria silently came out of the tapestry and went near the door to hear what was happening.

"Please, don't do this. I beg you, please professor," the little girl sobbed.

Alecto laughed and said, "Little girl, children like you deserve punishment. Malfoy I am giving you a chance to impress the Dark Lord, to make the Dark Mark in your hand hiss with pride. Take your wand out and do the honours."

Draco looked at her with a weak eyes, pleading for the girl's mercy. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then took his wand out of his and pointed it towards the little girl. She was standing against the corner of the wall, her cheek had tears stains on them and her eyes were red due to all the crying. Draco swallowed hard and was about to say the spell when he suddenly saw the little girl sitting on the floor, her knees pressing against her chest and she was sobbing her heart out. He lost it; he lowered his wand and turned to face the Carrow's.

"I can't do it. I..." before he could finish his sentence, a stunning spell knocked him out.

"Good job, Crabbe. A useless friend you have there, no courage at all. I wonder why the Dark Lord made him a Death Eater; he's even more useless than his father. Come on Crabbe, at( )least you could make the Dark Lord proud," Amycus said.

Crabbe nodded and without hesitation yelled, "Crucio." It seemed as if the entire school had woken by the loud shriek of pain of the young girl. Astoria moved to barge into the door but Neville held her tightly from the waist. She could feel her eyes filling with tears as the little girl screamed again and again. Neville immediately lifted her up on his shoulders and hid them both behind the tapestry. He gently put her down and enclosed her in his arms. She buried her head in his chest and sobbed.

After a few minutes the door opened and the Carrow's along with a grinning Crabbe and mortified Goyle came out. Once they were out of sight, Neville hastily wiped Astoria's tears and beckoned her to follow her into the room where the brutal deed took place.

On entering they saw the girl lying unconscious on the ground, her body covered in bruises. They immediately went to her side and tried to wake her up. She stirred but was too weak to even open her eyes.

"We need to take her to Madame Pomfrey and fast," Neville said, brushing a strand of hair off the little girls face.

"She will be in pain if you pick her up. We need some kind of temporary method to lessen it." Astoria looked around the room and then her eyes fell on Malfoy; she got up from her place and sat next to him.

"Astoria! What are you doing sitting next to him? Leave him there," Neville stated.

"He knows a number of healing spells; he helped me during our fifth year, I think he could help her and anyways, he needs help too," Astoria said.

"But he is a Death Eater."

"He didn't attack her, that's good enough for me!" She gently cupped his face and started stroking his hair, "Draco, wake up please. We really need your help here. Please wake up."

After almost five minutes he finally started to stir. He opened his eyes and saw Astoria very close to him. He felt his face heat up and immediately sat up. This action scared Astoria and she fell on the floor. Draco helped her up after finally looking at the situation in front of him.

"I can help," he said, looking at Astoria.

She nodded and sat down next to Neville. Malfoy came and sat down next to her. He lifted his wand from the floor and pointed it towards the little girl. He muttered an incantation under his breath which decreased the little girl's pain.

After a few minutes, Neville picked her up and dashed towards the hospital wing. Astoria was sitting against the wall with Draco, their breathing was fast and they were shivering with fear. They kept looking at each other trying to comprehend why they were part of such an action.

Astoria brought her hands and placed them on Draco's. "You alright?" she asked.
He nodded but she knew that it was all a lie. He was shivering like one shivers on a cold January morning. He slowly got up and started moving towards the Slytherin common room but after a few minutes he returned back to where she was sitting and just kept looking at her until she looked back.

Astoria narrowed her eyes, a playful smile on her face as she saw Draco return, "What?" Draco felt himself smile; he came towards her and offered her his hand. She willingly took it and stood up.

Their smiles began to falter when they saw that they were in a very close proximity of each other. They immediately moved away and smiled awkwardly at each other. "You sure you're alright?" Astoria asked him again.
He looked at her and said, "Yes, I am." Though after saying that, immediately his expression changed and he started rubbing his left arm. Astoria happened to notice this and moved closer to him. She caught hold of his arm and before he could resist her touch, she moved the sleeves of her robes.

Her eyes were wide with fear, she immediately let go of his hand and looked at him. Her eyes were filled with tears which Draco didn't understand why. Before he could explain anything, she ran out of the room and away from the Slytherin common room. He was confused, he didn't understand why she reacted this way but then he remembered what he had done. He felt the ground below his feet slip away. For the first time in his life he wished he was not Draco Malfoy. He wished that his father wasn't what he was. He wished that he was part of an ordinary half-blood or muggleborn or even a muggle because what he felt right now wasn't worth all the magic in the entire world. He wished he hadn't altered her memory because all he knew that was his happiest memory in years and he couldn't share it with her.

In a few days, the situation became worse. More and more kids were being tortured and this angered everyone and thus, a revolt began. And with that revolt, Dumbledore's Army was back. With Neville, Ginny and Luna as the leader, the mass movement was on and this time the members of Dumbledore's Army were thrice as many as they had in the fifth year.

A few days later, Daphne and Astoria were sitting in the common room discussing about the new points they had to bring into light on that day's meeting. Incidentally, Crabbe happened to hear some of this but thanks to his pea sized brain, he didn't understand much.

"What you're planning to do? Tell me or I'll do things to both of you right now, in this very common room," Crabbe said.

Astoria, without any fear, walked straight up to him and stood only about thirty centimeters away. She took her wand out of her robes and placed it on the ground. She looked towards him and placed both her hands behind her head. "Do whatever you want. I am unarmed. You are obviously a pureblood, than obviously you have absolutely no respect for a half-blood like me because according to you I am inferior to you, right? So come on big boy curse me, hex me, kill me." She looked at him for a few minutes, his expression was blank. "What! Don't have enough balls to do anything, eh? I knew you won't do anything with so many people around and even if you had done anything, Daphne wouldn't have let you or even Malfoy was here, he wouldn't have let you."

"That's because Malfoy's a coward," Crabbe shouted, finally finding his voice.

Astoria smiled, "Oh! Is he now? He is braver than you think he is." With that Astoria removed her hands from behind her head, picked up her wand and swaggered towards the couch Daphne was sitting on. But before she sat on it, she had one thing to say, "I know all you Slytherin's hate me and I don't have any problem on that aspect but you all need to stand up for what is right. You can't just hide in the corner and assume everything will be fine. I am sorry but I had to say this because I haven't seen such a huge bunch of cowards in my life. Sorry, but it's the truth."

Most students in the Slytherin common room didn't even listen to what Astoria had said but unknowingly she had great inspired a Slytherin first year boy and he didn't want to be a coward like others, in fact he wanted to be like Astoria.

Later that night, when Astoria and Daphne were sneaking out of the common room the boy interrupted them. They were just going towards the door when he said, "Hello," in a cheerful manner. Astoria looked towards him and then back at Daphne. He had dark brown hair and black eyes, he wasn't very tall and had lovely caramel coloured skin. His teeth were perfectly white and had a smile that could win any girls heart.

"Hi, umm.." Astoria said.

"Hyperion, Hyperion Ortega" he said, extending his hand towards Astoria. Astoria shook it and said, "I am Astoria and this is my cousin, Daphne."

Hyperion nodded, "I know. Saw your encounter with Mr Crabbe and I thought that you were very brave... I want to be like you Ms Astoria; I want to fight against the Carrow's. The Hufflepuff girl, Anna, they cursed is my best friend and I want to fight for her because I only have her as my family."

Astoria heart by only looking at the innocent little boy, "Do you mind if I ask what happened to your parents?"

"Not at all... Umm.. I received a letter a few days ago, it was from my neighbour... She told that she went inside my house and saw my parents... my parents... lying dead on the floor... my little sister was also de... dead," Hyperion hastily wiped the tears from his eyes which were looking towards the floor.

Astoria felt herself tearing up too. She moved and kneeled down in front of him, such that she came face to face with him. She took out her handkerchief from her pocket and wiped away the little boy's tears. She enveloped him into a tight hug, just the way her mum gave her and her brother. The little boy relaxed in her arms and started sobbing, again.

Astoria gently stroked his hair and said, "Hey, you don't have to cry. You have me, I am your family. Okay?"

The little boy smiled and said, "I.. can I join you in stopping the Carrow's, please?" Astoria looked back at Daphne, who also had tears in her eyes. She nodded in approval; Astoria happily took the boys hand in hers and walked out of the Slytherin common room.

As time passed, Astoria grew very close to Hyperion and started considering him her brother, a part of the family who was far away in Germany away from the war. Unaware of what their daughter was going through. Whenever Astoria received any letter from her parents or brother, she had to find a very secretive place to read the letter and write them back. Yet, the worst part was that she couldn't tell them what was going on in her mind or what she was thinking. She had to write a letter filled with lies about how school was and how she or any of her friends were not being tortured every other day. She was miserable.

The situation had become even worse. Professor McGonagall was escorting the Slytherin's to potion class from the Transfiguration class room. Their line was passing by the muggle studies class room and she happened to look inside it. She stopped all the activity she was doing and looked inside. Neville was on the floor, being cursed by Amycus Carrow in the empty muggle studies classroom. She dropped her bag on the floor outside and entered the classroom.

Amycus Carrow happened to look at her at the exact moment, "Ah! Miss Greengrass, how nice of you to bestow us with your presence."

Astoria didn't say anything and kept looking at Neville writhing on the floor. The Carrow noticed this and said, "Come on Ms Greengrass, don't you want to feel the pride when you perform the curse perfectly. I know you do, everyone wants to feel it and I am giving you a chance to come in my good books. So pick up your wand and do your best. I know you want to."

Astoria looked at Professor Carrow although her eyes were emotionless. She took her wand out of her robes and caressed it with her fingers. A few seconds later she looked towards Amycus Carrow, who had an evil glint in his eyes, and raised her wand. Though, it wasn't raised towards Neville but towards him. Before he could do anything, a non-verbal spell hit him right on the chest thereby knocking him onto the wooden cupboard behind him.

She rushed towards Neville and gave him her hand to stand. "Astoria, why did you do that?" he asked.

Astoria looked at him and smiled, "He was cursing you and as long as I live, no one can curse you. You're my best friend, my brother, my family. I cannot see you get hurt."

Neville enclosed her in a hug but quickly withdrew away when he saw slight movement towards the direction of Carrow. "Let's get out of here before you get in any more trouble."

"You know, it was so fun Neville, hexing a teacher. I wish I had done this years ago," Astoria told Neville as the exited the class room.

To Astoria's luck, Snape didn't give her any kind of punishment claiming that no one else had seen that event occur. But after almost an hour of protests from the Carrow's, he decided to give her the task of polishing the trophies kept in the trophy room.

But the Carrow's weren't in the mood of letting go of her. They wanted revenge and they got it, just two weeks before the Christmas holidays. Astoria was sitting in the common room after returning from the room of requirement. She hadn't disappeared like the others but she wanted to. She was sitting on an armchair, in front of the fireplace, while trying to write a letter to her parents and waiting for Hyperion to return to the common room. She hadn't seen him the entire day and was getting quite impatient. She got up to see if he was in his dormitory but was interrupted by a loud shriek. She had recognised the voice immediately.

She quickly ran out of the common room and followed the direction of the shrieks. Finding the door, she ran into it without any fear and then, her breath caught in her throat. She saw Hyperion sobbing on the floor and Amycus Carrow was pointing his wand at him.

Astoria also took her wand out of her robes, pointed it at her and shouted, "Let him go! Now!"

"Oh! I am so scared," Amycus exclaimed, sarcastically. "Anyways, if I don't torture him, I need someone else to torture otherwise my hands tend to become ticklish."

"I am ready. Torture me, not him," Astoria said, looking at Hyperion.

"Hmm... not a bad idea. I have seen many torture you and I kind of fancied doing the same, though the only difference is that when I use the curse on you, you'll scream so loud that the whole world might just hear you. How does that sound, love?" Amycus said, snickering.

Astoria moved to where Hyperion was lying and gently picked him up. He wasn't hurt much, but even a little pain Hyperion felt made Astoria's heart ache. She asked Hyperion to leave the room immediately, so that he wouldn't be too scared with everything and like a good little brother, he listened to her. Once he was gone, she closed the door and took a deep breath.

Amycus, like the bastard he was, immediately fired the curse at her and as he had said, he had been right. The power of his curse was more than anyone else. Astoria felt her body being torn apart and it literally took her a few minutes to realize that her body was actually tearing. Small but deep cuts were all over her body once, Amycus had finished. He swaggered towards her, where she was lying on the ground. He lowered his body a little, gathering her long hair in a bunch and pulled it such that her head was at the same height as his mouth. He moved his mouth towards her ear and whispered, "Enjoyed love?" and saying that, he left.

She wasn't even able to move a finger and her head was pounding because of the sudden pulling action. A few minutes hence, she saw Hyperion standing next to her, sobbing. With all the power she could muster, she softly said, "Hyperion, please... go bring some help... I can't bre... breathe properly." He hastily wiped his tears and gave her an assuring nod before running out of the room, leaving Astoria all alone.

After about a few minutes Astoria heard the sound of a three people running towards the room she was in. No sooner did she look up than the door burst open. Daphne, followed by Malfoy, stood by the door, flabbergasted. Both of them rushed towards her. Daphne sat next to her and took her head in her lap and started stroking her hair.

"You okay?" Malfoy asked.

"Of-course! I... I just like lying on the fl... floor of the dungeons for f.. fun," Astoria spat.

Daphne smirked at Draco and he gave her an annoyed look. "We should take her to the hospital wing," Draco said.

But before Daphne could say anything, Astoria interrupted her, "No! Just call Neville or Ginny. Please!" she pleaded.

Daphne nodded and ran out to find them. On the other hand, Draco didn't know what to do. So he did what his instinct told him to. Just like Astoria was lying on the floor, he did the exact same thing and seeing this she actually laughed even though she wasn't in the condition to.

"What a.. are you do..doing?" she asked hissing in pain.

"Looking at you," Malfoy stated firmly.

Astoria narrowed her eyes and sighed, "Fine. So, can you look at my hair?"

Malfoy raised both his eyebrows and smirked, "Why? I have been looking at it for the past six and a half years and its just getting longer and shinier and so... whatever." He looked towards the other side of the room but immediately looked back towards Astoria again who was struggling to keep her eyes open. He moved his hand and entwined the fingers of his hand with hers.

"Hold on, Astoria. It's going to be fine, I promise," he said.

Even in the state where Astoria felt immense pain, she didn't stop mocking Draco. "You called me As..Astoria. My.. na... name."

He moved his other hand to cup her face and said, "A few more minutes, then everything will be back to the way it was."

Astoria, with all her energy, slightly opened her eyes and smiled. Draco felt his heart melt and said, "I'll sing you a song... Okay... Umm.. yeah, here I go. Oh, my poor heart, where has it gone? It's left me for a spell and now you've torn it quite apart. I'll thank you to give me back my heart... I only remember this much."

Astoria smiled, "That's a Celestina Warbeck song, 'You charmed the heart right out of me'. It's mu... mum's fav... favour.. ite."

Draco smiled, gripping her hand more firmly, "Yeah."

"Draco," Astoria said and he looked at her directly in the eyes. "Do..don't let go of m..my ha..hand. Pl..please."

He shook his head and moved to kiss her hand, "I'll never let go, I promise."

That was the last thing Astoria heard after which she fainted. A week later she had woken up. Her wounds were closed and her body was warm but her heart was not at all calm. Neville kept sneaking in the hospital wing for the time Astoria was on bed rest and soon they were all returning back home. Yet, there was a bit of problem when it came to Daphne and Astoria returning home, they couldn't. The Death Eaters knew where their house was and could easily attack both of them while searching for their parents. Thus, they decided to stay in the Leaky Cauldron till the school reopens and this was not a very witty decision on their part.

It had been a few days after Christmas, Daphne and Astoria were sitting in their room listening to Potterwatch. When they heard someone knock at their door. Astoria immediately grabbed her wand and walked slowly towards the doors. She peered out of the peep hole and saw Adrian standing there. Still, she wasn't sure whether he was the real Adrian or some Death Eater who had taken a sip of polyjuice potion with Adrian's hair in it. She looked towards Daphne, who was busy listening to the radio, and then towards the door and finally opened it.

Adrian looked at her and smiled but before saying anything Astoria pulled him inside by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall. She pointed her wand at him, seeing this Daphne came rushing towards them.

"Astoria, what the hell are you..." she shouted.

Astoria interrupted her and said, "Just checking if he is the real one or not. Ask him something personal Daph."

Daphne and Adrian faces turned red, they looked at each other and smiled. "What is my favourite ice cream flavour?"

Adrian smiled and said, "Chocolate Cherry treat with nuts on top." Astoria removed her wand and moved back so that Daphne could come near him. "Astoria, we all need to get out of here. The Death Eaters are going to raid this place."

"And exactly, how did you know that?" Astoria spat.

"A friend told me, come on please. Daphne come with me, please." Adrian pleaded.

Daphne looked at Astoria with pleading eyes and all she could do was sigh and nod. She stretched her hand out for Astoria to hold and immediately, Adrian apparated all three of them, along with their stuff, outside his flat in London. He opened the door for them to enter. No sooner had Astoria entered the room, she saw Draco standing by the kitchen counter, admiring the view outside the window.

"So, he was the one who gave you the information about.. that!" Astoria shrieked.

Draco turned to look at them and rolled his eyes, "Oh, shut up Greengrass. If it wasn't for me, you both would have been thrown out in any dark alley after being used again and again for shagging. So thank me because I just saved your life."

Hearing Draco's explanation, Daphne literally jumped on Adrian. Her hand wrapped around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist. His hands on her back were holding her firmly in position. "I love you Adrian," Daphne whispered in his ear. Her face inches away from his face, their breathing was deep and their faces were red. A smile was creeping on their faces. Adrian grinned, showing his perfect white teeth to Daphne, "I love you too, Daph. I love you so much and that is why I am asking you not to return to Hogwarts. I can't lose you; you are too precious to me. You are my life, my love, my world. I want to see our kids scrunched expression when I kiss you passionately in front of them.." Daphne giggled in his arms, ".. I haven't even made love to you, yet. I have done enough waiting and now it's unbearable. So, what do you say?"

Daphne looked towards Astoria, who gave her a lovely smile. She turned back towards Adrian and said, "What about Astoria? I can't leave her alone."

"Hey, I am not a five year old who can't look after herself. I can take care of myself and I have Neville. Ginny won't be returning, also. But I have to go, I can't leave Hyperion alone, he's my brother. So, you stay here Daph and have fun. Protected fun." Astoria said, laughing.

"Astoria!" Adrian and Daphne yelled. This made both, Draco and Astoria, laugh hard.

Daphne shook her head at their immaturity and smashed her lips on Adrian's. They start snogging passionately and seeing this Draco and Astoria let out an involuntary groan. Draco turned away from the couple and started staring out again as Astoria came and stood next to him.

"Disgusting, aren't they?" Astoria asked him.

"Definitely," he said.

"Why did you saved us?" she asked.

"Shut up. Why wouldn't I?!" he said. He looked towards Astoria, who was smiling while looking towards the floor. "Anyways, congratulations are in order," he said.

Astoria looked up towards him quizzically and asked, "For what?"

"You are going to be an aunt quite soon, I presume." They started laughing once again but their laugh subsided when Daphne threw a pillow at them

"Shut up both of you, when you will fall in love then we'll see," Daphne spat. She turned towards Adrian and whispered, "I haven't seen Draco laugh like that with anyone else. It's quite odd, don't you think?"

Adrian started stroking her cheeks and said, "He's been quite disturbed lately, it's nice that he is happy right now and don't worry Daphne, it's not like they are going to end up getting married or something. He's just got a new friend. A friend who happens to be a girl and that girl happens to be your cousin, Astoria."

Daphne sighed, "You're right."

When they returned back to Hogwarts, it was emptier than ever and the Carrows were angrier. The Room of Requirement was the only safe place in the entire castle. But it was only for the time being. Everyone was injured, they had deep wounds on their bodies but even they didn't lower anyone's enthusiasm to fight the Carrow's. They had immense faith in Harry, Ron and Hermione and they survived each day just to see them kill You-Know-Who. And then their dreams finally became true when Harry walked into the Room of Requirement. A few minutes later when Harry and Luna went out to the Ravenclaw common room and Ron and Hermione went somewhere else.

The door swung opened once again behind everyone who had just got out from it and emerged Cepheus, Margaret and Orion. Astoria's breath was caught in her throat; it was only when Neville pushed her towards her parents she finally understood she wasn't dreaming. All four of them had tears in their eyes; Astoria immediately ran towards them and enveloped them in a hug.

Margaret was crying her eyes out and seeing Astoria covered in wounds made her heart cry, too. "Oh, my baby. I love you, so much. I am never letting you go away from me again; I couldn't even live there properly thinking about you the whole time. I knew you weren't okay and your letters were filled with lies, never do that to your mummy again, never. I love you, I love you, I love you..." Margaret said, kissing Astoria on her cheeks and forehead.

Cepheus and Orion couldn't help but cry seeing the tactics of the woman in their family; they were both one of a kind.

As the fight began, everywhere was a reign of chaos. All the students under the age of seventeen were being escorted out of the castle. Astoria and Neville were running down the corridor, their wands in their hand, hexing any Death Eater or follower of Voldemort coming in their way. A few minutes later they decided to go in different directions and meet ten minutes later, at the same place.

Astoria stormed towards her side and suddenly collided with someone. She looked down and saw Hyperion, hugging her waist tightly. She was astonished by seeing Hyperion still inside the castle. She kneeled down in front of him and wiped his tears away.

"What are you doing here? You should leave right now Hyperion or you'll get hurt, please go," Astoria pleaded.

Hyperion shook him head and then hugged her once again. Astoria got up from the floor and held Hyperion's hand in hers, tightly. She started walking towards the direction Neville had gone. All of a sudden, she collided with someone and she and Hyperion fell on the floor. She looked up to find Draco Malfoy standing there. He gave her a hand but she refused it.

"Whose side are you on?!" she yelled.

"Yours, of-course," he said breathlessly.

She believed him and took his hand. Without warning, a group of Death Eaters surrounded them. With one hand Astoria pulled Hyperion tightly towards herself and with the other, started dueling with them. There were spells flying all around them. Draco and Astoria knocked down several Death Eaters but what they didn't see was that a Death Eater was hiding behind a broken statue, waiting for them to lower their wands so he could attack them.

When they didn't see any more Death Eaters, they started walking the other way. Hyperion was walking just behind Astoria, holding her hand tightly. She looked towards Draco and smiled, she felt that she might just survive the night and looked behind to give an assuring smile to Hyperion but what she saw made her heart stop. Hyperion looked behind also and felt the same.

Everything happened so quickly, that they couldn't even comprehend it. The Death Eater fired the killing curse towards her and she didn't know how but Hyperion jumped in-front of her and got hit instead.

Astoria's heart stopped and she fell next to the limp body of Hyperion. His eyes were blank and seemed as if they were looking towards her but they weren't. He lay on the floor, his hand still in Astoria's hand but it didn't have any life. Hyperion had left Astoria forever. "No! No! No! Hyperion please wake up, wake up. I love you, I love you so much. Please wake up, please!" Astoria sobbed.

"Astoria, let's go from here ple..." before he could complete his sentence a Death Eater came out of nowhere and grabbed him by his collar.

"A traitor as always, aren't you?!" the Death Eater shouted.

"I'm Draco Malfoy, I'm Draco, I'm on your side!" Draco pleaded the masked Death Eater. Suddenly someone stunned the Death Eater. Malfoy looked around, beaming, for his savior, and on spur of moment fell backwards on top of the Death Eater, his mouth bleeding.

Astoria looked towards him; her face was wet because of crying but her eyes spelled anger. "Get away from us, you bloody Death Eater." She gently got up and with all the power she had, picked up the body of Hyperion in her arms and walked slowly away from him.

After a few minutes of walking, Astoria couldn't walk anymore and collapsed on the ground. Unexpectedly someone sat down next to her, it was Neville. All the emotions that she had bottled up inside came flowing out and she started sobbing loudly, he softly enveloped her in his arms and letting her emotions go.

When they got one hour, Neville picked Hyperion up in his arms and took him towards the Great Hall. He placed him next to other bodies and covered it with a cloth. He grabbed Astoria's and took her where Ginny was sitting. Astoria looked towards her line of sight and saw an even worse sight, George sobbing on Fred's body. She looked towards Ginny and enclosed her in a hug while both of them silently cried.

The war was back on, even if Harry was dead they all would fight in his name, they would defeat Voldemort and free the wizarding world. This was something that was going on everyone's mind and they were going to do that very thing.

Astoria had decided that even if this fight becomes her last, she would put all her life in this last duel, the last duel for Harry, Hyperion, Fred, Professor Lupin, Tonks, Colin and many others. She shot a stunning spell at a Death Eater and another spell towards his companion. She turned her head on the other side of the room to find Draco standing just next to her, observing her while she was duelling.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Astoria spat. He opened his mouth but she interfered by saying, "Now do you know which side are you on?!"

He came and stood next to her, taking out his mother's wand out of his robes and shot a stunning spell at a Death Eater. "Now do you know!" He exclaimed.

Astoria smirked at him and held her hand out for him to hold. He understood her indication and quickly grasped her hand. He held her hand very firmly as they together stunned several Death Eaters. But he let go of her hand as soon as his parents found him and enclosed him into a hug but his eyes kept staring at Greengrass, his Greeny, his future wife, his Astoria.

And just like the war had begun it ended with the Voldemort dying by the hand of Harry Potter, the boy who lived himself. The world seemed happier now. It felt that now no bad thing was going to happen, the sun was out again. Everyone was singing, dancing and drinking Butterbeer. Now, they all could feel equal like they used to, like the world should have been.

Astoria was sitting beside Neville, who had his arm around her shoulders and with one hand he had been holding the Sword of Gryffindor. A few minutes hence, she excused herself from the group and walked slowly towards the Malfoy's who were sitting in the corner of the Great Hall.

Draco saw Astoria coming him. He stood up from between his parents and walked towards her. He looked at her and gave her an awkward smile.

"So what now?" She asked.

Draco looked down at her, finally noticing that his six feet stature was towering her delicate five feet and six inched body. "No idea. What about you?" He asked.

Astoria shrugged her shoulders and said, "I think, right now I going to help in rebuilding Hogwarts. It's been my home for the past seven years and I want the kids who'll be coming in September to enjoy as much as I have. So, I will help in converting Hogwarts back to its former glory."

"Sounds like a great plan."

Astoria smiled and said, "Why don't you join me then?" Draco looked towards Astoria and felt his face coming closer and closer to hers. So close that their lips were just millimeters away.

"Mr Draco Malfoy," they stepped away from each other when they saw an auror and a hit wizard standing next to them. With a flick of his wand the hit wizard conjured an invisible rope which tied both of Draco's hands together.

"Since your trials are not over, you and your family are under probation and hence, you cannot exit your house at any cost," the hit wizard said.

Two more people wearing ministry robes came to where they were standing. They yanked all the three Malfoy's away from the Great Hall by the collar of their robes. Draco looked back toward the place where Astoria was standing and gave her a nod before the ministry people disapparated them away from Hogwarts.

"Sometime it feels that I am dreaming while I am in a cell in Azkaban," Draco said smiling.

"Why, dad?" Scorpius asked.

Draco looked towards his kids and said, "I never thought my life would be so... so normal. A beautiful, talented and a bit mad wife and two lovely children. The idea of having my own kids was like a dream that would never come true, I mean it. Which sane woman would've wanted to have her kids with Draco Malfoy?" Draco let out a laugh.

He got up from his chair and darted towards his room. A few minutes later he came down with a small bag in his hand. He sat on his place again and took a small white rectangular box out of the bag. He gently opened the box and in it was kept a very delicate single diamond necklace.

"Wow! It's beautiful dad!" Emily exclaimed and Scorpius nodded.

"Your mum and I don't give each other gifts on Christmas. We go and buy something for both of you but never for each other, make dinner together and then make love at night. Your mum doesn't like gifts that much but this year I couldn't help myself. I was returning home and I passed by the Jenna Jewellers in Diagon and I saw this piece of jewellery. The only thought that came to my mind was that how will this necklace look on your mum's neck and I had to buy it."

"Mum's still not back," Scorpius said looking at the time.

"It's odd, your mum never take this long to finish shopping. Let's wait for another ten minutes, even then if Astoria doesn't return, I'll go to Diagon Alley to see what is taking her so long, okay."

Draco sighed, it had been more than two hours and the sun was setting. He was getting even more worried than he already was.

Song: Trading Yesterday- Shattered

A/N: I am so sorry for the late update, my exams were on and now as they are over I am back. Anyways, thank you everyone so much for the lovely reviews. I love you all. So, I just want to say that I wish you all have fun reading this chapter. I will be back with more of the soon.
P.S.- Don't forget to leave a review and Happy Dussehra! (^_^)