Disclaimer:

I do not own Harry Potter nor do I make any money off of this story. I do this simply for the fun and enjoyment to playing with my favorite characters from my favorite series ever.

Hermione barely slept that night. She gently cuddled her son. She scared to let him go. She hoped that maybe he could feel her love through the night and wake up ready for blueberry pancakes; his favorite breakfast meal. She hoped she was helping him hold on to her sanity the way she was holding on to hers with his touch. She gently strokes his face. He was the image of his father. The same strong facial features, the same platinum blonde hair, the same grey eyes.

She sighed.

She wasn't sure if she was upset, hurt, sad, confused, overwhelmed, or angry but she knew she wasn't happy. She was far from it. The events of the night before played in her head. Her house being broken into by Bellatrix, Scorpius small body almost lifeless in his bed room, fighting with her biggest demon, the damage on her son's poor body by Bellatrix, Draco not letting her be tortured by Bellatrix, the horrible news of her son's condition, Draco being in love with her, Ron and Draco and their unbreakable vow, Ron almost beating Harry to a pulp. It was all Bellatrix's doing. She wasn't sure if she hated her for inflicting pain on her son or if she was grateful that she brought the truth out.

She sighed again.

She turned to look at Draco. He wasn't in the room. She felt a pang of loneliness. She got out of the bed and fixed Scorpius' body to a potion she thought he would be comfortable in.

She took a look at the room. The sun was peaking though the dark blue curtains and dimly lit the cream room. There was a door on the wall opposite the patients' bed. She quickly realized it was a bathroom and her eyes kept moving until she noticed the clock above the main door. It was now 7:20 A.M.

She started to pace slowly. Gently humming to try and calm her nerves. It wasn't working. She was glad when the door opened.

"Good morning Mrs. Malfoy. Your husband told me to inform you that he left to take his mother back to the manor."

"That explains it." Hermione said softly to the woman in front of her; it was the same Latina woman from last night. "Thank you, Healer Fields?"

"Yes that's me. Healer Spencer Fields." She said with a sweet smile. "Um, I need to check on your son now. I want to wake him up and see where his mental abilities are. Is there something he loves that I could ask him about to see if it will get a response from him?"

"He loves dragons." She moved to his bed and took the toy that was on his night stand. "He loves this. He's had it since he was born, if you want him to remember something he loves apart from the people in his life it would be this." She said softly.

"Thank you." She said talking the toy dragon from Hermione. "I need you to leave the room while I do this." She said weakly.

"Why?"

"In case we get the worst possible outcome. Parents and other relatives will only make it harder. That is why I have asked Healer Zabini to sit this one out. Also, I am aware of your need for security, Auror Potter stopped by this morning and he has provided another two aurors that will be guarding your son whenever you and Mr. Malfoy or any other adult is not in his company." She took a deep breath waiting for a protest. When she didn't get one she continued; "You should go home. Take a shower, eat some food and come back so I can update you on your son's condition." She said sweetly.

"How long do you think it will take?" Hermione asked defeated.

"I don't know Mrs. Malfoy." She answered honestly. "But I will send an owl as soon as am I finished." Hermione nodded.

"Keep him safe when I'm gone. I'm trusting you with my lifeline. If anything happens to him on your watch you will wish you were dead. No it is not a threat it is a real possibility." Hermione said coldly, she waited for a nod from the other woman and left.

Malfoy Manor. The place she called home. It seemed cold. Lifeless. Uninhabited.

"Draco?" Hermione gently called out in her bedroom. There was no response. A weight she didn't know her stomach was carrying was lightened. She could not face him just yet.

Hermione walked into the bathroom and put the shower on, on its hottest setting. She slowly stripped out of her clothing and walked under the water hoping it would relax her muscles. It wasn't working the steam seemed to be chocking her and water seemed to be drowning her. She made the water a little cooler and forced herself to take deeper breaths.

When her breathing returned to normal she finished her shower and freshening up. She threw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. She thought of grabbing a coat for the weather outside, but thought against it. She put her damp hair into a loose bun and put on a pair of snow boats before heading down to the kitchen where she met Draco and Narcissa.

"Hi." She said softly. She avoided Draco's eye contact and he knew he 'hi' was for his mother.

"Oh, Hermione, How are you?" Narcissa questioned.

Hermione shrugged but Narcissa kept looking at her expecting her to talk about the event. "Numb." She said quietly.

"I'm sorry! It's all my fault!" She said quickly.

"It's not your fault Narcissa. You didn't know she would have done that." Hermione said gently taken her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. Narcissa gave her a small smile.

"I contacted your parents. They said they will be at the Hospital later today, with the Wesley's of course."

The grief hit Hermione. She didn't think about them. She didn't realize she wasn't the only one worried about Scorpius. She nodded and gave Narcissa a smile not trusting her voice.

"Drink this." Draco interrupted handing her a cup. She watched him quizzically. "It's coffee."

She took the cup and had a seat. The new paper was in front of her but she didn't dear look at it in fear the media already knew the story of the Malfoy's Christmas or worse they changed it for sales.

"Any news on Scorp?" Draco asked while taking a seat on the small dining table in the kitchen joining the ladies.

"The mental test is happening as we speak. I had to leave be-"

"You left him in the care of those jackasses?" Draco spat at her.

"I couldn't stay in the room! I want what's best for my son. If that means not being there for this so the doctor can get a true result then so be it."

"He is not safe!"

"Harry insured we had two more aurors for moments when we couldn't be there." Hermione tied to reason with him.

"No shocker there. Potter always medaling." Draco said coldly.

"Leave Harry out of this!" Hermione argued.

"Stop it! Both of you! Stop acting like children." Narcissa said and silence enveloped the room.

They all sat in silence as the moments flew by. No body talking. After what seemed like a lifetime in the silence an owl came through the window and went straight to Hermione.

"She's done." She whispered and every one left the room with a pop. She sighed. She took the letter from the bird and gave him some treats and then left.

xxx

Draco moved quickly through the hospital. Healer Fields had sent an owl while they were having breakfast and everyone seemed to be too fearful to make a plan of action as a family; they all apparated to the Hospital waiting for the results. When he got to the room Hermione and his mother was already there, they came straight here instead of going to his office like he did.

"So what is it?" Draco asked the healers in front of him. He was the only one who found his voice. here was a moment of awkward silence between the Healers and Draco looked at Blaise with pleading eyes.

Healer Fields took a deep breath and looked at the small family. "He has immense brain and nervous system. Most of the damage is to the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex, which means he can't effectively do any reasoning or planning or problem solving. His senses are all functioning; but it shows signs of incorrectly interpreting certain things. It's a little off by that I mean he sometimes interprets pain as a pleasurable feeling, or something bitter as something sweet. That is caused by the way the brain reads the impulse from the nervous system. Although not speaking he seems able to move all his joints, however we did not try to make him walk or anything like that. I do not believe there is anything else we can do. I do believe the damage is permanent." She said in a somewhat soothing voice.

"You're fired." Draco said coldly.

"Excuse me Sir?" Healer Fields asked in shock.

"You're fired." He said firmly looking her straight in the eye.

"No! You're not." Hermione said kindly to the girl.

"Hermione you don't make the calls around here, I do." Draco spat with venom turning to look at her.

"You don't fire her! She did her job!" Hermione replied not backing down. "We're hurt! Yes! But if you fire her imagine how many other parents might lose their little boy or their little girl. We can't punish the world because your aunt is vile loathsome conniving bitch!" Draco's jaw harden at her words but he back down. "Plus she will let you try your potion on him." She reasoned with a plastered smile.

"I haven't finished it yet and I will not use my son as a testing machine." Draco yelled at Hermione.

"It's our only hope. Healer Fields and Blaise will help you do the research and finish it and we could give it to him. He could be okay Draco."

Draco sighed. He was contemplating what she was saying. "It was worth having their son back, maybe he would help me win her over." He wondered.

"What potion?" Narcissa questioned.

"Draco, I know I said I wouldn't tell anyone but this is my son, our son." She said realizing that Healer Fields was an outsider and thought Draco and her shared a love marriage. "He has been working on a potion that should heal the effect of the curciatus. He's not done but I'm sure she research is amazing and he's on to something." Hermione told Narcissa hoping she would help pressure Draco to giving it a try.

"Draco! You need to get to work! Finish this potion son!" she demanded.

"It could make it worse." Draco said dejectedly.

"The only worse it can get is he dies. The damage done to his brain is grave Draco, there probably is no chance growing will fix it. The cells will not produce the right cells for him to get better. " Narcisa reasoned.

Draco sighed. "Fine. I'll try the blasted potion. I will be in my office." He said and left the room.

Hermione and Narcissa shared a small smile. "I'll head to the Burrow. Mum and dad and the Wesley's probably wants an update." Hermione said and apparated to the Burrow.

Hermione appeared in the living room at the Burrow and was surrounded by a sea of red heads with a few blonds and brunettes.

"Happy Christmas Everyone." She said weakly.

"Hermione, how is he?" Her mother said getting up to embrace her.

"He's not good." Her eyes swelled up with tears. She took a deep breath to compose herself. "He has massive damage to his brain and some internal damage. Draco is working on something for his brain, he might be on to something and all the other damage to his body is being taken care of by potions as we speak." She took another deep breath and looked around the room.

Molly and her mother's eyes were filled with tears.

"Oh Hermione. I'm so sorry." Luna said in her usual dreamy voice.

"Yeah, we all are." She replied and silence filled the room.

"How is Mally doing?" George asked.

"He's walking on sunshine!" His wife sarcastically spat at him. "He's a mess, obviously." She said and rolled her eyes at George.

"I have no idea, to be honest. We haven't spoken much." She answered as her mother led her to the chair where she was once sitting and sat Hermione down.

"Harry and Ron are upset about the whole thing." Bill said solemnly.

"Yeah! Neither came back home last night." Fleur added.

"Ron owled and said he was at the department working with Jenna Williams from law enforcement to finally get Bellatrix behind bars." Luna said.

"And Harry said he was working on security details for her trial and your family Hermione." Arthur said.

"The only person in my family who will accept a body guard is Scorpius. Harry knows that." Hermione countered.

"I think they both feel guilty that they couldn't stop Bellatrix in the first war and now she has found a whole new way to torment you." Mr. Granger said.

"Yeah maybe." Hermione said knowing that there was more to the behavior of both men in question. The room grew silent again. "I'll head home, now."

"Nonsense dear. Stay with us." Molly protested.

"I'd rather be alone. I'm sorry guys." Hermione tried to explain. She received a few understanding nods and left the Burrow.

Hermione arrived at the Manor and went straight to the library. It was her safe room. She lit up the fire place with her wand and moved to the couch that was in front of it. The place she spent so much time reading. She usually kept a blanket and cuddle up as she read. She smiled when she saw it was there.

She took off her shoes and settled into the couch and threw the blanket over her. She then locked the door and let the silence and darkness sink in. She couldn't help but stare at the fire flickering in her fireplace.

She didn't know when it started but she felt the tears running down her cheek. She moved her feet up to her chest and placed her forehead on her knee caps and allowed herself to break into a million pieces.

xxx

Draco sat in office scribbling away on his parchment. As much as he didn't want to do this potion for his son he realized he had no choice. If he failed he would have to deal with the fact he couldn't save his son. He resented Hermione and his mother for putting him under this pressure. If he failed they would never forgive him. They would never trust him and he will lose not only his son but the rest of his family. They didn't give him the opinion to deal with the events of the past few hours. He had to pretend it didn't happen so he could remain objective as a Healer. They didn't think he wanted a moment to be a father.

Draco closed his eyes to force those thoughts out his mind but it wasn't helping. She sighed and looked up at the pictures on his desk. On of him and Hermione of their wedding day, then one of just her stomach when she was nine months pregnant, one of Draco holding Scorpius, family portrait and a drawing of what Scorpius said was 'me, daddy and uncle Blaise at the hospital helping people.'

Drcao sighed. He had to succeed. This was why he had to; his family. He was the man of his household. He had to hold it together. He had to fix it. He learnt that from his father. Although he had wrong ideals he always tried to fix his mistakes so his family would be alright. Lucius never saw how it was damaging to his family but Draco had to admit he wanted to be able to fix it like all the times his father did with him and his mother. He had to fix his family and win his wife over.

Draco sighed again. He had to succeed as much as it scared him. He had too much to lose if he failed. He just hoped the stars was in his favor as he undertook what he wanted to call a death wish. He just hoped that he could fix it all if it worked; especially with Hermione. He never wanted her to be hurt. He couldn't stand the fact that she felt hurt at his doing. He thought he made so much progress with her but he was wrong. She was always out of his league. He just prayed that they could be friends again. That would be enough for him cause he knew her heart would never be drawn to him.

Draco sighed and took all the photographs on his desk and hid them in the bottom draw of his desk. He couldn't be distracted not now. Scorpius needed him.

A/N: Thank you for your lovely reviews! A lot of your concerns will be answered later in the story! I hope you liked this chapter. It was a little sad, but in the famous words of Ed Sheeran; "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end."

To Ana: Thank you for your review! I means a lot. I couldn't respond privately for I'm sorry for putting you on the spot here. PS you're spot on for what I want everyone to feel at the moment! :)