SH Chapter 21

Life moves on

Harry et al. POV:

Harry stood in shock looking at the near lifeless and broken body of the love of his life lying in the rubble. Ron moved first getting to her and Luna came to her senses soon after and moved to join Ron at Hermione's side and help to assess and save her friend and comrade in arms. Harry finally made it over to Hermione and knelt at her side with tears streaming down his face. "Is she….is she…?" He couldn't get the whole sentence out and he didn't want to hear that his worst fears and nightmares had just been realized and that Hermione was dead.

Luna grabbed Hermione's wrist and proclaimed she was still alive while Ron assessed that she had a broken arm and a broken leg. Luna started dealing with Hermione's injuries while Ron left the house to fetch Neville. Both Luna and Neville had spent some time volunteering with Madame Pomfrey. There wasn't a whole lot that they were able to do medically but out of every one in the group they were her only hope. There was no way that they'd be able to apparate with her or move her very far without making her injuries worse.

It was decided that they would have to stay at the house overnight and through the next day until they could find somewhere close by to move her. When the next day came Ron had to force Harry from her side to go scout a safe place for everyone to stay where Hermione could heal safely.

Hours later Ron and Harry had returned having only found a cave about a mile and half from town. It wasn't the best place for her but it was all that they could do for now. When she was more stable perhaps they could find somewhere better for her.

But as of right now she still had yet to wake up. They assured Harry that she would when she was ready but he didn't completely believe that, they weren't trained healers so what did they know he thought, they weren't trained healers, they were just kids like he was.

That night, again under the cloak of darkness they moved Hermione to the cave by using a levitation charm on the mattress from the bed that they had moved Hermione to the day before. Luna had thought to bring the mattress for Hermione's comfort as she healed.

Two days after they moved to the cave Hermione finally woke up with Harry sitting dutifully by her side holding the hand of her arm that was not broken. She smiled at him and the first thing that she asked was if they got it.

Harry told her that they had. In the chaos that followed Hermione getting injured Harry had forgotten all about the horcrux but Neville had had the presence of mind to grab it before they left and they had destroyed it soon after getting Hermione settled in the cave leaving Luna to watch over her.

She was thrilled that they had accomplished the mission that they had set out on even if they were now stuck in the cave for an unknown amount of time while she healed. If only they could get to Madame Pomfrey her injuries would have been healed instantly but without the lady's impeccable knowledge they would have to wait while her injuries healed naturally.

It was now two months later and Hermione was finally up and moving about. They were just about ready to move on and would in the next few days. They had their next few destinations in mind and were determined to end this war to be able to move on with their lives.

They had not all sat stagnate for the entire two months of Hermione's recovery. Ron, Luna, and Neville had gone on many reconnaissance missions while leaving Harry behind with Hermione. This did nothing to assuage the guilt that be of them were feeling. Harry still felt guilty about causing Hermione to get hurt and Hermione felt guilt for standing in the wrong place at the wrong time and was no holding everyone back in their efforts to take down Voldemort.

No matter how much Ron and Harry apologized she refused to accept it. It really was no one's fault it was just a very unfortunate accident. Harry currently had Hermione out on one of her daily walks that were meant to increase her strength and endurance. They loved the quiet time the time alone gave them with each other. But what they really loved love about the time alone was the couple time activities that they could not do with their friends within earshot.

Ron had burst into tearful laughter the other day when they returned from their walk and he looked at Hermione and announced that she had her shirt on both inside out and backwards and insisted, quite loudly to the group, that he was positive that she had her shirt on the correct way when the two had left. The blushes on the two were enough to egg Ron on further when he jokingly asked "What could you two have been up to?" he laughed at them for hours after that, even after Hermione suggested that Ron and Luna should start taking "walks" together because they could be invigorating.

There had also been an addition to the group that no one had counted on but were glad for none the less. Although they wished it could have been under better circumstances. One night when Ron, Luna, and Neville had been gone for almost a week Harry and Hermione were sitting alone in the cave nervously awaiting their friends return and eating another dinner of berries and fish that Harry had caught from a nearby stream when the group had returned with Susan Bones in tow.

Apparently they had happened on her in the woods as she watched her childhood home being burned to the ground by death eaters. There was nothing that they could do to save the family members that had been in the house and were now dead at the hands of the death eaters. So seeing as Susan now had no home and no family Ron made the executive decision that she was coming along with them. They couldn't just leave her there all alone. She was their classmate and their friend.

Now they were back to being a group of six again. And they were all just grateful that Ginny had not been a part of the group of death eaters that attacked Susan's family. Ron thought that he wouldn't have been able to stomach actually having to see Ginny committing the murder of people that they knew and cared for.

That night as soon as night fell they were ready to move on again and bring an end to the pain and suffering that Voldemort and his followers were wreaking on the world. It had to end soon because every soul that was lost to this war was one soul too many and was another break to Harry's heart.

Draco's POV:

Ginny's seventeenth birthday was coming up fast and Draco knew exactly what he wanted to give her and the good part was that it was already in the house locked away in his mother's safe. He had approached his mother a month ago about it and she couldn't have been more thrilled for her son and for the fact that he wanted to give Ginny such an important family heirloom. She gladly gave it to Draco to give to her because as she said, "Draco, you've chosen the right young lady to give it too."

It had now been about two months since Minerva McGonagall had been brought to the manor and they had added about five more people. None of which Draco or Ginny had heard or met except for one young man named Dudley Dursley. He wasn't too pleased at being brought to the manor, but no one really had been until they finally started to understand that the rogue death eaters were really trying to help save their lives.

It had taken weeks to get Minerva to come around but she finally was at least resigned to the situation. Draco thought that that had a lot to do with his mother's discussion with Minerva. She had pulled Minerva aside to her study and really let the old school mistress have it for upsetting Ginny like she had. Draco had heard the end of the conversation when he went to talk to his mother about something that was important and she was the only one that he felt comfortable to turn to at the moment.

After being there and figuring out for herself that she wasn't in any danger from the Malfoy's or Ginny and finally understood why Ginny had made the choices that she had. She, like everyone, couldn't stand to lie to Ginny and tell her that all would be forgiven with her family; there was still a good chance that they would not believe her version of the story and she may end up in prison. Not that Draco would let that happen without a fight. He would run with her first. No matter where they had to hide to keep her safe.

It was now the day of Ginny's birthday and it was also Christmas Day and she was now a legal adult in the eyes of the wizarding law. Draco had told her that since he could not take her out to dinner on a proper date like he wanted to they would be having a candlelight dinner in her suite alone. This was a "date" that they had often and they both enjoyed. She wasn't so nervous at having him in her room with her alone anymore. While during their private activities he no longer acted like a complete gentleman he never pushed her very far. In fact they had discussed taking their relationship to the next level. Ginny was adamant that she was going to save herself for her husband on their wedding night. She wanted her wedding night to have that special meaning.

And for that matter, Draco agreed with her 100%, he was still a virgin himself, and was never happier that he had waited for her. Even though they were decided on not having sex yet didn't mean that they weren't exploring each other's bodies. He was never more surprised when during a pretty heated make out session about two weeks ago she reached into his pants and touched him. No one had ever touched him like that before and he could barely contain that excitement that he felt when she did. It didn't take long for him to finish in her hand.

He had been touching her for a week prior to that and that was another part of their intimacies that he enjoyed. As amazing as just touching each other was he was really looking forward to their wedding night which was going to happen sooner rather than later if Draco had anything to do with it.

So there he was in her room with the dinner all set out when she returned from getting ready for their date in his room. It was her favorite meal that he could make without risking giving her food poisoning. But he was adamant that he was going to cook the whole meal for her and not accept help from anyone on it.

She stood in the doorway in a beautiful black dress that she has made with the help of his mother and she was quite simply the most beautiful vision of an angel that he had ever seen.

The dinner was just as relaxed as any other had. Ginny continually thanked for cooking for her as she was still under the impression that the dinner was his gift to her. As they finished their dessert, Draco played with the ring that was sitting in his pocket. An heirloom that had belonged to his grandmother on his mother's side she had left for him when she died. The only condition was that it could only go to a woman that his mother deemed worthy to join the family. And Narcissa was excited to see the prospect of Ginny Weasley becoming Ginny Malfoy.

He grabbed Ginny hand and looked her in the eye in the limited candle light, "Ginny, I love you with all my heart and all my soul. I know you know this and I thank the heavens every day you are with me as my girlfriend because you would never be with anyone that wasn't completely worthy of you. But I want you to be more than just my girlfriend. I want to be your husband, I want you to be my wife, I want to have a houseful of children with you, just like you parents did. Ginny Weasley, Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

She was stunned. It wasn't like she never expected him to propose, but she wasn't expecting it so soon, let alone tonight. But she didn't have to think about her answer at all. She knew in her heart of hearts what it was that she wanted. She wanted him. She wanted only him and always him.

"Yes," was all that she had to say before the biggest smile graced his face and he grabbed her and kissed her with all the passion that he could muster before dropping to his knees and placing the ring on her hand.

It was only about a half a second later when he heard Dudley yell "Hey, dude can we come in to help celebrate yet?" With that Draco and Ginny looked at each other shocked and completely unaware that they had the whole house was sitting outside her room waiting to toast their engagement. For although, Draco was nervous that she may say no, everyone in the house that had seen the two interact everyday knew that there was no way that her answer would be anything but the yes that she gave.

A/N

Ok. I did some time jumps here because I need to move the story ahead a little bit. I don't know how many chapters are left but there's not much left. There may be more time jumps but I am trying to keep the two groups in the same timeframe to keep from confusing myself.