"Dare You To Move" by Switchfoot
Welcome to the planet / welcome to existence /
everyone's here / everyone's here / everybody's watching you now /
everybody waits for you now / what happens next / what happens next
I dare you to move / I dare you to move / I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor /
I dare you to move / I dare you to move / like today never happened / today never happened before
Welcome to the fallout / welcome to resistance / the tension is here / tension is here /
between who you are / and who you could be / between how it is / and how it should be
I dare you to move / I dare you to move / I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor /
I dare you to move / I dare you to move / like today never happened / today never happened before
Maybe redemption has stories to tell / maybe forgiveness is right where you fell /
where can you run to escape from yourself / where you gonna go / where you gonna go / salvation is here
I dare you to move / I dare you to move / I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor /
I dare you to move / I dare you to move / like today never happened / today never happened /
today never happened before
"Severus," Minerva's voice said, still shaking slightly ten minutes after she had ushered most of the Order out of the room, "you were...at the Malfoy Manor...when you decided to go to Shell Cottage and compel Bill to organise our forces, yes?"
Draco glanced to his left, watching the professor as he thought of how to answer. Severus began with a simple affirmation, then continued by detailing the event, starting with his arrival to the Manor. Draco's attention piqued, not having been aware of what had been happening then; Lucius had called Severus in hopes of getting help from the Order.
"Why did you think to-"
"It was the only chance we had, Professor. I know that we had no real connection, but I- I had no other choice," Lucius choked and stumbled on his words. Draco grew paler, and Hermione reached over to hold him.
"A little less than a day after Draco's departure, they decided it would be wise to...question me," Narcissa said.
"For good reason, they thought Narcissa was more likely to have information about Draco - his whereabouts, alliance, anything..." Lucius clarified.
"I see..." said Minerva.
"I- I shouldn't have waited that long...I should have seen it coming," Lucius lamented.
"Why do you think that?"
"I- I knew that the others would assume Draco had been involved."
"But your immediate reaction was to try to convince You-Know-Who...that he had not been," Minerva reiterated.
"Yes."
Draco saw that his father was becoming more tense, as though worrying what the others in the room were going to think of him, regardless of the fact that there was barely anyone else there. Sitting in between them, both Hermione and Narcissa seemed to notice both Lucius' embarrassment and Draco's concern.
"Showing love...does not make you a weak man," Hermione said firmly, looking past Narcissa and meeting Lucius' fearful eyes, her left hand squeezing Draco's right. The entire room seemed to relax. Minerva looked with great pride upon Hermione, who glanced up towards her then turned back to Lucius. "When you've been taught to do anything but, showing love can be the greatest act of courage and strength possible in a given moment. Being courageous doesn't make you some overemotional, muggle-loving Gryffindor - rather, courage is the means by which you must achieve your ends, and you've only just learned that. Perhaps you've learned it the hard way, but truly, the Lucius Malfoy who cried by his wife's side and protected his son, is a stronger man, worthy of far more respect than the Lucius Malfoy who cowered by the side of the Dark Lord. You should all be proud of yourselves and of each other."
There was a comfortable silence before Lucius responded.
"You'd know all about being a muggle-loving Gryffindor, wouldn't you?" he said slightly teasingly. Looking over at her, Draco could see that Hermione was somewhat taken aback, more by his tone than his words.
"Lucius..." Narcissa murmured, "are you...joking?"
"I do believe so, darling," Lucius replied, looking back at her, then moved so he could see Hermione more clearly.
"Unless, of course, that was not conveyed, in which case, that would have come across as-"
"No, I- that was conveyed," Hermione said with a smile.
"I am just as proud as the next person; however, we do have some responsibilities to get on with," Minerva said, trying to quell her own joy at the event she was observing. Severus nodded at her reassuringly.
"So...Severus, I understand you joined Mr Malfoy into his study after you were called, yes?"
Hermione's thoughts were caught on the word 'called', where they remained for the next couple of minutes, to the point where she failed to hear a majority of the questions the Deputy Headmistress was asking people.
"Yes."
"And it was the fireplace in this room which you used to travel first to your home before progressing to Shell Cottage?"
"Yes."
Called...called...how many ways-
"Hermione. Hermione!" Draco whispered, and she snapped into consciousness. Minerva looked at her with concern.
"Are you all right, dear?" Andromeda asked.
"Yes, sorry, sorry, I was just- Lucius, how did you call Headmaster Snape?"
Lucius became tense again. He opened his mouth to speak after a moment, but then cleared his throat and reached into his pocket. He pulled out his wand, and Hermione didn't notice that she began to grip Draco's hand more fiercely, predicting what was to come. And she was correct; a moment later, a large blue animal burst from his wand and appeared upon the table. Everyone was mystified with trying to decipher its identity; Hermione saw that it galloped like Ginny's patronus, but similar to Dumbledore's phoenix it-
She drew in such a magnificent gasp that it attracted the attention of everyone in the room. She looked at the creature in amazement.
"That's very telling," she declared. Remembering their third year, she turned to Draco and laughed for a short moment.
"Born of the union of a horse and a gryphon, the hippogriff represents love and impossibility, since horses are the natural prey of gryphons. They have the head, wings, and forelegs of a giant eagle but the body of a horse, and are carnivorous and extremely dangerous until tamed-"
"No kidding," Draco griped jokingly.
"You are right, though, Hermione. That is rather telling," Minerva confirmed. "Just to...ask: Severus, Hermione, Andromeda, I know you are able, but Narcissa, Draco, do either of you-"
"Yes," they said in unison. As she had been unable to retrieve her wand before leaving her home, Lucius handed his wand to his wife, and she conjured a little dragon.
"I don't think we need to read particularly far into that one," Minerva chuckled. "Draco?"
As the creature burst from his wand, Hermione again gasped, and again was looked to with confusion. As Severus and Minerva made eye contact, however, they seemed to understand what Hermione had realised: Draco's patronus was an otter, just like hers.
Barely able to speak, Hermione simply grabbed her wand and cast the spell. An otter identical to his danced over to its companion, and as corporeal patronuses sometimes did, they began to imitate the animals they resembled, and started playing around. Most of the room laughed brightly - Severus was not unhappy, but he was also not a man who laughed - and Minerva resisted her compulsion to move on with their meeting sooner rather than later.
Another hour found Draco and his parents in the dining room with Molly and Andromeda, drinking tea and talking. Draco did little talking himself, though; he was too wrapped up watching his parents treat the others like equals. His mother and aunt, though, were more than equal; three minutes of conversation, and one would think they'd been best friends all these years. Ultimately they decided to leave the rest of the group and find Tonks, and practically skipped out of the room together.
The oath. They were going to take the oath. His parents were going to swear allegiance to the Order. His father was going to swear-
"Are you all right, Draco?" Lucius inquired, noticing that Draco had spaced out entirely.
"Yes, yes," Draco replied weakly.
"How about you go talk to...Hermione?" Lucius suggested, pausing before her name. Draco was taken aback that he had chosen to use it at all, and inhaled sharply as his smile widened. His father returned the grin mildly, and Draco got up and began to leave. As soon as he exited, however, he became insatiably curious as to why his father would have suggested that, and he leaned his ear up against the door, finding that he was able to faintly hear Molly inquire the same. Lucius replied in a meek, struggling voice.
"I...thank you. For saving Narcissa. I was...I have never felt more helpless than in that moment. I could not bear to think that...it would been so much worse than Azkaban to go...to have had to go on without her. And you, who do not even like us-"
"Liking someone is not a factor when there are good people's lives in danger, Lucius. Besides, we had already taken Draco in, and if for no other reason, I would have been obliged to him. Still, you are welcome - very, very welcome."
Draco heard a chair scrape against the floor, and rushed away from the door and up the stairs over to Hermione's room, knocking excitedly.
"The door's open," she said blankly.
Reading, he thought, and he was indeed correct. Her eyes were glued to the pages of the novel on her lap. She lifted only a finger, as if to say "one moment," and Draco chuckled and sat next to her on the bed, careful not to offset her balance. He sat patiently as she finished the chapter and sat the book down on the bedside table.
"So? How did it go?" she asked expectantly, turning her entire body towards him and pushing herself up onto her knees.
"McGonagall decided it would be best to have them take the actual oath later. I mean, my father had enough trouble just saying he would do it to begin with," he professed. "But you should have seen him, Hermione. I mean, he- he even referred to you by name. As in, your first name. I just- he's finally..."
"That's wonderful, Draco!" Hermione exclaimed, gripping his hands.
"Yeah," he agreed, still somewhat in shock as he thought about the meeting.
"I still...I can't believe it," he muttered, moving one hand to her waist and grasping her more tightly. "My mother, I can believe, but it's so hard to trust my father...he hasn't had a sense of humour since I was little, and now he's making jokes with you? It seems far too good to be true."
"He's come a good way, Draco, from where he started. I mean, even to be respectful to the Weasleys at all, to accept being dependent on them...to call me by name! Two weeks ago, you and I both would have sworn he wouldn't be able to do any of that!"
"I...I know...and I hate to think I'm doubting him unfairly, but I still..."
"You have concerns, Draco. That is only human. Fear, empathy, concern, passion...all those are entirely human," Hermione testified, her right arm wrapping around his neck. Draco smiled slyly.
"Would you be offended if I change the subject?" he asked a short moment later. Hermione's expression morphed into one of curiosity.
"Because speaking of passion..." he began rather suggestively - as though were truly any other way to say it - and leaned into her. Her left arm joined her right, her hands clasped behind his neck and pulling him closer as she shifted her weight so that she was laying down. He slid his hand to her hip and her fingers fumbled, perfectly accustomed to tearing off Draco's ties and dress pants, but unwonted to Ron's clothing. Draco's hands moved up her sides, tugging her shirt along and revealing her stomach, but just as the shirt reached her chest there was an urgent rapping on the door. Draco groaned dramatically and rolled over to the other side of the bed, and the door opened, as though the visitor originally had not remembered that all the bedrooms had been soundproofed from the inside. They both watched as Luna jumped inside and shut the door behind her.
"Oh," she moaned. "I've interrupted you."
Hermione seemingly ignored the comment. "What is it, Luna?"
"Oh...I...Draco, can I talk to Hermione for a bit?"
Draco groaned and sighed teasingly, pushing himself off the bed.
"If you must...she's all yours," he said, then winked at Luna and added, "well- maybe not all."
"Draco," Hermione reprimanded, gesturing for him to leave, and he slipped quietly out of the room.
"You're blushing," Hermione immediately observed, and Luna's cheeks turned a bit redder.
"You could say that," Luna affirmed, and climbed upon the bed, sitting cross-legged and close to Hermione. She exuded a giddy, innocent excitement which Hermione recognised well.
"Did you and Ron..." Hermione began, and Luna nodded forcefully.
"Mmm-hmm!"
Hermione nearly squealed, and was uncharacteristically joyous to the point where she was a tiny bit worried about it, though not enough to quell her reaction.
"Luna! That's wonderful! How did it happen? How was it?"
"Well, I- you know he's been hiding in his room since this morning...everyone's been trying to get in, but Harry's the only one he would talk to for a while, but eventually he decided he wanted to talk to me after all so Harry let me in and we all talked a bit."
"Was Harry-"
"No. Just listen!"
"Sorry, sorry."
"So Remus and Tonks come and tell Harry they need to talk to him, and he leaves. Ron's still basically curled up on his bed, and I go over to him, and we talk about why he was curled up on his bed in the first place - I'll tell you in a moment, Hermione, don't worry - and he realises that he's just looking for things to get mad about, so I tell him to stop paying attention to the things that he's getting mad about, and he replies that there isn't much else to pay attention to. He goes on to say that he knows what he'd like to be paying attention to but doesn't know if-" Luna cut herself off.
"If what?" Hermione asked a moment later.
"Well, I'm not sure how he would have finished the sentence...that's when I kissed him," Luna responded shyly.
"You just...kissed him?"
Luna nodded, and Hermione's smile widened.
"And he kissed you back?"
"Oh, yeah," Luna proclaimed, a dazed, desirous expression sweeping over her face. Hermione grinned like a madwoman, hugging Luna tightly.
"Now I understand what you and Ginny were talking about!" Luna contested, then added, "Well, not everything, of course. But I mean, I'm happy I finally did it. I was starting to worry nothing would happen at all, you know..."
"How come you barely talk about this? We've spent all our time talking about me, haven't we?"
"Not all of it!" Luna defended, then sobered. "But maybe most of it. It's not your fault, though! I mean, you've just got a lot you need to talk about. I suppose I'll have more time for myself now, though, since you and Draco can talk to each other now, instead of to me."
"And what about you and Ron? I mean, are you-"
"We didn't talk about it. Intelligent conversation wasn't exactly an option..."