Draco's eyes widened at the words he thought he had heard. Was it possible that his own mind was fooling him? If that was the case then it did a ridiculously good job; Draco could swear the words sounded too real to be hallucinations.
"I..don't think I heard you properly." Draco said hoarsely.
"You did." Heremione replied
Draco swallowed hard. His eyes chased Hermione's elusive gaze until she bent her head down, letting her hair stand as a protective barrier between them. In spite of the endless questions he wanted to ask, Draco couldn't bring himself to form a single coherent sentence.
"I'm..starting to worry..." Hermione admitted, raising up her head slightly to look at Draco. Her face was flushed and her expression solicitous.
"No" Draco shoo his head. He reached for Hermione's hand and pulled her closer. "I just..I'm not..I mean.." he stammered.
Focus, Draco! His own voice hissed at him. He was already confused about where they stood, now his confusion reached new levels he was never aware of. She loved him! Draco replayed her words in his head over and over again. With every echo of Hermione's words, Draco came one step closer to coming to terms with his own feelings for her.
He had grown to crave her company even when he knew it would only bring him trouble. Had thrown himself into a den of lions who made it very clear they didn't stand his presence as much as he didn't stand theirs, just because she had asked him to stay. Having her at his own house felt so familiar. That house was his comfort zone, the place he sought when he needed a break from his real life. And she fit into that zone so easily it terrified him. He danced, walked and laughed with her and never felt out of his element. He knew that if he let her in, things would be so easy for them. And more than anything, Draco wanted to let her in.
He stepped closer and reached for her. His hand curved over the small of her back, pulling her closer. Hermione raised her hand and cupped his cheek gently. He raised his hand and held her wrist, pressing his lips into her palm.
"Draco.." -she raised his bowed head up to look at him- "I love you." she repeated softly.
"Yes please." Draco breathed.
At the forest, Lucius Malfoy was on the brink of losing his sanity. He had lost sight of Draco in the middle of the battle and hadn't seen him ever since. Reluctantly, he was forced to retreat with the rest of the Death Eaters. He spent an hour trying to sneak away from the crowds and back to Hogwarts, knowing that leaving the crowd unnoticed was as impossible as being able to enter Hogwarts again. But at this point, Lucius didn't care. He didn't care how illogical his ideas were. Didn't care about the stabbing pain and the blood seeping from the wound in his thigh. He didn't even care about what Voldemort thought of him anymore. He just wanted to see his son, battling the voices that told him his son's absence only meant that he was dead.
When Harry Potter entered the forest and stood before them, Lucius held his breath and watched. It seemed like time ran too fast; everything happened in a blur. Before Lucius could realize, he saw the familiar ray of green light coming out of Voldemort's wand, colliding with the boy's body. Was it finally over? Lucius almost asked out loud.
"Lucius!" Voldemort's impatient voice gave Lucius the impression that this wasn't the first time he called his name, "Make yourself useful and go check if the boy's dead." he dictated.
Lucius could've sworn that for a fleeting second, he saw a hint of fear in Voldemort's eyes. He walked with difficulty, dragging his legs until the boy's lifeless body was under his feet. Kneeling on the ground next to him, his eyes widened when he saw the vein in his neck throbbing. He pressed his fingers against the throbbing vein only to have his doubts confirmed. He opened Harry's jacket and pressed his palm against his chest, feeling it rise and fall faintly. The boy was bloody immortal!
Lucius almost stood up and announced the truth, but that would probably kill his chances at going back to Hogwarts for Draco. In an act of madness, Lucius leaned over Harry's body. "My son, is he alive?" he whispered. Harry whispered back a yes in a barely audible voice. Lucius sighed in relief before standing up to face the waiting crowd.
"The boy is dead." Lucius announced.
Back at Hogwarts, Draco was sitting at one of the few tables remaining at the great hall. He watched silently as the Weaslys mourned their dead son, feeling genuinely horrified by the image of Fred's dead body. Tonks was sitting on the floor, not far from the Weaslys. She was desperately trying to heal Lupin's arm that had several nasty cuts all over it.
He saw Hermione walking back to him, tears filled her eyes as she threw herself recklessly next to him. Draco's hand hovered awkwardly behind her back. He wanted to show any sign of comfort but the hall was filled with people. Did it really matter? Draco wondered. They'd be incredibly luck if they survived this battle at all. So what was the point of caring what people thought? Without further hesitation, he leaned forward and pulled Hermione into him. Rubbing her back slowly.
"Fred is..a-an-and..this g-girl..she's..dead..I..I knew her and...and him.." Hermione sobbed. Over Draco's shoulders she could see several bodies lying on the floor. "And Harry..I don't know where he is!"
Draco shifted his body into a more comfortable position and then he felt something solid in his pocket. The dagger..why did something have to come in the way every time he wanted to tell Hermione about that bloody dagger! He caught Hermione's chin between his fingers and raised her head up to see her. Not the right time, definitely not the right time, Draco brooded. But it was now or never; whether or not Potter was there, the snake still had to be killed and he couldn't think of anybody other than Hermione who could do it.
Before he could say anything, loud noises came from outside the castle. Hysterical cheers, of a nearly animalistic nature and the sound of loud footsteps approaching. Everybody stood up in alarm. Slowly, they made their way to the Viaduct courtyard where the noise came from. Draco saw his father and his aunt, standing behind Voldemort. Then he saw Hagrid holding something in his arms. Squinting his eyes, Draco recognized what he saw. Harry's body was lying still in Hagrid's arms who was crying uncontrollably.
Draco felt a stab of panic; despite everything, he felt sorry for the dead boy. But more than anything, Draco was utterly disappointed at what seemed like Voldemort winning this war. Where did that leave him now? He couldn't fathom the idea of going back to stand next to his father. Stay, Hermione's previous plead sounded so simple, so easy, and Draco started wondering what was the worst that could happen? Even death sounded more appealing to him now than having to live as a Death Eater and watch the loving look Hermione gave him turn into a venomous one.
He could hear people talking, whispering. He even heard Voldemort making a boastful speech that he couldn't pay attention to. He saw the hideous snake at Voldemort's feet and felt the same shiver of terror that gripped him every time he saw it. Draco pressed his hand against his pocket. He still had the dagger but now he had no chance of giving it to Hermione.
Glancing around, Draco spotted a broomstick thrown a couple of steps away from him. He moved slowly, bent down and picked up the broomstick. He felt as if somebody else was acting for him. He took actions without pausing to think about them. Because probably if he did, he would stop dead in his tracks.
"Draco!" Lucius called, "Come..come." he urged desperately, diverting Voldemort's attention to Draco.
"Draco, you've served me well." Voldemort said, "Now come back where you belong."
Draco stared blankly at the man talking to him. His father was standing behind Voldemort, motioning for him to come over. He felt Hermione's hand tightening over his. He looked down at her. Her lower lip was trembling. Fresh tears rand down her tear-stained cheeks. She mouthed the word 'stay' and Draco tugged his hand free from her grip. He felt a stab of pain at the hurt expression that crossed her face.
"Trust me" he whispered, hoping more than he had ever hoped, that this time she would actually trust him.
He walked forward, ignoring the accusative scowls he was receiving. He clutched the broomstick as if his life depended on it; somehow it did. He passed by Voldemort, feeling a wave of cold emitting from his body. Draco stopped a couple of steps behind Voldemort. He reached for the dagger in his pocket, holding the broomstick in front of him to block the view of the dagger from the crowd in front of him.
With one swift move, he turned on his heel and embedded the dagger in the snake's head. Voldemort let out a deafening feral growl. The snake hissed, it rose violently above the floor as if under a Crusiatus curse before falling to the ground with a loud thud. Panic erupted all over the courtyard. Draco used the sudden chaos to mount his broomstick, urging it forward with full speed.
"Draco, you filthy traitor!" Bellatrix's voice roared after Draco.
Hermione watched in terror as Draco maneuvered his way away from Bellatrix's consistent spells. She was frantically running after him, randomly firing curses everywhere. Hermione called after him several times but he was too far away. Then she saw it, Lucius Malfoy was standing behind Bellatrix, pointing his wand at her while she pointed her own wand at Draco. This time, he wasn't fast enough and Bellatrix's spell hit the back of his broomstick setting it on fire. Draco swayed from one side to the other, obviously losing control over his broomstick.
"DRACO!" Hermione cried when she saw him falling off off the broomstick and down the steep Viaduct.
Hermione ran over to the Viaduct. She looked down, searching as far as her eyes could see but Draco was nowhere to be seen. She turned around to face Bellatrix, too desperate, too frustrated and way too enraged to see sense. At one moment, three different wands were pointed at Bellatrix. Lucius was standing behind her, his wand shaking and his vision blurred with tears. Hermione was in front of her, for the first time not diving away from Bellatrix's wand. And in a far corner, Tonks stood pointing her wand in Bellatrix's direction. Feeling that she owed Bellatrix now more than ever.
Nobody knew whose spell hit Bellatrix first. Three rays of light came out of the three wands, non of them green. She suddenly froze in her place. She flew back with great speed only to end up slammed against the stone walls of the castle. Bellatrix's body fell to the ground for one last time.
Lucius Malfoy and Hermione collapsed on the floor almost at the same time. Lucius knelt on the floor. He threw his head back and roared out a desperate groan so loud that everybody seemed to freeze upon hearing it. Hermione rested her back against the wall. She stared blankly in front of her. She could see people still fighting. Curses flew above her head and she couldn't care less about them. There were no tears in her eyes; she hadn't even accepted what she had seen.
"Voldemort is dead!" somebody cried.
Hermione looked up to see Lee Jordan running around, announcing the news of Voldemort's defeat to everybody. She willed herself to stand up but to no avail. She saw Harry making his way through the crowds that surrounded him and walking towards her.
"Hermione.." Harry mumbled her name, resting his hand over her shoulder.
Blank stare.
"Hermione, get up. Your hand is bleeding." Harry pointed out.
Hermione looked down at said hand. She could see a cut slashing her palm but she couldn't feel any pain coming from it. The suffocating pain in her chest exceeded any other pain she could experience. Another blank stare.
"Hermione, please..." Harry pleaded, "Come with me".
"I can't..." Hermione finally spoke, her voice barely audible. "I have to be here when he comes back, I'll wait."
"Hermione.." Harry sighed, he understood what she was going through. More than anything, he understood loss and the state of denial that followed it. "Nobody is coming back." he said, both to himself and to Hermione.
"No, you don't understand!" Hermione shouted at Harry, pushing away his hand.
She stood up abruptly and nearly ran away from Harry. He followed her, grabbing her arm and pulling her back.
"At least come back, let somebody heal your hand and then you can wait all you like." Harry tried to reason with her.
Her shoulders fell in defeat but she made no move to walk with him so he had to technically push her forward towards the castle. She sat statue-still as Tonks tended to her wounded hand.
"Bloody hell..is that..?" Ron exclaimed, looking with a confused frown at the huge door.
Narcissa Malfoy was standing in front of them. Her usually perfectly neat appearance gone. Her hair was messy and she had a deep cut on her thigh that caused her to limp. Hermione's mouth fell open when she saw Narcissa Malfoy dressed in men's clothes. Not just any men; she was dressed in the same clothes her husband had been wearing during the battle. The robe looked too huge for her and her hands were hidden inside the sleeves.
Then it dawned on Hermione..there was no Lucius Malfoy all along! The woman's face was stained with tears as she dragged herself into the hall. She stood several steps away from Hermione, looking at her with accusative eyes.
"I..will never..forgive you." Narcissa hissed at Hermione, shaking with anger.
Hermione didn't know what to say in return. For some reason Narcissa Malfoy blamed her for Draco's death. And Hermione didn't feel the anger she thought she should feel at such an accusation. She felt sorry for the woman to the extent of letting her lay the blame her if it made her feel any better.
"That's unfair!" Ginny protested, "Hermione can't be blamed for..for what happened."
"Of course she is! She and I, we are both equally responsible for this." Narcissa fumed, "We both knew he was putting his life in danger for us and we stood..we watched...so selfishly as he did. Don't ever forget this." she spat before wincing in pain. She looked down at her leg, the wound she had carelessly ignored had left a spot of blood at her feet.
"Let Madam Pomfrey see your leg." Tonks offered, "Please." she added, urging Narcissa Malfoy forward to the other end of the hall.
Hermione watched from a distance as Madam Pomfrey started treating Narcissa Malfoy's badly injured leg. She walked over to her with uncertain steps. She looked at the older woman's face intently, still able to see Draco in her features.
"I...would've never asked Draco to risk his own life for me. I wanted him to stay, but...that wasn't my intention." Hermione said.
"I could say the same." Narcissa whispered, her voice barely audible.
Hermione stepped closer hesitantly. She raised one shaky hand and rested it on Narcissa's shoulder in a timid attempt of comfort.
"Draco.." Narcissa breathed.
"I'm really sorry." Hermione bent her head down remorsefully.
"No! Draco!" Narcissa repeated, gaping over Hermione's shoulder.
Hermione looked back. At first, she couldn't see what Narcissa had been looking at then she saw it. Through the wide open gates of the great hall, Hermione saw Draco's frame making his way into the hall. He stood behind Harry and Ron who were looking at him with wide eyes. She rushed to him, standing a couple of steps away from him. She wasn't sure if it was actually him or the battle had eventually taken its toll on her mind.
"I particularly hated that snake." Draco smirked.
The familiar smirk gave Hermione all the confirmation she needed. She threw herself at Draco and flung her arms around him, not pausing once to think about the people in the room. She held him so tight, afraid that if she let go he'd evaporate and all this would be a trick her mind was playing. She didn't care if it was a hallucination; it felt real.
When the hug lasted for too long, Draco eased Hermione back. Over her shoulder, he could see his mother staring at him with tear-filled eyes.
"You..are grounded for life." Narcissa said, pulling Draco forcefully into a tight hug.
"Why are you here? How did you come here?" Draco demanded, unable to understand his mother's presence.
"I couldn't..when you left that day, I couldn't bear letting you go into that battle alone." Narcissa admitted,"I went to the Manor, I told Lucius everything and I begged him to let us switch places." she explained.
"And he let you!" Draco barely controlled the anger in his voice, "He stayed there, safe and sound in the Muggle house and let you fight his battle for him?"
"It's not his battle, Draco." Narcissa replied calmly.
"How could he?" Draco muttered incredulously, ignoring his mother's words.
"We'll talk about this later, alright?" Narcissa suggested, uncomfortable with discussing her family in public. "Come, let's go back home."
Draco felt Hermione's grip tighten over his arm. "No, you go. I have..something to do." he glanced at Hermione, "I'll be back later."
"But.." Narcissa started to protest.
"Later." Draco cut her off decisively. Narcissa's gaze travelled between Hermione and Draco for a while before she finally relented and headed out of the castle.
"How?" Hermione asked, "I saw you...I saw you falling."
"I had a wand." Draco produced a short light brown wand from his pocket, "Picked it up from the floor after Potter took mine."
"So..Arresto Momentum?" Hermione asked.
"Arresto Momentum." Draco nodded with a smile, "I tried to use Ascendio to fly back up, but that stupid wand wasn't helping. I had to climb my way to the top." he grimaced.
Hermione stared at him in surprise. For the first time ever since he had walked through that door, she took in his whole appearance. Both his hands were covered in blood, his clothes were ragged and his knee was injured.
"Stop crying; you're ruining my robe." Draco jested smugly, wiping some tears off Hermione's cheeks.
"I knew..I swear I knew you'd be back. I wasn't delusional. I wasn't in denial. I knew." Hermione said enthusiastically as if responding to a challenge.
"I was so confused. I saw Potter's dead body and I thought..I didn't know where to go. Then Voldemort told me to come where I belonged and it settled the matter for me. Then you had that look on your face..hurt? Disappointment? I don't really know. But it made me remember the first thing you told me when I brought you to my room. That I was a coward and would die as one." Draco recounted.
"You're not. I didn't mean.." Hermione interjected.
"I know." Draco cut her off, "But I was proving it to myself rather than you." he admitted.
"Draco, I'm so glad you're back." Hermione whispered, pulling Draco closer to her.
"I had to. I love you too much to let it end so soon." Draco murmured.
"You do?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"No, Granger. I did all this because I had a childhood fear of snakes and I decided to deal with it now." Draco scoffed.
"You have so many injuries it leaves me nowhere to punch you." Hermione complained.
Draco let out a whole-hearted laugh. His shoulder felt so light now that he was free of the weight that had been burdening him. The war was over with a surprisingly satisfying turn of events. His parents were safe even if hard days were ahead of them as a family. And Hermione was right in his arms. The secrets, lies and deceit that he surrounded himself with, were no longer necessary. And for once, Draco was able to actually sigh in relief.
He stepped forward and pulled Hermione into him. "I love you, Granger." he whispered against her lips.
A/N: Aaaand there goes the last chapter. I only have the epilogue to publish and then we could announce The Malfoy Redemption officially complete. God this story changed so much from the story I had in mind at first. I had such a terribly sad ending that I -thankfully- changed.
I enjoyed writing this story so much and now I feel like a mother seeing her son to his first day of school. I'm so utterly proud and glad that it's finally coming to an end, a happy ending. Yet I'm missing it already.
Thank you all for reading, reviewing and enjoying this story. Some of your reviews actually made my days when I had terrible ones. Some of them improved my writing a lot, and some just had me grinning like an idiot.
P.S: Yes, I refuse to accept Tonks and Lupin's death. They didn't die. I can't hear you. That's not true. *puts hands over ears and sings her happy song*