A/n: Thanks to my beta loveinthemadness! **Not yet edited. And as always, check me out on facebook! The link is up on my profile.

It was an unusual warmth against his skin, but the blonde didn't feel an ounce of pain as it bubbled. He glanced up at the girl who was currently straddling him, watching her face intently as she watched the mess on his arm bubble. He wondered what in Merlin's name she had just poured on him.

The gel-like thing covering his tattoo tingled a bit, a sensation that almost felt good on the dark magic inside the tattoo. He laid back, giving up on figuring out what she was doing. If this was her alternative to his salve, then he wished she had alerted him before pouring anything on his arm.

It was strange to lie there with the woman who he kissed only a day ago straddling him, staring not at his body but simply his arm. Draco didn't let it phase him though, not in that moment. He just gave up and let the concoction on his arm work its magic.

It took a while, and when it finally finished bubbling he was almost asleep again. Shaking the man beneath her awake, he groggily opened his eyes. Hermione was grinning down at him, looking extremely pleased.

"Look," she said, pulling on his arm. It didn't help that she leaned further over him, doing things to his mind that she probably was not intending. Yet she didn't stop, and despite himself he didn't protest. Hopefully though his reaction would go unnoticed.

Turning his head, he glanced at his arm and immediately sat up straighter, having to catch the witch on his lap before he accidently threw her into the floor. The hideous tattoo that had decorated his skin since his sixth year was faded, a shadow of its former self. He touched the skin, expecting to feel the Dark Mark to course with dangerous magic like always. He felt nothing.

Checking his arm, he completely missed her smug expression. "I told you I could heal it," she said brightly, when he never looked over at her to see a reaction.

The blonde grinned, turning to face her. He was overjoyed suddenly, having been expecting the girl's attempt at a salve to fail. But this was better than what he expected; not only did the bubbling mess cleanse pain from a mere touch, but it seemed to be erasing the very essence of the mark. It was more than he ever expected her to come up with.

"How?" he asked, shaking his head at her. She shrugged, still grinning cheekily.

"An accident. I had some different mixtures sitting out overnight to check the next day. I was supposed to check them yesterday, but the day got too confusing. And obviously, there were things to consider handling. I couldn't sleep so I decided to go back to the lab and see what else I could discover. I nearly choked on the smoke emitting from that damn mixture, but once I got it under control I could start examining what I had. Putting it on just my skin burned, but when I tried it on an old scar, the mark disappeared. I knew then that I finally had something."

Draco smiled, reaching up to brush her hair away from her face, the woman still straddling his lap. "I never expected you to come up with something like this, much less in such a short amount of time. The man I bought my salve from created the potion due to a lot of illegal labor- don't ask it's just something I know. I wasn't sure you would ever come up with a solution, but you obviously proved me wrong."

She rolled her eyes. "I've been doing that for years Draco." She moved to wrap her arms around her body to fight off a growing chill, but he caught her hand. "What?"

His fingers barely danced over the burn on the back of her hand, something that hadn't even crossed her mind in all her excitement. But now that he was touching it, she remembered again that the mess she got on herself was quite hot initially. "Do you want me to heal that?"

"Oh, you don't have-"

"It would only take a moment," he said, grabbing his wand again. A quick spell had her hand healed up, her skin feeling better. Although she could've done it by herself, it was nice of him to think about how she felt.

"Thanks," she said, slowly noticing the position they were in. She was back to sitting on his actual lap- straddling actually, if she really thought about it- and it was apparent that her actions were having a reaction. She blushed, rolling off of him onto the other side of his bed. He rolled onto his side, studying her.

"Something wrong?" he asked, looking her over. The woman still wore her clothing from earlier, and the skirt she had thrown on to look nice now lay higher on her legs. He couldn't help himself from staring.

"No," she said, closing her eyes. He grunted, and a moment later a large hand was on one side of her body, forcing her to roll on her side towards him. She opened one eye to peer at him.

"When are you going to realize you can't lie for shit?" Draco asked, the hand on her waist drawing small circles on exposed skin. "Tell me what's wrong."

She huffed. "I hardly think this is appropriate," she squeaked, moving to get up. He wasn't about to let her escape his bed though, and pulled her back to him as she struggled out, her body pulled flush against his own.

"Hermione, if you truly thought this wasn't appropriate, you would actually shove me away, not simply say so." He spoke into her ear, smirking when she shuddered at his words. "And something tells me you don't really mind."

"Draco, I don't know what I think right now," she admitted, though it wasn't something he exactly believed.

With a sigh, he moved and pulled the blankets over them both. "Just remember, you came back to my bed, I didn't force you. Now we should sleep; its late and it's been a long day."

The brunette nodded, snuggling up against him. Draco was right, she did return to his bed, and maybe she didn't mind being there. Closing her eyes, she let sleep consume her once again.

Draco awoke to find Hermione out of bed, as usual. But instead of disappearing like the witch normally would, she simply stood in front of his full-length mirror, appearing to be studying something deeply. He shrugged his sleep off best he could, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes as he stood up and walked over to her. The witch never looked up at him, too involved in whatever she was doing. The blonde stopped behind her, looking over her shoulder at the same thing she was examining.

A scar, a rather profound one that he remembered from school, from the war. Reaching out to pull one hand away from the concealed skin, he already knew what he was going to look at. As the girl's hand fell back, the word gleamed up at them both; Mudblood.

"It's the only scar I have mixed feelings about," she admitted, glancing at him briefly. The blonde raised an eyebrow, attempting to keep himself submerged into this conversation. It was a bit hard to follow though when he had just woken up.

"Mixed feelings? You should hate that," he said, gripping her shoulders. "No good memories can be associated with that."

The girl shrugged, dark brunette tresses falling over one shoulder, out of the messy ponytail it had been thrown into. "I didn't say they were good memories."

"Didn't you just create something to remove scars entirely?" the blonde asked, glancing at her. She used her new potion to remove a scar on her body before she ever attempted to use it on him, so why would she hold off on using it on the most obviously degrading scar on her body?

"I did," she replied, turning to look at him. Early morning light barely peeked through a crack between some curtains, and it bathed the sliver of space between them. "But my scar doesn't have dark magic in it. I wouldn't use your potion on my skin again, for we don't know what the final affects might be." She shook her head. "It was a bit careless of me to run in here and give it to you when I don't even know if there will be lasting effects."

The man frowned down at her. "You were excited, and it isn't unexpected. Lots of people get excited when they have something new to show someone. Don't be ashamed of that. Besides, my tattoo is fading, and it doesn't hurt so much to exist as a human. I'll take whatever effects come with that."

Hermione cringed. "I'm hoping there will be none, but I don't know for sure."

"I know," he agreed, his mind traveling elsewhere again. Reaching out, he ran a finger over the old scar. "I think that you should try to remove it. My aunt left this on you, years ago. And I know the experience wasn't pleasant; I was there after all."

"Yes," she said, pulling back. "But it's not just about what happened to bring the scar about Draco. It's also about having the scar now. A scar means that I survived; if I didn't have one, I wouldn't be alive."

The blonde pursed his lips, unable to think of something to say to that. When she realized he was defeated, the woman reached up and lightly touched his cheek, caressing the skin. "I'll think about using it, alright? But I'm not sure I will. This scar isn't your fault Draco. But it's my choice as to whether or not I want to remove it forever."

"I understand," he said, smiling softly. He gripped her hand, enjoying how close they were. The atmosphere was actually calming, until he returned to studying her face. Then he could read the unease again. His eyebrows drew together, wondering what was wrong. And then it came to him.

"Today's the trial."

She nodded, hugging herself. "I woke up this morning and realized it. It's slipped my mind during everything that has happened. Now I can't escape it, and we really haven't prepared a thing. I mean, I have a lawyer and all, but we haven't really spoken. I let everything else get in the way and now I won't be prepared at all when we go."

"Calm down," he said simply. "When you ran off the other day, I came to the same realization. I sent through everything that I could think of to him so he could prepare a case. I also made sure the Potter couple was alerted, since I couldn't recall if the courts were going to summon them or if they expected us to do it. You're not as unprepared as you think."

"Really? I'm just nervous," she said, giving him a ghost of a smile. "I don't want him to go free, but the paper is tripping me up. I don't know what to expect if that's their retaliation."

The man shrugged. "Court isn't until four this afternoon, meaning that if I send a copy through your lawyer can at least have a look at it. I don't think the information is true though Hermione, not really. It seems like something that Seamus gave to you to mislead you. Don't fall for it."

"I know," she replied, stepping out of his grasp and away from the mirror. "I just want to believe that he isn't the arse that he appears to be. He didn't always appear to be this way."

Draco scoffed. "No one is. Look at me Hermione; a year ago, you would've sided with that prick of a husband of yours, not me. Now things are different. It's just in our nature to judge too quickly."

The girl nodded, removing the messy up do she had done. He wondered how long she had been awake. "I suppose. Before it gets any later though, I'm going to shower. I need something to relieve my stress."

Draco stepped away, watching the girl silently grab up something from the bed and walk out the door. Frowning, he walked over and examined what it was. Nothing seemed out of place, until he remembered what she had brought in last night. It was the bottle that she had taken away, nothing more.

If ever there was a time in life when the brunette was nervous, it was now. Sitting in the courtroom, she felt her palms getting wetter and wetter as she waited for the trial to begin. Her lawyer- a pinched little man who cut straight to the chase- had already pulled Draco away to speak with for a moment, and now he was speak to Harry and Ginny. She didn't know what it was about exactly, but none of them stayed down there very long.

Ron wasn't in the room, not yet anyway. Lavender sat on the other side of the room, Seamus at her side. The man looked uncomfortable, but Hermione refused to look on at him very long. Draco's words kept ringing in her head, reminding her not to trust him.

"Do you think it will go alright?" she whispered, leaning over to speak to Draco. It wasn't silent in the place, but quiet enough that she felt it necessary to speak in a lower tone. "Do you think… do you think he'll go to jail?"

"Stop worrying," Draco replied, patting her knee. "Your chances are much better than your husbands. But remember, you're not here filing for abuse, but divorce. If he does go to Azkaban, that's due to his own actions, not what you're trying to prove. Hopefully your lawyer will understand that as well." She looked at him, a bit alarmed. At this point, her lawyer needed to understand this case perfectly!

Glancing away, she finally found the rest of the Weasely's. They sat in the middle of the room, undetermined about where they stood. She assumed that they would be on Ron's side of course, but their indecision made her think that maybe Ginny had a hand in making their certainty waver. Otherwise, why would they be unsure if they should be siding with Ron or not? She couldn't think of another explanation.

From behind the judges pew, a door opened. Everyone in the room rose, as a man stepped through, and the brunette could feel her knees as she stood. But Draco stood like a rock at her side, holding her hand for support. She was thankful that he didn't hug her, for what if that mere action was used against him? There had to be enough question circulating around his appearance there as it was.

When they sat back down, he held her hand in his lap, rubbing circles across the skin. At least there were no reporters there. As she took a deep breath, another door opened, and again she felt her nerves stand on end.

Ron walked through the door, his head swiveling around. As he was moved to sit in a chair, his eyes found their target. Locking down his gaze, he started up at his wife, his glare saved specifically for her.

A/n: Alright guys, let me know what you think! Do you think Hermione should remove the scar? What do you think is on the paper? And how do you think the trial will go?

I've been at a standstill the last few chapters. Although I have written several chapters ahead of the actual update times, I feel as though I don't know what to do. There's not really enough for a sequel, not without coming up with another plotline somehow involving Draco's parents or something. Thoughts?

Either that or this story will just have a few additional chapters past the rough 48 I'm planning. Not really sure which choice I'll go with. So please let me know what you think! I do like to try and work with what me readers like :D