Draco smiled back at her and rested a hand on her shoulder. Hermione felt the last remaining tension slip from her body as she sat there with her family gathered around her and her love at her side. She knew there were still challenges to come—people that would never be accepting—but she would live in this bubble for as long as it would allow.
The four of them were lounging around the hospital room when the door opened. Harry and Ginny entered. Ginny's arms were clean this time and Harry walked without a sign that his leg had ever been broken.
They looked surprised to find the room so crowded. "We can come back…" Harry said, holding the door open to go back out again.
"No, it's fine." Hermione grinned at her friends and gestured them inside. "You two are family too, whether you like it or not."
Harry nodded, returning a tentative smile. Hermione pressed the button on her bed and asked the trainee Healer that appeared for a few more chairs. When they arrived, Harry and Ginny sat down next to her bed. Draco sat on the bed next to her, relaxed and at home.
"How is Ron?" Hermione asked to break the silence.
"Back at work already." Ginny chuckled. "He was head of the team so he's also head of making sure everyone gets debriefed and the main witness against all the Death Eaters that were brought down. He's thrilled, of course." She held Hermione's eyes and shook her head to indicate the opposite.
"Do you know how long it will be until they're all released?" Draco asked, his hand gripping Hermione's just a little bit tighter.
"I don't know." Ginny held his eyes with a tentative smile. "I can try to find out, if you want. I think it's only going to be another day or two. Only one of them is still here at St. Mungo's and he's not Narcissa."
Draco nodded, but his muscles stayed tight. He relaxed gradually as the six of them talked easily for the next hour. Hermione appreciated how much her friends and family were trying for her sake and she tried to let them know that.
When dinner arrived, Harry and Ginny said their goodbyes, promising to visit again sometime. Her parents left next, but only because Hermione told them to go home and eat dinner. Exhausted, Hermione slumped back against her pillows, picking at her mashed potatoes as she relaxed.
"Should I go too?" Draco asked, starting to slide off the bed. The healers hadn't even been trying to kick him out, even though he'd been there almost as much as Hermione. It would be a futile endeavor even if they tried.
Hermione wrapped her arm around his waist. "Stay. Please."
He nodded and pushed himself back up next to her until they settled into a more comfortable position. They didn't spoke, barely breathed, as they split Hermione's dinner and then fell asleep side by side in the tiny bed.
Just after breakfast the next morning, Hermione was reading through Hogwarts, A History while Draco stared at the blank notebook she'd given him in companionable silence. The door opened and they looked up, Hermione expecting to see a healer or her friends.
Instead, Narcissa Malfoy looked back at her.
"Mum," Draco said, surprised, as he put his notebook aside. "What are you doing here? Is anything wrong?"
"Everything's fine." She moved over to press a kiss to his forehead. "Draco, please let me speak to Hermione for a moment."
Draco stood obediently but hesitated. Narcissa silenced him with a firm look and a soft smile.
"Don't worry," she said. "Go see if the healers can spare a couple cups of tea."
Draco nodded, looking to Hermione for permission this time. She smiled and jerked her head slightly in the direction of the door. This time he didn't hesitate.
Hermione sat up in bed, watching Narcissa with a slight expression of caution. Draco's mother sat down on the edge of the chair her son had just vacated, folding her hands serenely in her lap.
"I want to thank you, for helping rescue us," Narcissa started. Her voice was a little stilted, like she wasn't used to being genuinely grateful.
"I did what I had to," Hermione replied, trying to indicate that she wasn't just talking about herself. She knew that Narcissa had done what she could to protect her family.
Narcissa nodded, leaning back slightly. There was a warmth in her blue eyes that Hermione didn't think she'd seen before. "You're good for Draco, you know," Narcissa said, her voice quiet and grudging. "With you, he's happier than I've seen him since he was a child."
Hermione wasn't sure what to say to that. Warmth bloomed in her chest. "I love him. I don't want to hurt him."
"I believe you." Narcissa sat forward slightly and held her gaze. "I do not know that you and I will ever be friends. But perhaps we can fight on the same side."
Hermione held out her hand, smiling in return. "We are already fighting on the same side."
Narcissa accepted the handshake and that is how Draco found them when he burst back through the door, three cups of tea floating in front of him. He froze just inside, letting it bang closed behind him. "Is everything all right?"
Hermione let go of his mother's hand. "Everything's great." She reached out to take her tea from him and that woke him up. The cups of tea floated to their respective owners and Draco brought his to sit next to her on the bed.
After a few seconds of silence, Narcissa spoke. "The Aurors Office is interrogating the captured Death Eaters as we speak. Most of them hadn't fought in the War. They have no idea what it was like. They're flipping on the others as we speak."
Draco nodded. "That's good. Do you think this is finally going to be over?"
"I hope so." Narcissa smiled, but her eyes were still hesitant, like she didn't want to make such a claim. Hermione couldn't really blame her. After all, she thought the War had ended with Voldemort's death and yet here she was in a hospital bed not even a year later.
Who knew what would happen in the future.
"I'm thinking about looking for a place outside London," she said. "I won't be rebuilding the Manor."
If Hermione expected Draco to look sad at the knowledge that his childhood home would not be rebuilt, she was surprised. He smiled and nodded at the news. "It was never much of a home anyway. I'll help you look." He paused and put his hand over Hermione's. "Once Hermione is out of the hospital."
"Of course," Narcissa responded.
"My parents and I have been living here for most of our lives," Hermione added. "We might be able to find you something."
"That would be...lovely." They chatted easily about London and housing possibilities for about another hour, before finally Narcissa stood up and brushed off her robes. "I should probably get going. The Aurors Office is going to be expecting me back."
Draco stood, meeting her on the other side of the bed to wrap his arms around her. "I'll talk to you soon, Mum."
Hermione dropped her gaze, but not fast enough. She still caught the slight shaking of Narcissa's hands as she held her son. "I love you, Draco."
"Love you, too," Draco replied, slowly like the words felt strange in his mouth.
Only once Narcissa was gone did Hermione look up again. Draco wiped his face impatiently with the back of his hand and then settled down on the bed next to her. "Are you up for another walk?" he asked.
"Maybe later." Hermione stretched out on her back and snuggled up to him from beneath the covers. "Right now I think all I want is a long nap."
Draco stroked her hair soothingly as she closed her eyes. "I'll wake you if anyone else comes. Get some rest."
No one else must have arrived because Hermione woke up a few hours later, opening her eyes to find Draco dozing in the chair at her side. She left him asleep and reached for Hogwarts, A History on her side table, the familiar words reaching out to greet her like old friends.
The arrival of dinner woke Draco. He scowled at Hermione when he saw her sitting up in bed, still reading. "Why didn't you wake me?" he asked as Healer Brady handed her a plate of baked chicken and potatoes.
"Because you need sleep too," Hermione replied as she accepted the plate. She was about to offer him part of her chicken when Brady produced a second plate from behind her back and handed it to Draco.
"I snuck it out of the kitchen for you," Healer Brady explained as she handed out forks. "Don't tell anyone."
"We won't," Draco replied with a grateful smile. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. As always, let me know if you need anything." She swept from the room and left them alone with each other and the food.
In the morning, a knock sounded on the door. Hermione stretched, squinting in the low light, and called "Come in!"
She expected to see her parents, but instead it was Neville and Luna, holding hands and wearing cautious smiles.
"I'm sorry," Luna said in that wistful way of hers as Draco woke violently and had to grab onto the edge of the bed to keep from falling out of the chair. "Did we wake you?"
"Not at all," Draco said, his voice cracked. He waved his wand and brought the lights up to full brightness. Hermione closed her eyes against the light and waved her friends inside once she was able to open them again.
"We heard about the attack," Neville explained as he wandered over to her bedside. "We were just upstairs visiting my parents and wanted to make sure you were okay."
Draco snuck around the room and out the door, murmuring something about going to the bathroom. "I'm doing better," Hermione said once the door closed. "Hopefully won't be here too much longer."
"Any idea when they're going to let you out?" Neville continued.
Hermione shook her head. "A few more days, maybe. They're waiting to make sure there aren't any adverse effects. I feel fine, except for the fact that I'm really tired."
"Are all the Aurors okay?" Luna asked. Her eyes were wide and she looked almost normal. She was wearing a simple white dress with accents of pink. Her usual necklace of butterbeer caps was nowhere to be seen. Instead there was a pink ribbon in its place, a simple gold charm hanging at the end.
For a second Hermione thought it was the Deathly Hallows symbol and her heart jumped up the memories. Luna flicked her hair back off her shoulder, jarring it in the process, and the light showed that it was completely different. Circular instead of triangular for starters.
Hermione let herself relax back onto the pillows braced behind her. "The Aurors are fine," she said, remembering that Luna had asked a question. "As far as I know. I can't say much more beyond that."
"Did you have a good Christmas?" Neville asked after a several seconds of silence.
Hermione nodded. "Christmas Eve was good. Christmas Day...well, you heard what happened."
Neville nodded solemnly. "Are you going back to your family for the rest of the holiday?"
She shifted her legs underneath the covers, trying to get more comfortable. "That is the plan as soon as they let me out of this place. I'm going a little stir-crazy stuck in bed most of the time." They nodded with sympathy. "What about you?" Hermione asked. "Are you having a good Christmas?"
"Marvelous." Luna sighed dreamily. "The two of us are staying with my dad. Neville simply loves the Gurdyroot juice."
Hermione stuck out her tongue in a fake gag and smiled at Neville when Luna wasn't looked. He fought hard to force down a laugh as he nodded in reply. "That's good," Hermione said.
"We should probably be going," Neville said. "My grandmother is expecting us for lunch in less than an hour." He scrunched up his nose ever so slightly. "She's quite overwhelming, to be honest."
"She's only proud of you," Luna said, spinning in a circle so her dress twirled around her. "Feel better soon, Hermione." She skipped out of the room without a second goodbye.
"She doesn't believe in goodbyes anymore," Neville said, gazing after his girlfriend with a dreamy expression. "I hope they let you out soon. We'll see you back at Hogwarts?"
"Of course." Hermione smiled and leaned forward to give him a short hug. After everything they'd been through, not having to say goodbye was a relief. "I'll see you soon."
As Hermione had told them, it was a few more days before she was able to leave St. Mungo's. Draco stayed with her most of the time, only leaving for a few hours at a time to visit his mother. The Ministry had put her up in a small flat until she could find something of her own.
Every day her parents came to visit. When Hermione found her dad was fascinated by the Daily Prophets that she kept stacked on her bedside table, she let him leaf through them all and answered all of his questions as best she could.
It was still a few days early for New Year's resolutions, but she made one that there would be no more secrets between them.
On the last day of the year, Healer Brady arrived with a smile and the news that she was being released. "You're in perfect health," she said. "I don't see any reason to keep you any longer. The curse seems to be a variation of bombarda, though without the Death Eater who cast it it's impossible to know for sure. I don't believe there will be any side effects, but come back in if anything seems off."
"Thank you," Hermione said as she swung her legs out of bed and shook the healer's hand. "For everything you've done."
"It was my pleasure. Good luck with your last few months at Hogwarts." The healer disappeared. Draco twined his fingers through Hermione's as her parents looked on. She let out a sigh of relief as anticipation bubbled in her chest.
"Are you ready to go home?" he asked, the softest smile on his face as he watched her. His hand gave a reassuring squeeze.
Hermione grinned at him, her heart thumping at home, and swung her beaded bag over her shoulder. "I've been ready for days."
