A/N Hello lovelies! Today is Tempest E. Dashon's birthday! So...she has zero idea that I wrote this. Surprise Dasher! This also means that Grammarly was co-pilot and as always I own every single mistake. I would like to ask all of you to go over to her stories and leave at least one review today. Flooding her with love is the ultimate goal. Thanks in advance my darlings!

Ever yours,

Claw

The first time she tries to open her eyes, her body decides against working with her. Her jaw clenches tight instead of relaxing. Eyes that flutter on the verge of the opening but refuse to do so. Limbs that shake and twitch but won't steady enough to reach out to the one who loves her. She can smell him and it is more comforting that it has a right to be. She has read about the power of smell of course but it is not until this moment that she can fully appreciate it. His presence is a steady beacon of safety beside her. She knows that there have been arguments and yelling but he's here with her so whatever it was, he must have won. She is glad for it.

The second time she tries to fight her way to consciousness, she feels strong hands holding onto hers. Her eyes finally open enough to make him out vaguely but it is enough when she sees his smile at her attempt at words that just come out in random noises but it seems to make him happy so it is enough. She would love nothing more than to answer that smile with one of her own but it just isn't feasible as the darkness once more rises and drags her down into the obliviousness that is her unconscious mind.

She is not idle within dreams though. No. She can see a lifetime with the Malfoy heir. Days spent by the pond with his parents. Getting lost in research with Severus. Dinners with Harry and Ron. Pampered outings with Blaise and Theo. All of them there when she gives birth to the first Malfoy female in hundreds of years. A girl with her hair and her father's eyes. A girl that is as compassionate as she is self-assured. Knowing her place in the world but being tempered by the knowledge that her mother had to fight for her own place. She would be glorious.

The third time she opens her eyes she almost succeeds. Driven by the absolute assurance that he is everything that she could ever want she is almost manic with the need to tell him. He needs to know. Know that he is perfect. Know that she wouldn't want to be anywhere else for the rest of her life except for by his side. He needs to know what a laugh she sees for them. Divination has always been a sore spot for her but something happened while she was sleeping. She will never be able to explain it and the only answer she can give is that she just knows.

It is the fourth attempt at waking that she can finally speak with sounds that at least resemble words. She knows that she can't tell him everything that she wants to so she settles for trying to tell him that she loves him. Over and over she tries to say the words. She must have succeeded because he holds her a little too tightly and gifts her with I love you too.

The fifth time she knows that she is fully awake because it hurts. None of the other times were accompanied by pain but it makes this time almost soothing to her mind. If she's in pain then she is alive. It means that she must be healing enough for them to start to step her down from the pain potions. It means that she is going to do everything that she planned while she was asleep.

Groaning, she attempts to hold onto both sides of the bed above her head and pull herself up into a sitting position. She is rewarded for this by the feel of his hands on her shoulders and a gentle push to lay back down. She gives in but it doesn't mean she will the next time. Right now she just wants to take him in. He has deep purple circles under his eyes and the gruff beginnings of a beard. And his hair...his poor perfect hair is a greasy wreck atop his head. She never wanted to see him like that again. His appearance is bringing back memories from the sixth year. It causes something in her chest to tighten to see him like this. Never again should he feel like that but there is something fleeting that she can barely make out about his stance. It's as if painful shadows were weighing him down and now they are slowly lifting. Maybe she is still high from whatever potions they have had her on.

She then notices his smile. It almost doesn't belong on this face that looks so worn down. Her poor Dragon. He's had to deal with too much but she makes herself a promise that she will always help him to carry the darkness to the best of her ability. He can't be left alone to do it.

She finally answers his smile with one of her own. Her jaw pulls in an unfamiliar way but it doesn't hurt so she ignores it for now and brings her hand up to cup her loves face. "I have missed you."

Giving her look that conveys he thinks that she is odd he grabs the hand on his face and presses it into his cheek. "I haven't been anywhere but here."

"I knew that. I missed you when I was dreaming." The slight laugh he gives her makes that tightness in her chest ease slightly and she answers it with another smile. "I've known that you have been here the entire time. I just wish that I would have awake for most of it."

"I've missed you too. Now, let me go and find your healer. She's a downright scary woman but she is competent and the best at what she does. I'll be right back. Try and not go anywhere."

She recognizes the corny humor for the offering it is and responds with a laugh that makes his face light up. If her laughter can make him look like that, she will laugh at every ridiculous joke he ever tells her.

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Draco had not been kidding when he described her healer. She was a short woman with a no-nonsense presence that would give her favorite Potions Master a run for his money. Not that she was addled enough to mention that to either of them.

Healer Dash stomped into the room and with frightening efficiency started casting diagnostic spells and informing Hermione of all of her injuries. She honestly had not realized that she had been that badly hurt. Broken ribs she guessed at but not at the punctured lung. Nor did she guess at all the gashes the twin fuckwits left behind. Apparently, her jaw had also been fractured and her wrist broken. All seemed to be healed or very well on its way to back to normal so Hermione didn't think anything about asking about her jaw because she was still feeling that strange twinge. With an uncharacteristically soft look, Healer Dash patted her on the shoulder and looked at Draco before taking her to leave.

When she focused on questioning gaze onto him he just smiled. This smile looked sad though. Why would he be looking at her sadly now?

Her face must have been showing everything because he lifted his hands before coming to the side of her bed again. "I will answer all of your questions. Right now though I am asking that you let me hold you. Budge over...please."

She would swear in later years that it was the please that did it. The sound of that word coming out his mouth startled her into action and she scooted over with no hesitation.

Once they were both comfortable and she was cuddled into his chest she noticed that he had somehow found time to clean up when he went to find her healer. The thought of him cleaning up made her chest warm again and instead of mentioning it she just held him to her tighter.

When his arms pulled her tightly to him in answer he began to talk and she took even more comfort in the feel of his chest rumbling.

"The first thing I want to tell you is that I love you. Nothing and I do mean nothing can or will change that. I'm in so deep that you could decide to be the next Dark Lady and I would gladly fall to my knees and follow."

She tries to lift her head at this to give him a disapproving glare but he just places a hand at the back of her head and gently but firmly holds her in place over his heart.

"I thought that I had lost you. I literally saw you fall and I just knew that you were dead. I never want to experience that feeling again. Never. So yes, no matter what, from now on I am yours to do with what you will. I would marry you tomorrow if I thought you would consent."

She finds herself amused that even in this he is still a Malfoy and an undercurrent of demand still runs through his words. It's part of why she loves him and is something that she accepted about him long ago so she doesn't even pull up a token protest. There is no reason to. Especially since his wants are exactly in line with hers.

"Tomorrow may be too soon even for your mother to plan a wedding. We should give her at least a month to prepare and so that the invitations have time to go out to all of our guests."

His answer to that is to hold her even tighter as he starts to tremble. What must it cost him to show her this side of him? To show her his fear and uncertainty. She recognizes the gift of himself and counts herself among the lucky for being allowed in to experience it.

"Now...there is something that I need to show you."

He is hesitant as he speaks and in the manner that he stands and grabs her hands. He leads her into the bathroom with him in front of her walking backward. Stopping in front of the counter he brings his hands up to her face and gazes at her as if she is the most precious thing to ever come into existence. Placing kisses on her eyelids and down her face on either side he says, "Remember that I love you and that you have already agreed to marry me."

She feels him step around to stand behind her and she steels herself before taking a deep breath and opening her eyes. She is glad that he is behind her as a broken sob leaves her mouth. He disfigured mouth. Stepping closer to get a better look she sees that it is coming up from her neck and almost loops around the hinge of her jaw before making a jagged path to her lips where it seems to disappear into her mouth where her top and bottom lip meet. She brings shaking fingers up to trace the purple scar. It's the same color as the one on her chest and she knows right then that she has been lucky once more. Turning her head to the right to continue on her path she follows it as far as she can before physics just makes it impossible.

Draco knows what she's trying to do so he lifts his left hand and starts at the corner of her mouth and slowly traces it across her cheek, down her jaw, around to the back of her neck and finally stops at the back of her neck on the right side. "He tried to behead you."

That one sentence seems to hold all of the rages in the world. It would be terrifying if she didn't know him as well as she does. She has nothing to fear from this man. Pulling his hand to the front of her face she places a kiss at the center of his palm and asks, "What happened to them?"

He blushes at this and her supposed brilliant mind cannot come up with one single reason for this. Feeling flustered herself she just blurts out, "Did they get away?"

This causes him to straighten and once again there's the hard as marble Malfoy. "No. They did not escape. They were killed. Harry and I threw out twin Avada Kedavras. Remind me to tell you at a later date what happens when two of those spells meet. Not today though. Today I just want to hold you and remind myself that you are alive and safe now. And no, neither one of us is going to Azkaban or even being charged. Yes, I'll explain that later too."

Before she can protest with any actual conviction she finds herself back on her bed and in his arms. His steady breathing lulls her back to sleep and she is once again in dreams of the future. Where the ugliness of today cannot reach her.