Chapter 13

Introspection

It was early morning and Draco had been unable to sleep through the night. Sleep only came in waves as a result of sheer exhaustion. Part of his trouble sleeping was the imminent danger they were all in. While he and his family had always been in peril, now he had actually done something which would jeopardize their safety. He had spent every moment since the Dark Lord took up residence in his home being so careful and calculated. Now he was completely exposed. Everything that had been tucked away so neatly was laid out at the manor.

He worried for his mother and the fallout she would have to deal with. She hadn't actively done anything to get involved with this. Draco made a choice. Lucius made a choice. And she just stayed faithful to her role as wife and mother. It comforted Draco to know that as much as she was a mother and a wife, she was also a beloved sister. So he hoped the relationship between his mother and aunt would be enough for Bellatrix to gain mercy from the Dark Lord to protect his mother.

His father... He loved his father. Within the last year or two Draco had come to really understand his father. Understand the weight of being a Malfoy. He had always understood that his family was regarded a certain way in the Wizarding World, but being so young he had never really known the cost. Not until last year when he finally started paying for it. The cost of being a Malfoy was believing and partaking in a narrative that was constructed to keep his family and families like them at the top of society. The cost was believing a reality and philosophy rooted in lies and perpetuating that fiction in order to maintain the family stature.

His grandfather had told him that Muggle-borns were once considered to be the most powerful witches and wizards. That notion was unacceptable to certain powerful members of the Wizarding World, so it had to be destroyed. How on Earth could Muggles - weak, unknowing, separate - how could they ever compare to those imbued with magic? And so the narrative became that purebloods were the true witches and wizards and the Muggle-borns were low-grade thieves. Mere imitations who could never hope to be as powerful as the true magic wielders.

That was what he had been taught. What Lucius had been taught. And so having been taught that and under the impression that he was doing what he needed to in order to ensure his family's standing, Lucius joined Voldemort. Voldemort's views aligned with all that Lucius knew. It all made sense.

For a long time Draco had blamed his father. A part of him still did. But after all of the events that had transpired since the Dark Lord's return, he understood his father. Understood that Lucius was afraid of the Dark Lord. Understood that before Voldemort rose to power, the narrative that had careful constructed Lucius's reality was rooted in fear. Fear of losing control of the reality that the pureblood families had constructed for themselves. Fear of losing. Fear of not being safe.

Draco now understood that fear was the root of all of the grooming and conditioning he had experienced his entire life. Even now, Voldemort's entire existence is rooted in fear. Fear of being powerless. Fear of dying. Fear of not having control.

But the young Malfoy had undergone so much. And while he felt he understood the rationale for actions, he also knew that didn't make the actions acceptable. He now knew that the pureblood supremacy narrative was just that - a story. Not grounded in reality. So he needed to let go of that narrative and learn to live in a reality that wasn't rooted in fear.

The blonde man felt movement next to him and turned to look at the person who freed him from all sense of fear. He and Hermione had been given a room of their own and opted to share the bed - they had spent too far apart for too long. Fleur had been against the idea, thinking it improper for the two 17 year old students to share a bed. Bill pointed out that they were of age and Hermione had been sleeping next to two other 17 year old students the entire time. And that they all had just barely escaped death. Fleur relented on the condition that they promised not to do any "married couple actions". They hadn't even ever discussed that, so they promised Fleur she had nothing to worry about.

Hermione made a quiet groaning sound as she began to stir. This is the other reason Draco had a difficult time sleeping - he kept worrying that this was all a dream. That he would wake up and the woman that he loved would be gone. He didn't know what he would do if he woke up and she was gone. But here she was. After months of separation and worry and aching, he had gotten to sleep and wake up next to Hermione Granger. If he was asleep, he didn't want to get up.

The witch who had not yet opened her eyes rolled over so that she was facing Draco. Eyes still closed, she reached out and placed a hand on his forehead, blindly feeling around until she landed on his chin.

"What are you doing?" he asked, slightly muffled by her hand.

"I'm concerned that when I open my eyes you won't be here. That everything that's happened in the past 24 hours has been a dream or nightmare. I wanted to touch you before I opened my eyes to find you weren't really here." She spoke softly. In a voice that sounded both very light and very worried.

"I'm here." He placed his hand over hers and guided it from his chin to his cheek.

With that, she finally opened her eyes. "Good morning," she greeted with a slight giggle.

"Good mor-"

A terrible scream echoed around him and it felt like fire enveloped his body.

"Dear Dark Lord, please, I beg of you! He was under the compulsion of the Imperius Curse! There's really no need-"

The snake man shushed the blonde witch. "Now, now, dear Narcissa, I know. Your son has proved to be one of my most trusted young followers. And your sister is my most trusted Death Eater. I believe what you all have said. But I also believe that the little do-gooders won't like what I'm about to do. Draco is a strong young man who believes in our vision - in our destiny! He will understand that what I am about to do is meant as punishment for his captors and not for him."

Bellatrix placed her hand on her sister's shoulder as an attempt to comfort her. "He said he'll only do it this once, Cissy. Just so that they understand the consequences of their actions.

Narcissa watched helplessly as the Dark Lord touched the Dark Mark on his arm and began to torture her son from a distance.

The scream was so terrible and foreign that at first the witch recoiled and could not register what had happened. Suddenly Draco was thrashing about and she heard footsteps thundering up the stairs. Hermione quickly shifted so that she was sitting on her knees at Draco's side. Only moments later she heard the stampede burst through the door and ask what was wrong.

She did not look up from the man next to her. "I don't know. I was saying good morning and suddenly-"

It was then as she grabbed Draco's arms to limit his thrashing that she saw the movement.

"It's the Dark Mark!" she cried. "The mark burns when You-Know-Who tries to summon the Death Eaters. He must be using it to hurt him!"

"What do we do?" asked Harry.

"I don't know!" the witch was frantic and she moved her body so that she was straddling Draco. Her hands flew to his face as she tried to get him to see her. "Draco! I'm here! You're all right! I'm here."

The screaming seemed to subside for a moment before another, louder scream tore through the air.

Hermione began berating herself. "Think, Hermione!" Suddenly an idea came to her. "Draco! Listen to me. I'm going to make it better!"

"How?" asked Fleur in clear distress.

"The Dark Mark creates a burning sensation. I'm going to try a cooling charm. Someone hand me a wand!" She outstretched her hand and a wand was placed into it. She quickly cast the atmospheric charm and the room turned cold. "Draco, can you feel that?"

His arms seemed cooler under her touch but his screams had not subsided.

"Draco," she cried frantically. She took his face into her hands again and looked into his pain filled eyes.

"Draco," she heard her own voice echo around her.

She looked up and everything was black. The blonde wizard's body was still under hers but he was no longer screaming.

"Hermione," he asked breathlessly.

Hermione was suddenly aware of the burning coming from the darkness. It felt like the sun was targeting her body and trying to set it ablaze.

"I'm going to try something," she said calmly.

Again, but without a wand for it had not followed her into the darkness, she cast the cooling charm. The atmosphere began to shift and the heat seemed to recede away from them quickly. The witch looked around as if she were looking for visual evidence that the heat was gone.

"Hermione?"

She turned to look back down at the man. She met his eyes. And then there was a heaviness. Then nothing.

A/N: What did she dooooo? I guess you'll have to wait to find out!

I am very proud of myself for getting so many chapters out in such a short amount of time. Like I mentioned before, I think them being back together makes me more eager to write. I also wanted to take advantage of the holiday weekend.

As always, I am eternally grateful and would like to thank all of you for reading! I appreciate all the love and support for this story and for me.

On the note of support and the love I have for you, I wanted to share that I've created a using my same name evanescentflame421! I won't spend too much time talking about it here - check out my bio page for more. If you want to support and connect with me more - check it out. However I want to make it very clear - the will not impact my fanfiction at all. Everything will always be posted here, for free. My content on my will not be the stories that I post here.

I hope everyone has had a lovely week and stayed safe! It may be a few weeks before I update again just because work will be busy, but I will be working on it!