Chapter 42 - Only Chance

Arriving back at Shell Cottage, Draco did feel a sense of disquiet and nervousness at what he was about to attempt; but beyond this, since it was Harry's life on the line, he was filled with resolve. Not to put too fine a point on it, but failure was not an option.

But even so, with so much riding on his efforts, Draco did feel a trepidation natural to knowing how much his actions counted for—how much Hermione was counting on him. If Harry died, then she...

Stop. Enough with that. Draco forced himself to stride ahead with more confidence than he felt, and entered Shell Cottage as though he owned the place. Only Ron and Lavender were present in the front room, as Bill and Fleur had gone out to fetch them more supplies, and Hermione was keeping vigil at Harry's side. Dobby was nowhere to be seen, but was presumably making himself useful.

"Malfoy!" Ron exclaimed lazily, at the same time as Luna said, "Welcome back, Draco."

Undeterred by the mixed reception, Draco gave a nod of acknowledgement to both of them. "I'll need room to work," he announced.

"On what?" Ron asked, just as Luna once again spoke over him, directing Draco to the kitchen in case he required the use of a cauldron.

Draco set up his supplies quickly on the kitchen table, reflecting that it wasn't just space and precision that he needed to make this work, but time. Unfortunately, that last element was the one thing he didn't have, as even now, Harry's life was slipping away. Nagini's poison was potent, no doubt about it, but working with unicorn blood in a potion, of all things, was equally as dangerous.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Luna asked, as she and Ron came in behind Draco. Ron shot her a look at volunteering him, but of course Luna didn't see it.

To an extent, Draco realized that he should try explaining what he was doing, but rather than have the two friends question his methods, he preferred to remain silent about it. Right now, he was also rather thankful that Hermione wasn't with him in the room, otherwise he might get distracted or too hasty and make a mistake.

"Yes, give me some privacy," he muttered, flicking his wrist and lighting a fire under Fleur's cauldron—thankfully empty now, and clean of other potions residue.

"Just what do you plan on doing?" Ron asked, curiously eyeing the assortment of ingredients that Draco had laid out on the table. Being no potions expert himself—and with Professor Snape never having gone out of his way to help him or anything like that—he couldn't tell whether Draco was working on something good or bad, though Luna's tale from earlier did encourage even Ron to start taking Draco seriously as an ally and no longer an enemy.

"Saving Harry's life," Draco replied shortly, brushing past him and casting a few dry herbs into the cauldron, where they fell to the bottom and immediately flamed up. Ron's nose wrinkled at the unpleasant smell that caused. Didn't tossing in dry herbs go against everything they had been taught in potions or something—reduce their potency?

"Come on, Ron. Let's go," Luna said, gently pulling him aside.

It was clear to see that Ron didn't at all want to leave his brother and sister-in-law's kitchen at the hands of the young Malfoy, and especially not when they didn't know what he was doing, but he could tell that now really wasn't the time to insist. And besides which, if Draco was really in earnest about saving Harry's life, then Ron wasn't about to interfere with what was the only chance offered to them right now.

"Should we tell Hermione he's back?" he mumbled to Luna, just loud enough for Draco to catch it.

Turning around sharply, he gave Ron what was an unintentional and purely instinctual sneer. "Don't you dare, Weasley." Then, at Ron's responding hostile look, Draco sighed and calmed himself down first. "I mean, I'd work better if she doesn't know. If she did, she'd come in here offering to help, and..."

But for Ron, that was enough—he wasn't keen on having Hermione spend more time alone with Draco for any reason either. Nodding curtly and for once holding his tongue, he and Luna left the kitchen, closing the door behind them.

Five hours later, Hermione finally came out of Harry's room once she realized that, in watching over him exhaustion had taken over and she had fallen sleep. Her neck ached from the position she had been unfortunate enough to choose, but otherwise she was just as miserable as ever. Harry seemed to be slipping from this world right before her eyes, and Draco...well, Draco was gone. Hermione trusted his decisions sure enough of course, but still...she wished that he could still be there with her. She felt that she needed his support more than ever.

She came upon Ron and Luna in the main room, just as the pair were getting ready to go outside and walk along the beach for some fresh air. Spotting Hermione, they silently made the decision to stay behind.

"Blimey, Mione, you look beat!" Ron commented, though he secretly thought her attractive all the same.

Hermione attempted a weak smile, but it did little to convince them that she was alright. Luna thought to inquire after how Harry was, but this time even she had the sense to know that nothing would have changed in his condition just by hoping. Literally, all they could do right now was wait.

Spotting that the kitchen door was closed, but not hearing anything inside, Hermione quickly dismissed the thought that Bill or Fleur might be back. If they were, then surely they would have stopped by to check up on Harry first. As it was, Hermione realized now that she was hungry, and was just about to head in.

"Perhaps you should wait a bit, Hermione," Luna said, very casually and calmly as though she said things out of the blue all the time—which she did, so Hermione didn't think to question it. It was only when Ron shuffled slightly to block her path that she suddenly got suspicious.

"What is it with you two?" she asked, furrowing her brow and looking appropriately confused.

Just then, Draco himself was the one to answer her question as he came out, looking even more worn-out and exhausted than she did, if it was possible. Having discarded his outer jacket and rolled ups his shirt sleeves, the young Malfoy looked extremely disheveled and pale. However, he was sweating profusely and breathing heavily, and judging by the strong whiffs that came out from the kitchen behind him, Hermione could only guess why.

"Draco!" Hermione just barely held back from hugging him in front of Luna and Ron, instead settling for just walking over to him and then pulling back at the last minute. "Why didn't you tell me you had gotten back? When did you get back, by the way?" Well, those were the least of her two questions, anyway.

Draco shook his head, his eyes wide and frenzied even though he looked ready to collapse any second. "I may have just given you a run for your money, Granger," he said wryly, managing a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Holding up a small vile of silvery liquid, he passed it into Hermione's hands.

"What is it?" she asked, scrambling through her stores of knowledge to identify it and coming up short.

Now Draco's smile extended, and he indeed looked proud of himself—if not a little awed. "That, Hermione, is an antidote to Nagini's poison—the only one of its kind and a complicated recipe that won't be in any textbook. I just finished brewing it and was about to go give it to Harry."

Hermione stared in disbelief at the potion, at the same time wondering just how and if it would work. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask Draco, but just then Ron cut in first.

"Tell us, Malfoy, how is it that you brewed the 'only one of its kind' and how do we know it'll work on Harry?"

"Ron, now's not the time," Hermione said, already turning to head back into Harry's room and give him the potion—she, at least, didn't doubt Draco in the slightest, and figured that there would be time for questions later. Right now, they needed this chance—any chance—to save Harry's life.

But Ron held out a hand and stopped her, and although the physical contact was completely unwanted, Hermione didn't struggle against him, instead just shooting him a glare that warned him to let her go.

Draco kept his eyes on Ron as well, and thought he knew why the Weasley was asking him that. "You want to know what I put in it and if there would be any side effects besides healing him," he supplied.

Rod nodded tersely. "Luna told me what she gave you earlier—unicorn blood. It doesn't take much to put two and two together."

Not even for a numbskull like yourself, Draco thought but didn't say—though Merlin knew he would have before in the past. As it was though, he understood Ron's reasoning and, maddening as it was, agreed with him for asking questions.

"Draco?"

Hearing Hermione's shock and hesitation though, as she turned back to face him and shrugged herself away from Ron, now that was another thing entirely.

"Is it true?" Hermione pressed, looking extremely torn between what to feel, think, and believe. "Does this potion contain unicorn blood?"

There was nothing left to do but be honest. "Yes."

"Draco, unicorn blood, it...it could very well end up killing Harry, or at the very least cursing him!" Hermione exclaimed, looking more frustrated than Draco had ever seen her. She began pacing back and forth, still holding onto the potion, but obviously also wrestling with what she knew as factual information versus what she wanted to believe in from Draco. "You can't be telling me that this is Harry's only chance! It's what Vol—it's what he did to stay alive before, and he was cursed for it! I'm not saying that it wouldn't be powerful enough to combat Nagini's poison, but there has to be another way!"

"There isn't," Draco cut in, catching onto her arm and stopping Hermione in her tracks before she did or said something she might regret. "Think back to what you know about every available substance known to magic: there isn't anything stronger than this for combating poison, and Nagini's is about as powerful as they come, made worse by dark magic. Unicorn blood is one of the only things that's pure in and of itself, and therefore strong enough to neutralize its affects. If not this, than what do you suggest?!"

Hermione knew he was right, knew without even consulting a textbook that the unique properties of unicorn blood were the only surefire way to take away the impacts of so powerful a curse as was laced with Nagini's venom. But still, in itself, it was so dangerous that...

"What will happen to Harry once he drinks this though? Even with the guarantee that he'll live, I don't know that he'll want to live a cursed life," she whispered, staring down dejectedly at the vial in her hand.

"He won't be cursed," Draco surprised her by saying. Then, hurriedly, so as not to give her false hope, he added, "Or, at least, he shouldn't be."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

To everyone's surprise, it was Luna who answered. "You've found a way to mix the blood in a way that won't result in a curse, haven't you, Draco?"

Glancing in her directly quickly, Draco nodded, then focused all his attention on Hermione, who was really the only person that he felt he needed to convince. "It's taken years of research and expertise and experimentation, but there is a way to do it. It hasn't been easy and I can't even say for sure that I brewed it perfectly so that it won't curse Harry, but think, Hermione: right now, this potion, with or without the effects of a curse, is the only chance that Harry has. Do you want to take that away from him?"

Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat, her eyes filling with tears that she didn't even bother to hold back. This was her best friend's life on the line, someone who was not only important to her as a brother, but also the entire Wizarding World—dare she make that call?

"Please," Draco said in almost a whisper, looking intensely into her eyes. "Trust me on this."

Ron looked like he wanted to interject something, but just then Bill and Fleur came back from their trip. "What's going on?" Bill asked, eyeing Hermione and especially Draco curiously.

But Hermione's choice was already made, even as she heard Ron in the background, voicing his doubts. "Alright," she said, stopping everyone in their tracks as they started to say something. "We'll do it."

"Mione—"

"Get out of my way, Ron."

"No, you don't—"

"Don't test me. With or without a wand, I'll hex you if you try to stop me!"

Reluctantly, Ron moved out of her way and let her into Harry's room, though no one made a move to follow her once she was inside.

For what was possibly five minutes but felt like much longer, there was silence, with no one daring to move and Draco hardly daring to breathe. At one point, he almost quite literally collapsed, but just then Luna was by his side like a crutch, quite naturally wrapping an arm around his waist and helping him over to a seat. Draco, beyond being surprised and focused only on the task at hand, submitted without a word.

Then, finally, with nothing more than a creaking floorboard as Hermione stood up and made her way over to the door, they finally heard the verdict: "He's waking up."

It was a whirlwind of confusion and ecstatic sighs of relief after that. Harry did indeed wake up, slowly and by degrees, but after checking his vitals and scanning his wound for any signs of the poison, it become clear that it was slowly dissipating from his system. The black stains on his bed confirmed that he was quite literally sweating it out, and after a long day of everyone constantly checking up on him and tending to his care, he fell into a deep and natural sleep to give his body time to rest after all the work it had been put through, healing the effects of the poison. But, as Hermione confirmed the next morning, it was all out and Harry would live. So far, no one had noticed any sign of a curse from the unicorn blood potion, but since the effects of unicorn blood were usually not obvious or immediate, no one held out much hope for what Draco had said regarding how there shouldn't be any curse. For now, it was enough to acknowledge that the young Malfoy had saved Harry's life, and that they now owed him a debt of gratitude and their unfailing trust. Even Ron didn't have it in him to doubt anymore, and shook Draco's hand in silent understanding when the two met that morning before breakfast.

But Draco, rather than go into the kitchen and have anyone say kind things to him or congratulate him or thank him, decided to hold off on that and do the last thing he set out to do in coming to Shell Cottage. Saving Harry's life had been his primary focus; but their mission, and this war, was far from over.

Fortunately, he found Harry awake, though he still wasn't strong enough to get up and walk about, and so Fleur had prepared him breakfast in bed. Thank Merlin he did have an appetite for it though, which was a good sign that he was on the road to recovery.

"Draco," he said, looking up comprehendingly. "Come in, have a seat."

Then, once Draco was seated and before Harry could start thanking him or anything, he said, "I didn't come here to be praised, Harry. I'm actually here to say goodbye."

Harry's eyes widened. "Wh—"

"You didn't think I could stay here, do you?"

"I..." Harry shook his head. "After what you did, Draco, we'd be honoured to have you with us, to join us."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "'Honoured', really?"

Harry nodded confidently. "Yes. We'll be heading out again soon and I've already talked it over with Hermione and Ron—but then, you know how Hermione feels about it already. We'd be more than happy to have you with us, help us do what we need to."

Draco smiled, glad to be invited, but at the same time knowing that he could never accept. "Then you and Hermione should already know why I can't do that—and maybe you can explain it to Weasley, though I doubt he'll be that sorry to see me go."

"That's not—"

"No, Harry, I'm serious," Draco sighed, clasping his hands out in front of him. "You've got your own destiny in all this and I've got mine. Much as I hate to say it, what's happened here changes nothing. I've still got my family and I've still got the Mark—neither of those things is ever going to go away or not make up a part of who I am. Hermione thinks I can move past that and maybe even now she thinks that joining you is the way to do that, but I know otherwise. I'm not...I'll never be as good as you, but I am making some changes on my own terms towards doing the right thing now."

Then, reaching into his robes, he took out the last thing Harry would ever have expected to see: his wand.

"Take it," Draco said, holding it out to Harry.

Harry furrowed his brow. "I don't..."

"Test it out, see if it works for you," Draco insisted, still presenting it. "You don't have a wand right now and I know that Hermione's didn't do you much good and Weasley's is no better. After what just happened, I don't think you can afford to turn one down, especially since..." And here he sighed. "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get a new one made for you. Right now, it's too dangerous to even try, especially if someone guesses who it's for. I can get a new wand made at any time, claim that I was disarmed when you escaped, or something like that. The story for that day isn't clear, not even to the Dark Lord.

"So, to return to my main point, take it."

Harry reached out for Draco's wand reluctantly, and as soon as he touched he he already felt a compatibility to it, more than for Hermione or Ron's wands. If ever there was a time to compare the two boys that for most of their lives had been enemies and opposites, than this was it.

"Expecto patronum!" Harry cast, and right away his stag appeared in perfect form from the wand, prancing around the room before settling down to await his instructions. Given the difficulty of a patronus charm at all, it was impressive that with Draco's wand it worked on the first try, especially when Harry wasn't in the best shape.

Draco smiled with a grim sort of satisfaction. "Well, that settles things."

His business finished, he stood up.

"You're leaving now?" Harry confirmed, and Draco was surprised by the amount of disappointment in his voice; but that didn't lessen his resolve any.

"I think now is best."

"Without saying goodbye? To Hermione, I mean?" Harry pressed.

Draco looked back at him, half-annoyed at the all-knowing look in the Chosen One's eyes. But, fortunately, he wasn't as "stoic and silent" a type to leave without saying a single word or getting a single moment of glory—as a Slytherin, it just wasn't in his nature.

And besides which, although he didn't care about most people's opinions, he did care about Hermione.

Smirking, he said, "Of course I'll say goodbye to her, Potter. She's got to thank me for saving her best friend's life, doesn't she?"

Then, with not another word between them, Draco left Harry Potter to himself, now fully equipped with a new wand that should (hopefully) be of some use to him.

A/N: Aaaaand we are done with yet another chapter! Whew!

Okay, so event-wise I'm pretty sure everyone can identify the significance(s) of what happened, so there's really no explanations that I need to give. I hope y'all have enjoyed it, and please do, as always, leave a review, or follow and favourite to show your support! I hope to have another chapter out soon!