Epilogue

Nine Months Later…

"Trainee healer Malfoy!" Despite already being exhausted, Draco snapped to attention at the sound of his mentor's voice.

"Yes, Healer Redburn," he replied, turning from the patient he was attending.

"Mr Yeardly has had his lacerated calf muscle healed now, but what would you do next?" Asked Healer Redburn. He was a tall, quiet man with dark hair and a permanent 5 o'clock shadow on his jaw. Despite being softly-spoken, he had an air of authority about him and Draco felt lucky to have gotten him as a mentor.

"I would give him a blood replenishing potion as he has lost a lot of blood, and keep him in overnight for observation." Said Draco, confidently. This was a pretty simple injury to fix, and Draco was desperate to prove himself competent enough to move on to some of the more complex cases.

"Well, go on then." Healer Redburn said, nodding back at the patient.

Draco quickly administered the potion to Mr Yeardly and told him that they were going to keep him in tonight as a precaution but in all likelihood he would be heading home tomorrow.

"Very good," said Healer Redburn as they left the ward. "You can discharge him when you arrive in the morning, all being well."

"Thank you," said Draco. "It's nice to be able to see a patient right the way through from admission to discharge."

"And after you have done that, you can report down to the potions lab. It would be helpful for you to assist in the brewing of the blood-replenishing potion you have just used. Time to put that 'O' grade in potions to good use! See you in the morning." Healer Redburn gifted him with a warm smile and strode off down the corridor, leaving Draco outside the cloakroom to change out of his healer robes and get ready to go home.

"Goodbye." He replied, entering the room and heading for his locker. He glanced at his watch; he might actually get home before Hermione today! He changed into his muggle clothes so that he wouldn't draw attention on the tube on the way home. Grimmauld place was only a couple of stops away from St Mungo's on the underground, so it made sense to utilise it for his commute.

It was funny how well things had worked out living with Potter. Now that Draco was earning he insisted on paying rent, which made him feel less like a charity case and let him see that the arrangement was mutually beneficial. Potter, although he hid it well, was prone to fits of melancholy and Draco could see how rattling around in that big gloomy house all alone wouldn't help.

Draco had gotten pretty good at judging when Potter was in one of these moods and drawing him out of them with gentle sarcasm and banter. Things had also gotten better once Hermione had moved in, and the three of them rubbed along well together.

Hermione had started living with them once she started her job at the ministry in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. The commute from Grimmauld Place was much better than from her parents' house, and she was staying with Draco several nights a week anyway, so it made sense.

He and Hermione were growing closer all the time, and although she still hadn't agreed to marry him, he was confident that she would come around soon. As for him, he didn't want to imagine his life without her; she was everything he could want in a partner and he was more than willing to wait for as long as she needed before they got married.

Draco made his way out of the hidden entrance to St Mungo's and walked towards the underground station, weaving between the muggles busily hurrying along. He sometimes couldn't quite believe that this was his life now; he loved being a healer! He hadn't realised how much he would enjoy engaging with patients, and how fulfilling knowing how to help them would be.

Of course, it hadn't all been plain sailing. Some of the patients and a fair few of the staff didn't want him there, occasionally refusing to be treated by him or making his life more difficult than it needed to be around the hospital by refusing to tell him things or actively trying to sabotage his work.

A lot of that had died down now though, now that he had shown that he was there to work hard and was actually good at what he was doing. He was excited to be going to the potions lab the next day, so far he had been working on the wards but he liked the idea of being able to perfect some of the actual treatments as well as diagnose and prescribe a treatment for whatever had happened to the patients. Not that he was anywhere near being that competent yet, but he could imagine a time when he would be!

Draco glanced at his watch again once he was standing with the other close-packed commuters on the train, wondering if he might see Theo on his way home as he sometimes did occasionally. Theo had started working making broom bristles for Cleansweep Broom Company, and seemed like he was doing alright for himself. He was no longer living with his aunt, but had managed to rent a small flat above the Cleansweep offices, which was one of the major attractions of the job for him.

He and Draco were cordial when they met but their friendship had never truly recovered after their disagreement about muggles just before NEWT's. It was weird, but Draco was now closer to Longbottom than Theo, something he could have never imagined would happen.

Longbottom was working at a small nursery that grew magical plants for use in potions and remedies, supplying different companies and sellers across the country, one of them being St Mungo's. Turned out that Longbottom had a wealth of knowledge about plants and when they were at their most potent for potion making, and had become very highly thought of by the potioneer's at St Mungo's for bringing them quality produce at just the right stage of growth. He was also a frequent visitor to Grimmauld Place too, so Draco had gotten to know him better and realised that he was actually pretty funny and genuinely nice. No wonder the mediwitches found excuses to go down to the lab and fetch potions when he was dropping off his wares!

It didn't take long for Draco to get home, taking the steps two at a time up to the shabby front door of number 12 Grimmauld Place. He crept inside, not wanting to wake the painting that was still stuck to the hallway wall. The painting was much more congenial to him than anyone else who came to the house, but conversing with Granny Black was still unpleasant and tiresome. Every so often Potter would attempt to find a way to get it down, but so far nothing had worked!

Kreacher was in the kitchen preparing dinner for his three charges when Draco went in; whatever it was smelt good. The elf was looking distinctly frailer these days, and Draco knew that Harry and Hermione were worried about him. All three of them made sure to clean up after themselves so that he had less to do but so far Kreacher had been most upset by any suggestion that he should do less, insisting on cooking and cleaning as usual and Draco had a feeling that they would come down one morning and find him curled up in his little cupboard-nest taking his final rest.

"Hello Kreacher." He said, cheerfully, hanging up his coat on the rack.

"Hello Mr Malfoy. There's a letter for you…" Kreacher croaked, pointing at the table where there were several letters in a pile.

"Thank you." He said, sorting through the envelopes until he found the one that was addressed to him. He recognised his mother's handwriting, and shoved the letter into his pocket to read later. Draco and his mother were talking again, although the relationship was strained. It had taken a while for him to reach out to her after he had collected his things from his Aunt Andromeda's. His mother had been caustic and cold, basically telling him he was a fool and would be a failure if he insisted on pursuing a relationship with Granger.

He had been content for a while with the idea that he would never speak to his mother again for a few months after that, but in the end it was Granger that convinced him to write to her again. After all, he did love his mother, even if she thought that his future wife was 'beneath' him. She would have to get over it if she wanted to be a part of his life, and the fact that her sister (whom she was still living with) married a muggleborn should help her to come around.

"Hello!" Came the dulcet tones of Hermione as she entered the kitchen, making Draco's lips curl into an irrepressible smile. He was still pleased to see her after each and every time they were apart, and he couldn't imagine that feeling changing.

"How was your day?" he asked, crossing the room to peck her cheek in welcome.

"It was fine!" she said exasperatedly, telling him exactly what sort of day she had.

"Is there still resistance to the proposed changes?" he asked. Hermione's department was drawing up change in the current legislature to the sanctions against werewolves, and there were a lot of disagreements within the ministry as to how it should be worded. Hermione wanted there to be caveats that allowed for a certain amount of leeway for accidents and misjudgements on the part of the werewolf during the full moon, and more support and funding available for the distribution of Wolfsbane potion, where as her more "traditional" colleagues wanted it to be harsher for werewolf misdemeanours.

"I mean," she said, "Eveline actually said 'couldn't we put them somewhere?' like they aren't people the majority of the time, with jobs and families like everyone else! No wonder some of them go off the rails! It's attitudes like that that will create another Greyback…"

"You'll get there, Granger." Said Draco with a smile. He recognised that look on her face and felt sorry for the people standing in her way; his witch was relentless when she felt strongly about something and it looked like werewolf rights had just been added to her list of causes.

"Anyway," she said, giving herself a little shake before she got really carried away. "How was your day?"

"It was good…" he told her, describing how he had treated patients and that he was going to be making some potions the next day.

They chatted in the kitchen until Potter also arrived home, then had Kreacher's delicious Beef Wellington for dinner, followed by sticky toffee pudding. Draco looked around at his friends in contentment, realising that nothing was permanent in life, be it good or bad, and that even the darkest of people could have a bright future if only they turned towards the light.

The End.