Disclaimer: JK owns HP; not me.

Fear and Self Loathing in Wiltshire

Chapter 33

There was a crowd outside the burning castle by the time they made it out. A sea of familiar faces belonging to aurors and other order members, but there was only one in particular that he was looking for. Draco's eyes scanned the horizon quickly as he attempted to spot Hermione's unique mane of bushy hair in the mass of survivors, but so far he hadn't had any luck.

As his gaze swept over the vicinity, further down the hill he could spot a group of his fellow aurors lining up bodies into two different piles. He cringed at the thought of losing that many people over the course of the morning, and took to looking at them a little closer, just to make sure she hadn't ended up among them in the short time they'd been apart. The pile on the right was much larger than the one on the left, and he was relieved to see that the dead in that grouping were mainly wearing black cloaks with hoods. The ones in the other seemed to have been placed in rows, and were laid into positions more carefully in comparison to the other. At least their victory had been with very little casualties on their own side, and Hermione did not appear to be one of them.

"Dad!" Ginny sprinted past him, distracting him from his search and discovery as she left their small group to get to her father; who was not only at the front of the crowd but standing right next to his own.

He'd almost forgotten his father had been there, and the two men nodded at each other, both with a small hint of a smile splaying across their lips; relieved that the other had made it out of this last final battle alive once more. Though Draco was limping while using Ron Weasley as a crutch, it was clear that his injury had been minimal in comparison to how the morning could have ended. As either of them could have landed themselves in one of those piles.

Their small gestures of affection went unnoticed however, in comparison to Arthur Weasley crushing his daughter into a tight hug. While she was covered in soot and ash, his face was speckled with blood and sweat. Each of them had been through their own very different trials, but had come out on the other side. The revelation of how Molly had taken Bill and Fleur to St. Mungo's but was confident they would both live could be heard loud and clear as the rest of his group approached closer. In fact, as he looked around, it seemed all of the Weasley's had made it out alive this time. Though both Bill and Charlie had been inured quite badly, they were alive, and it felt like they had been watched over by the very brother they had lost in the last battle; just over a year ago.

Theo Nott continued to struggle in his binds through being levitated at the control of Harry's wand, slightly distracting Draco from the reunion of Weasleys for a moment, but the shouts of joy surrounding them soon drowned his cries of anguish out again. Another bogey erupted from Theo's nostril, though smaller this time, and hit him in the eye with a chunk of itself. It seemed Ginny had forgotten to cast the counterspell on him before joining her family, so unfortunately he would have to let the spell run its course.

"Looks like you got yourself a catch there, Potter." Draco called out to his partner. "I wouldn't get on her bad side for sure, but she's definitely a catch."

"Oh, I know it." Harry responded as he cast a silencing spell on Nott so he wouldn't have to listen to his moans of disgust. A moment later he nodded back to the crowd. "You as well though."

Draco turned his head to look back down the hill, just in time to see Hermione running right at him; eyes flooded with relief. He grinned madly at the thought of her caring so much for him in return. When she reached him, she grabbed his face in her hands so she could look him over, causing Ron to release him into her care so he wouldn't have to witness their reunion. He may be okay with them being together now, but he was still not a fan of witnessing them show affection to one another.

"Are you alright?" She asked worriedly, as Ron went to check on each of his brothers. "Why are you limping?"

"It's not that bad, part of the ceiling collapsed on me as I was chasing Nott, but Weasley and Potter got me out alright." He nodded as he redistributed his weight to lean against her. "Ginny got Theo over there, and my aunt killed his father. Apparently my Aunt Bella and the horcruxes as well." He briefly explained that their mission had been accomplished.

"Oh that's good." Hermione nodded back at him with a forced fake smile.

Suddenly she stopped and paused, and just as he was about to ask her if everything had gone okay on her end, she backhanded him in the chest. Hard.

"Ow! I'm already hurt here wo-"

"How dare you abandon me like that Draco Malfoy!" She scolded him, landing another slap to his left pectoral. "You could have died in there! And for what...Theo Nott?"

"Ow!" He repeated, wincing as he rubbed his chest. "He tried to make Pansy kill you. I wasn't about to let-"

"Don't say he would have gotten away with it. We could have tracked him down later, they don't have anywhere left to hide anymore." She continued with her scolding by poking him hard in the chest with every other word. "But you just ran off and almost got yourself killed. If it wasn't for my friends and your aunt, you would have been killed...Would that have been worth it?"

Draco cringed looking rather ashamed of himself. Even he knew he hadn't been thinking rationally when he'd taken off after someone he used to consider a friend.

"No." He sighed and looked down at his feet. "No that wouldn't have been worth it at all. I should have stayed with you and helped with Pansy and Blaise."

"You're damn right you should have." She was still cross with him, but at least she wasn't hitting or poking him anymore.

"I'm sorry." He attempted to apologize; flashing a small smolder at her before leaning in to kiss her.

Hermione humphed at him and turned her head so his dried and rather cracked lips landed on her cheek. "I'm still cross with you." She informed him.

He went with it and placed a series of kisses down to her neck. "Yes, but I'm injured." He smirked against her skin, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stay mad at him much longer.

A trace of a smile made her lips twitch, though she tried not to. "Yes I suppose you are." She agreed as she let him place a single chaste kiss to her own dried and dirty lips. "I also suppose you'd like me to heal you as well?"

"If it's not too much trouble." He whispered as he continued to press kisses to her mouth and jaw.

"Alright." She agreed with a strategic look on her face. "But you'll have to take off your pants."

Draco paused his antics as his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "Here?" He asked as he noticed how many people were around them, including their friends and people he'd once considered his enemies.

She smirked devilishly at him as she raised her wand. "Yup. Right Here."

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Luckily he'd convinced her to just cut the fabric of his pant leg instead of making him strip down to his skivvies, but not without some proper groveling first. By the time she'd healed him and set his clothing to rights most of the survivors had moved down to the bottom of the hill to assist with the dead.

One by one, the bodies of each deceased death eater were added to a pyre set aflame; built, and lit by the aurors who'd made it through the battle unscathed. A pile of masks remained on the sideline, each one representing the fallen death eater who'd once worn it proudly. They would now be all that was left to mark those who had died defending their devotion and loyalty to Lord Voldemort's cause.

As the last death eater was added to the burning pile of bodies, he could feel his partner stiffen on one side of him; letting out a wheezy breath of discomfort.

"Are you alright Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry Potter paused with a grimace as he watched those who had died on the opposing side of the war burn to ash; the ones on their own had already been moved to the ministry for proper burial. "I know earlier I took Lucius Malfoy's side and agreed to this, but now I can't help but feel that this is wrong." He said self righteously. "Shouldn't their families get to have closure too?"

"In a perfect world, yes." Ginny was the first to respond as she leaned in to comfort him. "That's part of why I love you so much. You always want to do the right thing." She attempted to explain why this was necessary. "But they were bad people who did a lot of terrible things, and killed a lot of people. Good people. They are already dead, Harry. It's not wrong to make sure they can't come back."

Harry nodded his head at his fiance, but it didn't look like what she said had made him feel any less guilty over it.

"She's right." Draco spoke up to reiterate what Ginny had said. "I know you said the horcruxes had been destroyed, but this was the third war most of these people had been a part of in less than twenty years. We can't risk them being brought back and continuing on with what the Dark Lord started."

Harry looked annoyed at basically being told his conscience was too big by those he was closest to. "I know, but stooping to their level-"

Knowing where he was going with his hero complex, Draco cut him off. "At the beginning of the night you said you were tired of people you care about ending up dead, and doing whatever it took to stop that from happening again. Well, Potter, this is how we do that."

"It's the smart decision Harry." Ron also chimed in. "Hagrid said he saw Crabbe, and Goyle Sr.'s run off and disapparate earlier. We still have them, and probably a few others to track down too. I don't want to risk having to go through this again in a year if we don't have to. Just let the order go ahead and take care of it."

"Yeah, okay." Harry finally agreed, though still looked guilty. "It's already done anyway."

Ginny wrapped her arm around him for comfort, and they all turned away. It had been a long and restless night, and it was time to take Theo and the other few death eaters they had captured alive into the ministry for booking. They could reflect on the events of the morning later, once they'd all had a bit of time to sleep and mull it over.

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Once Theo had been sent to Azkaban to await his trial, Draco and Hermione bid farewell to their friends and headed back to Malfoy Manor to catch up on some well deserved rest. As they began to undress, ready to collapse and sleep the rest of the day away, it suddenly occurred to both of them what had happened there just hours earlier. So many other events had gone on since, that it felt like days rather than the hours it had actually been since the traumatic wake up they'd received. In fact, they'd almost entirely forgotten about it at all until just before they were about to lay down in Draco's bed together.

Both halfway dressed, they stood at the foot of the bed and looked upon it with apprehension. Not even twelve hours ago they had fallen asleep here, unaware that Viktor Krum was about to break in, kidnap her, and attempt to murder Draco. Everything had been a whirlwind since that moment, and it seemed to have shaken both of them to their cores.

"Do you suppose the war really is over now?" Hermione was the first to speak up, turning her head to look at him instead of the bed.

Draco paused in thought for a moment before answering her. "I'm sure there are still the few odd dark wizards Potter and I will need to apprehend through the auror department, but with how many we caught and killed today I'd say yes. I think it's over."

Hermione breathed a true, genuine sigh of relief as she rubbed her tired eyes. "Well thank Godric for that." She replied as she turned the blankets down on her side of the bed in order to crawl in.

He soon joined her after disrobing all the way down to his boxers, and scooted in to spoon her from behind.

"So what do you think you want to do now that it is?" He asked.

"Well," She started in a way that let him know she was about to go off on a tangent. "Now that I won't be helping you in the auror department anymore I really need to get back to the Wolfsbane program I was telling you about for the DRCMC. Since your father donated all that-"

"Granger." He scolded her with a chuckle. "I meant on more of a personal level, rather than an occupational one."

"Oh." She looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I hadn't really thought about it I guess."

As she felt him stiffen beside her, she got a hint that he was talking about their relationship specifically, and was looking for some reassurance now that she wasn't required to spend all of her time with him anymore. In fact, it was just now that she too realized she wouldn't have to live there anymore, and felt herself become disappointed at the thought of having to leave without Draco.

"Why?" She asked, rolling to face him and hoping to give him the reassurance he was desperately looking for. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Well I'm too tired to do anything about it tonight, but sleeping here after Krum caught us earlier doesn't exactly make me feel all that comfortable anymore." He propped himself up a little with his elbow to look her in the eye easier. "It's kind of ruined the whole room for me actually."

"Yeah, me too." She agreed, placing a kiss to the tip of his nose.

"And now that the war is over I won't exactly be assigned as your bodyguard anymore." He continued. "So you won't really be required to stay with me after tonight either."

Hermione pursed her lips at the mention of her recent revelation. "That's true."

"And I know the Weasleys would be happy to have you come live with them again, and Potter would offer you a room at my Great Aunt Walburga's place in a heartbeat." He seemed to have gone off on his own tangent at this point. "But then again you also mentioned how much you hate sleeping in the same house as Weaselbee, what with his snoring, and he could easily be at either place at any time really."

She held in a snort as she finally realized where he was going with this, and was more than happy to let him get there on his own. "And?"

"Well I didn't know if…" He paused slightly. "I guess I thought that since I don't want to stay here anymore either, that maybe you and I..." He chuckled under his breath nervously. "What I mean to say, or ask, is if you might consider moving somewhere else... with me?"

The corners of her lips raised into a wide smile as he finally spat out what he was trying to ask. "You want us to move in together?"

"Well, yeah." He admitted, still looking more nervous than she had ever seen from him before.

"Like a flat, or another property owned by your ancestors?" She asked. "Because as long as we can connect a floo directly to the library here I won't be too picky."

Draco growled in a mix of annoyance and relief before he sat up with a large grin on his face. "So are you agreeing? You'll move in with me."

Hermione laughed as he tickled her sides for her comment about the library. "Yes. Yes, Draco I would be happy to move in with-"

He suddenly shut her up with his lips as he rolled over the top of her. His hands tangled themselves in her hair, and their mouths clashed together as they sealed the agreement with a heated kiss.

"I'm happy too you know." He said as he forced himself to stop their suddenly heated exchange.

"Yeah?" She smiled up sweetly ah him. "I'm glad. You really deserve it Draco."

Not wanting to get all sappy or Hufflepuffy, he placed a final kiss to her lips for the night. "Okay, it's time to let me get some sleep, woman." He fake scolded her as he leaned back against his pillow, and motioned for her to turn and rest her head against his chest. "We have plenty of time to snog later, but now it is time for bed."

"Past time." She yawned sleepily but still with a smile. "I feel as if I could sleep for a week."

"Good." He wrapped his arm around her back, and settled in. "I'll see you then."

"Hmmm." She sighed contentedly as she began to fall asleep. "Goodnight Draco. I love you."

For those last seconds as his eyes fluttered closed, ready to follow her into slumber, he couldn't believe how much he must have redeemed himself to deserve this. To deserve her there beside him, trusting him, and loving him in return; agreeing to move in with him. All of the things he'd dreamed of for the last five years actually coming true, the proof of it wrapped in his arms.

"I love you too." He whispered, placing a final kiss to her forehead.

And as sleep took them, the world outside was finally calm; free of disturbances. There would be plenty of time to figure everything else out later, because for now he had all he really needed: The love and affection of Hermione Granger.

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A/N: So that was the last regular chapter, I will post the epilogue tomorrow or Saturday. It's already 90% written I just need to finish up the last section and do a little editing. Thanks for sticking with me guys!