Chapter 18

Almost 4 months had passed since Harry and Hermione set out on their mission to collect the other five horcruxes. They had known the locket that Harry and Dumbledore had found was a fake one the second they read the letter, but after talking with Kreacher and discovering that someone has stolen the real locket, it was quickly determined that the real locket had been sold to none other than their old professor, Dolores Umbridge.

Using Hermione's pre-made batch of polyjuice potion, they were able to sneak into the ministry, free some imprisoned muggle-born witches, and snatch the locket back. Unfortunately, upon apparating away, their hideout was discovered, but with Hermione's quick thinking, they were able to apparate somewhere else that was untraceable. Luckily, Sirius had been keeping tabs on them and apparated away from his house before the new ministry aurors arrived. For months, Harry and Hermione roamed the English countryside, listening to their portable radio in case one of their friend's names were on the list of those murdered or kidnapped.

Their main problem seemed to be not knowing what or where the horcruxes were, not to mention, how exactly to destroy them. No spell seemed to be working in their favor whenever they tried to cause some sort of damage to the locket, but Hermione was sure that she was close to figuring out what to do. She had a theory in mind...since Harry had destroyed the first horcrux with a basilisk fang, and Dumbledore had left the sword of Gryffindor to Harry in his will, that just happened to be impregnated with basilisk venom, it was safe to assume that either the sword or another basilisk fang could destroy the horcruxes. However, since the sword was M.I.A., and the dead basilisk was at Hogwarts still, their options were very limited.

Besides trying to destroy the current horcrux in their possession, Harry had been distracted with trying to figure out what the other horcruxes could have been. The only thing Harry seemed to be sure of was some sort of connection that Dumbledore had had to Bathilda Bagshot, who happened to live in Godric's Hollow. Somehow, Harry believed that he would either find a horcrux or the sword at Godric's Hollow. Hermione, on the other hand, strongly believed that going to Godric's Hollow was a mistake. Since it was the place of Dumbledore's family home, and the place of Harry's parents death, she was sure that Voldemort would be waiting for them there.

But, there was no detering Harry from going. She had tried multiple times, but he still apparated them there. Hermione shivered slightly from the instant drop in temperature. They had been staying in their tent for days, and she had charmed the tent to be very warm, so feeling the actual temperature outside startled her a bit.

"Harry, I really don't think we should be here." Hermione whispered as she looked around the empty town.

Snow stuck to the ground as they walked down the street slowly. She had her hand clasped around her wand in case she needed it, as they spotted a cemetery ahead of them.

"Hermione...you're don't think…" Harry nervously wondered.

"Maybe…" Hermione gave him a reassuring smile, knowing exactly what her was asking her as they stepped into the open cemetery.

Harry began to slowly roam through each tombstone, looking for his own parents. After a few minutes of silence, he spotted his parents burial place and fell to his knees in front of the tombstone, tears silently falling from his eyes. Even though he never knew his parents, he knew enough about them to know that they would have been amazing parents. His life would have been a much happier one with them. He didn't regret how he grew up, because it molded him into the brave and strong person he was now, but he did regret not knowing his parents the way every other adult around him had known them.

"Harry...I think you need to see this." Hermione called over to him as she stood, staring across the street into the eyes of old Bathilda Bagshot.

She looked very different from when they had last seen her at Dumbledore's funeral. Hermione suddenly became consumed with a bad feeling. She reached up slightly, wanting to open the locket so that Draco could see where she was, but so far, she had survived 5 months on the run without his help. She barely even knew if he was doing alright with his dad and Voldemort living in his house, but she had too keep up her hope that everything was ok so far.

"Is that really her?" Harry wondered as he came up beside Hermione.

"I think we should leave now." Hermione said softly. "This doesn't feel right at all."

"Wait!" Harry hissed as he began to cross the street, following Bathlida as she turned and walked away.

"Harry!" Hermione snapped as she reluctantly followed him.

Bathilda led them to a dirty old looking house, which solidified the fear in Hermione of this being a trap. As they entered the house, Harry indicated that Hermione should remain downstairs while he went upstairs with Bathilda.

"I think she wants to show me something." Harry insisted before leaving the worried Hermione at the bottom of the stairs.

As Hermione looked around, while listening to the movements upstairs, she quickly came to realise that this house had some sort of illusion charm on it. A loud noise upstairs caused her to bolt into action. She pulled out her wand and ran up the stairs to find the body of Bathilda lying in a heap on the floor and Harry pressing his body against the wall, staring horrified at Voldemort's snake, Nagini, that was slithering towards him slowly.

"He's coming! Hermione, he's coming." Harry yelled to her.

Without any other thought, she pointed her wand at the snake and yelled "Confringo!". An orange light blasted from her wand, hitting everything in it's path. She touched Harry with her free hand and apparated them away before Voldemort showed up.

The blast from her wand had knocked out Harry. She sighed softly, staring down at her best friend's sleeping form.

"I freaking told you it was a trap!" she snapped.

She looked around and realized that once again, she had apparated them to a fond memory of her and her parents.

"The Forest of Dean." she whispered to herself.

Her eyes roamed around the vast greenery around her as she began to cast her protection spells around their area. While getting the tent set up, her eyes finally landed on the pieces of wood in Harry's hand. It was his wand...or what was left of his wand.

"Shit! He's going to kill me…" she grumbled.

Hermione sighed and pointed her wand at Harry to levitate and glide him into the tent. She placed him gently on a cot and began to attend to his wounds. Luckily there weren't that many that she could see on the surface, but some were very deep. As she left him in the warmth of the tent, she grabbed their water jugs and made her way to the small lake that she knew was nearby.

The lake held many memories for her, and seeing it again brought those memories to the forefront. She remembered ice skating with her father for the first time when she was 8 years old, and those first lessons had made her fall in love with the sport itself. She sat down at the edge of the lake, ignoring her free falling tears, and efficiently filled up the jugs. She levitated them back to the tent and finished cleaning and healing the remaining wounds on Harry's arms, face and neck. She finally poured some dreamless sleep potion down his throat.

"You'll probably be out for a few days. Your body needs time to heal completely." she whispered, knowing that she wasn't going to get a reply. "I'll keep doing more research. We have to find answers somewhere."

She stood up, picked up the children's book that Dumbledore left her and proceeded to leave the tent since the weather wasn't too bad that day. As she stepped out of the tent, her eyes locked on the head of white blond hair that was ruffling around from the wind. She wondered for a brief second why he hadn't approached her or the tent as yet, but then remembered the protection spell she had used, which prevented anyone from seeing anything inside her bubble.

She stood there for a few moments, studying his face and figure, tears pricking at her eyes. He looked the same but much different. He had lost more weight, his eyes had sunken even more, and there were scars across his cheek, lips and neck that she suspected was from either torture or dueling. She needed to hold him. She needed to be held by him. She just needed...him!

"Draco!" she called out as she lowered the protection spells quickly.

Draco turned around quickly, staring into the tired and changed eyes of the love of his life. He inhaled sharply as he stared at her beauty. No matter how much she went through, she still remained the most beautiful woman in the world to him. He stalked over to her quickly and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her into the air and slamming his scarred lips against hers in a desperate need that had been haunting him since the day he had said goodbye to her, all those months ago.

Hermione responded in kind, gripping and tugging at his hair as she shoved her tongue into his mouth. Draco lowered himself to the cold ground, pulling her flat against his chest, practically crushing her to him. Hermione easily slipped her feet around his waist, clinging to him for dear life.

"How?" she whispered against his lips.

"I felt your fear." he murmured. "I almost followed the dark lord to Godric's Hollow, but I knew you wouldn't be there. I followed your heart to here...I needed...I needed…"

"I know." she pressed a finger to his lips. "You don't need to say it. I needed it too."

"Hermione, I can't do this anymore." he quickly confessed. "I can't keep hiding my thoughts from him. It's becoming too difficult. I can't go back there."

"Your mom." she deadpanned, causing Draco to sigh in defeat. "You know we can't leave her there. He will invade her mind and kill her once he finds everything out. You are the only one who can protect your mother."

"I know." Draco groaned as he pressed his head against hers. "Hermione...I know that this isn't the appropriate time, and I know we were waiting until after the war to reveal what we are to everyone. But...I don't care about that anymore."

"What do you mean?" Hermione pulled away slightly and stared into his icy grey eyes with complete concern.

"I don't care with anyone thinks anymore." he explained. "Being away from you...not knowing if you're really ok...I just...I don't care about anyone's opinions anymore. When this war is over, will you marry me? Will you tie yourself to me and be by my side for the rest of my life?"

"Draco...are you really asking me to marry you?" she gasped as she stood up and began pacing back and forth. "No, this is a spur of the moment thing. You're only feeling this way because of the circumstances happening right now. You aren't serious, this is all just - "

Hermione stopped suddenly as she noticed Draco, who was now in a kneeling position, holding out an opened ring box with the most gorgeous engagement ring she had ever seen. The band was of the purest white gold and it held the perfect sized emerald stone in the center, surrounded by diamonds in a lotus style. It was elegant, simple, and pure, just like her.

"I've been carrying this around in my pocket since the end of our sixth year. I have always planned on marrying you, Hermione. You are my family. No one else matters. It's just us. I want you...always you." Draco said softly. "So please, bind yourself to me and only me."

A/N

Sorry I've been MIA, but alot has been going on IRL. I'm back now and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think! :)