Hello, all! Sorry it took me a bit to get this chapter out. Writer's block hit me hard this past week. So, I'm guessing that there's going to be a few more chapters left to the story, maybe three or four more. We'll see how everything turns out! And PS - This story has made a drastic turn to how it originally was when I first wrote it. As in, these ending chapters are brand new, so bear with me as I get them out =)

Chapter 17

Going home used to be a joy for him, like when he would come home for holidays or for a weekend trip up until his fifth year, but all of that has changed. Now, he dreads going home, since those visits usually include him and other Death Eaters meeting with the Dark Lord. After Hogwarts, or just after Draco comes of age in half-a-year, he's going to rent out a flat in the wizarding district in London, somewhere he can go to during the holidays, or when he wants to get away from the school for a day or three. And Hermione can come with him. Oh, how he loves having someone he cares about in that way, and who cares about him in that way too. The Dark Lord may command him to kill her, and his family may not agree with him being with her, but that's not going to take away his feelings for her, or take away the goodness that was born in him since he started protecting her.

Draco almost lost his footing as he zipped from the rocky shore of the Black Lake to the dismal dining room of Malfoy Manor, lighted by torches on the walls since the deep purple curtains were closed. The moment he appeared, someone touched his shoulder. He whirled around in alarm, thinking the person to be the Dark Lord, but his pulsed decreased when he saw his mother standing there. He couldn't help it—he wrapped his arms around her, and he instantly smelled the perfume that she has been wearing since he was small. It, as well as her warmth, has given him comfort whenever he returns home and she is there waiting for him. It doesn't smell like flowers like Hermione's perfume, but it smells... motherly. That's the only way he could describe it.

"Mother," he said into her white and black hair, and he had to bend to hug her since she was shorter, "I'm glad that you're the person who I see first and not the Dark Lord."

"Yes," she agreed. "That is one of the reasons why I'm here. I know the reason why he wants to talk to you. It has to do with that girl."

"Yes, I know that's the reason, too." He looked back at his mother's face, at her blue eyes. Should he reveal his secret to his mother, the only other person, besides Hermione and Annabelle, that he really cares about? "Mother, I know why he wants to talk with me. I know exactly why."

Her aging brows pushed together in confusion. "How do you know exactly?"

Right at that moment, a ploom of dark gray smoke encumbered the area near the large unlit fireplace in the room, at the head of the large table that could seat about thirty people. Draco's pulse rose to it's height, making his hands go numb in fear. Yes, he knows why he was summoned, it is just very unsettling and scary to be face-to-face with the most evil wizard in history. And the fact that he's coming solely because of him... well, Draco is just glad that he never ate lunch since his stomach was bubbling, making him feel ill.

A tall being, not that much taller than Draco, appeared in dark green robes when the smoke dissipated. He had his arms outstretched, and he said in a slow, slithering voice, with a wide, evil grin on his face, "Draco, one of my favorite followers, good to see you."

Draco knew the Dark Lord was buttering him up. He made a little bow, as did his mother. "My Lord, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did." Draco rose and saw him walking up to him, and those grey eyes made Draco's blood chill. "I would like to speak with you about a very important matter. Narcissa, my dear, will you be so kind as to leave so I can speak with your son?"

Draco's heart dropped. No, he wants his mother next to him for support! He turned his head and gave his mother a desperate, pleading look as she backed up to the door and left the room. She didn't look like she wanted to go, leaving her only child with a being who has killed so many people mindlessly, without remorse. Draco gulped hard, that icy blood running through his veins.

"Draco," he heard and he turned his head to face the man with gray skin and slits for a nose. "I surmise that you know why you were called. No doubt that ghost friend has told you all that she knows."

He knows of Annabelle's vision? It shouldn't come as a surprise to him. "Yes, My Lord. But may I ask how you know?"

Voldemort smirked, the sight repulsing. "How else would I know, dear boy? I have seen your every action, felt all that you have felt. And I have to say... the emotions of a teen-aged boy are rather strong, especially when it has to do with a certain young lady." His gaze darkened, and Draco felt something crawl under his skin. "A mudblood. When I found out about this vision, I thought that you would have enough sense in you to not adhere to that ghost's advice to protect her. But you did just that. And from that, you developed feelings for her." His gaze turned demeaning, and Draco recalled seeing the same expression on his father's face before. "I have to say, Draco, I am rather disappointed in you. You failed twice to fulfill your task, so I had to present the wardrobe to you, and now, you have disgusting feelings for a disgusting human being." Draco's fists clenched at those insults aimed at both him and Hermione. "I can feel your anger and annoyance. I'll tell you what, Draco, how about I give you a far more simpler task, a task that you may already know because of what the ghost has told you. Tell me, what is it?"

Hot, stinging tears threatened to fall. He kept his gaze on the cold, empty fireplace. "To... get rid of the muggle-born."

"Yes, that is correct. I understand that Professor Snape has performed the unbreakable vow with your mother to kill Professor Dumbledore if you could not, so I suppose now, that will be fulfilled in a different way. Draco, Professor Snape will do that deed. What I need you to do is rid yourself and this wizarding world of that frizzy-haired mudblood. I do not care how you do it, just get it done. If you do not, I will do it myself. I cannot have my Death Eaters' minds on such things. Given, many of my Death Eaters are married, but you are a boy with strong emotions. I cannot trust you to keep your head about you like I can trust the others to do so. That mudblood will have to go so you can focus on other tasks that I would like you do to." He took a step up to him, and Draco refused to look him in his grey eyes. "Can I trust that you will accomplish this?"

Draco knew he didn't have a choice. He recalled what Annabelle said about how the ending to all of this is. Hopeful, he said, "Yes, My Lord. You have my word."

"Wonderful. Now, as for your ghost friend... Annabelle, correct?" Draco nodded once. "She has told you that all will turn out alright in the end, am I right?" Draco nodded again, not liking how the Dark Lord knew everything, and essentially just read his mind. "Well, she is correct. In the end, that mudblood will be gone, as well as her friend Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, and Annabelle herself. There will be not a soul who knows of your identity, other than myself, your parents, and other Death Eaters."

Draco looked up at the evil being this time in alarm and hurt, and those tears that he has been trying desperately to hold in fell, and he couldn't stop them. He suspected that Harry and Ron would pay for all this, but Annabelle? She's a ghost! "My Lord... Annabelle, she is a spirit."

He pressed the tips of his fingers together in front of him, observing Draco. "You fear for her, I see. Yes, there are spells—unmentionable ones—that can send a deceased's person's spirit into eternal misery, as well as send them into eternal happiness. I have thought that I would be performing such a dreadful spell on that beautiful ghost girl, but... I think it would only be appropriate for you to do so."

Draco has never felt so much dread take over his whole body so drastically that he could crumple to the floor. He thought that Annabelle would be safe. He thought that the only lives they had to worry about were his, Hermione's and her friends'... not Annabelle's afterlife. Did she know about this?

"You are assigned to do both, Draco, and if they are not performed, the same consequences as you previous task will hold—you will be no more. Understood?"

No more, as in, he would die. He has no choice again. He never did, not in anything. His throat tightened, and he had a difficult time muttering, "Understood."

"Wonderful. Now, I have other business I have to attend to, so I will leave you to get back to your classes. I trust that your emotions will not get ahead of you this time and you will do as I say?"

"Yes, My Lord."

The evil wizard disappeared in his cloud of smoke. Once he was gone, Draco heard someone burst open a door. He knew it was his mother. He pulled out a chair from the table and collapsed into it, the tears coming and falling. He felt a hand on his shoulder as his chest tightened into tight and painful knots.

"Draco..."

He knew what he mother was going to say. "Yes, Mother, I knew what he wanted me to do before I even arrived here, and I knew why he wants me to do it. I knew because of a vision a ghost girl named Annabelle had, one that she had one thousand years ago when she was alive, one of me and Hermione. She told me that she saw me protect Hermione from Crabbe and Goyle, and saw us eventually fall in love. She also saw all of this happen. She knew everything." He looked up at his mother with tearful blue eyes, tearful eyes resembling a hurting child's. "Mother, she is my best friend, and he wants me to... and to Hermione, the girl I love..." He looked away at the curtains handing over one of the five covered windows in the room. "I never wanted any of this."

She squeezed his shoulder, and it only comforted him a little. "I know, Draco. I know you never wanted any of this, but you have to do it." Draco remained silent on that. "Didn't the Dark Lord say that your ghost friend said everything would be alright? Do you trust her word?"

"I do. She said that I don't kill anyone."

"Then you shouldn't worry yourself too much over it. Didn't she see how you go about all this?"

"That is what Hermione and her friends are up to right now—finding Annabelle and making her tell them the rest of her vision. I will know soon enough how all of this turns out, and maybe make a plan of action."

"Then go and find out what you have to do. Then tell me." He looked up at her and saw tears in her eyes. Of course she wants him to live and be happy, and he can do that by being with Hermione. He has to ask...

"Mother... are you alright with me being involved with a muggle-born?"

She let out a breath. "I'm not thrilled about it, but if she makes you happy and makes you a better person, then I hope she sticks around. Your father will be harder to convince, but we'll get to that after he is released from Azkaban. Now—get back to school."

He stood out of the chair and embraced her. "Alright, Mother. Thank you."

She let him go, and with a final goodbye, he apparated back to Hogwarts. He suddenly stood on the rocky shore of the Black Lake. He gazed over the gray water for a moment and ran a hand down his face, recalled everything that just transpired. He has to get rid of Hermione and Annabelle. But that shouldn't happen if the vision plays out as it should. So far, it is. His mother accepting him and Hermione is evidence of that. He's not looking forward to when his father finds out about it, or when he has to confront him about it.

He shouldn't worry about that at the moment. He has to find Hermione and her friends. And Annabelle. He dashed off the shore and made it back up to the castle. He walked the empty corridors—class must have started. He rounded a corner, and when he did, he heard a familiar voice say, rather loudly, "C'mon, we're late for class!"

He saw her, as well as Harry and Ron, with Ron's face as red as a cherry. Draco stopped, as did the three friends when they caught sight of him. "Draco!" Hermione hollered. She ran up to him and embraced him, almost knocking him over. "Oh, good Lord," she enthused into his shoulder as he held her too him. "She told us everything. Annabelle told us everything, to the end."

Draco pulled her away slightly and stared her, his blue eyes wide. "What? She told you everything? You got it all out of her?"

Hermione nodded once. "Yes, Draco, she told us everything. And I want to scold you for not telling me about it all sooner, but now is not the time. We all know what the Dark Lord asked of you, concerning me and concerning Annabelle, and we have a solution. A few, in fact."

Draco looked to Harry and Ron, and then back at Hermione, impatient. "And what are they?!"

Draco knows what he needs to do now. After Hermione, Harry and Ron told him of everything that Annabelle revealed, he knew exactly what he needs to do next. As Harry and Ron went on to class, he strode on to Dumbledore's office. Hermione grabbed his arm, stopping him. He looked back at her, a question in his eyes. "Hermione, we have to go talk to him now. We can't waste a moment. We have to keep you and Annabelle safe."

She gave him a small smile. "Draco, I know that this is urgent, and I know that talking with Dumbledore is the first thing that we all planned on doing, but let's go on to class and talk with him at the end of the day, alright? Harry and Ron agreed to meet us at Dumbledore's office after classes, remember?"

He knew that's what they planned, but he didn't want to waste a moment. "But Hermione, the Dark Lord might be around the next corner. And he's not as easy to get away from as Crabbe and Goyle."

She rose a hand up to his cheek, and he took her hand in his and kissed it. Her hazel eyes met his desperate gaze, and her expression turned... loving. "He isn't going to be around the next corner, Draco. If all of what Annabelle said is going to happen, we won't have to worry about even coming face-to-face with the Dark Lord for some time."

He nodded, her warm hand still on his cheek, and his hand still holding it. "I know. I just... want you to be safe. I want both you and Annabelle to be safe."

She smiled. "I know."

The two gazed at one another for a moment, and Draco's will weakened... he leaned down a little and placed a sweet kiss on Hermione's forehead. She let out a contented sigh as his face lowered and his mouth hovered over hers. He noticed that she elevated herself enough to press her lips gently on his, but drew away instantly.

"Golly..." she let out. "I honestly can't believe that this is happening between us."

He smirked. "You and I both. I'm sorry I never said anything about the rest of what I knew about the vision. I just didn't want to scare you off."

"I understand. And... yes, I would have been scared off. You were right to keep the rest from me." He snickered at that, and he noticed the worried look enter her eyes. "Draco... Annabelle said I have to face your parents at some point. I know your mother is a bit more lenient about our relationship, but your father..."

She trailed off. He knew what she was trying to say. He wrapped her in an embrace and held her close, and he noticed her wrap her arms around his back. "My father is not as horrible as you think. Yes, he will disagree with this, about his only son wanting to be with someone who he doesn't agree with, but he's not going to do anything drastic. You can trust me on that... alright?"

She nodded against his chest. "Annabelle only saw everything to a certain point. She saw us together for a while, I just hope that it lasts beyond that. I mean..." She paused for a moment, and he noticed that her hold around his torso tightened. "I've never felt like this before. I have had crushes on people, specifically one, but this is different. It's scary, but wonderful at the same time. I don't want it to end."

That is how she really feels, and about him. He held her tighter and rested his cheek above her forehead, and he planted another kiss there. "I don't want it to end, either. And it's not going to." He smirked pridefully. "I knew you were mad about me this whole time."

"I don't think I'm mad about you anymore."

His brows pushed together and he pulled her out in front of him, confusion in every feature. "What? But you just said..."

She let out a bit of laughter. "Yes, I said that this is different than anything that I have experienced. Draco, I'm saying... as shocking at it is... that I might feel about you the way you do about me."

He recalled what he told her after their heated snog before entering the Room of Requirement. His heart started to race as he figured out what she was implying. "So, you're saying..."

"Yes. I think I'm in love with you, too."

Something really pleasant suddenly shot through his system and he picked her up and twirled her around. "YES!" he shouted into the corridor, and it echoed as he let her down and embraced her, taking in her lilac perfume. She giggled into his shoulder as he held her, and he felt happier than he has ever felt before, regardless of what is going on in their lives and what they have to do and worry about.

"Okay, okay, Draco, I get that you're happy. Now, I would like to breathe."

He held her a little too tightly, apparently. He loosened his hold and looked at her beautiful face. He took that face in his hands and kissed her lips, without being shy about it. She responded and the two wrapped in an embrace as the bell gonged, but they didn't seem to care. Students came out of their classrooms, and some students' mouths dropped open at the sight of a Slytherin and Gryffindor together, snogging in the middle of the corridor. Sure, Draco and Hermione have snogged in front of people before, but this is different. He nor she didn't care that students walked by, gawking at them, some cheering and whistling, and some making disgusted faces, like the Slytherins.

Hermione and Draco have started it. They have started the change in the wizarding world...

A muggle-born and a pure blood are in love and they don't care who knows it. But they will have to face the consequences. Draco just hopes that Annabelle's vision comes to pass exactly as she as said it.