A/N: I know this is early, but I was just in the mood to post another chapter. I hope the end will satisfy your need for Dramione moments ;) Tell me what you think!

And so many thanks to Cecelia Everhart for beta-ing and to everyone who reviewed! :*

16. The Darkness Inside

The next morning, Hermione woke with a start because she felt a heavy weight on her hip that didn't used to be there. For half a second she actually thought she might be back with Viktor, but then she realised it was only Draco.

He woke at once, feeling her terror.

"Hermione, 's everything okay?" he mumbled, still half asleep.

"Yes, don't worry. Go back to sleep." She didn't have to say that twice; before she had finished her sentence, he had drifted off.

She knew she couldn't go back to sleep. Her heart was still pumping adrenaline through her body. Very carefully, she got up and smiled when she saw that Draco instinctively groped for her. The first sun rays pushed their way over the horizon, chasing the night away and painting the sky in a colour that wasn't quite the night's blue anymore but not the violet of a blooming morning either.

She wrote Draco a quick note and headed for the town to get some breakfast and a new Portkey. She returned about an hour later with coffee and pretzels. Draco was still sleeping, but as soon as she sat down beside him, he woke.

"Morning, sleepyhead," she smiled and handed him the coffee.

He stared at the coffee, the pretzels, and then back to her. "You walked all the way to town to get us some breakfast?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes. I could have apparated, but it felt good. It helped to clear my head."

Immediately, he looked worried. "About what?"

Viktor. But she wouldn't tell him that. "If you want to know if I regret the words from yesterday night – I don't."

"Good," he sighed and grabbed a pretzel. "What woke you up so early?"

"Dunno," she mumbled and bit in her own pretzel. "I'm an early riser."

He nodded, but, all of a sudden, his whole posture tensed. "Is that an owl?"

She looked up and watched a small shadow over the sea grow bigger and bigger. "Oh, yes. That's the Portkey," she explained and stepped out of the protective circle.

"How did you manage that?"

"It has to be good for something to be Junior Assistant in MLE, doesn't it?" she grinned and took the little package and the note from the owl. "Here, it says the Portkey will leave when we both touch it. We can finish our breakfast."

They ate in silence and watched the sun rise over the sea. Hermione enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere between them. Yesterday really had changed everything. She knew now she didn't need to be scared anymore. Being with Draco was easy if she didn't overthink everything, just as Ginny had told her before she had left.

Gasping, she remembered her friends were waiting for her. "Shite. Harry'll be sick with worry. I told him I'd be back yesterday." Hastily, she emptied her coffee and put the last pretzels into her bag.

"He's very protective of you," Draco mused, scrutinising her.

"Well, I've saved his life often enough, he's just returning the favour. Besides, he's still my best friend," she answered absent-mindedly and vanished the blanket from underneath him. Quickly, Draco jumped to his feet and helped her clean the beach.

"I thought that'd be me," he sulked in jest.

At once, her expression turned serious. What were they exactly? Not quite dating but more than friends. But, hell, who needed a definition? She should stop worrying about that.

"A knut for your thoughts," he interrupted her musing.

She blushed slightly and grabbed her bag. "It's nothing," she said defensively.

"Didn't we agree to be honest with each other?"

"Really, it's nothing," she insisted and took a last look around. "Ready to leave?"

He sighed. "It's nice here. I wish we could stay."

"I know," she whispered, handing him his holdall. They were ready to say goodbye to Germany.

"Ready?" she asked again, presenting him with the quill that was the Portkey.

"Ready when you are," he answered and put his finger on it.

She had been right. When she returned to her flat, Harry was already waiting for her. She calmed him down, explaining that they had simply missed the earlier Portkey and had decided to stay the night. When she had gotten finally rid of him, she unpacked her stuff and cleaned her apartment. She hated holidays. There was nothing left for her to do, and she didn't want to floo to Draco like a clingy girlfriend, but neither Ginny nor Ron were an option. The former was too attentive, the latter had the emotional range of a teaspoon.

Finally, she settled on the book she had to finish for work and sat outside in the sun. In the evening, a grey owl arrived. Draco's.

Excited she opened the letter.

Dear Hermione,

I hope you are okay. I have been missing you terribly the whole day. Let's meet for Lunch tomorrow?!

I wanted to let you know that I have arranged a meeting with my friends in the Leaky Cauldron on Thursday night. Let me know if that works for you.

Furthermore, my mother has requested that we visit Malfoy Manor again. Her excuse is that you have not seen the gardens yet, but I think she just wants to meddle and secure herself a daughter-in-law. Does the weekend suit you?

Please answer ASAP.

Yours,

Draco

PS: It's your birthday next week. Anything planned yet?

She couldn't help but notice how personal this letter was compared to the previous ones but still formal how he was taught to write. Promptly, she took out her quill and answered:

Dear Draco,

It's hard to admit, but this day was very lonely without you. I can come by half past 12 tomorrow.

Perfect. Thursday is just fine. You'll have to prep me for it.

You can tell your mother that I'd love to see her again. She was very kind. Just fix a date, anything will work for me.

Thank you.

See you tomorrow,

Hermione

PS: How did you find out? No, just something casual with my friends, probably at the Burrow.

She attached the letter to the owl's leg and sent it on its way.

As soon as it was dark, she went to bed. She felt bone tired, but sleep wouldn't come. After only one night she had become used to someone else sleeping next to her. She tossed and turned and finally got up. Her flat was so cold and lonely, so forlorn. It felt like the darkness was closing in on her, like a predator on its prey.

She turned the TV on, but it didn't help. She craved someone there beside her, a solid presence, a voice in the dark. Draco.

She couldn't believe it, but she actually missed him.

She woke late the next morning, having been up till the wee hours of the morning. Impatiently, she watched the seconds tick by and flood to Draco's place ten minutes early because she couldn't stand her empty apartment anymore.

"Hermione, is that you?" he called from somewhere.

"Yes. Sorry, I'm early," she answered and looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed since her last visit.

"I'm right there; just make yourself at home."

"Fair enough." She went straight to his bookshelf and started skimming the titles.

"Sorry," he said a second later, having entered unnoticed. He was wearing a light caramel shirt, and she realised how suntanned he had become.

She just shook her head. "No worries. Where do we go?"

"We could stay in and order something," he suggested.

"We could," she grinned. She'd really rather stay in and have a relaxed evening than venture out and risk meeting Skeeter anywhere.

Quickly, they ordered some Thai food and made themselves comfortable on Draco's couch.

"You were lonely yesterday?" he started the conversation.

She shrugged. "Well, I was so used to being around you …"

"Why didn't you come?"

"That would seem desperate," she answered briefly. "Anyway, what did you tell your friends?"

Luckily, he went for it. "Oh, just that I wanted to hang out and that they could bring their girl-/boyfriends."

She frowned at him. "So, you didn't tell them I was coming."

He didn't meet her eyes. "Not exactly."

"Draco!" she huffed, giving him a stern look.

"I didn't know what to say!" he explained, tugging at the hem of his shirt, obviously a bit embarrassed he had withheld that information from the others. She knew he was scared of their reactions, and she understood that. She did the same, didn't she? She hadn't even told Harry or Ginny that she planned on bringing Draco to her birthday party.

"Well, who did you invite?"

He looked cautiously at her, unsure if he was forgiven, but her smile waved his concerns away. "Blaise, Pansy, Tracey, and Theo, who'll bring Daphne along," he finally listed.

She swallowed. So many. Maybe this was a bad idea. "Are they all in relationships?"

"Um, Theo's with Daphne, and Pansy with Cormac McLaggen –"

"What?" she interrupted him. "Cormac 'I'm-so-full-of-myself' McLaggen?"

His head snapped up. "You know him?"

She blushed. "Vaguely. We went to that stupid Slugclub Party together because Ron was dating Lavender."

"Tell me more," he demanded, a wicked twinkling in his eyes.

"No, definitely not. And Blaise?"

Draco shrugged. "Well, Blaise isn't exactly the type for stable, monogamous relationships."

"So he isn't bringing anyone," Hermione concluded. At least, it weren't all couples. That would have been awkward.

Draco made a vague hand movement. "Yeah. He had a thing with Tracey, but that's over …"

"And you invited the both of them? That's gonna be fun," she deadpanned.

He stiffened "Oh. I didn't think …"he breathed. "Damn."

She shook her head. Boys! How could anyone be this oblivious?

"But she'll be nice to you, an ally against the pure-blood snobs. She dated Ernie McMillan for a while," Draco added hastily.

"Very reassuring," Hermione mumbled sarcastically. "How did Pansy and Cormac end up together?"

"Dunno. Never really asked. I think they met at some 'very important' event as Cormac's family is very influential, not pure-blood, though."

"And he's a Gryffindor," Hermione added, raising her eyebrows.

"They are both vain. I think they deserve each other," Draco chuckled. "Pansy and I are on friendly terms, but after our break-up … well, she can be mean, selfish, and vicious."

Hermione could vividly picture that. She had never really got along with Pansy since – apart from being Slytherin – she had put her priorities in all the wrong places – from Hermione's point of view at least. Hermione didn't care for perfect nails or styled hair, for rich boyfriends or a 'perfect' life. "Why did you invite her then?" she asked.

"Because I think she'll understand. Her family put a lot of pressure on her during the war, and she liked to be in control and to control others. That didn't play out in her favour in the end. She didn't return for her NEWTS because she was always supposed to marry a rich pure-blood such as myself, and it took her some time to come to terms with the new world and with the mistakes she had made. But she did eventually. She ignored her family's wishes and started working in the fashion world as a designer. I think she still feels superior to others, but that's just who she is. She tried dating some pure-bloods, but it never worked longer than half a year. Then she met Cormac about a year ago and they hit it off." His eyes focused on her. "So I hope she'll understand my decisions about you."

Hermione nodded, pondering about what he had just said. From his point of view it definitely made sense. She wasn't sure, however, that Pansy would see it the same way. "What about Tracey and Nott?" she asked, turning her attention to the two Slytherins she knew almost nothing about.

"Tracey … I think she was always in the background, never taking any action in the war for either side. Blaise knows her better than I do, but I think she was never a fan of that whole pure-blood-Slytherin-thing. She needs some time to open up, but then she's very loyal. I thought she'd be good for Blaise, but of course he screwed it up. Maybe I shouldn't have invited her, I just thought she'd be a useful ally," he explained slowly. "Theo …" He shrugged. "His whole family consisted of Death Eaters, and after the war he was all alone. He came back for the NEWTS, but he barely passed his classes although he's very bright. He couldn't handle the war, the change, everything he had lost. He became quite bitter and sombre. Daphne changed him, but I'm afraid he'll still resent you for destroying his life. Not that he loved his father or being a Death Eater, but that was what he'd expected from his life."

In a nutshell, Tracey would be fine, Theo not so much, Hermione thought. "I'll be extra nice. What about Daphne? You dated her sister?" She tried to sound as normal as possible, while asking about the girl who evoked so many bad memories.

"Yes. She hates me whole-heartedly for it. She's very protective of Astoria; she didn't let her participate in anything Death Eater related during the war, rather offered herself. She hated that Astoria dated me, former Death Eater and bully. She couldn't understand it, but she accepted it for Astoria's sake, but when we broke up, there was no need for keeping up appearances. She blames me for the war. Because of me she had to torture and to fight, because of me she and her sister got hurt." His obsidian grey eyes were downcast. "Not that I blame her, really." Self-hatred was pouring out of him, turning him into something sinister and dark.

"Draco, please don't. The war wasn't you fault," she pleaded.

"But I let Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Because of me people got hurt." He laughed mirthlessly. "But Daphne'll probably like you. She'll keep Theo in check."

"Draco…"

"I'm fine. You don't need you to say things you don't mean. I can't forgive myself for …" he interrupted himself. "Anyway, you don't need to worry about Daphne."

"I won't. Why did you show up to Harry's party last week?" she changed the subject.

He pondered on that for a moment. "I don't know. I knew you'd be there, so I thought I'd give it a shot. But I was scared. When George first saw me, years back, he tried to kill me for his twin. A lot of people tried to get their revenge on me," he sighed, shaking his head as if trying to ward off bad memories. "Not that I haven't deserved it," he added darkly.

"Stop it! Stop it right now!" she exclaimed. "Self-pity won't change anything, so stop it!"

Surprised, he looked up.

"Please, don't beat yourself up about this. It's in the past," she said firmly.

He smiled, but it was a cynical smile. "Do you think your friends would just accept me as your boyfriend? They won't. They'll hold the past against me, and they'll hurt me and hurt you in the process."

She stared at him. "You think I don't know that?"

"No, you don't. You've never been hated before."

She winced violently and jumped up. "Oh, I know how it is to be hated." She stretched out her arm where Bellatrix had carved Mudblood into her skin. "And I'll never forget!" The nightmares took care of that. Bellatrix managed to haunt her dreams long after she had gone. "So don't patronise me ever again!" she finally hissed.

He turned ashen. "I just …" he stuttered, unable to form a coherent sentence. But she understood.

Her burning eyes turned soft again. "You were scared and full of self-hatred. I get it, Draco. But I was prepared to fight. But if you aren't…?"

"No." He jumped up as well and grabbed her elbow. "Hermione, please, forget what I just said. Sometimes the darkness inside me makes me do stupid things. I want this – us! I just don't want you to get hurt because it's not going to be my friends who'll hurt you the most."

She clenched her teeth. "So you actually think we could work? Former Death Eater and War Heroine?"

He flinched but didn't let go of her hand. "I asked myself that a hundred times, and I don't know the answer. We can only try." His eyes were begging her now, his voice husky. "Please, let us try. Please."

She averted her eyes from his intense gaze. This was supposed to be an innocent lunch and now?

"Draco …" His closeness was physical pain to her. She yearned for his touch, for his love, but it was the edge of a dangerous abyss she was balancing on. One false step and she would fall and break and scatter into pieces. But she couldn't help feeling drawn into the rightness of him, like he was exactly where she was supposed to be.

"I'm sorry." He stepped back. "I promised I wouldn't push you." His face was blank, but she could still detect the hurt in his eyes. She had done it again, hurt him.

"Damn," she cursed and grabbed his hand, pulling him into her. Before he could react, she had placed a gentle kiss on his lips. It lasted just for a few seconds; however, she still tasted it after she had stepped away. He tasted like salt and lime blossom honey, like summer rain and midnight, like a promise, like hope.

"I say we prove them all wrong. We try, whatever happens, we try!" she promised him with a steady voice, appearing braver than she actually was. But in this moment it felt true, like nothing could stop them, neither the devil nor death.

She felt invincible.