Narcissa stood in front the body mirror with intense interest. She had been saving the dress for this very occasion. It was a blond color with a plunging neck that would have shown a fair amount of her breasts but there were long light green frills bursting from the neck line to cover them. The yellow fabric split in the middle of her skirt to make room for more green frills that went down to her toes. The train was made of lace and dragon hide which was hard to pull around but looked very regal none the less.

"How do I look?" She asked the mirror, curtseying around like a cheerful schoolgirl. She slipped the silver hooks in her ears that attached to a dangling tear shaped rubies.

"Breathtaking," the mirror said.

She chuckled and turned to her bed. Hermione was lying on the floor next to it with her teeth clenched and one arm wrapped around her stomach. Her other hand was tied to the bed post.

"What do you think, child?" Narcissa asked with honey in her voice. She leaned over Hermione and kissed her softly. She let her lips linger on Hermione's, while she ran a long fingered hand through her terribly knotted hair. "You are like the daughter I never had."

Hermione had been under the Imperius curse for so many months she was as confused as she could possibly be. She wasn't confused about one thing though and it was that this woman wanted to hurt her baby.

Hermione tried to lift her head retort at her but it was cut short by another sharp pain in her abdomen. Her tears spattered on the cold floor as she curled up in the fetal position the best she could, praying the pain would go away.

"Pansy is a smart witch when it comes to mixing potions. In a few hours your burden will be removed from you permanently. I had hoped we would just be able to wait for you to have the baby at the regular nine months but I just can't wait that long anymore. Your darling Draco has come at last."

DRACO! Hermione's mind echoed the name and she wanted to smile so badly. If Narcissa hadn't been watching her for some kind of recognition, she would have giggled but she wouldn't give the evil woman any pleasure. How long had he been gone? It seemed like only a few hours ago Hermione had been in the shower with him.

Narcissa waved her wand and the ropes that had been biding Hermione untied themselves and tossed itself aside. "Stand up," she commanded, losing all loving looks. Hermione glared at her then tossed her stare to the floor.

Narcissa wasn't one to be kept waiting; she kicked Hermione directly in her protruding stomach with one of her silvery low-heeled dress shoes. If they hadn't been still submerged in the swamps, Draco could have heard Hermione's screams of agony a mile away. "Act like a stubborn mule and I will treat you like one," Narcissa snapped. "Bindencio." The ropes flew back into the air again and wrapped themselves around Hermione's already raw wrists. The pain in her stomach was too great to make her fight it.

Blood began to trickle from between Hermione's legs as Narcissa pulled her to her feet. "Look at you!" Narcissa exclaimed, looking genuinely worried-- about her floor. "What have you done you filthy little beast? Look at this mess! Now get down and clean it up."

Hermione's emotions were boiling over and the stabs in her lower stomach make things even worst. She sobbed with emotional stress as she struggled hard to bend down without falling but to no avail. She landed hard on the side of her but with a little luck, it didn't pop out of place. Hermione's voice was so hoarse from yelling that she could only croak in defiance.

"Oh forget it," Narcissa sneered, nudging Hermione's head with her foot.

"Narcissa," Pansy called, standing in the door way with a bright look on her face. "I have completed the instructions you gave me and everything is in order."

The oldest of the three women clapped like the youngest. "Oh my, I am so excited. How do I look?" she asked, fluffing her hair with a comb. "Do you think he will like it?"

"Absolutely, my lady, I am so glad everything has gone just as you and he said it would! He will be so pleased."

"You idiot," Narcissa said, still fluffing her hair, "everything hasn't went exactly as planned. You failed the most important part of the plan. If you hadn't been so weak you could have been the pregnant one and I could have just killed this stupid girl months ago."

"Well, forgive me for having no control over that."

Narcissa slammed her comb down on the makeup stand and barked, "You are just a jar full of excuses. Keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you. I'm tired of your whining voice. Now get out of my sight and get dressed. I will bring the Mudblood downstairs and I will proceed without you if I must."

Pansy began to say something but looked in Narcissa's eyes and only nodded. Before she could slam the door the ground began to rumble. A few trinkets fell off the mantle and crashed to the floor. "What are you doing just standing there stupid girl?" Narcissa snapped at Pansy. "Go! Get going. Time is running out! Draco will be here any minute and you have an actress's play to perform. He is the final life I need for to bring back my husband."

**

The manor had somehow succeeded to have its old splendor back. Draco didn't even remember the last time it looked as good as it did having risen out of a murky swamp. The vines that had covered the towers on the left and right sides were cleared and new stone almost shined through. The M above the giant front doors had been crawling with green moss from lack of cleaning. Now it stood out brightly against the dark gray stone.

"This is it," Draco said, staring at the large house. It seemed so alien.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ron said. He was trying to sound brave, but he was still next to the tree with Harry. Harry had drifted off to sleep in spite of the throbbing pain in both sides of his ribs.

"I'm waiting for an invitation," Draco retorted in a sarcastic tone. He was actually shaking like a leaf. Something inside was actually calling to him. He could feel it and whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"It's your house," Ron said, standing up and striding over to the front doors, "so why don't you just knock?"

Ron raised his fist to the door but before he could knock, it swung open with great force behind it. The ballroom was lit up with candles mounted in every pedestal that outline the dance floor. In the middle, the large protruding snake stared at the two men with intent to kill.

"Ok, that was so uncalled for," muttered Ron. "This is like a cheesy mystery story. Ooooo," he said, making claws with his hands and moaning like a ghost.

"Shut up, Weasley," Draco snapped, stepping into the house and taking long strides to leave him behind. The interior of the house was as completely cleaned as well as the outside had been. The only dirty thing in the house was Draco and that seemed like such irony. He was leaving a nice trail of mud and flecks of dirt across the shiny marble floor.

"Are you coming?" Draco asked, turning to Ron.

"For Hermione, I am," Ron said, staring at the giant house. He was so engrossed in looking, that he knocked over a vase that was sitting on the floor. The shatter of it echoed throughout the empty looking house. They both froze and waited for someone to come-but there was no answer. "Ok, it's empty, let's go," Ron quipped, turning back towards the door.

"Wait," a voice called, carrying throughout the house.

Pansy descended the staircase in a dark red wine colored dress, sliding her gloved hand across the banister. The collar rose above her ears and was decorated with black glass balls dangling from the sides. Her hair was pulled up in the identical style that his mother usually wore.

She smiled at Draco. "Your mother is waiting for you."

"I've been waiting to kill her."

"She's in the family room," Pansy said, ignoring his comment.

"What are you, her messenger? Another one of her little lap dogs, aren't you?" Draco accused. "She should've met me herself."

"Are you going or are you just going to stand here and keep talking?" She asked, becoming annoyed.

Draco shot her a look filled with glass shards and turned to Ron. "Listen, get Harry ready to leave. Where I'm going, no one without Malfoy blood is allowed to go and if you DO go, you will get your life drained from you in a matter of minutes."

"That sounds like a load of crap, Malfoy. If Hermione needs my help, I'm going to help her," Ron scowled.

"LISTEN! You won't help her if you're dead," snapped Draco, "and you couldn't help Harry either. Ok? So no matter how much noise you hear.even if the house goes up in flames-you DO NOT enter that room!"

Ron was giving Draco a dirty look but shrugged. "If you lose her, I'll never forgive you," he said, and walked out slowly.

"Fair enough," Draco muttered.

Pansy had gotten off the stairs and was now standing at his side. "Oh, Draco, wouldn't this have been the perfect wedding gown for us? I've missed you so much," she purred, grabbing his crouch.

"Get off of me. I'm a married man, Pansy."

"Yeah--to me!"

"No, you may have my name but you don't have any love of mine," he growled, pushing her away. He pressed his hand against the Dark Wood Willow door and said the words that had made it open before.

The room had more a warm feel to it with all the candles outlining the large rocks that lead over to the other side of the room where Hermione was lain out on a thick cover. She was squealing with pain and had her eyes closed tightly. There was a large puddle of blood under her bottom.

He stepped onto the first stone and reached out to Hermione but before he could utter her name, he felt a piercing pain shoot through his left shoulder. He fell to his knees and stared at the white sharp porcelain piece sticking through his skin, right above his breast.

"Oh, damn, I missed," Pansy said cutely. She had stabbed him with a piece of broken vase that Ron had broken. His blood gushed out of the wound at an alarming rate.

Draco stood up shakily and stumbled across the large rocks, clutching the side of his arm and trying not to notice the stabbing throb that spread through his body every time he stepped with his left foot. "Hermione," he whispered, feeling dizzy.

"Pansy, you idiot," Narcissa exclaimed, coming into the room quickly. She jogged up to Draco and looked horrified at his stab wound. "Are you ok, my son?" she asked with worry in her eyes. She pulled the piece out from his back. He didn't even moan as his eyes were locked on the crying girl in labor. "Please come and we will help your love deliver your baby.

"Look, Hermione, who I brought to you," Narcissa cooed in her ear. "She's been in labor for nearly half the day."

Hermione's eyes fluttered open slowly with distrust. She looked at Narcissa then to her other side where Draco was looking down at her with tears brimming over his eyelids. "Draco," she croaked, smiling a weak smile at him, "I missed you so much," she said before another contraction hit her and she groaned. Her hands were still bound behind her back.

"I've missed you," he cried, kissing her free hand. "Please tell me you are ok."

"The-baby," she managed to say between her teeth. "It's going-to-die. ARGH!"

"It's coming, Draco," Narcissa announced quickly, her eyes wide with excitement. She positioned herself between Hermione's legs and watched with intent interest.

The cries of a baby, Draco and Hermione's baby, echoed through the empty room. Hermione broke her stare with Draco and watched Narcissa whip it off with a towel and get the phlegm like stuff from its tiny mouth. Draco reached for it but Narcissa stood up quickly and smiled. "What a lovely girl she is," Narcissa said. Draco couldn't tell if it was sincere or she was being sarcastic.

"Give her to me, then," Draco said, holding his gushing wound. His head was spinning when he stood up and he fell over almost immediately.

"She's none of yours. Pansy, please watch these children while I prepare the necessary actions."

At this job, Pansy was much obliged. She stood over them with a smirk on her face and her wand pointing directly at Hermione. "Make any sudden moves, Draco, I dare you. I know Avada Kadavra and she won't be any loss to me so just watch the show and be grateful you were a part of it."

The baby continued crying and flaring its small legs and arms in the air. "Oh shut up you annoying thing. Hermione, my dear, this child looks so undernourished," Narcissa laughed, kneeling on a rock in the middle of the room. Her smile never faded as she stared at the pale white skinned baby. For a moment she felt like she was holding her baby Draco again but she quickly tossed the memory aside. Her son had been a failure to her in every way.

Narcissa cringed when her hands touched the water but she kept her grin painted on her face. The baby's feet kicked hard against the freezing feeling but had no control what so ever as its waist was submerged.

Hermione was screaming with a new found voice though it was ragged and scratchy. Draco had to hold her tight against his chest but he couldn't take his eyes off of his mother. Narcissa was looking at the baby like a wild woman; her eyes were as wide as quarters and she looked like she was in pure ecstasy. He couldn't muffle out the sounds of his own newly arrived daughter screaming bloody murder as much as he wanted to. Draco couldn't stand the cries anymore and stood up quickly, only to be hit with the Cruciatus curse and was sent back down upon a howling Hermione.

Narcissa was knocked out of her trance and the baby was reduced to nothing but small whimpers as it's little pink lips began to turn an ice cold blue. "Oh Pansy, can you handle everything you impudent girl? This is what I've been waiting for two long years!"

"I've got it under control. Just continue with it, already."

"STOP IT!" Draco pleaded, staring at Narcissa with a face full of hurt. "Why are you doing this?"

His mother sighed as if annoyed. "I have my own love to worry about, Draco. You think your fleeting romance with some tramp is special? Twenty years of marriage is a real love, you ignorant boy. Your father knew his time was up and he was tired of serving Voldemort. He and I prepared a spell to bring him back, that look nearly six years of work. There were many ways this could go wrong, but I took every step carefully and look where we are," she said dreamily.

"You-you HATE HIM! You told me! You said you hated being in his shadow," Draco cried.

"Well do you think this plan would have worked so easily if you knew what I could've been up to? Even a tiny idea in your head could ruin everything. If you had had any doubts, I wouldn't have gotten you here so easily. You are weak and at my disposal. Your Mudblood 'wife' is almost out of her mind. Now Lucius will be back, with the power of three generations of Malfoy blood-his, yours, and your child's. I knew it would all end this way. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to finish this-my hands are almost numb."

"YOU BITCH! YOU FU--," was all he could muster before he was hit with another Cruciatus curse that made his stab wound bleed all the more. His vision was drifting in and out but it cleared enough to see Narcissa's arms in the water all the way up to her elbows. A few large bubbles reached the surface but they went away quickly and the water was still again.

When Narcissa pulled her arms back up out of the water, only the towel the baby had been laying in was plastered to them.

"Okay," Pansy said with uneasiness, "so can I kill the girl now?"

"No, look at her you fool. I'm sure it would bring him plenty of happiness to get to come back and kill a Mudblood in the same night," Narcissa said in a sing-song voice.

Draco was beginning not to hear any of the conversation at all. In fact it was getting hard to stay awake too. He leaned against his quivering partner and breathed heavily.

"Narcissa-I don't think your son is going to stay alive much longer. Shouldn't we get this over with?" Pansy asked.

"Hermione," a weak Draco whispered, "please, I know you can save her."

He lifted his head with the last of his strength and looked at her with wide gray eyes. She was shaking her head at him, unable to accept the fact that he was dying though her nightgown was drenched in his blood. "I can't-please don't leave me alone," she sobbed.

"Go," he said, then he exhaled and all of his weight fell onto her.

Narcissa screamed bloody murder. "DRACO! Hurry Pansy quickly! Drag him into the water before his blood goes bad!"

"I can't drag him! He's dead weight now! Wingardium Leviosa!" Pansy charmed his body to float slowly but easily into the freezing pool. His body, like his child's floated to the bottom but the water remained the same-dark and without any ripples. "So what's supposed to.?"

"CAN YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT FOR JUST A FEW SECONDS?" Narcissa screamed at her, looking obviously frightened too that nothing would happen. Everything was completely still.

Under the water though, snakes began to coil around the bodies that had been thrown in only minutes ago. They at first formed a small dome around them then others came along and added to the stack of mounting snakes that were building a tower out of the water.

When the first snake to emerge from the water was visible Narcissa nearly whooped for joy. The snakes were now leaping out of the water like seals to stack one on top of the other. As they worked, the pile raised midway to the high ceiling before they finally were only jumping out of the water one at a time.

The snakes had been wriggling against each other constantly until the last one was in its place then they all paused. "This is it," whispered Narcissa.

The snakes had been a multitude of different colors but all of them turned a dull brown when the slithering stopped. The pile of snakes began to crack and break apart if the snakes all along had been made of clay that had now been left out too long and was crumbling.

The top fell away first, exposing Lucius Malfoy's head. He was bald now and his eyebrows hadn't even grown back. His lips were cracked and white, with bags under his eyes as well. The veins in his face were clearly visible He looked like the living dead.

"LUCIUS," Narcissa cried opening her arms out wide but he only looked at her with a grim expression on his face.

Another mess of dried up snake fell away from his torso, leaving only his legs left under the hardened clumps of snake. It seemed to be working fine until Lucius moved his arms about and tried to pull himself out of the rest of the hardened rock type thing that held him but it was held fast and wouldn't budge. His skin seemed to be fused with it.

"WHAT IS THIS?" he boomed, rocking the entire house with his monstrous new voice. He looked around madly, looking at the smiling Narcissa, the foolish girl with the gaping mouth-and then his eyes fell upon Hermione.

"A MUDBLOOD IN THIS ROOM? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS NARCISSA!"

"I-I-she-she's the one Draco was seeing," Narcissa stuttered, finally looker weaker then Hermione.

"She was the one who bore the child I am feeding from?"

"Yes, my dear Lucius, I made sure everything went they way you explained to me."

"YOU WORTHLESS WOMAN! I INSTRUCTED A PUREBLOODED MOTHER! SHE IS A MUDBLOOD!"

"Our Pureblood was unable to become pregnant, Lucius, and this tramp girl was already pregnant before I had even had a chance to get Draco in bed with his wife. I was just so EAGER to see you a live again, my love."

Lucius's eyes were filled with red hot anger as he reached out for her. She stared at him and could see his madness and, though afraid, Narcissa put her arms out to embrace him. "You have always been my down fall and I give you one chance to redeem yourself and you mess it up as well. I should have expected it. I cannot be reborn with so much Muggle blood running through me. Draco was already some what filled with dirty blood and their child is half Muggle! I had stronger blood before I died. NOW I AM STUCK LIKE THIS! HALF WIZARD-HALF SOMETHING ELSE!

His large gray colored hand shot out and wrapped his hand around his wife's throat. Her eyes bulged immediately and the color drained from her face.

Pansy, as though jarred out of her trance, turned to run out of the room but Lucius pointed his unused open palm at her and Pansy was knocked across the room, her head splitting open as she shot against the stone wall. Her body fell limply into the water.

Hermione was slouched in the corner but was inching slowly towards the pool of ice cold water. Lucius was busy chastising his wife in his guttural sounding voice. Everything that was happening to her had to be just a nightmare. Her baby HAD to be alive. She had to see. She had to save her daughter. Even if Draco was dead, as he had died in front of her, her child could STILL be alive. Hermione had to believe that.

She dumped herself into the water. It was like a thousand knives sticking her at once. The cold nearly paralyzed her but she managed to frog through the water though it stung her muscles to do so.

The dome of snakes that started the pile up was breaking apart and little air bubbles were coming out from under them. Hermione ripped them apart easily and there lye Draco and her child. He was clutching her as if he had come back to life. In his arms, lay their daughter with her eyes closed but air bubbles were being exhaled from her blue lips, unlike Draco whose mouth was opened wide as if he'd drown.

Hermione opened her mouth to see how her baby was breathing but only terrible tasting water filled her mouth and her lungs began to burn. It was part of the magical spell Narcissa put on the water so Lucius could live off their blood but he hadn't gotten all of the baby's blood yet.

She had to practically wrench the child from her dead husband's arms and as soon as she did the baby began to lose air as quick as Hermione was. She pushed off from the side of the cocoon type thing and surfaced.

The air never tasted so good. The baby's sputtering cries were loud but were nothing compared to the wailing howls of Lucius. His body from the waste up began crumbling from having nothing to feed on. "KILL HER!" He commanded to Narcissa who was pulling out of his now stone hand. She was coughing and choking but pulling her wand out of her robes with a free hand at the same time.

Hermione turned and sprinted towards the doors made of trees. She could see someone standing outside in the ballroom but the sun was so bright after being in such a dark room yet she could only keep running. Her breathing was louder then any of the screams and yells from everyone in the manor. She was concentrating only on getting out.

Her first barefoot touched the slippery marble floor, then the next barefoot made its stake out of that evil room and Hermione thought she was nearly home free but something cold touched her heart and she knew exactly what was swallowing her down into the dark.

She pushed the baby out her arms and fell face first onto the ground. The green light wrapped around Hermione like a death shroud.

**

Some Years Later.

"Hermione, you left your books all over the floor," Ron scolded from the living room. He began picking up them up and stacking them on the couch.

"What dad?" she asked, bouncing into the room with his old pointed hat on. Her curly blond hair stuck out like a big frizzy mop from all sides. Ron still hadn't learned how to tame it. She was also wearing Ron's old Gryffindor robes that were much too big on her.

"You have to clean up your mess after you get done with things."

"I was going to get more. I was looking up my family's history," she looked up at him with watery brown eyes.

Ron smiled and patted her on the head. "Muggles? What would you want to learn about them for?"

"I want to learn everything! I want to be the smartest girl in the world," she exclaimed, dancing around the room and on the couch.

Ron stood there with a vacant look on his face. Usually he would have told her to stop jumping. "What is it dad?" Hermione asked, tugging on his robes. He looked down at her and his eyes filled up with large tears. Ron knelt down and put Hermione in a hug so tight she had to cough but she managed to hug him back.

"I'm just so grateful to have such a wonderful daughter. You're just like your mother."

"Tell me what happened to her?"

He laughed and wiped his tears away. "That's a LONG story, not for little girl's ears just yet."

Hermione didn't really understand this but she knew it was useless to argue with her father. "She saved me though huh?"

"Yes, that she did."

"What happened to the evil woman?"

"She was insane. She threw herself in the water after Lucius and drown shortly after," Ron said with malice in his voice.

"Lucius?" Hermione was drinking everything in.

"Your real father's dad," he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Was my real father as good as you?"

Ron looked taken aback and only hugged her again then stood up. "Sure he was. C'mon, let's go upstairs and get you ready for bed."

She scowled at him. "Do I have to?"

"What kind of question is that? March little lady."

After he tucked her in and read from 'A Little Witch with Big Tales' until she was asleep, Ron couldn't help but stare at her with a tight knot in his stomach from loving her so much.

And somewhere in the night.far away where a mass of huge stones lay in a crumbling pile and black colored willow trees have nearly grown over it all, lay a huge slab of stone still sticking out of the ground and underneath the etched name of Draco Malfoy was a line that connect him to newly engraved and still glowing name of Hermione Malfoy. And so, it never really ends.

**

*sighs* Well that's the end.yes it's over.This was my first FF and I've learned A LOT from writing this.a lot from reviews especially. Everyone has been pretty gentle ^-^ thanks guys! I told you all this chapter would be a long fat doozy and I'm pretty satisfied with then entire story.except for the beginning which was just me kinda experimenting.I really didn't expect to finish this but everyone was so supportive so I couldn't help but finish. Well, I had a lot of fun with this anyone and I'm starting a new one tomorrow that's a Hermione/Lucius FF.I don't see any of that pairing so I'm giving it a shot. I hope you all remember moi! THANKS JK FOR YOUR WONDERFUL CHARS!! I would still love some reviews on what you think of the ending. Ja!

RatWitch 08/01/03 - 09/14/03