Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; all of the ideas come from J.K.
Rowlings. I own the North family and Starlight Attkins and the plot.
Well, this story is finally winding down and I know that many of you are worried about the relationship of Draco and Hermione since there are other characters in their lives. All I can tell you is that you'll have to make your own assumptions up until whatever it is actually happens. I will take care of the thank yous for chapter 17 and 18 now while I'm still thinking about.
*Chapter 17*
InsanitySquirrel321- Thank you!
Catherinecat20- Thank you, and I hope that this is long enough and soon enough!
Blu Suga- Thank you!
Theophania- Thanks, and you have to find out!
*Chapter 18*
Akawsha- Thanks; I never really thought it was actually very detailed honestly.
Catherinecat20- I believe I e-mailed you with my reply, but I don't remember *apologizes profusely for my poor memory* Well, you will find out if Draco dies or not in this chapter, and don't worry it is NO problem that you are asking so many questions. And THANKS; you're such a loyal reader!!!
Eminem-Chick2- I feel bad for her too, but I felt I should actually make a point out of having her raped earlier because someone said that it had no point. The reason it counts is because even if you're raped, that doesn't change the fact that you are no longer a virgin anymore. I hope there was enough Draco in this chapter! (I've been hoarding him to myself!!! He's mine!) Hopefully you are happy with this chapter!
Eminem-Chick2- you'll see if he's okay or not now! I'm glad he's dead too! That's why people write fan fiction, so that things go their way even if J. K. doesn't (no offense or anything!!! I love the Harry Potter books and I can't wait until the sixth book comes out!)
Theophania- you're right! Thanks for reviewing so faithfully!
I will try to work on the chapter after this because that will be the deciding moment of the story and I don't want to hold it out for too long. Oh, and I'm going to drop another plot bomb in this chapter. Anyways, please read and review! And enjoy!
Chapter 19
'How long has he been out?'
'Half a month now; it was really a bad illness that he got hit with.'
'Is he going to make it?'
' . . .'
'Ginny?'
'I don't know Harry, he got hit with a very dangerous magical illness.'
'What kind of illness?'
'Murond Plague, it's incommunicable by any other standards than injection of some sort, but it's just as deadly as any of the muggle biological diseases.'
'What does it do?'
'It puts the person into a coma, but after that it is unique to the individual.'
'What are Draco's symptoms?'
'Well, obviously he has the coma, but also he's suffering from severe weight loss, respiratory distress, severe pain, and very little brain activity. There's very little hope of recovery, but it's better than no hope at all. Though we figure that if he wakes up he will have temporary memory loss.'
Draco heard all of this as though in a dream state. 'What's going on? Where am I?' He felt as though a Quintaped or something had attacked him.
'So what will happen to him now? How long will they give him before they pull the plugs.'
' . . .'
'Gin, just tell me, I can handle it.'
'They will pull them tonight if he doesn't show any improvements by the end of the day.'
'So soon?'
'Pull the plug on what?' Draco thought, as the voices were becoming clearer and clearer.
'So do you think he will make it by tonight?'
'I don't want to make any assumptions just yet, so I can't really say.'
'Wait . . . are they talking about me?' Draco's memory was becoming less and less fuzzy and he began remembering blacking out in Voldemort's mansion.
"Gin, are you going to stay for a while?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I think I should go get Hermione. She has to at least see him before tonight," said the male voice.
Draco could hear footsteps and then a door shut and all was silent in the room.
A chair scraped across the floor near by and then he felt a gentle pressure on his hand.
"Draco, you've got to wake up. You have to stay alive for Hermione because she still loves you. She would never say so, but we know she is. Just wake up, please," said a desperate voice.
Draco tried to move, but his muscles were not responding. He wanted to wake up, but his body wouldn't let him.
"Draco, come on! Please wake up. You have to wake up! Harry said he wanted you to be his best man in our wedding. We're getting married you know. He proposed to me after we got back to England. He was going to ask Ron, but Ron said that he wanted to have a double wedding with us! Can you believe it? My brother and I getting married on the same day and in the same place? It would just be too bad if Hermione and you couldn't join us. But Harry and Ron want her to be there, I haven't told them that Star and I want to ask her to be the maid of honor. We don't want a big wedding, just immediate family and a few friends. You want to be there don't you?" The voice was almost wistful as she talked about a future without him in it.
Draco's eyes fluttered painfully open as the brightness of the white hospital room invaded them and he squinted against the unwelcome light.
Ginny looked at him in shock as she saw the responsiveness he just had.
"Draco! You're awake!" she cried as she gave him a bone-crunching hug (it felt like it to Draco anyway) and cried with joy.
Draco winced as she hugged him and Ginny instantly pulled away realizing that she was hurting him.
"Oh God Draco I'm so sorry!"
Draco took a while before his voice would work and when it came out it was very weak. "Same old little Weasel you always were," said Draco jokingly and laughed but coughed as pain overtook his body from the laughter.
"Draco, take it easy! You've had a horrible run in with - "
"Murond Plague, I know, I heard you talking about it a little bit ago."
"Oh! So . . . you've heard how much exactly?"
"I've heard that I've been out for half a month and everything after that."
"Draco you should get some rest now because you aren't exactly in the best condition to socialize."
"All right, but I'm perfectly fine."
"Draco!" began Ginny in a mock stern voice. "You are going to rest whether you like it or not! Oh by the way, Harry and Hermione are going to hopefully stop by later. I know that you already know about it, but I just wanted to remind you."
"Okay, now if you want me to sleep then leave me be! I won't sleep with the possibility to socialize," said Draco good-naturedly.
"Okay, sleep well," said Ginny walking out and gently shutting the door.
Draco almost instantly fell asleep.
~*::-::*~
Hermione was sitting in the Head Girl and Boy's Common Room studying for the N. E. W. T. s.
Harry burst into the room through the fireplace suddenly and Hermione looked up at him.
"Hermione will you come with me?" he asked hurriedly.
"Sure Harry, where are we going?"
"To visit a friend."
He said no more because he picked up some floo powder and said clearly, "Saint Joseph's."
Hermione recognized the name as a hospital in Ireland; the one that she was born in as her mother had told her.
"Saint Joseph's."
~*::-::*~
Draco was sleeping fitfully as he heard the door open and he heard slow footsteps in his room. He assumed it was a nurse or something so he paid it no mind and fell back asleep.
Hermione looked around at the stark white room and a bed in the middle surrounded by machines. She heard the steady beep, beep, beep of the heart monitor. She also heard the steady airflow from the respirator. She saw the I.V. and followed the line to the wrist of the victim in the hospital. Her gaze finally traveled to the face of the patient and recognized a very thin and very pale Draco Malfoy. She backed away at the sight of him and began to open the door but found it would not open.
'Damn it Harry! I need to leave, I can't stay in here!' Hermione thought. 'I was finally able to accept the concept of him not being in my life and then you drag my ass to the hospital so I have to see him.'
Hermione looked at the very weak Draco, with his mouth covered by a respirator mask, breathing very steadily to the rhythm it set.
'I guess it won't hurt if I say goodbye to him once and for all. He was fighting for the good side anyway and that deserves some respect from my part. He even saved Justin, which he told me about it in detail.'
She moved over to the chair and sat down taking his cold hand in hers. She sat in silence for a moment, but then she couldn't take it anymore.
"You really hurt me you know?" she began, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. "I know you were going to tell me. Luna Lovegood is also telepathic and she told me that you were going to tell me that night that I was raped by Blaise Zabini. I didn't know who it was until Luna said that. Apparently, the dirtiest and most disgusting thoughts are the hardest to hide from someone telepathic. I wish I could know what you were thinking now, but telepaths can't really hear thoughts of people who are sleeping or in a coma."
It seemed that the longer she kept talking, the easier it became since she knew that Draco couldn't hear her. She sighed and continued, "I really don't know what I should do about Blaise though. I mean, he's still alive and so are his parents because they were in one of the barracks that remained hidden. They wouldn't dare to try and kill us now because they don't have a leader. Though I don't think they'd want to even if they could. The dark marks disappeared once Harry killed Voldemort. Some of the Death Eaters actually became like they used to be, like Snape is actually nicer to students and everything. But some of the older Death Eaters that joined Voldemort when he first began are still terrible people. The Zabini family is nice except for Blaise who is still a total git, but that's just the way he was. I don't think Blaise was ever going to join Voldemort, but was instead going to try to take his place. Who knows though in these days?"
Hermione bit her lower lip and thought about what to talk about next. She finally settled on the sore topic of their old relationship. "You know I loved you right? But the moment I found about Cecily I thought that you didn't love me, but were just using me as a last fling before getting married. If it weren't for the fact that I promised to marry Justin and you are promised to Cecily, I would want to marry you. I would have loved you until the end of time, but I guess it doesn't really matter any more. You'll either be dead by nightfall or you'll be married to someone else. I never wanted to admit it, but that was the only reason I ever hated you." She smiled to herself having remembered the old days when he would call her Mudblood and tease her mercilessly, "Since this year anyways. You know, Harry, Ron, Starlight, and Ginny all say that you are still in love with me . . . but that can't possibly work now. You're going to get married as soon as you wake up and go home. I've heard rumors that you will be married sometime soon after graduation. That is if you ever wake up. I hope you do because I would feel terrible if you were to die tonight because they wouldn't give you a chance to live. For what it's worth . . . thanks; D. A. would never have made it without you. Goodbye," she said standing up and leaving.
She cast one last look over her shoulder and then shut the door. At that moment Draco woke up with the subtle click of the door.
'Damn!' he thought, knowing that he had probably just missed Hermione.
~*::-::*~
Harry and Ginny decided to pay Narcissa Malfoy a little visit after they had dropped Hermione back at Hogwarts. Harry knocked lightly on the door, which was almost immediately opened by a house elf.
"Good evening Sir and Madam. What does you be wanting?"
"Can we talk to your mistress please?" asked Ginny.
"Come in, Tiny will get mistress Malfoy. Take a seat anywhere you be wanting to," said the house elf pointing to a room and then disappearing to get Narcissa.
Harry and Ginny entered the parlor to their right and took seats by the entrance. They waited for about a minute and then heard footsteps slowly descending the grand staircase. Narcissa Malfoy walked into the parlor almost regally and then sat down in a seat across from them.
"Hello Harry Potter and Miss Weasley. Forgive me, but I haven't caught your name dear," she said smiling.
"It's Ginny Mrs. Malfoy," said Ginny softly.
"Oh, there's no need to be so formal, you can call me Narcissa. So why have you come to Malfoy manor?"
"We needed to talk to you about your son's arranged marriage."
"I knew that someone would come to me about that eventually," she said with a perceptive look.
"Well, since the North family doesn't know that Draco has woken, we were wondering if you might call off the engagement. You see, Draco is in love with someone else, but he can't be with her because of the engagement. That person is our best friend, and she is about to make the biggest mistake of her life and marry some bloke that she doesn't care for. Both of them are unhappy because they can't be together now," said Ginny quickly.
Narcissa gave a bitter smile, "I know how that is, because I was betrothed to Lucius since I was born. I was in love once, but I could not marry the man that I wanted to because of it. I don't want the same thing for my son; I want him to marry for love. I don't know how easy it will be for me to lie to them, but I think I will be able to convince them to have their daughter marry someone else. When the people from the muggle hospital come to my Draco tonight, I want them to think that he was never awake. I will cast a charm on him to make all his vital signs unreadable to the muggle machinery, but he will be very much alive. Then I will pretend that there is a funeral for him and that he was cremated. We will need to have the WWPP involved and give him a new identity after he graduates, and they won't ever know he's alive while still under his real name because they'd think he was dead, but he will at least be able to stay away from the North family by doing that. Will you inform your friend that his engagement as of now, is off?"
"We will Narcissa, thank you so much!" said Ginny ready to go.
"Good luck Narcissa, and thank you," said Harry getting up and together Ginny and Harry left happy that their plan was being set in motion . . .
Author's Note: Well, hopefully this makes the rest of the story seem more obvious now, but if not, you'll have to read and find out what happens next! Please click on that little button at the bottom left corner, thanks!
Well, this story is finally winding down and I know that many of you are worried about the relationship of Draco and Hermione since there are other characters in their lives. All I can tell you is that you'll have to make your own assumptions up until whatever it is actually happens. I will take care of the thank yous for chapter 17 and 18 now while I'm still thinking about.
*Chapter 17*
InsanitySquirrel321- Thank you!
Catherinecat20- Thank you, and I hope that this is long enough and soon enough!
Blu Suga- Thank you!
Theophania- Thanks, and you have to find out!
*Chapter 18*
Akawsha- Thanks; I never really thought it was actually very detailed honestly.
Catherinecat20- I believe I e-mailed you with my reply, but I don't remember *apologizes profusely for my poor memory* Well, you will find out if Draco dies or not in this chapter, and don't worry it is NO problem that you are asking so many questions. And THANKS; you're such a loyal reader!!!
Eminem-Chick2- I feel bad for her too, but I felt I should actually make a point out of having her raped earlier because someone said that it had no point. The reason it counts is because even if you're raped, that doesn't change the fact that you are no longer a virgin anymore. I hope there was enough Draco in this chapter! (I've been hoarding him to myself!!! He's mine!) Hopefully you are happy with this chapter!
Eminem-Chick2- you'll see if he's okay or not now! I'm glad he's dead too! That's why people write fan fiction, so that things go their way even if J. K. doesn't (no offense or anything!!! I love the Harry Potter books and I can't wait until the sixth book comes out!)
Theophania- you're right! Thanks for reviewing so faithfully!
I will try to work on the chapter after this because that will be the deciding moment of the story and I don't want to hold it out for too long. Oh, and I'm going to drop another plot bomb in this chapter. Anyways, please read and review! And enjoy!
Chapter 19
'How long has he been out?'
'Half a month now; it was really a bad illness that he got hit with.'
'Is he going to make it?'
' . . .'
'Ginny?'
'I don't know Harry, he got hit with a very dangerous magical illness.'
'What kind of illness?'
'Murond Plague, it's incommunicable by any other standards than injection of some sort, but it's just as deadly as any of the muggle biological diseases.'
'What does it do?'
'It puts the person into a coma, but after that it is unique to the individual.'
'What are Draco's symptoms?'
'Well, obviously he has the coma, but also he's suffering from severe weight loss, respiratory distress, severe pain, and very little brain activity. There's very little hope of recovery, but it's better than no hope at all. Though we figure that if he wakes up he will have temporary memory loss.'
Draco heard all of this as though in a dream state. 'What's going on? Where am I?' He felt as though a Quintaped or something had attacked him.
'So what will happen to him now? How long will they give him before they pull the plugs.'
' . . .'
'Gin, just tell me, I can handle it.'
'They will pull them tonight if he doesn't show any improvements by the end of the day.'
'So soon?'
'Pull the plug on what?' Draco thought, as the voices were becoming clearer and clearer.
'So do you think he will make it by tonight?'
'I don't want to make any assumptions just yet, so I can't really say.'
'Wait . . . are they talking about me?' Draco's memory was becoming less and less fuzzy and he began remembering blacking out in Voldemort's mansion.
"Gin, are you going to stay for a while?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I think I should go get Hermione. She has to at least see him before tonight," said the male voice.
Draco could hear footsteps and then a door shut and all was silent in the room.
A chair scraped across the floor near by and then he felt a gentle pressure on his hand.
"Draco, you've got to wake up. You have to stay alive for Hermione because she still loves you. She would never say so, but we know she is. Just wake up, please," said a desperate voice.
Draco tried to move, but his muscles were not responding. He wanted to wake up, but his body wouldn't let him.
"Draco, come on! Please wake up. You have to wake up! Harry said he wanted you to be his best man in our wedding. We're getting married you know. He proposed to me after we got back to England. He was going to ask Ron, but Ron said that he wanted to have a double wedding with us! Can you believe it? My brother and I getting married on the same day and in the same place? It would just be too bad if Hermione and you couldn't join us. But Harry and Ron want her to be there, I haven't told them that Star and I want to ask her to be the maid of honor. We don't want a big wedding, just immediate family and a few friends. You want to be there don't you?" The voice was almost wistful as she talked about a future without him in it.
Draco's eyes fluttered painfully open as the brightness of the white hospital room invaded them and he squinted against the unwelcome light.
Ginny looked at him in shock as she saw the responsiveness he just had.
"Draco! You're awake!" she cried as she gave him a bone-crunching hug (it felt like it to Draco anyway) and cried with joy.
Draco winced as she hugged him and Ginny instantly pulled away realizing that she was hurting him.
"Oh God Draco I'm so sorry!"
Draco took a while before his voice would work and when it came out it was very weak. "Same old little Weasel you always were," said Draco jokingly and laughed but coughed as pain overtook his body from the laughter.
"Draco, take it easy! You've had a horrible run in with - "
"Murond Plague, I know, I heard you talking about it a little bit ago."
"Oh! So . . . you've heard how much exactly?"
"I've heard that I've been out for half a month and everything after that."
"Draco you should get some rest now because you aren't exactly in the best condition to socialize."
"All right, but I'm perfectly fine."
"Draco!" began Ginny in a mock stern voice. "You are going to rest whether you like it or not! Oh by the way, Harry and Hermione are going to hopefully stop by later. I know that you already know about it, but I just wanted to remind you."
"Okay, now if you want me to sleep then leave me be! I won't sleep with the possibility to socialize," said Draco good-naturedly.
"Okay, sleep well," said Ginny walking out and gently shutting the door.
Draco almost instantly fell asleep.
~*::-::*~
Hermione was sitting in the Head Girl and Boy's Common Room studying for the N. E. W. T. s.
Harry burst into the room through the fireplace suddenly and Hermione looked up at him.
"Hermione will you come with me?" he asked hurriedly.
"Sure Harry, where are we going?"
"To visit a friend."
He said no more because he picked up some floo powder and said clearly, "Saint Joseph's."
Hermione recognized the name as a hospital in Ireland; the one that she was born in as her mother had told her.
"Saint Joseph's."
~*::-::*~
Draco was sleeping fitfully as he heard the door open and he heard slow footsteps in his room. He assumed it was a nurse or something so he paid it no mind and fell back asleep.
Hermione looked around at the stark white room and a bed in the middle surrounded by machines. She heard the steady beep, beep, beep of the heart monitor. She also heard the steady airflow from the respirator. She saw the I.V. and followed the line to the wrist of the victim in the hospital. Her gaze finally traveled to the face of the patient and recognized a very thin and very pale Draco Malfoy. She backed away at the sight of him and began to open the door but found it would not open.
'Damn it Harry! I need to leave, I can't stay in here!' Hermione thought. 'I was finally able to accept the concept of him not being in my life and then you drag my ass to the hospital so I have to see him.'
Hermione looked at the very weak Draco, with his mouth covered by a respirator mask, breathing very steadily to the rhythm it set.
'I guess it won't hurt if I say goodbye to him once and for all. He was fighting for the good side anyway and that deserves some respect from my part. He even saved Justin, which he told me about it in detail.'
She moved over to the chair and sat down taking his cold hand in hers. She sat in silence for a moment, but then she couldn't take it anymore.
"You really hurt me you know?" she began, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. "I know you were going to tell me. Luna Lovegood is also telepathic and she told me that you were going to tell me that night that I was raped by Blaise Zabini. I didn't know who it was until Luna said that. Apparently, the dirtiest and most disgusting thoughts are the hardest to hide from someone telepathic. I wish I could know what you were thinking now, but telepaths can't really hear thoughts of people who are sleeping or in a coma."
It seemed that the longer she kept talking, the easier it became since she knew that Draco couldn't hear her. She sighed and continued, "I really don't know what I should do about Blaise though. I mean, he's still alive and so are his parents because they were in one of the barracks that remained hidden. They wouldn't dare to try and kill us now because they don't have a leader. Though I don't think they'd want to even if they could. The dark marks disappeared once Harry killed Voldemort. Some of the Death Eaters actually became like they used to be, like Snape is actually nicer to students and everything. But some of the older Death Eaters that joined Voldemort when he first began are still terrible people. The Zabini family is nice except for Blaise who is still a total git, but that's just the way he was. I don't think Blaise was ever going to join Voldemort, but was instead going to try to take his place. Who knows though in these days?"
Hermione bit her lower lip and thought about what to talk about next. She finally settled on the sore topic of their old relationship. "You know I loved you right? But the moment I found about Cecily I thought that you didn't love me, but were just using me as a last fling before getting married. If it weren't for the fact that I promised to marry Justin and you are promised to Cecily, I would want to marry you. I would have loved you until the end of time, but I guess it doesn't really matter any more. You'll either be dead by nightfall or you'll be married to someone else. I never wanted to admit it, but that was the only reason I ever hated you." She smiled to herself having remembered the old days when he would call her Mudblood and tease her mercilessly, "Since this year anyways. You know, Harry, Ron, Starlight, and Ginny all say that you are still in love with me . . . but that can't possibly work now. You're going to get married as soon as you wake up and go home. I've heard rumors that you will be married sometime soon after graduation. That is if you ever wake up. I hope you do because I would feel terrible if you were to die tonight because they wouldn't give you a chance to live. For what it's worth . . . thanks; D. A. would never have made it without you. Goodbye," she said standing up and leaving.
She cast one last look over her shoulder and then shut the door. At that moment Draco woke up with the subtle click of the door.
'Damn!' he thought, knowing that he had probably just missed Hermione.
~*::-::*~
Harry and Ginny decided to pay Narcissa Malfoy a little visit after they had dropped Hermione back at Hogwarts. Harry knocked lightly on the door, which was almost immediately opened by a house elf.
"Good evening Sir and Madam. What does you be wanting?"
"Can we talk to your mistress please?" asked Ginny.
"Come in, Tiny will get mistress Malfoy. Take a seat anywhere you be wanting to," said the house elf pointing to a room and then disappearing to get Narcissa.
Harry and Ginny entered the parlor to their right and took seats by the entrance. They waited for about a minute and then heard footsteps slowly descending the grand staircase. Narcissa Malfoy walked into the parlor almost regally and then sat down in a seat across from them.
"Hello Harry Potter and Miss Weasley. Forgive me, but I haven't caught your name dear," she said smiling.
"It's Ginny Mrs. Malfoy," said Ginny softly.
"Oh, there's no need to be so formal, you can call me Narcissa. So why have you come to Malfoy manor?"
"We needed to talk to you about your son's arranged marriage."
"I knew that someone would come to me about that eventually," she said with a perceptive look.
"Well, since the North family doesn't know that Draco has woken, we were wondering if you might call off the engagement. You see, Draco is in love with someone else, but he can't be with her because of the engagement. That person is our best friend, and she is about to make the biggest mistake of her life and marry some bloke that she doesn't care for. Both of them are unhappy because they can't be together now," said Ginny quickly.
Narcissa gave a bitter smile, "I know how that is, because I was betrothed to Lucius since I was born. I was in love once, but I could not marry the man that I wanted to because of it. I don't want the same thing for my son; I want him to marry for love. I don't know how easy it will be for me to lie to them, but I think I will be able to convince them to have their daughter marry someone else. When the people from the muggle hospital come to my Draco tonight, I want them to think that he was never awake. I will cast a charm on him to make all his vital signs unreadable to the muggle machinery, but he will be very much alive. Then I will pretend that there is a funeral for him and that he was cremated. We will need to have the WWPP involved and give him a new identity after he graduates, and they won't ever know he's alive while still under his real name because they'd think he was dead, but he will at least be able to stay away from the North family by doing that. Will you inform your friend that his engagement as of now, is off?"
"We will Narcissa, thank you so much!" said Ginny ready to go.
"Good luck Narcissa, and thank you," said Harry getting up and together Ginny and Harry left happy that their plan was being set in motion . . .
Author's Note: Well, hopefully this makes the rest of the story seem more obvious now, but if not, you'll have to read and find out what happens next! Please click on that little button at the bottom left corner, thanks!