Chapter 11: Home Again

In a split second, Draco felt something soft under him. He was no longer on the ground. They must have made it. His entire body seemed to sigh with relief. He was afraid to open his eyes. He could feel Michelle's lips leaving his.

"Draco? Can you hear me? Are you okay?" Michelle spoke softly, her face still close.

He nodded, but still did not open his eyes.

"We're all right. No one can hurt us here." Michelle could feel his hand continuing to grip hers tightly.

Draco finally looked at her. He could see the marks on her neck from his hands. He had never felt so ashamed. His gaze lifted from her neck to her hazel eyes before he spoke.

"I'm sorry." His free hand brushed her neck before slipping behind her head. He held her gaze a second longer before pulling her closer. His lips crushed hers as he kissed her. Michelle struggled at first, but the kiss felt so desperate, so sad, that she let him continue. She didn't really kiss him back, but she didn't stop him.

Draco slowly became aware of her hesitation, of the awkwardness of the kiss. He released her carefully, unsure of what to do or say.

Michelle gave him a brief, knowing smile before she lifted herself up and off of him. As she rose, he took notice of where they were. He was laying on a bed. The room was messy, but in a way that suggested the owner was out living a life rather than obsessing over neatness. Draco sat up and spotted the picture of Harry and Michelle near her bed. He frowned. Why did Potter get whatever he wanted? It wasn't fair.

"So..." Michelle had curled up onto a chair a few feet away.

"Nice room."

"Thanks. You okay?"

"Okay enough. How did we get here?"

"Apperated."

"How did you know I could apperate?"

"Didn't. No offense, but I assumed you couldn't yet."

Draco smiled wryly, "You have a bad habit of assuming a lot about me."

"I'm noticing that." Michelle inhaled deeply, feeling every ache and sign of fatigue that riddled her body. "Do you know where we were?"

Draco shook his head. "No. They used a portkey once we stepped beyond the front gate."

"Your mother didn't tell you?"

"I not sure what exactly my mother told me." He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck.

Michelle's eyes followed the movement of his arm and she hopped up quickly from her seat.

"Crap! I forgot about your hand..." She came over and yanked him up from the bed. Dragging him into the bathroom, she turned on the faucet. Taking him by the wrist, she stuck his hand under the warming water. "Stay here."

Draco watched as she left. He turned back to his hand and couldn't help but catch a glimpse of himself in the mirror. This wasn't the same face he'd spent most of the early part of the evening staring at. He looked exhausted. And strangely, he looked older. Draco shifted his gaze to the bloody drawing on his arm. He grabbed some soap and scrubbed it off harshly.

Michelle returned annoyed. "I can't find my healing potion. I haven't stocked up on supplies since I got back so we'll just have to go with Muggle meds."

Her eyes skimmed his arm. He'd washed off the mark. From the looks of it, he'd practically dug into his own flesh to get every bit of the blood off. She turned off the water and gently dried his hand. The cut was long and deep, slicing a diagonal across his palm. She carefully rubbed on some antibacterial cream. Michelle had raided her first aid kit to find gauze and tape. She did her best to cover the wound.

"It's not the best looking dressing, but it'll do for now."

"Thanks. What about you?" Draco nodded toward her hand.

"It'll take just a sec." She repeated the same procedure quickly. Draco did his best to help her, even with his bandaged hand.

"Let's go sit down. We have a lot to talk about." Michelle moved away so Draco could exit the bathroom.

He walked to the living room and took a seat on the couch. "Why did you kiss me?"

Michelle paused mid-step. Of course he would ask that question first. "Do you want something to drink?"

"No, I want an answer to my question."

Michelle joined him on the couch, but sat at the opposite end. "I tried to apperate from where ever we were and it didn't work. It seemed reasonable to guess we were on Malfoy land. I thought at first I could just...I don't know...bear hug you or something and we could get out."

Malfoy absently rubbed his palm, "The blood from my hand and yours..."

"Exactly, can't get much closer than the sharing of bodily fluids. Tossed the kiss in just to make sure it would work."

"Sure. You wouldn't just kiss me on your own...definitely would have to be a life or death situation." His voice trailed off quietly.

Michelle sighed. "We'll come back to that discussion. I want to know what happened with your mother."

Draco's face darkened. "She came into my room. My headache was bothering me. She told me she was going to help. She would make the pain go away. I drank something and it was like my head was splitting open."

"I heard you moaning. That's why I came out to check on you."

"I didn't see you. Mother leaned in and she began whispering spells in my ear. I had forgotten most of them. She's done this before, but the last time was when I was little...right before I came to Hogwarts for my first term."

Michelle frowned. "Any idea what the spells do?"

Draco shrugged. "Not exactly. All I know is I felt like I had to leave. I knew, somehow, that you were outside and I needed to join you. I knew Death Eaters would be there and they would take us away. I knew I was supposed to become one of them."

"So why didn't you?"

"There was another voice, way deep down. It kept telling me that something was wrong. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. It wasn't supposed to happen at all." Draco lifted his eyes to look at Michelle. "Maybe I was remembering what you'd told me about the dream. Maybe I was afraid something was going to go wrong and I would die."

Michelle reached out her hand to softly touch his. "The voice in your head? I think it was your voice...your real voice. Not your parents', not your friends', no one's but your own."

"You're saying I don't want to be a Death Eater? That's like saying I don't want to be a Malfoy."

"I'm saying, you don't want anyone else to tell you who you are going to be. You may very well end up being a Death Eater one day...but it will be your decision to do so, no one else's." Michelle squeezed his hand briefly before pulling back. "When did you decide to help me?"

"When I understood I needed to kill you in order to finish the ceremony."

"What! It was a toss up until that point?"

Draco gave her a small grin, "Sort of..."

Michelle's eyes rolled. "Of all the things to wait till the last second to make a decision on...thanks, thanks a lot..."

"Glad I could help."

"Everything you said about your family and following in their footsteps...was that real or just for show?"

"Both. I think. Maybe."

Michelle was going to continue her questioning, but was interrupted by a green flash in her fireplace.

"Ah! I see you are both here and you are safe. How are you doing?" It was Dumbledore's face smiling at them through the green flames.

"Professor! Oh, crap. I should have contacted you as soon as we got here. We're okay for the most part." Michelle looked to Draco for a confirmation and he nodded at Dumbledore. They both jumped when Lucius' face seemed to pop from the flames, pushing Dumbledore to the side.

"Father!"

"Draco! How thankful I am to see you alive! You disappeared and your mother and I have been frantic! I sent Worth out looking for you and I immediately contacted Dumbledore. I knew he would be worried about Miss Larson as well as you." Lucius gave Michelle a knowing smile. "Worth told us Michelle had left suddenly and when we couldn't find either of you and the front gate was unlocked...well, we just didn't know what to think."

Michelle frowned. She considered telling Dumbledore what really happened, but by the looks of it, Lucius' version was the one that would be heard over hers. She'd speak to Dumbledore alone at a later time.

Dumbledore slid back to the center of the flames. "Yes, well, thank you for your concern Lucius. I was confident Miss Larson would be able to protect herself and your son. I believe she deserves some thanks."

Lucius peered around Dumbledore. "Thank you Miss Larson. I shall never forget what has happened tonight."

Michelle smiled at him. "Neither will I. You can count on that Mr. Malfoy."

"Draco, I shall be expecting you to return home shortly." Lucius spoke to his son, his concern fading quickly.

"Actually Mr. Malfoy, I think Draco should stay here tonight..." Michelle stood and knelt in front of the fireplace.

"I don't believe that would be at all appropriate Miss Larson."

"He needs to rest. We both do. I'm not sure travelling right now would be wise." Michelle held her breath waiting for Lucius to respond.

"I will send someone for him. He will be home in no time. His mother and I will be sure to take care of him."

"That's what I'm afraid of." The sentence slipped out quietly from Michelle's mouth.

"Excuse me?" Lucius' head was almost entirely in her living room.

Dumbledore gently rested his hand on Malfoy's shoulder and pulled him back.

"I must agree with Mr. Malfoy. Draco should return to his family." Dumbledore turned to face Lucius. "I am sure though, that Mr. Malfoy would be happy to give you both some time to say goodbye."

Lucius was stuck. "Of course. Be ready in 15 min. Draco." As suddenly as he'd appeared, Lucius was gone from the flames.

Dumbledore smiled. "I will be talking to you at length tomorrow Michelle. Contact me at your earliest convenience."

"I'll see you then Professor."

Dumbledore's gaze shifted to Draco, "And, Mr. Malfoy...I believe thanks are in order."

"Thanks?"

"I have a feeling you were most helpful this evening. I am impressed."

Draco was caught off guard. The last person he wanted to get praise from was Dumbledore, yet he felt glad to hear it. "Thank you, sir."

"Goodnight then..." Dumbledore vanished with a poof from the green flames.

Michelle stood up slowly. Her knees were killing her.

"We don't have a lot of time left to talk." She returned to the couch, sitting closer to him this time. "I'm still not sure about what your mother did to you. It seems like she came up with some serious mojo to control you...or atleast point you in a very specific direction."

"I know my parents are capable of some really terrible things, but controlling me?..."

"Maybe it's what all the Malfoy's do. Maybe they did it as insurance...you know, to make sure the tradition would continue."

"Some tradition."

"Your not the only person who has parents that give the worst part of themselves to their kids. But, on the up side, you didn't do what they wanted. Let's hear it for teenage rebellion." Michelle tried a smile, but Draco wasn't responding.

They sat in silence for several minutes. Michelle still had questions, but Draco didn't appear to be willing to answer them. A knock at the door shook them both from their respective reveries.

Michelle opened the door to see Worth waiting. "He'll be down in a minute." She promptly shut the door in his face. Her lip curved up in a satisfied smile.

Draco rose and made for the door. Michelle stepped in front of him.

"Hold on a sec. We still have one more thing to clear up."

"What's that..." Draco asked even though he knew what she was going to talk about.

"The kiss...er, kisses actually."

"What about them? You already said you did it to get us out of trouble."

"That's true. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Plus, if I was going to die it seemed a good idea to be close to someone I liked at the moment it happened."

"Like?"

"Yes, Draco. Like. I have to be honest. I pretty much hated you all of last term. But, these last couple of days have made me rethink my position..."

"You sound like you're running for election to the Ministry."

"Okay, sorry. I changed my mind. You are not exactly the shining example of all that is good in the world, but you're not the jerk I thought you were. There is more to you than you let people see. I'm glad. I'm glad you are a real person and not just some singularly evil boy."

"But..."

"But, I love Harry. I don't see that fact changing anytime soon."

"So the kiss meant nothing..." Draco sounded hurt and angry.

"The kiss meant I know you are better than you think you are." Michelle lifted her hands to his face. She gently drew him closer and kissed him softly. Releasing him, she smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She walked him to her front steps. Worth glared at them as they spoke for a few more seconds.

"You're going to tell Potter everything aren't you?" Draco frowned.

"Everything, even the parts where you risked your life to save us both. You deserve atleast that much."

Worth opened the door to the waiting car and Draco slid in. He rolled down the window and peered out.

"Guess I'll see you later, sometime."

"I hope so. This is the Draco I'd be glad to see." Michelle gave him a quick smile as the car pulled away. She watched it till the end of her street before running back up to her apartment. Locking the door, she immediately apperated to the one place she needed to be. She startled Harry when she appeared at the side of his bed. He never got a word out beyond her name before she'd kissed him and curled up next to him crying.

Draco had watched her in the rearview mirror. As her figure got smaller, he rubbed his bandage. The cut on his hand hurt. Stupid muggle lotion. It wasn't doing a damn thing. He wasn't sure which was causing him more pain, his hand or his hurt feelings.

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A/N: Hey gang, sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I've had it written for awhile now, but I've been down with a nasty cold. Plus, my computer has taken to freezing up at random moments which makes it a challenge to stay online long enough to download this puppy. We have a new person to add to the groupTokris. Thanks for reading not only my first story, but this sequel as well. As you know by now, you were right in your last review. Did you really think she would dump Harry so quickly? I'm guessing by the way you all seem to be rooting for Draco that you are fans of his. If this is the case, let me know and I'll try and come up with a good Draco story for you all. There's a wrap up chapter yet to go so be sure and review this one and voice your opinion about another Draco tale. Thanks to everyone for hanging with mehope tests, etc. aren't beating you up too much. I appreciate the continued support and feedback.