Heaven Tastes Sweeter

Epilogue

I couldn't remember the time when I had felt any happier. Seeing those old stone walls had never impressed me much but, for the first time I was truly happy to finally see them again.

It had taken me ages to get here…and I had been rushing so much that I hadn't slept in over three days. I had stopped only for the strictly necessary breaks.

My heart rate started increasing so alarmingly fast that I had to tell myself to calm down several times.

Stepping onto the grounds I saw something that I had been quite prepared to see given the day we were in…well, if we were in that day for I had actually lost count. Not that it mattered too much…

Many students were preparing themselves for the Christmas break and at first, everyone seemed to be too busy to pay any attention to me.

Then, a girl wearing the Ravenclaw's colours bumped onto me.

"Sorry!" I said and, not really wanting to stop, I carried on walking.

The girl who I bumped onto suddenly let out a rather audible gasp and started shouting:

"NO! Is not possible!"

I choose to ignore her but the fear that I had been keeping on check started growing inside me.

If this girl had had such a violent reaction, this meant that everyone, including the person I really wanted to hurt the least, believed what I had feared the most.

This made me run even faster ignoring the various degrees of shock that my presence there, seemed to be causing.

I finally managed to get to the common room where I hoped I would be able to find her.

For once, I was lucky. She was there. Sitting on one of the two black leather couches that reigned in our common room.

At first she didn't see me but, the girl sitting next to her did.

Her reaction was a copycat of the one I had got from the Ravenclaw. Only louder.

Finally, the girl who owned my heart lifted her head and looked at me. Through her face went every single expression possible: disbelief, denial, sorrow, anger, confusion and then, happiness.

"Pansy…I…" I started saying but I stopped myself seeing that she had jumped up from the couch and had started running towards me.

Pansy didn't say a word. All she could manage to do was to cry and laugh at the same time.

I just stood there hugging her so tight that I could have broken her ribs. I didn't care and I suspected that neither did she.

I was so happy to finally see her that I almost forgot that I had an enormous amount of explaining to do.

Pansy just kept hugging me boa constrictor style.

Then all the words came up my mouth and I started pouring them as if they were part of a water flow.

"I'm sorry baby…I…I know what you must have thought…I believed it myself at first…but then I realised that I was alive…I didn't have a clue of where I was…I had to disapparate without any kind of idea of where to go…I ended up in the middle of the Saharian desert! I had to walk for ages till I found someone who could tell me exactly were we were…you see, to apparate and disapparate you need to know where you are first…otherwise you risk to just jump blindly…and that would have got me even more lost…do you understand? I also lost my wand…I couldn't use magic to get help…"

Pansy's kiss managed to stop the flow of words. I didn't complain. I decided there and then that my new favourite hobby would be to kiss her. It surely beat quidditch!

Finally, Pansy stopped the kiss and said:

"Come with me…"

I followed her without questions. I decided too that I would follow her to the end of the world if needed.

She didn't go that far. I realised she was taking me to the Astronomy Tower.

"Draco…you are alive, aren't you? You're not some sort of dream or a trick of my mind or someone has conjured some seriously sick joke…"

"No Pansy…it's me…I'm sorry…I know that you must have thought that…but I'm most certainly not…I'm very much alive…okay?" I said refusing to use the word 'death'.

"Draco…I…" Pansy started saying but she interrupted herself and diverted her eyes to look at the stony floor.

"What is it?" I asked worriedly.

"I need to tell you something…" Pansy said looking back at me. The message in her eyes contradicted any horrible ideas I might have had so, I just nodded inviting her to carry on.

"Draco…I'm so happy you're alive I fear my heart is going to explode! And I really shouldn't be feeling all this excitement…it's not good for my condition…" Pansy said getting me awfully confused.

I probably looked so, because Pansy just giggled briefly. I adored the sound of her laughter.

"Draco…do you remember what happened here about five weeks ago?" Pansy asked not helping me to get any less confused.

"Yes…" I replied and then, something clicked inside my brain and, if it had been possible, my lower jaw would have hit the ground.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying!" I asked rather stupidly.

Pansy only nodded.

My scream of joy was so loud that even the people in Hogsmeade must have heard me.

I took Pansy in my arms, this time a lot more carefully, and I spun her around me laughing. She just wound her arms around my neck to hold herself there. And she was laughing too.

Voldemort was dead and Pansy was going to make me a father. It seemed too good to be true.

Then I remembered two small flaws. We were seventeen years old and we still had to pass our NEWT's…

But by Merlin…I was too happy to let those two insignificant technicalities bother me. Something else did, however and it made me stop right were I was.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" I asked realising that she had not even mentioned any delays with her period.

"I didn't know until two days ago...I mean, I didn't even notice I hadn't had my period...with all the stress and the preparation for the battle I totally missed it..." Pansy said and I noticed that she was getting a bit annoyed.

"It's okay...don't worry, it's not that important anyway, have you told anyone?" I asked while setting Pansy back on the floor.

"Yes…I had to tell my parents and…I told your mum too…I thought that she had the right to know…and I also told Professor Dumbledore. We had decided to keep it a secret…the only ones beside those four who know are Sonia and Madame Pomfrey…" Pansy explained.

My mother knew….I really didn't want to know what she had thought and, Pansy's dad too…the minute he found out I was alive, the man would probably try to kill me himself. I definitely needed a new wand now.

"Well, this only means we have to anticipate our plans…" I said resolutely.

"What do you mean?" Pansy asked being her turn to be confused.

"Well, Christmas is the day after tomorrow…to soon and too short notice…but, how about if we get married the first of January?" I asked with my best smile. The one I knew that crushed Pansy's defences.

"What? You want to marry me before we finish school?" I heard her ask shocked but I could tell she was not too displeased with the idea.

"Why not? I don't really want to get married after the baby is born…" I said knowing I didn't have to press her too much for she had already accepted. I knew her well enough to guess that much.

Pansy seemed to think about it for a bit and then, she looked at me and said:

"Okay…we've got an enormous amount of planning to do…"

"Yes we do…but first I should really let everyone know that I'm alive…although at this rate, probably the entire school knows about it…" I said happy to see that I indeed knew her well enough.

We kissed again and then we walked straight to Professor Dumbledore's office.

The commotion caused by my 'return from the dead' was big enough to stop everyone's packing activities.

Everyone was astonished but, no one was more so than my old nemesis, Mr Harry Potter.

"Draco! I…I can't believe it…" he said stuttering when we finally met in the Great Hall.

"Well…you better…did you really think I would let you get all the praise for saving the world?" I said using my best smirk.

Everyone started laughing and, this time, Harry and I joined in the laughter.

"You will always be a Malfoy…" Harry said shaking his head messing his hair even more, if that was possible. Did he ever comb it? I doubted it.

"And you'll always be a Potter so I guess we're even…" I said this time smiling.

"Yes we are…so, what do you say…friends?" Harry said extending his hand to me.

"Hey…just because we've saved the world doesn't mean we…" I started saying and, seeing a slightly hurt look creep into those green eyes, I quickly added, "…you know Potter, I wouldn't mind having you for a friend…"

Taking his hand I shook it. The circle was closed. With Potter it all had started with a never done handshake. It was only fit that it all ended, or should I say began, with a handshake.

Next to me, Pansy stood there smiling. Granger, the mudblood I had come to respect and possibly admire, was there too with Ronald Weasley hanging from her arm. His sister Ginny stood near Potter constantly looking at him almost disbelievingly. She probably didn't fully believe how lucky she'd been to be the one picked by Harry Potter. Poor thing, she still hadn't realised the amount of trouble that Potter always managed to draw to himself.

I looked around myself and, seeing all those happy faces around me, I decided that live was definitely worth living…whether you were a pureblood or not.

That didn't stop me from being happy that the children I would have with Pansy would be worth of the Malfoy surname though.

The war had changed me quite drastically, I no longer was the spoilt little brat that had started studying at Hogwarts eleven years prior. But I was, and I would be till the day I died, a Malfoy.

Some months after, after shocking the entire school with the news of our wedding and our upcoming parenthood, we managed to pass our NEWT's with surprisingly good marks. Granger, of course, came top of the class, but I was just behind her and I had the pleasure of reminding her that I had been absent for a good part of the year anyway. Not that it mattered anymore. I had other, more important things to look forward to.

In fact, shortly after, Pansy gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. We named him after my father, hoping that this time, his life would be much easier and trouble-free than that of his granddad. I would see to that personally.

It was then, with our firstborn in her arms that Pansy told me something that to this day, I still have engraved in my heart.

"Hell can taste sweet, but heaven…tastes definitely sweeter"

THE END.

A/N: Finito! Uff…it has been one of the most difficult stories I've ever written…but from all the reviews I have got so far, I think it was well worth the effort because most of you have repeatedly assured me how much you've enjoyed this. This fact makes me immensely happy!

Regarding the epilogue:

Do you seriously believed I could have killed Draco? Come on, I wrote almost fifty chapters between the two stories…what for? Having Pansy cry over Draco for the rest of her life? No way. I love happy endings too much to allow something like that! ;-)

I still don't know what my next story will be…so, I'll say it know, thanks again for all your support and take care!

With all my love,


Sanae.