Chapter Thirty Three

A few days had passed since Hermione had last seen Draco. Every time she had tried to sneak into the Hospital Wing, she was promptly shooed back out by a stern Madam Pomfrey who insisted that Draco needed his rest. Hermione understood that, considering how much damage his father had inflicted on him…but it wasn't like she was going to keep him from resting - she just wanted to watch over him.

Now Hermione was standing outside the Hospital Wing once again, only this time, it was to meet Draco because today was the day that he was being discharged. The door opened and Hermione turned around in anticipation -

"Hey." said Draco with a wry smile.

"Hey." Hermione replied softly.

She gave him an once-over to check if he was still physically injured in any sort of way, and was pleased to find that he looked as though absolutely nothing had happened to him. He was standing as arrogantly as he had before and his slate grey eyes twinkled at her. Madam Pomfrey had done an outstanding job in healing him physically, but she would never be able to heal the emotional scars that Hermione knew that he had sustained.

"Missed me?" He asked drolly.

"What do you think?" She answered with a smile.

Draco strolled over languidly and embraced her tightly.

"Well I certainly hope you have, because I've missed you." He murmured in her ear.

Hermione smiled back at him and was about to say something when a group of fifth year Ravenclaws walked past and threw them dirty looks.

Draco sighed.

"I guess the school still hasn't come to terms with us being together." Hermione remarked.

"Well, no one ever said that it would be easy." Draco replied.

"I know, but I have some good news for you - Harry and Ron are surprisingly willing to accept us being together." she grinned.

Draco had a sceptical look on his face and he raised his eyebrows.

"Right, and what did you threaten them with?" He quipped.

"Nothing really, I just reasoned with them." Hermione replied testily, a little miffed that he would even think that she would threaten her best friends…

"Okay, okay I believe you. Stop frowning! I haven't seen you for three days and its been less than five minutes and you're already angry at me." stated Draco petulantly.

Hermione looked at him, and felt guilty immediately for making him irritated so soon after he had gotten out of the Hospital Wing, especially after what he had just been through.

"Draco, I'm not angry at you! Look, I'm sorry for being so petty." she apologised quietly.

"Hey, it's okay. I didn't mean it seriously either - I've just been pretty tense lately and…" he trailed off.

An awkward silence ensued.

"Well, I think we should probably find some place quiet to talk before another group of people come pass and glare at us again" Hermione suggested, breaking the ice.

Her words seemed to jerk Draco back out from his reverie, and it was then that she realised how right she was about his emotional scars from the attack. She knew it would be awhile before he could stop being haunted by the memories and it would be hard for him to assimilate back into normal life - now that he was with her and would be ostracised by his House.

She also knew that it would take a while for him to be back to his usual confident self, considering how much emotional and mental damage had been inflicted on him, but she was willing to persevere and help him through it.

She gave him a worried look when he didn't reply to her suggestion, which he saw and he smiled weakly back at her.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, it'll just take time for me to heal, that's all." Draco assured her.

"You know I'm here for you, if you want to talk about it." Hermione replied anxiously.

He nodded and smiled at her a bit more broadly, but she could sense that it would be awhile before he would be comfortable with discussing it with anyone else.

"Yeah, of course. Now, is your dormitory free? I think that would be the best place for us to go." he said with a small grin.

Hermione grinned back at him comfortingly, and placed her hand in his, feeling the familiar feeling of his calloused hand, roughened by Quidditch. Then they set out for the Head Common Room to make up for lost time.

---

They were lying on the sofa in the Head Common Room, and Hermione was comfortably resting her head on Draco's chest, listening to the steady beating of his heart. He hadn't made another mention about the attack all afternoon and instead he had proclaimed to her that he needed her to help him relax and er…release some of the tension that he had accumulated over his stay in the Hospital Wing.

Hermione had reluctantly obliged, thinking that he was just trying to avoid talking to her about his problems again - but she understood that he needed to take his mind off what had happened and she would try to mention it to him when he was more relaxed.

She gazed up at him, taking in his angled features, his stormy silver eyes that were currently staring out the window and decided that now was the time to broach the sensitive subject.

"Draco…" she said gently.

His eyes suddenly snapped from his fixed stare at some point out of the window and he focused his attention on her again.

"Yes?" he replied, pulling her closer to him.

Hermione was momentarily made conscious of the feeling of his lean body pressed against hers as he shifted his position and she had to take a deep, steadying breath before speaking again. She had definitely missed him over the past few days.

"What exactly happened that night?" she asked, aware of the sudden change in the beating of his heart.

"Hermione, why do you have to ruin the mood like that?" he replied with a bite in his voice.

She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together tightly. It was awhile before she spoke again.

"I want to know, so that I can help you." Hermione stated firmly.

"Look, I know that you're worried about me, and if I was in your position, I would want to know what happened too - but I don't want to burden you with this. This is my problem, and I'll deal with it in my own time." Draco responded resolutely.

"But -"

"No buts. I've made my decision and you're not going to change it. Its for the best - I promise. By the way, don't think that what happened was your fault, because it was a long time coming - there had been a very strong tension between my father and I since I had declined to join the Death Eaters last summer. If my defiance of him by dating you hadn't triggered it, something else would've - so please don't blame yourself." Draco continued on, his eyes piercing hers with their resolve.

Hermione was speechless for a moment, because it hadn't occurred to her exactly how much time Draco had had to reflect on what had happened to him. He had been kept isolated from the rest of the school for three days and Hermione knew from experience that the days dragged on forever in the Hospital Wing when you had no visitors.

"I-I understand. I won't ask about it again until you're ready to tell me then." she replied tentatively.

He smiled gratefully at her and tilted her chin to capture her lips in another one of his fervent kisses.

When they drew apart, Hermione noticed that there was still a faint marring on his throat from the attack and before she could stop herself, she had reached out to touch it gingerly.

Draco jumped at her touch, his eyes flashing at her.

"I thought we had just agreed that we're not to talk about it. What are you doing?" he asked breathlessly, his hand gripping her offending one tightly.

"I'm sorry again - I couldn't help it - I was curious…" Hermione said slightly incoherently.

Draco sighed.

"Stop apologising, Hermione. You're making me feel so guilty about not telling you about it - I know that you deserve to know what happened but I really don't want to burden you with the knowledge. Its not like I just got into a fight with my father or something - its much darker than that and I'm not sure I want you to hear about how terrible it was for me."

"Draco, don't underestimate me. I'm not a little girl anymore, I can deal with it - I've grown up listening to Harry's recounts of his confrontations with the Dark Lord." Hermione stated quietly.

He was silent for a moment, still trying to decide whether or not it was a good idea to tell her about it. In the end, his guilt won over his resolve and he recounted the attack in detail to her, though to Hermione, he seemed detached - as though he was just narrating a story about someone else.

By the end of it, both were trembling, Draco with a cold fury as he remembered vividly what his father had done to him and Hermione was clutching his hand so forcefully that Draco felt as though she was trying to cut off his circulation.

"Thank you for finally telling me." Hermione whispered.

"Do you regret asking me?" He asked wryly.

"Not at all." She answered softly.

"Good. Because it took a lot out of me to tell you." Draco stated bluntly, though his eyes showed that he wasn't trying to be mean about it.

Hermione relaxed against him, feeling content and blessed to have Draco still here with her, even though she had been so close to losing him. Suddenly, their cosy snuggle was ruined by Harry and Ron, who were back from Quidditch practice. Her two best friends had made a loud entrance, unaware of the couple lying tangled with one another on the sofa.

"Yeah did you see Ginny's face when you saved that amazing goal she shot? She looked ready to hit you with a Bat-Bogey Hex!" Harry chortled, and Ron joined in until they both realised what they had walked in on.

"Hermione! Er, and…Malfoy." Ron greeted awkwardly while Harry had stopped dead in his tracks and was having a coughing fit.

"Hey guys, you're back from Quidditch early." Hermione replied nonchalantly, extricating herself from Draco's limbs.

"Yeah, and Malfoy's back from Hospital early too." Ron countered.

"Its not funny." Hermione said in a tight voice.

Harry and Ron both wiped the smirks off their faces and even Draco sat up a bit straighter, interested in how this confrontation was going to turn out.

"He deserves much more respect than you two are giving him at the moment - the least you could do is remember your promise and act civil to him!" She continued on shrilly.

All three boys were taken aback at how adamant she was that they act civil towards one another that they were shocked into speechlessness - that is, except for Draco of course.

"Hermione's right, what happened to me was not funny at all - but then again, I'm sure that you've been through worse, Potter." Draco conceded.

Harry and Ron still had flabbergasted expressions on their faces - they were probably still reeling from the shock of seeing their best friend so intimate with their enemy and so defensive of him.

"No, Malfoy - I've heard what happened to you, and I've got to admit that what you did takes guts. I'm…glad that you're alright." Harry replied courteously when he found his voice.

"Yeah, I agree with what Harry said - even though you're still a slimy git." Ron added, earning himself a glare from Hermione.

"Ron!"

"Sorry, Mione. But I don't think I'll ever be able to stop myself from insulting him." Ron apologised with a grin.

"No worries, Weasel. I don't think I'll be able to stop myself either." Draco responded good-naturedly.

Then they all looked at Hermione expectantly, as though they were waiting for her approval on their first civil-ish exchange.

"Well, I suppose it's a start." She said at last.

All three of them grinned at her, and then Harry and Ron decided to leave, sensing that the couple wanted their privacy back.

"We'll talk to you later, Hermione…and see you around, Malfoy." Harry said.

"Yeah, later Mione. Oh yeah and Malfoy, I'm warning you now, if you ever hurt her, me and Harry wont hesitate to make you pay." said Ron pointedly.

Draco raised his eyebrows at the redhead.

"Don't worry, Weasley, I'll never give you a legitimate reason to hurt me." Draco drawled.

Harry and Ron ignored his subtle barb and instead they decided to accept his reply.

"We're holding you to that, Malfoy." Harry responded, giving him a look with his own piercing emerald green eyes. And with that, the duo disappeared into Harry's room.

When they had left, Hermione turned to Draco and said,

"Thank you for being relatively civil to my friends. I think that it's the start of something beautiful between you three." Draco snorted at her choice of words.

"Yeah, I can totally see us being all buddy-buddy all the time now."

Hermione rolled her eyes and then looked out the window - to find that it was already dark.

"So, as a reward, what do you say to spending the night here with me?" she murmured into his ear.

His eyes widened and seemed to search hers, trying to figure out if she was serious or not.

"Really?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah. You deserve to relax." Hermione replied with a coy smile, which Draco returned.

And with that, they too disappeared, into the sanctuary of Hermione's room.

---

A/N: Argh! I hate this story - it seems to manipulate me into extending it every time I write a chapter! Okay I know that I said that this was supposed to be the final chapter but it isn't! I repeat - THIS ISN'T THE FINAL CHAPTER! The final chapter is the next one which will be titled Epilogue and will bring my chapter count up to a nice round number of 35! Yay! Yeah, so basically DON'T DITCH MY STORY JUST YET AND STAY TUNED FOR THE EPILOGUE!

So yes, thank you all for reading and I'm so sorry I keep dragging this ending out! Its not my fault! Blame it on the evil story itself. Oh and just a note about the Epilogue, its not going to be anywhere near as long as the rest of the other chapters, it'll be around 1000-1500 words.

Also a big THANK YOU to all my wonderful reviewers - you guys have kept me going all throughout this year and I truly treasure every single one that I get - constructive or complimentary.

Here are some replies:

etherealfire - Thanks for referring me to that story, it was a great read! I agree that Draco's much more complicated than most fanfics make him out to be and thank you so much for complimenting me about how I portrayed Draco in this story.

genuinexchild - Lol, when I first wrote this chapter I was going to reply to your review by apologising that it wouldn't be a chapter + an epilogue before the story ends…but its funny how life turns out because that's exactly how everything panned out! So yeah, thanks for reviewing and stay tuned for the epilogue.

Chocolatlvr16 - hmmm a sequel? I don't know, it seems to me that this story has already been extended so much that its been wrung dry of ideas considering I planned for this to be a 20 chapter story, so a sequel is most likely out of the question. Thanks for your review though!

PurpleXPrincess - I hope that my reply to the review above answers your question about a sequel and of course, thank you for your review!

lovedrher - Again, refer to my reply to chocolatlvr16's review about the sequel. Also, about Harry and Ron accepting them…hmmm I tried to make it as realistic as possible but at the same time I didn't want Hermione to argue with them too much about it because I think that because Harry and Ron have been best friends with her for so long, they wouldn't throw away their friendship because she had chosen to be with Draco. Anyways, thanks for your review!

Sexiprincess1228 - Is Pansy's hair black! How come I've always thought that she was blonde! Doesn't matter, I'm allowed a bit of creative license if she does have black hair. Thanks for your review!

padfootedmoony - Hey! Thanks for your ongoing support, unfortunately, as mentioned above…there wont be a sequel! I'm so sorry…but I might have a new story up later. School's getting kind of busy though, so we'll see.

Alright, I'm dead tired now from typing all day. Hope that you all enjoyed the penultimate chapter!

psychohart