The world span and span and span…

And then all was still.

Hermione opened her eyes against the dizziness, and found herself falling flat on to the floor. Draco's voice was the last thing she heard before she fainted. "I thought you were dead."

"I thought you were dead, Hermione."

She looked at him and saw him as if she hadn't seen so many times before. There was just so much emotion on his face. This was Draco Malfoy, a boy she hadn't even considered able to feel emotions before. But now…how much had he changed? How much had their journey changed them both?

"I thought I was dead as well," she murmured in response, wincing as she sat up.

"Where are we?" she asked again, when all he did in response was smile almost wonderingly down at her.

"Chamber of Secrets, I suppose." All that surrounded them was darkness and silence. A faint dripping could be heard in the background, but that was all. Draco's wand was lit, and it created shadows on his face. Dazedly she reached up and tried to brush them away. She didn't want him to be tainted any longer by the darkness.

He caught her hand before it touched his face and cupped it in his own. "Are you okay?"

The penny dropped, and Hermione's shock with it.

"No," she said, and her body began to shake. The next moment was a mere blur – one second they were talking, the next she was reaching for him, bawling, and he was pulling her wet face into his chest and stroking her hair. Everything that had been done – that they'd done – came back to her and, through the whirlpool of emotions, all that was left was her tears.

They remained like that for some time. Darkness and silence surrounded them, but they were encircled in the light. She remained bawling until all the tears were washed out of her, and he held her close all the while, his face quite wet as well, and his words soothing and true.

They hadn't changed anything. Voldemort was still Voldemort. Dumbledore was still dead. The war still raged on.

But everything had changed for Hermione and Draco. They, as people, were simply different. Hermione knew so much more now, and Draco had finally found his own identity, one completely different to that of his father's.

And whatever was ahead of them now, they could face it. Tom was gone now; he was dead to the world. But when she finally faced Voldemort again, she would not be afraid. She knew that he was once a human, and he'd once been in love with her. Voldemort had once been human, the exact same way Hermione and Draco were human. This suddenly seemed very important to her.

"You're not alone," Draco had told her once upon a time.

She wasn't alone. She knew that now. Draco was with her. They were finally in accord with each other – finally they were in the right time, the right place, the right people. Their worlds had finally merged, and they were together at last.

He stood up and reached out his hand – that hand – to her. She hesitated, but not because she was afraid. Then, with a small smile, she gripped on to that hand and let him pull her up.

Together, still gripping on to each other, they walked. Walked to where they knew Voldemort was waiting for them, just outside…

The End

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