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"I went to see my father yesterday."
Draco looked up, brows flying high on his forehead, and stared at Theo. He took a sip of tea, far too casual for the impact of the statement he'd just dropped. "And?" Draco asked. "How did that go?"
Theo's lips twitched. "Rather amusing, actually. You might have liked to be there aside from the whole Azkaban thing. I took Harry along―thought it was about time I introduced the two of them."
At that, a surprised laugh burst free. "You introduced your boyfriend, Auror and saviour of the wizarding world, to your Death Eater father."
"That I did." Theo gave a nod and took another sip of tea. A grin spread across his face in recollection. "Honestly, the look on his face was just―you had to be there, I suppose. Harry was great about it all, of course." Theo shot him a look. "And you act as if my dating Harry is really all that different from you and Hermione."
"It isn't," Draco allowed, "but I never paraded her around at a visitation with my father."
"At any rate." Theo shifted in his seat, drumming his fingertips on the table's surface. "I asked Harry to go with me. I didn't know that I'd have the nerve to do it on my own."
Sobering, Draco caught his mate's gaze. "And did you?"
Theo considered the question for a moment with another shaky sip of tea, then nodded. "I did. You know me―I don't have any bloody courage. Luckily Harry has enough for both of us, I suppose. I told my father I was stepping up, and afterwards, we went to the Ministry to fill out the paperwork. I'm formally taking up the house seat."
"Theo," Draco began, reading the significance in Theo's face. A slow smile quirked his lips. "That's amazing. I'm proud of you, you know. For taking your life into your own hands. I know it can't have been easy."
For as long as Draco had known Theo, Nott Senior had been a constant source of anxiety and fear in his life. To see him now, pursuing a career of his own choice and taking control of his future struck Draco deeper than he had anticipated.
"Thanks," Theo said idly, but Draco could see that it all went deeper. "I probably wouldn't have done any of this without your support and Harry's. And for what it's worth―I'm proud of you too, you prat."
Draco huffed a laugh. "If only our teenage selves could see us now. Taking up with two-thirds of the Golden Trio." Draco thought for a moment, then added, "Although we still aren't certain Hermione isn't going to drop me on my arse when she remembers everything."
As her memories began to unravel, at last, it was like someone had pulled on a loose thread. Some days, so many small bits and pieces cascaded down on Hermione she didn't know what to make of them, and he had to help her parse through them to craft a timeline of sorts. Other days, she simply preferred to process on her own.
But the fact remained that her memories were returning, and Draco couldn't have been happier for the sparkle that gleamed in her eyes. Some of the memories involved him in some capacity, but he hadn't been a large part of her life through the first nineteen years.
He was still certain he would have many things for which to atone. Though while he dreaded her reaction to the truly heinous things he had done and said to her over the years, so far, she hadn't held too much of it against him.
"Well, if she does," Theo quipped at last, "you'll still have me. And I am better than nothing."
Draco squinted at him. "Just barely."
Theo reached across the table to swat the side of his head.
Potter walked into Draco's workspace looking as though an explosion had gone off―though to be fair, it wasn't that far from the truth. "What the absolute fuck are you doing?"
"Working," Draco returned, ignoring his presence as he waved a report up onto the wall between two others that shifted to oblige. "I remember things better if I can see them."
"This isn't even..." Potter dragged a hand through his hair and propped himself on the corner of Draco's desk. "Malfoy, it looks like you're trying to solve a multiple homicide."
Draco scoffed, folding his arms as he observed the wall, covered in reports and various bits of information. "As if the principle isn't the same. And as much as I love breaking up brawls in Knockturn, it's a far cry from trapping baddies. Let me have this."
"You do realise Robards has only given us these little jobs as a part of your level three training. We aren't meant to dig this far into them."
"That may be," Draco returned, "but look." He tapped two reports connected by a magical green thread and waited while Potter stood to peer closer. "These thefts were reported two days apart because one of the shops was closed over the weekend when the theft occurred, whereas the other proprietor noticed the next morning."
Potter's gaze swivelled to him. "They occurred back to back."
"According to the surveillance," Draco said with a nod. "There are a few small connections like that, but nothing that provides definitive evidence that these are all connected."
"Some might be." Potter brandished a hand. "While others could be coincidental."
"Right." Grimacing, Draco waved a hand at the wall covered in his investigation. "Hence all of this. I'm trying to narrow it down to what is and isn't relevant."
For several minutes, Potter merely observed the reports, following the threads Draco had connected between some and not others. Finally, he stepped back, shaking his head. "Alright, so suppose you are right and there's something deeper beneath all of this. Has Robards seen any of this yet?"
"Of course not." Draco snorted. "He'd think I've gone absolutely spare."
Potter adjusted his glasses, his expression distant. "Not necessarily. He's been known to chase a wild idea now and again. It shows initiative if nothing else."
Draco shot him a look and released a long breath. "I just have a feeling. There's something here, and it's going to click."
"Alright." Potter offered a crooked grin. "Then let it be known I've had faith all along."
There was something both surprising and reassuring about the fact that Potter hadn't given him shite for spending so much time on a string of seemingly insignificant robberies. That, to a certain extent, he trusted Draco's instinct, too.
Draco turned to face him. "Theo told me you went with him to see his father. And about the paperwork for the Wizengamot. Thanks, Potter. I know how much that's meant to Theo for a long time."
Potter's expression softened and took on an almost dreamy quality―similar to the one Theo wore when he spoke of Potter. "His father's a scary fucker, isn't he?" Draco snorted. "Theo was ready to do it all on his own. I think he just needed the extra nudge. And it's for the best―I don't want to see him struggle with his father for the rest of the man's life."
"You've been good for him," Draco said, attempting to keep the words as light as he could manage. "I've known Theo through all the worst of it, and I don't think I've ever seen him so settled."
"Thanks, Malfoy." Potter jammed his hands into his pockets; spots of pink appeared on his cheekbones. "Your friendship with Theo means a lot to him, and I never wanted to cross any lines. But he's become important in my life as well. And for as much as I still want to hit you for the way you went about everything when you found Hermione, I can't deny that I'm grateful for you bringing her back into my life as well. She's still hesitant about me as her memories come back, but I know she cares deeply for you as well."
Draco snickered. "We'd best stop before we start crying over pints of ice cream. But thanks, Potter."
Potter elbowed him in the arm. "You're probably right. Now come on―we're assigned to Knockturn. I know how much you love the pub brawls."
Hermione sat at his side, legs folded beneath her on the sofa while her eyes darted across the minuscule text of a tome so large she had struggled to lift it. But she hadn't spoken a word for half an hour while Draco skimmed the notes from his research at work. The silence had shifted from companionable to drawn out when he cast her a glance.
"What are you reading?"
"Unspeakable Caldwell gave it to me," she mused, turning the page without glancing up. "It's a compendium dissecting some of the deepest mysteries in the universe." Draco snickered, but her face remained impassive, and he grimaced when he realised it was probably true.
"Tell me about one." Draco rolled his neck out and took a sip from his cup of tea on the end table; Hermione glanced at him with one brow cocked.
"I can't," she said. "I would have to kill you."
He snorted, replacing the cup on its coaster. "Spoken like an Unspeakable alright."
A hint of colour crept into her cheeks, but her lips quirked with a pleased smile. "Unspeakable Caldwell's been cautious not to dive into the magical side of my training too fast while my memories are still returning, but she's given me plenty of reading material and some spells to practice. It's all quite fascinating."
"I'm sure it is," Draco admitted. "And if anyone's going to solve the mysteries of the universe, I imagine it'll be you."
Finally, she turned towards him with a smile. "You're too kind. And I almost forgot to mention; my parents have invited me for tea tomorrow."
He scanned her body language for a moment. "Do you feel alright about that?"
"I think so." She gave a short nod. "I've had a few small recollections about them return, but nothing around the memory spell I cast or the subsequent trip to Australia after the war. I think they understand the situation well enough, and they just want to spend time with me."
Draco returned the smile. "Alright." He hadn't wanted to push on the matter of her parents when it was so fresh and sensitive in her mind. And for as much as he couldn't help a certain measure of protectiveness over her, it wasn't his place to invite himself along. "I'm sure that will be lovely."
Hermione's expression briefly faltered. "They'll want to get to know you better as well, of course, at some point."
"I can't blame them." Ruminating on the thought for a moment, he glanced away. "They don't know anything about me. If anything happens or you feel uncomfortable, just let me know, and I can come get you."
"Thank you. I appreciate that."
She still didn't feel fully comfortable Apparating significant distances, but she had been practising short distances within his flat.
Although he knew it was impractical, a small part of Draco feared the thought that if she no longer needed anything from him, she might grow to tire of him. But even so, he knew how much she had grown to mean in his life, and he could only hope the sentiment went both ways.
Witnessing the return of her life as she had once known it felt like hovering on the edge of a blade. Draco didn't know which side he would land on when everything came down at last.
But her hand grappled for his as she returned to her book, and some of the tension sank away.
Draco hadn't seen Andromeda in the weeks since his mother's funeral.
He could still scarcely wrap his head around the fact that she was gone; a sort of perpetual haze hung over everything, casting a shade of grey on the things that had once brought light.
His work with the Auror's office; his relationship with Hermione.
He knew it would pass―or rather, he hoped it would. But the look on Andromeda's face when she enfolded him into her arms on the stoop caused his heart to clench in his chest. He bundled the woman in his arms, allowing himself a long, deep breath, and swiped at his eyes when they finally drew apart.
Andromeda clasped him by the arms, her eyes so similar but so different from his mother's. He almost couldn't stand the reminder. For weeks, his final conversation with his mother had rung through the back of his mind. Almost non-stop, he'd questioned what he could have done differently, whether he could have done more in her final days.
"How are you holding up?" Andromeda asked softly.
Draco offered a nod. "Not terribly. Some days are better than others." It was the truth―or most of it, anyway. He was glad to have his work to distract, even if it meant he had been fixating on small and unimportant cases. And at least he had Hermione. "Are Theo and Potter coming for dinner?"
"They are. Should be here soon." Andromeda nodded, checking her watch. "Is Hermione joining us?"
He shook his head. "She's seeing her parents this evening, though she said she might check in later."
His aunt didn't immediately respond, sadness glistening as a sheen in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Draco. I know this can't have been easy on you―but for what it's worth, in the times that I was able to reconnect with your mother before she passed, I could see how important you were to her. Pureblood relationships are never easy to navigate, but your mother loved you very much."
To his own horror, he felt moisture well up in his eyes, and he averted his gaze to the eaves of the house. "Thanks, Andromeda. It's easy to question sometimes. To ask myself whether she knew how much she meant to me."
"She was proud of you, Draco. As I am as well."
Forcing back the tears, Draco bit down hard on his lower lip and nodded. "Thanks."
Andromeda's grey eyes shone as well when he caught her gaze, and a long moment of silence passed between them. In Andromeda, Draco had the only other person who had known Narcissa Malfoy in ways similar to him—who had understood her struggles and her nuances. Draco hadn't realised how much he needed the connection until that moment.
At last, Andromeda released a breath. "Come on, then. Teddy's been eager to see you."
Draco felt emotionally raw―more so than he expected―but maybe he had needed a night with family and friends. As a reminder of the people whose presence in his life still lifted him up. The wide grin that lit Teddy's face when Draco walked into the sitting room rejuvenated some numbed part of himself.
And when Theo and Potter arrived, the latter shoving a broom into his hand, Draco felt some of the weight he'd been carrying seep away as he kicked off from the ground. Flying, feeling the wind in his face as he pushed the broom to its limits and beyond, Draco could feel the moisture drawn to his eyes. He didn't know if it was from the wind or the burgeoning weight in his chest, but it felt like a release.
Some part of him wished Hermione was there, but she had her own life to rediscover.
Theo threw a Quaffle at him, and Draco barely managed to catch it before it hit him in the face. Cracking a grin, he fired it across the yard at Potter, and the three of them broke into a scrimmage with Teddy.
It felt strange to have a genuine laugh—to feel a lightness swell within him.
And when they landed in advance of dinner, Draco felt amusement tugging across his lips upon seeing Healer Huxley's presence at Andromeda's side. He shared a grin with Potter and settled in.
Hermione came over after she visited with her parents, long after Draco had already returned home to his flat. He couldn't miss the sparkle in her eyes, the glow on her face.
"How was your visit?" he asked, pulling her idly into his arms.
"Good." The word was muffled against his shirt, her arms winding around his back. "Very good, actually." She propped her chin on his chest, peering up at him. "How was Andromeda's?"
He was surprised at how true the words felt when he said, "Great. It was... nice to talk with her a little."
"I'm sorry I missed it."
"Not at all." Draco captured her lips in a brief kiss. "Though you wouldn't believe who was there."
Her lips curled with a smile. "I think I might. Healer Huxley mentioned something about her during our last session."
"It's good, I think." Draco shrugged, releasing her and stepping back. "Andromeda's been through a lot since the war. I'd like to see her find a little happiness of her own again."
Hermione smiled, grazing his jaw with her fingertips. "I think so, too. I had a memory of Andromeda the other day―during the war." She shook her head a little, pensive. "At her house, and there were lots of others there―and a great black-winged beast." She tittered, offering a bit of a grin. "I suppose it'll all have to piece together eventually, won't it?"
Draco noted she didn't bring up a fear that he knew she sometimes felt. That the memories wouldn't all return, and eventually, she would be left with bits and pieces, a fragmented past.
"It will," he murmured, brushing a kiss to her forehead. "I know it."
For a long moment, she only stared at him in silence. Then she folded herself into his arms, releasing a long breath. "You've been so good to me. So much more than… I didn't know what to think when I met you. You seemed on edge, and I guess I put the thought from my mind that it had any relevance to my situation because I'd long since given up on finding anyone that knew me before."
He brushed a curl back from her face. "Technically, we met when we were eleven. I was just a prat. For a long time. And circumstances just forced me to change."
Her eyes sparkled with warmth. "I remembered that the other day. Meeting you on a train―and something about a toad?"
"The toad." Draco barked a laugh, a slow grin spreading. "Longbottom's toad―I remember that. You must have come into the compartment four times looking for that blasted thing."
"I suppose I was determined, wasn't I?" Colour appeared on her cheekbones, even though she offered him a smile. "It's so strange to think, now, that we knew one another, but we never really knew one another."
"No," he breathed, the amusement dropping off. "We never did."
"And now…" She curled a hand around his hip to the small of his back, and despair shone in her eyes. "Now, I don't know how I would have made it through any of this without you. I don't know what I've done to deserve you in my life."
Draco's stomach rolled, heart tight in his chest as he stared at her, unable to piece his thoughts into words. Guilt rioted within him, even after everything, to think that she thought so highly of him when he was the one who didn't deserve it.
Drifting his fingers along her jaw, he tilted her chin, capturing her lips in a kiss. Against her mouth, he breathed, "I love you." And when he drew back, he suppressed the emotions that threatened to break free and leave him a shell, the husk of a man that he had been before she came into his life. "I promise I'm not worthy of you, but I'm going to do everything I can so that one day I might be."
Hermione shook her head. "You've done so much for me. You aren't that boy anymore. I've watched you face so much since we've met, and I'm proud of you―and I love you."
Thinning his lips, he caught her eye again as he released a breath. "Thank you."
She smiled, warmth fluttering across her face that was almost unbearable, and Draco had never realised he could care so much about another person. He wouldn't have imagined, growing up, that he could ever have a chance with someone like her.
Hell, for a long time, he didn't think he would live to see eighteen.
The trust in her gaze, the love swelling in his chest, sought to break him into incomplete shards of himself, and he knew if it happened, he wouldn't be reassembled whole.
He swiped gruffly at one eye. "You," he said at last, "need to tell me about how your evening went with your parents. I can't wait to hear about it."
She fidgeted with the buttons of his shirt, smoothing her hands along his torso and chest. "Fine. But I want to hear about dinner at Andromeda's―and a special focus on Andromeda and Huxley, please."
Draco grinned, pulling her in for another kiss, and dragged her towards the sofa. "Whatever you like."
"Maybe," she breathed, perching on his lap, "I don't want to talk about any of that just now."
Catching the mischievous glint in her eye, he rounded the curve of her arse with his hand, giving it a squeeze. "Maybe I like where you're going with this."
Taking his face in her hands, Hermione caught his mouth in a searing kiss that coiled arousal tight in the pit of his stomach. She ground against him, her breaths mingling with his own. As she played with the hair at the back of his neck, he pulled her shirt over her head, palming her breasts as he stole another kiss.
Draco swallowed her moan when he tweaked her nipple through her bra, rolling his hips against hers.
"Draco." His name whispered, rolling from her tongue like a caress, incited desire deep within him, and her glazed eyes landed on his. She leaned back on her heels, straddling his lap on the sofa, and slowly released the closure of his jeans, smoothing her hands along his erection as she tugged them from his legs. Then she removed her own jeans before climbing back onto his lap, catching his lips in another heated kiss.
He groaned against her mouth, feeling her tight heat through her knickers, and tugged them from her legs.
Hermione released a harsh breath against his skin when he palmed her core, slipping two fingers between her wet folds. She bit her lip on a cry when he grazed her clit with his thumb; a smirk tugged at his lips, heart racing in his chest when she yanked his shorts off.
Draco smoothed a hand down her back as he thrust his fingers into her, drawing delectable sounds from her lips as he slipped the clasp of her bra open.
Without any further preamble, she took hold of his cock, caught his eyes with a blistering stare, and slid down onto his length.
He groaned her name, an oath and a blessing, and buried his face in the curve of her jaw as she lifted herself up―and back down again. She ground against him, filling herself, taking her pleasure, and his heart throbbed at the feel of it.
Grasping her arse, guiding her rhythm, Draco laved kisses to her jaw and throat, basking in her breathy moans as she rode him. Adrenaline raced through him at the press of her bare skin on his, and he pulled her mouth towards his, feeling himself spiral towards his release.
The chocolate in her eyes was dark and molten when she caught his gaze, an absent smile lingering on her lips. Draco reached between her legs, pressing his thumb to her clit. Her eyes fluttered shut, a cry breaking free as her walls clenched around him.
She rode out her orgasm, and with a few more thrusts, Draco felt his own release crash down over him. With an unintelligible groan, he buried his face in her neck, feeling her breath coast along his skin as his pulse slowed.
Hermione toyed with his hair, her breathing falling steady, and her eyes shone when they met his.
Draco leaned in, nose brushing hers, and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "You mean everything to me."
Her eyes sparkled with something else, glistening with moisture, and she whispered against his skin, "I'm never letting you go."
Author's Note: A bit of a lighter chapter - I hope you liked it! Thank you for all your wonderful comments. The kind support on this story really does make my day.
Alpha and beta hugs to Kyonomiko and FaeOrabel.
