Draco felt numb. There were no pains in his side, or any throbbing in his grazed knuckles, or even any sounds drifting in and out of his ears. The only thing he did feel was an unfamiliar sting behind his eyes, and calming fingers tracing circles on his back. He wasn't aware of time, or how long he'd been slumped on the floor, propped up by Amelia as they held one another in the dimly lit tent, the golden glow from candles dancing silently and lighting the shadows.

"Come on," a voice eventually said from somewhere above him, splitting through the ringing silence in the still tent. He allowed Amelia to take his hand and gently pull him to his feet.

Through bleary, itchy eyes he saw her standing before him: her cheeks, like his, bore the dried salty remnants of tears, her chocolate-brown hair was barely being kept together by the hair tie pulling it back into a ponytail. On the contrary, half of it fell clumsily around her face and shoulders in gentle waves. The image of her as she in turn, took in his appearance with striking concern in her dark eyes and a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips soothed him greatly, and he let her pull his hand once more and begin to lead him away from where they had been collapsed on the floor in the middle of the tent. His legs moved without him thinking or knowing what she was doing or where she was going. All the energy, the adrenalin that has coursed through his veins only hours ago, had dribbled out, leaving Draco feeling like an empty vessel. As they walked from the small living area, he became vaguely aware of his heartbeat thumping in his hollow chest.

She steered him into the bathroom, gently closing the door behind her with an uncertain look in his direction. All he could do was look on with glazed eyes, detached from his body. With a small flick of her wand, the shower turned on and the sudden sound of loud water falling like heavy rain drops threatened to lift Draco out of his haze.

With a shy glance up at him, Amelia hastily discarded her jumper and shirt with a sweeping movement, letting them fall forgotten in a pile on the floor. With delicate fingers that shook ever so slightly, Amelia turned back to Draco and slowly lifted his shirt over his head. He didn't respond, but didn't protest either and she seemed to take this as permission to continue. She grazed her fingertips, soft and warm, down his stomach as she peered at the bandaged wound scarring his middle. Her light touch made the muscles in his torso tighten slightly, again allowing him to emerge ever so briefly from his stupor.

She discarded his trousers, then hers. They stood naked in front of each other. Amelia pushed some loose strands of hair behind her ear, avoiding Draco's glazed stare and subtly shifting her arms over her body in an attempt to cover herself. Something deep inside of Draco lurched affectionately at her endearing shyness and his lip twitched as he tried to muster the energy to tell her she looked beautiful, but his mouth wouldn't move. His arms and legs felt heavy and achy, his shoulders and chest stiff.

Amelia took his hand and led him to the shower. Again, he didn't resist. He allowed himself to sweep his eyes over her physique as she ducked under the running water, loosening her hair out of its ponytail and combing it off her face as she let the water trickle from her head down her body. The modest curve of her hips, the shallow dimples at the small of her back and the way that her wet hair stuck to her back like velvety, melting chocolate enticed Draco and a familiar hungry twinge behind his navel flared within him as he took a step closer to her.

Amelia turned back towards him and pulled him closer so that the water caught him. Warm lashings prickled his tired skin. He sucked in breath through his teeth as his senses woke up, and closed his eyes as he allowed the warmth to trickle down from his head to his body, feeling his muscles relax as the water enveloped him. She took his hand, still grazed and crusted with dried blood from his encounter with Dolohov earlier, and started lightly dabbing at it with a washcloth. He knew that she was probably itching to ask what had happened, and felt internally grateful that she was fighting the urge. He hadn't the energy.

Amelia looked up at him, her sodden hair sticking to her shoulders like syrupy lashings of thick caramel, and stroked his face with the back of her fingers. She was smiling sadly, her eyes brimming with worry and love and he hooked her eyes with his, finally permitting her touch and her gaze to bring him back to reality. To bring him out of the dark hole he'd plunged himself into. He leaned into her hand as it tenderly cupped his face and closed his eyes once more as the warm water threatened to lull him into either complete exhaustion or a reawakening from his daze. She thumbed away flecks of dried blood and dust from his face with small, easy circles and ran her hands through his hair as he stood there, helpless. He kept his eyes on hers though, pools of silver pouring into chocolate hazelnut, afraid that if she were to look away that he would fall back into the darkness. He hoped she somehow knew how much he adored her in that moment. She'd completely stripped everything away, not just physically, but right down to his soul. A soul he wasn't always sure he even had. But her love for him told him that he must do. She'd seen all of him tonight and she was still here. Still cared. Still loved him. They were intertwined, their souls had leaked into each other like ink into water. It was terrifying and wonderful and invigorating.

As Amelia set about gently cleaning his face, his heart surged and he swooped down to catch her lips with his. The water continued to pour down on them, steam swilling around them as if they were in the eye of a storm. The kiss was wet and their bodies made a loud smacking sound as Draco grabbed her hips and pulled her to him. This woman, who had been witness to the darkest parts of his soul and was still here; this woman who was so good and so whole that it confirmed he couldn't be all bad if he had her love. He was hungry for her, needed to show her his love. Needed to feel and explore and confirm what he already knew to be true: their souls were the same. There was no way to tell where she ended and he began – they were one.

He felt her smiling beneath the kiss as he deepened it, pressing his thumb to her chin and slowly opening her mouth to accept him. She slid her hands from where they hovered around his face to his shoulders and down onto his chest, her movements smooth and slippery from the water cascading down their bodies. That tingling and twisting behind his navel was stronger now as he ran his hands over her as if it were the first time, as if grabbing onto her silky skin could save himself from his own darkness.

"Draco…" she breathed against his neck as he spread firm kisses down her collarbone, his hand slipping between her thighs. He felt her legs tense and her back arch as he brushed his thumb against her.

He pulled his head back to look at her. Strands of hair stuck to her chin and neck, and heavy drops of water dripped from her hooded eyes. Her chest heaved with panting breaths that matched his own.

He adjusted the both of them so that she could hook her arms around his shoulders and lift her legs to wrap around his middle. He kissed her again as he pushed her body against the tiles, securing their slippery frames in place.

Draco placed his forehead against hers, desire swelling inside of him as he felt her chest push against his with heavy and lusty breaths.

"I love you, Amelia" he murmured, the vulnerability in his own voice catching him off guard. "So much…"

Her eyes filled with a fire that he knew was reserved for only him and he carefully pushed himself inside of her – desperate for her to feel his love. Desperate for her to make him feel alive again. The feeling of her taking his length, so much warmer and wetter than the feeling of their bodies gliding against each other, made his legs go weak and he mustered all his energy to keep her secured against the tiles as he kissed her hungrily. He felt her moans echo through his own mouth and it was almost too much for him.

Steam continued to swirl curling patterns around them, their hot breath mingling into the heat surrounding their rhythmic bodies. Draco felt her tighten around him, her nails digging into his shoulders with a sharp sting that pulled him right into the moment, expelling anything outside of their bodies from existence. He pushed himself further into her, using her increasingly ragged breaths against his lips as fuel to surge him onward. Her legs clenched around him and he pulled his head back slightly, in awe of her raw beauty as he witnessed her orgasm, letting it bring himself to a climax. His body felt as if it might explode, but he kept his eyes on hers. His body might melt into a puddle in the shower, but he wouldn't let their eyes break contact.

In a few breathless, moaning moments of shivering and clawing, Amelia's legs slipped back down from his hips and he rested his hand beside her head, leaning all his weight on his arm. Water dripped from his nose onto her forehead as he peered down at her, drinking in her beauty in that moment. Her cheeks flushed, her wet hair tangled, her features blotched red from his lips, teeth and hands.

She flashed a small smile – no longer sad and worried, but coy. "That wasn't how I was intending this to go…" she said in a half-joking tone.

Draco smirked and shrugged, kissing her forehead lightly as he swallowed to try and regain his breath. His body felt weak again, but warmth still tingled right through him.


Draco sat on the sofa, frowning slightly as the scene outside framed by the window revealed a sunrise. Yesterday had been a long day, but the sunrise after his emotional confessions inside this tent felt strangely cleansing. He watched as the sun slowly leak a pinky hue throughout the dark sky from beyond the mountains, like ink spilling onto clean parchment, and allowed himself to breathe.

He remembered her words from earlier: "…those demons are just your own thoughts, and that does not make them true." He wanted desperately to believe this: he repeated them to himself like a chant, willing them to imprint across the back of his eyelids.

Amelia came to sit beside him, offering him a steaming mug of tea. She wore an oversized knitted jumper, her hair still tangled and wet, her features still flushed from their shower. She crossed her legs and blew into her own mug, unaware of Draco's admiring stare from the other side of the sofa.

"Is everyone else okay?" Draco eventually asked. He noticed that his voice was husky, barely there.

Amelia peered at him from over the rim of her mug and nodded. "Everyone's fine," she confirmed. "You and Harry were the last back."

Draco breathed deeply. Thank Merlin. At least his stupid impulsive behaviour hadn't resulted in anyone being hurt.

"Draco… what happened? I saw Henry briefly but I was stationed in the hospital wing…" Amelia asked, a hesitation in her voice. He wasn't surprised, given his outburst from only hours ago.

He gulped down a swig of hot tea and placed the mug on the table, again gazing out of the small window and allowing the approaching sun to soothe the rising anger inside him as he recalled the day before.

"We found the place fairly quickly… but as soon as we got into the hospital they swarmed us. It was like they were waiting for us," Draco started. He felt Amelia tense and straighten up as he spoke, her curiosity finally being sated.

He told her about their ambush, and how he had branched off with others having been paired with Harry (Amelia raised her eyebrows at this – an odd coupling, indeed).

"We were looking for any fugitives and I saw one out of the corner of my eye – a Death Eater – and… I don't know what happened. It was like something took me over, like if I managed to take down this one Death Eater then all the resentment I felt towards all of them, towards my father… would somehow go away." There was no point in hiding anything from Amelia after the night they had shared; he knew that she wouldn't judge him.

He told her that he'd torn away from the group he was with to instead find this Death Eater – disregarding the airtight plan they had all made at the resistance.

"It was Dolohov – a close confidant of my father's," he told Amelia, who nodded with understanding. Her face was blank as he spoke, save for a twitching of her eyebrows at certain information.

"Then something possessed me," he admitted darkly. "He- he called me a coward, and was talking about my father… He mentioned you and… it was like I stopped seeing or feeling anything. All I knew was that I wanted him to feel as much pain as possible."

His voice cracked as shame washed over him. He gulped and tore his grey eyes from where he fixated on the mountains out the window and instead on to Amelia's face.

"I tortured him, Amelia. I think I might have killed him."

Amelia leaned forward and put a hand onto his knee. "Draco, we're in the middle of a war – there are going to be causalities." Her voice was gentle, tentative.

Draco shook his head and clenched his eyes shut. "It's not that. I'd kill them all if I could, I have no problem with that. No, it was this anger that came over me. I was hitting him – and I just didn't stop. He was already gone, but I couldn't stop. I don't know if I ever would have if Potter hadn't found me. I didn't want to kill him – I wanted to destroy him. Destroy everything that he stood for. These people who had ruined everything, had tortured and almost killed you more than once, had taken so many lives. I wanted to rip that all apart."

Amelia nodded slowly as she absorbed what he was saying. Finally, she sighed and said, "you can't blame yourself for feeling like that, Draco. It certainly doesn't make you a bad person."

"Doesn't torture go against some sort of Gryffindor code of honour or something?" He mumbled back, only half-joking.

Amelia gave him a lopsided smile. "I'm Ravenclaw, remember? And as an incredibly wise and intelligent Ravenclaw, I say that we're all human, just reacting to the circumstances we're dealt."

He snorted out a short laugh, but once again tried to let her words penetrate him.

"I thought that once we were together again, that all these feelings – this rage – would just go away," Draco said, again his voice sounding smaller than he realised.

"I feel it too, Draco. I do," Amelia reassured, squeezing his knee. "I think about what they did to you, for all those years, or I see the scars on your body and… I promise I understand. Maybe not completely, but I get it."

Draco looked down to his hand, at the weeping and raw grazes where he had smashed his fist into Dolohov so many times. It stung as he flexed it, making him wince at the movement.

"We should clean that up," Amelia said, nodding towards the grazing.

"It's fine."

Amelia rolled her eyes and stood up. "How did I know you'd say that? Come on – it'll take all of five seconds and it will practically disappear."

She didn't wait for a reply and instead stalked to the bedroom and pulled on a pair of trousers and boots and tossed Draco a thick scarf. "It's cold out," she said with a playful look of impatience on her features.

"Alright, alright," Draco said, getting to his feet and allowing Amelia to wrap the scarf around his neck. His legs felt heavy and his eyes still stung with previous floods of emotion and exhaustion, but he had to admit that banishing the marks made by Dolohov's face from his skin would make him feel better. So, he allowed Amelia to take his good hand and lead him out of the tent towards the medical tent.


The air outside was thin and icy, as one would expect it to be in late December. There was a tired prickling behind Amelia's eyes, and a yawn felt constantly pushing behind her lips, but her mind was loudly turning the events of the evening. It felt like a million years ago when she had glanced a reunion between the Weasleys.

She glanced up at Draco as they walked over to the medical tent in a comfortable silence; there were dark smudges under his bleary, red eyes, and his usually milky sooth complexion looked worn and troubled. His silver eyes conveyed the raging thunderstorm inside his mind.

She thought about everything he'd said earlier – all the blame he had put on himself for so many years. All for circumstances out of his control. She scolded herself for not noticing such darkness raging inside of him earlier; perhaps she could've helped avoid this whole mess. She had always known his soul was a tortured one, had been witness to the panicked mumblings in his sleep and seen the shadows of his past reflected in his eyes. She saw it all four years ago and she saw it now, since they had reunited after her rescue from Malfoy Manor. Like him though, she had naively thought that if they were reunited that the darkness would melt away. But it seemed that the only thing more terrifying than being separated from someone you love, is having them right next to you where they could be torn away at any moment.

As Amelia predicted, the medical tent was still and quiet, with the doors connecting to the small foyer all closed.

Draco jumped up onto the counter while Amelia scanned the various vials of potions next to him. She grabbed the one labelled 'essence of Dittany' and came to stand in between Draco's legs.

"Hand, please," she said, holding out her own hand for Draco to place his in. "This might sting a bit."

Draco smirked. "I think I can handle it."

Amelia raised her eyebrows and shrugged, before carefully tipping a couple of droplets onto his skin. Instantly, there was a sizzling sound and some steam rising from the wound as the Dittany reacted with it. Draco winced and growled behind his teeth, flinching his hand. "Bloody hell!"

Amelia couldn't help but laugh: "I told you it was going to hurt!"

"You said 'a bit'! Are you sure you haven't set my hand on fire?" Draco argued, glaring at the still-giggling Amelia and inspecting his hand. The wound was already reducing though.

"Well?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "Thanks, I guess."

Amelia grabbed some bandage and started to carefully wrap around Draco's knuckles. "Should be better by tomorrow," she said in a softer voice, placing a delicate kiss on top of the bandage. She glanced at the clock behind them and saw the date. "Draco!" She gasped, grabbing his legs in excitement. "It's Christmas today! Merlin, I completely forgot with everything going on…"

She was unsurprised to see that Draco did not share in her excitement, his face blank and apparently taken aback by her enthusiasm. Undeterred by his nonchalance, a wide grin spread across her face. Her heart did a small flip when he cupped the back of her head and lightly kissed her forehead, letting the darkness dissipate from his eyes for a moment and a faint shadow of a smile linger at the corners of his lips.

"Merry Christmas, Collins," he mumbled quietly, keeping his lips pressed to her head.

She looked up at him, still smiling. "Our first one together."

"First of many."

She nodded in agreement, and was about to lean up to kiss him when she glanced movement in the corner of her eye.

Standing in the doorframe to one of the private medical rooms was Andromeda. Amelia blushed – how long had she been standing there? The older witch's eyes were not on Amelia though; her curious glare was burning into Draco, who sat unaware of her presence.

Amelia took a hasty step away from Draco, straightening her jumper for good measure before walking over to Andromeda.

She cleared her throat. "Sorry – I didn't see you there – how are you feeling?" She offered, trying not to look or sound flustered and hoping that any after-effects of her shower with Draco weren't obvious in her features.

"Fine, thank you," Andromeda said in a measured voice. Just as she opened her mouth to speak again, a small figure darted under her arm.

"Teddy!" Amelia said, crouching down to the small boy's eye level. "How are you doing?"

The boy buried his head into his aunt's robes, but Andromeda said, "He's only just woken up. Poor dear must've been exhausted."

"I'll bet," Amelia said, rising back up. Andromeda was still staring at Draco, who was clearly uninterested in the conversation and was instead readjusting the bandage on his hand.

Andromeda took some curious steps towards him and Draco finally looked up. Amelia watched his face to see how he reacted to his estranged aunt, but all he did was cock an eyebrow and twist his lip slightly upwards.
"Can I help you?" He asked dryly. Amelia inwardly regretted not preparing him for this moment. She should've known that Andromeda and Teddy would still be here.

"Draco Malfoy, yes?" Andromeda asked slowly. Amelia couldn't place her tone.

Draco jumped off the counter, his feet hitting the ground with a loud thud as he stalked to the other side and leaned against it, his wary eyes scanning her.
"So what if I am?"

Amelia could hardly blame him for being cold to a stranger, with his track record of popularity around the resistance.

"You don't recognise me, then?"

"Should I?"

Something like sadness swept over Andromeda's features as she took in the man before her. "I am glad to see that you have grown up to look more like your mother, than your father. If you'll forgive my saying so."

"Wha – how do you know my –

"Your mother never told you what happened to her sister?"

Realisation flooded Draco's features as his eyes widened and his mouth was left hanging half-open.

"Andromeda Black?" He asked in a low voice, suspicion still cutting through his words.

"It's Tonks now," she corrected.

They stood and sized each other up for a moment. It was Andromeda who broke the silence though. "The last I had heard of you, you were a Death Eater." There was slight accusation in her tone and Amelia took a step towards Draco, recalling his outburst from earlier and hoping to Merlin that it didn't happen again.

"Well, a lot's changed then," he answered bitterly through gritted teeth. Amelia saw his left hand twitch, but his Dark mark was safely hidden underneath his sleeve. "I'm not about to give you my whole life story is that's what you're hoping for."

She raised her eyebrows at his brashness. "I'm glad to hear it's changed," his aunt said, her features softening slightly. "I always thought that you were walking in your father's footsteps, but perhaps you and I have more in common than I had imagined." Hurt flashed behind Draco's eyes at this and Amelia's heart quietly lurched.

"My father's dead," Draco growled in a low voice, "and I'm nothing like him."

Andromeda nodded and this seemed to satisfy Draco enough. "And your mother? What has become of her?"

Draco's eyes became slits. This was a far more complicated topic than his father. "Why do you care? You and my mother haven't spoken in years."

Andromeda smiled sadly. "She's still my sister. And all those years ago… I sensed that it was my parents and Bellatrix who had driven my banishment. Not your mother, not Cissy."

Draco released a breath he had evidently been holding in for a long while. "She's alive. As far as I know," he said in a clipped voice. Andromeda looked relieved and Amelia had to admire the older woman, still caring for the family she had been abandoned by so long ago.

"Grandma, I'm hungry," Teddy's voice pierced the tension in the room.
Andromeda dropped her gaze from her nephew down to her grandson, taking his hand in hers. "Of course darling, let's get you some breakfast." She turned back to Draco and Amelia. "If you'll excuse me," she said.

"Dining hall is down this row of tents, to the left," Amelia said.

Andromeda's gaze was on Draco again, something which obviously made him uncomfortable as he struggled to meet her eyeline without scowling.

"I admit, I had lost faith in my family, and I must say it is surprising to see you like this Draco. But I am relieved."

"You're very welcome," Draco spat sarcastically.

With Teddy, she ducked out of the tent, leaving a speechless Draco in her midst.

Amelia wheeled around to Draco, who still stood scowling at the space where Andromeda has stood.

"I don't think she means any offence, Draco," Amelia mumbled, coming closer to him.

"I'm guessing she was another one who was rescued yesterday then?" Draco asked, tearing his eyes towards Amelia and clearly keen on ignoring her comment.

Amelia nodded. "She seems nice."

"No one from my bloodline is nice," Draco said back in a low voice, glaring at the spot Andromeda had stood in moments earlier.

"But she was practically kicked out of your mother's family, right? Maybe she's finally a family member who you could get along with." It was a bold suggestion, she knew that.

Draco scoffed loudly, "I don't need any family. Done fine without them for the last five years."

Amelia gave a stiff nod, pursing her lips and deciding not to push the issue. Enough had happened in the last twelve hours.