a/n: sorry this has been such a long time between updates; I just started Uni and got a job and stuff so I've been snowed under. I won't keep you any longer...read on!

Disclaimer: JK owns Harry & Co.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - It can't be done.

Harry was white in the face, looking as though he was about to pass out. Draco, for the first time in memory, had tears glistening in his eyes. They had broken through the silencing charms just in time to hear Lucius' curse, and the dull thud of a body hitting the floor. At this point in time, Draco lurched forward, his head crashing into the portrait, feeling like he couldn't breathe.

"What the fuck am I going to do without her?" Draco whispered to himself, allowing for once, tears to well up in his eyes. Harry had shouted "Hermione, NO!" and swayed on his feet as the colour drained from his face. The tense silence of the hallway was broken, when Daine spoke up,

"I can let you in now, if you have the password." Draco looked up immediately, spots of colour appearing in his cheeks.

"Pirum. I am going to kill that fucker." Harry shook his head, as though clearing it, glanced at the opening portrait hole and nodded in agreement. Both boys rushed in, their initial shock being replaced with anger. When they looked around the living room, it appeared to be completely empty, no Hermione, no Lucius. Then Draco caught sight of brown curls poking out from behind the couch. He called to Harry who was staring at something past the other end of the couch.

"She's here." Draco sank to the ground and pulled Hermione's head into his lap, and his heart leaping in his chest when he felt her heart beating, and saw her chest rising and falling with her breath.

"Oh my god. Potter, she's still alive." Draco gathered Hermione into his arms, hugging her fiercely. So fiercely that when Harry rushed over, he refused to let him hug her, or to relinquish his hold on her.

"Thank God. Oh Jesus, I don't know what I would have done without her." Harry slipped his hand into Hermione's and began to cry. This is how Ron and Tonks found them, Draco cradling an unconscious Hermione, Harry holding her hand and crying. Ron took one look at the scene and flipped out.

"Holy Fuck, what did your psychotic father do to her Malfoy? Is she d-?" Ron looked as though he wanted to simultaneously cry, explode with anger, and kill himself.

"NO!" Draco's answer came out a little more aggressively than he originally intended. He forced himself to calm down a little and reply properly.

"No. She's just unconscious."

"Thank God. Where's your father?" Tonks asked, as Ron calmed down.

"He's over there," Harry answered, with a jerk of his head. Draco jumped.

"What? Where is he?" Harry's eyed widened.

"Oh, Draco I'm so sorry. I completely forgot when you said Hermione was alive. He's, well, he's not. Alive that is."

He's dead? How did that happen? He's the one who said the killing curse. Oh, of course, it must have rebounded off Hermione because I love her. Draco's eyebrows shot up, almost meeting his hairline. I love her? He grinned. Then realised what the others must have been thinking. Harry tells him his father is dead, and he grins. Quickly, stop smiling. Good, now look appropriately sad yet relieved. Now keep on that look, don't smile, don't smile, don't smile...

Draco couldn't help it. His father was dead, which meant that a) the chances of either him or Hermione being murdered had just decreased significantly, and b) he had a whole lot of money at his disposal. AND he was in love with Hermione. Great day for all. Well, perhaps not Lucius.

"I'm sorry, I should be sad now that he's dead, and I'm an orphan and all, but he was such an evil son of a bitch who kept trying to kill us." Draco smiled again, and the other three, smiled back hesitantly.

"Then, I'm happy for you...?" Harry looked a little uncertain.

"Hate to interrupt," Tonks said, "but I think we should try to wake Hermione up." Draco picked up his wand and pointed it at Hermione.

"Renervate." Nothing happened. Draco glanced at Harry and Ron, both of whom shrugged, looking worried again.

"Should I try again?" Draco asked Tonks, but wasn't encouraged by the look on her face.

"I don't think so; we need to get Hermione to Madame Pomfrey. I don't know much healing magic, and I can't think of a time when that spell hasn't worked."

The happiness and relief that Draco had been feeling abruptly vanished, replaced with the returning anxiety.

He stood up, pulling Hermione to her feet at the same time, and resting her head on his shoulder, picked her up and began walking as fast as possible to the Hospital Wing. Harry and Ron followed closely behind, leaving Tonks to seal up that apartment and take care of Lucius' body until Dumbledore arrived. The corridors were almost empty, most of the students were already in class, but there were enough stragglers who saw a lifeless Hermione being escorted to the Hospital Wing by the three boys, all of whom had grim expressions on their faces.

None of the boys spoke until they arrived at Madame Pomfrey's office. She was sitting at her desk filling out various forms when the boys burst in.

"Goodness, what's happened to Ms Granger?"

"She was attacked," Draco was the first to speak. "Someone used at least two Cruciatus curses on her, as well as the killing curse which rebounded." Draco continued, ignoring the startled looks of Madame Pomfrey and the boys. "I tried using the reawakening spell, but nothing happened. I don't know if she fainted, or passed out or what."

He laid Hermione on one of the hospital beds and sat beside her, smoothing out the blankets, rearranging her hair on the pillow, watching as Madame Pomfrey tried to register what was happening. At first, she looked like someone had put a freezing spell on her, she was motionless for a few minutes, then sprang into action. She pointed her wand at Hermione, muttering a few spells under her breath. Hermione seemed to relax a little then, sinking further into the bed and breathing more deeply.

"We have to let her sleep. Withstanding all those spells...I won't be surprised if she doesn't wake for a few days. The Cruciatus curse is incredibly taxing on both the mind and the body, combined with her somehow repelling the killing curse...it's no wonder she collapsed. I have no idea what happened, but I'm guessing we should be extremely grateful that Hermione is still with us."

"Draco, what are you talking about, Hermione repelling the killing curse? It can't be done." Harry was looking at Draco as though he was crazy.

"Harry...you repelled the killing curse."

"Oh yeah...I mean I know that. I mean it can't be done on your own. My mother died to save me; I got the protection of her love or something like that. No-one was in there to die for Hermione." Draco sighed and looked at the three people staring at him goggle eyed.

"It's a family thing. My great grandfather made up this spell which prevents Malfoy's using the killing curse of Legilimency on each other because our family would have a row and someone invariably ended up dead. I think he threw in the Legilimency as an added extra so his wife didn't find out about his affairs. Now if we try killing each other, it rebounds. Well that's the theory. Hermione was the first person for it to actually happen with. So don't worry Harry, you're still the first person to have repelled the killing curse."

"I'm confused," Ron said. Draco had to refrain from commenting Like always, and asked him why.

"If the killing curse was going to rebound if he used it on Hermione, why did your dad try?"

"The protection only works if Hermione and I love each other, since she's not a blood relative. My father didn't think that Hermione and I loved each other and took a chance, I guess. Stupid fuck."

Madame Pomfrey tsked at Draco's language, then stood up and bustled into her office, calling out that she was going to get Dumbledore to come to the hospital wing immediately. Harry still wasn't satisfied with Draco's short explanation though.

"Seems like a pretty big gamble to make. And anyway, you said there was more to it than what we originally thought." Ron didn't say much, just nodded and stared at Draco along with Harry and Tonks.

"I think that it's safe to explain now Mr. Malfoy. With the elder Mr. Malfoy being dead, there is no need to keep anything a secret anymore. Well that and the fact that the protection actually worked." Dumbledore have come into the room without anyone noticing and was now peering down his long nose at Hermione sleeping in the hospital bed.

"You don't think that Hermione would prefer if she was awake and told them herself."

"Yes, perhaps you're right Mr Malfoy. We can check in on her tomorrow morning, and see if there are any improvements."

"I'm staying here tonight." Draco stated, a tinge of defiance in his voice.

"That's fine, but I don't expect any change in her condition at least until tomorrow morning. Now it seems you three have missed most of this afternoon's classes. You may be excused from the remaining fifteen minutes of (if my memory serves me) potions and stay here if you like. Alternatively you can return to class and explain to Professor Snape that you missed class because you were trying to save Ms Granger's life. And on that subject, I expect a full explanation of what happened when Ms Granger awakens."

"Thank you Sir," Harry spoke up, "we'll all stay with Hermione."

The three boys sat around her bed, Draco determinedly deflecting all questions about his father with "wait until Hermione wakes" until the other two boys stopped asking and they fell into silence. Draco was still sitting on the edge of Hermione's bed, holding her hand when the others left for dinner, Ron's stomach growling loudly.

"No I'm not coming, I don't want anything to eat. If you want, bring me back some bread or something, that's all." Draco smiled half-heatedly at the boys who nodded and left, leaving him alone with Hermione. He lay down in the bed beside her and wrapped his arm across her, pulling her in close. He smiled as her hair sprang into his face, tickling his nose whenever he inhaled.

"I love you Hermione," he whispered in her ear, "and when you wake up, I am going to tell you that I do everyday of your life. I'm going to tell you how happy I am that we were forced to get married, how happy I am that my father was a psychotic killer, and how lost and alone I would feel without you. And remember you have to believe me, the spell backfired so I must love you."

Draco stayed beside Hermione all night, aside from the few minutes when Madame Pomfrey shooed him out of the bed muttering about immorality, until Draco convinced her that since he and Hermione were married, they slept in the same bed every night, and this one should be no different. Surprisingly, Madame Pomfrey agreed, saying that change in the normal routine might be detrimental to Hermione's wellbeing. Since Draco was just bullshitting, he was pretty pleased that this worked. Harry and Ron had briefly dropped in after dinner, leaving him some bread and ham. They had seen Draco whispering occasionally to Hermione and decided it would be nice to give them some privacy. Draco lay awake for hours, finally dropping off at around three in the morning. He dozed on and off until morning, when Harry and Ron stumbled into the room at around six.

"Any change?" Were Ron's first words.

"Not really. She mumbled in her sleep a little, but I couldn't tell what she was going on about." Harry and Ron looked extremely worried by this, and they both had the same shadows under their eyes as Draco from lack of sleep.

By this time, the whole school had noticed the conspicuous lack of possibly the four most renowned students in the school. Their absence, combined with the stories of the students who saw Hermione being carried to the hospital wing the previous night, caused a stir among the populace. During the war, it had not been odd if any of these four had been missing from school for any period of time, however occurrences such as these had been few and far between since Voldemort was killed. Rumors began circulating the school that just like last time Voldemort 'died' he wasn't actually gone and had come back to attack Hermione Granger. The teachers, most of whom now knew the truth about the Granger Malfoy nuptials, and a general idea of what had passed in the apartment, tried their best to quash the rumors. However their attempt was futile, and by first period, half the school was convinced that not only was Voldemort back, he had returned in the form of a Venomous Tentacle which had bitten Hermione as a form of vicious revenge.

Draco, Harry and Ron, however, had no idea of the rumors circulating, and didn't notice the parade of people craning their necks to see into the hospital ward. They sat, mostly in silence, until the bell for first period rang. When Dumbledore came to see how Hermione was, Draco flatly refused to go to class, insisting that he needed to be with Hermione if something happened. Harry and Ron both asked Dumbledore (more politely than Draco) if they could also be excused from class. Dumbledore agreed, after drawing promises from all three that they would catch up on the weekend. Both Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore checked over Hermione, muttering spells as they went, encouraging Hermione's body to relax, and her mind to be calm. Dumbledore also demonstrated a handy charm which gave someone in a coma the nutrition they needed to continue functioning.

Once the four were alone again, Ron offered to go down to the kitchens and get some food. Harry and Draco looked grateful, in an exhausted kind of way, and just stared blankly after Ron's departing figure. When he came back, he was laden with rolls, ham, cold chicken; jam buns...evidently the house elves had been rather generous. Dobby had sent up a parcel for "Miss Hermione" containing knitted bed jacket, and a note "I is making this myself." Draco, a little weirded out by the thought of a house elf making clothes for Hermione, was touched all the same and tenderly slipped it over Hermione's arms and tied the ribbon.

"Dobby? The Malfoy elf Dobby? He's at Hogwarts now? Knitting no less."

"Yeah, It's sort of my fault," Harry explained. "He's become quite proficient at the knitting really, just snaps his fingers and the wool sort of folds itself together."

The boys sat in the hospital room all day, talking about quidditch, pies, getting pissed war stories...pretty inane stuff. Occasionally the stories would start with 'if Hermione was conscious, she'd kill me for telling you this but...' or even 'I don't think Hermione remembers this herself' on one occasion. Sometimes, Hermione would roll over, or mutter incoherently, but nothing really happened. Each time she moved, they boys would tense up, Draco's hold on her hand would tighten and they would watch, hoping that this time she would wake up. Dumbledore came to visit just before dinner, bringing more food for the boys, and recasting his spells on Hermione. Nothing had changed by eleven o'clock that night, and Harry and Ron headed back to the Gryffindor tower, eliciting a promise from Draco that they would find out the instant anything happened.

Once the others were gone, Draco climbed back into bed with Hermione, and slipped his hand into hers. Exhausted from his lack of sleep the night before, Draco soon dozed off, waking every half hour or so, mumbling 'I'm awake' to no-one in particular.

At around three in the morning, Draco was jolted awake when Hermione began stirring beside him. He was instantly alert, and watched as Hermione rolled towards him, stretched a little, and slowly opened her eyes. For the first time in days Draco relaxed. The tightening in his chest disappeared and he smiled at Hermione. She groggily looked around, registering where she was, and who was beside her in the bed. Her face broke into a smile when she saw Draco, who looked deliriously happy and relieved at the same time.

"Thank God. Hermione, I don't know what I'd have done with out you. Thank you so much just for waking up. I love you so much, you can't even begin to imagine." Draco showed signs of rambling on, so Hermione interrupted.

"I know. I knew as soon as I woke up. I mean unless we're dead together, I repelled the killing curse. And I KNOW it hit me...it felt like a horse kicked me in the ribs."

"I am so sorry. I'm sorry my father tried to kill you. I'm sorry I upset you all last week when I just didn't realise that I did love you. I'm sorry you had to go through everything because of me...if I hadn't been such an idiot Lucius wouldn't have been confident enough to attack you."

Hermione cut him off again, by giving him such a tight hug he forgot what he was saying and clung to Hermione like a limpet on a rock.

"Oh one second I have to owl Harry and Ron, I promised I would get them when you woke up." Draco scribbled a note on come parchment, and sent his owl off. Then he lay back down with Hermione and just held her until the hospital wing door swung open and Harry and Ron appeared from thin air, an invisibility cloak falling to the floor. Draco couldn't stop himself from exclaiming in envy 'Do you have everything Harry?', before the two boys rushed at Hermione hugging her and whispering excitedly.

"You're awake! Finally, you've been out for two days!"

"Yeah, so you've got loads of catching up to do...and I'd be surprised if Madame Pomfrey lets you out of the hospital wing before Christmas time!"

"Don't stress her out already...there is no stressing of Hermione for the next two weeks. Got that?" Draco suddenly became aggressively protective. The four whispered together until one by one they all fell asleep, and when Madame Pomfrey came in the next morning, she found Draco and Hermione curled up together at the top of the bed, while Harry was sleeping leaning against the side of the bed, and Ron draped across the foot of the bed. Not realising that Hermione had already woken up, she assumed the boys had just come in the middle of the night for no particular reason other than to visit and used her wand to shoot cold water on them.

Harry woke up with a shock, most of the water having hit him directly in the face. Draco and Hermione both were sprayed as well and they too woke, making Madame Pomfrey almost faint in shock. Ron merely grunted and went back to sleep.

"Ms Granger! You're awake! You need to drink this right away," she said, shoving a small vial into Hermione's hand, before scuttling off to get Dumbledore.

"Ron, wake up I want to stretch my legs," Hermione asked loudly, but the only reaction from Ron was to put his arm over his head. Draco kicked his legs out straight, toppling Ron from the bed in the process and smiled over at Hermione.

"There you are...stretch in peace."

"Draco..." Hermione was torn between disapproval and the desire to laugh, and when Ron's head popped up from the end of the bed, a blanket around him like a shawl, she couldn't help herself and began laughing for the first time in a week. When Madame Pomfrey returned with Professor Dumbledore, they found Harry, Draco and Hermione laughing at Ron, who still looked a little disoriented from his fall off the bed.

"Ms Granger, wonderful to see you awake again. You certainly had us worried. Shall I send down to the kitchens for some food to be brought here for you four? Then perhaps once you have your strength back fully, you could tell us what exactly happened. I know that I, myself, am eager to know, and I'm sure everyone else here would like to know the full story." Dumbledore swept out of the ward, leaving Hermione and Draco being stared at by Harry and Ron.

"So Hermione...there's apparently something you neglected to tell us, Draco let slip that there's more to your wedding than meets the eye."

"One second," Hermione looked nervous for a moment, not looking forward to the inevitable explanations which were to follow, before a thought occurred to her.

"What happened to Lucius? Is he...you know?"

"Yup." Draco didn't even bother trying to look sad this time. "Killing curse rebounded off you straight at him. Serves that bastard right." Hermione took her cue from Draco's reaction, and was relieved to show her...well...relief at this news.

"Couldn't have said it better myself Mr Malfoy." Dumbledore had reappeared in the doorway, holding what appeared to be an empty tray. "No offence intended of course. However, perhaps it's not prudent so speak ill of the dead. Breakfast will be a welcome interruption I think." Dumbledore set the tray on the bedside table, and showed the students a card with a breakfast menu on it.

"Just order what you like by saying it to the tray, the elves will do the rest of the work. Although I feel I must mention, only people who have recently had attempts made on their lives get this kind of breakfast tray...so don't expect too much next time!" Dumbledore moved into Madame Pomfrey's office where they talked while the four ate an assortment of bacon, pancakes, French toast and maple syrup (especially good with the bacon). Half an hour later, none of them (including Ron), could eat another bite, and all that remained form their order was a quarter of a pancake sitting dejectedly in a puddle of syrup. Dumbledore came back in, vanished the tray, and pulled an armchair to beside Hermione's bed.

"Now Ms Granger, perhaps it would be best if you and Mr Malfoy began at the very beginning, so that Harry and Mr Weasley know the full story."

a/n: Ok, second last chapter...hope you all liked it. In reply to all the reviews that worried about Hermione being dead...did you really think I would kill her? I'm a happy ending kind of girl! A couple of parts of this chapter were a little weird, such as the breakfast tray part...not sure where it came from but bear with me, I got about 3 hours sleep last night, it's not about eleven thirty the next night, and I had to sleep with my sister (the most active sleeper I can imagine). Also question: Dumbledore always calls Harry Harry, but calls Ron and Hermione Ms Granger and Mr Weasley. Would he say Harry and Mr Weasley OR Mr Potter and Mr Weasley? Anyway, review!