Disclaimer: Other than working at a fabulous gas station, my job seems to be driving my little sisters everywhere they need to go (school, birthday parties, to and from my 2 parents' houses, etc.) JK Rowling does not drive my little sisters around. Nor does she work at the BP in "Corntopia, Indiana." I do, unfortunately, so I can't possibly be her.
AN: Spring Break is over... Sorry, but you likely won't be getting 5 chapters in one week anymore. I'll get it over and done with soon tho.
Molly Weasley was counting heads, constantly needing to restart because of the movement and commotion.
Harry and Sirius were joking loudly, Ron had gone into the forest to locate his and Harry's brooms, and Draco and Hermione were apart from the others, whispering quietly to each other.
Dumbledore also studied the others. Something was nagging at his mind, but he couldn't think of what. He saw Molly worriedly recounting, as if she'd come up one short. Turning, he also noticed a lone shaking figure staring at the remains of the ruint building.
'Severus,' he realized. He immediately started walking to the pile of brick and cement.
"All who are able, follow me!" he yelled as he walked. "Severus is still inside."
Sirius looked up, his mouth gaping open. He hesitated as he seriously considered faking an injury, but the sight of Shaylee's stoic position prompted him to follow Dumbledore.
Dumbledore stopped as he reached Professor Weasley. "Shaylee, I'll have Molly take you back to Hogwarts to get your arm mended."
Shaylee shook her head. "I can't leave yet, Albus. I have to wait." Her eyes pleaded and after a few moments, Dumbledore relented.
"Molly, stay here with Shaylee and make sure she doesn't strain her arm."
Molly nodded, pulling Shaylee into a soft and comforting embrace. "Oh, dear... It'll all be fine, just you wait and see."
Dumbledore led the way as every person in the yard other than Shaylee and Molly joined him to help.
The adults began byvanishing the largest pieces of stone. Hermione followed their lead, but Draco, Ron and Harry, who hadn't mastered vanishing yet, helped by levitating the bricks and cement to another section of the lawn.
The task was time-consuming; every stone had to be vanished individually.
Two hours had passed before a shout echoed through the silent yard. "Found him!" Sirius called. Shaylee, who had been steadily losing all hope, perked up and started towards him, but was stopped by her Aunt Molly. "No, dear. Let's just wait a few more moments."
The workers cleared the rest of the remaining rubble off of Severus. Dumbledore knelt down very briefly, then said, "We need to get him to St. Mungo's. Now." His eyes met Shaylee's for a split second, then he disappeared with Severus.
'St. Mungo's,' Shaylee thought. 'St. Mungo's means he's still alive…' She almost collapsed from relief and exhaustion, but was steadied by her aunt.
"Yes, yes… Let's get you back to school now and see if we can't fix that arm."
It was one in the morning by the time Harry, Ron, Arthur and Molly returned to the Burrow. Walking in, the first thing they spotted was Ginny sitting on her mother's dinner chair, her eyes still glued to the clock.
Mrs. Weasley sighed as she followed her gaze. "Do try to get some sleep, everyone. We'll talk more about it in the morning." She patted Ginny's back sympathetically as she passed.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley left the room and Ron looked at Harry quizzically, but Harry shook his head. Ron quickly turned and went up the stairs, leaving the two alone.
"Ginny?" Harry turned a chair around and straddled it, pulling Ginny close to him.
She was silent, so Harry continued. "Ginny, I am so sorry. I should have told you."
Ginny's head snapped back and she looked at him. She had dark circles under her bloodshot eyes.
"Yes, you should have told me. But it wouldn't have helped." She rose from the table angrily.
"Ginny, I had to go. Hermione needed--"
"Yes, I know. You had to go fight the big bad You-Know-Who," she interrupted sarcastically, pulling away as he tried touching her arm.
"Voldemort barely even showed up, and when he did, Dumbledore scared him off!" Harry defended.
"It doesn't even matter, OK, Harry? I can't stand this! There's too much worrying; it's going to drive me crazy!"
"I can't change who I am, Ginny."
Ginny breathed in slowly, hesitated, and said, "I know you're always going to be the Boy Who Lived, and you'll have to deal with this until you defeat You-Know-Who. And there's nothing I want more than to be your girlfriend… Your's. Harry's."
She paused. "But I don't think I can handle being the Boy Who Lived's girlfriend."
The two were silent, then Harry said, comprehending, "You're breaking up with me."
Ginny nodded and turned to the stairs. "Good night, Harry."
"Wait, Ginny, I–"
"Good night, Harry."
Everyone had left. Draco and Hermione were the only ones outside Malfoy Manor.
"So what do we do now?" Hermione asked.
Draco sighed and pulled her close. He smelled her hair, kissed her neck and ran a finger lovingly up and down her spine.
"Um… Draco? Did you hear my question?"
"Hmm?"
"I asked what we're going to do now."
"Oh, um… Be happy that you're alive?"
Hermione giggled as his kisses started tickling her neck. "As much as I'd love to be happy with you in your back yard, I think we should probably go inside."
"Oh, really?" Draco looked intrigued by this idea.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Not like that, you pervert. We need to find your mother. I don't think she's at home, otherwise she would have noticed part of her house falling down."
Draco sighed, relinquishing his hold on her. "OK, I suppose we should find mother." He took her hand and they walked around the house to the front door.
As they walked, Draco asked, "Did you want to stay here for the rest of vacation?"
Hermione shrugged, then answered, "I really don't want to go back to school yet."
"Yes, but there are other places we could go."
"Like?"
"Well, if the Weasleys don't mind, we could go there." He paused, then added, "I need to apologize to them."
Hermione secretly smiled and squeezed her boyfriend's hand.
"Or... we could go to your place..." Draco added nonchalantly.
The pair halted in front of the door and Hermione gave him a huge hug. "Oh, Draco!" She pulled away and looked at him with a grin. "So you aren't scared?"
Draco scoffed. "Me? Draco Malfoy? Afraid of meeting his girlfriend's parents? I should think not!"
She kissed him lightly. "I think we should contact Mrs. Weasley in the morning and ask. We can go to my house over Easter. That would give me enough time to explain everything to them."
"I thought you were making me explain," Draco said as he opened the door.
"I decided I didn't want to give my brother a chance to kill you before you could explain anything," Hermione chided as the two entered the house.
"How thoughtful of you!" Draco said sarcastically, kissing her neck again.
Hermione gently elbowed his gut, hearing something. Draco also paused and listened.
They could hear faint footsteps upstairs. "Maybe sheis here..."
The two looked up at the staircase and spotted Narcissa Malfoy hurrying down the hallway. She halted as she saw Draco and Hermione.
"Oh, Draco!" She rushed down the stairs, her arms outstretched. "I was so worried about you!"
She pulled her son into a hug. Draco hugged her back awkwardly.
"Have you been here the whole time?" he asked, pulling away.
"Of course! I couldn't leave after I learned about the meeting tonight. I was waiting for so long, and then I got the letter from the Ministry about Lucius..."
Narcissa sighed, then softly patted Hermione's cheek. "I'm so relieved nothing happened to you, dear."
"Why didn't you come outside after father's wing collapsed?" Draco interrupted. "Professor Snape was hurt. We could have used your help."
Narcissa looked slightly troubled that Severus had been injured, but defended herself, saying, "I couldn't go out there! Those people hate me! They think I'm just like…" She trailed off.
Draco shook his head. "No, mother. They don't think you're just like father. They pity the fact that you've lived with him for the past eighteen years, but they don't think you're just like him."
Narcissa blinked to hide her emerging tears. "You two had best be getting to sleep. I'll see you in the morning." She smiled blearily. "Maybe we can make breakfast together tomorrow."
Draco grinned at the thought of his mother cooking. "We may need Hermione's help."
Narcissa agreed with a smile.
"Good night, mother." Draco kissed Narcissa on the cheek and led Hermione up the stairs.
"Good night, Narcissa," Hermione echoed with a smile.
"Yes, good night dears. I'll see you in the morning."
Shaylee was lying in bed in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, staring at the ceiling. She felt her arm tingling, still mending itself.
'How can a man be trapped under Lord knows how many pounds of rubble for two hours and then come out alive? Sevvy is one lucky bastard. You'd think he's Irish or something,' she mused.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Dumbledore walked into the Hospital Wing.
She looked up at him and noticed he was carrying a teddy bear. Her teddy bear, as a matter of fact.
"I've informed Cecilia and her children," Dumbledore began, handing her Mr. Teddy. "Ms. Snape wants me to let you know they don't blame you for this in any way."
Shaylee nodded, noticing that he started with the reassuring news. "What about Severus?" she prodded.
Dumbledore sighed. "Severus is an extremely lucky man, Shaylee." Shaylee nodded with relief, but waited for him to continue.
"There was an extremely large desk in the same room as Severus. It was enchanted so that it would not break, even under tremendous amounts of pressure, and it would not open unless Lucius himself opened it. The desk stopped the largest piece of the building from reaching Severus, though he was still bombarded with other bricks and rocks. If it weren't for this desk, however, Severus would surely not be alive."
Shaylee nodded and said with an ironic smile, "So the thing that broke my arm saved his life..."
Dumbledore nodded. "I must warn you, though, Shaylee. He is not in great condition. Many bones in his body were broken in multiple places. His bones are being fixed as we speak, but he is in a coma."
Shaylee's eyes widened. "Do they know when he'll wake up?"
Dumbledore sadly shook his head. "There is no way to tell. It could be hours. It could be years. It could be never."
Shaylee bit her bottom lip as she nodded. "Thank you for telling me, Professor. I think I'll go to sleep now."
Dumbledore nodded and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Sleep well, Shaylee."
Shaylee curled up in bed with Mr. Teddy. As soon as Dumbledore was out of the room, she again started crying.
Draco awoke the next morning with a smile on his face. He stretched, swinging his legs out of bed.
He walked to his dresser, then decided he would go down to breakfast in his pajamas. His father wasn't here anymore; it wasn't going to hurt anyone.
He went out to the hallway and knocked on Hermione's door. When she didn't answer, he assumed she was still asleep and needed to recuperate from last night. He continued on toward the kitchen to find his mom.
He stopped mid-step when he entered the kitchen. His mother was already in there, wearing a long nightgown with a robe over it. Hermione was with her in casual Muggle clothing. They were studying an unused cookbook and looked up as he entered.
Noticing his sleepy attire, the two smiled secretly at each other and Hermione giggled softly.
"What?" Draco asked, coming over to kiss both of the women in his life good morning.
"Oh, nothing," Hermione replied innocently.
Narcissa smiled at her son as he kissed her cheek. "We were just talking and Hermione said that you would likely be in your pajamas this morning as well."
Draco grinned at this. "Well, she does know everything, after all."
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and swatted his arm playfully.
"We're trying to make omelettes."
Draco nodded. "You need eggs."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "We know that, genius."
"Well, then, you're on your own; that's all I know about omelettes."
Narcissa laughed at their bickering and began to gather items from the refrigerator. Hermione talked as she sorted out the proper amounts. "I've told your mother about our plan to visit the Weasleys until school starts next week."
Narcissa nodded. "It's a wonderful idea, Draco. I'll miss you, of course, but I do understand."
"I've already written Mrs. Weasley. I should be getting a response soon."
Draco grinned and listened to their talking. He was relieved that he was one of the few men alive who could say his girlfriend got along with his mother.
Yes, yes... I know I'm pointlessly rambling about stuff... I could end the fic now if that's what y'all would prefer. But I wouldn't be able to rest until I fix everything I broke.(hmmm... I wonder who-- I mean what that could be...)R/R please!
