Friday
After breakfast, Arthur and the rest of the men went outside to finish putting together a sled that they had bought a few days before Jade and Draco arrived.
"Draco, let's go." Harry said as they started to wear their gear for the cold weather outside.
"Will this take long?" Draco asked getting up with them.
"Depends how long it takes us to figure it out. Why?" Harry asked.
"I was planning to take Jade somewhere." Draco said.
"Where?" everyone asked in unison.
Draco furrowed his eyebrows at everyone who laughed and he turned to Jade. "It's a surprise." He said.
"You're no fun." Fred said going to leave.
"On the contrary, you're no fun. I actually want a little spice in my life." Draco said.
"Where are we going?" Jade asked him.
Draco sighed, touching her cheek. "I believe I said it was a surprise. Come on, get ready." Draco said getting up. Jade got up from her seat and went upstairs, asking questions to squelch her curiosity.
"Will I be blindfolded again?" Jade asked as she wrapped her cloak around herself.
"Would you like to be blindfolded?" Draco asked.
Jade grinned and took her hat getting another round of protests from Draco. "One more word from you about my hat and I'll be making love to you while wearing it." Jade threatened. Draco's smile fell and he stared at Jade who laughed and left the room.
Jade and Draco apparated to Hogsmeade and Draco pulled her towards a horseless carriage. This could only mean one thing.
"Hogwarts!" Jade exclaimed looking at Draco who nodded and held her tightly when the carriage rode over a bump.
"Merlin I always hated these things." Draco said. Jade smiled and placed her head on his shoulder.
"I remember. You used to complain whenever we would board this carriage. If you had the chance to, you'd cry." Jade joked.
"Did not. You're exaggerating." Draco said crossly.
"I'm sorry." Jade said smiling. The carriage stopped and Draco waited until it was safe to step out. He opened the carriage door and stepped out and turned around to help Jade out.
"Are you all right?" Draco asked seeing Jade nod and fix her hat. He gave her one of those looks again about her hat and Jade only took his hat and ignored him wholeheartedly.
"Wow." Jade said looking at the enormous castle. So many memories of this place flooded her, she could almost envision them happening in front of her very eyes. She looked around her and noted that nothing at all had changed.
"Wow would you look at that? Not even a wrinkle on that Peeves." Draco said sarcastically looking up to see Peeves squint at them.
"Bouncing little Ferret and his Weasel Queen!" Peeves sang.
"I missed you too?" Jade said seeing Peeves hold out a snowball.
"Look at what I have…catch!" he sang. He dropped the snowball and Draco lazily pointed to the snowball and made it fly back up and chase Peeves away.
"Nearly Headless Nick was right; subtlety really was never Peeve's strong points." Jade said as they walked into the castle. They stopped at the Great Hall and looked to see that there were a couple of students sitting at their tables, some of them writing, playing Wizarding chess or simply talking to each other.
"Winter break." Draco explained seeing Jade nod. "I informed Dumbledore that we'd be coming today and he couldn't be happier. We should meet him before we look around." Draco said going to leave.
Jade stood in front of the Great Hall, her eyes brimming with tears to see a place where she spent 7 years of her life. So many good memories and so many bad ones. She walked into the Great Hall and saw the Great Hall fill with students in her year. She looked at Draco's table and saw a younger Draco talking to a younger Blaise and Pansy. The young Draco looked over across the Hall and Jade followed his gaze to see all of her friends at the Gryffindor table all talking to each other and her smiling and joining them. Jade walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat exactly where she always sat every day for 7 years with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny.
The time when Draco had sent her that stack of books with his eagle owl that rudely dropped it on the porridge spoon that flew right at Ron's head caused her to giggle, remembering Ron's reaction. The time when Harry had gotten his broom from Sirius from the Howler that Ron had gotten in their second year for flying the Ford Anglia to Hogwarts. Honestly what were they thinking? To this day Jade never made any sense of it and had a flare of resentment for both Harry and Ron for crashing that beloved car. Her thoughts were interrupted by Draco who stood in front of her with his hands in his pockets, looking at her strangely.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked seeing her look up.
"This old place brings me back to all the years that I spent here. So many moments that I'd give my arm and leg for to live in those memories again." Jade said sighing and cupping her face with her hand. Draco smiled and placed his hand out in front of her.
"I'd be devastated if you ever lost a leg or an arm…but come to think of it, I think I'll still find you attractive and much more attainable without having you run away from me or trying to make a swipe at me whenever I tried to ask you out for Hogsmeade." Draco said. Jade took his hand and sprang to her feet. She leaned over and kissed him fully.
"And I thank you for pestering me; otherwise I would have been a very unhappy old grump." Jade said as they walked out of the Great Hall.
'If I never have gotten my second chance, you would regret me like you said.' Draco thought. "You know I love you." he said as they walked down the hall.
"Without a doubt." Jade answered.
They walked up the stairs and had to be careful of it changing. "Jump!" Jade screamed.
Draco nearly lost his footing while he made the jump as the staircase suddenly shifted. Jade pulled him up and he was surprised at how strong she was.
"God you're heavy. What do I feed you?" Jade asked smoothing out his robes.
"What do you feed me? What do you feed yourself? Bloody pulled me up like Hagrid did when I was attacked by that Hippogriff." Draco said seeing her grin.
"I used to live in the Burrow. Each and every single one of us were built for hard labor. I'm surprised you didn't notice. I do a lot of hands on jobs back home." Jade said as they walked up the stairs. Draco shrugged never really noticing. How could he have let her do difficult jobs by herself like that?
"You did? Like what?" Draco asked.
She told him about the renovations she did herself at home without the help of a professional that made Draco angry and tell her that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard her do. She told him that she just wanted to save money and thought it was unnecessary to do a job that she knew she could do herself.
"You could have hurt yourself! If I come home from work and see that you're crushed under the bloody house, how would that make me feel?" Draco asked seeing her narrow her eyes at him.
"Well it never happened and I'm quite skilled in construction work thank you. And if you were so concerned, how come I never saw you this passionate about it when I told you myself that I patched up the roof and broke down the wall?" Jade asked seeing him grit his teeth at her.
"You did what?" he asked angrily.
"You heard me." Jade snapped.
He remembered that he never cared about what she did. Whatever she told him, he would simply nod, never really listening to her. She could have told him that she was sleeping with Voldemort and he wouldn't even hear that. They walked together in silence too angry to talk to each other. Draco thought it was a bad idea to bring her to Hogwarts. She was angry at him and now she wasn't going to enjoy looking around than he had hoped.
"Fuck." Jade swore. Draco looked up to see Jade's leg sunk deeply into the trick step.
"Oh no…not again." Draco said. He wrapped an arm around her waist and was paranoid about applying pressure to her stomach. Instead, he lowered his hands down her thigh and around her knee.
"Be careful not to fall backwards." Jade told him.
"I won't." Draco told her. He slowly pulled her knee out with the help of her pulling as well.
"You never cared before." Jade said suddenly.
Draco stopped pulling and glanced at her. He focused back on getting her leg out. He had enough problems in the world now and the last thing he needed was the woman he loved and wanted to keep happy to voice her observations about his apathy in their marriage a few days before she was going to die.
"But you do now." Jade continued.
"Jade let's not talk about this now." Draco said pulling her leg free from the step. He let out a sigh of relief and ran a hand through his hair. "Does your foot hurt at all?" Draco asked inspecting her leg and foot.
"It's fine." Jade said meeting his eyes. He saw that she wanted to continue the topic that they were treading on that Draco wanted to run away from at all costs. He kept walking on ahead and Jade followed behind him. He felt her fingers weave through his and she stepped in front of him, stopping him from walking any further.
"I know you don't want to talk about it and I'm sorry." Jade said softly. She looked guilty for hurting him but he could see her determination.
"Then drop the subject love." Draco said. She placed a hand on his chest and traveled up to touch his face.
"Whatever it is that's bringing you back to me…I love it. I've never seen you this…alive before and so much like you when we started dating and first got married. I feel like I have the Draco that I married, back. I won't bring the matter up again but I just wanted to let you that I'm so happy to have you back and I feel so appreciated…more than I ever have in my life." Jade said. She hugged him tightly, feeling him slowly hug her back.
"I love you Draco…and I don't want you to change from the man that you are now." Jade said.
He smoothed her hair, knocking off the hat from her head. They both shared a laugh and dug ever deeper into each other as they hugged.
"How about making up in one of the abandoned rooms like old times?" Draco suggested. She gently pushed herself off of him and shook her head.
"How about no? Has anyone ever told you you're insane?" Jade asked as they walked towards Dumbledore's office.
"Yes I think I've heard that phrase before…I think you mentioned it once…or twice…" Draco said. They stopped before the gargoyle and Draco uttered the password.
"This is amazing!" Jade said ascending up the moving stairs. They stopped in front of the door and Jade knocked on it with Draco right behind her. The door opened and Jade saw Dumbledore standing there, welcoming her with open arms.
"Mrs. Malfoy! Mr. Malfoy! I've been waiting eagerly for you arrival." Dumbledore said as Jade and Draco shook his hands.
"We apologize for the delay; my wife seemed to get her leg caught on that trick step downstairs." Draco said seeing Dumbledore smile at Jade who blushed in embarrassment.
"Oh but it is a rite of passage to everyone who forgets to jump that particular step. Though I have had that rite of passage one too many times." Dumbledore said thoughtfully. He showed them to their chairs and they all sat down chatting with each other. Jade told Dumbledore that she was a Healer for children for another Wizarding Hospital in Manchester.
"Ah, Kingsbridge Hospital?" Dumbledore asked and Jade nodded.
"I've made frequent visits there but it's not as familiar to the rest of the Wizarding world as St. Mungo's has been." Dumbledore said.
"Our hospital is very small and not as funded as St. Mungo's has been throughout all these years but we do the best we can." Jade said.
"And I suspect that your husband had been one of the primary contributors to Kingsbridge hospital?" Dumbledore asked Jade looking at Draco who seemed a bit embarrassed by the sudden spotlight.
"Draco?" Jade asked shaking his hand slightly.
"Yes…for quite a while I have." Draco answered.
"We're a bit behind on updating. Some of the Healers there prefer that they do things the old fashioned way but sometimes there are some things that even magic can't help. My father and I have always been big fans of muggle technology." Jade said seeing Dumbledore's eyes brighten up.
"Muggle technology indeed. Imagine handing a wand to muggles, the wonder or terror they could come up with never ceases to amaze me. St. Mungo's hasn't even brought in muggle technology. I suppose you could benefit greatly and save many lives with that. Excellent work the two of you." Dumbledore said proudly seeing Jade grin and Draco smile.
They spoke to each other for a while until Dumbledore had let them go to explore around the castle. Jade and Draco said their goodbyes to Dumbledore and Draco wondered if Dumbledore knew this was the last time he was going to see Jade again. While he was listening, to Jade speak to Dumbledore about the new muggle technology that was going to be shipped to her hospital next week, he felt as if he were stabbed in the heart. Kingsbridge hospital was going to lose a very special and passionate Healer that cared about her patients more than anything else in the world. She was never going to see the new muggle technology; she was never going to save another life again. He felt too choked up to speak and nearly nodded at Dumbledore who solemnly watched him fight the inferno in his soul.
"Draco. It is always best to fight until the very end of it all and never let our grief drown us. Remember no one else will be fighting this battle for you…if you stab yourself during the battle; it is no one else's loss but yours." He said seeing the young man tremble, trying to suppress himself from a complete breakdown.
"It doesn't make any difference anymore. I'm going to lose this no matter how much I fight for it. The future tells me it's a lost war." Draco said balling up his fists tightly. Dumbledore placed a gentle hand on Draco's shoulder.
"Draco, I've told Harry in his third year before and I will tell you the same exact thing this very moment. The consequences of our actions are so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business. I'll leave you with that thought. You should spend every living moment, any living chance you have with each other. That's all." Dumbledore said.
"But that doesn't explain anything at all. I don't understand-"
"I do believe in fate, but a person writes their own fate intentionally or not. We all can't sit around and expect our fate to happen; it's up to our power to make them happen." Dumbledore said. Draco shook his head. He still was distraught and as confused as he was when he walked in.
"Sometimes things are just out of our control. Sometimes other things decide our own fate. It all depends on our own luck." Draco said seeing Dumbledore shake his head.
"I never believed in luck. What I did believe was that a person could do what they could to the best of their abilities. Of course if you're talking about chance…well Draco, sometimes we ought to lend a hand to chance. We can never let it do anything by itself." Dumbledore told him. Draco looked at the old man's sparkling blue eyes.
There was something that he was hiding for Draco or something he was trying to tell him that Draco wasn't being able to understand. How had Harry gone through this man's vagueness? Didn't it drive him completely insane? Draco was either intellectually challenged or Dumbledore was always this vague with everyone he knew.
"I think your wife is waiting for you downstairs. Patience is something you haven't learned from Miss Weasley have you?" Dumbledore asked.
"Obviously not." Draco said. Dumbledore merely chuckled and patted Draco's shoulder.
