Chapter 22 - Aftermath

When Neville opened his eyes he was greeted by the sight of Seamus Finnegan's smiling face hovering over him.

"Good morning, sunshine!" said Seamus. "Decided to join us, have ya?"

Neville glanced around the courtyard as he struggled to stand. "Hermione? Where's Hermione? Is she okay?"

"She's fine," assured Seamus, helping his friend to his feet. "Getting ready to tear the arms of the healers making her go through an assessment before checking on ya, but other than that she's right as rain."

"And Lyssa?"

"In custody. Kingsley's personal protective detail is currently escorting her direct to Azkaban. You'll not be worrying about her anymore."

Neville cracked his back and rubbed his sore neck. "What the hell happened?"

"We were able to track ya down but we were having trouble apparating through the wards the girl'd erected so Harry gave me permission to do a hard entry." Seamus grinned as he used the technical term for 'blowing a big hole in the wall.' "I used some of me best stuff. May have overdone it a bit, though."

Neville looked at the gaping, ten meter opening in the stone wall and the piles of rubble strewn around them then raised an eyebrow to the Irishman.

"Overdone it? Really? You think?"

"Hey! How was I to know ya were standing so close? Would ya rather we waited politely outside?"

"Sorry. Point taken," said Nev. "How'd you know where to find us? She found the tracker on me almost immediately."

"We knew she'd most likely disable the one on you so we placed one in Hermione's boot while she was in King's office. In case both of those failed us we had some additional assistance."

"What kind of assistance?"

Seamus was about to explain but then smiled and tipped in the direction behind Neville. "I'll just let yer girl tell ya. I'll not get a word in once she gets hold of ya anyways."

He turned but all he saw was a blur of dark hair before Hermione pushed Seamus aside and launched herself into Neville's arms.

"Nev! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine thanks to you," said Neville, gripping her fiercely. "You were magnificent."

She sniffed and tightened her hold on him. "Why'd you change the plan like that? This was incredibly risky."

"Anything we were going to do was risky, love. I just tried to come up with something that put you in the least amount of danger. If we'd let you go to the shop like you wanted, then even with an Auror team on standby Lyssa could have utilized polyjuice, cloaking spells, imperius...any number of ways to sneak past us and kill you before we had the chance to act. I hoped by going this route that Lyssa would feel safe enough to go on a bit of a rant before trying to kill us, instead of shooting first like she did at the gala."

"Still, there were better ways to achieve that goal," chided Hermione.

"I'm sure there are at least a dozen and I look forward to having you explain all of them to me one day. As it was, I felt making myself the primary target was the best way of protecting you. Besides, the odds were good if we tried it this way then she'd chose a remote spot like this to meet and that would minimize the chance for any more collateral damage. I knew you'd be worried about that."

He sighed and took her hand in his. "I'm sorry I went behind your back but I knew you'd never okay to this beforehand. I hope you'll be able to forgive me but I certainly understand if you..."

Hermione didn't let him finish that thought. "Of course I forgive you, Neville. But once my heart rate returns to normal I do reserve the right to be very cross with you."

"Love, as long as you are alive and safe then I'll happily accept any consequences that come my way."

Before he could continue, Hermione threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with an intensity that bordered on desperation.

When she finally pulled away Neville whispered, "Wow. Okay. If that's what happens in the meantime, you can be as cross as you like."

He ran his hands along her face and arms, checking for injuries. "What about you? Are you okay? Did Cormac hurt you?"

"Cormac wasn't anywhere near me."

"But I saw…"

"You saw someone that looked like Cormac."

"Well if it wasn't McLaggen then who was it?"

Hermione grinned. "I'll give you a hint. Cormac has said a lot of things to me over the years but he's never once ordered me - and I quote - to 'take cover, you stupid, bloody Gryffindor.' "

Neville's eyes almost popped out of his head. "Malfoy?!"

Hermione nodded. "When he saw the article in the paper he realized you must have changed the plan so he convinced Harry to quietly take Cormac into custody for some minor infraction. They got some of his hair and clothes then Draco used one of the batches of polyjuice he had on hand for Astoria to transfigure himself just before you were taken."

"I thought Cormac was acting a bit odd when he grabbed hold of us outside the coffee shop but I honestly had other things on my mind so I didn't give him much thought."

"Apparently neither did Lyssa. After she clonked him on the head he pretended to be unconscious until she got distracted then he pulled me out of the line of fire and freed you."

Neville glanced at the tattered remains of the bouquet of flowers lying on the ground a few feet away. "One of Fred and George's trick wands?"

Hermione nodded. "I don't just carry potions and travel bags around with me. I also keep a selection of Weasley products on hand, including one of these."

She pulled up the sleeve of her robe just enough to reveal hidden wand holster. "I made the switch when the mice distracted her."

"I was wondering about them."

"I wasn't sure what we might need in the way of diversions so I dropped a couple on the ground when I checked on 'Cormac'. They were toys I'd developed for Crookshanks when we were at school. They operate via a wandless, non-verbal spell. They seem to have done the trick today."

"You clever, clever girl." Neville wiped a bit of dirt from Hermione's cheek with his thumb then his voice dropped to a whisper as he pulled her face towards his. "Sweet Merlin. I love you so much."

His lips were almost on hers when they heard a soft 'ahem' nearby. They looked up to see Harry standing there smiling.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Neville. "We are so developing that anti-interruption spell."

"Damn straight," Neville agreed.

"Sorry to break up a moment," said Harry. "But I wanted to let you know Kingsley's going to request that Lyssa be turned directly over to the dementors once she arrives at Azkaban."

"No," said Hermione in a firm voice.

"No? No...what?" asked Harry.

"No. I don't want her executed," insisted Hermione.

Neville sat in silence as Harry spluttered, "W-wait? What? Hermione, she tried to kill you. She tried to kill Neville. She did kill Margaret. How could you not…"

"I'm not saying she shouldn't be held accountable, Harry. She needs to go to prison for what she's done but let's be honest – she's as much a victim of the war as any of us. Yes, she's done horrible things and she needs to face the consequences of that but if we didn't sentence truly evil people like Bellatrix and Barty Junior to the dementors after the first war then how can we justify doing it to Lyssa?"

By that point Kingsley had joined them and Hermione shifted her attention to the Minister. "Please, Kingsley? Can't you hold her in Azkaban and see if getting her some professional help makes a difference? If not, she's still in prison where she can't hurt anyone. If so, then maybe – just maybe – we've kept one more person from being another casualty of this awful war. I don't want any more Mariettas on my conscience."

Kingsley regarded her carefully then said, "I will certainly take your request under advisement, Hermione. For now, though, I think you and Neville should go home and get some rest. You certainly deserve it after today."

As the Minister led Harry away, Hermione looked at Neville and said, "I'm sorry if you don't agree with what I said about Lyssa. I hope it didn't make you angry."

"Angry? Angry that the woman I love has a heart bigger than it has any right to be given everything she's gone through? Why in the world would that ever make me angry? Confused? Maybe. Confounded? Absolutely. Vexed? Possibly. Angry? Never."

"Really?"

"Really."

Hermione pushed a stray bit of hair from Neville's forehead. "Sweet Merlin. I love you so much."

He reached out and pulled her into another passionate kiss. After a moment she leaned back, smiled and said, "Come on. We need to find Malfoy and say thank you for saving our lives."

As she led him across the courtyard, Neville couldn't stop chuckling.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just filing 'let's go thank Malfoy for saving our lives' under the growing list of things I never dreamed I'd hear you say."

They walked up behind Draco, now in his true form wearing his own clothing, as he stood burning Cormac's garments, muttering how McLaggen should serve time for his fashion sense if nothing else.

He flinched then stood awkwardly as Hermione hugged him without warning. "Thank you, Draco."

Neville clasped the man's shoulder and added, "Yeah. Thanks, mate. I understand your little performance saved our lives."

Draco pulled a face as he carefully extricated himself from both of them.

"Scurrilous lies. If I hear that repeated in public I shall sue for slander."

"Oh, don't worry, Draco. You're secret is safe with us," Hermione promised.

Neville nodded. "Yeah. I mean, who'd believe us anyway?"

"Exactly," Draco sniffed and straightened his sleeve. "Besides, even if I were to have assisted in some small capacity, it would have been due solely to the fact that my wife and son have become inexplicably fond of Granger. I have enough difficulty maintaining any semblance of order in my household. Last thing I need is having to explain her death to a two and a half year old."

"Either way, thank you Draco. Honestly," said Hermione.

Draco shrugged and tried to feign indifference but as the couple turned to leave he called out, "Hermione?"

Both Neville and Hermione stopped. "Yes?" she replied.

"Save Scorp a dance at the wedding."

Hermione smiled warmly. "Only if I get one with you as well."

Draco snorted and looked at Neville. "Get her checked by the healer again, Longbottom. She obviously hit her head during the scuffle."

"Will do," said Neville, taking a step back towards him. "And Malfoy?"

Draco eyed him warily. "Yes?"

Neville extended his hand. "If you had saved us, I'd be extremely grateful. I might even owe you one."

Draco stared at the outstretched hand a moment before taking it.

"Good thing I didn't then, eh?"

"Probably. Cause then I might be dangerously close to finding you tolerable and I don't know how I'd feel about that."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," said Draco. "I'm sure to do or say something in the very near future that would correct that situation."

"I certainly hope so." Neville shook his hand then leaned over and whispered so Hermione couldn't hear, "Don't wager with Harry on a wedding date without talking to me first."

Draco tried rather unsuccessfully not to smirk and, with a nod of his head, he sauntered away.

Neville draped his arm around Hermione's shoulders and set off in the opposite direction.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

Neville kissed the top of her head. "I'll fill you in later. You ready to go home?"

"I'd love to but where might that be?"

"Anyplace you want, love. Anyplace you want."