Another update! I'm hoping to keep them pretty steady as I'd like to finish this within the next six weeks or so, but I make no promises. It's my primary focus now though. I'd like to say that even though I have an outline, I am mostly flying by the seat of my pants on this. As such, I don't truly have an alpha so I'm never fully pleased with the chapters.

Hermione landed in the atrium with a loud crack! with Henry nestled into her side. His head was resting against her chest as his body shook with loud sobs. "Draco," he cried, and Hermione rubbed soothing circles in his back. "What about Draco?" Henry whimpered.

The atrium was swimming with Aurors, and on the other side of the room, she recognised Lisa and Padma, and then everyone else. She ushered Henry off to the familiar faces, watching him sprint across the floor and slam into Adelaide with a ferocious hug.

There was a sniveling behind her. Hermione turned, her heart still beating wildly in her chest as she adjusted to her surroundings, to the fact that they were no longer in immediate danger. Her gaze fell upon Leanne, whose face was stained with makeup that had run from tears. "Were you hurt?" Hermione asked. She quickly looked Leanne over, checking her arms, and her face.

Her eyes were rimmed with red, completely bloodshot as her shoulders fell. "It was—" Leanne's voice was raw, likely from screaming, Hermione realised. "It was my fault Death Eaters were able to enter the camp."

She swallowed, and one, two, three seconds passed by before Hermione would allow herself to say anything for fear she would strike the witch. "What do you mean?" She asked, her voice tight. She continued to look Leanne over, finding no visible wounds as she did so.

Leanne pulled away from her, running her hands down her face in shame. "I was where the Great Lake meets the Forbidden Forest. I didn't mean to venture outside the wards, I didn't mean—"

If it were possible for her heart to stop in her chest, Hermione was certain it would have. "Tell me what happened." She knew that water could have an adverse effect on magic, though it wasn't often. Realistically, she knew if what she thought happened was the truth it probably wasn't Leanne's fault.

It didn't mean that she didn't want to throttle her just so she would have someone to blame. But she needed to be better than that.

The girl eyed her warily, biting her lip so hard that she might bloody it. "I was by the edge of the lake, sitting there, and there was a whispering to my side. It was coming from the forest on the other side of the wards. I moved to go back to camp, but everything is blurry after that. I remember the older one talking to me, stringing me along through the camp. And Malfoy—he let me out of the spell. He gave enough time for me to escape."

Leanne broke down into tears, her legs giving out from under her. Hermione sank to her knees, wrapping her arms around her shoulders even though all she wanted to do was blame the witch. It could have happened to anyone, but Leanne's state of mind must have been part of the reason she was so susceptible to Imperio.

Her forehead rested against Hermione's shoulder. "I think he saved me life." She mumbled, shaking her head. "Why would he do that? I've been terrible to him."

Hermione sighed. "I would say the hatred isn't mutual, Leanne. I think he saved a lot of us tonight, and it's our turn now. They can't ignore us if we tell them the truth." She hoped they wouldn't, at the very least. If they tried to… Well, she'd think about that if it came down to it. "Can you do that?"

She nodded, murmuring a broken agreement under her breath.

He was prepared, from the second he spotted Death Eater masks in the middle of the night, to be thrown in Azkaban. Either they would say he conspired to help his former comrades—a laughable title at best—or they would try him now for using the Killing Curse.

Draco sat in the chair in the middle of the Wizengamot, his ankles and wrists bound to the uncomfortable chair as he stared down familiar faces. His father's seat, or what had been the Malfoy seat was not only missing, it had been completely removed. Considering he would have never taken it, he didn't much care. It was only a reminder of what had happened, of how the world had drastically changed.

They prepared to begin the session, and Draco doubted it would last long. He'd barely made it out of the chamber last time, and considering he wouldn't have Potter's testimony this time, he wasn't hopeful.

He tapped his fingers against the wooden arm of the chair.

A gavel came down, echoing throughout the room and both barristers behind him rose to their feet. He recognised the woman who would be insisting he be given the maximum sentence in Azkaban. She wore not so flattering robes, and her mousy brown hair was pulled back so tightly that it stretched her wrinkled features. It did nothing for her appearance.

Chief Warlock, Tiberius Ogden, regarded Draco with a harsh look, his lip curling into a sneer as he waited. In a show of what was the modern day bureaucracy Draco found himself in, they'd forgone a jury.

Once Granger got wind of that, she would throw a fit, he had no doubt. He wished she'd just stay out of it, at least attempt to keep her name in good standing. Paying no mind to where he was, Draco simply could not forget how he hadn't wanted to look at her after casting the Killing Curse. He wasn't ashamed. He'd done what he had to do, and he'd done it for her, but he didn't need to see the fear enter her eyes.

Sure, Henry had been in her arms, tucked away tightly as she acted as a human shield. Taking the time to think about it, Draco wasn't sure that his thoughts would have immediately jumped to murder if the wand had been trained on Henry. Something brutal instead, of course, but seeing Granger on the ground, so fucking ready to lose her life like the reckless Gryffindor she was, something inside of him had so clearly snapped.

He didn't regret it, and he wouldn't apologise for it. Perhaps he didn't understand the clusterfuck of it all, how he had grown so close to her, or how his only thought had been to protect what was his, as if she were his. If he would be thrown into Azkaban, then at least he knew she hadn't been disgusted by his actions at the very end.

She'd stared at him, her pale lips parted in shock as she looked down at Rabastan. She'd taken a miniscule step toward him, as if she wanted to pull him into a tight embrace. All the while she'd told him she wasn't angry, that she'd understood though maybe not in so many words.

So when she was led into the room, he wanted to scream at her to leave, that she didn't need to save him now.

It's not like she would have listened to him anyway.

Hermione was led down the corridor by a team of Aurors. They were silent, offering nothing of their opinions, and that was for the best. She needed to save her fight for inside of the hearing, and she couldn't do that if she was brawling in the middle of the corridor on the lowest level of the Ministry.

She squared her shoulders, and raised her chin as a seat of wide double doors were opened for her. To her disappointment, even though she wasn't surprised, there was no jury. Draco was seated in the middle of the room, bound to a chair as that was how they treated all who were accused of law breaking.

"Miss Granger," Chief Warlock Ogden's voice echoed in the chamber. He eyed her with contempt as she was ushered into a seat five feet away from Draco. "I wasn't aware you would be joining us."

Undoubtedly not, considering at the end she'd made a plea to Kingsley to allow her to testify. "I've submitted my memories as evidence." She said clearly, clasping her hands in her lap.

"Evidence of what?" The wizard asked.

She wanted to roll her eyes. "Draco Malfoy acted in the self defence of himself, and others tonight." Hermione began, and she ignored the sniggering that followed. "I understand that he broke the conditions of his parole—"

"Broke?" A stern woman echoed, whose name Hermione did not know. The prosecutor came to stand in front of Hermione, her robes billowing behind her. "This is not just a simple case of breaking the parameters of his parole, Miss Granger. That would imply that perhaps he's just made a trip down to Knockturn Alley, and bought an unsavory book, the likes that deal with Dark Magic. He took a life."

Hermione cleared her throat. "He took Rabastan Lestrange's life to save myself and Henry Nott. Lestrange was already halfway through the Killing Curse when Draco cast it himself. There was no time to react."

The prosecutor swept away from Hermione with a flourish, and a snide smile curving her lips. "All that statement proves is that Mr Malfoy is what he's always been, someone who is sympathetic to the former Dark Lord."

"His name is Voldemort." Hermione snapped. It was delightful to watch the colour drain from the woman's face. "And if you still refer to him by titles he bestowed upon himself because you are unable to speak his name, perhaps you shouldn't speak of him at all."

The woman's features twisted, her lips dragging down into a grimace. "Let's see the memories, shall we then? This is a court of law, and we are only fair."

Watching the memories, displayed across the air was a different experience than having lived it. The trepidation in the pit of her stomach is all too familiar as she saw herself twist to protect Henry. But her attention is grabbed by the awed look on Malfoy's face at that exact moment, and she saw the very second he knew what he was going to do.

And for a second time, there was no hesitation as he waved his wand. There was a jet of green light that burst from the tip of her wand, and she couldn't miss the way he was staring at her until she glanced up. He averted his gaze then.

She'll need to revisit the emotions written across his features that no one else will take note of.

"There was no hesitation. He's a cold blooded—" The woman began, waving a hand toward Malfoy.

They didn't understand and she was desperate to make them see reason. "He was trained as a Death Eater." Hermione cried out. "He was trained to think a certain way, and it's not so simple to banish that mentality! He didn't hurt an innocent citizen; he saved my life."

There was silence, and uncomfortable shuffling in the Wizengamot. Then came the murmuring, low where she couldn't hear a word they said. She wanted to look to Draco, but she kept her gaze straight ahead. There would be plenty of time to analyze his reactions once this was over.

"He fought against Death Eaters, and it's clear where his loyalties lie. Don't you see? If you sent him to Azkaban, you would be sentencing him to death! Those still sympathetic to Voldemort would kill him within the week."

She expected a cold reply of how that was not the problem of the Wizengamot, but it never came. Really, Hermione expected more than the ten minutes she received in the room.

However, Chief Warlock Ogden waved his hand to have her removed from the room, while saying he would take her words into consideration. HIs tone was that of mocking, and it did nothing to instill confidence in her.

Hermione waited in the atrium once more, Lisa and Padma on either side of her. Their charges, since Michael and Hannah were now waiting to testify as well, were in the middle of a game of Exploding Snap. Aurors had offered to take them back to their makeshift summer home now that it had been fortified once more, and cleaned up of debris, but they refused.

They wanted to leave when Draco left. Hermione was scared of what might happen if he wasn't released, if he didn't return with him.

Padma was tightly gripping Hermione's hand. For the hundredth time, she asked, "Did it seem likely they would let him go?"

Hermione didn't mind how many times the girl asked her. She just wished she could give a different answer. She shook her head. "Not to me, but I'm hopeful."

"Feels like there's a hole where your heart should be, doesn't it?" Padma asked quietly, squeezing her hand. "This isn't the best time, but I'm sorry for attempting to push you away from him."

Hermione shook her head again, her mind still swimming through every moment Draco had been involved with that summer so far. "I would have done the same. I don't blame you."

Padma sighed. She leaned her head on Hermione's shoulder. "He won't blame you if they do sentence him. He knew what he was doing, not matter how quickly it happened."

"If I had—"

"Don't say it." Lisa said, weary. "No matter what happens, Draco made a choice tonight, and you're not at fault for anything that happens."

Padma quickly added, "I won't blame you either."

Hermione was still drowning in her own self pity and regret. She could have done more. She had been utterly useless in a fight for the first time in her life, and now…

"Draco wouldn't have been able to live with himself if you had died in front of him." Padma whispered as she watched the children. "He's already lost his mum, and he—just trust me. Draco could not have been able to withstand watching you die too."

Someone shouted her name from across the atrium, and Hermione glanced up to see Ron and Harry rushing toward her. She quickly separated from the girls to make her way to both of them. Ron enveloped her in a hug that was much too tight, and he picked her right up off the floor.

Harry was looking her over, gripping her jaw gently as he saw the bruise on her cheek. "We came as soon as they would let us." Harry said. "What's going on?"

Hermione told them everything, leaving out just how close she and Malfoy had become even though they would know soon regardless. "He's still in the hearing. We're waiting to know if he'll be released."

"Can't imagine they'll release him, even if he did save your life." Ron said. "I mean, he's a bloody Death Eater."

She glared at him. "He's a former Death Eater."

Ron reached for her. "'Mione—"

Hermione pulled away from him. "No, don't touch me. After everything, you still believe that Slytherins are inherently evil?"

"Maybe not all of them," Ron stumbled over his words. "But even you have to admit that he's a slimy git who—"

"He's my friend." Hermione said, ignoring how her friends stared at her. One would think she'd grown two heads. "And a close friend at that. I support him, and if you can't even attempt to see things differently, then—"

Harry cut her off. "He's your friend?" His tone was incredulous. "I understand that maybe you two have been forced to work together for the last month, but this is still the same person who bullied us all through Hogwarts."

"I haven't forgotten, and neither has he."

Ron scoffed. "Oh, let me guess. The two of you have talked about that too? Did he apologise and make it all better? He's called you a Mudblood more times than I can count, Hermione. You can't possibly be friends with him."

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, we did discuss it actually."

"How did that go?" Harry asked slowly, casting a dark look to Ron as he elbowed their friend in the ribs. "What brought that conversation on?"

"He tried to cut the Dark Mark out of his arm." Hermione admitted, though very quietly. There were several reporters on the other side of the atrium, and she would not be the cause of Draco having even more troubles if—when—he was released. "He nearly died."

It shouldn't have surprised her when Ron muttered, "Shame he didn't," under his breath.

Hermione smacked him without thinking, the loud smack drawing attention to the three of them. "Don't," she warned, her voice a low hiss.

There was a tugging on her shirt from behind her, followed by a weak, "Miss Granger." Henry was standing behind her, Adelaide and Isobel waiting just beyond his back. "They're not sending Draco to Azkaban."

She missed Ron's harsh exhale behind her.

"What?" Hermione breathed. With her heart hammering in her chest, she ought to be sure she'd heard correctly before she let herself get her hopes up. "They're releasing him?"

Isobel nodded quickly, pointing toward the other side of the atrium. Reporters were bunched in a crowd, but she quickly spotted a head of white blond hair. Padma was beside him, grinning ear to ear, and she caught Hermione's attention.

Padma waved her forward, mouthing, "Come on."

Hermione turned to Ron, and Harry. "I have to go. We'll talk later?"

Ron reached out for her. "Wait!" He called, his hand waving through empty air where she'd just been. "'Mione, I don't think,"

She hurried away from him, nearly running across the tile floor in her pajamas that didn't hide nearly as much as she would have liked. Padma was grinning as Hermione slid to a stop in front of them.

Padma threw an arm around Draco's shoulders, rustling his hair. It was a display that stopped Hermione just before she would have reached out. "Come on," Padma said loudly.

She grabbed Hermione's wrist, tugging her into them. Hermione slipped against the tile, a terribly clumsy move, and she was caged against Draco's chest. Hermione peeked up at him, nibbling her lip. "I'm so glad you're okay." Hermione breathed.

It was over as quickly as it had come. Draco's fingers skimmed the bare skin where her top had ridden up, as if he were attempting to comfort her. He dropped his head down, whispering in her ear, "Are you okay?"

Hermione nodded. "Shaken up, but I'll live."

She was crushed into a collective hug as Lisa and Padma locked her in with Draco. The children quickly followed. First it was Henry, wiggling in between Hermione and Lisa so he could slide his arms around Draco's waist. Then it was Oliver, and Isobel, whose eyes were watering even still.

And then it was everyone, save for Michael, Hannah, and Leanne. It was quite the scene in the middle of the Ministry, and dozens of cameras went off.

"Weasley's face matches his hair." Draco said to her. He was pressed tightly against the curve of her due to the hug they had been trapped in. "Because of me, I assume?"

She averted her eyes. "He was less than pleased to learn we were close."

Draco dipped his head. "They've just informed me that the head of my house has been transferred to me officially. I would like to visit Malfoy Manor, but I'm not able to go alone." His nose skimmed her mess of curls. "Part of my probation," he added.

Hermione blinked. "Are you asking me?"

"If it wouldn't be asking too much. I know that—"

Hermione shook her head swiftly. "It's no problem. I would like that."

He chuckled when Adelaide elbowed him in the ribs. "I'm not sure those are the words you would use, but thank you."

She wondered why he wouldn't ask Padma, who was so clearly practically family to him now. But she said nothing, content with her own reasons for it.

So, shocker, but no, Leanne did not just allow Death Eaters in. Lol. She'll even be lest cunty now. Next up, Malfoy Manor, and then...dramione miscommunications. I know this story got heavy quickly, and it's mostly uphill from here on out.

Please let me know what you think.