Chapter 30- Did it work?

Her dark travelling cloak snapped around her petite frame as she appeared in the midst of a howling gale. Pulling the cloak tightly around her she moved deliberately towards the ruins of the old castle, seeking out the shadows as if they could somehow disguise the stains upon her soul.

Passing under the fractured archway that had once been a door she saw the figure she had come to meet. Red hair flaming in the wind he stood stoically looking out across the landscape. Sensing her presence he turned.

"Did it work?" he demanded, "am I dead?"

"Red really?" she asked in distaste, could you not have found a less conspicuous disguise.

"I thought you liked red!" he smirked unrepentant,

"Not on you," she scolded.

Transfiguring his hair back to its natural colour he asked again;

"So it worked?"

She sighed and nodded before adding, "It was harrowing, logically I knew it wasn't you but…" she choked on her words unable to say what she felt. " You know I would walk through the fiery pits of Hell to save you, but now I need you to save me, " she told him, "I need you to help me reaffirm my humanity. I don't know if I can ever forgive myself for what I've just done, hold me Draco."

He didn't need a second request; he pulled her to him closing his eyes unable to contemplate what it had cost her to save him.

"I will never be able to repay you for what you have done," he told her almost morosely.

"I don't need payment Draco just love me."

He tightened his hold, a silent signal that loving her was something he could never stop. He wanted to show her here and now just how much he loved her but he knew they didn't have time for such distraction. Instead he contented himself with telling her:

"I do love you, don't ever forget that."

They were silent for a long time enjoying their embrace revelling in the warmth they brought to each other.

"What now Draco?" she asked finally breaking the silence, "all this and are we any nearer to destroying him?"

"I don't know," he said honestly, "but I want you to be safe."

"Safety is only relative Draco," she said with a sigh, "until he is destroyed there is nowhere that I am truly safe. I need to go back."

"No," Draco almost screamed tightening his hold on his witch.

"Draco please don't fight me on this. I need to atone for what I have just done and I can do that best from the inside making myself useful to the Order." She pleaded with him.

He could have told her that as a pure blood wife she would have been expected to do as her husband said but he knew there was little point, she wouldn't listen, instead he reminded her:

"That was supposed to be my role." He told her despondently. Perhaps he felt emasculated by his inability to defend his witch. It stung his pride but he rationalised there was little he could do.

"Then, we will need to swop roles, it makes sense don't you see?" she asked him enthusiastically, "you can help Harry, help him find the horcruxes, you're as smart as I am Draco. I know you can do it."

"If we don't kill each other first," he muttered under his breath.

"I heard that Draco Malfoy," she scolded, "you know as well as I do that you and Harry are far beyond that now."

He hadn't really given it much thought. Did he trust Potter to have his back in a fight? He wondered. He knew Potter was honourable and so long as Potter trusted him, and he did nothing to betray that trust, Draco would be safe.

"Alright," he conceded, "let's see what mischief my 'ghost' can cause."

it had been sometime before they could bear to part but final Draco returned to Grimmauld Place.

"You look well for a ghost," Remus quipped, as Draco settled himself at the kitchen table. "Dumbledore said you would work with us in the end." Remus continued, "The noblest of your house he called you."

Draco's eyebrows rose at that.Had the old man really foreseen this? Something within him swelled with pride. Perhaps he had not disappointed his former Headmaster after all.

"Malfoy," the boy who lived greeted him, "so you've seen the light," Potter teased.

"Yes absolutely blinded by the light of your bloody brilliance," Draco countered. Potter laughed, who would have thought it? Draco wondered that he would be sitting round a kitchen table engaging in banter with Harry Potter.

"Draco," his cousin greeted him in a tone that suggested she was genuinely pleased to see him again.

"How are you Nym..Tonks?" He corrected recalling his cousin's dislike of her given name.

"The better for seeing you safe and well, Aunt Narcissa was beside herself with worry."

"How is my mother?" he asked her.

"Well enough,"

Remus cleared his throat to get their attention;

"Lovely as this is perhaps we should get down to business?"

"Of course," both Tonks and Draco agreed in unison.

"I think we can all agree there is now an even greater need for urgency. We can't allow Hermione to remain in the hands of the Dark Lord for any longer than absolutely necessary. Who knows what he will have her do and we all know that it will destroy her to take part in any 'Death Eater action'" Remus made air quotes around these words. "Harry I need you to fill Draco in on what we know about the Horcrux perhaps he knows something that can help us?"

Hermione quickly recognised that she needed allies if she was to survive in Voldemort's camp. Lucius may have helped her once but she couldn't guarantee he would help her again. She knew he had only helped because it was to save his son and heir and she suspected, whilst his first loyalty may be to his family rather than Voldemort that did not mean he would help the Order. There had to be someone else, she needed someone to watch her back.

She considered the others around her many were too deranged or too vicious to help her. The Lestrange bothers hated her for destroying Bellatrix. Hermione quickly realised that her options were severely limited, she put herself at great risk even if she hinted at her true purpose. A huge part of her screamed it wasn't worth the risk but she couldn't do this alone.

She watched Draco's former friends carefully. Of those Slytherins that had joined the cause the only one who seemed remotely likely to help her was Nott. She remembered his face and his struggle for controlled as she had played out Draco's apparent death. She needed to be sure, he seemed to at least have some sensibility but would he help her?

Author's notes

Just a reminder that this story goes off canon after HBP. Hope you are enjoying this weekend's posts. If so you know what to do; , review.