Disclaimer: As always, J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, I am not J.K. Rowling, therefore all I own is the plot.

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I was thrilled that so many of you liked what happened. This fic doesn't seem to want to end, so there will be a few more chapters after this one. Anyway, I hope everyone likes this chapter as well.

Chapter 14: Rescue

Draco lay awake for hours unable to find sleep. He was still dressed in his clothes, so that just in case something happened he was ready. But just like every other night since he'd been at Grimmauld Place, all was quiet and still. He wasn't tossing and turning, he was just staring at the ceiling or out the window wondering where Hermione was and praying that she was alright. As he gazed absently out the window, Aries landed on the windowsill carrying a large dead rat in his beak; the fruits of his latest hunting trip. Draco watched as the owl tore at his meal and when Aries was finished, Draco joined him at the window.

That was when it hit him, a sudden, scorching pain on his left forearm accompanied by the intense urge to apparate to an old, rundown manor. Somehow Draco knew that it was called the Riddle House. Draco was certain that he knew the name of the house only because the Dark Lord was intending for him to come to Hermione's rescue. Well, Draco was never one to disappoint…

Even before the burning faded, Draco was across the room with his shoes on. The first thing he did was to send his patronus to alert Dumbledore. The lioness, which he presumed was a symbol of Hermione, charged off in a silver blur. Next Draco threw open his door and shouted, "they're in the Riddle House!"

But Grimmauld Place was silent. With a grunt of frustration, Draco ran to Harry's room. He burst through the door so hard that it just about fell off the hinges "Potter!"

Harry was startled out of a sound sleep, "Wha.. What's going on?" he thrashed around in his tangled bed sheets and looked wildly around the room.

"Hermione's at the Riddle House get your ass out of bed and let's go!" Draco swept out of Harry's room in time to hear a loud pop from the floor below. Trusting that Potter could manage to alert the others, Draco ran downstairs to meet Dumbledore.

Dumbledore wasted no time, "you are sure?'

"Yes, the destination was perfectly clear, he knows I'll come for her."

"Then you better leave now, we can't allow him to suspect you're working with us."

'That will be easy,' thought Draco. He nodded to Dumbledore and then dissaparated on the spot.

When he reappeared, he found himself in a dust-covered living room that appeared to be perfectly empty. But Draco was not to be fooled so easily, he had a tight grip on his wand and his senses were piqued. He could hear nothing other than the wind outside blowing through a broken window, and the usual creaks and groans of an old house. That, to him was a dead giveaway that this was a trap, but it also meant that he could not predict what was going to happen or how many Death Eaters were present.

Draco scanned the dark room with narrowed eyes, and he noticed two things that seemed out of place. The first was an area on the floor, which was noticeably less dusty that the rest, as if something had been sitting there and was recently moved. The other was the lone sheet of parchment lying on the floor next to the area that was free of dust.

Draco stood, alone and alert for what felt like a lifetime to him, but may have been only a few seconds in reality. Draco's eyes fell repeatedly on the piece of parchment lying on the ground. His better judgment knew that he should not touch it, yet he felt drawn to it. He had an inexplicable feeling that Voldemort was waiting for him to read it.

Draco weighed the possibilities in his mind, whatever that paper was, could not be good. Draco suspected it was a portkey, which would ruin the entire plan because he would be alone and the Order would have no way of finding him. But on the other hand, the Dark Lord was not a patient wizard; so the longer he stood waiting, the greater the likelihood was that Hermione would be tortured. Draco just didn't know what to do, or what would be best for Hermione.

In the end, Draco decided to levitate the parchment towards him. That way if it was a portkey, he would be safe, but if it was a message, he'd be able to read it. He aimed his wand at the parchment and with a casual swish and flick the parchment was levitated to him. The side that had been facing up was blank, so Draco used his wand to turn it around in midair.

The handwriting he saw nearly made him drop his wand. In a thoughtless impulse he seized the parchment, which was covered in Hermione's tiny scrawl. Draco's heart raced as he glimpsed the telltale tear splotches dotting the parchment and blurring her otherwise neat handwriting. The moment he began to read, Draco's heart plummeted. This was not a portkey, it was more akin to a suicide note, written and signed by Hermione.

To the ones I love,

This was never how I planned to say goodbye, and it is most certainly not when. However, if this is what I must do in order to protect you all, then I do it willingly; for I will not allow anyone to risk their life for me. It wouldn't be able to live through that twice in one lifetime. But before I go, I need to say goodbye, to let you all know how much I love you, and to say all the things that I never said. First to my parents; Mom, Dad you have always been the greatest parents a child could ask for. Your love and support mean the world to me, and you two are always with me in my heart. Guiding me to do the right thing, helping me when I need it, and loving me just because. I love you, and know that I am always with you two.

Harry and Ron; you guys are my best friends. You were the first true friends that I ever had, and you guys made our years at Hogwarts the best of my life. You were always there for me, I wouldn't have survived Hogwarts without you. I know that you will both go on to even greater things than we have already achieved. You two are the greatest friends anyone could ask for, and I know that I am blessed to have been a part of your lives. I don't know if I ever told either of you, but you both mean the world to me, and I would do anything to keep you safe.

After that, there were messages to others, mostly to other Order members, Ginny, and a couple family members. But Draco just skimmed through those, he was looking for his name, his heart ached to know what she wanted to say to him as he last words. And they were the last words, the ones at the very bottom of the page were meant for him. It was at this point where the greatest number of tears seemed to have fallen as well. Draco gulped as he started to read, it was a difficult task since his hands were shaking so much he could hardly see the words.

Draco, forgive me for keeping you until last, but I just can't bring myself to say goodbye to you. You are my world, my one true love. Just thinking about you brings a smile to my face, and makes my heart beat faster. There is so much I want to say, but words just can't express. There is nothing I want more right now than to be held in your arms and to hear you say that everything is going to be alright. There is something that I want to tell you. It slipped once in an argument with Harry and Ron, but I never had the courage to tell you about it, and now I wish I had. I'm sure that by now you know about the Order, I wanted to tell you about it so badly, Kinsley even taught me occlumency they were so worried I tell you. And one time when Harry Ron, and I were arguing, they said I could only tell my family about the Order, and I told them that you might as well be a part of my family. I didn't even know I was thinking it at the time, but it is true. To me, you are a part of my family; I want to spend the rest of my life with you and for that reason I refuse to allow my life to end now. I was going to kill myself to save everyone I love, but I've become selfish, and I blame you for that. I cannot bring myself to end my own life because of you, because I need to see your face again.

All my love forever,

Hermione

Draco's throat was dry and clenched so tight that he could hardly breathe, and his mind was reeling. According to her note, she hadn't killed herself, but then where was she? What had the Dark Lord done to her?

"Quite a sickening letter if you ask me," came a sharp voice from behind Draco, one he was quite familiar with…unfortunately.

"Aunt Bella," muttered Draco through gritted teeth. "Where is she?" Draco whipped around and aimed his wand directly at Bellatrix's heart.

"Well that's a fine way to greet your aunt."

"I will gladly hex your head off if you do not tell me where she is!" growled Draco. Sparks erupted from the tip of his wand from the anger flowing through him.

"She is in a private meeting with the Dark Lord, I believe he was quite bored with waiting for you to show up and read that piece of drivel. And he will be most disappointed that you did not bring Potter along, why I believe that will make him angry enough to kill.

Whether it showed on his face, or Bella was just invading his thoughts, Draco couldn't say; but her next words told him that she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Yes, she's alive…for now. You see, the Dark Lord is a merciful wizard; she wrote that she wanted to see your face one more time. So he decided to grant her final wish. Of course, she failed to specify whether you were alive or not, so the Dark Lord has decided that you shall die instead."

Draco sneered, "well unfortunately for him, I'm not so merciful, so I refuse to grant his request."

Bellatrix shrugged, "then you will both die, it really makes no difference to me, or him."

"Nice to know you care for your only nephew," smirked Draco. He was about to hex Bellatrix when a blood-curdling scream rang out from somewhere below him, "Hermione!" he cried.

But in his moment of unguarded panic, Bellatrix saw her chance, "crucio!"

Draco fell to the ground with a cry of pain. No matter how many times one experienced the blinding pain of the cruciatus curse, you never get used to it. Draco's head smacked against the floor when he fell to the ground, but luckily it wasn't enough to knock him out, it just gave him a very bad headache.

And then, just as Bellatrix was about to curse Draco again, several pops announced the entrance of the Order members. Draco did not hesitate for a second before pushing himself up, running towards the hallway and shouting, "she's downstairs! He's torturing her!"

Harry and Ron didn't need telling twice; they bolted after Draco, leaving Lupin and Kingsley to deal with Bellatrix.

"Master! More of them have come!" Bella shrieked before firing curses at the Order members. Instantly, at least six Death Eaters apparated to Bellatrix's aid, leaving Lupin and Kingsley outnumbered and surrounded. Dumbledore arrived and started to aid the adults while the boys kept going. Draco had found the door to the basement and practically leapt down the entire flight of stairs.

He stood up with his wand out only to see Lord Voldemort himself aiming his wand directly at Hermione, who was backed against the wall. She was cut and bruised, and just looked terrible. Her eyes shined with both hope and panic when she spotted Draco.

"Draco!" she cried, but then gagged in silence. Voldemort was silently choking her.

Let her go you filthy piece of shit!" roared Draco as he directed his wand at Voldemort, "crucio!"

Every ounce of Draco's rage and hatred was focused into that curse. He wanted to see Lord Voldemort writhing on the floor in pain. Voldemort went rigid for a moment when the curse hit him, which was enough to break his spell on Hermione, who sunk to the floor passed out from the lack of oxygen. However, the next moment, with a roar of fury, Voldemort threw Draco's curse off of him.

"That was very stupid Draco," Voldemort hissed. He then swished his wand, causing Draco to be thrown back into a pile of boxes and smacked his head on the floor again.

Draco shook his head, but all he could see was stars threatening to make him unconscious. He groaned and blinked in an effort to resolve his vision. He refused to lose this battle; he would not lose Hermione.

"Well now," Draco heard Voldemort hiss, "Harry Potter, I knew you would come."

"Let Hermione go. I'm the one you're looking to fight, just let her go," Harry spoke in an eerily calm voice.

"She is free to go, there is nothing holding her back, if she's still alive of course."

"You bastard!" this time it was Ron who yelled. He ran at Voldemort, brandishing his wand as he did. But before he could cast a spell, Voldemort whipped his wand around in a circle, causing Ron to fall backwards and slam head first into the wall behind him.

"Ron!" cried Harry as he saw his best friend slump to the ground.

By now, Draco had regained his vision, so he crept behind some of the boxes, careful not to make a sound as he moved closer to where Hermione lay. Potter and Voldemort were staring at each other in a deadlock. Both had their wands ready, and both were wordlessly challenging the other to make the first move. Draco took the opportunity to try to see if Hermione was alright, but all he could see was her body lifeless on the ground with her hair blocking her face.

He had to get to her, to make sure that she was still breathing, but if he moved from behind the boxes, Voldemort would spot him in an instant and probably kill him just as quick. He needed a distraction or something.

As if to answer his thoughts, the door at the top of the stairs burst open and someone literally came tumbling down.

"You fools!" yelled Voldemort as he saw one of his Death Eaters fall down the stairs.

Draco took the opportunity while Voldemort's attention was focused elsewhere and dashed across the room to behind the couch beside where Hermione lay. On the other side of the couch, an all out war had broken out, the Order of the Phoenix vs. Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters; spells were flying everywhere.

The wall behind Draco was cracked from being hit with so many spells, and Hermione was still at risk. Draco pulled her behind the couch so that she was no longer out in the open. In the back of his mind he heard was going on around him and was aware that he should probably be aiding the fight. But first he had to make sure that Hermione was going to be alright.

He pulled Hermione into his lap, he could see her chest rising and falling with small, struggled breaths. He bent over so that his mouth was next to her ear and stroked her hair as he held her tight. "Hermione…Hermione…"

But she did not respond.

"Hermione come on, I know you can hear me, show me you can hear me."

For one agonizingly long moment, Draco wasn't certain that she would respond. But then, just as he was losing hope, her breathing changed and she took a deeper breath. It was only a tiny change, and if he hadn't been paying such close attention, he would have missed it entirely. But he had caught it, and it gave him hope.

"Good Hermione!" he urged in a whisper, "keep breathing, you're doing great! You're going to be fine." By now Draco was shaking from an overload of emotions, he couldn't even begin to describe how he felt. He continued to hold Hermione and stroke her face in a delicate effort to revive her.

"Draco?"

"Hermione, I'm here," Draco whispered.

"I'm sorry," Hermione whispered as tears trailed down her cheeks from her closed eyelids.

"Shhh," comforted Draco as he kissed her forehead and wiped the tears from her face, "there's nothing to apologize for, I'm here and you're going to be alright."

But Hermione's breathing was becoming shallow again, Draco could almost feel her slipping away as he held her in his arms. "Draco-"

Draco could hear pain in her voice, "Hermione… Hermione come on." Draco shook her gently, but her breathing continued to weaken. "Stay with me Hermione, You can do it. You are the strongest person I know, and you're going to be fine." By now Draco was talking just as much to comfort himself as he was to Hermione. But it was no use; she had passed out again and was taking only the faintest of breaths.

Draco would have remained behind the couch working to reviver Hermione had he not been jarred back to the reality of the present situation by a terrible scream of pain. From the sound of it, the Dark Lord was crucioing Potter. Draco heard several Order members shout attack spells, and then Potter's cries stopped.

Draco immediately sprang into action; he cast the strongest protection spell he could think of on Hermione and then leapt out from behind the couch with his wand aimed at Voldemort's back. He saw Potter and the Dark Lord in another stare down and knew what he had to do; he briefly locked eyes with Harry, and nodded his head. All at once, three curses were shouted, and one wizard fell. From Voldemort came the killing curse while Potter shouted sectumsempra. But since their wands were brothers, neither of those curses would have reached their intended targets had it not been for the fact that Draco had hit Voldemort with a simple, yet effective, disarming curse.

The entire room, or at least everyone who was still standing, seemed to be frozen in shock. The once terrifying and powerful Dark Lord, a wizard who was the very incarnation of hate was lying before them, gasping for breath on the floor with crimson blood oozing out onto his robes, forming a puddle of blood on the floor. Dumbledore bound the remaining Death Eaters with a swish of his wand, but every eye was focused on Lord Voldemort.

Harry was the first to move, he took a step forward and glared at Voldemort with a repulsed scowl. "You deserve to suffer," he said in a dangerous tone, "but it's too disgusting to watch you live for one more second." With those words, Harry aimed his wand at Voldemort one last time, "Avada Kedavra."

A rush of relief seemed to pass through the entire world as Lord Voldemort's red eyes dimmed with death. And that was it, there was no big explosion or monumental scene, Voldemort had simply died, his worst fear had come true. No one other than those in the Riddle House basement knew what happened, but now the world truly was a safer place.

From the floor behind Harry, Ron let out a long groan, which drew the attention of everyone except Draco. Draco scoffed at the way they all rushed to the Weasel's side while Hermione was hovering on the brink of death. Had they all forgotten why they were there in the first place?

Draco swept behind the couch and pulled Hermione into his arms, he held her tight, but could not tell if she was breathing. Her skin was cold to the touch, but the basement was cold as well, so Draco tried not to let it worry him. He lowered Hermione to the couch, but did not remove his hand from the back of her head. With his free hand he stroked Hermione's cheek, willing her to wake up. "Hermione it's all over, you're safe now, Potter killed him, so you can wake up now," he urged, knowing that it would do her little good.

Draco could hear movement behind him and he could feel the others watching, but he paid them no mind; all he cared about was Hermione. Harry and Ron both knelt beside Draco, their faces pained with concern for their friend.

"Is she breathing at all?" Harry asked in a whisper.

"Just barely, she passed out again just before you killed the Dark Lord," answered Draco without taking his eyes off of Hermione.

"We have to get her to St. Mungo's" said Tonks with a definite sense of urgency in her tone.

"But we can't apparate her there, I don't think she can take it!" cried Ron.

"I'll contact them and get an emergency team here," volunteered Lupin, with a nod of approval from Dumbledore, he dissaparated.

"Let me see her," Dumbledore said in a calm voice.

Harry and Ron got up right away, but Draco was reluctant to move. It was only when Kingsley placed a firm hand on Draco's shoulder and pulled him away that he stood up and gave Dumbledore room. He watched with an intense gaze as Dumbledore raised his wand over Hermione, which caused a faint yellow light to surround her body for a moment.

"She is alive," confirmed Dumbledore, causing everyone to exhale in relief. "But she is very weak."

"She will be alright though won't she?" Ron voiced the question, which was on everyone's mind.

"I am certain that the Healer's will be able to help, so we shall see," was Dumbledore's answer.

Before anyone had time to reflect on these words, Lupin returned with an emergency healer. If the gruesome looking dead body on the floor, or by the Death Eaters, who were all bound and unconscious in the corner at all surprised the healer, he didn't show it. Instead, he sprang right into action, "where is she?"

"Right here," answered both Harry and Ron right away.

The healer dropped his bag beside Hermione and set to work. First, he poked and prodded various points on Hermione's body, but received no reaction. "She's got a sprained ankle," noted the healer as he retrieved his wand from his pocket. He then muttered a spell and ran his wand completely down Hermione's body. "She also has a pretty serious concussion as well as internal bleeding around the lungs, which is why she's not breathing well.

"Is she going to be okay?" asked Harry, who like the others, had gone white upon hearing the news.

"Can't say at this point, I can heal the ankle and the concussion here, but I have to bring her in for the other injuries, I don't have the potions necessary to help with the bleeding.

"Well then let's go!" cried Ron who was clearly irritated by the healers calm demeanor.

"We can't apparate her, so we already have transportation coming, relax, we're doing the best we can." With that, the healer set to work fixing whatever he could. He also cast a pretty strong sedative charm to ease the pain and keep Hermione's body as calm as possible. By the time the healer was finished, the transportation, a white truck with a bed in the back similar to a muggle ambulance arrived at the house.

"We have only enough room for her in the back, the rest of you will have to apparate, she'll be on the fourth floor, room 412."

Almost before the group knew what was happening the team of healers had taken Hermione away and vanished with their truck. It was only then that everyone was able to take a moment and digest what had happened that night. For quite a while everyone just stood in the basement looking around at each other as if they did not know what to do. Except for Draco, he was staring without seeing, his mind was miles away with Hermione wondering what the healers were doing to her and if she would be alright.

"What do we do now?" Again it was Ron who broke the silence.

This caused everyone, including Draco, to turn their attention to Dumbledore for instructions.

"Well," said Dumbledore, "first we will contact the Ministry. We will need to speak to the head of magical law enforcement about them," Dumbledore gestured to the Death Eaters. "We also need to inform the minister about Voldemort's death. Kingsley, would you mind informing the department of magical law enforcement of what happened while I contact the minister?"

"Of course not," answered Kingsley before he dissaparated.

"I will return in a moment," said Dumbledore before he too dissaparated.

- - - - - - - - - -

Not twenty minutes later, the Riddle House was buzzing with activity. A team of magical law enforcement wizards was dealing with the Death Eaters while the minister was parading around the scene with a group of photographers and quite a few reporters as well.

Draco watched what was happening around him as if he was in a different world. Where he was able to observe what was going on, but was incapable of participating in it. He had unconsciously backed away from all the flashing cameras and from the reporters grilling everyone with questions about what had happened and what they had done. So far no one seemed to notice Draco, and he preferred it that way. So, trusting that he wouldn't be missed, he moved to a dark corner and dissaparated to St. Mungo's.

Once he'd apparated in the lobby, Draco bypassed the line in front of the receptionist's desk and made his way directly to the lifts. He knew that he probably was not allowed to go into Hermione's room, but he didn't care. He was going to go wherever he liked until someone told him otherwise. When the lift left him on the appropriate floor, Draco strode down the hall with his old confident swagger. He'd always found that the more confident you appeared, the less people would question you about what you were doing. So when he'd finally found room 412, he walked in as if he owned the place, and therefore, had every right to enter.

Luckily, there were no healers in her room at the moment, so there was no one to kick him out. Still, the moment the door closed behind him, he froze. The room felt so stark and lonely, even with the large window, which revealed a peaceful world outside, and the various potion bottles sitting on the table beside the bed were not comforting. And Hermione… she looked so pale and weak lying there barely breathing. Cautiously, as if he was afraid that the slightest noise would harm her, Draco crossed the distance to Hermione's bedside.

"Hermione?" Draco spoke in a whisper so quiet that he wasn't sure he had spoken at all. "It's me, Draco," Draco decided to continue talking just to fill the silence, plus the thought that she might hear him helped to calm him. "I don't know if the healers told you, but you're in St. Mungo's, so you're safe now, and they're taking good care of you. They're giving you potions to heal you and take away the pain, so before you know it you'll be good as new." Draco looked around the room as he thought of something more to say. "You have a great view, when you wake up you'll have to take a look," Draco knew he was just babbling but he needed something to cover the silence. "Potter and Weasley sat hi, I'm sure they'll be here soon. They got held up by a bunch of reporters asking them about what happened," Draco didn't know what had made him bring up Potter and Weasley, only that he thought that knowing they were alright would make Hermione happy.

Just then, the door opened and a mediwitch followed by a floating scroll of parchment and a quill stepped in. She froze in her tracks when she caught sight of Draco, causing the quill and parchment to crash into her head. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I came to see Hermione," answered Draco.

"Well, there are no guests allowed right now, you'll have to wait in the waiting room down the hall," she pointed him out the door.

"Come on, I'm not hurting anything or disturbing her. Just let me sit in the corner or something. I promise I won't move or say a word, I just need to be here, Hermione shouldn't be alone."

The mediwitch's stern frown softened ever so slightly at Draco's plea, but she was no stranger to friends and family begging to stay in the rooms of her patients when they weren't allowed. "Look, I'm sorry, but it's best for the patient that she is not disturbed at the moment. Just wait in the waiting room and someone will come and inform you when you are allowed to come in, or if anything significant happens."

Perhaps the mediwitch was able to sense that Draco was about to argue, or maybe she was just accustomed to this conversation; either way, she began speaking again before Draco could argue further. "Look, either you go to the waiting room right now, or I will have security escort her from the premises, then you won't be able to see her at all."

Draco stood gaping indignantly at the mediwitch, but he took her threat seriously and with one more look at Hermione, he escorted himself out of the room. When he reached the door, the mediwitch spoke again.

"What is your name?"

"Draco Malfoy."

"Well Draco, I promise we will inform you the moment her condition changes."

"Improves," Draco stubbornly corrected.

The mediwitch smiled gently, "we will let you know at once. If you need to speak with me again, just ask for me at reception, my name is Jill." With that, Jill shut the door leaving Draco standing in the hall with a sour frown on his face. Knowing it would be useless to remain standing there, Draco trudged down the hall to the waiting room, and dropped into the chair nearest to the entrance.

Once seated, he tried to occupy his mind; it shouldn't have been difficult. After all, he had just helped to kill the Dark Lord; he should have been both relieved and ecstatic. But all his mind could focus on was Hermione's pale, nearly lifeless body lying alone in that hospital room. He couldn't stand the waiting, not knowing what was going to happen. Every time he heard footsteps approaching, his heart would speed up and he would stare at the doorway, but no one came. Draco tried to tell himself that no news was good news, but that expression had never sat well with him, and it certainly wasn't helping now.

A/N: Well there you have it, I hope you liked this chapter. Originally it was about twice as long, so I decided to break it up into 2 chapters, so the next chapter should be coming along relatively soon. Anyway, thanks for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts!