Chapter Sixteen

A few hours later, all that were injured were transported to St. Mungo's. That was a lot of witches and wizards, taking up the whole building.

On the top floor, a private wing was set up for Harry Potter and his inner circle. He was still unconscious. Unconscious…but alive.

Inside the room, Ginny was arguing with the Healers. Draco, Ron, and I were sitting on beds inside the room just watching the show, as well as keeping an eye on Harry, who was still completely limp but breathing shallowly.

"Why isn't he up yet? I want some answers now!"

"Please, Miss Weasley, we need you to lie down and relax, we must check your injuries!"

"To hell with my injuries, I want to know about Harry! Get your hands off me, you bloody wanker!"

"Miss Weasley, this is hardly appropriate beha-"

"Screw propriety! Tell me what the fuck is wrong with Harry, or…or…I'll hex your penis off!"

"Miss Weasley!"

"Did you not hear me say NOW?!"

"Listen, why don't you just tell us what exactly's wrong so my sister can relax?" Ron cut in.

The three Healers glanced at each other uncomfortably. "That- that is… that's classified information that we aren't allowed to disclose because-"

"Because they don't know what exactly is wrong with Mr. Potter.

Two figures had swept into the room. One of them was the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, but he wasn't the one who had spoken. The other's face was covered by a long cloak that concealed his facial features, but I could tell it was a man. His steps were more like long, sweeping glides, reminding me of back in Hogwarts, for some reason. Goodness, it was familiar…almost like back when…

"Snape!" I gasped. Ginny and Ron both immediately drew out their wands, but the Minister spelled them away.

"Minister!" Ron protested, sputtering. "What the hell is that greasy, backstabbing, murdering-"

"Weasley, you better listen to-"

"Shutup, Malfoy!"

"Let me at him! That stupid bastard killed-" Ginny had started to lunge furiously at Snape when Draco took hold of her struggling body.

"Draco, what are you doing?!"

"Let go of my sister, you bloody-"

"Enough, everyone!" came from Snape. At once, I snarled at him.

"Minister, I demand you tell us right now what the hell Dumbledore's murderer is standing in this room, not being cursed to oblivion!"

Snape seemed to cringe slightly at the title I gave him, but he merely said, "Ms. Granger, I assure you that all will be explained shortly, if you and your little friends could just be patient for-"

"Oh, don't patronize her! You stupid, filthy- God damn it, Malfoy, let go of me, or so help me God, I will- Ron, ow! That's not his arm you're grabbing!"

"Honestly, Miss Weasley, obviously I was on the light side throughout everything, including the battle. Don't you think that if I wasn't, I could have easily killed you, when instead I let you go? Now if you'd cease thrashing about, I could tell you what's wrong with Mr. Potter here."

"Wait a second!" I yelled, silencing everyone. "S…Snape. You know what's wrong with Harry?"

"He does." I turned to Draco who had spoken. He had let go of Ginny, and now he was looking down at his feet.

"Draco?" I started tentatively. "What do you know about this?"

He looked up at me guiltily, "I…I basically know everything."

A beat. "What?"

"I believe I can explain," stated the Minister swiftly. "Draco has been on the light side ever since your sixth year, and believe it or not, so has Severus."

"What?! Are you bloody mental?! He killed Dumbledore!" practically screeched Ron. "He's about as light as chocolate pudding."

"Try tapioca, Mr. Weasley," said Snape dryly.

"And Draco hasn't even been in contact with the magical world since that day it happened."

"Or so he's told you! In fact, Draco has been in hiding, waiting for the Ministry to call on him when the time came for our ultimate plan to take place. He's been filled in on every detail of all these past years," said the Minister. "Of course, after this, Mr. Malfoy's name will be cleared, and he will settle among the ranks of our rebuilding society, given an Order of Merlin, First Class. As we all saw his magnificent display today, I'm sure everyone agrees he deserves it and belongs with our magical community once again."

I turned to him. "So you knew everything?"

He had on a tortured expression. "Yes. And when you asked me to go fight with you, I know, I said some stupid things, but I was panicked, I knew I wasn't supposed to go back until I got the signal from Snape- I only got the message a little after you left."

Hmm. "So you didn't come back for me."

He didn't have a response to this.

Rufus Scrimgeour started up again. "Now, when Dumbledore died-"

"Thanks to that greasy bat," muttered Ron furiously.

Rufus rubbed his face impatiently. "Yes, Mr. Weasley, thanks to him. However, what you all may not know…"

"Dumbledore knew he was to die." Snape cut in. "By my hand."

"I made the Unbreakable Vow. There was no turning back. It was for Draco's sake, but it was irreversible, and Dumbledore knew it. Therefore, we made a plan in the time we had, and it worked out perfectly on the battlefield."

"Perfectly," said Ginny quietly. "If it worked out so perfectly, then why isn't Harry having this conversation with us?"

Snape observed her without expression, but with a glimmer of pity in his eyes. "You were not the Horcrux, Miss Weasley. You never even had the Horcrux in you. After all, how could you have? It was during your first year, was it not? You were only possessed by a Horcrux at that time, not Voldemort himself, in the flesh. And one Horcrux cannot make another. The truth of the matter was- Voldemort did not know where his last Horcrux was. But…

"Dumbledore did."

We were all struck silent by this new truckload of revelation. And although I had an idea of what the last Horcrux really was, I still had to ask. "And…and what was it?"

Snape looked at me for a moment, and just by the look he held as our eyes met, I knew my guess was correct. My eyes filled with tears as I turned towards Harry.

Ginny knew what I was getting at. "No!" she gasped. "No, it just can't…he can't…"

But he very well was. It was explainable. And it explained everything.

"Well…what's going to happen to him?" asked Ginny, pale with fear."

"Well, we knew that it only Voldemort could kill the Horcrux within Harry with a slight possibility of not killing Harry in the process. If anyone else tried, Harry would be dead and buried right now."

"Stop," Ron said, seeing Ginny's wild panic behind her dead visage. "Just tell us whether he'll come to or not."

Snape came around to the other side of Harry's bed. His eyes were closed, his face was calm, his breathing was light. There was an eeriness about his expression though, as if he really was dead. Although he was already unconscious and not really here, it was as if he had gone somewhere else completely, his whole soul occupied with something that made us feel there was a great void in the bed wearing a Harry Potter costume.

"Whether he wakes or not," started Snape, "is completely up to him. He should be struggling inwardly right now, fighting the painful darkness Voldemort put in him that always lay dormant…until now. He may conquer it, as he had conquered everything else in his life. Or he may die in the attempt to vanquish it. It is clear that he refuses to live with it."

Refuses to live with it? "Do you mean that he could simply wake up right now if he chose to?"

"Well, yes. But inside, he knows that there is some of Voldemort inside of him. And I do not believe you would choose to 'simply wake up' and live with that for the rest of your life either, Miss Granger.

"And you should all know that…killing Professor Dumbledore…was the hardest and by far the most painful thing I ever had to do in my life."

We all looked up at this, surprised at the moment of vulnerability- but he looked away for an instant, and at once the moment was gone.

I looked to Ginny. Her eyes were sad and fearful, but understanding. She leaned down to kiss his cheek lightly. She looked up at everyone.

"Then I suppose…now we wait."

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A week had passed. My guess was that life was going on outside the hospital. Witched and wizards were celebrating, the press was having the grandpappy of field days, and happiness was galore. Inside it, however, we were stuck in sort of time warp. Ginny watched Harry, we were treated by the Healers, Ron slept, and Draco…

Well, I couldn't quite look at him.

And not just because throughout all the time I got to know him he lied to me.

Not just because he knew everything going on in the magical world all along, including the reason I ran away to him in the first place.

Not just because the L word had been spoken by only me, though I was almost certain he felt the same way.

Not just because I still felt that way for him.

No, none of that really matters when love comes into it, does it? After all, he was only doing what he had to do. I would have done the same in his place. I'm not stupid enough to walk away from him because of this petty thing, in light of all that's happened.

Then why couldn't I look him in the face? Why was I avoiding him within our tiny hospital family?

It was because of what I was to tell him, what I was to tell all of them, the decision I'd made. The Healers had already told me I was ready to leave the hospital. And that being made clear, I knew that I couldn't delay any longer.

"Umm…Draco?"

He was currently playing a game of Exploding Snap with Ron. The two had become quite civil with each other in our close quarters, both bonding over alike injuries and disgusting healing potions and stinging wounds. I guess even Ron knew that old rivalries didn't matter anymore.

"Could I talk to you for a moment?" I asked shyly, wringing my hands behind my back.

He seemed rather perplexed at being so suddenly and cryptically addressed after over a week of being ignored. Despite many attempts of his to converse. "Yeah, of course."

"Oh, c'mon, we're in the middle of a game, 'Mione!" complained Ron.

Draco and I both rolled our eyes and responded simultaneously, "You'll live."

I blushed at that as we left for a more private room.

"Finally decided to acknowledge my existence?" he teased nervously. Well, I could tell he was nervous. As it was said before, there are other ways to read Draco.

"Yes, well, sorry about that. I just had to tell you something."

He nodded for me to go on. "Right. Well. I'm…leaving."

It took him a moment to process this. "What?"

"What?!" exclaimed Ginny behind me, who had just come in our conversation. "Leaving the hospital? Have you already healed?"

Oh, great. Now this was just gonna be harder. "No. I mean, yes I am leaving the hospital, but what I meant was…I'm leaving here. London. The Auror business. The wizarding world."

I looked at Draco and I think he knew what this meant. Leaving him.

He shook his head. "No, Hermione, I know that I messed up everything, but you can't just-"

"No, Draco, really, it's not about any of that. I easily forgive you for any of that. This is for me." Looking at his face, the way he held back any expression except for careful perplexity, I knew he didn't fully believe me. "I mean, let's face it. This world isn't mine anymore."

"That's not true," argued Ginny.

"It is, Gin. You saw me out there on the battlefield. And I know, you're just going to say I was out of practice, I could pick it all up again. But the truth is I can't. I just can't.

"I realized myself, sometime during the battle, that this place just isn't me anymore. And yes, I supposed I could get used to it again…but I really don't even want it anymore."

"Hermione, I don't understand, you worked so hard for this world, and now…you're just walking away? What about Ron, Harry…" Draco.

I almost cracked a smile as I turned towards her. "Harry made a choice within himself. He could easily wake up right now, take an easy road and simply live with knowing that he didn't quite vanquish the last of his past. But he didn't. He's doing what's right for him even if it kills him, and now I need to do what's right for me.

"Can you tell Ron while I…Can you tell Ron right now?" She nodded, understanding that I needed this moment with Draco.

As she left the room, I stared at Draco while he stared at the wall.

"Where are you going to go?" he asked quietly.

I took a deep breath and let it out. "I…don't know. Maybe somewhere in the America's. Just away, you know."

"What is this, a test? I didn't come back with you last time and this time you're seeing if I will?" he asked, bordering on anger.

"No! How can you say that? This isn't about you, Draco, this is purely for myself- I just want to do this for me."

"You do realize that you're running away again, just what you didn't want to do," he said, looking me in the eye. I knew he was saying these things so I wouldn't go, and so I didn't get angry.

"No, I'm not, Draco. I'm not running away this time- I'm walking away. When I was running, I was always running from something. This time I'm walking toward something, something else.

"Trust me, I've thought this through so many times…I've only ever known this life, and I do feel I did my part somewhat for the new world after Voldemort. But I've been thinking, Draco, really thinking, and this new world? It's not for me. I killed myself working and not really feeling…But when I ran away to New York, to you, I reawoken. You made me feel again, and…"

I looked at his face and I couldn't tell if he understood me or not.

"I love you," I said for perhaps the last time. "I don't know, but I may always love you…but you do belong here, and you know it. You need to stay.

"I know before, in New York, you were saying those things to protect your cover…but there was truth in them. Now, you've made a life here, you've got a set job here, and I know, I just know you've been aching to come back. You've been aching to get on your broom again, I just know it. And you do too." I took his hand. His grip tightened slightly on mine.

"I want you to stay with me," he murmured.

I smiled sadly. "And I want you to stay here- well, no, that's a bold-faced lie, I want you to come with me as well. But neither of us are going to ask the other to stay or go, because we know what we both need."

The rest of what I wanted to tell him but didn't know how remained unspoken as I leaned in to kiss him on his cheek. But he was having none of that. He turned his head to meet mine, slid his hand up my neck to gently guide my lips to his. I parted my mouth with a sigh as his fingers lightly tangled in my hair. I pressed myself against him, knowing I could very well never feel like this again. Our embrace was so gentle and sweet, it was enough to break my heart again.

"Goodbye, Draco."

"Goodbye, Hermione." Tearfully, I walked toward the door when I heard his voice in a hoarse whisper.

"I love you too."

And those words alone almost made me go back and stay. Almost.