Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling's world, not mine.

Everyone cleared a path for Hermione as she ran towards Draco. The pain must have been pure agony, and Hermione didn't even know what was wrong.

"Draco," she crouched down to him, "what's going on, what's the matter?" Draco was clutching his left arm. "Draco I want you to let go of your arm, okay?" He wasn't listening to her. Either that or he couldn't hear what she was saying. Hermione took Draco's face in her hands and looked him square in the eyes, "Draco, I need you to do as I say. Trust me, all right?"

"Granger, it hurts," he said through bating breaths.

"I know, let me see it." Draco finally let go of his left arm and Hermione gasped at what she saw. The material of his black shirt had been burned straight through. The Dark Mark was scorching Draco's arm right before her eyes. "Draco, your Mark is turning white, what does that mean?" she said trying to keep calm.

"White?" he panted, "it's never–"

"It's never done this before?" she asked him.

"I think," he said, "I would remember the pain."

The room full of Order members and several Aurors were no help. None of them had seen anything like this before.

"Granger," Draco called out to her in barely a whisper. He was still breathing erratically. "What's wrong with me?"

"I don't know, Draco," she said taking his right hand. "Don't worry I'll figure it out."

"What would I do without you, Granger?" he said with as much a smirk as he could muster before passing out. Hermione refused to let herself panic. She went straight into Healer mode.

"Tonks, levitate Draco upstairs to his room. Make him as comfortable as you can. Ron, in my room there's a bunch of Healing books. Gather them up and–" Hermione was interrupted however, when Harry Apparated into the room looking like Draco had a minute ago. "Harry? What the–"

"I did it, it's over." Harry managed to get out before he too passed out. Lucky for him, Lupin was close and caught him.

Hermione didn't get much sleep that night, between taking care of Harry and Draco, and piecing together the puzzle of the events of that night. Harry had woken up not long after they got him upstairs to his room, and told everyone what had happened.

That he had gone to Godric's Hollow after Auror training to pick up Hermione's gift. How the special collector's edition of Hogwarts: A History had not come in yet and he got angry and stormed out. That he ended up at his parents' tree and sat there for an hour until he became so angry with himself that he cast some spell towards the tree that destroyed it.

How the tree turned out to be the final Horcrux; the one they had been searching ages for, right under Harry's nose the whole time. How right after Harry realized what he'd done, Voldemort showed up in Godric's Hollow for their final duel. That the whole time Harry could hear his parents and Sirius' voices, and then suddenly it was over. How somehow, Harry had finally defeated the Dark Lord (he was still a little fuzzy on the actual duel, but Hermione suspected it was post-traumatic stress that caused his memory lapse) and Aparated himself back to Grimmauld Place.

Hermione realized that Draco's sudden illness was not an illness at all, but merely the result of the Dark Lord's fall. He woke up a few hours after Harry the next morning with Hermione at his bedside.

"Granger?"

"It's okay, Draco."

"What happened?" he asked her.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Granger, answering my question with another question is annoying," he said sitting up. His strength must have been coming back. Hermione gave him a look and Draco rolled his eyes at her. "I remember we were getting ready to have cake and I felt...pain. Indescribable pain coming through my Dark Mark," he said and looked to his left arm. "What happened to my arm?" he asked her once he noticed the bandage over the place where his Dark Mark resided. "What happened to my shirt?" he asked, realizing he was missing his shirt.

"I had to take it off of you," Hermione told him.

"Why Granger you little minx," he smirked.

"Draco it's not funny. Your mark burned a hold straight through your shirt. I bandaged it up so you wouldn't irritate it."

"What happened?" he asked her in all seriousness.

"It's over, Draco. Last night, Harry and Voldemort. Harry came back."

"My arm," Draco said gently brushing his bandage, "I felt it. I felt the Dark Lord's defeat didn't I?" he said. Hermione nodded.

"It's really over, Draco" she told him.

"Oh Granger," he said when he saw her face and smiled. "You can be so naive sometimes. It's not even close to being over for me. I'm still a marked man, no pun intended."

"Draco, you're not a marked man anymore. Don't you get it? Most of the Order was here last night and a bunch of Aurors. You have witnesses, you had nothing to do with it. You've been at Grimmauld Place for weeks now; I've been with you, Tonks has been with you. There is no way they can prosecute you and if they even try my bum will be up there so fast defending you. I promise."

"Granger, you are something else."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said as she got up. "I'm going to get you some food. After you eat, I'm going to take another look at your arm and put some Murtlap Essence on it and if you're still tired I'll give you an Invigoration Draught."

"I think you just like seeing me without my shirt on," he told her wiggling his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes.

She had to hand it to Draco, he certainly could heal quickly. In no time at all he was back to his usual self. Three days after "The Fall," as the Daily Prophet had called it, the two of them had another go at Hermione's birthday cake in the middle of the night.

"So Harry was at the Ministry today," Hermione started.

"How wonderful for him," Draco said eating cake. Hermione went on.

"I'm sure you'll be relieved to know that even though you've served as a one time servant of Voldemort, you're getting off with relatively no punishment whatsoever," Hermione said nonchalantly.

"What do you mean by relatively?" Draco asked.

"You're going to be fined a good amount," she explained, "but seeing as how you can now access your Gringott's accounts that really shouldn't be a problem. Congratulations Draco, you're a free man again."

"So that means I'm free to leave? I can go on with my life, get my own place to live?" Draco asked. She nodded. "I'm free?" Draco said with a hollow laugh, as if even he couldn't believe what he was saying. "I can even get a bloody house elf if I want, because I'm free!"

Hermione's stomach sank. She never really considered what would happen after everything was over. All she knew was that Draco's role in her life would change, and she wasn't happy about it. They got up from the table and cleaned their dishes in silence. When they were done, Hermione finally worked up her courage.

"What are you going to do now?" she asked him nervously, "now that it's all over?"

"I'll be alright," he assured her. "Someone once told me that when happily ever after doesn't work out, you pick yourself up and keep on going, even if it hurts like hell." She smiled. "You know, Granger, you taught me a lot."

"Like what?" She couldn't help but wonder.

"Now I can pick myself up and keep going. I have a chance at a happily ever after."

"I'm happy for you, Draco."

"Yes well, you should be. There's something else I learned from this whole experience aside from the fact that it's generally not a good idea to try to take over the world for evil." She let out a laugh despite herself. "Granger?" She looked up at him trying to mask her sadness. "My happily ever after needs you."

"Me? What for?" she anxiously asked him as her stomach did flips.

"For the happily part," he smiled at her. Her heart skipped a beat and she tried to suppress her smile. She turned her back to him for a moment.

"That's a lot of responsibility on my part, you know," she said trying to hold herself together. "Your happiness on my shoulders. You think I'm good enough for the job?" she asked him turning back to him now, wearing his smirk.

"I think it's a job that only you can fill, Granger," he said, placing his arms around her. Instinctively, she did the same and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Well then," she sighed, "I guess I've no other choice."

"I guess not," he said as kissed her. It was like no other kiss she'd had before. It was full of passion, love; Draco was gentle but powerful, it just felt right. "You know, Granger, you need to be kissed. And often. And by someone who knows how." She laughed and shook her head.

"You know, Draco, it's not so easy," she said earnestly, "loving me. You're going to need a lot of patience for everything I'm going to put you through."

"Granger you saved me," he said looking directly into her eyes. "Now I get to be the one to save you.

"Save me?" she asked, "from whom?"

"From yourself." She smiled and kissed him again.

"You've got a deal," she said. He held her tighter and started smirking at her. Draco let out an overly dramatic sigh.

"I mean, when you think about it, who else is up for the job? Potter? Weasley? No, they'd never make it. I'm the only one who can handle you. And that is saying a lot about me."

"Oh it's saying a lot about you, Malfoy," she said as she rolled her eyes, still in each others arms.

"So it's back to Malfoy is it?"

"Well you don't call me Hermione," she said to him as she turned her face away.

"'Granger' is a term of affection," he said taking advantage of the situation and nuzzling her neck. "Now normally in the movies, right now I would sweep you off your feet and carry you upstairs to the bedroom where we would make sweet and passionate love all night long," she laughed, "and you of course would then bask in the glory that is Draco Malfoy and how lucky you are to be with me, however," he stopped and looked into her eyes, "I don't really see you as the 'carrying to the bedroom' type."

"Well, you're correct, Mr. Malfoy. Ten points to Slytherin."

"Shall we?" he asked as he held his hand out to her. Hermione took it and walked with him upstairs.

Draco was already awake and watching Hermione sleep when she woke up in his arms the next morning. He had a smile on his face and kissed her tenderly.

"You're not going to let me get a house elf, are you?" he asked her.

"Nope," she said.

"The sacrifices I make for the woman I love," he mumbled as he went back for another kiss.

Author's Note – That's it! I can't believe I actually made it this far, I'm so excited. Okay, so I have to say that I wrote the very last bit about two months ago, but it took me forever and a day to figure out how to get from Hermione's birthday to the very end. I hope it doesn't feel too rushed. I didn't think you guys would want to read about Draco going through a long trial and stuff, and I didn't want to write anything like that. I'm happy with where I ended it, and I hope you guys are too.

I really just want to say thank you. Thank you to all of you guys, the readers! Seriously, this fic was going to be a few chapters long but you all responded so positively I just couldn't stop myself. Your comments and words of encouragement and criticism really helped and I can't thank you guys enough. And thanks to all my regular reviewers especially, it means a lot that you take the time out every chapter to respond, even if it's something like, "nice chapter, can't wait for the next one." So for the very last time (in this fic at least, because I will continue writing Dramione fics!) thank you all so, so, so, much for reading. Let me know what you guys think!

xoxo