Stupid FanFiction, not sending out the email alerts. I wonder why it took so long to fix the darn alerts? Well, here's the final chapter.
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When they finally pulled apart, Hermione's legs were slightly shaky and Draco felt completely drained yet totally exuberant. He didn't know how long these feelings had been building up inside of him, but he was glad to have them out in the open at last.
"What...was that?" Hermione managed to ask after getting her breath back.
"I'm sick of always keeping a stony exterior. I guess seeing you so happy and carefree even after what we've been through finally forced me to acknowledge that. Hermione, I care for you and I wanted you to know that you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Draco blushed a little as the words rushed from his mouth. Had he really just admitted that?
Hermione just stared at him in open-mouthed wonder. Draco Malfoy - of all people - thought she was beautiful? True, lately she had found herself to be slightly more attracted to him than she was comfortable admitting to, but she had never expected it to be reciprocated!
"Do you really mean that?" she queried. Her heart hammered as she asked the question.
"Yeah...I do," he whispered. He stepped closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and shoulders. She looked up at him and smiled shyly, a slight blush gracing her cheeks. Draco bent down and kissed her until she felt as though she were on one of those rides that spins faster and faster until the bottom drops out and you're stuck to the side. Right now, she knew that the bottom must have just fallen out from under her and the only thing holding her up was Draco. It was the greatest feeling in the world.
After what felt like hours, she finally forced herself to start thinking logically and she pulled away from his powerful arms.
"Draco, much as I'm truly enjoying this, I think we should get going to London. What does the map say that Dumbledore gave you? How far away are we?" she asked, trying to change the subject. Draco was hesitant to let her go at first, but caught the logic in what she said. He withdrew the map from within his jacket and opened it. He located the red dot which indicated where they were and would move in correlation with wherever they went. It indicated that they were about two miles from London.
"Well, I suppose if we walk fast we should be there in about half an hour," he estimated, glancing at the sky. The sun was almost to the western horizon, so they needed to hurry if they were going to find a place to stay tonight. They set off at a brisk pace and without a word, Draco picked up Hermione's hand and held it as they walked.
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They reached the outskirts of London just as the sun was casting a red hue throughout the western sky. Neither one recognized the city for a moment; the familiar skyline they had grown up with was completely gone, and not just because half the buildings hadn't been built yet. The city was in ruins.
Draco couldn't help but notice as they walked down the streets of the city how the further in they went, the more ruinous the place became. Half-destroyed buildings stood with the rubble piled at their bases. It was almost impossible to get through the streets in some areas because the debris was piled so high that only a small, winding path allowed passage.
As they walked, Draco realized that he was basically guiding Hermione through the obstacles, and she followed as though she had no control over her own actions. She just stared at the destruction all around her.
The most eerie part of the entire experience was the complete lack of other people in the streets. It was as though the whole city was abandoned. Any homes which may have been inhabited had the window shades drawn until not a glimmer of light could escape, and no one roamed the streets.
"Draco, I'm scared," Hermione suddenly whispered in his ear. He tried to squeeze her hand reassuringly, but he, too, was filled with dread. The fog was rolling in off the river since the sun had just set, and walking through the mist with the heaps of rubble all around felt like walking through a cemetery.
"There's nothing to worry about. It's just fog; it couldn't hurt a fly. What are you afraid of?" he asked. She just stood there, as though rooted to the spot, and ignored him. She was listening to something. Before Draco could find out what it was, though, a horrible wailing rent the air. He didn't know what it was at first, but it wasn't human. Attempting to cover his ears, he grabbed Hermione and began dragging her towards a doorway, but she wouldn't move; she was staring at something in the sky.
Looking up, he saw the dreaded outlines of five German bombers flying in formation. Well, that would explain the sound! It was the air raid sirens! This was bad. He and Hermione were outside in the middle of a German bombing run on London. He turned to try to get Hermione back into a somewhat safe location, but where she had been standing before was only a swirling mist. Peering around, he saw her figure disappearing in the milky-whiteness.
"Hermione!" he called, but she didn't hear him. He began sprinting after her, his heart thumping wildly in his ears. Draco had a ghastly feeling that something dreadful was about to happen to one, or both, of them.
Finally, he managed to catch up to her a bit. She was still about thirty feet in front of him, but she was slowing down. He began to run faster, but his foot hit the corner of a pile of destroyed masonry and he was sent sprawling on his face just when he heard the awful whistling noise tearing through the air. All during the mad dash after Hermione, Draco had heard the bombs dropping from the bombers, screeching through the air and blowing huge buildings into tiny pieces, and it was a sound he dreaded to hear.
Now, Hermione heard it, too. She stood, paralyzed by fear, next to a half-demolished old office building, and as Draco watched, she turned to look at the building as though just now realizing where she was. In slow motion, it seemed, the bomb struck the building on the far side, but with enough force that the entire limestone building was blown to smithereens. Hermione disappeared in a sea of huge bricks.
The last thing Draco knew, he was screaming his lungs out, and then everything went black.
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"Draco...Draco, darling, wake up!" Draco heard a woman's voice calling to him and felt himself being shaken. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around the girl and pulled her close to him before opening his eyes to see...Pansy Parkinson? Where was Hermione?
He abruptly released the shocked and somewhat hurt looking Pansy and sat up quickly. The sudden movement caused his head to swim and he sank back on the pillows upon which he had been reclining. He saw that he was in the Hogwarts hospital wing, and was apparently back in the correct time period once again, if Pansy was there.
"Pansy, get Madam Pomfrey for me. Now," he commanded. Pansy shot him a wounded look before stomping off in compliance to his wish.
While he waited for the coming of the infirmary nurse, Draco began to take in his situation. Something had happened to him...his head was throbbing and he realized that it was bandaged. How long had he been here? Where was...Hermione! Was she okay? What had happened to her? Before he could wonder any more, Madam Pomfrey entered.
"Mister Malfoy! I'm glad to see you're finally recovering! You seemed to have been having some rather wild dreams there for a while," she said, eyeing him critically.
"Madam Pomfrey, what happened to me? And where's Granger?" Draco asked, trying to sound nonchalant about the last question, but he was truly anxious to know the answer. He felt sick to his stomach whenever he thought about what could have happened to Hermione.
"I'm afraid you've been in a coma for the last week. You tripped down one of the staircases, and took Miss Granger down with you. You hit your heads together and against a stone wall simultaneously. Honestly, I've never seen such a freak accident! Both you and Miss Granger have been comatose ever since. However, she woke up a few minutes before you did, and I was merely moving her to a different room when you awoke. I had Miss Parkinson stay with you should you happen to awake while I was gone. I would like to keep you here overnight, just to ensure that you are quite all right, and you may go in the morning. I'll have some of the house elves bring you supper, and you are to stay in bed until I say you may get up." And with that, she swept out of the room.
Draco felt a sudden elation when he heard that Hermione was okay. But that was the only bit of news which made him feel better. Comatose? Had the whole thing been a dream? Had Hermione had the same dream, or had she dreamed something different all together? If she didn't remember anything, he felt that he would die of grief. In the time that he lay there pondering his troubles, the house elves came and went and his food had gotten cold.
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Apparently, Draco had fallen asleep wondering if Hermione would remember anything, because he suddenly opened his eyes to find that the room was completely dark except for the moonlight shining in through the window. He needed to think, so without any regard for what Madam Pomfrey had told him earlier, he clambered out of bed and padded softly from the hospital wing.
Draco wandered the castle, treading through the lesser-used passages of the massive building, avoiding prying eyes. He shambled aimlessly about, hardly caring what part of the castle he was in until he found himself in the silent darkness of the astronomy tower. The tower had an ethereal feel to it, perhaps because it seemed that the heavens were closer here than anywhere else in the world, and the stars gave a soft, shadowy light to the room. Draco collapsed on a bench under the window and gazed helplessly at the stars.
"Fancy meeting you here," a soft voice broke the silence. Draco was startled out of his reverie, but the gentleness in the voice stopped him from yelling at the person. Instead, he peered into the darkness to see who had spoken, but he could only see the shadowy shapes of the various instruments and furniture in the room.
"Who's there?" he queried.
"Hello, Draco," Hermione said, stepping out of the darkness and into a tiny pool of light near his seat by the window. Draco wanted to shout for joy when he saw her, but managed to contain his excitement.
"What are you doing here, Granger?" he asked, not sure yet if she had shared the same comatose dream with him.
She gave him a slightly hurt look before replying, "I could ask you the same question. But if you must know, I had to ask you something. Draco...did you have a dream during your coma?"
Suddenly, hope sprang anew in Draco's chest. He sent up a fervent prayer that she had the same dream and said, "Yeah...I dreamed I was in World War Two Germany. And you?"
"Oh. Well, that wasn't my dream at all."
Draco felt he was going to cry when he heard this.
"Gotcha," she said with a slight grin. "Oh, I'm so glad that we had the same dream! It was awful. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't had the same one I did! Draco, please tell me that your actions and feelings in the dream weren't a figment of the imagination, too."
"Sorry, but it was really just a dream."
"...Oh."
"Gotcha." Draco laughed at the look of shock on Hermione's face before jumping off the bench and wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. He never wanted to let her go again. After a while, though, she pushed away a bit to peer up into his face, a happy smile gracing her features.
"Hermione, how do you think we managed to have the same dream?" he asked, the question had suddenly popped into his head.
"Well, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it's because we had been fighting right before the accident happened, and our minds were both still fixated on that argument. Plus, with all the magic floating around this place and the fact that we hit our heads together, it probably caused some sort of 'mind-meld,'" she responded. Draco nodded, pretending he really understood what she had just said.
"Okay. Well, so long as we both remember everything. I don't ever want to lose you again, Hermione. That was the worst feeling in the world to see that building collapse on you. I thought I had died with you. I'm so glad you're not dead," he said, clutching her to him again and kissing the top of her head. She hugged him back and gently rubbed her hands up and down his back, trying to soothe him.
"You won't lose me again, Draco. Not if I can help it," she smiled and turned her face towards him, kissing him on the cheek. He turned and caught her lips in a warm, gentle kiss.
"Go out with me, Granger?" he whispered in between kisses.
"In a heartbeat, Malfoy," she smiled and deepened the kisses.
The End.
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Okay, kinda cheesy (by which I mean extremely cheesy). I know the end was a big twist from what everyone was expecting (I think), but hopefully it wasn't too bad. I had it planned from the beginning, so I couldn't really change it. Anyway, please review, and if you have questions about it or something, leave a signed review and I will definitely reply! Thanks for everyone who has stuck with this story from beginning to end, and I hope it wasn't too disappointing.