Author's Note: I want to thank you all for reviewing. I am sorry that I have been random in my writings. I have had some family issues come up and have started going back to school so I have been very lacking in keeping up with my story writing.

Chapter 10

*Draco*

"Where are the elves Draco? I need someone to take my bags to my room." Of course that had been the first question Lucius would ask to him. He'd been imprisoned for about a decade and it's all about him.

"I gave them their freedom Lucius." The utterance of his first name made Lucius snap his attention onto his son. With a sneer and an exaggerated flair Lucius took off his cloak and let it drop to the floor. It hit Draco that his father had never been without house elves to clean up after him.

"Why in the bloody hell would you do that?" Draco knew the tone his father had taken meant that he would be getting hit if he didn't say the right thing. When he was a boy, and even a young man, he would try to figure out the right thing to say. Now, though, he didn't care to appease his father.

"Because it was just me and I didn't want them anymore, I can take care of myself. The real question though Lucius is why are you out of Azkaban." He knew the slap was coming long before the sting was upon his cheek.

"Your mother killed herself, the dementors caused her to do it, and they let me out to arrange her burial." All that came to Draco's mind was that his mother didn't do it because of the dementors; it was because Lucius convinced her to do it. That was the one fatal flaw that Narcissus had was to be so blind when it came to Lucius. As much as he loved his mother, Draco felt no more than a passing sadness that left him quickly. Thankfully any warmth and tenderness that Draco had towards his parents had died out when he'd been young.

With exaggerated moves Lucius picked up his cloak and draped it over his arm and walked towards his bedroom. With a slight pop Lucius apparated and Draco let the breath he had been unknowingly holding out of his chest. Deciding against going to his room, Draco called for his things and once they were there he sent them to Hermione's home. He was not going to stay with a person that only shares his blood.

Not knowing what else to do, and not wanting Hermione to see him upset, Draco went to the only place he could think of. He just hoped that they would be there. Draco was unsure of how he should approach them. Of course they all seemed decent, almost nice, towards him but Draco couldn't help but feel like he was being set up to take the fall somehow. He decided that he would send his patronus in ahead of himself and give them a warning and time to gather together. By the time he walked up to the house he could hear the telltale pop of someone apparating. As he walked to the door he saw a plump friendly woman opening the door calling to Ron about not eating all the food. Thankfully she opened the door and then quietly slipped outside to give the four of them some much needed privacy.

"I was starting to wonder if we were ever going to hear from you Draco." Ginny said with what Draco hoped was mild amusement mixed with worry. The smile proved to him that his intuition was, yet again, right. He went on to explain to the silent room about what the doctor had said and what Hermione was doing. The tension in the room lessened a great deal once Draco had finished speaking. He assumed everyone was waiting for bad news. It was then that he started seeing guilty glances between the three of them with the occasional look at him to see if he'd picked up on what they were silently saying to one another.

"Alright, spill it. I don't want any secrets where Hermione is concerned." Draco saw that Harry was about to speak when Ron's voice silenced the room yet again.

"I, I mean, we were worried because we hadn't heard from you for a few days and we, I, went to St. Mungo's this afternoon and spoke with the doctor. I didn't mean to tread on you but-. "Draco sighed and relaxed.

"Nothing to worry about, I completely understand, hell I would have done the same thing if I were in the same position." The room took on a more relaxed, albeit still stressed, vibe and Draco was relieved. At least he was until a scream echoed in from outside. Everybody jumped up and ran to the half door and looked out. Standing in the middle of the yard was Molly had her wand pointed at an intruder. With one glance Draco knew who it was. The greater question was why was he here and how did he find him.

"Molly, I have been released from Azkaban; they deemed me worthy of leaving now kindly lay your wand down. I mean you no harm. I just came for Draco; he needs to help me get things together." Lucius searched the house with a barely suppressed sneer. He saw Draco standing in the doorway and motioned for him to come out of the house.

"Lucius if I were you I would leave now, while Molly is in a relatively nice mood. I don't want anything to do with you." With that Draco sat down at the table. He could feel all the eyes in the house on him. He looked at his nails, as if he banished his father every day.

"Draco Malfoy, I am your father, your master. You WILL do as I say and COME OUT HERE NOW."

"Lucius, you are on my property and if you don't leave I will make sure to get a few dementors out here to make sure you are telling the truth. Leave now and don't ever come back onto my property." With a purposeful movement Lucius put his wand in his cloak and spun on the spot making a slight popping sound and was gone. Molly came into the house a few moments later, obviously trying to calm herself down. Upon seeing Draco sitting at the table she hugged him. It startled him for a moment and it made him feel both uneasy and yet normal and natural. He hugged her back, albeit a little stiffly. When she pulled away she looked in his eyes and with that one look she conveyed his acceptance at their house anytime.

After Molly left the room, claiming the need to work on her knitting project, everyone found a spot to sit in silence. Harry sat in an armchair with Ginny joining him by sitting on his lap. Ron took a seat across from Draco. No one spoke for what seemed like a long time, but in reality was probably only a few minutes. He could tell that they wanted to question him but no one wanted to be the first one to speak.

"Ok, I can feel you all dying to ask me something spit it out." It came out harsher than Draco had wanted. It was Ginny who spoke first.

"Are you ok?" Draco waited for more but she just left it at that. She looked at him with such compassion and caring that it startled him. He'd never really had anyone look at him that way. His mother usually looked at Draco as more of a requirement than anything else. His father treated Draco as a prince in line to replace him as king. With a shock of realization he felt a lump in his throat and try as hard as he might he couldn't swallow it. Usually he was able to hide his feelings without even thinking about it. Giving up on being able to speak he just nodded and it took him a second to realize that he was actually shaking his head. Ginny got up out of Harry's lap and sat in the chair next to him and took his hand. She started rubbing the back, the way a mother would to a sick child's back, and instantly the tears fell.

It took Draco a minute to see that it was only Ginny and himself in the kitchen. Whether it was genuine giving them privacy or just being uncomfortable, Draco was grateful. It was humiliating for him to break down crying in a room full of his not too distant enemies. Ginny didn't speak, but she had stopped rubbing his hand, and had instead gotten up and started making a pot of tea. He could tell that she was uncomfortable because she was making the tea the manual, non-magical, way.

"You know, I am the only girl in my family. I used to wish every chance I got that I would be able to have a little sister to play with. I remember once asking my parents about it. My mum just looked at me. I think she never realized how starved for girly interactions I was. She sat in stunned silence and started to cry. I thought I had said something wrong but she just grabbed me and hugged me. With George and Fred always getting into things it was only natural for her attention to be on them mostly. She told me that she was so sorry that she hadn't realized I was hurting and that she was going to make a special time each week just for us. I relish those days, we still have them, though not as often. I saw how your father looked at you and I know that if anybody ever were to look at me like that my heart would break. I can't even begin to imagine it belonging to your parent." With that Ginny set the tea in front of Draco and quietly sipped at hers.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Ginny looking out the window staring at something, and Draco was drinking in the warmth from both the tea and the house; a house filled with genuine love and caring. Before Draco could speak his mind there was a slight cough and the appearance of two heads peaking around the corner of the stairwell. They hesitantly looked between Ginny and Draco, as if waiting for their parent to dole out their punishment for doing something bad. Ginny didn't speak, she just got up and poured two more cups of tea and everyone quietly sat around the table caught up in their own thoughts. With a startled realization Draco noticed the time and practically toppled his chair jumping up.

"I promised Hermione I would be back by now, I best be going, thanks for the tea and everything else." He tried to make the last part sound like his old snarky self; he doesn't want people to see him as weak or weakened in the years since the war. With a slight nod towards Ginny and a quick look at Ron and Harry Draco walked outside to apparate. As he was raising his wand a cautious voice made him stop.

"I want you to know that you have a family here Draco." Molly turned to go into the house when before he even realized what he was doing Draco was hugging Molly.

"Thank you Mrs. Weasly, just thank you." With that Draco apparated and took a second to contain himself before seeing Hermione. He wanted to be strong for her and it had been so long since he's been able to show a side of himself that was just a jackass.

Seeing Hermione's smiling face made him forget about his father and mother. She looked completely like she used to. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the edge of the bed and told her that he'd visited with Ginny, Ron and Harry. Hermione smiled and let Draco know that her doctor wanted to see him; as if saying his name made him materialize the doctor came walking through the door a few seconds later.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger and I have spoken and decided that it would do her well to leave St. Mungo's and return home. Now she is going to need to take it easy and slowly return to her prior routines. I still want to see her at least once a week for a checkup." Draco looked from the doctor to Hermione and back again not believing what he just heard. A slow smile spread across his face and Hermione grabbed his hand and squeezed it in nervous excitement. The doctor soon left leaving some final instructions that quite frankly Draco didn't hear. He could see his lips moving and Hermione's in response but it was as if he was under water, nothing was quite making sense and it took too long for him to figure out what was being said.

As Hermione slept soundly Draco sat wide awake worrying about what is going to happen now. He'd kind of hoped having a bit of a buffer between Hermione, himself and Lucius; and let's face it being in St. Mungo's is about as good a buffer as changing one's physical appearance. When exhaustion kicked in the sun had started creeping over the bottom of the windows. Draco fell into a dreamless sleep and awoke a few hours later with a blanket on him and Hermione sitting next to him reading a book on how to crochet. Draco knew he needed to tell Hermione about his father but for the life of him he just couldn't put it into words quite yet. As if she was reading his mind Hermione looked at him and took his hand.

"You look far away, are you ok? You had the same look yesterday with the doctor." Draco did not have time to say anything. As he opened his mouth Hermione gasped and jumped off the bed. In the doorway to her room stood three instantly recognizable figures; Ginny, Ron and Harry. They walked over to Hermione and crowded her bed in amongst the hugs. In the chaos of them entering Draco slipped out needing a breath of fresh air. Thinking he was successful in leaving unnoticed, Draco decided he needed to get the answer from the source about his mom.

Walking into Azkaban was scary and depressing. He could see the once sane Deatheaters talking to themselves and rocking in their cells. As soon as he'd seen this Draco wanted to run back to Hermione and try to forget it. He was on a mission though and would not leave until he'd gotten his answers. Upon stepping into the warden's office Draco was struck with how depressing and yet hopeful it was. He had pictures of his children and wife everywhere. Draco kept Hermione close to his heart as he felt the dementor's gliding silently closer to him. They stayed near him, as if waiting for an imperceptible acknowledgement to start torturing their new prisoner. The director just sent a patronus towards them and they backed off. He looked up the information Draco gave him and confirmed what Draco knew.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Malfoy I can not divulge any more information than you already know. I would suggest that you speak with your father about it if you have any questions."

"I just wanted to check his story. Was there any type of security camera or anyone or thing watching that could fill in the time that they were here?" With a shake of his head the director lead Draco out of his office. He wasn't sure but he felt that something was going on and it was not good. More than ever Draco knew he would have to let go of his familial ties completely. With no one wanting to tell him anything it was the best possible avenue, one that would save his sanity in the process.

Draco silently apparated in his bedroom and began to quickly gather his possessions. He would never be returning to his boyhood home, and that suited him just fine. Walking over to his desk he opened the drawer and grabbed for the ring box but his hand only met the bottom of the drawer. Draco's heart stopped and he looked in the drawer, even taking it out of the desk to make sure it wasn't just in a hidden corner. With a slow dawning of realization Draco knew his father had been in his room. A growl came out as he blew his door off its hinges.

"LUCIUS! WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS MY RING?" Breathing hard Draco almost missed his father's footsteps behind him.

"So who is the lucky little lady that will be gracing us with heirs to our –"Draco spun and with his father's collar in one hand and his wand in the other, pushed him to the cold stone wall with an audible thump. He was so angry that he couldn't even form the words to speak. Lucius was smart enough to not speak. With an exaggerated slowness Draco let go of Lucius' collar and pulled his sleeve up to expose the dark mark. With a spell he'd been using Draco muttered the words. He knew Lucius was watching curiously trying to figure out what his heir was doing. With the pain of a thousand needles piercing his skin, Draco's mark grew darker for a brief second then disappeared completely.

"I am no longer part of this family. You now have no heir and will die alone without anyone to pass on your bigotry."

"You are my son and no matter how far you roam that will always be the case, I know that you need to slum it a little while to sow your wild oats, lord knows I did." Lucius smirked and turned and walked away. Frozen in shock and anger Draco watched him walk away. He was about to start packing again when he realized that no matter what he would take it would be tainted with his former life. Draco muttered flame incidium and watched the fire start to consume his bed and all his once prized possessions. At the sign of the smoke sliding towards him Draco apparated to St. Mungo's. Harry, Ginny and Ron had all left by the time he'd returned. With a crochet hook in one hand and a very thick piece of yarn in the other Hermione looked up with frustration.

"You would think that since I could do incredibly complex spells that learning to crochet would be something I could do in my sleep." Hermione sighed in annoyance and bent back over the book. Draco just laughed and took a seat at the end of the bed. With the weight of him sitting, Hermione looked up and noticed the seriousness in his face. Quickly putting aside her things Hermione turned her focus onto him. Instead of speaking Draco just rolled his sleeve up and showed his once marked skin returned to the unblemished skin of his youth. Hermione gasped and tentatively ran her finger over the skin. Her touch made his hair stand up and prickle. Her touch was always able to do that. With a look she took his arm and began to kiss his arm.

"Part of my being here was having to deal with the decisions I've made and how they've affected those around me. I just want you to know that my breaking up with you was the worst decision I have ever made. You make me feel alive Draco and I am so sorry that I pushed you away. I understand that we may never get to the place we were before and I accept that but I just want you to know how sorry I am." Draco desperately wanted to kiss her lips but instead kissed her forehead and smiled at her.

"Hermione all I've ever wanted was you back." The tears started slipping down her face; Draco gently wiped them away and looked into the eyes of the girl he'd once known. Hermione yawned and Draco laid her down and curled up behind her. He could feel her slip into sleep and with the feeling of utter contentment Draco went there as well. Draco slept better than he could ever remember sleeping. He awoke in the loving arms of Hermione who was quietly reading.