Reborn

"Coming," a woman's voice called in reply to Draco's ceaseless knocking. The door opened right when Draco was about to pound on the door again. He was met with a woman's face. Her long and curly hair hung loose and her brown eyes looked tired, as if her day had not ran so smoothly at the ministry. She was wearing a casual pink sweater and jeans, fuzzy red slippers covered her feet.

"Malfoy?" she asked confused. What are you-"

"Hermione," he said cutting her off, not caring that he was being too familiar. "I need your help. You're good at herbology right?" Confusion filled her features.

"Yes, but-"

"Hermione? Who was at the door?" Ron's voice called from another room but got louder as he got closer. Finally a door on the left opened and the red headed Weasley entered. "You," he sneered.

"Ron, please don't-" Hermione started to say but before she could finish Ron surged ahead of her. He reared back his hand and punched Draco in the cheek with enough force to knock him back a few steps.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted allowing Draco enough time to regain as much composure as he could with a cheek that was already beginning to swell. "If you could let me finish a sentence I would have been able to tell you that Malfoy only wants help with something that has to do with herbology." Though she defended him, he noted she didn't have Ron apologize or apologize herself.

"Even so, this guy is the reason why Harry has been so," his voice trailed off and his right hand came up and scratched the side of his head. "You know," he finally managed to say.

"Ron, that is a horrible thing to say," said Hermione, sincerely shocked.

"No, Hermione," said Draco whose words where a little slurred thanks to the insane amount of swelling on the side of his face. It was amazing he still had all of his teeth. "Ron's right. It's my fault." Hermione's face grew hard and her eyes narrowed.

"You better come in and explain. Everything." Draco walked and followed Hermione to the living room. He felt like a prisoner being escorted when Ron came up behind him. She motioned for him to sit down in one of the chairs or the large plush couch. Draco chose a chair while the other two chose the couch.

"Could you please tell us what is going on between you and Harry?" Though she asked it very politely, there was a tone in her voice that implied that she would kill him if he said one wrong word. Because of that, Draco chose his words carefully, his own tone remaining as monotonous as possible.

"Harry and I were friends a year after the war. We met at a bar and since we were both quite drunk we forgot about past grudges and just talked, like we weren't enemies, like we didn't have to find the most painful way to attack at each other. About a year after that we tried dating and it was just natural to love each other like we've done so our entire life." He took a deep breath trying to hold back the rush of emotions he felt just saying that much. The memories were like knives ripping into his control but he forced himself to endure. "We lived together for two years when things began to fall apart. Harry suddenly got loads of cases to solve and then it wasn't us living in the house but Harry and me. We did everything but sleeping, separated and I couldn't handle it. I started to go out with other men." Draco lowered his eyes as Hermione gasped and he could practically feel the tension emanating from Ron though neither said a word. He took that as his cue to continue

"I'm not proud of what I did and when Harry found out, that was it. He cut off all ties from me saying that if I tried to find him, he would kill me, or worse." Draco smoothly left out the worst part, knowing none of them, himself included, would be able to stand hearing that. "I sold the house, and everything in it, not being able to bear all the memories and locked myself away at my manor. Barely sleeping and barely eating was the most I could do to stay sane from all the dreams and flashbacks and memories of him. Everything reminded me of him, whether it was a rainy Sunday or a bit of dust. I felt it was my punishment and then Pansy had to find me after five years just to tell me that Harry was being 'a tosser.' It pushed me to writing Harry a letter and he came back. He came back and asked me why, then said I had no right to care about him and after a short argument, he left. I knew he still didn't forgive me but-"

A sharp shout came from Ron, who abruptly stood.

"Get out!" Draco even flinched at the tone that the voice was in. "You weren't welcome here to begin with and you definitely aren't welcome now. I'm glad Harry won't forgive you." Draco stood, managing a little dignity and walked out the door before he Apparated to the manor. He didn't need their help, though deep inside him he knew that wasn't true. Harry could never go against his friends. So if they were against the whole relationship, Harry would be too.

"Stupid Gryffindor honor," he complained to empty space. He walked down the hall and to the garden. After putting on gloves he proceeded to clear the weeds.

After about an hour there was a knock at the door. Draco set down the weeds, pulled off his gloves, threw them down next to the weed pile and brushed off his clothes. He walked to the door in a slight hurry, stretching out his cramped muscles. Draco opened the door to find someone he didn't expect on the other side.

"Let me see that garden of yours," said Hermione who pushed by him into the manor. "I presume it is a garden that you need help with?" Draco barely managed to nod and close the door. "Well?"

"Oh, yes," Draco mumbled and closed the door. Hermione definitely had a commanding presence and for a moment he wondered if it was because of her position at the ministry. "This way." He led her down to the door out to the garden. She took two steps out and stops, her eyes scanning, settling on the pile of weeds.

"You do know that there are spells that would make weeding a lot easier and faster for that matter?" She asked, turning to him with a look of apathy.

"I don't want to use magic," Draco said simply, with a tone that left no room for argument.

"You should at least hire some gardeners to help," Hermione said leaning over to pull up a handful of weeds."

"Don't do that!" Draco shouted, reaching to stop her. Her fingers loosened and she straightened up.

"Then why did you ask for my help?" Suspicion filled her voice and Draco sighed before rubbing his hand over his face in mild frustration.

"I just need to know what plants need what and how much water, how much sun, what I need to do to get them to bloom. Just the facts. I don't need help with any of the physical labor." Another sigh escaped his lips and he decided to busy himself picking up smaller piles of weeds and putting them into a larger pile. He couldn't face Hermione for some reason. Maybe he was ashamed for doing so much for a hopeless cause or he was afraid of what she would say when she found the reason for him going to such great lengths for a pathetic garden.

"You're doing all this for Harry." It wasn't a question, but Draco nodded anyways not knowing how else to answer.

"I could tell earlier when you were telling about what happened. The way you spoke about Harry, even though you tried to hide it, it was as if he is the only light in your life. A lot of people probably can say that he is but none actually mean it." Draco looked down wanting to avoid what she was saying; he knew he didn't deserve Harry. "None, except for you." His eyes shot up to meet hers and a small smile touched her lips. "And Harry needs you just as much, if not more." She turned around, leaving Draco in complete shock.

"Glowing nightbloom, it needs to be watered about once a day and doesn't need much sunlight. Only blooms at night. Looks like you'll have quite a few blooming, and it makes a very romantic sight since the petals illuminate the night with a white glow." Her head turned just enough that Draco could see half of her face. "You should be taking notes because this could take a while and some of these plants require a lot of care." Draco snapped out of the trance he had and used his wand to bring a small notebook and pencil to him. The rest of the day was spent walking around the garden, Hermione listing the requirements for each plant and Draco taking detailed notes on each, but he never once thought about what he was writing. The main thought going through his head being that Harry needed him and nothing could distract him from that.

When Hermione finally left Draco alone, he set to work weeding the garden and taking care of some minimal requirements, hope fueling his actions. By the time the moon was close to setting, Draco was halfway through with the weeding the vast expanse of plants and it was beginning to look less like a jungle and more like the beautiful garden it once was. He threw off his gloves and sat down on the stone bench for a minute. It was then when he noticed a faint white glow, an extreme contrast to the black of the night and the orange fire of his torch standing in the dirt.

He pushed himself from the bench and quickly headed to where the glowing nightbloom plants were blooming. A large grin spread across his face as he caressed the soft petals. Nothing but weeds have grown in the garden for years and out of nowhere the plants started to grow again. First the tree and now flowers. Deep down, Draco believed it was because Harry came back, even for just short while, but in that small amount of time, the garden seemed to decide it was time to live again. As if it wanted to wake up to Harry, like he was its guardian and Draco only helped make it possible.

Draco leaned forward to smell the scent pouring from the plant and wondered why it was completely unfamiliar, even the flower and leaves didn't strike a chord in his memory. Something that Hermione once said made its way into Draco's thoughts.

"Glowing nightbloom is born from the death of other plants. The nutrients from the decaying plants are exactly what the seeds need to germinate but once the plant starts growing it doesn't need too much. It's like a phoenix in a way that it can even come back from its own death."

Looking up at the moon, Draco finally decided it was time for a few hours of sleep and then he'll start again early. It was about time for the garden to be reborn.

Author's note: I am amazed! My writer's block didn't last as long as I thought it would, though this chapter was shorter than what I wanted it to be. I put up a poll asking what you guys want to see in chapter 8 so check that out please! Oh and I was reading some of the earlier chapters to get inspiration and apparently Draco pulled off the disappearing sandwich act in the second chapter. I thought it was kind of funny because he was eating it then Pansy started talking and suddenly he was holding his head in his hands and the sandwich didn't get smashed against his face. Oops. The fun thing about writing: finding your mistakes. One time I wrote "just hunk about it" instead of "just think about it" and another time I wrote "I'm sure you two have some thongs to talk about" instead of "things to talk about" and that was a doctor talking to a girl about her and the guy she's unconsciously in love with. Imagine what my teacher thought when she read it. Thanks guys for the reviews! I love them! They're a good medication for Writer's Block!