Chapter 36

Hermione's eyes flickered open as they adjusted to the bright lights above her. As the world came into focus, she could make out her surroundings to see that she was in an off white coloured room. She could feel a throbbing pain in her head, and her body felt as if a herd of elephants had trampled over her repeatedly.

"You're awake," she could hear a relieved voice say from beside her. As she tried to sit up, she realised she was lying in a bed at St. Mungo's. Draco was on a chair to her right, looking extremely dishevelled from the apparent lack of sleep. He had dark bags under his eyes and his hair was messy beyond anything she had ever seen before.

He immediately got up from his seat to help her sit up carefully, looking worried that she would break if he pushed her too hard. She accepted his help, and once comfortable she looked at him.

"What happened?" she asked him softly. The last thing she could remember was seeing Harry and the Aurors make their way into the room before being knocked out from the pain she had endured at the hand of his former sister-in-law.

"Daphne's dead," Draco said hardly. "She used the killing curse on herself to avoid persecution. Harry tried reasoning with her to bring her in, but she refused to be brought down by the same institution that 'failed her lover'. Not that she didn't deserve it, but I wish she had faced justice for her crimes. It feels like she just escaped everything, and died still believing she was right."

Hermione nearly gasped at what he had told her, clearly not expecting any of that at all. She hated the fact that Daphne had faced death for her actions. But she couldn't say that she wasn't relieved that it was finally over. After weeks of dread; weeks of worry, and weeks of wondering if she would be able to find the killer, it was finally over.

Four were still dead at her hand, but at least Blaise, Theo, and Draco had survived. It wasn't fair to say that they deserved to live more than those who had died, and it wasn't a substitute of lives. But she couldn't say that she wasn't relieved that they were all okay.

"I brought you in to the hospital soon after it ended. I wanted to be the one who healed you, but I couldn't because I was involved with you. They kept you knocked out while they healed you so you didn't feel the pain from your injuries. You've been out for just over a day. They said you should make a full recovery, but you're going to feel pain for a couple more days until you heal," Draco said as he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

"You know we have to talk about this, right?" Hermione asked him gently. "We need to talk about what you did, and what that resulted it. It can wait for a bit until you get some sleep and I heal a bit more, but sooner or later it needs to happen."

Draco shifted uncomfortably at what she had brought up. "Of course," he said standing up stiffly, "Get some rest." He kissed her forehead and walked out of the room.

She watched in disbelief as she saw her boyfriend leave the room. She simply wanted to talk to him about why he chose to go with Ron without her at the ball. For some reason it seemed to her lately that he went out of his way to make discussions without her.

And it hurt her a lot. It hurt that he didn't see it fit to talk to her directly about what he was thinking before doing anything. Did he not trust her to do her job correctly? Because that's what it felt like to her.

She sighed as she picked up the newspaper from the table beside her. Draco must have been reading it while she was out of it. She opened it up so she could read the first page.

Golden Girl Saves the Wizarding World…..Again

By Jane Martello

Just over a day ago was the largest social wizarding event of the year, the annual war anniversary ball. While most of us were dancing the night away under the enchanted ceiling, Hermione Granger was saving our lives under our noses.

As it would seem, the string of break ins at the potions stores was the result of someone making a deadly muggle weapon with wizarding properties, a bomb. For those who don't know, a bomb is an explosive device which would have blown us all to shreds had it exploded.

Hermione Granger, who currently works with the Aurors to deal with research material was the one who figured out what the supplies stolen were for, and where it would go off.

While skipping out on the speech she gives each year, she was actually stopping the potion from exploding. If it had gone off, then the entire night would go off with a bang, and I mean literary.

But that was not all the excitement in her life. She also managed to apprehend the person responsible for the deaths of the five purebloods Adrian Pucey, Marcus Flint, Fredrick Gregson, Terrence Higgs, and Blaise Zabini, in the same night. Apparently, the two near disasters were both connected through the same perpetrator.

As it turns out, Daphne Greengrass, who had lost her lover due to his blood status during the war was left emotionally damaged, so she targeted those who had witnessed the murder of Blake Shadows. There would have been two more murders on her list, including that of Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott.

Greengrass was caught with both Malfoy and Granger in her captive when Harry Potter rushed in to save the day. Malfoy had been taken by Chudley Ron Weasley, who was looking for a way to get rid of his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend in an attempt to win her over. Weasley is now in custody awaiting his trial. Honestly, we all knew he was a bit on the wild side, but none of us saw this twist of fate happening.

Granger valiantly attempted to save her boyfriend, teaming up with her best friend, but in the pursuit she was tortured to the point of hospitalization. My heart hurts that my favourite hero was put through so much pain.

Greengrass could not bear to be taken into custody and ended her life on that same fateful night.

Who would have thought that so much could happen in one night with no one finding out? But wait, there's more.

When we found out that heartthrob Blaise Zabini had been murdered, the wizarding world was devastated and heartbroken. But in fact, he has been alive all this time in a safe house. While Greengrass did in fact try and harm him, Blaise was saved half way through by best friend Draco Malfoy who managed to bring him to the hospital just in time to be saved during surgery. Not wanting to risk being placed in harm's way, it was decided that his death would be faked to help save him from having to undergo the same process once more.

I know that this was definitely a lot of news to take in, and I can promise you that if there's more, this reporter will definitely get the scoop on that!

Hermione sighed as she placed the paper down after finishing. Reading about everything that happened in the paper felt odd to her. It made everything seem so story like compared to the reality she had lived.

"Everything alright?" she heard a voice call from the door. She looked up to see Harry and Ginny standing there with a bouquet of flowers.

She smiled as she saw her friends, "I'm glad to see you guys."

Harry came in and placed the flowers in a vase on the other side of her bed before sitting down beside her. "I'm just glad you're okay. I know Draco mentioned that you would make a full recovery, but you looked really bad when I saw you. Hermione, I was so worried that I would lose you, and I couldn't bear that," he said, voice breaking a little. "You're my sister, and I love you so much."

Hermione held his hand as she squeezed it reassuringly. "I'm fine," she said gently. "And I love you too." She saw Ginny awkwardly standing at the door, looking unsure of herself.

"Aren't you going to come in?" she asked her other friend, sounding unsure. Maybe the fact that Hermione inadvertedly put her brother in jail was enough to sever their relationship. She felt herself cringe inwardly at the thought of losing someone else. Was that what her life was destined to become; losing everyone she once held dear?

"Are you sure you want me to?" Ginny asked her sceptically. "My brother is the reason you're here. How do you not hate me right now?"

"I could never hate you, Gin," Hermione told her friend earnestly. She was a bit shocked that Ginny would even consider it to be a possibility that she could hate her friend for her brother's actions. "You weren't the one who decided getting me back was worth the murder of another person. You are not the reason I'm here. Daphne is, and Ron is. I don't blame you for what happened with him."

A few tears ran down her friend's face as he rushed forward and embraced Hermione a tight hug. She could see Harry smiling brightly and mouthing a 'thank you' to her. She could tell her friend must have been worrying about what Hermione's reaction would be to her, so she simply hugged Ginny back.

She must have winced slightly, as Harry gently pulled Ginny back from her.

"Sorry," Ginny flushed slightly. "I forgot that you're still in pain." Ginny sat on the opposite side of the bed from her husband.

"Don't worry about it," Hermione insisted. "The pain potions are doing a good job of making sure that I can barely feel a thing."

She could see them exchange looks in worry so she cut in, "Guys, I'm going to be fine, relax. But I want you guys to fill me in on everything that's happened after. Draco only covered what happened to me and Daphne. What about the rest of it? I read the paper this morning, did someone release a statement about everything?"

"Well as soon as we split up, I had a bad feeling, so I wanted to wait for a bit. I sent out another desperate note to Kingsley for reinforcements, and he delivered. Once I found the two Auror who were with you to be dead, I panicked," Harry admitted. "So we began a sneak attack inside and cornered Daphne, who as you know by now, offed herself. Most people at the ball could tell something was up already, seeing how the Golden Trio had disappeared along with the Minister of Magic. We brought Ron into custody," Harry said with a pained look. "I still couldn't believe that he could have anything to do with all of this. Lucius Malfoy has agreed to be a witness saying that he received letters from Ron to find a way to end the relationship between you and Draco. It's not looking good for him. There's still a little while before his trial though. But the minute we brought him in, the press had a field day. Kingsley released a statement saying Daphne was responsible for the murders and for nearly blowing up the ball, and that Blaise was indeed still alive."

"How are the Weasleys' taking Ron's arrest?" she asked carefully.

"Molly's taking it the hardest," Harry informed her. "The rest are upset about it, but none of them blame you. In fact, they're all worried about how you're doing after the attack. They weren't sure if you would want to see any of them either."

Hermione looked at Ginny, "Please, tell them I don't blame them. I love your family to pieces, and I don't think I could ever bear it if I lost them. It was hard enough when Ron broke up with me, but I love them like they're my own family."

Ginny squeezed her hand, "I'll pass along the message. But I think George is creating a gift basket from the entire family, so I think you'll see them far sooner than you think."

She was silent for a few seconds, and Harry picked up that something was slightly off.

"Are you okay, everything else aside?" Harry asked her, concerned.

"It's probably nothing," Hermione sighed. "But I'm worried about my relationship with Draco. He seems so distant lately, making all these divisions without me, and I don't know what any of it means. What if he's decided that he doesn't want me anymore?" she said, voice cracking slightly. "I don't know if I could handle the heartbreak again."

"Draco looked just as worried when we talked to him," Harry told her.

"When?" Hermione demanded. "When did you see him?"

"An hour ago, or so. He's the one who told us you woke up," Harry mentioned as he looked at her. "Hermione, you and Draco are good together. You fit together so well, and you're a family; you, Draco, Scorpius, and Jamie. Sure none of its official yet, but it's the truth. So talk to him, because whatever's going on between the two of you is something that can be fixed." He reached into his bag, "Before I forget, I went to the book store and grabbed a few new releases for you. I figured you would want something to read while you're in here."

She nodded slightly, "Thanks, Harry," she said gratefully.

"I'm going to stop in and check on Jamie on my way out," Harry said. "He's probably wondering about you."

Hermione gasped. "I hadn't thought to tell him about everything. Harry, please make sure he knows I love him. Tell him I'll visit him when I have enough strength and that I would never ever forget about him."

Harry kissed her head, "I'll see you soon, I promise. I'll make sure we stop by with some dinner so you don't have to keep eating the horrible food they serve here."

Ginny nodded, "See you soon, Hermione. Love you."

Hermione smiled at them both, "I love you too."

She watched with a smile as she saw her friends leave the room. She couldn't help but feel relieved that she hadn't lost her family in the Weasleys because of everything that had happened.

She picked up a book from the side table that Harry had left her. She looked at the back cover and saw that it was a research book on the properties of newly created potions. She smiled at how well Harry knew her. While she loved all sorts of books, she was in no mood to read about any mysteries or romance novels.

She barely flipped a page when she heard a knock at the door. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," she heard an unfamiliar voice say.

Hermione looked up in surprise to see Astoria standing there, "Astoria? Hi! What are you doing here?" she questioned.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. It was my sister after all who put you in the hospital," she said, looking a bit nervous. "I just wanted you to know that I don't agree with anything that she did."

"I never thought you would," Hermione said with a small smile.

"I just want you to understand a little bit, about our parents. My mom and dad were never very supportive about my sister and I trying to live as actual human beings, and not just pretty little society dolls. I understand why Daphne kept Blake a surprise, besides the obvious reasons. She wanted someone to treat her like a normal person who had opinions and feelings of her own. Hell, I still wish I had someone like that. So when Blake died, she lost it. She isolated herself from everyone, even me. I barely saw her anymore, and she only ever came around to see Scorpius. But with all of this said, she had no right to kill all of those people," she said, shaking slightly. "But I also have another reason for seeing you."

Hermione looked up in confusion, before something clicked into place.

"I want to explain why I've done everything I've done," Astoria explained. "I never wanted to marry Draco. But by now you know all about how these marriages work. My parents were always disappointed by the fact that they didn't have sons. To them it was a travesty so there was always a slight resentment towards us. My marriage to Draco was always doomed to fail. We both tried to make it work so neither of us would end up unhappy. So I found a lawyer who would find a way to end both of our misery. Once I did, I knew Draco would be relieved. And he was. I think he was a bit concerned at first about what would happen to me. You see, after the announcement went public, my parents lost it. They demanded I go back to Draco and beg for his forgiveness, and that maybe he would take me back. Maybe then he would let me get my son back."

"I know Draco must have told you that I gave up my rights for Scorpius. You have to understand that it was never an easy choice for me to make. I love him with all my heart, but I was never meant to be a mother," her voice broke at that. "Everyone expects women to be mothers. Especially purebloods. O our parents, it's like we're nothing more than breeding horses, meant to give sons to our husbands to continue down their family lines. But no one cares about what we want, what I wanted. Now, I could have tried to be a mother to Scorpius and I would have given it my all. But I could never be the mother he deserves. I could never love him the way he wanted me to. I could never love him in a motherly way. I could never give him the proper attention he deserves. But so many people don't understand how women can't be mothers. No one bats a lash when they hear that a guy doesn't want to be a father, but the moment a woman says it, it's the end of the world," she said softly. It's why I asked Draco to still let me see him from time to time, but to let someone else who could give him the love he deserves to raise him. Hermione, I know the call is ultimately up to Draco, but for what it's worth I think you would be a brilliant mother to Scorpius. I just hope you can understand why I did what I did."

Hermione smiled at the woman beside her, "I understand. And for what it's worth, if Draco does allow me to raise his son with him, I will make sure he gets a chance to know you. I will always love him regardless of what happens."

"You're good for Draco too," Astoria smiled. "I hope one day that I can find a love like that. I'll leave you alone now."

Astoria walked out of the room, leaving Hermione to her thoughts. So much had happened that day and she knew one thing. She needed to talk to Draco.