.
.
Come to me now, and together we'll go
Where the clearer winds blow, far and beyond
Leaving behind all our sorrow and pride
Kissing them goodbye, into another life
On the morning tide
We'll hoist the sails to brave the crashing waves
Won't you come with me and hear the ocean sigh
And if to its depths it called us by our names
Won't you sail to the shore with me
~Poets Of The Fall, Morning tide~
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It was the morning of the fifth day, they were sitting in the kitchen in silence. Weaslette tried to nib a piece of bread. No one else ate. Theo had made coffee so dark you could barely swallow it.
But he did anyway.
No news… good or bad.
Andromeda and Teddy had left yesterday, taking Lyanna and Alexander with them. She hadn't told where, only that she was taking Teddy away, just for his safety. They'd return in few weeks if it was safe.
McGonagall too, had left. They guessed she was called to fight with the Order.
So, there they were, the four of them. Waiting for something, but not really knowing what it was, they were waiting for.
"Someone will come and tell us the news." Theo tried to root belief into them.
"Only McGonagall and Hermione know we're even here." Ginny muttered.
She was right... If it ended badly, they wouldn't know...
"Should we just leave then?" Theo tried.
"NO!" Draco blurt out, not looking up, "Granger told me a week."
"Draco." A familiar voice spoke by the door.
Everyone froze.
He jumped up, faster than he had ever moved before, and whipped around to see it was really her.
But the moment he saw her, he knew… Something was badly wrong.
There was no blood this time, her clothes were clean and not torn. But her face was tearstained and white, and her eyes were full of pain.
No one moved.
He wanted to go to her, but his feet refused to move.
It was like the time had stopped moving.
"What is it?" Ginny asked quietly.
Grangers face crumbled, "We won…" She burst out.
It should have been good news, but the way she said it told them there was more to it... and he had a feeling it wouldn't be good...
"But?!" There was desperation in Weaslette's voice now.
Hermione shook her head, tears streaming down her face and whispered: "But they're dead."
"Who?" Ginny's voice had a panicked high note in it.
No answer…
"Hermione, who all?" Ginny had started to cry, too.
"I'm sorry Ginny…" She sobbed.
"No…"
Blaise took a step closer to the girl.
"There was nothing I could do. I was too far away! He killed Voldemort! But he wasn't fast enough… And Ron…Oh god, Ron…He jumped in front…he couldn't stop it and he…" She couldn't go on.
The realization hit him:
Potter and Weasley…The heroes….the saviors…the golden boys…had fallen.
"It's not true!" Ginny screamed. At the same moment Blaise grabbed her and pulled her to him.
"No! Let me go! It can't be true! You're lying, Hermione! Tell me it's not true!" She was screaming and trying to break free from Blaise's hold. But he wouldn't let her.
Hermione had turned around and rushed out of the room before he got his legs back and he ran behind her.
He had to get to her!
She had fallen on her knees in the middle of the yard when he reached her.
He fell next to her and finally she was in his arms. Maybe broken and damaged, but alive!
"I couldn't save them." She wailed miserably, "I got them in, it went just as we planned, but I couldn't save them."
"I'm sure you did your best." He whispered against her hair, holding her close.
The happiness of her being alive, was clouded by her overflowing sorrow. He knew how it felt: to lose someone you love and not being able to do anything about it. To see the light in their eyes, go down and their broken body falling to the ground. The emptiness in your heart where that person used to be… The feeling of hopelessness filling you.
"I saw them fall, but I couldn't move… all I could think about, was how I promised to you… how, if I die, I'll never be able to tell you…How I couldn't leave you." She cried, "I'm so selfish!"
He didn't care! If it was because she was selfish, that she was here now, then let it be so… Potter and Weasley were dead, but she was here, and that was all that mattered!
"l love you, Draco." She was looking at him now, her eyes glistering.
She loved him… After everything he had done? After all the horrible things he had said? All the bad choices and horrible decisions? All the hate and mocking and sneering? She…this pure, brave, clever girl who was so beautiful inside and out, found it in her to love him?
He wanted to tell her he loved her, too… But instead he kissed her, trying to pour all the emotions, all the happiness, all the sympathy…all the love…into that kiss.
Her lips tasted like salt and dust and her tears were falling again, but she held onto him and he held her, vowing himself to never let her go again.
.
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.
When the night fell they were all in the living room.
McGonagal had returned and gathered them together, telling she had important news.
Ginny was sitting alone in the armchair, Gryffindor scarf around her shoulders, staring ahead.
He wondered if it was Potter's scarf... Her face was wet and eyes red and she looked so lost, he reckoned this might be the first time, like ever, that he felt genuinely sorry for someone.
Granger was next to him. Her hand in his.
Blaise and Theo were there also. The first kept throwing worried glances to Ginny's direction.
"So what now?" Theo opened the conversation.
"You need to leave." Minerva said sternly, "They will round up Death Eaters. You'll be wanted for questioning. Hermione and I agreed you'd better leave country."
" I won't!" He said looking sideways to Granger.
He had just gotten to hear, she was his to keep, and now he was supposed to leave her! AGAIN!
She looked at him with calming eyes. "I'm coming with you."
She was coming with them? to exile? She'd leave everything and come with him?
Suddenly leaving didn't sound like a bad idea at all...actually starting over somewhere far away sounded like a brilliant idea!
"Why?" Ginny was speaking, but not looking at anyone, still staring ahead.
Hermione seemed to hesitate, "I can't stay..." She said quietly.
"Because you can't face the fact that they're gone?" Ginny's voice was tight, hard and accusing, "You're really not coming to the memoir? What's wrong with you?!"
"I can't come Ginny. I can't face it. I'm not going to speak some, good for nothing words, about how they died as heroes." Her voice cracked, "They died as men who fought their whole lives... who grew up too soon, and were forced to face the darkest wizards of all time as nothing but children! They were broken beyond repair long before they were dead…"
"And we weren't? You think it's ok they're dead because they were broken?" Her voice was mocking.
"We are broken! But we are alive! They died so that we could live…Harry died," She sniffed but her voice was strong, "so that his son can live in a world where children are safe!"
"He wouldn't know that!" Ginny cried out.
"He did!" Hermione got up and went to her, falling on her knees to look at her friend in the eyes, "I told him, Ginny."
Ginny was crying again silently.
"I had to…" Hermione whispered, and the other girl nodded: "I'm glad you did."
.
.
.
They didn't waste time. Before the dawn broke they were ready to leave.
McGonagall had promised to keep The Order busy with other tasks, so that they could leave in peace. She had told them since the dark side had considered all of them dead, she didn't think they'd think to look for them. Granger disappearing would be another matter. But she had refused to step back.
"I'm not going to play the war hero, I'm not!" She'd said with determination.
He thought she was wrong. Who could be more of a war hero, than she was?
But who was he to argue...besides he wanted her to leave with them.
Ginny was going home to her family...the once that were still alive. She had her whole life to pick up before her baby would be born...
"Are you sure you won't come?" Hermione tried once more when Weaslette was leaving.
The redhead shook her head, "I need to be with my family...mum will help me with the baby."
"We could help you!" Blaise spoke up next to him.
Ginny smiled sadly, "Thanks Blaise, but I think you don't know what you'd be putting yourselves into."
Blaise took a step forward, "Then it's untill next time, Red." He tried to sound light, but Draco heard the disappointment in his voice.
They embraced.
She let go of Blaise and came to stand before him now, "Malfoy," She said seriously, "Take care of her."
He nodded, "You can count on that."
She shook his and Theo's hand and hugged Granger whispering a good luck.
And with a whip of red hair Weaslette was gone.
Granger was holding his hand as they watched the sun rose...and he knew: this was the dawn of something new.
.
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.
Somewhere in the Tuscan countryside he stood in the yard of their stone villa, warm breeze in his hair and endless vine yards ahead as far as the eye can see.
They had waved their wands for days to renovate the house and to make it into two living quarders. One for Theo and Blaise and the other for him and Granger.
It had been a rough couple of months. She had been mourning her dead friends and missing Ginny. First, he had thought he needed to cheer her up, but realized he was more of use, if he just was there for her when she needed him.
And little by little she got better and started to laugh again. Sometimes she would still shut down and sit alone staring at the wall or cry herself to sleep in his arms. But little by little life was returning to her.
They had started to cook together again.
Sometimes Theo and Blaise joined them, and they would have an Italian cook off in their kitchen. Sometimes the result was good food, other times a flour fight. And afterwards she would feel guilty that she had been so happy when Harry and Ron were still dead.
Six months after the end of war they got an owl telling that Ginny had given birth to a healthy baby boy.
She cried for hours. And to be honest he wasn't quite sure if it was for happiness or grief?
But in all her sorrow she never forgot to tell him she loved him and that she was glad to be there with him. And those, were all the words he needed to survive and to carry her through. He could do anything as long as she loved him.
She was his, and he was going to make her happy, no matter how long it took.
.
.
.
In the first anniversary of the war she got an invitation to a gala held in Potter and Weasleys honor.
"I'm not going." She announced throwing the paper into the fireplace.
The day, when the others gathered together in fancy dresses, to honor the warriors of light who died as heroes, Andromeda and Teddy came to visit them. And together they held their own memoir, on the yard, in the darkening Italian evening. And none of them cared that three out of six people, attending, never liked Potter or Weasley and never fought for the Order. They had all lost loved ones because of the war. So in the end there were candles, one for each loved life lost, lighting their yard.
Narcissa
Pansy
Teddy's parents Remus and Tonks
Fred Weasley
Lavender Brown
Dumbledore
Snape
Vince and Greg
Theo's dad
Weasley
Potter
That night, when she snuggled close to him, he whispered a silent, "I love you" into her hair and felt her smile against him.
"I know you do." She whispered back.
And for the first time since he was a kid, he felt he could be genially content and happy.
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Ginny arrived two months later with her little son.
They expanded the villa, so that she got a place of her own.
And soon there were small feet running in their yard and childish laughter echoing in the halls.
Blaise and Theo, who had missed Teddy, took it upon them to 'be the model of a man for the Potter brat' as they said.
"He has prankster gene in his vanes, so you better keep him in line." Granger laughed, and Ginny shook her head smiling.
And he though, that if Potter was somehow able to see them now, he'd think he didn't die in vain. That world was a better place today… That even if he was dead, his son would always have people who loved him around.
No matter how hard he wanted to deny it... he owed some of the happiness, he had today, to Potter.
Right in that moment she turned to smile at him.
He smiled back, because truthfully, he owed it all to her and her stubborn will to believe in him, to save him in more ways than one… to her strong persistence to show him this life had so much more to give.
