Chapter 45

Draco knocked on the door to Hermione's room and waited to hear a response. After a soft 'Come in', he turned the handle and entered. It had been a few hours since he began his talk with his friends and he wanted to now spend some time with Hermione; something they had not been able to do much of lately.

"Hey, how are you?" He asked her as he saw her lying in the bed. She looked a lot better than she had when they had arrived, but she still was pale and looked weak. He hated more than anything that he could not do anything to make her better. She had already taken several healing potions and anymore would be too risky. So instead he had to let her heal naturally.

But that would only solve her physical pain. He couldn't even begin to imagine all the mental and emotional pain she would be feeling at the moment.

"I'm getting better," Hermione said with a smile as she tried to sit up, but struggled. Draco immediately came to the side of the bed and sat down beside her. He wrapped on of his arms around her back and nested her soft body into his side.

"Don't try and move too much," Draco said softly as he pulled her in tightly to his side. "You're still recovering, and I don't want you pushing yourself any more than necessary."

She gave him a disgruntled look. "I hate lying in this bed all day. I just want to get up and do something; anything. I hate being useless."

"You're not," Draco said. "Dobby's been helping Fleur out around the house, and he loves it. Fleur is pretty pleased as well as he's significantly lightened her load, which I imagine is rather high at the moment seeing that she has a lot of extra people to care for."

"Dobby's helping?" She said, giving him a slightly sceptical look. "And he's perfectly fine doing it for free?"

He smirked. "His exact words were 'I live to serve Mr. Potter and his Wheezy family.' I think it also helps that Fleur has promised to knit him a sweater and a get him some mismatched socks."

Hermione let out a laugh, "That sounds more like him," she said with a smile on her face.

He felt a happy feeling inside as he heard her laugh. She had tried to smile and laugh since they had arrived, but he knew her well enough to know when she was putting on a front. But this was genuine and not forced.

Draco watched her as she remained silent and obviously in deep thought about something. As he studied her, he realised that she had that look on her face; the one where she wanted to ask him something about either his family or his past, but didn't know how to say it.

"What are you thinking? You can ask me anything, Hermione. You know that," Draco told her.

"Did you know about Dobby and how he was treated when he belonged to your family?" She asked him quietly.

Ah yes, her House Elf campaign. He remembered how in fourth year she had drew nearly the whole school insane with her fight. Him and his mates had made fun of her for hours in their dorm. Draco cringed at the memory, but he understood that he was a very different person back then.

"I did," he admitted. He saw her face fall slightly, so he decided to go on. "Dobby was never my personal elf; he belonged to my father. I never gave him any commands except the occasional asking of him to get me a cookie. But that doesn't mean I was completely innocent. Back then I was so sheltered from the world so everything my father taught me was the only thing I've ever known. I didn't see house elves as creatures but simply as objects. I need you to know, Hermione that I don't see that way anymore."

She squeezed his free hand. "I know. Draco you've changed so much and I know I've said that before, but I'll keep saying it. You're a better person now and I love you so much more than you could ever know."

Draco kissed the top of her head lightly. "You're right. Which is why I know what I have to do now to make it right," he said as he began to pull away from her.

Hermione looked up at him, confused. "Where are you going?" she asked him worriedly. "Don't leave, please. Not after everything we've been through. Please."

She thought he was going to leave her. Draco could see the fear written on her face that she though he was trying to be noble or something of the sort.

Draco pulled her into a deep kiss. As he massaged her lips softly with his, he took in her scent. Merlin, he loved her.

"Hermione, I'm not a Gryffindor. Even if I wanted to leave you because it would be best for you, I couldn't. I love you far too much. Bloody hell, I'm selfish as all Slytherins usually are. I need you so much and I could never leave you, unless you wanted me to. You're stuck with me," he said as he pulled away from the kiss.

She cupped his face with both of her hands and pulled him into a second kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her closer to his body until there was no space between the two of them. He needed her so much and so badly.

Draco deepened the kiss as he ran one of his hands through her soft curls. He had always loved her hair, even when she was younger and it looked like a nest, because it was one of the things who made her who she was. He loved how confident she seemed about her appearance; she didn't wear loads of make up or spent a lot of galleons on hair styling products. It was one of the reasons why seeing her dressed up for the Yule Ball was special. Most girls went through that much trouble on a daily basis to try and look good when they didn't need to, and it took away from the effect on special occasions. But she looked so transformed, so different, that it made her stand out like the Belle of the Ball.

"I…never…want…you…to…leave," she said in between kisses. "I need you far too much to survive without you."

He broke the kiss and pulled her in tightly, "I never want you to think that I could leave you Hermione."

"So then what were you going to do?" she asked him, confused.

"I need to apologise to somebody." He said quietly. "Dobby," he said in a commanding voice, unsure of whether it would work or not.

The elf appeared before the two of them, looking slightly confused. "Master Draco? You called?"

"How did that even work?" Hermione asked. "He was released from your family."

"Usually elves that are freed have a hard time not listening to commands from their previous masters," he told her before turning to the elf that was now looking at him wearily. "Dobby, I want to first tell you that this is the last time I will ever summon or give you a command like this. I've wanted to do this for a long time, but I've never had the chance to do so. But I need to apologise to you for everything that happened to you when you were serving our household. You definitely didn't deserve it, and I know that now. So please forgive me on behalf of my entire family for the way you were treated," he said solemnly.

Dobby's eyes began to water, "The little master has never said anything of the sort to me. Young Malfoy has always been nicer to me, but never given me so much love. I accept your apologies Master Malfoy, but I do not want to come back," he said, his voice sounding watery.

"Dobby, I don't think you should have to do anything you don't want to. I just wanted to try and make all my wrongdoings right, one thing at a time. And if it takes the rest of my life to make it up to you, I'll gladly do that."

"Thank you, Mister Draco," the elf said. "Dobby has forgiven you."

Draco gave him a slight smile. "Thank you Dobby. Now go back to Fleur. I know how much you both are enjoying having you do some of the house work."

The elf disappeared with a pop, leaving Hermione and Draco alone once more.

"Draco, that was incredible," Hermione said, her eyes wide as she looked up to him from the bed. She had a large smile on her face, and he knew he had done right by her.

"I knew when I saw him at the Manor that I needed to try and make amends with him as well. There are so many people I've hurt in my short life."

Hermione smiled before placing a kiss on his lips. "I'm glad I have you, Draco."

He held her closely as he kissed her once more. It was for the times like this when he remembered what exactly he was fighting in this war for, and he knew he would fight until his last breath to keep her safe, no matter what the cost may be.

A few days had passed since Blaise and the others had escaped from Malfoy Manor and things were slowly beginning to settle down. Most of the major injuries had been healed or were well on the way to being healed, and everyone was slightly more relaxed.

Ollivander had gone back to making wands for those who had lost theirs. Thankfully for Blaise, he still had his so he didn't need a replacement. He liked his wand and he wasn't sure how he would like having a new one.

The Golden Trio with the assistance of Draco had gone back to plotting the Dark Lord's demise behind their closed doors, to none of their surprises. They only emerged around a meal time, or for other minimal purposes. It was weird for Blaise to see his mate so caught up with the Gryffindors, but he looked so natural and happy with them that it didn't bother him.

Whether any of them liked it or not, the war had changed them. They had all one way or another grown up, despite their ages. They had to fight for the future they wanted, and for Blaise that was one where he could live the way he wanted to, and not under a crazy man's rule.

Blaise walked around the garden of Shell Cottage. The flowers were beginning to bloom to signal the start of spring, but the cool days of winter weren't completely behind them. A single frost was all that it would take for the newly bloomed flowers to be killed instantly. There were of course some flowers that would be able to tolerate the weather and make it through cold front, and those were the flowers that would dominate the spring season.

It came down to the fact that with nature some things were stronger than others and would be what prevailed while others failed.

"My mum always loved the spring time," a gentle voice sounded from behind him. He turned to see Lovegood standing there, wearing one of Fleur's dresses, magically altered to fit her. She bent down to smell on of the roses in the garden.

"So did mine," he said softly. It still hurt him to think of how he had failed his mother and imminently caused her death.

"I'm sorry," she said, standing as she looked him directly in the eye. "For your mother. I lost mine at a young age and I know how it feels not to have her around."

"Thank you," he said, looking down on the ground. "I wish it didn't have to be this way."

She took his arm. "The pain will get better eventually. It takes a long, long time for it to get anywhere near better, but it will. Just remember in the meantime that you still have people who love you dearly and will be here for you, including myself."

He looked up at her and saw her face full of genuine care for him. It was weird to him, to hear someone who wasn't either Draco or Theo express any emotion that reflected feelings for him other than fear or hatred. At school most of the other houses looked at him with disdain because of his family and his heritage. If there was one thing he learned, it was that blood prejudices went both ways. A lot of people looked at him poorly for no other reason other than the fact that he was from an old family with roots so far back that it began hard to keep track of.

They continued to talk as they walked around the garden together, and Blaise found that he quite liked Luna's company. They discussed things from their past, to their favourite dishes that the house elves at Hogwarts made, to what they wanted to do when they grew up. He learned that she wanted to become potions experimenter, like her mother, however be more cautious and take every precaution. He also told her about how he wanted to become a lawyer with Wizegameot. By the end of the afternoon, they had gone to a first name basis and were on the fast track to being friends, at the very least. He would be lying if he said that he hadn't considered having something more with her. However it would take time for them to get anywhere near close to that.

Draco shut the door to the bedroom as he held a plate of Fleur's cookies in his hand. He placed it in the middle of the bed which Ron, Harry, and Hermione were currently sitting on. While they had all enjoyed the small break they had while they recovered, they knew they had to get back to business. Voldemort wouldn't defeat himself, no matter how much they wished he would.

A while ago, Hermione and Draco had told them about how adamant Bellatrix had been about the fact that it would have been dangerous for her if they had gone into her vault. Both of them, separately, had realized that it must have meant that there was something there that Voldemort had given her for safe keeping; something like a Horcrux. So they began to plot how to get into the vault safely.

Hermione had taken her wand from her after she had been knocked unconscious, and had also picked up one of her hairs on the way out. It had been so subtle that no one had noticed, except for Draco.

"When shall we do this?" Ron asked as he munched through the plate of cookies, leaving very few for the rest of the group.

"Slow down, Ron," Hermione scolded him. "You could choke on something."

He looked up with a puzzled look on his face, with cookie crumbs plastered all over.

She shook her head, "I don't know why I bother."

"I think the sooner we do it the better. It's still going to take us a while to plan all the details out, but as soon as we do, it will be better for all of us," Harry said, as he polished off a cookie of his own. "At the latest, it should be by the end of the week."

Hermione nodded, "I agree. I think we should use Griphook to help us. He already did once, when he lied about the sword, so maybe he would again. It will be a lot easier breaking into the bank if we have a goblin on our side."

"I think we should also talk to Ollivander as well, to see what he knows about the Elder Wand. Whether it exists as a Deathly Hallow is one thing, but the fact remains that Vol- You-Know-Who wants it. And if Ollivander knows about the wand, maybe he knows about the other two as well," Harry said.

"Okay," Draco said. "Well if we're going to do this, then we'll need several things. We're going to have to get some Polyjuice potion, which Hermione should still have from the Ministry, if I remember correctly. We'll also need to find identities for Ron and I, seeing that Harry can fit under his cloak with the goblin if he agrees. Bellatrix wouldn't go alone, so having one side kick would make sense. Maybe I could cast a disillusion charm upon myself," he mused.

Harry smiled, "Sounds like a plan."

Theo sat with Blaise in their shared room as they ate the last of the cookies they had acquired from the kitchens.

"What are you going to do when we leave?" Theo asked as he gestured to their current accommodations. "It's not as if either of us can go home, and I don't know if I want to go back to the forest."

Blaise was silent for a few moments as he thought about their future. "I think I might go back to McGonagall. Before I was Imperioused I was passing back information to her about You-Know-Who. And while I can no longer do that, maybe she will allow me to join the Order and go on missions for them."

Theo looked up at him with surprise, "You never mentioned that you were an informant before now."

Blaise simply shrugged. "It never crossed my mind. If you want I can talk to her about you so you can join up as well. She trusts me enough to grant me that much. If we're lucky she may even get us somewhere to stay."

Theo smiled, "I would like that. If she lets me, then I can get back at some of the Death Eaters who enjoyed torturing me."

Blaise looked at him knowingly, "We can go see her as soon as Fleur clears you of all your injuries."

"Which will hopefully be soon," Theo said. He finished up the last cookie before getting up to take the plate back to the kitchen.

"Theo," Blaise called up at him. When Theo looked to him, he continued, "I'm really glad you're okay."

"Me too," Theo said softly, before exiting. It would take him a while to recover from all the pain he still experienced, but he was getting better, step by step, before long, he would be in near perfect condition. And when he was, the bastards who had cursed him would pay.

A/N: Hello guys! I'm still on vacation in NYC, but I found a spot with wifi (seeing that my hotel has none) and was able to upload the chapter :) Hope you all enjoy it, and remember to leave a review on the story