We arrived at the Ministry shortly after Blaise. I wasn't sure how Draco proposed to get Goyle out of there, but he was holding my hand so tightly that I winced. He looked down, having heard me.

"Relax," I said, and his grip subsequently loosened. We were making it past the large statue, which looked different from what I remembered, when I swore I saw somebody rushing towards me. I heard my name and paused. Draco's ears perked and he whipped around. Ginny stopped right in front of me.

"Ginny?" I was just as shocked to see her as Draco was.

"I can't believe it. It is true," she said. Before I could say another word, I saw Draco reaching for his wand, Ginny making the same move. And then Pansy was pointing her wand in Ginny's face, and Harry was behind Pansy with his wand directed at her head. Some passersby began to get suspicious, pausing and gasping. I knew it wasn't going to be long before authorities were notified.

"DEATH EATER!" Someone shouted, and the next thing I heard was an explosion very close to me before I went deaf. I felt myself being wrenched away, saw pieces of stones go flying every which way, and I caught a glimpse of red hair as Draco pulled me away somewhere. I only hoped Ginny was okay. People were scattering, screaming. I knew that Draco hadn't been responsible for the explosion, as people were scattering away from the culprit, who I couldn't see in the chaos. Draco had pressed me against a wall in a corner. I felt his hands on my face and saw the fear in his eyes. He was speaking to me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. My hearing was just starting to recover. I looked over towards the action where I could see an angry Goyle, red in the face, throwing hexes at the Ministry authorities who were attempting to contain him. Draco pressed something warm into my hand. I could make out the word, "Please," as he stared down at me. I looked in my hands to find a small corked glass bottle with a shiny, silvery looking substance inside it. I just stared at it, and then I began to understand what Draco was asking me.

"No," I said, my own voice echoing in my ears.

"Please!"

"Draco, we're not going to die," but I grabbed him and held on for what appeared to be dear life. The fight ensued and Draco ducked, pulling me down with him.

"Please," he said again through gritted teeth, drawing his wand. Having hit the back of my head on the marble floor, I was momentarily disoriented.

"We're not going to die," I said, though tears seeped out of my eyes. I felt Draco pull me up off the floor.

"I love you, Angelina," he said, meaning it, kissing me once harshly before ducking from behind the wall. I followed suit. I wasn't about to desert him. It was almost as if time was moving in slow motion as I felt my heart racing. Draco shielded me from a blast. The authorities had targeted us, marking Draco as a Death Eater.

"Goyle's gone mad!" Pansy said, rushing up to Draco.

"He wants the takeover to start now—starting here. There's no way we can outnumber them. No one else is coming—we've been deserted!" Pansy screamed, clutching Draco's collar. He pushed her back harshly.

"If you're not going to fight, then leave," he spat at her coldly.

Pansy stared at Draco with watery eyes.

"You should've picked me," she said angrily, glaring at me.

"She's not even one of us! Your father would be ashamed—"

Pansy went flying back when Draco slapped her. The next thing I knew, Pansy got up and pointed her wand at me. I was quick to defend myself, deflecting her hex. Draco was in utter disbelief, but he was immediately distracted by George who was coming at him relentlessly, shooting chains from his wand.

"Malfoy!" George screamed and we were separated in the chaos. I felt a hand grab the back of my shirt and turned around to see Ron.

"What are you doing?!" he asked me in disbelief, "Tell me you're not a Death Eater," he said desperately. I found Hermione's wand in my face before I could answer.

"No, I'm not!"

I heard Goyle scream and there was another huge blast that sent us three flying. I hit my back on something and nearly lost consciousness. I stayed on the ground, looking up to see rays of incinerating lights flying hectically about. Goyle had gone mad. He was killing Ministry officials left and right. I stayed low to the ground, feeling something warm against my leg inside my pocket. I pulled it out to find the tiny bottle. I couldn't remember Draco putting it in my pocket, but I knew I was injured badly. I stuffed the bottle back inside my pocket. I had to find Draco…

"Angelina?" George screamed. I barely recognized him with all the soot and dust on his face. I felt his burly arms picking me up into a standing position. I quickly found my ankle to be sprained as George began whisking me away from all the fighting, towards the exits.

"No!" I screamed, pulling him to a stopping position.

"Angie, we have to leave now! There are Death Eaters, and they don't care who they kill!" George proceeded to carry me over his shoulder towards the exits and I shouted. I needed to find Draco. I couldn't even see where he was for all the dust flying about. The ceiling began collapsing and I knew no one would have made it out of there alive.

"George, stop!" I screamed. He nearly made it to the exits when he screamed and went flying, dropping me in the process. I looked to find him sliding across the marble floor, Pansy limping towards me with her wand at the ready. I looked to find George's eyes closed and I hoped she hadn't killed him. I screamed, hoping George was alright. Pansy was going to try and kill me, and I knew it. She staggered towards me fearlessly. I had dropped my wand somewhere in the wreckage, which I noticed with a pang of distress when I found my pockets empty.

"I'm sick of you, you meddling bitch. You never even loved Draco. Why he married you, I'll never know. But none of that matters now—oh no. He'll never see you again," she said, smiling evilly.

"I'm going to kill you, Johnson. And then I'll completely obliterate you. Draco won't even find your body," she sneered. I reached for the bottle in my pocket, feeling my fate drawing nearer. I knew it wouldn't have done me good to flee. There was no escape. Just as I felt the glass in my fingers, Pansy cried out the curse at the top of her lungs. My vision of her was momentarily blocked and I heard Draco scream in a type of agony I would never be able to forget. He collapsed to the ground in front of me, having shielded me from the curse with his own body. Why he hadn't simply shielded me with a protection spell completely baffled me, until I found myself at his side and saw that his wand was missing. I knew he would otherwise have had it, and quickly assumed he'd lost it in the fighting that had finally stopped; Goyle had finally been killed. My eyes flooded over like oceans and I placed Draco's head atop my knees where I was on the cold floor.

"Draco. Draco!" He grinned up at me, reaching weakly for my face, but his hand fell back. I knew that he only had seconds left.

"What have you done?!" I screamed, turning back to see Pansy for a second, whose face had gone stark white.

"Draco—no—no—no. Don't close your eyes," I begged, finding him beginning to slip away.

"Thank you for saving me," he whispered. I remembered the bottle. I reached into my pocket and uncorked it, but by the time I pressed it to Draco's pale lips, his eyes had closed for good. I screamed, pulling his freezing cold body to my chest. I didn't want to believe he was gone, but I knew that he was.

"Please," I sobbed pointlessly, lying Draco there, holding his face in my hands.

"Don't!" I sobbed. I was reduced to nothing but tears as I clung to Draco's cold hands, which became stiff with death and I knew I'd lost him completely. I corked the bottle and let it fall into my pocket. I laid down beside Draco's body and cried against his chest. I felt a hand on my back and looked up into Harry's eyes. Ginny was behind him and I knew that everyone else was alright.

"It's over," Harry said reassuringly, although nothing could have made me feel better at that point. Pansy was still there when I got up. She was crying, standing there like a fool.

"You killed him," I said through gritted teeth. She was lucky I did not have my own wand at that very moment.

She looked me in the eyes one more time and disapparated…

I knew that Draco died for me. He died because he couldn't have bared for me to die, too. But as I sat there remembering, the tears did not fail to fall. I held the little glass bottle that hung from my necklace. It was still as warm as it had been the first time Draco pressed it into my hand. I knew it was Ambrose's blood. Somehow, I just knew. But I didn't know what Draco's last words to me had meant. I hadn't saved him. In fact, I failed to do so. Every day since, I still had to wonder what he meant by that…the baby in my lap clasped my finger and I looked down into Draco's very eyes. Sometimes it scared me how much the child resembled him. Somehow, I think I knew this was meant to happen. Shortly after Goyle's downfall and the Ministry mishap, I found out that I was pregnant. It was as if I had been given a sort of second chance to see Draco again. I knew that he would live on through his son, who looked up at me with those icy eyes as if to ask me what I was thinking. He made me smile, and yet the tears dripped upon his little rosy cheeks. He merely clasped my finger tighter, as if he knew…

Narcissa cooed at Dallin, handing him over to Madame Malkin, where he immediately began crying as she started to take his measurements. He was one years old today and all Narcissa had wanted was to give him the most luxury could possibly buy, not that he was even old enough to really understand what the devil was going on. I sat there watching my son begin to calm down once Madame laid him on a table and tickled his foot. He started laughing then and it set me at ease. I sipped my tea, which had gone cold.

"Mother," I said. Narcissa turned to face me.

"I should fancy a walk. I think I'll fetch a hot cuppa. It's been a long day," I said.

"Of course, dear," she responded, nodding at me and returning her attention to my laughing son as Madame Malkin began to measure his feet. I stepped out into Diagon Alley. It smelled like rain but had yet to actually begin falling. It seemed like it was only yesterday that I'd lost Draco, as I passed the apothecary to find a most unappealing picture of Pansy Parkinson's face on a wanted poster in the window. My blood still boiled at the sight of her. I knew she had never intended to kill Draco, but it was still her fault that he was gone. I felt I had always been living on edge ever since. I knew that the day I saw her pathetic face again, I would kill her on the spot. I knew that Blaise had died and Goyle was definitely dead. The Ministry wasn't playing games anymore; if one was found to be guilty of practicing dark magic as a Death Eater, they were to be executed immediately. Nobody wanted any more of the chaos that followed Voldemort to continue on. Narcissa had been exonerated, having gone before the Ministry to appeal to them, admitting that her association with the dark arts had died when she lost her husband, especially with the death of her son. If it hadn't been for Harry confirming at the last minute that she was truly innocent, why he'd done so I still wasn't able to figure out, she would have been put to death. I closed my eyes a moment, trying to block Draco's funeral out of my mind. I shook my head and wandered into a book shop, straying from my original destination. The bell above the door tolled, but I knew the shop would be closing soon. I just wanted to find something and start reading it—anything to take my mind off of the past year. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and hardly recognized my own face. I had become a bit gaunt and pale, and I knew I owed it to not taking very good care of myself as of late. I had often been forgetting to eat, spending all of my time and energy in taking care of mine and Draco's son. I knew I had to start treating myself better, or I wasn't going to live long enough to see many of Dallin's firsts. Draco wouldn't have wanted me to live like this, and I wiped a stray tear from my eye, turning away from the mirror. I wandered back into the deserted bookstore, catching the keeper who greeted me shortly, letting me know there were fifteen minutes until closing, before disappearing behind stacks of books. I wandered into shelves and sighed. I paused, thinking I heard somebody coming. And then I shook my head, believing it to be my lack of sleep. I started walking again, and this time I knew I heard footsteps. I stopped and the footsteps stopped again. I knew it wasn't the store keeper, as he was on the other side of the store stacking books. I reached for a book on one of the shelves, and when I pulled it out, I dropped it. I gasped as it hit the ground rather hard. I went to pick it up, and swore I heard footsteps again. I placed my hand on my wand and then reshelved the book slowly. I walked a bit further down the aisle and paused, reaching for another book. I drew my wand fully. I then swiftly pulled the book from its place and found a pair of eyes staring out from the other side of the shelf, having pulled out a book in the same spot on the other side. I gasped.

"I—I'm sorry," I stuttered, placing a hand over my chest. I was about to put the book back when I dropped the one I was holding, my heart panging like I'd been shot. These eyes were familiar…I knew I had seen them before. I dropped my wand as the brows cast upwards in a sympathetic sort of way. Gasping and in disbelief, I rushed around the shelf to find who was standing there. I nearly fainted and was quickly caught in a pair of arms. I was lowered down to the floor and found myself staring up at Draco's face. It couldn't have been real.

"What? …What?" I said repeatedly, touching his face all over, brushing my hands through the hair, which had grown to the shoulders.

"I'm so sorry," Draco said, cupping my cheek, "I couldn't put you in danger, or mother…our son. I had to know you were all safe," he said. He was touching me, and I knew then that I wasn't dreaming. Draco let me sit on the floor where I was in his arms.

"How?" I asked blankly, staring him up and down in disbelief. He smiled slightly, knowing what I'd meant to ask. Draco pulled his collar down until I could see something faintly beneath his left clavicle. It looked like some sort of circle, and a memory flashed into my mind. I remembered tracing it with my finger, the snake tattoo.

"The Ouroboros. The brotherhood," he said.

"…It protected you? You were alive this whole time?" I asked, getting a bit too excited, but in a somewhat frightened way.

"Shhh," Draco said, meaning for me to keep my voice down. He shook his head.

"No, not exactly," he said, cupping my cheek again. His touch was warm, unlike how I remembered it.

"I really did die," he said.

"So, what does that have to do with that thing?" I asked, pulling his collar down again to look closer at the faded marking there. It looked as though it had been burnt, the flesh there reddish against his pallor. Draco sighed.

"Javier…he was the only one left from my…coven, if you will. The one I joined in attempts to recruit Death Eaters…he's dead now. He traded places with me," Draco said. He didn't need to tell me anything more for me to understand that I would definitely never see Javi again.

"He kept an eye on you after I was gone," Draco went on quietly.

"I guess when he saw that you…" Draco's eyes glanced around unsurely.

"Where is our son?" he asked.

"H-he's with your mother. He's safe," I assured Draco.

"It's a one-way trip. Javier did it for me. He wanted me to be able to see my son, I guess…I'm sorry—I tried to stay away. I know what's becoming of wizards who are accused of being Death Eaters. I couldn't risk putting you in danger," Draco said. "Although, I'm not a Death Eater anymore. I don't have those powers. They died when Pansy killed me," he explained. My head was starting to spin with all of this information. I started to stand up slowly, Draco helping me.

"How many of them are there? Because they're still out there, Draco," I whispered.

"I don't know," he whispered back.

"But all that matters is that you're okay—"

"Where have you been watching me from? Why am I only just seeing you?"

"I've kept my distance," Draco admitted. I stepped away from him, somewhat unsure of what to think. It couldn't have been real. This had to be some kind of cruel joke.

"Angelina…it's me. I'm real. I swear."

Draco approached me then and I stopped backing up. He kissed me, and it finally convinced me that what I was seeing, what I was feeling was real. I held him tightly, the warmth unlike anything I'd ever felt before. I was never going to lose Draco again.