A/N: Sooo…What did everyone think of Deathly Hallows? I have a massive Malfoy rant pending, but I don't want to give too much away to people who haven't seen the film, so I shall hold it in until the next chapter :) Which shouldn't take too long btw :) Just in case people were concerned about the lack of angst, I figured I've put poor Draco through so much, the kid needs a bit of a break. Same with Lucius and Sev tbh, but the angst has, by no means finished ;) I have some very angsty plots planned for later on :) Enjoy the chapter! Love Lily xxx

"You a dream?" Draco asked sleepily as I knelt beside his bed.

I shook my head in the darkness, smoothing hair away from his face. He looked well, I could definitely see that even despite the lack of light; there were no lines of worry marring his young features as he slept, no fear in his eyes as he awoke… Draco was finally at peace and, for once, I did not have to worry about him. "I promise I'm real."

There was a rustle of bedclothes, then small arms wrapped themselves tightly around my neck.

"I knew you would come back tonight," he mumbled happily into my shoulder.

I don't know exactly what I had been expecting to return to, but it had certainly not been as warm a welcome as this, nor as calm a one. I had no idea what had taken place since leaving Draco to the care of my parents, but whatever it had been had clearly done the boy the world of good.

I cuddled him close, feeling all my worry – or, at least, the majority of it – evaporate.

"How are you Dragon?"

"I missed you," Draco said plaintively, sitting back up, eyes flicking to and fro across my face. "I wished for you every day." But despite the sincerity of his words, there was neither blame nor accusation concealed within them. Could it be, he finally had some trace of faith in me?

With a quick flick of my wand, I lit the half-melted candle beside the bed, illuminating the small room with a warm orange glow. "I missed you too," I assured him. "I'm sorry that I couldn't come earlier-"

But Draco cut my long-planned explanation short with a good-natured shrug. "I knew that you would come tonight," he repeated with a gappy smile. "I knew I just had to wait, then you'd come back."

"I was afraid that you would be angry with me," I admitted. "Or upset, like last time I left you." Of course, there was no William Southard waiting to pounce this time…

Draco looked quickly away at this, a flash of hurt briefly darkening the happiness. "I was upset," he told me quietly. "I thought you went away because you hated me, because of what I made you do to Father. I thought that I had asked for too much by making you kidnap me and that you hated me for it."

I listened to Draco in silence - guilty that I had made him feel like that, even more guilty that I had felt all of those things, as unjustified and unfair as it was.

I could feel Draco's grey eyes watching me intently, waiting to be told that his fears had been entirely unfounded, but the words would not come, not those particular ones anyway.

"Draco," I managed finally, having decided on the way to say precisely what needed to be said," I left because my head was not cooperating in the way that I needed it to and I knew that, had I stayed, I would have done you more harm than good." It was not a lie, any resentment that I had harboured towards Draco had disappeared immediately upon my arrival at Hogwarts. "Too much had happened too suddenly and the only way that I could think about and deal with what had happened was alone."

Draco nodded, "That was what your mother said," he told me. "She said that it wasn't much to do with me at all, that you needed time before you'd come back because you were friends with Father and you'd had to chooses between him and me and it was really hard."

My mother always had been very astute…

"I'm sorry Sir," whispered Draco anxiously. "I really didn't know what else to do."

I managed a small smile. "Don't be. You did right. I'm sorry that I didn't help you sooner. It could all have been avoided if I had."

Shuffling closer, Draco laid his head against my shoulder. "It doesn't matter." And the same peace that I held felt earlier washed through me.

At that moment, all was well.

But I had to ask, even if I was terrified of the answer I would receive, "Has there been any word from your father?"

My heart sank at his answer, "He wrote to me yesterday."

"And?"

"And I don't know," Draco admitted. "I was waiting to ask you." And, with that, he reached across to the small bedside table and pick up a familiar-looking envelope, which h then handed to me.

I read Lucius' letter with as much confusion as Draco had, at a complete loss to know why the most pigheaded man in England had had such a sudden change of heart. If his sentiments were genuine of course.

One passage caught my eye in particular – 'Mrs Snape has said…'

"So my mother has been in contact with your father?"

Draco nodded. "She went to see him not so long ago," he said, leaning over me to look at the letter, "But she wouldn't say what they had talked about, only that it was for him to say to me. And then he sent me this."

"Indeed…" There was certainly a lot to ponder her; I was finding it immensely difficult to get past the sheer unlikeliness of Lucius' letter, but then again, if anyone had the ability to make Lucius admit that red was in fact blue, it was definitely my mother.

"I will get to the bottom of this tomorrow," I promised Draco. "But I wonder…" musing out loud, I continued, "if it were to be the case that your father has had a change of heart-" or discovered that he possessed one in the first place, "- what do you think you'd want to do?"

Suddenly uncomfortable, Draco shifter awkwardly, avoiding my gaze. I noticed his lips moved, but could not catch what he was saying.

"Hmm?"

"I…I don't want to be ungrateful," whispered Draco. "You've done so much so that I don't have to be there…"

"Listen," I reached out to put my arm around Draco's small shoulders. He obeyed, turning his face up towards me. "All I have ever wanted is for you to be safe and happy," The beginning of a smile appeared in the corners of Draco's lips as I spoke. "And if it is possible for you to be both of those things at home with your parents, then it is an ideal solution."

I could see relief wash away Draco's worries and his expression cleared once more, like clouds moving away from the sun.

"I'm glad you've come back," he said with great feeling. "Things seem to make more sense when you're around."

There was a great deal of clattering of pans and throwing of things into the sink when I appeared in the kitchen the next morning; my mother was not amused with my late night, unannounced arrival.

"You never give me warning, Severus!" she fumed, slamming the kettle down upon the hob. "We wait for weeks and weeks with nothing, not even a postcard let us know you're alive, and then you think it ok to just turn up as though you had never been gone!" She turned around and glared at me, hands firmly placed on her hips as though, left to their own devices, they would throttle me.

"If I had known when I was going to return, I would've let you know," I lied through my teeth. "But it wasn't something I had really planned."

"And at midnight? Any particular reason why it had to be at midnight?"

'So that I would have time to get through the door before being subjected to the Spanish Inquisition…'

I smiled a fraction too cheerfully, "No, nothing in particular."

"Humph."

And that was that. There was no point interrogating her about Lucius until she had at least partly forgiven me. But, for once, we had time.