Once the shock of winning the final battle wore off for Hermione and Draco, all they wanted to do was be reunited with their daughter. However, just because the battle had been won didn't mean it was right to just leave Hogwarts. The majority of the Death Eaters had been caught and were gathered in classrooms under protective custody of several volunteers, but there had been some escapees. Then there were still people recieving treatment for injuries, as well as bodies turning up all over the school.
"I understand you're eager to get Lyra back, but right now there's nothing I can do," Dumbledore said to the couple when they approached him about leaving. "Your daughter is safe, and right now my priorities are here. Not only that but we're going to need everyone involved in the protection spells to wake your daughter, and as of this minute I don't know where they all are."
"We understand that, and we would never expect you to abandon your duties here," Hermione said. "But we need to go back to be with Lyra."
"Providing my office is still standing, you can use the floo in there," Dumbledore said. "When we can, we'll be back to wake Lyra."
"Thank you Sir," Draco said solemnly. "Thank you for everything."
"I only wish I could have stopped a lot of what happened," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "I suppose the important thing is that Voldemort's finally gone. I'm sure we can all cope with whatever happens next."
Leaving Dumbledore to get back to his task of sorting out the mess the final battle had left Hogwarts in, Hermione and Draco looked around for their friends. Neither of them wanted to leave without telling the people closest to them where they were going. Harry was the first one they spotted, as he helped settle a few injured people down in chairs.
"I can't believe you're still here," Hermione said as she embraced her friend. She was dying to hear how Harry had survived a second killing curse, but more than that she needed to get back to Lyra.
"It was touch and go," Harry admitted with a slight smile. "I'll tell you all about it, I promise. Just not right now."
"No, not right now," Hermione agreed. "Draco and I are heading back to be with Lyra. Dumbledore said he'd gather the others and bring them back when he can."
"I'll be with them, but for now I really should stay here," Harry said. He wanted to be with Hermione to support her, but at the same time he knew that he was still needed at Hogwarts.
"You stay here," Hermione said, understanding why her best friend couldn't accompany her back to Grimmauld Place. "And Harry, thank you for today. None of us would be standing here if it wasn't for you."
"You're a true hero, Potter," Draco offered.
"I was only doing what anyone would do," Harry replied with a modest shrug of his shoulders. "Now you two go and be with your daughter, and tell Lyra that Uncle Harry will be right with her."
"I will," Hermione promised, giving her best friend a tight hug before letting him return to his aiding the wounded.
They also found Blaise and Theo helping to tend to the injured. Like Harry they wanted to accompany Hermione and Draco back to Grimmauld Place, but they felt that they were needed at Hogwarts. Theo especially wanted to stay as he was hoping to talk to Dumbledore and see if the headmaster would put in a good word for his father. Despite being a Death Eater, he'd wanted no part of the second war and he'd been instrumental in helping Theo and Blaise avoid a fate similar to Draco's.
"We'll do everything we can to help your father, Theo," Hermione assured their friend. She knew that sooner or later Draco himself would be taken away to be questioned, but she wasn't ready to dwell on that thought just yet.
"Thanks Hermione, and we'll be with you as soon as we can," Theo said. "We're going to be right at your side when Lyra wakes up."
Appreciating the support they were getting from everyone, Hermione and Draco finally left The Great Hall and made their way to Dumbledore's office. When they reached the stone gargoyle that usually guarded the stairway to the office they found it had been knocked over in the battle. Fortunately the hidden staircase was half visible with the toppled gargoyle lying at the foot of the stairs.
"If we squeeze, we should be able to get through," Draco said, examining the small gap that led to the staircase.
"Let's hope the top isn't blocked," Hermione remarked as she squeezed through the small gap and was followed by Draco.
Luckily the top of the staircase wasn't blocked, even though it was another tight squeeze to get into Dumbledore's office as the stairs had been stopped in the middle of rotating. Fortunately neither Draco nor Hermione were that large so they managed to scramble into Dumbledore's office. Even though the office was a bit of a mess, Hermione didn't think there'd been any actual fighting taking place in the room. It looked to her that the mess and minimal damage was caused by events that had taken place in other parts of the castle and the headmaster's office had just been caught in the crossfire on a few occasions.
With no fighting having taken place in the office, the floo network was still in perfect working order and activating the connection, Hermione gave the address of headquarters to Draco. She was then the first to floo to Grimmauld Place, arriving in the deserted front room, closely followed by Draco.
Hermione had heard feet upstairs the second she'd arrived and the distinctive sound of the floo bellowed around the house, and by the time Draco stepped out of the fire, she could hear people running down the stairs. George was the first to burst into the room, and the smile that lit up his face when he saw Hermione and Draco was wider than Hermione had ever seen before.
"Good news?" he asked as behind him Narcissa entered the room and with a rather unladylike squeal, launched herself at Draco.
"Harry's killed Voldemort," Hermione announced as Madam Pomfrey put in an appearance.
"Are you okay?" Narcissa asked her son, checking him out for any signs of damage. He looked a bit battered and bruised, but there didn't look to be any serious injuries.
"I'm fine," Draco said as his mother let him go and embraced Hermione, informing his girlfriend how worried she'd been and how much she'd missed her.
"I've missed you too, Narcissa," Hermione said with a gentle smile.
"At least now it's all over," Narcissa said with a relived sigh. "It is all over, isn't it?" she checked, suddenly worrying about Lucius and what would happen if he hadn't been killed or caught.
"It's all over," Draco reassured his mother. "Voldemort's gone, Father has been captured and Dumbledore will be here when he can to wake Lyra."
"Are there many casualties?" Madam Pomfrey asked. "Should I go and help?"
"I'm sure Dumbledore would appreciate that," Hermione said, giving the medi-witch a smile before turning to George, knowing that he needed to be told about Ron.
"No," George whispered as Hermione's face turned sombre as she faced him. "Please say we didn't lose someone else."
"I'm sorry George, but Ron didn't make it," Hermione said, feeling the emotion of her best friend's death bubble up again as she informed his brother of his loss.
"What happened?" George asked as he began to cry at the thought of never seeing his little brother again.
"He saved my life," Draco said softly. "He was a hero."
"He really was," Hermione said, squeezing George's arm. "You would have been so proud of him, George."
"I should go and be with my family," George said as he swiped at his tears to get rid of them.
Hermione gave George a hug before he headed off to Hogwarts with Madam Pomfrey. With George and Madam Pomfrey off doing what they could to help, Hermione and Draco turned their attention back to their daughter. Once Narcissa had assured them that Lyra had been fine since she arrived, they headed upstairs to where Lyra was lying in her crib. Narcissa had chosen to remain downstairs to give the couple some privacy and to wait for further news from Hogwarts.
"My little angel," Draco sobbed, collapsing to the floor beside Lyra's crib and reaching his hand through the bars to stroke the head of his unmoving daughter.
"We'll have her back soon," Hermione whispered, joining Draco on the floor beside their daughter's crib.
"I'm so sorry princess," Draco whispered to his daughter.
"Don't," Hermione ordered sternly. "Don't blame yourself, Draco. You did everything you could to protect our daughter."
"Yet she still ended up like this," Draco whispered, unable to tear his eyes off Lyra. In every memory he had of his daughter she was vibrant and full of life and it felt so wrong seeing her lying unmoving in her bed.
"She ended up safe and protected," Hermione said. "Don't get me wrong, it breaks my heart to see her like this, but at least she's alive. And by the end of the night, she'll be awake and back in our arms."
"How long will she be in my arms for though?" Draco asked with a sigh as he turned his head to face Hermione. "We both know I'm going to be dragged into the Ministry at some point. I was technically a Death Eater and I was forced to do some pretty nasty stuff."
"When Voldemort first took Lyra and forced you to serve him, I got Dumbledore to sign a document basically pardoning you," Hermione said. "It might not have much legal weight, but Dumbledore also promised to stand up for you. I'm sure Harry and countless others will do the same as well. You were forced to do what you did, Draco, and the Ministry will see that. You're a victim in this war, just like the rest of us."
"Forced or not I still took part in some pretty despicable things," Draco whispered. "I was there when your parents were killed."
"I know," Hermione replied softly as a lump began to form in her throat. To be honest she'd pushed her parent's deaths to one side, but now things were coming to an end with the war she knew she would have to deal with their loss and reconcile herself to the fact she would never see them again and the last words they'd said to one another were words of hatred and anger.
"So how can you even bear to be in the same room as me?" Draco asked as a sob threatened to break out. "How can you look at me and not hate me?"
"I love you, Draco," Hermione insisted as she gathered her boyfriend in her arms and held him as he broke down in tears. "I love you now more than ever. You've been through hell these last few months, and it was all for Lyra, your mother and me. How could I not love someone who would go through hell for the people he loved? I don't blame you for anything that's happened these last few months, and I never will."
"I don't deserve you," Draco whispered in a hoarse voice as he clung to Hermione.
"Yes, you do," Hermione said. "We belong together - you, me and Lyra. We love you so much Draco, and don't you ever forget that."
Both very much aware that they'd only just touched on the surface of everything they would have to deal with in the coming months, the young couple remained in each other's arms as they sought comfort together. They both knew it wasn't always going to be easy trying to get things back to normal and to carry on with their lives, but they both knew that it would be worth to effort. They truly did belong together and they wanted nothing more than to be there for each other as they watched their precious daughter grow up.
Eventually the couple got up from the floor and they settled themselves onto the bed as they waited for Dumbledore and the others to arrive from Hogwarts. Surprisingly it wasn't that long a wait and Hermione guessed they'd only been at Grimmauld Place for a couple of hours when they heard the floo network begin to sound repeatedly. After the first couple of rings, they then heard footsteps on the stairs and Blaise, Theo and Harry were the first ones into the room.
"How's our precious little Lyra?" Blaise asked, leaning over the bars of the crib and planting a light kiss on Lyra's head.
"She's fine," Hermione replied. "How are things at school?"
"Starting to take some semblance of order," Harry replied. "Dumbledore and the others are going to come up and quickly wake Lyra, before going back to school. I thought I would stay here though."
"I'd like that, Harry," Hermione said, giving her friend a hug.
At the sound of other people coming up the stairs, Blaise, Theo and Harry backed up towards the window to allow everyone else to enter the room. Since Draco hadn't been around when the extra protection spells were placed on Lyra, he was rather shocked when so many people piled into the room. Bill was even been propped up by Charlie as he'd suffered serious damage to his knee and couldn't walk unaided.
"Twelve people," Draco gasped as he did a quick headcount, not counting himself, Hermione, their friends and his mother. "Twelve of you were protecting my daughter?"
"Twelve?" Hermione frowned, checking through the group to work out who was missing. She knew poor Professor Sprout had been killed, but that should have left thirteen people who had offered their protection to Lyra. "Where's Madam Pince?" she asked with trepidation when she realised who was missing.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but we found her body just outside of the library," Molly said gently.
Hermione nodded as she bit back the tears of losing yet another person. Even though part of her felt so relieved and happy to have defeated Voldemort, another part of her felt weighed down by the losses they'd sustained along the way. It really wasn't fair that finally they'd defeated Voldemort and everyone wasn't around to enjoy the moment.
"Shall we proceed," Dumbledore said. "If everyone who offered their magic to protect Lyra could join hands and create a circle around her."
Backing away, Hermione and Draco held hands as they watched everyone gather in a circle around Lyra. Dumbledore than began to chant and slowly a golden glow began to form around the circle. When Dumbledore then stopped chanting the glow radiated outwards and Hermione and Draco were thrilled to hear their daughter let out a loud wail. Flying into the circle, Hermione plucked a very awake Lyra from her crib and cradled her against her body.
"Mummy and Daddy are here, princess," she cooed, turning to Draco with tears in her eyes. "She awake."
"I can't believe it," Draco said, wrapping his arms around both Hermione and his daughter. "Thank you," he said sincerely, looking around at everyone who had helped their daughter.
"You're most welcome, Draco," McGonagall replied with a smile and her sentiments were echoed around the group.
"We'll leave you alone with your daughter," Dumbledore said once he'd had a quick check of Lyra along with Madam Pomfrey and given the little girl a clean bill of health.
Once by one everyone said hello to Lyra before departing the bedroom. Finally it was just Draco, Hermione, Narcissa and their friends. After getting a hug from her granddaughter, Narcissa also left the room as she was planning on seeing if she could be of any use at Hogwarts.
"Do you want us to leave as well?" Blaise asked once the teenagers were alone with Lyra, who was a bit clingy and grouched every time Hermione moved her away from her chest.
"No, I'd like you all to stay," Hermione replied. "I really don't know what I would have done without you three, and of course Ron. He took his time, but he was there for us when it truly mattered."
"I've got a message for you off Ron," Harry said, sitting next to Hermione on the bed. "Both of you actually," he added as Draco sat down at the other side of his girlfriend. "He wants you to know he doesn't regret saving you, Draco. He also wants you to be happy together and to have a great life with Lyra. He loved you, Hermione, and he wanted you to know that."
"How do you know this?" Hermione asked, suspecting that Harry wasn't just saying what he thought she wanted to hear.
"He told me," Harry replied. "He sent messages for everyone he loved."
"I'm confused," Theo said as he and Blaise settled down on the couple of chairs in the room. "It sounds like you've spoken to Weasley after he'd been killed."
"I did," Harry said. Giving the baffled group a smile, he then proceeded to tell that what exactly had happened when Voldemort had killed him, and how he'd survived the killing curse for the second time in his life.