Chapter. 29 The Aftermath

POV Draco

Pansy's words took a minute to register in his mind. Hermione was so upset that he had first assumed the Weasel had walked free.

Thank Salazar for small miracles, I did not want to have to kill him and go to Azkaban.

"So, what happened?" he asked as he continued to rub circles into Hermione's back.

"He was found guilty on both counts, and they gave him life. The problem started when we went to leave. We were bombarded with press and Mrs. Weasley was screaming, but the main event was right when we got to the floo. Harry showed up, which caused her to freak out. Fred went to take care of it, but they started shouting, and that caused little Miss Save the Day here to try and intervene. I had to grab her and drag her into the floo. Honestly, I should probably go make sure nobody was arrested."

Just as she was about to step into the floo it roared to life, spitting out two figures.

"God's, Theo, Fred, are you both all right?" she said.

"Mostly," Theo replied, "Pans, could you floo to the house and get my potion kit?"

"What do you need Theo? I might have some." Draco said, reaching for his wand.

"You won't have it. I've been working on a modified Essence of Dittany since you and Hermione left. The original wasn't strong enough and would still leave scars."

"And you succeeded already?"

"Well, I got the scarring taken care of by adding Prunella root, but I don't have the strength up yet. That doesn't matter for right now though, Pans? Would you please?"

She nodded her head and disappeared through the floo. Draco watched as Theo led Fred to the couch and sat him down, casting some cleaning spells on his hands.

"What happened Fred?" Draco asked.

"Potter couldn't keep his mouth shut." He said, leaning over to look at Hermione who had drifted off to sleep, "He was screaming for Hermione, so I separated from the other to go cut him off while they got her out. The problem was, Harry decided to bring up you being a Death Eater again who would have saved us all our problems if you had just died during the battle. That was when I lost it. Told him that I was grateful that you had lived, not only because of Hermione, but because you saved my life that night, if you remember."

"I remember." He said looking down at the witch in his lap. He hadn't had the chance to explain his respect for Fred to her yet. He had meant to the first day they came by but Potter's appearance had ruined the day for them. He had a habit of that, it seemed.

"Once he realized going after your character wasn't working, he resorted to bringing the family into it and how I betrayed them. Which was also fine, I didn't care what he said about me. It was only when he played his final card and said that if Hermione had just given Ron a shrivel of the attention, he wanted none of this would have happened."

WHAT!?

"Excuse me? Potter said what?" Draco spat.

Pansy appeared through the floo, interrupting Fred's reply. "Theo, your lab is impossible to navigate, you need to organize better." She said, handing him the pouch from her bag.

"I've been a bit distracted. I'll organize later once everything settles down."

He pulled a vial from the bag and popped the stopper off. He placed a few drops on Fred's knuckles and began to massage it in. Draco couldn't help but notice the attention he paid to tending to the ginger twin.

"Where's George?" Pansy asked.

"He's with the Minister, cleaning up this whole mess," Theo replied, still holding Fred's hand even though he was no longer tending his wounds.

"I'll go get an update." She said, disappearing through the floo again.

"I'm going to carry Hermione up to bed and then take a shower. You both can just hang out here, I'll call Leaf and Daisy for some lunch. There is a TV if you know how to work it, or the Library is down that hall. It's not much right now, but it will give you something to do. I'll be back down in a bit."

"We got it covered Drake. If anything happens, we will let you know."

"Thanks, Theo."

As Draco dried off and went to step out of the shower, he heard a soft knock on the bathroom door. He opened it, unsurprised to find Hermione standing before him with her head hung low.

"I'm sorry." She said, unwilling to meet his eyes.

Sorry? For what?

"Sweetheart." He said, taking her chin in his hand, lifting her face up to look at him, "Whatever do you have to be sorry for?"

"I… I…" she tried to speak, but all that he could hear was her choked sobs. He pulled her against his chest and rubbed her back as she cried.

"Hermione, you have been through so much." He said and placed a kiss to the top of her head, "You are allowed to feel whatever you are feeling, except for sorry. Do you understand?"

She nodded, pulling back to look at him, "I'm…"

"If you are about to apologize again, I will hex you."

She laughed and it warmed his heart, "No. I was just going to say that I'm hungry."

"Oh. Well, I had planned to ask Leaf and Daisy to bring some lunch, but let's go downstairs, see what the others are up to, and then why don't we go out to eat instead? Does that sound good?"

She nodded again and he took her hand, leading her downstairs. As they came to the bottom of the stairs, they noticed two bodies sitting together on the couch. They were facing each other, speaking in hushed tones, clearly completely unaware of the world around them. Draco was about to announce their presence, but Hermione silenced him with a touch, and he turned to look at her, giving her a questioning look. She gestured back to Fred and Theo.

OH!

Theo's hand had reached up to stroke Fred's face, before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his mouth. Draco heard a soft gasp come from beside him, which made him smile, knowing she must be beaming with excitement. Draco cleared his throat, startling the two apart.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have a hungry witch to feed, and I decided we're going out so she can also get some fresh air."

"Sounds good to me." Fred said, "I'll run to the Ministry and find George and Pansy."

"Alright, meet us at the Leaky and we will walk down to Madame Beaumont's."

"Got it."

As they walked down Diagon Alley, Draco noticed the abundance of stares they were receiving, and he worried they should have gone into muggle London instead. He didn't want Hermione to become afraid of the world she loved so much.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, pulling her close to him.

"Yes. I'm just trying to ignore them."

"We've got you're back Granger," George said, "All of us."

"Thank you, I can't tell you how mu—"

"HERMIONE!"

Oh fuck.

"Ginny."

Pansy took hold of Hermione as they surrounded them. The Weaselette was quickly approaching, wand drawn, and Draco's hand twitched over his, ready to strike if he needed.

"You're not welcome here Death Eater scum!" she shouted, finally closing the distance between them.

The twins stepped forward, blocking Ginny from the rest of the group, "Go home Ginny!" Fred shouted.

"Now!" added George.

"Don't you two get me started! You have betrayed our family, siding with snakes and helping them put our brother in Azkaban! Both of you are dead to me!"

"Betrayal is a funny word coming from you," Fred growled, his eyes flaming with rage.

"Mum spends all day crying while you're out here taking turns fucking the Death Eater whore!"

"ENOUGH GINNY!"

Shit.

Hermione inched her way through the group, stepping out in front of Fred and George, "This has gone too far, go home!"

"Well, well, look who finally shows her face." Ginny said, taking a step towards her, "Taking a break from sucking off snakes, are you?"

"You have no idea what you are talking about!"

"Oh, I do. You couldn't stand the fact that my brother wasn't paying enough attention to you, so you used a snake to get his attention, and when it didn't work you decided to frame my brother for a crime he didn't commit!"

"Do you hear yourself? That makes no sense Ginny!"

"Well, it doesn't really matter anyway, does it? You got what you wanted, the least you could do is stay away from civilized society."

"The only uncivilized one here is you!" Pansy shouted from behind Hermione.

"Shut your mouth bitch!" Ginny replied, pointed her wand at Pansy, "Unless you want to end up like all the other Death Eaters that have crossed my path!"

Hermione's wand was suddenly at Ginny's throat, "You will lower your wand or I will lower it for you." She seethed, her hair crackling around her, sending sparks into the air.

Ginny was silent for several moments before lowering her wand. Hermione followed suit and turned to walk away. As soon as her back was turned, Ginny's wand was up, but Hermione was two steps ahead. She spun around before the incantation was finished and cast a silent Protego, rendering Ginny's hex useless. Draco wanted to jump in, but he knew Hermione's frustration had reached its peak, and he was going to let her do as much as he felt was safe, ready to jump in if things got out of hand. He figured the Auror's would be here soon anyway, knowing a duel was going on in the middle of Diagon Alley. Just as Ginny was about to toss another hex, Hermione flicked her wand and large black bats began to fly out of the Weaselette's nose.

"Expelliarmus!" she shouted, Ginny's wand flying from her hand before she could perform the counter curse.

Moments later, pops of apparition sounded, informing them of the arrival of the Aurors.

"What is going on here!?" Auror Dawlish shouted.

"What's going on is that we were minding our own business when Ginny here attacked us, unprovoked!" Theo shouted.

"Lower your voice Mister Nott, I don't take kindly to disrespect."

"Excuse me?" Hermione interrupted, putting herself between Dawlish and Theo, "The only person being disrespectful is Ginny. She approached us, pointing her wand at my friends, and then tried to hex me while my back was turned."

"It's true Auror Dawlish" an airy voice from the crowd called, "We saw it all, sir."

"Name?"

"Luna Lovegood."