Narcissa Malfoy had set the barriers and then she went hunting. She killed any death eaters she came across, but she had a specific target in mind.
Bellatrix Lestrange was her sister. They'd once been inseparable, along with Andromeda. Those times were long past.
Now Bellatrix wasn't her sister.
She was her enemy. She was the woman who murdered Lucius. The woman who had tortured Narcissa's child and his beloved. An insane shell of the sister she'd known.
This shell of Bellatrix would pay in pain and blood.
Remus Lupin had been quite correct when he'd told Harry that Narcissa was not a good person.
Narcissa would make it hurt. She'd make her suffer. Then she'd look the bitch in her eyes as she slit her throat.
No painless killing curse would suffice.
Pansy was trying to find one of her people.
Hermione would be best. Harry would be great. Draco would be a delight. At this point she'd even take the Weasel with a smile.
No such luck was coming to her as the castle shook from the force of the barrier shattering above.
Pansy thought she saw Theo at one point, but that couldn't be right. He'd left with the other Slytherins from the Great Hall.
There was one of the twins with another ginger brother, but neither was someone she cared about so she kept going.
Finally she as she skidded around a corner she found Blaise and Luna, both trading spells with a group of snatchers.
The two were outnumbered and when Blaise fell, a man standing over him with the beginnings of the killing curse on his lips, Pansy used a spell she'd only ever heard about.
"Sectumsempra!" She screeched and watched as the man fell to the floor, his body covered in deep slices that spurted blood everywhere.
Luna blasted several back, but more were still coming through the archway at the end of the corridor.
"Pansy you're a sight for sore eyes!" Blaise grinned as she helped him to his feet. He sent a slicing hex into a man's face when he got too close to Luna.
"You seemed to need some help." She winked, casting a propelling spell at the bloody body on the floor so it shot forward into three oncoming snatchers, knocking them to the floor.
"You are just enough to turn the odds." Luna quipped, pointing her wand at the arched entrance to the hallway, "Bombarda!"
Stones began raining down, some of the larger ones leaving a pool of blood where they crushed a snatcher.
The corridor was silent and the entrance now blocked.
"Luna, if Blaise doesn't keep you, I have a cousin who'd love to make you an Avery. Rich. Handsome. An appreciation for a good crushing of humans under piles of rubble."
"Oi! Piss off Parkinson!" Blaise shoved at her and then went to take Luna's hand.
Pansy followed them as they went to find more of their friends, catching sight of Hermione and Draco just as a wall was blasted down right beside them.
Luna felt Blaise wrap his arms around her as they fell, the stones tumbling down around them.
She screamed when something hit her legs and a numbness was creeping up her arm.
Where was Blaise? Wasn't he just here? She thought distantly as everything went black.
"Pansy!" Hermione screamed, running down the stairs just as Harry was doing the same, crying out for Fred. She thought she heard Ron's voice, but she couldn't know for sure.
She made it just as Percy Weasley took off after the death eater that had hit the wall, but Percy nor the dark wizard were Hermione's concern at the moment.
She ran to where she'd seen Pansy, finding her friend sobbing as she pulled at bricks, already making her nails bleed from tearing through the rubble.
"Pansy!" Hermione called, rushing to her side.
A dusty, tear-streaked face turned to her, and in a broken voice Pansy cried, "Blaise and Luna, he tried to grab her."
Hermione cast a summoning spell on Pansy's wand and it flew into her hand, thankfully intact.
The two girls were lifting and moving the rubble when Draco and Theo made it to them, immediately pulling out their wands to help.
Pansy sobbed again when they found Luna's hand, crushed and bloody, Hermione kept going even as tears flowed down her cheeks.
They might be alright, she rationalized. They might have made it somehow.
Harry was nowhere to be seen, but she didn't stop lifting the rock, at last, just before the final layer, Hermione saw a slightly blue glow from under the stones.
She moved them to find Blaise maintaining a shield as he cradled Luna to him as best he could.
Hermione could see the boy had a head wound that was oozing blood at an alarming rate, his nose was bleeding as well. Luna was unconscious and both of their lower limbs were still under more rubble.
The boys began lifting it as Hermione fell to her knees and touched Blaise's shield lightly. He seemed dazed and his pupils were blown wide with adrenaline.
"Blaise, it's Hermione, you have to cancel the spell so we can help you." She told him firmly, and waited as the shield flickered and then fell away.
She immediately began diagnostic spells and cringed. She could fix a few things, like the crushed bones and the small cuts, but Blaise's had a contusion and that was far out of her realm of expertise.
How he was still conscious, Hermione didn't really know. Luna had a concussion along with her pulverized hand.
Both sets of legs were merely skin and bone shards at this point. She cast stasis charms on both of them, then stunned them so they couldn't move as she tossed her bag at Draco.
He fished out dittany, applying it to their open wounds as Hermione began attempting to fix the shattered bones.
She was able to fix both of Luna's legs, but only one of Blaise's. Luna's hand was a lost cause for a novice like Hermione.
Conjuring two cots, she had Pansy and Theo take the two to the Great Hall, where the wounded were being gathered.
"Where are you going?" Pansy demanded, getting some of her fire back now that she had a task.
"I have a job to do just like you, Pansy. Go on." Hermione encouraged her best friend, watching as she disappeared around the corner with Theo and the two cots. Pansy's blue eyes glanced back twice before Hermione lost sight of her.
Hermione took Draco's hand and pulled him along, calling for Harry, only to find him further along, facing off with a group of acromantulas with Ron.
Relief tore through her at the sight of both her boys intact, even as Draco ran forward to cast incendio on one that was looming over Ron. He looked at them in thanks and she could see he was crying.
Fred Weasley had been under that wall as well. She didn't have time to think of that though, more spiders pouring into the hall.
"Run!" Ron screamed and they began falling back, as Hermione fast immobulus on the eight legged monsters pursuing them.
Once they were safely away, she looked at Harry in desperation, "We have to find the snake Harry. Look into his mind. It's the only way to end this."
Harry stepped to the side to do so, Ron following closely in concern as Hermione thought of something. Something that had nagged at the back of her mind for months. Since learning about the horcruxes.
"Hermione!"
Snapped her head around to look at Draco who was cupping her face in concern, "I've said your name three times. Where were you, Granger?"
Hermione just shook her head at him, feeling the pieces falling into place as she turned to look at Harry again.
His scar seemed to taunt her.
A scar that bonded him to Voldemort in a way no magic had ever been able to do.
A scar he'd received after surviving a curse no one else had ever survived.
A curse that was used in the creation of six artifacts, each containing a fragment of Voldemort's soul.
A diary.
A locket.
A cup.
A diadem.
A snake.
A ring.
Six horcruxes. Yet Voldemort had a well documented obsession with the magical properties of the number seven.
She looked again at Harry Potter, her best friend, as he came out of his trance, gasping in pain.
A scar.
Notes:
This is a shorter chapter, but I liked the ending sentence. So.
Chapter 21: War Is Over
Summary:
The final part of the Battle of Hogwarts
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Narcissa hissed in frustration when Voldemort called his troops back, but she began dutifully assisting in gathering the wounded.
She kept an eye out for her gaggle of children, but was drawn to a stop as she discovered a body.
Pink hair a spray of color across the stone, with molten gold eyes staring unseeing at the sky. Unusual coloring, but her features were familiar because they matched Narcissa's own.
It was Narcissa's niece, Nymphadora Tonks.
She gently levitated the body, a surprising feeling of sadness spreading through her as she gently deposited Nymphadora beside her husband.
Remus Lupin looked up with pure agony in his eyes, "She wasn't supposed to be here and she jumped in front of a kid. In front of Bellatrix."
Narcissa stared down at the body for a time before she vowed, "I will avenge her."
Lupin just nodded, cradling his wife's body to his chest, a choked sob tearing from his throat.
Narcissa vaguely recalled that they'd recently had a child. A baby boy.
She continued further into the Great Hall, catching sight of the Weasley's mourning the loss of two of their children.
It looked to be both of their twins. Perhaps a tragic blessing. Narcissa knew that wizarding twins did not last long without one another, their souls bound together and withering with the loss of their other half.
Finally she found her group of Slytherins with the single Gryffindor sitting between Draco and Pansy.
"Mother!" Draco stood quickly and hugged her tightly. Narcissa held him with all the strength she could muster.
After a few minutes Narcissa opened her arms for the others to join, Hermione snuggling under her left arm while Pansy took the right. Theo just walked around to press his face into her back.
Fleur held Bill as he wept for his lost brothers with the rest of his family surrounding them.
Fred and George Weasley had fallen at the same time, almost to the second.
Fred buried under a collapsing wall of stone while George had been killed on the other side of the castle by a giant.
Fleur didn't know how the Weasley family would bounce back from the loss of the jovial twins, especially so soon after Arthur's passing two years prior.
She wrapped her free arm around Ron who was holding Ginny. Percy and Charlie held Molly tightly.
Fleur looked around to see what other losses had been incurred, her heart breaking for Remus Lupin who cradled his dead wife, Tonks. They'd just had a baby.
Her eyes were then drawn to another family wrapped in an embrace. This one an assortment of hair colors and very little shared blood, but no less loved.
Narcissa was in the middle of a group of children who clung to her tightly as she murmured to them softly, kissing their heads and cooing over their wounds.
Fleur looked back to Molly Weasley who was also staring at the Malfoy huddle. When Molly caught Fleur watching her, she quickly looked away as if she'd been caught.
In an attempt to prevent a future conflict, Fleur murmured. "Just like you'd do anything for your babiez, so would she."
Molly just nodded stiffly, pulling at Ginny to wrap her into a hug. Fleur hoped that the Weasley matriarch came to terms with her feelings of animosity eventually, letting them fester never did any good.
Hermione caught sight of Harry Potter walking towards the entrance and slipped away from the Slytherins.
"Harry." She whispered and the boy stopped. He turned to her with a sad smile.
"I have to go. He has to kill me." He said with a grim acceptance. "I open at the close. That's what the snitch said."
"Yes." She agreed, stepping forward to hug him tightly, this boy who had already sacrificed so much. Now he was alone and walking to meet his own death.
"I think you knew." He told her as he hugged her back almost painfully, "I'm not angry. I think I knew too. Deep down."
"I think I didn't want to know." She murmured, pressing her face into his neck.
"Neither did I." He pulled away to press a kiss to her forehead, "All that's left is the snake. You can do this Hermione."
He started to walk away again, stopping once more, but he didn't look back at her, "Look after Pansy and Ron. Tell Draco he better treat you well."
Hermione wrapped her arms around herself as she sobbed, watching as Harry disappeared underneath his cloak as he strode towards the Forbidden Forest.
"He's the last horcrux, isn't he? One the Dark Lord never intended to make." Draco's soft voice as he turned her around, letting her bury her face in his chest.
"Yes." She whimpered, hot tears soaking into Draco's shirt, but she couldn't stop him.
"You knew." He said, no accusation in his voice, but she felt it all the same.
"I wanted to be wrong."
Pansy went to her knees when Voldemort commanded the half-giant to step forward and lower Harry Potter's body to the ground.
She didn't know if she screamed or if she was crying. She felt arms around her, Hermione, she thought vaguely.
Pansy's eyes didn't leave Harry's body, searching for some sign that it wasn't true. She'd done the stupid thing by falling in love with the boy and now he was dead.
As if through water she heard Voldemort making some kind of speech about how Harry had been caught running away. She was dimly aware of shaking her head.
Neville Longbottom stepped forward and then he was on the ground, the sorting hat on his head, set ablaze.
"Harry Potter abandoned you!" Voldemort insisted once more, "This child is misguided, but he will see reason soon enough."
Pansy seemed to find her voice then, rage coursing through her at this monster implying that Harry would ever turn and run.
The stupid boy was too bloody noble to ever save his own skin. He'd probably went and offered himself up like some kind of sacrifice.
Pansy vowed then and there that when she joined him in the afterlife, she'd beat that goody righteousness right out of the prat for leaving her.
"Harry would never!" She screamed, catching Voldemort's attention. The arms tightened around her protectively and Hermione shifted her body to block Pansy's.
"I do not lie, my child. You are pure and can turn from this path. I can offer you forgiveness. " Voldemort told her, opening his arms wide to gesture towards his side.
"I'll die first!" She snarled. Red unnerving eyes glittered at her, but he didn't have the chance to make good on her words.
Neville had managed to get the hat off. In one swift move, he pulled the Sword of Gryffindor from seemingly nowhere and ran forward, slicing the head off Voldemort's snake.
Chaos erupted as both sides charged at one another.
Then Hermione was pulling Pansy to her feet even as Pansy was screaming, "Where's Harry?"
She'd lost sight of his body as both sides rushed forward to resume the battle. She looked around the ground wildly, panic coursing through her when she couldn't find him. What would she have to mourn if he was trampled to nothing?
Then Pansy was shoved back as Hermione cast a shield spell, giving Pansy time to draw her wand.
Bellatrix Lestrange cackled with glee as she strutted towards the two girls, her wand raised.
Hermione slung a slicing hex at the same time Pansy cast a blasting spell and the duel was on.
Neville Longbottom was dueling Theseus Nott, Theo watching as his ex-boyfriend dodged a curse just barely.
Neville wouldn't win this alone, but Theo was frozen in terror. His father was the source of all Theo's nightmares. Neville dueling the evil man was Theo's actual hell.
However, when Neville fell to the ground, convulsing as Theseus cast the cruciatus curse, Theo reacted on instinct.
"Avada Kedarva!"
His father whirled to find his attacker, eyes widening upon seeing Theo. The green spell hit Theseus in the chest and he crumpled to the ground. Dead.
Theo wasn't aware of collapsing, but he must have because Neville was crawling towards him.
Shaky hands grabbed Theo's face, turning it towards Neville's even as Theo's eyes remain locked onto his father's corpse.
No more beatings. No more torment. No more being locked in a dark room the size of chair. No more cruciatus.
"Theo. It's alright. He can't hurt you now."
Theo finally moved his eyes to Neville's blue ones and the two boys stared at each other for a moment before a bubble of hysterical laughter burst from Theo's lips.
Neville just grinned. Then his eyes widened when Theo leaned forward and kissed him.
It probably wasn't the smartest thing to have a snog session on an active battlefield, but Theo didn't a damn since Neville was kissing him back.
Draco had somehow ended up dueling Fenrir Greyback in the chaos of the battle, the man surprisingly quick despite his hulking form.
He dodged a killing curse just in time and wondered if he was going to make it out of this when Fleur Delacour stepped up beside him with a vicious smile.
"Time to kill ze big bad wolf." She hissed and Draco nodded, stepping forward in time with the witch as they pushed the werewolf away from the crowd.
Their intent was not to disarm or defeat, but to put him down like the rabid beast he was.
Draco for Hermione, who still had nightmares of the man's threats to her body.
Fleur for her husband, his face maimed last year by Draco's mistakes.
At least the Veela did hold it against him he thought as she sliced through the man's Achilles tendon. Draco smiled darkly as he did the same to the other ankle.
Narcissa stood face to face with Voldemort. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Minerva McGonagall at her side.
"Bella made a mistake Narcissa. She will be punished so long as you lay down your wand and return to your proper place." The snakelike man assured her, ever the forgiving lord.
Narcissa just raised her wand and sneered, "My husband is dead. My children are scarred permanently. All because you couldn't keep your dog on a leash."
Red slitted eyes narrowed and she was ready for the spell that flew towards her. Apparently so was Minerva, as she deflected it before Narcissa even moved her wand.
They were pushed back slowly towards the Great Hall, but they were maintaining themselves against Voldemort for now.
From the corner of her eye, Narcissa saw Bellatrix Lestrange throw a killing curse at Hermione Granger across the Great Hall.
"Hermione!" Narcissa screamed in rage and Voldemort used her distraction to hiss a curse at her. She flinched, not having time to deflect it, but Remus Lupin stepped in with a shielding spell.
"Go. I'll take it from here." The werewolf told her, casting a hex that Voldemort deflected.
Narcissa didn't argue, running to where Pansy and Hermione dueled her deranged sister as the witch stood above them on one of the Great Hall's tables.
Coming up on Bellatrix's back, she hissed a spell just as Bellatrix raised her wand towards Hermione once more.
Perhaps it was bad form to attack from behind, but Narcissa Malfoy didn't play fair when it came to her children. She played to kill.
Bellatrix screamed as three long cuts sliced across her back, dripping blood and exposing pale flesh beneath dark robes.
She whirled around just as Narcissa threw another hex at the woman, smiling grimly when Bellatrix's severed arm fell, bouncing off the table and onto the stone floor.
Bellatrix collapsed to the wooden table with a scream, gripping at a bloody stump that had once been her elbow. She was kicking her feet in an attempt to shuffle backwards from Narcissa's slow approach.
Bellatrix lifted her intact arm to cast another curse that Narcissa easily deflected. She stepped up onto the table with her sister, looming over Bellatrix as she waved her wand once more.
This time the severing charm sliced across Bellatrix's wrist. Her amputated hand still clutched her wand even as blood spurted from the woman's wounds.
"Cissy. Please." The dark haired woman begged, terror tinting her voice.
Narcissa stalked forward, raising her wand again, "You should have never touched my family, Bella. Crucio!"
Her sister screamed in agony, but any sympathy Narcissa may have had was buried under the memory of gray eyes as Lucius stepped in front of Bellatrix's blade for her.
A second cruciatus was cast for Hermione. A third one for Draco.
Silence from surrounding spectators as Bellatrix panted, blood pooling around her body and dripping onto the floor as Narcissa lifted her wand again.
"Goodbye Bella."
A slice across her sister's throat and Narcissa watched those wide, dark eyes go blank and unseeing.
She lowered her wand and looked up, ignoring the shocked looks from the Order members in favor of finding her girls.
Her eyes came to rest momentarily on Molly Weasley, who looked neither shocked nor fearful. Instead she grimly nodded to Narcissa, who returned the gesture.
Arms wrapped around her side and Narcissa turned her attention to Hermione Granger, bending to kiss her forehead as the girl trembled.
"She won't haunt you anymore, my darling." Narcissa assured her.
Draco and Fleur ran into the Great Hall just in time too see his mother slice Bellatrix Lestrange's throat.
The woman was already missing both hands and Fleur looked at Narcissa with something akin to awe.
Draco thought that his mother and the French witch would get along extremely well given that Fleur had also seemed to favor the more bloody spells instead of a basic killing curse.
The veela had delivered the killing blow to Fenrir Greyback with an obscure curse that expelled the werewolf's entrails from his abdomen.
When Draco had looked at her with a raised eyebrow she had shrugged, "I love my Bill ze same az you do 'ermione."
She walked over as Fenrir had drawn his final breath, smashing his face in with the heel of her boot, "Alzo I am French."
Draco found Pansy coming up to stand with them, the girl's face still streaked with tears as she gestured at Narcissa, "I wanna be her when I grow up."
Draco scoffed and pulled his best friend to him, feeling her press her face to his chest and quietly cry.
Draco's mother was holding Hermione on top of the table, shushing her and stroking her hair as if Bellatrix's body wasn't growing cold only a few feet away.
He vaguely wondered why every woman in his life was so bloodthirsty. Then decided it didn't matter, he adored them for it.
He looked to where Voldemort was, the final opponent, and tugged on Pansy's head when Harry Potter pulled off his invisibility cloak and stepped forward.
Hermione was running to hug Harry when Pansy Parkinson made it to the boy first, a slap ringing out through the Great Hall.
The room went still as the girl was breathing raggedly in front of Harry Potter, her arm pulled back once more to punch him in the stomach.
Harry doubled over and McGonagall stepped forward in concern, stopped by Remus Lupin.
"I missed you too, Pans." Harry wheezed as he managed to stand up once more, this time braced for the blows that came at him.
"You massive, gaping arsehole!" Pansy screamed and Hermione's heart went out to her, seeing the tears streaming down her face. "Here I am, heartbroken and crying my eyes out over you, while you're galavanting around under that stupid cloak! I should burn the bloody thing!"
"I'm sorry Pansy, really I am." Harry told her earnestly.
"Sorry? You're sorry? You let me think you were dead!" Pansy snarled, another punch to the sternum that had Harry gasping for air. "A scrunch of a nose! A finger twitch! Hell, a bloody stiffy would have sufficed to let me know you were alive you, stupid prat!"
Hermione pressed her lips together and shook her head in warning when Harry started to smile.
Pansy erupted even as Harry hugged her tightly, ignoring her beating his shoulders with her fists, "Don't you laugh at me, Harry Potter! I'll make you wish Voldemort had killed you!"
"I love you too. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was alive." Then he grinned and Hermione groaned, "It being the middle of a battle and all."
A shriek of rage later and Harry Potter was on the floor while Pansy stormed away, muttering about her terrible choice in men.
Hermione walked over then and tilted her torso so she was level with his eyes as he struggled to stand back up from being kicked in the bollocks, "Was the joke worth it?"
"Not at this exact moment." Harry admitted with a grimace, slowly standing up and Hermione hugged him instantly.
"I'm so glad you're alive, you idiot." She whispered. Another pair of long freckled arms wrapped around them both and squeezed tightly.
"We did it guys!" Ron crowed, and the crowd descended upon them, cheers erupting. Hermione was laughing as they were swarmed, McGonagall's arms around Hermione even as Fleur jostled with the professor for the spot.
The war was over and they were alive.
After leaving Hermione with Draco and Ron with his family, Harry walked around looking for a familiar head of dark hair. He found her down by the lake, hexing stones into the water.
Blue eyes snapped to look at him, narrowing before she shot another stone into the lake. It skipped at least twenty times before it sunk.
"Come to crack another joke?" She snapped, making another pebble hover in the air.
"No. I came to ask you to come with me and take a nap because I'm exhausted." He told her honestly, making her lose her focus and drop the rock.
"Oh? Why don't you go it alone as usual?" She hissed, and he smiled fondly at her, just happy to hear her snarky tone.
He hadn't thought he would ever get to listen to the girl snarl at him again when he walked into that forest earlier. Harry quite simply loved Pansy Parkinson, prickly exterior and all.
"I'd rather go it with you. From here on out." He replied easily, watching her anger falter and a vulnerable expression pass across her face.
"Don't make jokes like that, Harry." She chided, "It's not nice."
"You're not nice and I'm not joking." He promised, stepping forward to wrap his arms around her waist.
"Then you can't be an auror." She ordered.
"I'm going to be an auror." He told her, smiling even as she scowled.
"We don't need the money. I'm rich enough for us both. You can be a housewife." She insisted and he couldn't help himself, he kissed her.
She kissed him back and Harry decided he could postpone a nap for a little bit longer as his fingers brushed under her muggle tshirt, stroking her soft skin as she pressed herself into him.
Draco had every intention on snogging his fiancée senseless as she pulled him into the cottage, but that didn't happen.
Instead he leaned against the door frame and smiled down at Hermione as she slept.
She hadn't even managed to take her trainers off, looking like she'd plopped down to do just that when she just gave in to exhaustion, as her legs were dangling off the side of the bed.
Her shirt was riding up, showing that sliver of skin Draco found particularly tantalizing, her arms sprawled about her head matching the messy disarray of her curls.
Crookshanks pounced onto the mattress, purring loudly at seeing his mistress once more and curled up on on one of the pillows.
Draco gently removed her shoes, then vanished her filthy clothes, murmuring a promise that he'd buy her new ones. He did a quick scourgify on her body and hair to get the worst of the grime off, then lifted her into his arms to tuck her into bed.
He went to take a shower, and afterwards he just climbed under the covers and curled around her, sighing happily at being back home with her.
Pansy was with Potter safe and sound. Last he'd seen they were going to Gryffindor tower to 'sleep'.
Draco's mother had went with Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, and surprisingly enough, Molly Weasley to strip Malfoy Manor of any lingering death eaters.
Theo was curled up in the Slytherin dormitory with Neville Longbottom, his father dead and his nightmares now only bad memories.
Blaise and Luna were both awake and resting at St. Mungo's, the group all planned to go see them tomorrow.
Hermione Granger was alive and safe in his arms where she wouldn't ever leave again.
Everyone was accounted for, so Draco let sleep pull him under.
Notes:
We made it peeps!
I have one more chapter for you before we start with the epilogues.
Chapter 22: Aftermath
Summary:
A little bit of the aftermath of the war
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"In the case of the known Death Eater Draco Lucius Malfoy, after hearing evidence from various sources, we of the Wizengamot, find him guilty and sentence him to one year's house arrest that will be fulfilled at both his primary residence, the…"
The Head Warlock trailed off and Hermione refused to look at Draco for fear of laughing as the man resumed with an expression of distate on his weathered face.
"The Grangalfoy Cottage, or at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his mandatory eighth year."
Narcissa was slowly relaxing beside her as the sentencing continued.
"After the year of house arrest is complete, Mr. Malfoy will continue his sentencing with three years of probation and mandatory employment at the Minsitry of Magic, assisting aurors with hunting down other known death eaters and other dark wizards."
The slam of the wooden gavel and they called for the next case.
Narcissa stood primly and strode down to sit in the chair that her son had vacated, effectively switching places.
The Wizengamot head did not look thrilled by yet another Malfoy sitting in the chair and he sighed as he looked at the even thicker file of evidence and character references.
"I presume you have the same evidence given as the previous case?" The man asked drily.
"I actually have several more, including one from Mrs. Hermione Granger-Malfoy that cannot be thrown out as it was for the previous case as I'm not betrothed to her." Narcissa smiled sweetly. "I also have character witness letters from all living members of the Order of the Phoenix."
Hermione pursed her lips again. Harry's letter for Narcissa was three times the length of the one for Draco.
She also knew that every single living Weasley had written one for her mother-in-law while only Bill, Fleur, and Ginny had written for Draco.
Even Molly Weasley had stepped forth to pen a quick missive stating that Narcissa had changed the tide of the war by killing Voldemort's top lieutenant who also happened to be Narcissa's own sister.
A long while of reading through all the evidence and all the letters from various people, including one that had Hermione in tears from one Hector Dagworth-Granger, Narcissa Malfoy was declared not guilty on all charges.
When Hermione pressed about the letter from her uncle, Narcissa had smiled and showed her a letter that hadn't been included in the evidence.
Narcissa,
I don't know that I'll be around for this later, so here is a post-dated letter of reference in the almost certain event that you end up on trial after this war.
You are the most cunning, bloodthirsty, scheming witch I've ever met and I am glad my girl has you in her corner.
Whoever you ended up killing, I'm sure they deserved it.
Take care of her.
Your friend,
Hector
Kingsley once again invited Harry Potter to his office in an effort to offer a ministry position without NEWTs.
"I'm sorry, sir. I'm going back for my eighth year. I want a year of school where my life isn't threatened and…" The boy looked wistfully out the false windows depicting the Scottish Highlands, "Hogwarts has always been my home. I'm not quite ready to let it go just yet."
"While I understand, I will tell you I wish it was a different answer. Ron Weasley has also declined and Hermione Granger outright laughed at me." Kingsley sighed dramatically, all in good humor.
"I heard she's been causing you a spot of trouble today." The Boy Who Lived grinned cheekily and Kingsley barked out a laugh.
"The Chief Warlock was up here just before you demanding to know who approved the new name for Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger's home."
The messy haired boy laughed loudly and Kingsley smiled at the obvious joy in the sound.
Even if Harry Potter joining the ministry would have been an asset in this time of rebuilding, Kingsley was glad the boy was taking the time to be a child. All three of them deserved the space to be young a little while longer.
"Luna named it. She wants to rename Grimmauld Place too." Harry admitted with a mischievous grin, "I think she's collaborating with Pansy on it."
"I'm sure the Floo department will be thrilled." Kingsley chuckled just as Percy Weasley knocked and poked his head in.
"Sorry to interrupt Minister Shacklebolt, we have a meeting with the head of the aurors office in less than five minutes."
"I'm on my way Percy." Kingsley assured the man, "And for Merlin's sake, you've called me Kingsley for years. Enough of this Minister Shacklebolt nonsense."
The ginger man scowled, insisting that wasn't the point, and with a wave to Harry he was gone.
"If you'd prefer not to be swarmed like you were when you came in, feel free to use my personal floo." Kingsley offered as he gathered his things to leave.
Harry thanked him and then stepped into the fireplace and with an impish laugh he called out, "Grangalfoy Cottage!"
Kingsley shook his head that the ridiculous name, but he had personally approved it when it was hesitantly sent up for rejection.
He would not be the one to deny such a minuscule request from one of the golden trio, even if it did irritate the floo department.
Draco leaned back in the magically enlarged bathtub, thankful for his fiancée's skills in transfiguration. There was no way they both could have fit comfortably otherwise.
Hermione was draped over him, boneless and thoroughly wore out from his high-jacking of her bubble bath. He'd swore that he just wanted to relax with her, even as his hands had started exploring with clearly opposite intent.
"I've been thoroughly debauched. I'll no longer be a blushing virginal bride." She sighed and he felt her lips quirk against his skin.
Draco rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see from where she rested her head on his chest, "You've not blushing nor virginal since you were sixteen."
"True. Speaking of brides, did you tell your mother the official date?" She asked, shivering when he stroked his hand down her spine and over the curve of her bum.
"Yes. She sent you a howler that I kindly destroyed." Draco drawled, remembering the red envelope soaring into the window.
"She has time to plan a wedding by then." Hermione grumbled, "I don't want to wait any longer than we have to."
"The howler screamed about fittings." He told her even though he didn't care. They could get married with Hermione in jeans and muggle trainers for all Draco cared.
"I can do them over the Easter hols. Although with the way you and Pansy are going feeding me and Harry constantly, we might need fittings closer to the day."
Draco pinched her bottom, "You were starved and on the run for months. If Pansy wants to feed you Chinese take out twice a week, I won't argue with it."
"She's obsessed with that place and that Indian restaurant we took you too last week. Harry said she's already went back twice." Hermione laughed, the shaking making Draco very aware of her naked body laying over his.
"Pansy has never experienced your muggle foods before, other than the general British or French cuisine. Spices take on a new meaning with things like curry." Draco replied, running his other hand down to grip the back of Hermione's thighs, just under her arse.
He watched her tilt her face up towards him, a knowing look in her eye as he shifted her body to align with his.
"Aren't you tired yet?" She teased, sitting up slightly to press kisses along his jaw as his hips moved. A pleasured sigh escaped her lips.
"Of you? Never." Draco promised.
"Potter, Daddy wants to know when you're proposing."
Harry choked on his toast, staring across the table at Pansy as he attempted to clear the dry bread from his throat.
"What?" He wheezed between coughs. She tapped red manicured nails impatiently on the table as she waited for him to settle down.
"My father wants to know when you, Harry Potter, are proposing marriage to the most eligible heiress in British wizarding society since we are shamefully living out of wedlock at the moment." Pansy spoke pointedly, as if he were slow.
"I…I hadn't really thought about it to be honest." Harry admitted. Which was clearly the wrong answer when those red nails stopped their tapping and her blue eyes became flinty.
"Excuse me?" She asked quietly, cocking her head, and Harry gulped.
It wasn't that Harry didn't want to marry Pansy, because he did. They'd been together for years now and he meant it when he said he wanted them to be together going forward.
He just wanted to get his NEWTs and perhaps get through auror training first. Have everything settled before they discussed marriage and babies.
It just seemed so out of nowhere. Granted it seemed the wizarding world did things a little faster than muggles tended to, but he hadn't really thought it needed to be a whole discussion.
"I…er…isn't it just a little too sudden? I mean, I've not really thought about that kind of thing…with you I mean…no that's not how I meant that!" He stammered, wincing when she jolted to her feet.
"Yes. You are absolutely right. How silly of me to even bring it up." Pansy agreed in a very disagreeable voice and then was in the floo and disappearing in the flames a moment later.
Harry groaned and put his head in his hands, musing aloud, "Well Harry, you certainly bollocksed that up."
Before he could even try to follow Pansy, the flames roared back to life and out of the fire stepped not Hermione, who he would have assumed Pansy had run to, but Draco Malfoy.
The silver haired boy calmly took Pansy's vacated seat and began helping himself to breakfast.
"Draco? What are you doing? You're supposed to be on house arrest?" Harry asked as Draco turned his nose up at the orange marmalade, and summoned honey from the cupboard.
"I'm eating your breakfast since my breakfast was disrupted by a rather distraught Pansy Parkinson who is currently crying on my fiancée's lap that you don't want to be with her." Draco drawled as he conjured a fresh teacup from the kitchen. "Besides, you're naive if you think Mother didn't already implore the Wizengamot to amend the terms to include your residence and the Manor."
"I didn't say that!" Harry snapped ignoring the implied political buyout, "I just said it seemed a little out of nowhere!"
Draco raised a brow at him, "While choking on toast and looking at her like she'd told you she had plans to resurrect the Dark Lord."
"Is that what she said I looked like?" Harry frowned, "It was just a surprising breakfast topic. I wasn't expecting it mid-toast."
"Pansy is a pureblood from one of the most influential families in our society, Potter." Draco told him drily.
Harry was once again struck at how similar Draco was to Pansy in the ability to make Harry seem stupid with just their tone. It must be skill they were taught alongside which fork to use at dinner.
"I'm aware!" Harry retorted hotly. Draco just stared at him challengingly.
"Are you?"
"Yes. The Weasley's practically raised me and they're purebloods!" Harry informed the prat as if Draco didn't know.
"The Weasleys have not followed true pureblood traditions in several generations. They were considered blood traitors for more than just their fondness for muggles." Draco replied easily, a slight smirk telling Harry that the boy knew his tone was grinding on Harry's nerves.
"That aside, how old is Bill Weasley?" Draco continued and Harry was scrambling to catch up at the change in topic.
"He celebrated his twenty-seventh birthday before Christmas." Harry answered, confused by this switch up.
"And how old is Molly Weasley?" Draco inquired, another smirk.
"She's forty-five I believe." Harry responded, feeling like a gotcha moment was coming.
"Hmmm. She and Arthur were school sweethearts I presume?"
"Yes…?" Harry still didn't really know where this was going yet.
"Your parents were school sweethearts and you were already over a year old when they died at twenty-one." Draco mused, the smirk was gone as he spoke of Harry's parents thankfully. Harry probably would have decked him otherwise.
"I'm not seeing where this is going Draco. I'm not Hermione and you'll have to spell it out I'm afraid." Harry told the other boy in a snarky tone.
"Fine. The pureblood Weasleys married fresh out of school and Bill Weasley was born only six months after graduation." Draco sneered, "Your pureblood father married your mother also fresh out of school and allowing for nine months of gestation, had you before they were even twenty years old. Hermione was considered to be my intended from the time we were eleven. Do you see a pattern here?"
Harry did unfortunately see the pattern and he also could see that he should have talked about it with Pansy long before now.
"How did Hermione handle all these differences and rules?" Harry groaned and Draco looked at him almost pityingly.
"Hermione had an astute Uncle and my mother guiding her and preparing for these things." Draco clarified then he sneered, "I had the added benefit of choosing a witch who knows what she wants and does whatever it takes to get it."
"I know I want Pansy!" Harry yelled, "I never said I didn't, I just need a little more grace. I wasn't raised like you."
"No you weren't, but her family is already being lenient by accepting her choice of a halfblood. No matter how revered you may be." Draco dabbed his mouth with a napkin and then stood up and headed to the floo.
Before he left he sighed, "I implore you to consider how many years I've been engaged. I'm not telling you to marry Pansy tomorrow. I'm saying you have to give the Parkinson family something to go off of."
With that closing statement, Draco dropped the floo powder and was gone. Harry waited up, but Pansy didn't return home that night.
The next morning, he stepped into the floo to deal with this problem head on.
"Parkinson Estate!"
"Pans! Open this door! Come out here and talk to me like an adult!"
Pansy glared at Hermione's bedroom door, but didn't move from her spot on the bed other than to cast a secondary locking charm.
She heard Harry cast alohomora, but it only unlocked the actual mechanism and not the charm itself. She listened to him huff in irritation.
Serves him right, Pansy thought nastily.
"Pansy, how are we supposed to talk this through if you won't come out?" He groaned loudly and it sounded like he'd thumped his head against the door.
Talk it through? Like it was something trivial and not like she was risking her entire reputation for him? The nerve.
"There's nothing to talk about, Potter." She called to the stupid boy, "Just go away."
Her father was going to be furious when she eventually returned home and admitted to him that she'd been wrong to choose Harry over his list of pureblood prospects.
Her entire family's reputation would be destroyed when it got out. Pansy could see the headlines now, Heiress Scorned By Boy Who Lived!
Pansy pressed her face into the pillow. Maybe she could put off going home another day or so. Draco complained, but Hermione didn't mind Pansy climbing into bed with them.
She supposed she could go to Theo's, but the wanker would probably make half-serious offers for her to join him and Neville in the bedroom.
She heard whispering, but ignored it. That is until the door opened and revealed a guilty Hermione with her wand raised. Pansy sat up on the bed and scowled.
"He threatened to break the door down." She told Pansy apologetically as she stepped back out. Harry walked in and shut the offensive door behind him.
"Oh, do go away." Pansy snapped, not really in the mood for whatever moronic excuses were about to come from Harry Potter's stupid mouth.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were going to be disinherited?" He asked her and she frowned at him.
"Who told you that?" She demanded, glaring at the door where two of the three people she'd talked to about it were currently sitting behind.
"Your father did." Harry clarified. Pansy stared at him. Surely he hadn't gone to speak to Theseus Parkinson.
"When did you speak to my father?" She questioned, dread climbing into her throat.
"This morning. I popped over for a rather eye-opening chat." Harry informed her with a glare. "Do I need to pretend you don't know what was said?"
"Since I didn't even know you'd met with him, I must admit I'm rather curious." Pansy sneered, not liking his tone at all.
"I learned that not only were you going to lose your inheritance for choosing me, but that you would also lose the Parkinson name and be blown off the bloody tree!" Harry said snidely, as if she didn't know.
"Well none of that happened so I don't see why you're so upset about it. Daddy was all talk and bluster. Besides he couldn't stop me from using the name." Pansy waved off his irritation.
"It didn't happen only on the condition that we get engaged so that people wouldn't talk. None of which you told me." Harry poked her in the chest, not hard, but enough to truly pique her temper.
"Well I don't see how it matters since you made it quite clear we aren't heading that way, Potter." Pansy snarled as she swatted his hand away from her.
"I never said that."
Pansy gaped at him and then got to her feet ready to pummel him for not only wasting her time, but for being a liar as well, "You said that you haven't even considered it!"
"Well I had, but I thought it would be nice to graduate and have a steady job before any of that! I didn't know we could just have a long engagement!"
Pansy felt her temper boil over as she shrieked, "Your best friend has been engaged to the heir of a more prominent family than even mine for years and you just didn't think about it? You're daft Potter, but you're not that daft!"
"Pansy, most of my brain capacity has been spent on survival for the past year. The inner workings of pureblood society have not been part of that." Harry retorted, "If you'd not just sprung it on me at breakfast we could have talked about this at home!"
"I did not spring it! It was a logical question to ask for someone raised like me." She insisted furiously and then pressed her lips together instantly in regret at the opening she'd provided him.
"It wasn't for someone raised like me!" Harry smirked in triumph. Pansy just glared in lieu of responding.
"Pans, I adore you. Of course, I'd want to marry you." Harry promised, his voice becoming soothing as she let him his arms around her.
"Really?" She pouted and then tossed her head to look at him through her lashes, "Why is that?"
"Your sweet temperament and gentle personality of course." Harry deadpanned and she let out a startled laugh as she swatted his arm.
He grabbed her hand and slid a ring on her finger, the large ruby glinting at her. It had to be from his family's vaults given the size and design.
Pansy forced the grin off her face, even knowing he already saw it as she sniffed primly, "Confident that I'll say yes are we?"
Harry laughed and pressed his forehead to hers, "Just say yes, Pans. It's not that difficult a word."
"Sure." She cheeked, just to be difficult. He just chuckled and kissed her hard. She let herself enjoy it for a long minute and then shoved him away.
"Hermione! Harry proposed!" She squealed loudly, flinging open the door to run into the sitting room.
"It's almost like I told you he would after he got his head out of his arse." Draco scoffed as Hermione fawned over the ring with Pansy.
"Shut up, Draco. You're ruining my fun." Pansy hissed at the boy, throwing a pillow at his head.
"Do take her home Potter. I'm tired of sharing my Granger."
Pansy went to throw another pillow as Harry snorted. She ended up dropping the cushion when Harry grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the floo.
The morning after a letter went from Grimmauld Place to the Parkinson Estate, the Daily Prophet immediately readjusted their headliner about the new werewolf integration proposal to make room for even bigger news.
THE BOY WHO LIVED TWICE BETROTHED TO PARKINSON HEIRESS
Hermione boarded the Hogwarts Express with her hand in Draco's and dragged him along until they found someone familiar.
"Hello Luna! Blaise!" Hermione greeted her two friends, Luna waving her prosthetic hand merrily.
Hermione still felt a little guilt whenever she saw the fake hand, even if it was beautiful. She might have been able to prevent the loss of the limb if she'd known more elaborate healing techniques.
Hand spun glass, painted with elaborate floral vines and various fungi, it was a gorgeous piece of art that Blaise had gifted the Ravenclaw girl.
The handsome boy had confided in Hermione that he'd caught Luna crying into Pansy's arms that the basic wooden prosthetic the medical team had offered didn't speak to her.
So he'd commissioned one from a Venetian master, a stunning functional piece of art that did speak to Luna the way she needed.
"Any word on if Theo is coming?" Blaise asked as Hermione settled into the seat across from the pair.
"No, but Neville said he was. So I'm going to assume that means Theo will be here." Hermione quipped, just as the compartment door opened.
In walked Pansy Parkinson ranting at none other than Theodore Nott, apparently about his decision to cut his hair.
"Theo it was so pretty, why ever would you chop it off?" Pansy lamented, running her fingers through the short strands.
"I just wanted a change." Theo shrugged and plopped down beside Blaise.
"Now you and Hermione don't look alike though." Pansy pouted. Hermione cocked her head at Theo the same time he did at her, both trying to see the similarity.
"I don't see it." Hermione concluded, "We have similar coloring, but nothing aside from that."
Pansy rolled her eyes and looked around at the others, "Maybe not twins, but definitely close to it, right?"
Blaise looked between the two, squinting before his eyes widened, "Now that you've pointed it out, I do see it."
Hermione shrugged, "I think you're pretty, so it's no insult to me."
"Oi!" Draco protested.
"Back at you, Hermione. You're pretty. I'm pretty. Maybe you picked the wrong Slytherin hmm?" Theo winked.
"Oi!" Draco kicked the boy in the shin and Hermione laughed as he put a possessive arm around her, "Go flirt with Neville and leave my witch be."
"If he was here, I would. He's arguing with the luggage man about whether or not a juvenile venomous tentacula can be on the train or not." Theo sighed fondly.
"Harry is coming aboard once the hallways clear under the cloak." Pansy rolled her eyes, "He's so shy for a celebrity."
Hermione grimaced, "I'd come under a cloak if I could. Ron says the shop is practically impossible to navigate."
Pansy chortled, "I know. We went to see him yesterday and I got right behind him and screamed in his ear for an autograph."
Hermione snorted, knowing she'd probably hear about it in a letter tomorrow morning.
Ron was now running the joke shop now, doing the best they could to keep the twins legacy alive.
They'd left hundreds of half completed ideas in various journals, more than enough to keep the shop fresh and in business for years to come. However, Ron had confided in her that he just didn't have the flare for inventing that his brothers did.
So of course, Hermione had encouraged him to ask help from the one person who'd been with the twins on almost every adventure.
Now, Lee Jordan worked at the shop, primarily in the workroom while Ron ran the floor.
It would be a success, Hermione knew, as several experts in various subjects of magic had written to Lee offering to act as a sounding board if he became stumped.
Flitwick in charms, McGonagall in transfiguration, and Slughorn in potions. Hermione had offered to let him look through Hector's extensive potions library and even Narcissa had extended access to her conservatory.
They were all determined to ensure that Fred and George's prankster dreams lived on for many years.
Just before the train began moving, the door opened with Neville grumbling as he went to step in. The boy stumbled forward and glared at the empty doorway.
"Sorry Nev." Harry's disembodied voice as the door shut and Harry pulled his invisibility cloak off.
"S'alright, Harry. Why are you under the cloak?" Neville asked as he sat down beside Theo.
"So I don't get stopped every time I take a step." Harry groaned as he folded the shimmering fabric and handed it to Pansy who put it in her purse.
"Also because I told him the cloak could come in handy for when we-" A hand clapped over Pansy's mouth and her blue eyes were laughing as Harry scowled at her.
"I swear to Merlin if I find you two shagging in a public hallway, I'll hex your tits off, Pansy Parkinson." Draco threatened as he gagged and Harry flushed a deep red.
"Why my tits and not his bollocks?" Pansy wondered.
"Sexism?" Hermione offered as Draco glared at her.
"Preference for bollocks?" Theo quipped, dodging another kick.
"Perhaps it's because he's finally ready to admit he and Harry are actually best friends?" Blaise chimed.
Blaise laughed when both Draco and Harry shuddered, shaking their heads forcefully.
Hermione just smiled at her friend's antics, especially when they all complained as Ginny opened the door hand in hand with Padma Patil and insisted they make room.
They all grumbled and snarled about it, but they adjusted themselves to allow Ginny to plop onto a bench, Padma following demurely.
"Don't be so shy or you'll never make it in this compartment, love." Theo drawled dodging Hermione's kick at his leg, "Everyone needs to stop trying to kick me today. Anyways, you won't make it, especially around Pansy's big mouth."
"Theo darling?" Pansy cooed at the boy.
"Yes, my sweet Pansy?" Theo crooned back.
"Choke and die."