That foggy haze of leaving medical sedation. The blurry lines as you tried to focus. One blink to register that you needed to wake up, the next that you're not in the same place you fell asleep. Another blink to check your surroundings. Who's here? Where am I? What day is it? Do I have all my limbs?
Information trickled in slowly, memories in their wake. Panic seeped in too, trying desperately to jolt you awake faster than you'd like. The pull of potions in your veins would like you to stay right here, sunken and safe with no worries to plague you, no wands to wield, just stay oblivious in ignorant bliss.
But the mind unfortunately remembered you had some rather pressing questions to answer. Especially if you are Draco and remembered some urgent matters occurring in your life.
Theo. Blaise. Were they all right?
Was it his birthday? It could be his birthday, he'd no idea how long he'd been here. Would there be a box of Jelly Slugs waiting for him?
Was he dead? Had Granger murdered him? The afterlife could really do with better bedding if so.
He could certainly breathe easier now than when he'd blacked out from Robards' multiple curses. He had full control of his limbs once again and a normal, steady heartbeat.
All good signs.
He blinked fully awake and was greeted with the comforting and welcome sight of his mother.
Narcissa sat at his bedside, paler than usual, but composed all the same. Draco rubbed at his throat before trying to speak.
"Is Theo—?"
She pointed down the ward. "Fully recovered."
"How long have I been here?"
"About 36 hours now."
"Where's Granger?"
"I believe briefly checking in with Mr. Potter."
Narcissa stood and approached, smoothing down creases in the hideous hospital bedspread.
"She hasn't left your side otherwise," she said.
"She's going to yell at me."
"I should think so, she seems in quite the mood. She's already fired two of your healers."
"Can she do that?"
"Apparently. You might want to feign sleep a bit longer."
She handed him a glass of water. The next bit of information she imparted inspired an equal measure of dread and intrigue within him.
"I've been chatting with her."
"Oh? About?"
His mother had that secretive smile. The one that meant she'd be keeping any more illuminating information all to herself.
She shrugged. "This and that."
The smile became something akin to a relieved sort of pain. The release of a held-in grief.
"She saved your life," Narcissa said in a hushed voice.
"Only so she could end it herself, I'm sure."
His mother hesitated another moment then bent down and pressed a kiss to the top of his hair before resuming her seat.
"Theodore says you were very brave."
Draco craned his head around and saw the only other bed in the ward occupied by a bandaged Theo. He gave Draco a little wave and a wry smile.
"I'm just relieved they found us in time," Draco said grimly.
"Do you need the healer now?"
"No," he gratefully gulped down more water. "I'll wait until they check in."
Draco rubbed at his chest and gingerly flexed his legs. Some achiness persisted and he'd probably need Pain Potions for the next week or so. It would unfortunately mean a brief moratorium on some more vigorous activities he'd planned to engage in with Granger.
If she let him live.
He found a Galleon next to his wand on the side table. The last message that had come through read: "I'll bloody find you myself, you better hope I do."
He wondered how many frantic ones had preceded it. He wondered how she felt about the final one he'd sent.
The doors suddenly flew open as Blaise barged into the ward. His furious eyes zeroed in on Theo. It appeared Draco would have some company beyond the veil.
"Do you know where I've been?" Blaise asked in a thundering voice.
Theo jerked his head in the direction of Draco and Narcissa, possibly hoping an audience might save him a bit of trouble.
"Oh, uh, hello Mrs. Malfoy. Draco, you're awake, brilliant, glad to see it."
"Don't stop on our account," said Draco.
"Ahem, right." Blaise turned back to his partner. "Do you know why Draco's mother was allowed to be here when he woke?"
"Would it be because Draco was a very good boy and had his emergency contact paperwork properly filled out with St. Mungo's?"
"Correct darling, and would you like to know where I've been for the past several hours upon discharge from my own care?"
"I'm going to guess it wasn't arranging my welcome home party."
Blaise ran an exasperated hand down his own face.
"No, it was spent frantically trying to find you and only by having Potter get Sterling for me did I discover there's an option to recognize same-sex partners on the level of spouses or blood relatives for visitation and contact purposes."
"I believe Sterling is actually responsible for that particular law."
Draco muffled his own laughter at poor Blaise's expense.
"No more secrets," begged his friend. "No more of you doubting that I'll stick around. That's why you didn't bother with the paperwork, isn't it?"
"Blaise, no I swear, just me avoiding a simple task per usual, I'm so sorry, I—"
But Blaise did not want to hear any apologies.
"No, you listen to me for once, Theo. We are getting married and I'll take your name or you can take mine, I could give a fuck, but I am going to introduce you as my husband and—"
"Yes."
Theo's one-word interruption stopped the rest of the tirade. Blaise blinked a few times, anger put on pause as it had to contend with the life-altering agreement that Theo had casually uttered as if he'd been asked about another cup of tea.
"Yes?"
"Presuming Granger and Sterling put up a good defence, I'll be a free man and we can have a proper wedding."
Blaise covered his face with his hands and his shoulders shook as he choked on a sobbing laugh.
"And in a few years we'll find a surrogate and make a little family," Theo added.
Blaise laughed again and wiped his eyes dry.
"Do you think if I asked Ginny Potter she'd agree? Those Weasley genes seem quite prone to fertility," Theo continued as if making a list for things he needed from the shop.
Blaise lifted Theo's hand to his mouth and kissed his knuckles, adding his own contribution to their future. "And we'll force Draco to be godfather and Pansy to be godmother and they'll constantly compete for this child's affection."
"I think Pansy will win, she'll still be alive by then."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Draco interjected.
Theo pointed towards the door. "Well, Hermione's approaching and it looks like Draco probably won't be on this earth much longer if she has anything to say about it."
Draco's gaze snapped to the open doorway to find an irate figure taking up far more space than her small stature should allow. Anger, bright and loud, seeped into the air; an impending hurricane on a set path to make direct landfall on Draco.
Fucking gorgeous in all her terrifying potential for malevolence.
She nodded curtly at Theo and Blaise and gave his mother a tight, false smile as she approached Draco's bedside.
"Mrs. Malfoy, might I have a moment alone with your son?"
Begging his mother to stay and protect him would be childish, Draco knew that, but he almost gave in to that immature instinct.
"I'll let the healers know you're awake and ready for evaluation. Perhaps in a few minutes?"
Granger smiled that manic expression of forced calm and Narcissa completed her betrayal by sweeping regally out of the room without a backward glance.
Draco made a mental note to cancel his order of an opal bracelet for his mother's upcoming birthday.
He might not be around for it given present circumstances.
Granger flicked her wand and the curtains drew around the bed. Another swish and he knew she'd thrown a Silencing Charm around them.
He was completely fucked and not in a fun way.
"What were you thinking!?"
She started screaming at him, furious. Accusations flew, followed by impugning his character and a calling into question of his sanity, morals, and critical thinking skills, all issuing out of her mouth in a steady stream of the most epic dressing down Draco had ever received in his life.
"—reckless beyond reason—"
"—stupid! Just bloody stupid and—"
"—complete disregard for the plan—"
"—so bloody lucky Harry has a coin too—"
"—should be thanking Merlin I was allowed through those wards—
"—could have gotten yourself killed, not to mention Blaise and Theo!"
He sort of listened to what she said. Though he was more preoccupied with the expression on her face. A look he'd seen before, though not on her. The look he remembered on Blaise's face any time Theo was in harm's way. When he'd fatally threatened Draco in Sixth Year.
Granger cared very much indeed.
She cared enough to give him a way to contact her. She cared enough to find Potter immediately. She cared enough to show up for the rescue attempt, even though Draco knew Potter would have tried to have her sit it out. She cared enough to wait for him to wake up and berate him.
She cared and cared and cared.
For Draco.
"—that you had the absolute audacity to put yourself in a completely unnecessary situation when—"
"Do shut up Granger. I love you too."
She stopped yelling. She might have been too shocked when she'd first read his confession over the Galleon, too worried and ready to act that she'd put those three little words out of her mind.
"I—"
He'd destroyed her eloquence. She couldn't even frown at him. Time and silence stretched on, Granger unable to yell her way out of his calmly offered truth.
Draco just grinned in her face, amused at the way he'd rendered her speechless. Finally she cleared her throat and smoothed down her hair, stalling for time. She bit the inside of her cheek and stared at a point on the floor.
"I've admitted nothing you know," she asserted.
Such a lawyer.
"It's all right. You've already shown me."
"I—well—I suppose my actions could be interpreted as such, yes."
Such a fucking lawyer.
"Hmm, that puts me quite ahead in this relationship. A spoken and written declaration from me, while you dance around the issue and equivocate—"
"I love you."
Quiet and loud simultaneously. Quiet in the way she'd uttered her honesty, and yet deafeningly loud in the way her eyes sought and then held his gaze.
Both of them equally offering up bravery.
Her hand slid into his.
"I wasn't quite lucid there at the end," said Draco. "But it sounded like Potter had to hold you back from seriously injuring Robards."
Her face flushed, not in embarrassment, but in a recalled rage.
Fuck he loved her.
"You have no idea how many curses almost left my wand. When I saw him on top of you, when I heard what he did to you. I wanted to—to—" She took a shuddering breath. "He's lucky Harry was there."
Draco lifted her wrist to his lips. "Thank you."
Her eyes softened and she sank onto the bed, thumb running circles along the back of his hand.
"You've got to give an official statement, but Robards is in custody already. As is Filagree."
"But Stanford is—"
"Obliviated, I know. Robards was questioned with Veritaserum. They'll have a search team for Stanford as well now that they know he was sent away. That might take quite a while though."
Draco frowned.
"It's deeper than that, though," he insisted and sat up straight. He filled Granger in on the unsettling conversation with Robards that led to his unfortunate appearance at Theo's home.
While relieved to hear that Robards would pay for his crimes, Granger needed to understand just how pervasively this ran.
"I've got to speak to Johnson and Potter. Robards had a whole network of Aurors with his same attitude. The way he so casually had that warrant paperwork ready to haul you in for questioning—completely unjust—and the way he spoke about certain Aurors and their more brutal arrest and interrogation practices—I mean it's unconscionable letting our justice system fester into another cycle of barbarism and unfair power dynamics. It sounded like he kept the experiment close to the chest, but Shacklebolt needs to raze that entire department if we want anything to get fixed. I know Potter's Azkaban overhaul weeded out a lot but the Ministry is a cesspool of corruption. Did you know my wand still had a Trace? Who's to say Greg's doesn't, or my mother's? What about the rest of those prisoners after they've served their time? We've got to root it out at the source and—what? What have I said?"
She'd squeezed his hand as her body shook with repressed laughter. A look of pride at him coupled with amusement blazed in her eyes.
"Sterling's already gotten eight families to sign onto a case against the prison and it's barely been two days. Angelina already had your Trace removed," Granger reassured him.
"Good."
Unstoppable.
Draco could see it now, what she'd meant all those months ago. He almost pitied the likes of Robards and his ilk, they didn't stand a fucking chance with Granger driving this cause forward.
She shifted closer to him, sporting her frown that always preceded a question.
"I have to admit I've been curious about a few things. It's been a bit..."
"Dramatic and dangerous as of late?"
"Yes, that." She gave a light laugh. "Your dream, when Theo gave you happiness."
"Yes?"
"Tell me more about it?"
-------------------------------------------
The group in the back gardens of Nott Manor celebrated for myriad reasons. Theo and Blaise insisted on hosting a gathering to prematurely thank all involved in helping Theo, and they officially announced their engagement. And a few days prior, the Wizengamot announced the start date for the trials of Robards and Filagree.
With task forces currently being formed to investigate Azkaban (again), the DoM, and the DMLE, Draco wondered how much of Granger he'd even see in the coming weeks.
Good thing he'd made the extremely practical and not-at-all selfish suggestion that she make use of his spacious study and library for any investigation planning outside of her office. It had everything to do with Granger's flat being tiny and nothing to do with increased opportunities to convince her to stay the night and wake her in the mornings with his ringed fingers stroking up her bare thighs.
But today they also celebrated a recent milestone for Draco.
"Order of Merlin, Third Class. Not too shabby."
Draco ran his fingers over the medal pinned to the front of his dress robes. He frowned as he recalled all the trouble he'd gone through to earn the honour of Minister Shacklebolt presenting him with such a prestigious (and superfluous) award: having to work with Potter, months and months of research, too many visits to Azkaban, and then actual torture.
He much preferred the reward Granger gave him that morning in bed.
"Surely you didn't expect anything higher?" asked Theo with a teasing grin. "Because I think there's still some lingering conflicting feelings about how I used my power. And the Ministry trespassing you did."
"They could hardly implicate me for that though. They'd have to reprimand Potter, too. Can't have that, can we?"
Theo threw him a smirk.
"You might want to try a bit harder on the whole friendship thing with him. I think you're sort of stuck with Harry if this relationship of yours with Hermione is as permanent as I wager it is."
Draco didn't have an adequate reply that didn't include a curse leaving his wand in Theo's general direction. He changed the topic instead.
"Still feel all right?"
Theo tapped the side of his head and grinned. "Never better. It was just a crack on the head. You never know it might have—"
"Please don't."
"—knocked some sense into me."
"Merlin, you're going to be the world's most embarrassing father some day."
Theo's stare moved over to Blaise, in a heated debate with Ginny about quidditch. "Gods, what a dream that'd be."
"Are you afraid?" asked Draco. He knew Theo understood he wasn't asking about future parenthood.
"No. Well, perhaps a little."
The word was out to the world at large about the intrigue and corruption occurring within the Ministry. How Unspeakable Theodore Nott and his empathic dream powers had been embroiled in quite the research scandal originating in the Department of Mysteries and extending to Azkaban. How Aurors Harry Potter and Angelina Johnson had led the charge to clean up both the administration within their own department and at the prison. How solicitor Hermione Granger with the assistance of her paramour (and "noted prisoners' rights advocate Draco Malfoy") had worked behind the scenes to get the real story out of inmates like Gregory Goyle, Marcus Flint, and Ben Sinclair.
It burned Draco a bit inside to know Flint would leverage his "cooperation" and "substantial hints to help uncover a vast network of corruption" to get an earlier release date. Still, the press spin had been mostly favourable thus far, and if public sympathy stayed with Theo, Draco hoped that would translate to leniency from the Wizengamot.
Thus far, they'd put Theo on a temporary wand ban, keeping his wand for evidence collection purposes.
"Do you really think you're never going to use it again? Your power?"
Theo sighed. "Well I won't say 'never' just... it'll take some time and loads of conversations with Blaise before I'm comfortable again."
"Well, when that day comes, I think Granger will be first in line. She's dying of curiosity."
"For Hermione, whenever she likes. I'm in her debt already and I suspect when this is all over I'll owe her quite a lot. And you."
"If it's all the same to you, I consider us even."
Draco looked out over the rest of the assembled guests at Nott Manor so he could avoid the open emotion in Theo's eyes at that response.
"Does this resemble it at all? Your dream from Sixth?" Theo asked after a beat.
Ali Shafiq (bedecked in a dandelion yellow three-piece suit today) had his arm linked through Andromeda's and his head bent towards Narcissa, engaging her in what looked like quite the conversation.
Pansy and Greg also sat close together, hands held together in Pansy's lap as they watched a young boy gambol about the lawns. Potter, Johnson, and George Weasley took turns releasing a toy snitch as Teddy Lupin ran and chased it, only taking breaks to collapse on the ground in hysterical giggles.
"No," Draco said firmly. "Not really. Still inspires the same feeling though."
Draco's quiet observance of the odd assembly of people and enjoyment of his drink was interrupted by the approaching figure of Sterling.
"Mr. Malfoy, might I have a word?"
Theo raised his eyebrows and strolled away.
Draco had no idea what Sterling could possibly want to speak with him for, and resisted the urge to nervously throw back the rest of his whisky.
"As... misguided as your actions were on behalf of the entire investigation, they did speak to the strength of your character," the older man began, wrapping a half-compliment inside an admonishment.
"Uh, thank you."
Gratitude felt like the only appropriate response to such a pronouncement.
Sterling took his time again, working up to the purpose for conducting a private conversation. His wedding band tapped against his glass a few times, and it reminded Draco so strongly of Narcissa; someone so accustomed to constant composure indulging in a behavioural tic that it warned Draco of an incoming uncomfortable conversation topic.
"Ali and I don't have children. Nor do we aspire to."
If Draco wasn't wildly in love with a lawyer himself, he'd never speak to one again.
Sterling seemed to regret that avenue, and tried another way to deliver a sentimental statement.
"When Hermione first started working with you, I wasn't sure what to expect."
"Neither was I."
"It seems to have been a rousing success."
"Thank you. Granger, I mean Hermione, made sure the project flourished."
"She didn't do it alone," countered Sterling neutrally. "She'll have other cases to occupy her time going forward. You should think about running the advocacy programme full-time."
With that, he left Draco to consider what sort of future he'd like to build. The kind of legacy he'd like to leave and how best to achieve such a newly formed vision.
Draco found Granger at the top of the verandah steps that overlooked the back of the property.
"I think I've earned your father's approval."
"Yes, I saw him speaking with you," she said with a mischievous smile. "At least Sterling's made you work for it. You'll find my actual Dad is a bit of a pushover."
"How does next weekend sound?"
"For what?"
"Introducing me to your parents."
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You've gotten very good at saying all the right things."
"No, you've only just noticed my perfection. I've always been this considerate."
Draco kept his stare on her, plans and ideas taking enticing shapes and edging closer to reality the longer he looked at her.
"What is it?"
"Remember early on in our time together? You asked me what I wanted to do with my life. Perhaps I still don't yet know the answer to that question, but I do know I want to be happy."
"What does that look like?"
He intertwined their fingers.
"A nice home somewhere safe. A beautiful woman. She's an atrocious baker and terrifying in the courtroom. She makes me want to do all sorts of horrifyingly charitable acts. Maybe we have a child or two some day."
"Sounds like a lovely offer."
"It's a genuine one too."
Her answering smile told him that an eventual action on his part would earn him an affirmative word.
"I think I'd like to give it a go. If you're willing to have me."
"Granger, I think a life with you would be a dream."
FIN