I landed hard on wet, course sand.
Immediately my knees gave out from under me, and I felt three more bodies fall to the ground with me. Potter's arms were wrapped around me impossibly tight—and Hermione's, and Weasley's. We all sat there holding onto each other for a long time before I slowly lifted my head from where it had been buried in the crook of Potter's neck.
"How did we get out of there alive?" I whispered, voice cracking.
Potter smiled weakly. "Dobby."
Dobby the house elf carefully walked up to us, like he was afraid of interrupting something. "Miss. Malfoy has to forgive Dobby," he squeaked. "Dobby got there as fast as he could, but Dobby didn't get there in time to save Miss. Malfoy from Master Bellatrix."
"You have nothing to be forgiven for," I promised, but my eyelids felt heavy and I was having trouble thinking straight. "You saved our lives."
Dobby smiled sheepishly. "Dobby supposes so, Miss, but Dobby has been very scared for Miss. Malfoy ever since she was twelve when Master Malfoy—"
"Thank you, Dobby," I interrupted him as quickly as I could. I did not feel like reliving that moment right now, but I couldn't help remembering the Christmas break during second year when Draco had stayed at Hogwarts, and father punished me because of it. I had always been scared of my father, and the rest of my family for that matter, but that was when I really began to realize how terrible he truly was.
"What's he talking about?" Hermione asked softly.
I waved my hand meekly, as if to brush off the question. I could barely keep my head up off my chest now, and I certainly didn't have the strength to speak anymore.
"We're at Bill and Fleur's," Weasley suddenly said. I forced my blurring vision to focus on my surroundings. We were on a beach. I could feel the sand against my legs and hear the waves washing up on the shore. In the distance, against the grey sky, was a darkish blot that could have been a house, but it was getting harder and harder to tell.
I distantly heard Dobby saying something about Hogwarts and leaving us here, and then there was a crack of Apparation, and then everything went black. But I welcomed it. The black was easier to be in then the white-hot pain piercing through me, both physically and mentally. The sand disappeared from under me, wind tickled my hair across my cheeks, and then there was something soft and warm. I let some of the weight fall off my shoulders onto whatever I was laying against for now, and allowed myself real sleep for what had to be the first time in months.
When I woke, I didn't know where I was. Sunlight slanted dimly through a pink-tinted window and danced across the floor in pale spots. There was a cool breeze coming in from a random draft, and I breathed deeply before sitting fully upright. It hurt to move.
There was a familiar gasp across the room, and Hermione jumped up from a chair and hurried over to my bed. Her eyes were puffy and she had dried tear tracks running down her face, but new ones fell from her eyes now as she knocked me backward into the headboard with a bone-crushing hug.
I heard Potter and Weasley's footsteps following her, and soon all three of them were sitting on my bed. When Hermione finally let go of me, she was furiously wiping at her face.
"Are you okay?" Weasley asked timidly.
A tear fell from my eyes, and then another, and then I was completely, undeniably crying, and Hermione had started again too, and Potter's arms were around me, and even Weasley held onto my hand as I trembled.
When we had all finally settled down, after what seemed like hours, Potter took my arm and slowly brushed a finger over the carvings Bellatrix had made in my skin. Blood traitor was printed, crudely but unmistakably, into my right forearm. The area around it was red and blotchy, but I could tell it had been cleaned, probably while I was sleeping.
I sucked in a sharp breath, Hermione's face twisted, and Weasley winced, but Potter's expression was strangely calm as he stared down at the raw letters. Then he looked up at me and I saw his eyes flash with carefully suppressed anger.
"You're never going back there," he said fiercely. "As long as I'm alive, you're never going back there." I closed my eyes and tried to believe him.
I heard a door slowly creak open, and when I opened my eyes again Fleur was standing there, holding a tray of food and bandages. "I thought you might need these," she said quietly. "I couldn't bandage your arm before, but now that it's cleaned and the bleeding's stopped I can for you. And you must be starving."
I gave her a watery but appreciative smile, and she was halfway out the door again when she paused, turned around and said, "Bill and I don't know what happened to you six, but we can help if you tell us. We'll give you anything you need, just ask." And with a heavy exhale she closed the door behind her.
We were all silent for a moment, and then I asked, "Six? Who are the other two that are here?"
"Luna and Ollivander came with us. They were in the cellar when we got put down there, and they escaped with us," Hermione said, voice still thick.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. "So Luna's safe?"
"Luna's safe," Hermione nodded.
"Well, there's six of us and that goblin," Weasley added distastefully.
I raised my eyebrows. "The goblin was also at Malfoy Manor," Potter explained. "He was brought up to look at the sword of Gryffindor to tell Bellatrix if it was the real one. He lied for us, said it was a fake and we hadn't stolen anything, and now that he's with us he can help with the plan we're making."
"The plan we're making?" I repeated suspiciously. But this was good. I wanted something, anything, to take my mind off where we had just come from.
"Harry had the brilliant idea—" Hermione began with a sarcastic huff.
"And I helped—" Weasley butt in.
"—that we should break into Gringotts and see if Bellatrix has any Horcruxes in her vault," Hermione finished, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly. Obviously she didn't like this idea, and neither did I.
I looked to Potter with wide eyes. "Have you lost your mind?"
"I told you she would take my side," Hermione said, smiling slightly.
"No, listen," Potter glared at her. "It makes sense. Bellatrix was so worried when she thought we'd gotten into her Gringotts vault to steal the sword, she nearly killed those Snatchers. She probably thought that we had taken something else too. She wouldn't go that crazy over money, she's got plenty to spare, and she's as close to Voldemort as anyone. He could have entrusted her to keep a Horcrux safe, and it's just sitting in her vault right now."
I stared at him in bewilderment for a second. "Yeah, it's sitting in her vault two hundred feet underground, guarded by goblins and dragons and a variety of other midget, fire-breathing creatures that I never want to have to meet," I scoffed.
"I know it'll be dangerous, but it makes perfect sense," Potter argued.
"I think Harry's right," Weasley said meekly, raising his hand in the air like we were taking a vote.
"Okay, but wait," I continued pointedly. "What does the goblin have to do with this?"
"Harry thinks Griphook can help us into Gringotts without being caught, but Griphook wanted the sword in return," Hermione said before Potter could start again. It seemed she wanted to get her opinion in before I started agreeing with anyone else. "Ron thinks that we could trick Griphook and just keep the sword until we've destroyed all the Horcruxes—which is absolutely foul—and then give it to him. I think they're both mad."
"I have to agree with you there," I said. I looked at the two boys. "You're both mad."
"We're not mad," Potter said defensively. "It's risky, and dangerous, and complicated, but what hasn't been so far? Our one goal is to find every last Horcrux and destroy them. Now we have the Sword of Gryffindor, but no Horcrux. And I think we'll find something in Bellatrix's vault. I just have a feeling."
"What he said," Weasley added helpfully.
I looked down at my lap and played with the edge of the sheets.
"Please don't tell me you're actually considering this," Hermione exclaimed frustratedly.
"What else do we have?" I asked, defeated. "We have no leads on where the other Horcruxes could be, and no ideas on where to even start. This plan is as good as we're going to get."
Potter and Weasley smiled triumphantly, but just barely. Everything that had happened only a few hours ago felt like a dark cloud hanging over all of us. The second someone stopped talking, my mind wandered back to me lying on the drawing room floor, splattered in blood. To Draco, sick and pale, bracing himself against the mantle because he couldn't even look at me. To my mother, being dragged out of the room screaming by my father. I felt sick.
"We have to do something," I said, so softly I could barely even hear myself. "What just happened was far too close of a call. We can't land ourselves in a situation like that again. It's time to find the rest of these Horcruxes and end all of this."
The three of them nodded in silent agreement, but nobody mentioned what I had left unsaid. Once all the Horcruxes were gone, the only thing that could stop this war was Potter and Voldemort meeting face to face. Of course, Potter had done that plenty of times before, but this was different. So, so different. I couldn't even let myself think about that yet.
I had plenty of time to worry later. Right now I cherished these few minutes that could quite possibly be the last of the calm before the endless storm.
Life at Shell Cottage was so opposite from what the four of us had been used to for the past year, it felt like paradise. Every morning and evening there were hot meals on the table, we had beds to sleep in, and it felt good to be forming a real plan after wasting so much time Apparating across the country with no structure to our purpose.
It was also nice to have Bill and Fleur giving us information about what the Order had been up to recently and what Hogwarts was like. We only ever got unreliable scraps of things like that off Weasley's radio before. Luna was blatantly happy as always, Ollivander was slowly but surely gaining his strength back, and we had convinced Griphook to assist us in breaking into Gringotts. Potter made sure to leave loopholes in his words concerning when exactly we were giving the sword to the goblin. Hermione and I still felt terrible about it, but there was nothing to be done.
There were other things, too, that we'd had no idea about. For example, one night at dinner Bill told us that Remus and Tonks were expecting, and I choked on my food. Potter had to cover his mouth with his hand so he didn't spit his drink out everywhere, and Weasley and Hermione both dropped their silverware. Luna looked like she wasn't even listening to the conversation, or maybe she had already known.
"A baby?" I exclaimed, coughing.
"Didn't you know?" Fleur asked, a smile on her face. "I would have thought they'd told you before you left."
"I guess there was just so much going on..." Hermione trailed off. "But a baby!"
A few nights later, we were all terrified when a sudden knocking came from the door. Usually Potter, Hermione, Weasley and I would be in one of our rooms, strategizing our break in, but tonight we were sitting around the living room with mugs of hot chocolate.
Bill slowly picked up his wand and advanced toward the door. Shell Cottage was a safe house for the Order, but that didn't mean that something couldn't have happened to the protection enchantments surrounding the house, or that we hadn't been betrayed. When Bill reached the door he kicked it open and threw his wand forwards, but brought it down to his side just as quickly when Remus walked over the threshold.
All of us jumped up and crowded around him, expecting he had come to tell some sort of horrible news. Instead he looked ecstatic and a little dazed, like he'd been hit across the back of the head with one of Mrs. Weasley's pans.
"It's a boy!" He exclaimed, and everyone instantly reacted.
Hermione and I squealed. Potter grinned bigger than I had seen in months. Weasley's eyes widened stupendously, like he had never heard of such a thing before. Bill and Fleur both embraced Remus, and we let him fully enter the house.
"He was just born a few hours ago—we named him Ted after Tonk's father, but we're calling him Teddy—Tonks says he looks like me, but his hair was blue the second he was born, and I swear it's turned four more colors since then—" I'd never seen Remus this type of happy before. He looked as though he could float.
Bill brought out a bottle of wine, Fleur got a bowl of soup for Remus, and soon the house was filled with raucous laughter and conversation. I expected it to feel wrong to have a celebration like this in the middle of a war, but instead it felt like the best thing that had happened in forever. Maybe it was because it was times like these that we needed excitement and happiness more than ever.
Remus's cheeks were pink with joy and his third glass of the warm, brown liquid we all kept drinking, and even though he kept insisting that he should leave soon, Bill kept refilling his glass. When everyone had settled down a bit he turned to Potter and said "You'll be the godfather, of course."
Potter's mouth fell open. "Remus... I don't know what to say..."
Remus looked to me now. "And you'll be the godmother?" He had an impossible smile on his face.
Shock ran through me. "Oh, Remus—are you sure?" I asked, completely at a loss for words.
"Of course!" He exclaimed, if only a little drunkenly. "I can't think of anyone better!"
I stood and hugged him tightly, and Potter did the same. When Potter pulled away I heard Remus whisper "I know Sirius would be proud." I interlocked my hand with his and he squeezed it back tightly.
It was only after the bottle began to run low and the general shock of the announcement had wore off that Remus forced Bill away and began to put his coat back on. "Thank you all, so much," he beamed. "But I really have to get back. Tonks and I will send you as many pictures as we can." And after saying one last goodbye to everyone, he left and Apparated away just outside the line of enchantments.
We helped Bill and Fleur clean the kitchen and the living room, and then we headed back to our beds for the night. But none of us felt much like sleeping, and Potter and I ended up in Hermione and I's room, curled up together on my bed. Hermione and Weasley had drifted into he and Potter's room, and I nearly laughed at the thought of them alone together.
"Look at us," I smiled. "Godparents. I feel so old and responsible."
"Well don't go and start buying early Christmas presents for the kid or anything," Potter said. "We've got to work our way into adulthood."
"Yeah, let's start small," I agreed seriously. "You know, baking cupcakes that the baby can't eat yet and getting too many stuffed animals for the nursery."
Potter laughed softly, but stopped again almost immediately.
I shifted to the side so I could look at him properly. "What?" I asked quietly.
"It's just..." he began, then took a deep breath. "I'm thinking of Sirius. About how close he was to me, and how he died trying to help us escape the Ministry. We should have never gone to the Department of Mysteries in the first place. It was my fault, and I know that." I tried to interrupt him, but he placed his hand over mine gently. "The point is, I'm worried about feeling responsible or getting too close to the baby when we have so much still ahead of us. And I'm worried in general. Remus and Tonks are both in the Order. Anything could happen to them."
"Oh, Potter," I sighed. "First of all, we haven't even seen the baby yet. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time after the war—because the war is ending—to get close to Teddy once everyone's safe. And second, Sirius's death was never your fault. Voldemort planted that vision in your head, and Voldemort's tricked much older and smarter wizards then you."
"Ouch," Potter smiled, but it was weak.
"You know what I mean," I said, the corner of my mouth quirking up. "Although you were pretty stupid fifth year."
"Really?" Potter teased. "I thought that was the year I finally got up enough courage to kiss you."
"That's not how I remember it," I grinned. "I think I was the one who kissed you."
"Oh, do you now?"
"I do in fact. You were the one who couldn't even look at me." I was laughing now, and he was too.
"You were intimidating," Potter said, sounding offended. "Every time I tried to speak to you, you would raise your eyebrows in that really annoying and attractive way and then I would forget what I was saying and I would be the one that looked stupid."
A warm, happy feeling bubbled up in my chest. "Oh, stop, you're making me blush," I teased, pretending to fan myself. "Should I raise my eyebrows at you more often?"
"Please," Potter muttered, tilting my chin up and kissing me. It was a proper kiss—one that wasn't in the pouring rain, or in a cold tent, or in a Hogwarts corridor. It was just a real kiss. When I smiled against his mouth he pulled away and just looked at me for a moment.
"You're so pretty," he whispered.
This time I really blushed. "You're okay," I shrugged, and pulled his face to mine again.
"I think—you think—I'm a little—more—then okay," Potter said between kisses.
"Am I really that obvious?" I asked, biting his bottom lip. He made a little humming noise, his hands trailing down to my waist to tug at the hem of my sweater.
I broke away and wrapped his arms around me, snuggling into his chest. "Not right now," I mumbled into his shirt. "When we win. Because we're going to win."
"You better be right," he whispered into my hair.
"I'm always right," I replied, just before I drifted off to sleep.
AGAIN I KNOW A REALLY LONG WAIT. I HAVE NO EXCUSE EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT I'M MOVING RIGHT NOW AND I'M REALLY REALLY SO INCREDIBLY SORRY. EVERY TIME I SEE MY NOTIFICATIONS I FEEL LIKE A TERRIBLE PERSON, SO I JUST HAD TO FINISH UP THIS CHAPTER TONIGHT. WE'RE SO CLOSE TO THE END !!! THANK YOU FOR WHOEVER READ THIS FAR YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME.
I LOVE YOU GUYS ❤︎