A/N

I'm truly very privileged to have old and new readers alike! I honestly didn't think there'd be this many of you, and I'm very grateful for your support. Anyway, I think this is the one you've been waiting for. Enjoy!

x Noelle

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

3 5

e x p e c t o p a t r o n u m

Conjures a spirit guardian.

FOR A LONG time, she'd wondered what it would be like to meet the legendary Harry Potter. Her best friend. But now that he was actually here, she could only stare at him. The astonishment on his face mirrored hers and he seemed unable to find anything to say.

So she said it for him.

"Hello, Harry."

Harry pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, still staring at her in disbelief. "I – I can't believe it's you, 'Mione."

She smiled faintly and lifted her hand to him. "It's nice to see you again."

"What...? I mean, what're you – "

"Your eloquence is truly astounding, Potter," said a familiar voice behind them, and Hermione visibly exhaled in relief, falling several steps back from Harry. Draco strode towards the door with all the calmness in the world and smirked at his old-nemesis. "Do come in, Potter, while I'm still cordial. If you stand outside for a few more seconds I might just shut the door in your face."

That snapped Harry to attention. He shot Draco a brief look of annoyance, before he stepped into the house. Surprise flit across his face when he saw the three other Slytherins standing behind Hermione. "Is...uh, Ginny here?"

"Oh, right," Hermione said quickly, "I'll get her!"

"Hermione – "

But she dashed into the sitting room before Harry could say another word, leaving him with three other hostile people who stared at him with matching looks of suspicion. Except Draco – who was just surveying him with a general air of bored amusement.

"You should learn how to shut your mouth, Potter," he drawled, moving to settle down on the sofa. "Makes you look even more unattractive than you already are."

"Three years and you're still such a prick," Harry rolled his eyes, but something about his demeanour was strange, almost as though he were entirely uncomfortable with the situation.

Draco's eyebrows rose at the half-hearted jeer. Surely, Potter could come up with something better than that? "Well, you know me. Being a prick's how I get by."

Harry didn't respond. Draco frowned slightly and turned to look at his friends, whose matching looks of confusion all mirrored his. He was just about to clear the silence with a scathing remark – again, he couldn't help it, Potter always did bring out the asinine in him – when Ginny and Hermione reappeared by the doorway.

"Harry?" cried Ginny, a brilliant smile crossing her face as she barrelled into his arms. "I'm so glad to see you here! I didn't think you'd leave the house."

Harry seemed relieved to see her and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. "After George told me about the rescue mission, I had to see you. Your parents may drop by awhile later."

"Fucking great," Theo deadpanned, causing Ginny to roll her eyes at him. "Is this place going to be a congregational centre for all sorts of Gryffindor reunions? I mean, if I – "

But his voice was cut off abruptly when Blaise shot a Silencing charm at him. Harry stared at the Slytherins oddly for a moment before his gaze trailed back to Hermione, who was standing close to Draco, her fingers intertwined with his.

His eyes widened, but he tactfully chose not to bring it up. "George said that 'Mione was here too," Harry said instead, mostly to Ginny. "Had to see for myself if it was true."

"You didn't know?" Pansy cut in. "Didn't anyone tell you that Red... sorry, Hermione was back?"

Harry promptly flushed. And Draco, despite his natural hatred for Potter, threw a warning glance at his three friends. There was something incredibly different about Harry, and Draco was wondering if there was more than what met the eye. But more than anything, he wanted to know how Harry had lost Hermione three years ago.

Deciding to get to the bottom of this, he nudged Hermione softly. "Granger, stay with Parkinson for a moment," he told her, and she nodded in relief, quickly detaching herself from his side and practically rushing over to the Slytherins. Draco waved his friends away and took a bold step forward. "Potter, I need a word with you. Alone."

Harry blinked, but swiftly recovered. "Alright."

"Come on, guys," Blaise said, mindfully removing his friends and himself from the living room. Both he and Pansy seemed reluctant to leave but Theo was more than happy to, wrapping a lazy arm around Hermione's shoulder and leading her up the stairs.

"Now Potter's in the house too," Draco heard Theo grumble and almost smirked at the annoyance in his friend's tone. "Let's get out of here. You know, to climb to the third floor and jump out the window."

They left and Draco cast a Silencing charm on the room. Then he nodded for Ginny and Harry to take a seat. They did so, and he decided to deal with this in his usual blunt fashion.

So he leaned forward, bracing his arms on his elbows. "Potter, there's something I've been meaning to ask you, much as I don't like the sight of your face," he couldn't help but add, and wasn't surprised to see the eye-roll that Ginny gave him.

Harry, on the other hand, was more than calm about it, which made him feel like an immature prat. "You're not a sight for sore eyes either, Malfoy, but do go on."

Draco almost smirked. He never did like Potter, but this reminded him of old times. "I want to know how you manage to lose Granger three years ago," he said flatly, ignoring the way both Harry and Ginny stiffened. "Granger told me she doesn't remember a thing about that day, and I want to know why."

Harry and Ginny exchanged glances. The redhead was the first to speak. "She doesn't remember how she was captured?"

Draco shook his head, although his suspicions lingered. Were they lying or not? His fingers itched to use Legilimency.

With a deep sigh, Harry spoke. "Three years ago, you know how I..." he trailed off, looking so distraught that Draco almost regretted asking him. Almost. "...I lost to You-Know-Who. McGonagall saw that I was about to die, and the shield she cast on me barely kept me alive."

Draco remembered it perfectly. He hadn't been close enough to see the final showdown, but he'd seen it from the distance, hiding behind a broken pillar and hating himself for not being able to do a thing about it. He remembered seeing a giant charge into the foray to take the brunt of the killing curse, remembered McGonagall cast her shield – he'd never seen a more powerful one before. He remembered the gasps from the Order as Harry was thrown back from the force of the killing curse. He remembered the sheer look of triumph on the Dark Lord's face as he advanced towards Harry.

"After that, Shacklebolt picked me up and told me to run," Harry continued quietly. "For some reason, none of us could Apparate out of there – "

"Anti-apparition wards," Draco explained. "Bellatrix put them there. She also used a weather charm to hide the Dementors."

"Yeah, we kind of figured. Anyway, the Order just dispersed. I found my broom and got on it. Ron was right behind me, and so was Ginny. But Hermione couldn't find her broom so I went back to the courtyard and pulled her onto mine. We'd almost got out – we were so close, way past the towers, when a spell came out of nowhere and knocked her right off the broom."

Draco's mind reeled. So this was how Hermione had been lost. And from the way Potter told the story, he wasn't lying. Which could only mean one thing: someone else had Obliviated her.

"She fell – " Harry's voice caught, and Ginny reached over to rub soothing circles on his back. " – fifty-feet from the sky, and I couldn't even catch her in time."

Ginny brushed a tear from her eyes. "We all thought she died. We really did. The Death-Eaters were chasing us, and we had to get out of there."

"We searched for her afterwards. For months on end. But the Death-Eaters were patrolling everywhere, and the Order wouldn't help us. They were low on resources and people. Eventually, we had to expect the worst."

And this was the truth. A part of Draco felt almost relieved that Hermione's friends had searched for her; he knew that she was more than distraught because she thought they hadn't, and Potter's revelation now put things in perspective.

But he was still furious with the rest of the Order for giving up on Hermione so quickly. So she fell out of the sky. So you couldn't find her. But you didn't give up because she was Hermione Granger; she was one in a million, intelligent and kind and flawed and perfect all at once, and you didn't give up on her because she was worth losing everything for.

Nevertheless, a more rational side of him knew that that alone was a hypocritical thought. Draco knew that, for the most part of his life at Hogwarts, he would've chosen the same route. Save your own skin because in a war, it was kill or be killed, and you let the dead bury the dead. There was no time to grieve or to mourn because it was a war and you fought to survive, even if it meant losing your humanity in the process.

So he wisely kept his mouth shut and accepted their explanation. And when Harry asked if her could speak with Hermione, he reluctantly agreed. Harry headed upstairs, leaving him alone with Ginny.

"What's wrong with Potter?" he asked bluntly, as soon as Harry had gone.

He didn't have to elaborate for her to know what he meant. With a lengthy sigh, she shifted and tucked her feet under her. "He's just given up."

"Given up? What about that good-always-wins bullshit he's always fighting for?"

"I don't know. I think there comes a time when you keep losing until you're just tired and scared, and Harry's both. Mind you – I still think he's the Chosen One and that he still has a higher chance of winning the war than Neville, but he's just scared to fight another losing battle. He's already lost so much."

Haven't we all? Draco thought scathingly.

But he bit back his words and leaned back against his chair, feeling his heart clench painfully as he pictured Hermione Granger falling fifty feet from the sky, with a silent scream lodged in her throat and a Death-Eater catching her at the last second to whisk her away into a three-year long captivity.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"You think they've killed each other yet?"

Everyone in the room turned to look at Theo, who had voiced the question. They had all trooped upstairs after Draco had dismissed them and had sought refuge in Luna's room, helping the blonde witch unpack her things and decorate the room.

Hermione was more than adept at using Colovaria to change the colours of Luna's walls to a light pale blue, and she'd been changing the colours of the furniture to make a matching set. She thought that decorating certainly became a lot more fun with the help of magic.

Theo, on the other hand, had been ruining Hermione's efforts by displaying his Slytherin pride and changing all the blues to different shades of green. They'd finally agreed on a mix of blues and greens in the room, much to Luna's amusement.

Blaise rolled his eyes at Theo's question. "Why would Draco kill Potter?"

"Um, because it's Potter?" Theo counted off his fingers, "and Potter's face is repulsive? And Potter's personality is repulsive? And Potter's – "

"Theo," Hermione's reproving voice broke him off mid-rant. She narrowed her eyes at him, tapping the pillowcase firmly with her wand. "I just changed this to blue. Did you change it back to green?"

"No...?"

Hermione glared at him, before tapping the pillowcase twice and murmuring a quick incantation under her breath to change it back to blue. "Seven green, seven blue, the rest stays the same. You promised, Theodore Nott."

"Alright, alright," he huffed, then shot her a curious look. "I thought you'd piss on my parade for being an arse about Potter."

"Well, Harry's my friend," she began, rather thoughtfully, "but I know that you've never been able to get along with him. So long as you don't try to change my mind about him, I think I can live with your endless grumblings about random Gryffindors and such."

"You hear that, Theo?" Pansy shot her friend a wicked smirk. "Red thinks you're being a whiny little git. She just said it in a nicer way."

Hermione grinned at Pansy before shooting a wink at Theo.

"I have a question," said Luna, from her post on the study table. She was rearranging her jewellery, most of which were odd-looking, excessively colourful pieces. "Why is it Draco killing Harry? Why wouldn't it be the other way round?"

The Slytherins stared at her. "Because it's Draco," said Theo, as though that explained everything.

"I don't understand."

"No, I mean it – it's Draco," Theo dragged out his friend's name with a sardonic look on his face. "You don't get to kill Draco because he wouldn't let you."

Blaise chuckled at the look of confusion on Luna's face. "What Theo's trying to say is, Draco's trained to become some sort of superior Death-Eater over the past three years. He was trained by Snape – when Snape was still alive – and his aunt Bellatrix, who's a top-notch duellist. He defends just as well as he attacks. I've even seen him protect the Dark Lord on battlefields."

Luna frowned. "Why would Draco protect him? The war would end if You-Know-Who got killed."

"Because You-Know-Who can't be killed either," Hermione explained, before anyone else could. "Trelawney's prophecy about the Chosen One means that only one particular person – Harry or Neville – gets to kill him. A lot of people have tried to kill him over the past three years. It's never worked, not even when a rogue Death-Eater slipped him some poison once."

Her words were met with a surprised silence and she flushed when she noticed the three Slytherins staring at her. "What?" Her eyebrows knit together and she bit her lip defensively. "Draco told me."

Pansy's eyebrows rose. "He never told me. Or any of us."

Theo and Blaise nodded; matching grins on their faces. But before Hermione could respond to them, a sudden movement by the doorway made her look up.

"Oh, hello, Harry."

The shift in the atmosphere was almost palpable, the three Slytherins looked uncomfortable and only Luna smiled brightly at Harry, her calm demeanour completely unperturbed.

Harry nodded at Luna, but his attention remained on Hermione. "Hey, um...could I speak with you for a while?"

"Of course." Hermione pushed herself off Luna's bed, heading towards Harry with a smile that was more confident than she felt. "Let's go into Theo's room."

"No." Theo sounded so annoyed that she almost laughed. Even Harry's lips twitched as they headed out of the room. "Red, don't you dare bring – ow!"

He was cut off with a loud thumping sound, and Hermione presumed it meant that either Blaise or Pansy had put him in place. A moment later, Pansy stuck her head out to smile at them cheerily. "You can use ours. Blaise and I won't mind."

"Thanks." Hermione smiled at Pansy and led Harry into the other room. She closed the door and sat on the bed with her legs crossed. Harry mirrored her, keeping a safe distance between them. "Don't mind Theo. He's nice once you get to know him."

"I doubt that." Harry chuckled, but soon stopped as his expression turned grave. "Look, Hermione, I know it's been awhile. I just...I wanted to catch up. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," she said honestly. "Well, I mean, I miss what I can remember of you. I've forgotten many things, but I really didn't mean to."

"No, it's fine, I understand," Harry quickly assured her. "George filled me in. And I know it'll take awhile for us to get back on our old footing, but I'm willing to try. No matter how long it takes."

Relief rushed through Hermione and her smile widened. She understood now how Harry Potter had been such an important part of her life. It didn't take long for her to feel comfortable around him and she automatically knew that he was someone she could trust.

"Yes, of course," she readily agreed. "What would you like to know?"

"Well, what happened in the past three years?" Her face fell and he immediately back-pedalled. "It's fine, you don't have to tell me. We can talk about something else."

"No, I want to tell you, it's just..." She let out a slow breath. "You know how some things are just difficult to say? This is one of them. I just can't see to find the right words." Except for Draco, she thought. With him, everything was easy to say, because he'd been such a huge part of those three years.

But if she couldn't say it, there were always other methods.

"I'll show you," she said instead. She climbed off the bed and gestured for Harry to follow her, smiling at the confused look on his face. "Do you know how to use a Pensieve?"

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

As soon as Harry left, Draco went to find Hermione. He found her beside the Pensieve, a trace of sadness on her face as she studied a familiar phial. It was the one that held all the memories of her time in captivity – the very one Pansy had made for her.

He stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. "Granger?"

Her head shot up. Relief flashed across her face as she rushed into his arms, burying her face against his chest. "Has he left?"

Draco knew exactly who she meant. Potter had all but rushed down the stairs several minutes ago, his face pale and distraught. He hadn't even noticed Luna or the rest of the Slytherins chatting away in the living room, or the fact that his girlfriend was laughing along with them. He'd simply hurried out of the house as though in a trance.

Ginny had immediately gone after him, but Draco thought that the brunette witch in the inventory might have had something to do with Potter's mood. He wasn't wrong. Hermione seemed a little shaken, but far calmer than Potter had been.

"Yes," Draco said quietly, in response to her question. His eyes fell shut as her fingers traced the planes of his back briefly, before she pulled away.

Then she was looking up at him, the same flicker of sadness crossing her face again. "Do you think he left because I upset him?"

"Didn't Potter want to know what happened?"

"Well, yes, but..." She sighed. "It's happened so many times. Whenever someone learns about my past, they just pull back. They leave me for awhile, only to return with pity in their eyes. It happened with Pansy, Blaise and Theo...and now Harry. I don't resent them for it. But I just wish they wouldn't feel sorry for me. I mean...I survived, didn't I?"

His grip tightened around her. "Granger," he said quietly. "I've spent years looking for you, and you've spent nights telling me about what happened. But I've never, not once, felt anything remotely close to pity for you. For the past three years, I've met different people with different backstories and different memories. But you – you're braver and stronger than anyone I've ever met."

Hermione was silent, her eyes downcast for such a long time that he began to wonder if he'd said something wrong. And when she looked up at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, he began to panic.

"Shite, I didn't mean to – "

"You didn't upset me, you beautiful idiot," she laughed weakly, burrowing her face against his chest again and sniffling slightly. "What you said meant a lot to me, Draco, thank you."

"If you're really grateful you'd Scourgify my shirt when you're done snivelling into it."

She laughed even harder, but still clung close. And, after a moment, he relented and tightened his grip around her, memorising how it felt like to have Hermione Granger in his arms.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Hermione was getting better at Patronus Charms. She didn't know for sure, but she could practically feel the magic coursing through her veins and into the wand each time she cast the spell. It was stronger each time, sending a surge of adrenaline through her.

During one of her lessons, she asked Blaise how he could cast a Patronus when the other Death-Eaters couldn't. "You intended to betray You-Know-Who from the beginning?" she asked, when he told her the reason why.

He nodded with satisfaction. "I thought about fighting on the Order's side, but back then, the Order was completely run to the ground by the Dark Lord's army. So I figured that if I became a Death-Eater, there'd be a way for me to become an informant for the Order."

"That was an incredibly brave thing to do."

"Brave – and stupid," he added, with a sheepish chuckle. "Within three days of my initiation – Draco found out my plans and he cornered me and told me to abandon them altogether."

"He used Legilimency?"

Blaise chuckled. "He used Legilimency on a lot of people back then. Anyway, we started 17-65 after that to destroy the Dark Lord's army in a more discreet way. Pansy and Theo soon joined, and we all had our own reasons. I wanted to end the war, Pansy owed Draco her life, Theo always had his back, and Draco – "

"Wanted redemption," finished Hermione, with a smile.

"Really, it's fascinating how well you know... Oh, hey, mate!" Blaise grinned when Draco sauntered over. Hermione promptly flushed, but thankfully, Draco didn't seem to notice.

"Patronus charm?" he asked, staring at the both of them curiously.

"Yeah." Blaise pulled Hermione to her feet and showed her the movements for the spell again. "You've almost got the hang of it. Just clear your mind and focus."

She shot a glance at Draco and bit her lip. "There's a lot of pressure."

"Come on, Granger, I thought you thrived well under pressure," Draco said, almost smugly, sounding very distinctly like he did back during Hogwarts days. "Now impress me."

"I don't have to impress you of all people, Malfoy," she shot back, but the challenging glint in his eyes made her determined to try again. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated hard on the happiest thought she could possibly think of – him.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The magic surged stronger this time, and she wasn't surprised to see a startling white glow leave the wand. But this time, instead of taking the shape of a usual flimsy shield, the blinding light morphed into a something completely unexpected.

"That's interesting," said another voice behind them. Luna had clearly passed by in time to see Hermione cast her Patronus, and she looked both impressed and intrigued. "'Hermione's Patronus used to be an otter. It was never a dragon."

And Hermione promptly felt her heart stop beating.

Physically impossible, she knew that, of course – but it sure as hell felt like it. Her eyes immediately flickered towards Draco, who was staring back at her, his features rearranged in an expression of unfiltered surprise. He looked so taken aback that he could hardly say a word.

"Well," Blaise ventured, sounding distinctly amused now, "Patronus changes are often rare but not impossible – happens after traumatic incidents or even when you're in love. I think of Pansy when I cast mine, so it's no surprise that my Patronus takes the shape of a wolf. Fascinating, isn't it?" He grinned before taking a step back, winking as Hermione shot him a look of horror. "Luna, I think 'Dromeda's calling us in."

"Oh, alright. I don't think she is but I think these two would like to be alone now," Luna said serenely, quickly heading back into the house.

Blaise laughed heartily and strode in after her, pausing on the way to pat Draco on the back. Hermione could still hear his laughter long after he'd disappeared into the house and she thought that if there were one person she wouldn't mind hexing at that moment, it'd be that bloody tosser Blaise Zabini.

A tense silence remained between them. She hardly dared to look at him. It felt like she was on the edge of a slippery precipice.

"Is it true?" Draco said at last, his voice unusually low and rough. He sounded even more hesitant than she was. "What Blaise said – is it true?"

Hermione finally chanced a glance at him, realising that his expressions were locked down once again, tightened and completely unreadable. She swallowed hard, not trusting herself to speak at the moment, and simply nodded. Once.

But that was confirmation enough for him and he took another step closer, his figure blocking the sun from her direct line of vision. "Hermione," he clenched his jaw briefly, and she could literally see him working his way through the words and emotions that threatened to engulf him whole. "I'm not a good person – "

"I know."

" – or even a decent person – "

"I know."

" – and I will never deserve you – "

"I know," she reached down to grasp his hand, pressing his palm against her cheek and tilting her face up to look directly at him. "I don't like you because of who you are, Draco. I like you in spite of who you are."

Something indecipherable flickered in his eyes. Then he brought his other hand up to brush her cheek, and closed the distance between them with one final step. His breath warmed her face, and her eyes fluttered shut as he leaned even closer.

"Hermione," he breathed, and then stopped. "One second."

She opened her eyes in confusion as he pulled back briefly, casting an annoyed glance in the direction of the house. She could've sworn she saw Andromeda, Luna and all the Slytherins peeking out through one of the windows; but before she knew it, Draco had lifted a hand to cast a charm on the house. Immediately, all the drapes on the different windows were pulled shut, leaving them out of sight from any prying eyes.

A bubble of amused laughter escaped her lips as she turned back to him, watching as his features softened, his lips shifting into a crooked, hesitant smile. Draco hardly ever smiled. She had to catch her breath at the sight of that.

"Not because," he repeated, seeking affirmation through his gaze alone, his fingers tightening on her hips, "but in spite of?"

She nodded and smiled. "In spite of."

The expression on his face shifted, his silver eyes darkened to grey as he leaned in, slowly capturing her lips with his. He didn't let her hold back or hide away – it was just him and her. Just his lips, gentle but demanding on hers; just his fingers threading through her curls, his other hand tilting her head to that perfect angle, his thumb brushing the flush on her cheek; just a hint of his tongue skimming deliciously across the crevice between her lips and wrenching a breathless sound from her. And somewhere in the back of her beautifully addled brain, Hermione Granger could only think of one thing –

Draco Malfoy kissed like there was no tomorrow.

And in a war, that was the best way to kiss.