Ollivander pulled Hermione and Draco into his shop and quickly spelled his doors shut again. He looked around frantically, muttering to himself as he checked the closed curtains, the only light coming from the glow of his wand. He finally turned to Draco, "You shouldn't have come."

Draco opened his mouth to speak but Hermione answered for him, "Draco needs a wand."

Hermione, all business as usual, took charge, looked at Ollivander pointedly, "We're on a very tight schedule. We have a few bastards to beat in the arse."

Ollivander chuckled. "10 ¾ inches, vine wood, dragon heartstring. Not surprised why that wand chose you...But this isn't about you, Ms. Granger."

He eyed Draco warily, nodding to himself and muttering something that no one. Draco looked from side to side, instantly finding all the exits in the room. Before the War, he would never shift around awkwardly like now. He would command the room. Everyone would look at him, must look at him. Now he was ready to flee at any moment.

Ollivander grabbed several long wooden boxes, still giving Draco a strange look. "This wand is on me, Mr. Malfoy, I've been waiting for this time to come."

He laid three boxes in front of Draco, who nervously opened each one in succession. Perhaps since the moment he couldn't bring himself to kill Dumbledore was the day he began running. Not that the Ministry helped much with condemning all "Dark" wizards. But maybe that's why he could never quite let Harry in either. Perhaps if he had, they wouldn't be in this mess.
Hermione could be happily reading books with that stupid prat boyfriend of hers. And Draco could be happily pestering his own prat, could be nagging at Harry just for the sake of nagging. If he had just admitted he wasn't using Harry... he was...

Shaking off the strange feeling growing in his chest with a glance at Hermione who nodded at him, Draco picked up the outermost wand. Ollivander raised his head, "12 inches, willow, unicorn hair, firm but flexible."

Draco aimed at the barricades door, shaking his head. "Doesn't fit. I'm afraid to cast a spell."

Ollivander nodded and took the wand from Draco. "Didn't think so."

The second wand, cherry with dragon heartstring, didn't fit with Draco either. Hair slightly burnt, Draco tepidly picked up the last wand. It felt... okay. He turned to wall and pointed the wand, maple with a Phoenix feather core at a painting of an old wizard who quickly ducked out of frame. Sparks began to fly out of the wand and with a flash of red light and several surprised "Oh's", Draco flew against the wall, groaning.

"I don't think," Hermione said with a groan as she sat up, knocked over from the blast, "that's the right wand."

Ollivander nodded. "I have one more I believe might just work. I didn't make it, but it came into my possession rather recently. I was hoping to hold onto it until the right person came along, and from what I'm seeing, you may just be that person."

Ollivander glanced about before darting into a back room, leaving Draco alone with, ugh, Hermione.

Hermione was looking between the cracks in the blinds of the window. Draco couldn't figure out why, everyone had run to the nearest shelter. Word about Dark Mark flying over the Ministry spread like wild fire, and now the streets of Diagonal Alley were empty. Hermione looked at Draco, arms akimbo, frown etched in her face. "The Muggles think it's a terrorist group."

Draco scrunched his nose. "What's a terrorist?"

Hermione shook her head, "Harry told me you were living in the Muggle world, don't you know?"

"I lived in the part of their world that Muggles like to think they're helping but they really aren't. They don't interact with people like me."

"What?" Hermione seemed confused and Draco rolled his eyes.

"On the streets. Muggles don't like people on the streets. Sometimes you get a hand out but what good does that do? What good is a check? What good is half a sandwich? Where's the hand reaching into the slums and garbage I've called home for over a year and pulling us up? Where's the job? Where's the empathy?"

"You were homeless? I didn't know Malfoys cared about empathy," Hermione said coldly.

"Things aren't black and white," Draco stared straight ahead, an image of his stupid Scarface in his mind's eye. The Scarface who sucked at cleaning but cared for every living thing, even house elves like Dobby.

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, probably about to say something clever that began with 'Actually,' or maybe 'According to my research' when Ollivander reappeared.

He held a wand in both hands. It was long, Draco immediately noticed, but it seemed to vibrate with power. He could almost feel it calling him, whispering in his mind. Ollivander said nothing as he extended his gnarled hands, only nodding as Draco grasped it in his cold hand.

A surge of power ran up his arm and through his entire body. Draco felt a smile grow on his face – this was it. He grinned, pointing the wand at the dim lights in the shop. "Lumos!"

All the lights in the shop instantly grew to a painfully bright glow. Draco laughed, dispelling the magic. He tried a few more simple spells, each so effortlessly he could barely feel the magic necessary to make it work. "This is it," he stared down at the wood, gently caressing the tip to the handle.

Ollivander nodded solemnly, "Take care of it, Draco Malfoy, many people would kill for a chance to wield this wand. But in your case, I've been told all you had to do was disarm."

Draco furrowed his brows, "What do you mean?"

Ollivander shook his head, "Ask Mr. Potter when you manage to bring him back to his senses. And you better hurry, he believes you're dead. Grief is a strong motivator. Go. Go as fast as you can and save him. Save all of us."

The cruel irony of the situation was not lost on Draco as he eyed the strange new wand while Hermione said her goodbyes to Ollivander. Draco wasn't a savior. He wasn't a hero or even heroic. He was a Death Eater for godsake! Yet for some reason, whether the universe had some sense of humor or chance merely rolled the cosmic dice, he was the only hope the Wizarding world had left.

—-

SO, SOOOO SORRY FOR THE DELAY!

I told myself I would update in a week and here we are. I've been having a really rough month and it was really hard for me to get the motivation to write. I hope you enjoy the chapter and I PROMISE the concluding chapters will be coming VERY soon. I know where I want to go and all I have to do is find the words

Thank you for baring with me, I love each and every one of you guys and you're comments and appreciation for my lame fan fiction really does mean the whole world to me.

Love you guys!

See you in the next chapter