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Consequences	By : Aline Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 33797 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 28
- 29
- 30
Chapter 29. Return to Normal
Life.

The young Malfoy woke up a few
hours later, at first he didn�t recognize the place, but soon he realized that
he was in one of the beds of the Hospital Wing, he moved and straightened,
trying to remember what had happened, the curtains around his bed were closed,
but he could still hear voices coming and going outside them. Slowly his mind
cleared and he remembered what had happened, panic threatened to overcome him
and he was about to stand up when the curtain parted and Goyle stepped inside.

�Draco, you�re awake!�

�Greg, what�s going on? What
happened?�

�We won Draco! Well, almost.�

�Almost?! What do you mean? And where�s Hermione?!�

�Well��

Madam Pomfrey suddenly appeared
all business like and ordered Malfoy to relax and stay in bed while she checked
on him. The blond was not happy with that.

�Where�s Hermione? Madam Pomfrey
what happened to her?�

�Take it easy young man. She�s
still in a delicate state, but she�ll make it. We have to wait until she wakes
up.�

�Delicate state?! What about my son? I need to see her!�

�Quiet young
Malfoy. The child is fine, surprisingly he�s in
fact better than his mother, whatever magic you two performed had kept him safe
and unharmed. We have done all we could for her, it�s only a matter of time
before she wakes up.�

�Where is she?�

Madam Pomfrey sighed and seeing
that there would be no way that the blond Slytherin would stay quiet she
instructed Goyle to accompany his housemate to see the Head Girl and both boys
made their way across the crowded Hospital Wing to a ward that was protected
with silencing charms.

Malfoy wasn�t really looking
around him, he just wanted to get to Hermione�s side and be sure that she was
still there with him, he was a bit dizzy and didn�t
mind that Goyle was supporting him as long as he got to see her. They
approached one of the little private rooms and entered, there was enough space
for the bed, a little bedside table and two chairs, but Malfoy didn�t care it
was small, it was better than one of the beds outside, here they have privacy
and solitude.

Draco sat in one of the chairs
and Goyle excused himself, saying that he needed to go check on his friend, the
blond nodded without really noticing when the other boy left and continued
looking at the peaceful face of his wife. He took one of her hands and was glad
to see that it was not cold, he extended an arm towards her tummy and sighed,
making circular movements on it and whispering.

�It all will be right little
one; mommy is going to be fine.�

He was so engrossed talking to
his child that he didn�t noticed someone entering the room until a hand touched
his shoulder and he heard his godfather�s voice.

�You are not well yet Draco,
what are you doing here?�

�I had to see her. I told her to
stay inside, why didn�t she listen?�

�You should know by now that
Gryffindors are prone to not follow orders.�

�It sucks.�

�You are tired, you should
rest.�

�What happened? Goyle said that
we almost won, what did he mean?�

�Well, some Death Eaters were
able to escape, the aurors are hunting them.�

�And the Dark
Lord?�

�We don�t know. Albus and Potter are both unconscious, Alastor
is dead. We found them when the residual magic from the battle dissipated but
there was no sign of the Dark Lord anywhere. We�ll have to wait until they wake
up to know what happened.�

�So, he may still be around. I
always asked myself why Potter had to face him. Everyone portrayed him as a
hero but I didn�t think that the wizarding world was
actually expecting him to defeat the Dark Lord all by himself, at least I think
that way, Potter had always been only an icon, wasn�t
he?�

�Yes and no. You see Draco, it�s
true that Dumbledore had used young Potter as the image of hope, to lift
people�s sprits and to convince them that no matter how powerful the Dark Lord
was, he could be defeated, anyone who had survived the killing curse would have
done the job quite well, but there�s something else, there was a prophesy.�

�A prophesy?�

�Yes, one that said that a child
born around the end of July and whose parents had opposed the Dark Lord three
times would be the Dark Lord�s equal and that only one of them should survive.�

�Don�t tell me you believe that
Potter is some kind of prophesy child. And anyway, it doesn�t say that he would
actually kill the Dark Lord.�

�It�s not precise, but it
doesn�t really matter whether we believe the prophesy
or not, what matters is that the Dark Lord did, and he was convinced that
Potter was that child. He gave the prophesy a meaning when he attacked the
Potters, he had convinced himself that no one but Harry Potter would have
enough power to kill him, and he also thought that only him would be able to
kill the brat. Dumbledore used this to his advantage; in a way he had always
used Potter to manipulate even the Dark Lord.�

�Are you sure he�s not a
Slytherin?�

�Deviousness is not exclusive to
Slytherins, no matter how much the world insists to see it that way. Now, I
really think that you should take a rest.�

Malfoy nodded and proceeded to kindly move Hermione, so he could lie on the
bed beside her, Severus scowled when he realized Draco�s
intentions.

�May I be informed of what you
think you�re doing Draco?�

�Mm? Oh, I just want to be with her, I don�t think it would be
inappropriate, she�s my wife after all.�

The potions master stared at his
godson and scowled.

�Wife?�

�Yes, sorry, I forgot you didn�t
know, we signed the marriage contract before the attack.�

Severus growled in annoyance and
then turned to leave, muttering.

�I turn my back for an instant
and he starts making harsh decisions.�

He was about to get out when Draco�s tired voice stopped him.

�What happened with Lucius?�

Severus looked at the boy again
and answered without batting an eye.

�The aurors
found him dead on the edge of the forbidden forest; apparently he killed
himself with his own wand. Probably the prospect of spending the rest of his
life in Azkaban was unbearable for him.�

Draco nodded and laid down,
tucking Hermione in his arms, Snape turned again and left the young couple to
rest, he still had to locate Narcissa to give her the news.

Malfoy was much better for lunch
time, so Madam Pomfrey insisted on him to go to the Great Hall to eat. The boy
didn�t want to leave Hermione�s side but the mediwitch
was adamant that he should go and take a walk, and then he could return and be
with her the rest of the day. Draco finally surrendered, he did feel like he
needed to go outside the infirmary for a while, but he made Madam Pomfrey swear
that no one but him or professor Snape would enter his wife�s room. As long as
there were Death Eaters still running free he would not feel safe... not even
inside Hogwarts.

The Great Hall was full of
people celebrating the victory, Draco saw a lot with bandages but all of them
seemed really happy. He spotted Millicent and her mother on the Slytherin table
and he went to sit with them, the girl greeted him with a grin.

�Hello Malfoy. How�s your
girlfriend?�

�It�s wife now Millicent and
she�s recovering. What did I miss?�

Millicent gaped at him for what
seemed an eternity; Malfoy rolled his eyes and grabbed the newspaper she had
beside her bowl of soup. He snickered at the front page.

�HOGWARTS
STANDS!!!�

�It seems like Minister Deius is taking matters on his hands.�

Millicent finally broke out of
her shock and started to talk animatedly as if nothing had happened.

�Oh, oh yes, you should have
seen it, as soon as communication with the outer world was restored we were
assaulted by reporters, the entire wizarding world is
anxiously expecting Dumbledore and Potter to wake up to know what has become of
the Dark Lord.�

�It says some Dementors had returned to Azkaban�s
ruins and that the prison would be standing again in no time. How did we get
rid of them? I remember that those things were outside the barrier, just
waiting for the right moment to attack.�

�Well, yeah. It was strange, you
know? At the end of the battle the magic went wild and out of control, and the Dementors just turned around and left as fast as they
could, and they weren�t the only ones, as far as the aurors
can tell it seems that the forbidden forest is deserted, you can�t hear a sound
in there, even the ghosts are gone! And the house elves are terrified; they�re
performing their duties exclusively in the dungeons! Someone said that the
amount of magic was so immense that all magical creatures truly feared for
their lives.�

Malfoy raised his eyebrows in
wonder and then looked around the Great Hall. There were some sad faces, no
doubt there had been some deaths, he stopped at the Gryffindor table where
Ginny Weasley had a sad expression, but Ronald seemed to be as carefree as
always.

�Was there any students dead?�

�Mm? Oh, well a Gryffindor, Dean Thomas, and a Hufflepuff
sixth year are the only students we lost in battle.�

�The Weasley girl seems
particularly affected.�

�Well, Thomas died saving her.
He took a killing curse meant for her. I suppose she�s feeling guilty.�

Malfoy nodded and glared at Ron
Weasley who had been looking at him for a moment, the red-head lifted his chin
and looked away, Draco scowled at the gesture.

�Is it my imagination or Weasley
has developed a superiority complex?�

�Oh yes, he�s feeling heroic,
that potion you said that Parvati gave him had made him quite the warrior, he
caused havoc in the battle.�

Malfoy huffed and continued
surveying the Great Hall, Blaise was with his Ravenclaw
girlfriend and Goyle was a few seats to his right, talking animatedly with his Hufflepuff friend, who had a bandage on her forehead.

�Goyle seems happy.�

�Mmph,
you missed it. He found Marshall having fun torturing two Gryffindors and Goyle
attacked him from behind, he cast two very painful curses while screaming how
much he hated the boy, then Greg decided that he wanted physical contact and
proceeded to beat the life out of the git; it was
interesting and he attracted the attention of several students that were
fighting in the vicinity, and really, we only stopped him because the Ravenclaws were horrified. I�m still wondering how Goyle
managed to recognize Marshall
amongst all the chaos, he practically hunted him down.�

�He surely used a searching
spell, and knowing Marshall
he probably was announcing his presence to everyone who cared to listen.�

Millicent nodded and resumed her
lunch, after a few minutes someone sat beside Malfoy; he turned around to see a
tired Nochland.

�Hey, how�s all going?�

�Well, Harry�s not waking up
anytime soon, apparently he was drained of nearly all his magic, which didn�t
surprise me after seeing the chaos they did. I�ll be checking on him, but now I
feel totally spent. How�s your wife?�

�Fine, she�ll recover soon.�

Malfoy felt eyes on him and
turned to find Ron Weasley glaring at them again; Draco returned the glare and
sneered.

�Seems like
Weasley is looking for trouble.�

Nochland raised her head and
scowled.

�That git,
he had the gal to go and tell me that I�m not allowed to visit Harry! As if I�d ever ask his opinion!�

�Nevertheless, don�t go alone to
visit Potter. Weasley never has been a reasonable person, now I have the
impression that he is really dangerous.�

�Don�t worry; I�ll have it in mind.�

They continued eating, ignoring
the persistent glares from the red-head.

Draco returned to the Hospital
Wing after taking a much needed bath, the first thing he saw upon crossing the
doors was Ron Weasley having a heated argument with Madam Pomfrey, just outside
Hermione�s room, Malfoy clenched his fists and approached them quickly,
apparently Weasley wanted to see the Gryffindor girl.

�Mr. Weasley I assure you that
she�s fine and very soon she will be in a good enough condition to talk with
whoever she likes, but right now she needs to rest!�

�It�s not going to take long! I
have to speak with her! It�s important!�

�She is sleeping Mr. Weasley!
She has yet to wake up and she won�t do it until her body is fully recovered!
She won�t be able to listen to you!�

�Well, I�ll wake her up! I need
to talk with her right now; she doesn�t know that we won and that the
Slytherins are no longer needed! She can stop acting now and return to us!�

�Mr. Weasley, please don�t be
stubborn! It would be the same as when you visited Mr. Potter, he won�t wake up
only because you wanted him to talk with you, and neither will the girl.
Besides, I have been asked to not let anyone in her room.�

�What?! Who asked you that?!�

�I did.�

Ron spun on his heels, ending up
face to face with a supremely annoyed Draco Malfoy.

�Who do you think you are
Malfoy?! You have no say on who can visit Hermione!�

Malfoy smirked evilly at the
red-headed boy.

�As a matter of fact Weasley, I
have every right to look out for my wife�s well being, and that includes
ensuring that her recovery won�t be disturbed.�

Ron�s jaw hit the floor and he
looked at Malfoy in disbelief.

�What are you talking about? You
bastard, you�re lying!�

�See it for yourself
weasel� Malfoy showed him the ring on his right hand and smirked. �If you don�t
believe me you can go and ask your Head of House, she can tell you that there
was nothing she could do to prevent our marriage.�

�Of course I�m going to do it!
And you�re going to be very sorry Malfoy!�

Ron turned around and took two
steps away before Malfoy stopped him, speaking in a low, dangerous tone.

�Weasley, I�m telling you this
only once. I don�t want to see you near my family, I don�t want you to speak or
even look at my wife ever again. I don�t want her to associate with the likes
of you. Do you understand?�

Ron half turned to give Malfoy a
disgusted face.

�As if someone would want to be
seen with such scum as the Malfoys�

�You wish you could be scum like
us, Weasley.�

Ron�s fists were clenched
viciously as his face reddened, and the boy proceeded to stomp away angrily.
Malfoy lifted his chin, resuming his own walk towards Hermione�s room. Madam
Pomfrey only shook her head in annoyance and returned to her many patients.

Malfoy entered the room and lied
heavily against the door, closing his eyes for a moment, enjoying the silence.
He was surprised when said silence was interrupted by a faint moan and a
whispered word.

�Draco?�

The blond straightened
immediately, looking wide eyed at the bed, where Hermione was moving and trying
to sit. Draco was beside her in an instant.

��Mione. Take it easy.�

He helped her to sit and
arranged the pillows so she could support her back on them; the girl was a
little confused by her surroundings. Malfoy touched her face and made her look
his way; he was unnaturally calm about the situation.

�How are you feeling?�

�Um, fine. I think I�m fine� She
looked over at him, she wasn�t sure why but she had the impression that he
should be upset and angry with her. Malfoy nodded and sighed, putting some distance
between them; Hermione watched his every move, waiting for a possible
explosion.

�Good. Good. That�s really
good.�

Malfoy breathed heavily and
closed his eyes; he increased the volume of his voice drastically for his next
sentence.

�Because I�m
going to KILL YOU!!!�

Hermione jumped and gaped at the
now distraught Draco who started to gesticulate furiously while he yelled his
explanation for the murderous intent.

�What the bloody Hell did you
think you were doing?!! I told you in no uncertain terms to stay inside the
castle!! You had no business running about the grounds in the way of possible
lethal curses!! What happened to your supposed intelligence?!! Have you no
brains at all?!!�

He paused to breath and Hermione
started sobbing; now remembering what had happened.

�I-I�m sorry� I saw you and your
father in the map� and I thought you needed help and I� I just��

�I gave you that damn map for
you to stay away from danger, not to go running right into it!!�

�So-sorry��

She covered her face with her
hands and started crying. Malfoy brushed his hair with his hands and felt
better after finally venting all the worry and frustration that had been
bottled inside him; he sat beside Hermione again and hugged her fiercely.

�You are gonna
be the death of me.�

�I was so scared� I thought I�d
lose you��

�Shh,
it�s all right now. In the future I�ll remember: �Hermione equals Gryffindor
equals No sense of self-preservation; don�t give her suspicious magical artifacts, especially those that could lead her in the path
of danger.� I�m really surprised that you three, the so called golden trio,
have survived this long.�

Hermione giggled weakly and
snuggled closer to her husband; but suddenly she stiffened and bolted upright.

�Oh my God! My baby!� she put her hands over her tummy, evidently distressed,
Malfoy gave a suffering sigh.

�Now you think about him.�

Hermione covered her face again
and burst into tears.

�Hey, don�t cry. It�s all right
�Mione, he�s fine.�

Draco tucked the girl into his
arms again, reassuring her that the baby was unharmed, Hermione was deeply
upset.

�I didn�t think about him! I�m a
horrible mother!�

�You�re not horrible, you were
reckless that�s all, and our son is fine, no harm came to him.�

They stayed like that for some
minutes, Malfoy doing his best to comfort Hermione, they were interrupted by
the mediwitch entering to check on the girl, she did
a quick diagnostic spell and reassured her that the baby was fine, the curse
cast to her had been designed to froze the victim from the inside out, but thanks
to the protective magic around the baby the curse didn�t affect it.

Hermione finally calmed down and
started to ask questions, Malfoy told her everything that he had learned and
soon she was worrying over Potter�s fate, the mediwitch
told her that as soon as Harry waked up she would inform them of his condition,
then she left them with some food for Hermione to eat and advised her to get
more rest, Malfoy stayed with her for the rest of the day and made sure that
the girl followed the mediwitch�s instructions.

Narcissa Malfoy arrived the next
day, demanding to know why Severus had allowed her son to take such a big step
as to marry without so much as a foreword to her, Snape and Draco had to hear
her complains and worries, she was beside herself saying that there was no
reason to precipitate things and that Draco could have well enough waited for
the year to end to marry his girlfriend, as things surely would be more calm
and they would have time to prepare a proper ceremony. Then her son mentioned Hermione�s
pregnancy and Narcissa suddenly understood his hurry, she calmed down then and
forgave them for the precipitation, but Draco knew she was not satisfied, and
suspected that as soon as the state of the war was cleared she would start to
make pressure for an announcement and the consequent party.

Dumbledore woke up two days
later, unfortunately he wasn�t sure of what had happened, he remembered the
magic being too strong and getting out of control, he had felt all his magic
being sucked out from him and being blinded by it, then
he had lost consciousness. McGonagall had given the Headmaster the report of
everything that had happened after the battle and informed that the ghosts were
starting to be seen wandering around again and the house elves were still
fearful to go to the upper floors of the castle.

Dumbledore only took a day to
recover and then started to work and lead the school again, he was happy that
the ministry had begun the reconstruction in Hogsmeade
to recover the town and that the captured Death Eaters were waiting trial, many
of the escapees had been captured also and the few that were still on the run
weren�t of Voldemort�s inner circle. Some of the
students that had supported Voldemort�s ideals would
have to face the consequences of that choice, especially Miss Parvati Patil who
had accepted under veritaserum to be the one to fed
Ron Weasley the Aprioris homus
potion that had caused so much trouble; but fortunately some others had not
actually joined the fight in the real battle and were able to correct their
mistakes.

The castle was still crowded,
some people had left, but the majority was waiting for confirmation of Voldemort�s death, there had been searching parties looking
for anything that could lead them to the Dark Lord, preferably his corpse, so
far there had been no luck.

The students were released of
their school duties and final tests suspended, though the fifth and seventh
years had to wait until the Ministry set a date for O.W.L.s
and N.E.W.T.s, everybody was relaxing and talking
excitedly about the battle they had fought and encouraging the injured for a
fast recovery.

Hermione had been released
quickly from the Hospital Wing and she had started to make the necessary
arrangements for her mother to return to the muggle
world, London�s government had been working on recovering the zone of the city
that had been attacked but Mrs. Granger had voiced her decision to go live with
some of her relatives, so Hermione had contacted her aunt and had told her what
her mother wanted, her aunt had been relieved to hear that her sister and
niece were alive, she had heard of the massive destruction and had assumed
they were dead. Hermione berated herself for not having thought about the rest
of her family earlier, and she apologized with her aunt. Mrs. Granger soon was
back to the muggle world with Hermione�s promise to
visit frequently.

Two weeks after Dumbledore�s
recovery; Hermione went to the now nearly empty Hospital Wing for a check up.
St. Mungos� was already back to work and they had
transferred most of the patients there as they would be more comfortable and
would be better attended. Hermione entered hand in hand with Draco, happily
caressing her more rounded tummy, and went straight to Madam Pomfrey for the
check up, the blond Slytherin waited patiently while the mediwitch
gave them a diet that Hermione would have to follow in order to not get
overweight. When the elder witch was finished Malfoy hugged his wife and
started to walk with her towards the Hospital doors, they had made half their
way when a door suddenly opened and Nochland came out calling for help.

�Oh God, it�s
Harry�s room!�

�Try to find the Headmaster,
quickly!�

Draco ran to the distraught girl
and entered the room, followed closely by Seamus who had been there to visit
Neville, both boys had to cover their ears to protect them from the high
pitched shriek that Harry was doing as he trashed in the bed.

�Shit! What�s the matter with
him?�

�Hold him down Finnegan! He�s
going to hurt himself!�

Malfoy saw Harry�s head hit the
headboard twice without diminishing the trashing, he and Seamus got over him
and tried their best to hold Harry still, the dark-haired boy�s strength took
them by surprise and both of them landed hard on the floor twice before they
managed to secure Harry�s arms, Draco leaned all his weight on the Gryffindor�s upper torso, trying to prevent him from
hitting the headboard again, barely hearing the mediwitch
entering and telling Seamus to hold Harry�s legs.

�What the Hell
is going on?!�

Malfoy turned his head a
fraction to see Ron standing at the doorway, he didn�t answer, Potter was
consuming all his stamina at the moment and he didn�t want to waste any of it
in useless words, Seamus seemed happy to see the red-head.

�Ron! Come on give us a hand!�

Weasley made a disgusted face at
Malfoy who had received an elbow to his gut and was fighting to breathe without
losing hold of Potter.

�What�s he doing here?! He has
no right!�

�What are you talking about?
Help us!�

�I�m not going to be near him!�
Ron said pointing a finger to Draco, Seamus looked at him in disbelief.

�For Merlin�s
sake Ron!! Would you drop it already?!! This
isn�t about your stupid feud with Malfoy!! Harry needs you!!�

Ron glared at him, but
grudgingly approached to help, Madam Pomfrey was trying to cast a spell on
Harry so he would calm down, quite suddenly a wave of magic surged from
Potter�s body and send all of them crashing into the walls.

Draco landed heavily on his
arse, cursing under his breath at stupid Gryffindors that couldn�t have their
magic under control, he opened his eyes and glared at the bed where Potter had
resumed his yelling and trashing, he got quickly on his feet when he noticed
that the boy was rolling around to the edge of the bed and ran over to him,
Draco caught Harry before his head hit the floor and tried to return him on the
bed, unfortunately for the blond Harry chose that moment to went still as a
board seconds before throwing up.

�Damn it!! Potter!! This is
disgusting!!�

Harry started shaking
uncontrollably and started trashing again when Malfoy managed to lie him down.
Draco was on the mind to cast a full body-bind spell when Lupin,
Snape and Dumbledore arrived and sent the youngsters outside, the three boys
exited the room, leaving the adults to deal with Harry.

Once outside Malfoy scourgified his robes and collected himself,
Hermione instantly started to ask questions.

�Draco, what�s happening?!�

�Apparently Potter is having
some kind of attack. Nochland what happened?�

�Nothing, I was just sitting by
his side when he suddenly started to scream.�

Seamus approached them, still
aching from the impact on the wall.

�Hell, that
was quite an outburst.�

�Are you alright Seamus?�

�Yeah, only a few kicks, I�m
lucky I wasn�t close to his mouth.�

�Shut up Finnegan!�

Seamus grinned at Malfoy�s
disgusted expression and then turned to look at Ron, who was leaning against
the door to Harry�s room, pointedly refusing to look at them, Seamus sighed in
defeat and Hermione bit her lips in nervousness, unsure if she should go and
try to talk to the red-head, Draco put his arm around her waist and dragged her
to a set of chairs to sit down, Nochland and Finnegan followed them and
together they waited patiently for someone to come out of the room with news
about Harry�s condition.

They didn�t have to wait long,
after fifteen minutes the adults came out, Madam Pomfrey quickly assured them
that Harry was alright and that he was sleeping now, Lupin
and Snape hurried to exit the Hospital Wing and Dumbledore stayed to explain
things.

�Is Harry going to be alright
professor?�

�Yes my girl yes, apparently his
state of coma had been produced because of his bond with Voldemort,
it seems that Harry and Riddle had been sharing Harry�s vital energy, which
leads us to the supposition that Voldemort has not
enough to sustain himself.�

�Oh God.�

�Does that mean that as long as
Potter lives, the Dark Lord will too?� asked Draco darkly, the rest of the
students gasped at the implications.

�That would be the case if
Harry�s magic had not been so severely depleted during the battle and had have
enough energy left to sustain two bodies, but fortunately for us Harry�s own
vital energy is at the point of exhaustion, so it�s not enough to complete the
necessary bond between him and Voldemort for the dark
wizard to have a full recovery, Harry�s magic finally kicked in and in order
for Harry to survive it has severed the bond with Voldemort,
there should be nothing left of it now, so our boy can finally start to
recover.�

�Oh, that�s great!�

�How do we know that the bond is
completely gone?�

�Well Mr. Malfoy, the only
evidence of that bond was Harry�s scar on his forehead and now it has
disappeared.�

The students gaped for an
instant before reacting to the news.

�Gone? Completely?�

�Yes Mr. Finnegan.�

�That�s good news! Harry hated
his scar!�

�Wonderful, now I�ll have to
find another derogative name for him.� Said Malfoy rolling his eyes in mock
annoyance, Hermione elbowed him on his ribs warning him to stop teasing.
Nochland still had another question.

�Mmm, but what about the Dark Lord? Does that mean that he�s gone for good?�

�We have the chance to find out
as Harry has just given us his location, he tried to apparate
away but surprisingly he�s not really far from here; he never left the
forbidden forest. Now if you excuse me, I have to inform the Minister of magic
of this development, Harry will be ready for visits when Madam Pomfrey deems it
fit. Mr. Weasley, please come with me and help me find your mother.�

Ron opened his mouth in
disbelief but the Headmaster accepted no excuses from him, the old man didn�t
want to risk a confrontation in the Hospital Wing now that things were working
out just fine, he took the young red-head with him and left the rest of the
students to spread the news of Harry�s imminent recovery to everyone in the
school.

Lupin, Snape and Shacklebolt found Voldemort�s body in the afternoon, or more precisely what
was left of it, inside a cave. It resembled a dried mummy, all crippled and
burned; just beside it they found the remains of a big snake that apparently
had met the same end as Voldemort. The news soon travelled
along the wizarding world and everybody could finally
throw themselves into the big celebration.

On the first week of Harry�s
recovery he had to suffer through a shouting match between Ron and Lilith Agracon; the Weasley boy had been verbally abusing Nochland
in order to get her to stop visiting Harry until the girl�s friends had finally
have enough and decided to talk with the boy. Harry had been trying to get Ron
to accept that he liked Artemisa, but the red-head had not wanted to listen and
the �talk� had quickly become an insult-trading contest until Madam Pomfrey had
had enough and in the end kicked out the lot of them.

After that, visits to Harry had
been conditioned to require an adult present during them, it usually was Remus the one who chaperoned and the black-haired boy
considered it his most embarrassing experience ever in the Hospital Wing.

Life went slowly back to normal
and Harry was up and about after three weeks of bed.

The Ministry finally scheduled
the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s
and Hermione, despite her now obvious pregnancy put everyone she could into
intensive study sessions... soon Draco and Harry both were wistfully missing
the Hospital Wing. The tests were a nightmare and everyone was relieved when
they finished.

Hogsmeade train station was one of the firsts
establishments to be reopened, just in time for the fifth and seventh years to
return home after they were done with the tests, Draco and Hermione shared the
train compartment with Harry, Blaise, Millicent, Goyle and Neville. Harry was
going to stay at Grimauld place for a while with Remus Lupin, just enough to be
sure that it was cleaned of dark magical artifacts,
then he was going to give it over to Dumbledore for the man to do with it
whatever he wanted, Harry hardly cared as long as he didn�t have anything to do
with the house anymore, he was going to find a place of his own to live, he was
thinking about a cottage in the country, Mrs. Weasley had offered him to stay
in the burrow, but the situation with Ron was far from getting better and Harry
chose to distance himself in order to lessen the tension.

Ginny on her part had come to
talk with Harry and Hermione before going back to the burrow with the twins and
her parents, the girl had apologized for her attitude and actions, she still
didn�t like the idea of Harry and Hermione choosing Slytherins for partners and
still thought that those relationships were bound to end in disaster, but she
had accepted that it was their decision to make and that her reaction had been
uncalled for. Harry and Hermione accepted her apologies and the three had left
in friendly terms.

Harry was glad that Ginny had come
around; he supposed that Dean�s death had much to do with it. Ron on the
contrary had acted as if Hermione didn�t exist and after the scene in the
Hospital with the Slytherin girls he had accused Harry of having preferred an
easy shag over their friendship, Harry had been really angry and had decided
that he wouldn�t try to fix things with Ron anymore, the two ex-best friends
had not crossed word since then.

The travel was quiet but
comfortable, Nochland and Anthera had returned to their respective homes some
days before due to them not having to present O.W.L.s
or N.E.W.T.s, Harry had promised to visit Artemisa
frequently. Blaise on his part had really no place to go, he was disowned and
both his parents were waiting trial, the Zabini�s
states and fortune were being checked out by the Ministry and if Blaise wanted
to recover something he would have to wait after the trial and then it would
only be a small part of the fortune, because he was sure that the rest of the
family wouldn�t be too happy to have him back with them. Blaise was fine with
the situation, he would be much better without his family anyway; he was going
to stay at Malfoy�s manor for a while until he found a job and a place for
himself. Millicent and her mother were going to return to their home, free of
Mr. Bulstrode�s influence at last. Goyle senior was
awaiting trial but Mrs. Goyle had managed to escape suspicions and to save a
good part of the family fortune from the Ministry�s clutches by cooperating in
the investigation and giving away proofs of her husband�s activities, she had
written to her son, telling him that he was free to return to their home and
Gregory was happy for it.

Draco was holding Hermione�s
sleeping form at his side and looking distractedly out of the window, he had
been really surprised to see that Potter and Longbottom
were willing to share the compartment with the Slytherins, Neville and Greg
seemed to have developed some kind of friendship and were talking animatedly
about plans for the summer and future jobs, Potter and Blaise were getting
along just nice and had been discussing the pros and cons of playing Quidditch professionally. Draco was just content with
hearing them, the last month had left him spent and there was still hard work
waiting for him at the manor, he would have to deal with what his father left
behind, family business included, fortunately he had the good will of the
Ministry and things weren�t looking so bad; he would have to afford a house for
his mother too, Narcissa had announced that she was not going to live in the
manor any longer, she wanted to move to a place near the beach, after all there
could only be one Mrs. Malfoy at the manor, that was the proper thing.

And of course, they had still a
party to throw, Narcissa would not tolerate that her son�s marriage passed
unnoticed, that would definitely not be considered right by their pureblood
acquaintances and Draco really wanted to formally present the new Mrs. Malfoy
to the wizarding world, it would be in a week, there
was plenty of time to recover from the intellectual drain of the N.E.W.T.s and to prepare for spending a full day of
formalities and social alliances.

Draco looked again at the
sleeping figure of Hermione and moved a little to better cuddle her, he fondly
thought about his unborn son and half smiled thinking of how spoiled a child he
would be. To think that he had once planned to be dead by now! Luckily he was
still around; his ghost would have been pretty upset if it had realized how
much life was still worth living. Now he was thinking nonsense, his brain must
be tired, he was about to drift into sleep when he noticed that the compartment
was unnaturally quiet, he focused his eyesight on Blaise and Potter who were
sitting in front of him, both looking really amused and smirking, Millicent was
sleeping at their side and Draco couldn�t see Longottom
and Goyle but he was fairly sure that they too were staring at him. He frowned
at the boys he could see without moving, where the hell had Potter learned to
smirk like that?

�What?� he said somewhat
aggressively, the boy�s smirks widened.

�Nothing Malfoy� said Harry
happily.

�You look so cute!� said a
grinning Blaise mockingly. Malfoy blinked in shock a few times before deciding
that he didn�t have enough energy to move and hex Blaise and Potter, so he
settled to glare at them and stuck out his tongue.

�Fuck up Blaise. Jealous idiots,
go find your own women.�

And he snuggled even more in the
comfortable seat with Hermione, closing his eyes and blocking out the laughs
that could be heard. He made a mental note to coax Alice�s parents into allowing Blaise to live
with them for a while. He wasn�t going to be able to stand his friend�s teasing
for as long as it would take for the boy to find some other place to live.

Eventually the laughs died out
and the chattering resumed itself. Draco once again
relaxed and drifted to sleep, he was sure that the others would wake them up
once they arrived to Kingcross station. He barely
felt Hermione moving to get in a more comfortable position before he felt her
weight over him and his arms automatically got around her body, one of his
hands slightly caressing her belly.

As he was lulled to sleep by the
voices around him and the movement of the train, Draco remembered the waltz he
had danced with Hermione in the dungeons some months ago and a smile crept into
his lips remembering a particular line of the lyrics.

�Yo andaba buscando
la muerte� cuando me encontr� contigo��

�I was looking
for death� when I found you��

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Yes! Only the Epilogue left and
this would be finished.

Huge thanks to nonentity for edition suggestions, I really apreciate them.
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Consequences