With you in my Arms

80. Willfried Wussle, how he hated this name

This chapter is for all you guys out there reading and enjoying my story.

You can't imagine how glad I am not having to re-post everything after this story vanished over the weekend.

So, to all of you reading this - ENJOY ! ! !

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Draco looked at Hermione.

Hermione looked at Draco.

How was this possible? There wasn't any known cure. It wasn't possible to remove the Dark Mark. Or was it? Once it had been burnt into the flesh of the unfortunate, or deranged in the case of Bellatrix Lestrange, witch or wizard it was there for all eternity. It didn't make any sense. It couldn't be true.

However much Draco might wish for it to be.

"How... how can it... how can that be?" Hermione stuttered.

"I don't know. I've never heard of..." his words trailed off.

The memories of a night in utter pain returned. He had thought it had all been just a dream. It had felt real, more than just real. It had been as if he had returned to the day the Dark Lord had him on his knees before him, when a proud and deluded sixteen year old had been pledging alliance until death. Pride and ambition had been his final downfall. He hadn't seen what he was about to do.

It had been their wedding night. Draco had been watching the moonlight, and his wife. Was it her who had brought this about? Was it her being with him? Was it her carrying their son? Deep within him he knew that it could be only one thing: the love they shared.

"I love you, Hermione." he whispered.

His hands gently cupped her face.

"I love you, too, Draco." she replied with a smile.

His lips sought hers. Pouring his soul into the soft touch he felt himself getting lost in her sweet taste. His mind only told him the one thing that their union, their love could not be conquered by anything or anyone any longer. They were bound to each other for this life and all to come.

Slowly pulling his wife with him he sat on the couch having Hermione sitting next to him. He needed to explain it to her. She needed to know that it was her who was the cure and the undoing of the most evil thing that had done to him. His mind was buzzing. His heart was singing. He felt like kissing and holding her tight for the rest of his life.

"It was our wedding night when I had this horrible nightmare. Or at least I thought then it had been a nightmare. It had felt like Voldemort was branding me again. The same pain was engulfing me, trying to penetrate every bit of my body, the same searching evil that had tried to corrupt my magic then. I managed to prevent it though. The Dark Lord never knew that I was still myself deep down, that he hadn't accomplished his most vile intention of turning me. If I hadn't shielded my magical essence from him I would probably have ended up like my father. Or worse my aunt."

He looked at his hands holding hers.

"It was you," his eyes were searching the deep brown observing him, "you made this happen. It's all because you're with me, because our son..."

He was rambling. He knew. She silenced him with a kiss that was as light as the touch of a feather.

"It's because I love you, Draco." she said quietly, "It's because you love me."

"Yes, my love, yes."

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Narcissa Malfoy was sitting opposite James Mulligan in the small restaurant in a side street off Diagon Alley. It had been her choice to meet her son and daughter-in-law here. The auror could see why. It was off the beaten track, had small compartments given the guests privacy and the food was supposed to be excellent without it being widely known. The large alcohol free cocktail he was sipping spoke of the extensive knowledge of the person staffing the bar.

He had been observing the witch across the table for the past five minutes now and she hadn't even noticed yet. Which was rather unusual. Under normal circumstances she would look at him the moment his gaze met her. Not so today. He was starting to wonder, if he should be concerned.

"Everything okay, Cissy?" he asked in a soft voice.

She finally looked up.

"Yes. It's just... For all these years I've been thinking that Lucius was... Another son..."

James had anticipated her being a bit shocked by the full extend of the deeds her husband had been involved in. She had always known him not to be a saint, but the latest information she had received was probably worse than she had thought it might be when the Ministry owl with Kingsley Shaklebolt's letter had arrived late yesterday night requesting them to meet him this morning.

The whole truth and nothing but the truce had been laid out before her, the son in France, the involvement of Pansy and Rita Skeeter, the potions that had been brewed and the death traps which had been meant to kill them both. There had been the mention of a criminal in Manchester known by the name of Notorious and the use of the Imperius Curse on an innocent girl who had been at school with her son. The auror had been fearing the worst when they finally left Ministry, but the woman by his side didn't seem to have allowed herself to be touched by the information that she had been burdened with.

Why had the Minister for Magic decided to tell her everything there was to know about the case Lucius? James would have not thought it necessary to have her know all the details. Then again, he knew how the more hidden ways of the daily dealings in the ministry were conducted. Nothing happened without a reason. Which meant something else was either going to happen or be unveiled that stood in connection with the Malfoy family. Hopefully it wouldn't be something... The woman in his life interrupted his musings with her gently voice.

"I still can't understand. Why did he do it? What have I done? What has his son done to deserve..."

"He's a bastard. We've always known that."

"Yes, I know, Jay, but... to know it and to have it confirmed is not quite the same."

He knew what she meant. As long as it was possible to just look the other way and pretend it wasn't true even the ugliest face could be beautiful.

"After our summer together I should have finally stood up to him. I should have send him packing, made it clear that whatever my parents and his had been agreeing, I would not going to be his dutiful wife."

A smile flicked over the face of the wizard who's hands she was holding. She could have done it. He always knew that she was not a coward, but after they had returned to school in September everybody had been on edge around Lucius. Nobody could have said why that should have been as he didn't seem to be any different, but there had been something... evil about him.

"He would have found a way. He would've made you pay. His pride would have taken a fatal blow. There's no chance he wouldn't have found the means to make you pay. You know that, don't you?"

She nodded. Narcissa wasn't a fool. It would have been all but suicide to try and get away from her intended partner in life.

"Just remember that he'll pay for all he has ever done to you, Draco and all those other nameless and faceless people he's tortured, demeaned and look down on. They're the ones that are ruling our world today, not him. Not his evil Master."

He deliberately avoided the word killing. The was face ugly enough as it was. It bit of beauty wouldn't go amiss.