Would You Like A Hand?

33 | the end.

Draco found out that all the injured had been brought back to Hogsmeade and scattered in different rooms of all kinds of buildings that were still standing. It had been the middle of the night when he had woken up - Draco had only been knocked out for a couple of hours.

It turned out he had his own injuries to worry about, although he wasn't in bad shape. He would've helped out Hermione with looking after the other students, but most of them were nervous when he came near them. He understood why, and stayed away.

It was later, when the sun was up, that he had flooed back to the Manor. The fireplace was somehow still standing, but almost everything else was destroyed. Draco had walked out to the front of the property to look at the mansion overall.

It was fitting - he reflected as he had looked over the damage - that Malfoy Manor would be destroyed. What he had known his whole life - that purebloods were superior and special - all of it had been a lie, and now that the Manor was destroyed, it somehow cemented that fact for him.

When everyone was able to return to the school, they celebrated and took a couple days to rest before beginning the rebuilding process and figuring out what was to happen now that the undead were gone and the world was in shambles - or at least, Great Britain was. They had yet to find out how far the undead had spread.

Draco spent his days recovering mostly to himself, wandering the school in less populated areas so as to avoid the other students. Despite his slinking around unnoticed, Hermione still went out of her way to find him sometimes and keep him company. Even Harry would occasionally stop to say a few things to him when they saw each other in the halls.

"You don't have to hang around me, you know," Draco had pointed out to Hermione one day.

She looked at him, puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"Now that everything's over - didn't you say when we met that you didn't care if I followed and traveled with you?"

"But I want to now," she stated plainly, "that was a while ago. I enjoy your company now."

He had been surprised at her answer and didn't know how to reply. Hermione only continued talking about whatever it was she had been talking about before and left it at that.

He found that Ginny Weasley would reluctantly and very gradually warm up to him, if only because Hermione insisted he was a friend. A few others who were direct friends with the trio would also grow to tolerate Draco's presence, although they didn't try to be overly friendly.

Luna Lovegood, ever the odd one, would be the only one to welcome him whenever he was around.

He wasn't surprised then, when he had been stopped in the halls by her. He was minding his own business, wandering - because sitting around thinking too much about what he was going to do from now on was getting on his nerves - before a soft, singsong "Draco Malfoy" floated his way.

"Er, hullo," he greeted when he saw her come up to him. Admittedly, he was still unnerved about her oddness. It was hard to understand what she was saying sometimes, but he learned it was easier if he just went with the flow.

"Let us wander together," she smiled at him. If he had the ability to translate her phrase into something he would understand, he would've known that what she meant was 'you look in need of company' - but he didn't have that ability, so he just nodded and continued to walk.

For a couple of minutes, the Ravenclaw girl seemed content to enjoy the silence. She hummed to herself and looked around, observing the walls and decor. But it wasn't long before she spoke again in her soft voice, "You are different."

This world had changed everyone - he could hear Hermione's words in his head.

"I'm still a coward deep down, though," he smiled wryly.

"Are you?" Luna gazed at him, and he wondered what she was thinking but didn't ask.

Then, she looked away and dreamily answered herself, "I think not. And everyone else, too."

He warily repeated, "Everyone else?"

"You looked out for Hermione," Luna said, as if that answered his question. He didn't bother trying to get more information out of the girl, though.

Instead, he told her, "I owed the trio. That's all."

The girl stared at him for awhile as they walked the halls, and Draco eventually turned his head to look at her and lock eyes. In that moment, she smiled in that way that made anyone think she knew all their secrets - though what secrets she knew of Draco, he wasn't sure.

"The others are wary, but they don't hate you," she told him, and then wandered off in a different direction. Draco paused in his walk to watch her leave. Her humming slowly faded away from his range of hearing.

And then he was alone.

But somehow, he felt a little less lonely.

-

end note: okay, wait; officially, this is done - yes! but unofficially... i plan to post some deleted scenes. thanks for sticking around for so long - i really appreciate it! let me know what you all thought, maybe what you expected more of (personally, i really wanted to add some more scenes between Draco and each of the trio individually).

this has been a nice ride, and i hope that maybe you'll join me for another one in the future! this story changed a bit from what i had originally planned for it, so it was interesting to see how it eventually evolved on my end.

there were some things i would've liked to add and improve on, but for now this will be left alone and maybe i'll come back one day to do some minor edits. this is, after all, a sort of first draft - and all first drafts need to be revised upon.

anyway, stay tuned for those deleted scenes, and don't forget to leave a vote or comment!

aeratheninja-