Sunlight

The End

Another owl swooped into the room, demanding Draco's attention. Seven days had passed. Seven excruciating days and still, Hermione had not woken. And Draco was keenly aware of what Hannah had told him. With every passing day, the likelihood of Hermione awaking was diminishing.

The first letter he had received was from Molly Weasley, explaining, yet again, that she would be more than willing to look after Scorpius while he was at the hospital. Draco had taken her up on that offer when Potter returned to his work five days ago. But now, he just wanted his son with him while he waited for Hermione to wake up.

The second letter was from Kingsley Shacklebolt, telling Draco that he would only be allowed another week off before he needed to return to work. Draco ignored the letter. An hour later, he received a letter from Potter, stating that he was going to try and buy Draco more time with Kingsley.

The letter Draco just received told Draco that Potter had succeeded. Kingsley implored him to focus on his wife until she was better. Draco supposed that being friends with Harry Potter did have some benefits. Or, rather, Auror partners with Harry Potter had some benefits. Because he was certainly not friends with Potter.

Hannah entered the room then, yawning tiredly. She'd been at St. Mungo's more than Draco had the past week. The poor woman had probably not been getting much sleep lately. When Draco brought it up to her, Hannah had just waved him off. "She's my friend, too," she stated.

"Where's my son?" Draco asked conversationally. Scorpius had begged Hannah to take him with her when she mentioned she was getting some tea. Draco assumed Scorp was just tired of this hospital room, Draco knew that he certainly was.

"Neville's with him," she explained. Draco nearly groaned. The last time Scorp spent time with Longbottom, he'd told Draco twenty times about a plant Uncle Neville had told him about. Draco wanted Scorp to be anything he wanted to be as long as it wasn't a Herbologist.

"Doesn't he have students he needs to teach?" murmured Draco.

"It's August. You do remember that Hogwarts starts in September, right?"

"Is it still August? Merlin, this month is never-ending." Draco's voice shook a little as his eyes fell on Hermione.

"You stopped telling her stories," observed Hannah. Draco scoffed.

"Come on, Hannah, you and I both know that does nothing."

"You're wrong," she said resolutely. "It does do something. Maybe not for her, but for you at least. Just keep talking. You never know what'll happen."

So, Draco did. He told her about their son and the joy he'd felt when she told him she was pregnant. He told her how she couldn't address his injuries anymore because they were married, but she always made time to stop by and ensure that her husband was okay. He told her that he would give anything for a Time-Turner so that he could fix this.

And when his voice shook and ran out of things to say, he told her it all over again. And again. And again. Because it was the only thing he could do.

"...I still think he'd be a good Seeker. And he already adores Quidditch. Merlin, how great would it be, 'Mione, if he played on the national level? I know you hate Quidditch, but even you have to admit it'd be great." He looked off into the distance as though imagining it. "Though, I suppose he'd make a great Healer like you. As long as he doesn't try to leave school early to run his own joke shop, I'll think I'll be okay."

"Maybe he'd want to be an Auror like his dad," a voice said softly. At first, Draco thought she was hallucinating. He'd dreamed all week of hearing that voice. Instantly, his eyes snapped down to the woman laying on the bed. Hermione blinked a few times to clear the blurriness from her eyes, a smile forming on her face. "Hi, Draco."

"Say it again," his voice shook a little and tears formed in his eyes.

"Hi, Draco," she reiterated. At this, tears fell down his face rapidly, drawing her carefully into his arms. Relief was coursing through him. She'd awoken. She was here. Everything was going to be okay.

"I was scared," he admitted, kissing her quickly, as though life depended on it. Hermione pulled away from him, the grin still present on her face.

"It's good I don't treat you this way after you've been injured," she commented. "I'd have already died from worry." Draco kissed her soundly, idly wondering if he should tell Hannah that Hermione was awake.

"What happened, 'Mione?" he asked. "I came home to find you in a pile of blood." A large smile fell across her face as though it were Christmas. The sunlight streamed into the room giving her an angelic glow.

"I just fell down some stairs."