Stalemate - Epilogue

Draco stood behind her for a long, long time. Neither of them spoke, feeling on that familiar, instinctual level that it wasn't necessary. Both of them knew what this meant and knew it changed their lives entirely.

Now they were doomed - both leaders of the opposing parties laid dead at their feet. Harry Potter and Voldemort sat in the snow lifeless and...

Well, yeah.

Uh oh.

He remembered having similar thoughts about this type situation only minutes beforehand...

...though his eyes held resolve and his posture never shifted from the offensive position, he truly had not thought about that. If they were to walk away, even though many of the other death eaters were no doubt venturing off the property to save their own sorry hides, the Dark Lord would surely kill them for abandoning the cause if he came out the victor. On the other hand, if the other side possibly wins, running would only get the young couple so far. They'd be found and killed. Hermione was right. What they needed to do was help finish this bloody war so they themselves could live a life away from hassles and molestation...possible death...

Similar, no? Their side's leader laid dead in red snow, an expression mixed of both anger and shock mangling his already deranged face, and they were responsible. How the hell could they argue their way out of this one? Even if they were discovered by Order members before caught by their own kind, both fought for the dark side; one a traitor against the ones who bred and taught her.

Hermione's breathing had stopped the erratic movements and finally air entered and exited her lungs at a steady pace. This did not mean, however, she was calm. If anything, panic mounted in her mind with every passing moment.

"Hermione, I um...fuck." The last word had been directed more to himself, to the situation, than to her. Again, chaos loomed in his life and he didn't know what to do. How could he fix this? Hermione, his Hermione, the girl he claimed his life over to, just KILLED his leader. He didn't want to pretend even to himself that he knew what flashed through her mind during the brief period so he didn't. Instead, he decided the best course of action would be to talk with her. Maybe she had some ideas as to what they should do.

"Hermione, I'm...I'm really open to anything you might suggest. I'm at a loss," he admitted, shaking his head.

"It was never...Merlin, it was never about Harry using the sword to kill him. Everything was merely about the tool killing him; never concerning Harry, just the sword. He got it wrong...we ALL got it wrong..."

Before she could mutter anything else they were interrupted, the sound of crushing snow and panting gasps from around the bend jerking their attention in that direction.

The girl with long red-hair stopped moving when the sight of her fiancé attested her worst nightmare come true. Harry, her Harry, would never again hold her, speak to her, love her...she knew this and in one moment, she accepted it. It may have shocked her, but it was not unexpected. After a few minutes of running down the path of blood and ice, coming upon nothing other than corpses of old friends and enemies, she knew what her fiancé had done - he'd sent her out of harm's way.

She didn't agree, but she understood.

Hermione and Draco stared at her, no attempt to speak, when she muttered, "I think I always knew. I always knew he would save the world. A true hero to the end." Her eyes shifted to Hermione, undiluted bitterness spreading across her normally cheerful face, as she admitted, "I just never thought you'd play a part in his death."

"I...I didn't kill Harry," Hermione stammered.

"You didn't stop his death from occurring though, did you?" Ginny asked, almost conversationally; cheekily.

Hermione didn't respond given it wasn't really necessary. All three living people knew the answer to that question.

Ginny moved forward, falling on her knees beside Harry and taking his cold, blue hand in her own. The lingering smell, that Harry smell, managed to hold her tears back. She wanted to be strong for him. She HAD to be strong for him. Kissing his icy flesh for good measure, she spoke against his skin, briefly overcoming her sobs; "I knew this would happen. Nobody would believe me aside from Professor Dumbledore and yet I was right. I really wish I was wrong."

"Dumbledore didn't believe you," said Hermione, finding her voice again, "and I know this given I was in his office. I read these letters where he admitted to feeling bad about the situation. He even felt guilty over what happened to me. What did he say again?" she thought aloud, tapping her chin and desperately retracing her mind's steps back to that day; "yes, I remember. He wrote something about feeling like a failure and—"

"I'm attempting to keep it together, and from what they've seen, I have; nonetheless, I feel the strong need apologize to the poor girl. She did not deserve this. Could that have been perhaps what he wrote?"

Hermione didn't know what to say. Surprised? Oh, hell yes; shocked? Incredibly so; scared? Very. Ginny Weasley somehow knew and she...well, she seemed to know more than Hermione did herself.

"How...b-but...how did you know?" Hermione gasped out disbelievingly.

"How did I know?" Ginny mockingly asked, bitterness and sadness engulfing the atmosphere as she continued, "I think, perhaps, because I was the one who suggested he write such letters. Perhaps I was there when he wrote them."

"You knew?"

At this, Ginny's gaze shifted given the question came from Draco, speaking up for the first time since Ginny had arrived.

"I've always known. I knew the moment she returned that something wasn't right about her," whispered Ginny miserably. "I didn't want to believe it and I almost missed it at times, but...I knew the way she smiled and nodded whenever someone said anything to her that she had changed. Not for the better, either."

Pressing another kiss to Harry's inert fingers, she forged on, stating, "Harry wouldn't believe me. I tried to convince him of Hermione's treachery, to convince him that she had crossed over, but he wouldn't hear it. He was blinded by the friendship, incredulousness overtaking his soul. He went on and on about how true Hermione was and that his best friend would never betray our cause." At this, Ginny's gaze shifted back to Hermione as she said, "Harry never doubted your loyalty for a second. Never; not once."

Sniffling and losing her ability to fight the impending sobs, she choked out, "I didn't...I tried to stop you, Hermione. I tried to stop you from hurting yourself and everyone else. That's why Dumbledore, the supposed idiot that you obviously took him for, planted those letters in his office knowing you'd find them. He never explained to me why he held suspicions of you coming into his office since I never would have considered you, even for a moment's time, to be that stupid and foolish. Nonetheless, you DID show up and you read them. All of those words, every 'A' to every 'Z', was planted for you to suck in and take to heart. I, personally, didn't think he should lay on the guilt so much and put more anger in it. No matter, since it worked anyway. You let us know what side you were fighting for, giving us a slight advantage in knowing not to trust you, and you remained in the dark about us knowing." Ginny broke off, laughing bitterly.

"How did Dumbledore know?" asked Draco, stepping closer to Hermione, feeling that innate protectiveness shooting his mind. "Hermione told me she put everything back."

"She did, but that doesn't mean he didn't know about it. Come on, I thought you both were smarter than that," laughed Ginny, shaking her head at their poor judgment and their unwise naiveness. "Did you honestly believe you two could outsmart Dumbledore? In the name of Merlin, you two are ridiculous."

"What the fuck are you getting at?" asked Draco, growing impatient and wanting her to get to the point.

"I'm fucking getting at how Dumbledore knew about this all along. There are charms placed all over his office, including on those letters, so he fucking would know if someone just wandered in and not to mention he knew something was missing. He knew you took the sword. So, needless to say, Dumbledore and I knew the entire time, Hermione. You may have fooled everyone else, but you sure as hell didn't deceive me."

Ginny swiped angrily at her auburn hair, pushing it out of her face and returning her attention back to Harry. No longer worrying over the situation (given everything had already been said), she spoke to them musingly. "You know," she began, gulping over the lump in her throat, "I was going to marry him. He proposed last week and I was going to marry this wonderful man. Idiot went and died on me, how fitting, right?"

"I uh...Merlin..." Hermione panted, not sure what else to say.

"I don't understand, Hermione, nor will I ever. Nothing you can say will ever make me understand. All I do know is that though my life is essentially over, I've nothing left to live for after all, the rest of the world will go on because of Harry. A true Gryffindor to the end."

"Hermione was the one who finished him off," growled Draco, pacing in the slushy snow.

"Sod off, Malfoy," snapped Ginny angrily. "You're one of the many reasons Hermione betrayed our cause so I don't give a flying fuck what you have to say about the matter."

"I'll bet," he quipped back, fighting the urge to scream out his own anger.

Hermione felt torn, not sure whether or not to continue talking with this girl or to run with Draco in order to get the hell out of there; she hadn't forgotten what she had just done and knew both sides would gladly love to slit her from navel to nose.

"I don't get it," admitted Ginny, pressing soft kisses to Harry's bruised face. "I genuinely don't get how you could get the sword. Harry told me that only a true Gryffindor can retrieve it and yet, as traitorous as you are, you managed to pull it out. How?"

For the first time in a long time, Ginny looked to Hermione for an answer much like she'd done countless of times growing up. For an instant, Hermione almost let herself believe that there would be something between, something good again; almost. After a second or so, Hermione answered, "I guess...I'll always be a true Gryffindor at heart. I did just stab the Dark Lord."

"Hermione, you can be sated by your deed all you want. It won't change anything between us," growled Ginny furiously. With those words spoken, she stood up, dropping Harry's hand to rest upon his unmoving chest, and launched her wand toward the sky.

"PHOINIXES!"

Hermione and Draco watched in awe as a large, red phoenix erupted into the night sky, a similar form of the Dark Mark. It's long wings moved gracefully in the air, gold and red colors filling the darkness with light. Hermione felt an overwhelming sense of coming home, a feeling which would soon disperse by the sounds in the distance. As soon as Ginny released the beautiful sign, an eruption of cheers and applause could be heard in the distance. Obviously, the sides were informed over who had won the battle.

The Dark Lord was dead.

Harry and the Order of the Phoenix had won.

"I've been waiting to see that since I was ten. It's lovely, really," whispered Ginny, smiling poignantly.

"Hermione we have to go," declared Draco, tugging on her arm and pulling her away from Ginny.

"Wait."

Draco bit his tongue, knowing the redhead's wand pointed directly into his back and/or Hermione's. He stopped moving if only to save the girl he loved.

"Who ever said I was going to let you go so easily?" she asked in a taunting voice. Draco placed a steady hand on his wand, but Ginny spoke again; "I wouldn't do that if I was you. Don't think for a moment that I won't kill you. You took Harry from me so why don't I return the favor to Hermione?"

"NO!" bellowed Hermione, facing Ginny with a look of sheer melancholy. Gulping hard, she whispered, "I'm sorry. Okay? I'm sorry, Gin, and I can't begin to say it enough. Please, PLEASE, know that I'm truly sorry for this. I don't know what I believe in anymore, but I do know two things."

"And they are?" asked Ginny tersely.

"I know that I love Draco, that I'll do ANYTHING to protect him...and I know that while I betrayed him in more ways imaginable, some of which lose my credibility in saying this...I know that Harry would not want you to do this. He would not want you to become a murderer, not after you've already won."

Ginny didn't respond.

For a long while, Hermione and Ginny met the others' bleak expression, their chests heaving with rushing air (the former's in anticipation for a rejoinder and the latter's over the battle ensuing in her body, wondering what the hell she should do), hands fisted tightly over their wands. Draco's eyes remained on Hermione though his wand still twinged toward the enemy, hoping to Merlin she didn't attempt to curse his beloved.

The fear and anger and sadness and frustration and panic mounted and mounted and mounted and MOUNTED—

"We've reached a stalemate."

"What?" asked Hermione incredulously.

"We've reached a stalemate, you and I," murmured Ginny, dropping her wand. "Neither of us wins."

Hermione licked her lips before asking, "Then...then what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you both leave now. Leave now, never return, and I'll spare your life," the redhead replied flatly.

"How the hell—"

"I don't care what you have to do to make it happen nor do I care where you go, just so long as it's far away from here. The Order won and your side has gone down making you my prisoners. Now, everyone else will be tried for their crimes and be punished accordingly. I'm giving you the opportunity to escape your comrades' fates. Leave now, leave for somewhere far, far enough away that I will never lay eyes on you again, and never return. If you do this, I'll make sure you're not hunted."

"Why would you do this?" asked Hermione.

"Does it fucking matter?!" barked Draco, tugging her along, accepting Ginny's offer without thought.

"I'm doing this," cut in Ginny, halting Draco's movements, "because you did, in the end, realize your mistake and fought for what's right. Now, I suggest you move...before someone in my family, chiefly my older brother Charlie, finds and maims you."

"Ginny...I uh..." stuttered Hermione, not sure of what to say.

Ginny nodded her head and whispered, "Just say it."

"I'm sorry...and thank you."

Without anymore words, without anymore exchanged whispers...Hermione and Draco were gone, leaving Ginny alone with her dead fiancé and dead enemy.

She kicked one of the corpses in the groin for good measure.

One guess over which one it was...

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Ginny remained by Harry's side for about five more minutes before she'd been discovered by several Order members—Dumbledore, her brother bill (thank Merlin!), her father (Oh, thank you Merlin!), face dark with frostbite, and a tired yet anxious looking McGonagall. They stood beside her, ignoring the mangled body of Voldemort completely and focused on the distraught girl.

"He died...to save everyone," she whispered sadly. "I guess it figures, right?"

The group nodded in agreement except for Dumbledore, the one who did take a moment or two to note the positions both the former Dark Lord and the savior of the light were in. Even though the Weasley men and McGonagall met the scene with the idea of mutual killings, that Voldemort Avada'ed Harry after Harry had stabbed him in the back, leaving him to die even after killing his opposed, they didn't know whose possession the sword had been in before. Not Harry's, but Hermione's...so Dumbledore indeed found this particular positioning intriguing. Nodding to nobody in particular, he met Ginny's gaze.

"I guess...redemption isn't a total loss," muttered Ginny eloquently.

"Well said Miss Weasley. Well said."

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Eleven years and nine months later...

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Hermione Malfoy tapped her foot impatiently in the kitchen, arms crossed, and a frown pulling at her lips, anxious gestures taking over seemingly on their own accord. She'd been waiting for her husband to return home from work for over two hours in order to discuss their current situation, one of the biggest problems they'd ever face. Tugging her ponytail lose and removing the stained apron, one she'd been given two Christmases prior, throwing it on the dinner table, she placed her drawn, tired face in her shaking hands.

Suddenly, after an eternity to her, the black double doors opened and she raced to meet him in the entryway. He removed his coat and hat per his usual, placing them neatly on the coatrack beside the door, smiling at his wife. His smile dwindled at the sight of his wife so distraught, glancing over her body up and down, seeing the tight, worried expression on her pretty face.

"What's wrong?" he asked without introduction.

"This."

She thrust into his hands a piece of paper that would change their lives.

A letter.

For the letter had not been addressed to Hermione nor Draco. In fact, the letter had been addressed to the other occupant of the house. An eleven-year-old occupant. An eleven-year-old occupant whose name had been written in dark green ink.

Shocked just as much as his wife, Draco gasped out, "Dear Mr. Malfoy...we are pleased to inform you that you've been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..."

Again, silence loomed.

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The End.

Thank you very much to the faithful reviewers who were very patient with the story and remained loyal throughout. Thank you to those who stumbled on it randomly and later on, taking it on as though it just began. Even thank you to those who read yet never reviewed. Just, overall, thank you to anyone who took the time out to read it. I hope you all enjoyed it :) Also, special thank you to StormMasters and Kaylerose, the ones who gave me the inspiration for the story. (According to my count - that's 6/6 requirments completed.)

There will be NO sequel.

One more thing - EVERYONE HAVE FUN WATCHING THE MOVIE!!

READ AND REVIEW!! If you can read it, then you can review it.

Evil's Mistress is the work of fanfiction. The characters belong to J.K. Rowling, but the featured story is mine.