a synopsis
So, it’s been a while. Over 8 years in fact since my last new chapter. I’m never going to finish this fic, but I recently read an unfinished fic where someone ended it by writing a long synopsis of how they would have finished it if they had gotten around to writing it. I’ve decided to do that as I do have the whole thing planned out, even bits and pieces of chapters written here and there that I’ll add in. Who knows, maybe one day I will go back and write more of this, but at least now anyone who had liked it will have an ending, and an idea of where I wanted to go.
Ending of year 6:
Daddy’s Little Girl (a half finished chapter)
Hermione felt at peace for the first time in months. She knew it wasn’t lasting peace, more like the calm before the storm, but she was willing to take it. Her and Draco both knew, huddled in a corner of the astronomy tower before curfew, the war was inevitably coming. They didn’t have the luxury of hoping it could take years before something happened. Draco was in the know and though he wouldn’t tell Hermione specifics, she did know it was coming soon. There was something in knowing this might be it that pushed Hermione to actions she usually would have considered rash. But her fear of never being with Draco outweighed her fears of what everyone else might think if they were caught.
That’s why Hermione spent most evenings with her back pressed against the astronomy tower window, sitting on the ledge. She wrapped her legs around Draco’s waist and tangled her fingers in his platinum hair as he kissed her lips and sucked on her neck, and let him clench her sweater in his hands.
They spoke little on these nights, Hermione not wanting to talk about her friends or her father, Draco sticking to his rules of not mentioning his mission or what was happening with the Death Eaters. Besides, they knew what each other needed, and it wasn’t to talk about impending doom, both were simply looking to lose themselves for a time in each other’s arms.
It was a night like most others, Draco was just finishing dinner in the great hall, and had promised to meet Hermione up in the astronomy tower shortly. As he left, Snape calmly called him into an empty class room, claiming he needed to talk to his student for a moment. Draco scowled and closed the door behind him.
Crossing his arms, he asked, “What do you want.”
“You haven’t come to update me on your progress for some time. I am checking on you, it’s no reason to get snippy.”
“Everything is fine.”
“Tell me you haven’t given up, just because the task given to you is hard. That’s what he expects of you.”
Draco smiled sadly and chuckled at the old man in front of him. “that’s all you have to say? Do it cause he doesn’t think I can, cause you told me to?”
Snape sighed, “Draco, this isn’t the time for you to pull another stunt like Christmas. You could have died, you’re barely healed as it is.”
Draco frowned. “I’ve told you before. I’m fine. I don’t want your help.” He turned and headed out the door even though Snape was telling him to wait. As the blonde stormed out. Severus sighed in exasperation and leaned against an empty desk. That boy was going to get himself killed and he didn’t seem to care anymore. He needed to talk some sense into that boy. He waited a long moment before following behind him.
He expected Draco to make his way to the room of requirements and moved to head him off there, but when Snape showed up, Draco wasn’t there. Snape wandered for quite a while, looking in on Draco’s usual haunts, the slytherin common room, the library. Then he made his way up to the astronomy tower where Draco sometimes sulked. He expected to find the boy whining and not wanting to work, and readied himself for his usual “it’s your responsibility” talk, when he heard another person behind the door. There weren’t voices perse, but whispers and grunts.
Snape’s face turned sour as he pushed open the door to find his daughter wrapped around the slytherin, her arms around his hips, her lips on his. Snape stood frozen, mute and furious. It took the two teenagers a moment to notice him, for Hermione to drop off the window ledge and stand in shock. For draco to turn to face him, shielding Hermione.
“How dare you!”
“Daddy, please.”
And that’s all I wrote of that chapter. It would have ended in an all out fight between them, in Draco admitting out loud in front of Hermione that he loved her. Hermione would have pleaded enough (or maybe argued) that Snape at least accepted he couldn’t do much about the two of them, though he wouldn’t be happy.
After Ron gets drugged by first Romilda, then Slughorn and ends up in the hospital, Hermione freaks and Draco tells her to go to him. He knows how much she cares about him. She goes late a night alone, not in front of Lavender in my version. Lavender doesn’t break up with him right here because of Hermione, but they break up soon, just from a normal argument. Ron and Hermione have a heart to heart and Ron apologizes for acting like an ass. I wrote a little bit from the middle of the chapter:
“Is he treating you alright, at least? Keeping you happy?”
“Yeah, he is. I mean it’s not perfect and the rest of the world is getting complicated around us but…”
“Yeah.”
“You and lavender are doing good?”
“I guess. As good as we ever were.”
“I guess all we have to do now is find someone for Harry.” Hermione chuckled.
Ron went a bit steely faced, “I don’t know.”
“What? Why not?”
“We’re back to normal then, back to keeping stuff just between us?”
“Of course. You’ve got more dirt on me now then I could ever get on you anyway.”
“I think Harry fancies Ginny.”
“That’s great!”
“No it isn’t!”
“But you’d be like brothers, legally, and they’d be good together don’t you think?”
“You don’t get it Hermione. Every time Ginny and Dean have a fight, I’m expected to tell her how much of a dick he is and how I’ve never liked him and if she wants I’ll punch him in the face for her. And if she ever tells me to go beat him up for her, I have to do it. That’s the rules of being a big brother. It’s one thing with Dean, we’ve never been that close. But how am I supposed to do that with Harry?”
“That is tricky, I’m sorry I don’t know how to help. The closest I’ve got to big brothers is you and Harry and you two only seem to run on two settings.”
“And what are those?” Ron teased.
“Blatantly unaware, and stark-raving mad.”
“Hey, I’m being pretty mellow right now!”
“Alright, you’ve been pretty good right now. But you can’t deny you flipped out. And Harry went straight from zero to two hundred on you. That’s why I don’t want him finding out about Draco.”
“You do have a strange habit of picking guys who blow up first and ask questions later.” Ron shifted a bit in his hospital bed. “Is Draco like that?”
“He used to be.” Hermione debated, “But he’s changed, lately he’s been preparing for what might happen years from now. I don’t know if I really understand it.”
“That’s good though, if he doesn’t blow up.”
“I suppose, it’s just strange. He’s acting like a cat trapped into a corner, like hes’s trying to weigh all his options and plan his best chance of escape.”
They make their peace and become friends again. When Draco ends up in the hospital from Harry’s Sectum Sempra, Ron helps her sneak into the hospital, and he yells at Harry for nearly killing the guy. Harry eventually goes to apologise. I wrote a little of this chapter too:
“Let’s be honest for once Potter.” Draco said, not quite looking at Harry from his bed. “We’re not children anymore. This wasn’t one of our school yard tussles. We were made to be soldiers on opposite sides of this battle. Call it what you like, fate, genetics, manipulative old men shaping us since we were children, we were always meant to be enemies.”
Harry stared down at the boy in front of him. He tried to hold onto his feelings of fear and regret he had had walking into the hospital room. But it was difficult looking at Draco now, bandaged and pale, yes, but with the steely grey gaze of a man who had already weighed and accepted the pain in his life. He was right, somewhere in the last year as Harry had been sneaking around and following Draco with his usual childish curiosity and determination, Harry had missed Draco becoming a man with a mission, a weapon. The fight all seemed stupid now. What had Harry thought, he would catch Draco red-handed, Draco would tell him everything and then they’d call Dumbledore to the rescue. Harry began to see how it was for Draco. He was a man trapped, hunted by Harry. Harry was another tool on Dumbledore’s side, on the ministries side, working against Draco. But something told Harry what he had done wouldn’t stop anything. It wouldn’t change Draco’s mission or even slow it down. Nothing would change that until Voldemort won or he died. That’s what it meant to be a soldier at war.
Harry looked down at his clasped hands for a long time, his mouth a thin line of pink on his flushed face. He tried to hold onto some scrap of his childhood but slowly it started to drain away. Maybe Draco was right and it was time to start acting like a man. To put away childish things and pick up the mission Dumbledore had been trying to thrust at him all year.
“You could change sides, come and help us.”
Draco frowned and shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that and you know it. I’m doing everything I can, but I can’t just back out of the mess I’ve made.”
“Dumbledore might be able to protect you, if you went to him.”
“You should know better than anyone that he doesn’t have that power.”
Harry looked up to Draco’s face, but his usual scowl was gone. This wasn’t Malfoy making a cheap joke about his dead parents. He looked reserved, just stating the facts.
“This is it for us, isn’t it?” Harry whispered.
“I won’t try to retaliate, not unless that’s what they want from me. Not if I can find any other way.” Draco sighed and extended his less bandaged hand out to Harry. Harry took it and they shook. “I’ll see you again in war.”
Harry nodded, letting go of Draco’s hand. “Until then.”
Before they let the death eaters into the castle, Snape goes to see Hermione and he drugs her with a sleeping potion and tucks her into bed where she’ll be safe. The rest happens as it did. Draco can’t bring himself to kill Dumbledore, Snape does it for him, all hell breaks loose and they escape. Ron and Harry then have to go wake up Hermione. Ron believes Draco drugged her and has to tell her he’s abandoned her. Harry knows it was Snape and has to tell her her dad is a murderer. Both of them try to keep the secret from the other for Hermione’s sake. Once again, I wrote some of this. I don’t know why I wrote so many out of place chapters.
The Flight
Harry had been dreading this moment since the second he saw Snape pull his wand out. Ron and Harry collected a simple waking potion from madame pomfrey and made their way up to Gryffindor tower. They didn’t talk to each other as they climbed the steps. Harry was concentrating on what he would say to Hermione. He could feel nothing but hatred for Snape, had no urge to be respectful or polite about him, he wanted to shout across the grounds that he had always known it, tell Hermione that he had told her so months ago. But this was her father, her own flesh and blood, and he had abandoned his only daughter. He wondered if Snape had told Hermione anything, had the backbone to even face her, or if he had just slipped the sleeping potion into her drink at dinner and that was that.
Much the same issue was running through Ron’s mind as he silently followed Harry. He had assumed Draco had drugged Hermione, and thank god Draco had had the heart to at least do that, keep her safe from his death eater friends. Ron was swimming with so many emotions, sorrow for everything that had happened, confusion about the boy that had been feeding him death eater info for the last few months, and good info at that, his dad had told him. He feared Hermione wouldn’t be able to handle Draco’s flight, worried that it was him who had to tell her, that she might take it the wrong way. Somewhere, deep below all of that, there was a murky, selfish happiness that at least out of all of this, Malfoy would no longer be in her life, and it would just be him and her again.
They reached the Gryffindor common room and stopped. Harry held the bottle in his hand and faced Ron. Both wondered if they should tell each other what they knew, but it wasn’t either of their places to do so.
“Maybe.” Harry said, “Maybe I should talk to her alone. We don’t want to overwhelm her.”
Ron was hurt, but he did want to talk to Hermione alone too. “Alright, then I’ll talk to her alone after you. So we don’t overwhelm her.” Ron nodded. “But be sensitive, she’ll be really distraught.”
“Yeah.”
They both walked up to the girl’s dormitory and Ron waited at the opened door, watching as Harry gave Hermione the potion. She woke up immediately and Ron closed the door to give them a bit of privacy.
Harry sat on the edge of Hermione’s bed as she sat up, looking woozy and stunned.
“What happened to me?” Hermione asked.
“Snape gave you a sleeping potion. It’s early in the morning now, just after sunrise. You’ve been asleep since just after dinner.” Harry took a deep intake of air. “A lot has happened, Hermione. I think it would be best if you just let me talk and get everything out.”
Hermione nodded. She took Harry’s hand in hers as he began to cry again. “What’s wrong? Is everyone alright?”
“Death Eaters came to the school last night. Malfoy let them into Hogwarts while Dumbledore and I were still out looking for the Horcrux. They waited for Dumbledore to return because Malfoy had been ordered to kill Dumbledore. Only, Malfoy couldn’t do it. Then the other Death Eaters joined them in the astronomy tower, and Snape was with them.” Harry took a tentative look at Hermione, who had already begun to cry, but had stayed silent like Harry had asked. “Snape was helping Malfoy and the Death Eaters get into the school. He-Hermione, Snape killed Dumbledore. Dumbledore is dead. Snape and the rest of the Death Eaters have fled.”
“Is-is anyone else...”
“Everyone else is fine.” Harry said. “The Order came. Bill was attacked, but he’ll be fine. Everyone is safe now.” Harry sat staring at Hermione, who sat frozen, not moving except for the tears streaming down her face. Every few seconds, she’d let out a small sob. Harry didn’t know what to do, eventually he stood.
“Ron wants to talk to you. I’ll get him.” He went to the door and switched places with Ron who was still waiting in the hallway. Ron walked to Hermione’s bed as Harry closed the door. Ron took a tentative seat on the bed next to Hermione’s, unsure how close to get. Her face was sopping wet now.
“Harry told you everything?”
Hermione nodded her head.
Ron looked down at his hands. “You were right about Draco Malfoy, though. Harry said he couldn’t do it, he’d let his wand down. Harry figures if the other Death Eaters hadn’t come in, Mal-Draco might have even let Dumbledore escape. And Snape.” Ron said. “He must have known Draco wouldn’t be able to do it, that he was being forced into it. That must have been what the unbreakable vow he made was about.”
Hermione thought of her own promise she had made her father make in the Summer. He would protect Draco, keep Draco safe no matter what. Was that what had pushed Severus into taking an unbreakable vow? Would he have done it without the vow? Had Severus always been a killer? When he had waited under her window as a child, watching over the house? Tucking her into bed at the cottage, even though she was well past the age for it? Every kiss goodnight, every secret hug after potions? Last night, when he had held her for so long, when Hermione had been sure she had heard a sob, when he had forced the sleeping draught tea on her, tucked her in like she was five, kissed her forehead, as she had watched her father hesitate to leave the room? Had he been a murderer then?
“You loved him, didn’t you?”
Hermione let out a loud sob, nodding her head slowly. Ron’s shoulder’s fell, having meant Draco. Hermione wasn’t sure who she meant. Hermione couldn’t stop the tears anymore. She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to get out of bed, or move on with her day, or go down to meet all the other students in mourning. She never wanted to see the sun again.
“Hold me.” She whispered through her shaking sobs.
Ron rushed to her, climbed onto her bed and threw his arms around her, Hermione laid in Ron’s lap, her smudgy wet face pressed firmly against his chest as she sobbed. Ron held her shoulders, rubbed her back, stroked her hair. He had begun crying now too, silently and slowly. He had never seen Hermione in such a state. Her entire body convulsed with sobs, her cries rang out so loudly, he was sure the whole castle could hear. He pulled her closer and tried to hold as much of her crumpled body in his arms as he could.
Seventh year synopsis:
Seventh year starts much the same for the trio as in the book. They go on the run to hunt horcruxes. Hermione and Ron grow closer and closer.
Meanwhile, at Hogwarts, Draco has demanded to know how Snape made the blood-gem that keeps Hermione safe. He finds a round-about way to make them for students by just believing hard enough that they are all a family at Hogwarts. Neville. who is also trying to mount a resistance, walks in on him making a small first year prick his finger one day, and jumps to all sorts of conclusions. But Draco explains and they end up working together, trying to keep everyone in the school, Slytherins and Griffindors and everyone safe and get as many kids as they can a gem so they cant be tortured. When Neville ends up going into hiding with everyone in the room of requirements, Draco helps to get them food or anything else they need, along with Aberforth.
There would probably be a chapter about Snape and Draco disagreeing about how he’s helping out versus Snape making things worse to not blow his cover. Snape tells Draco he’s proud of him, he’s so much braver than Snape was ever able to be.
When Snape brings the trio the sword of Griffindor, he also stops by to check on Hermione in secret, but Ron sees him before he disappears. Hermione, Ron, and Harry fight, Hermione comes clean about who her dad is, and that’s why Ron leaves the trio.
He eventually joins back up. Him and hermione keep getting closer. She tells him everything with Malfoy is over and she cares about Ron. They get captured and brought to Malfoy manor and Draco nearly loses it watching Hermione writhe with pain, then he notices she’s wearing her necklace, and shes definitely in pain, but shes also looking at him, with clear eyes. She doesn’t look as bad as he knows the crudiatus curse makes you. He creates a distraction and gets the trio out of the manor, which is when Harry finds out everything about Hermione dating Draco, and this time Ron has to talk him down from being pissed.
When they finally get to Hogwarts, when they’re discussing what to do with all the slytherins just after they get there, Neville and Draco brake out into their plan. Mcgonagall tries to stop Draco when she finds out hes doing illegal blood magic, but Neville stands up for him, as well as Hermione and Ron tells everyone Draco had been giving him info in year six. That’s when Neville explains what the resistance has been up to and all the kids who don’t have a gem yet are to line up youngest to oldest. Neville and Draco are arguing over who’s blood to use, who did it last, who needs to rest. Ron and Hermione volunteer, but Hermione tells Ron he lost too much and harry ends up stepping up to help Draco while Ron’s holding the bowl. Its very heart warming and team building.
Snape dies and Hermione doesn’t react well. They bring his body back to the great hall. Ron is grieving over Fred, so it’s just Hermione and Draco holding each other and crying together for a while. The letter Snape put into Hermione’s necklace comes out and it’s his will. There’s a lot of sappy stuff about how proud he is of them and how much he’ll miss them and wish he could be a better father and god father. He leaves them both Loch Cottage and all his posessions to split between the two of them, and hopes they can find a way to be together there whatever their future brings. Eventually Hermione and Ron are hugging and kissing and comforting each other, and Draco tries to slink away, but Ron drags him into a short hug too.
During the final battle, Harry still goes alone, and still mostly dies. Instead of their “For Harry” shout, Hermione, straight up hits Voldemort with a sectum sempra spell. Voldemort blocks it and laughs, applauds Hermione for being original but explains that the students might have had years with Snape, but he was always on Voldemort’s side, he was voldemort’s to control and eventually throw aside. Hermione has a super badass monologue about how she’s Snape’s daughter, and he was never really on Voldemort’s side. And if his most trusted right hand can hide something as big as that, who else is lying to you? Voldemort is pissed then several things happen at once. Voldemort tries to throw the killing curse at Hermione, Ron grabs Hermione out of the way, Draco shoves Voldemort to the ground and goes back to Hermione’s side, Neville uses the argument to sneak up on Nagini and stabs the snake, and Harry jumps up in his big wow I’m alive move.
End of year 7
year 8 synopsis:
everyone goes back to finish their 8th year because the wizarding world has to have some kind of rules, including not letting 17 year olds with no finished education suddenly become some mix between law inforcement and MI6. Also, because all of them could stand to have an easy year before they suddenly have to deal with adult problems like rent.
Hermione is trying to deal with the death of her father, as well as finally being openly Snape’s daughter and a half-blood. Draco is dealing with Snape’s death, and his parents being sent to Askaban, and he himself having to go on trial, only getting acquitted because Hermione showed the letter he had signed all those years ago, and both Ron and Mr. Weasley saying he was passing them info. Neville wanted to, but seeing as everything they were doing was technically illegal, the lawyers decided he shouldn’t.
Ron is dealing with the death of Fred, and so many other people they knew, as well as trying so hard to be a rock for Hermione who’s been struggling worse than him.
Harry is dealing with finally having no destiny, no questionable mission to fulfill, and finally having the space to breathe and figure out who he wants to be, and isn’t that terrifying.
Draco tries to avoid Hermione out of respect for Ron and her’s relationship, and it’s making Hermione sad, and eventually Ron puts his foot down. It takes a few very awkward very confused conversations between Ron and Hermione, then Ron and Draco, but basically Ron says his jealousy was always stemming from his fear of losing her, but he wants her to be happy and he knows they still love each other and there are some things he just can’t understand like Draco can. So, as long as Hermione isn’t going to dump him for Draco, Ron’s suggesting she should be with him too. There is a funny conversation I thought up where Hermione asks Ron if that’s what his anger about Victor Krum was about, and Ron points out that at least half of that was about Hermione dating the boy he had a crush on first, and not even apologizing. “You had a crush on Victor.” “Uh, yeah.” “I never knew that, Ron how was I supposed to know that?” “What are you talking about? Fred and George made a whole song about it, they were insufferable.”
Draco thinks he’s trying to trick him at first when Ron tells him to be with Hermione, then later thinks he’s lost his mind, but fuck it, he’s not going to say no to this if Hermione will have him. They end up having a polyamorous relationship together where Ron and Draco are friends and Hermione loves them both. Hermione keeps making the two of them hang out more, if they’re all going to be together.
After school:
Ron decides to become an Auror, Hermione works in the ministry, but Draco decides he’s had enough of the wizarding world for the most part, and works at various muggle restaurants. They’ve moved into Loch Cottage together, complete with a portrait of Snape who is equal parts happy for them and weirded out by them being all together.
Ron and Draco slowly end up falling in love, probably coming out in a round about way about their quidditch crushes or something. Both are worried about telling Hermione who is thrilled.
When they decide to have kids, there are so many people from both sets of grandparents (Draco’s aren’t in the picture) to all Ron’s siblings, and Harry and Ginny that they decide to name the kids by everyone putting their choices into a hat and then picking them out of it. Rose was Harry’s pick, Hugo was Hermione’s, and Scorpius was Draco’s. Ron is a little furious none of his got picked, but it was his idea to do it all by chance, and his mom threw “Ronald” into the hat every single time, so Scorpius’ middle name is Ronald. Draco decides to stay home with the kids while the other two are off at work. Ron eventually decides the stress of being an auror isnt for him and he goes to work with George in his shop. When the kids are all off to Hogwarts, Draco decides to open his own restaurant. It’s in muggle London, but despite Draco trying to hide away for years, you can’t be in a thrupple with 2/3 of the golden trio without the daily prophet knowing what you get up to. Half the people seem to come in to see what’s really going on with those three, but stay cause Draco really is a good cook. And yes, sometimes Ron rushes in last minute to pick up lunch for him and George and then kisses Draco goodbye. That may be part of it too.
My head canon for Hermione for the last few years is that she is a person of colour, and I would have gone back and changed the story to reflect that, but I like the idea of the kids all looking different. Hugo takes after Hermione the most, having dark curly hair and the darkest skin, Rose looks like Ron and has his red hair, and Scorpius looks like Draco with his blonde hair. Rose is in Gryffindor and will fight anyone who teases her little brothers, especially Scoripus who’s the most sensitive. Hugo is in ravenclaw and is a little gremlin, and scorpius is in slytherin and is a little bundle of nerves.
Thanks to anyone who’s managed to keep up with this story, or if you’ve just found it and read all the way to the end. I started writing this in 2014, and it’s now 9 years later. I know this last chapter was super long, I just had so many ideas of what I was going to write that I just never got around to. I hope you all enjoyed it, and sorry I didn’t get to writing it all out proper, but hopefully the synopsis will answer any of your burning questions about how it was going to end.