When Lucius drew his last breath, it felt as though Draco was breathing his first.

Okay, he knew that was perhaps a tad dramatic, but all the same, he'd been waiting for this moment for what seemed like an eternity.

He could have, of course, killed his father. Everyday Lucius was alive was another day he was robbed of being with Alia and their daughter. But the truth was, Draco was not a killer. And he knew he would not have it in him, knew he would never be able to be any kind of father if he was.

So, everyday he kept on silently praying that the tumour would take care of it.

And then finally, when it was clear only the machines were keeping him alive, Snape offered to get the legal documentation to turn off his life support.

Draco was not only finally getting his wish, but he could go on in life with his soul intact. Just like his mother would have wanted for him.

He had been terrified that Alia wasn't going to show, that in the eighteen months gone by, believing he was dead, she would have moved on.

But there she was, looking more beautiful and radiant than he had ever remembered. And her hair. So red and on fire. Despite everything, it had made him smile: subtly on the outside, but on the inside, he had beamed a smile so bright, it had warmed him right down to his soul.

Because it had told him that she had not completely given up, that there was still that fight in her which he had admired so much before the games destroyed her and everyone else in that fucking nightmare which his father had created.

Draco hadn't found out about the baby until the day she was born, when Snape had taken him aside to quietly inform him he was a father ("During the final game, the scanners detected that Alia Patil was in the very early stages of pregnancy. Thanks to your father's many, many monitors, and the fact that our scanners detected no pregnancy upon her entry, it didn't take an episode of Jerry Springer to work out who the father was.").

The news at first wrenched his heart out, and he experienced an immense feeling of guilt at the thought of Alia having to go through all of that without him. But then the more he thought about it, the more he decided it was a good thing, because it meant that Alia hadn't been left entirely alone.

And it gave him even more of a reason to free himself from his father's dangerous clutches.

So, from the day his daughter was born, Draco vowed to himself that he would do everything in his power to protect them. And that meant not giving Lucius any reason to sink his vicious claws into them.

It intrigued Draco that his father never spoke of his granddaughter. Yet he had made sure Alia had walked away with plenty of riches. That would suggest that maybe he had a tiny amount of warmth somewhere in his cold heart.

Although Draco knew it was more to do with blood. Lucius had often gone on and on about the importance of Malfoy blood, and how it was deeply embedded in those who had it flowing through their veins to protect it.

Maybe that was different to love? Because Lucius certainly did not love him.

Malfoy blood or not, his father was nothing but a monster, and Draco would do anything in his power to ensure that his daughter and brother would never be touched by his evil heart. He would protect them with his every last breath.

And now here he was, at the very top of the highest tower in London, reunited with the woman he loved, and, at last, his father dead and gone.

Draco could have wept with relief. His patience had well and truly paid off.

"I'll deal with the removal," Snape said, snapping on a pair of latex gloves as he beckoned down to the lifeless body of Lucius Malfoy. "Would you like to say a final goodbye?"

Draco shook his head, squeezing Alia's hand that little bit tighter. "I'm done with him. He is my past. And, right now, I want to concentrate on my future."

As he said this, he glanced up at the portrait of his mother, his heart aching as her smile shone through at him, the subtle nod of her head telling him all that he needed to know.

He'd finally made her proud.

*****

Luna Parvati Malfoy was born in March of two thousand and three. Nine months after Hallows Game.

It should not have been a total surprise: Draco and I had been fucking without protection, after all. Not to say that it had been planned exactly - we were just both convinced we were going to die, so I guess at the time it had seemed pointless to whack on a condom.

So there I was: depressed, grief stricken, lonely and on the verge of suicide, when I suddenly found this tiny person needing me.

The rush of love I felt for her was instant. She quickly became my reason for living, and suddenly there was a little speck of light in my darkness, a speck which grew larger and brighter every day, eventually becoming the very sunshine of my heart.

So I got my shit together: rented a modest sized two bedroom apartment, hired a nanny - Magda, and decided to put my winnings to good use, hoping to create a better world for my daughter.

Our daughter.

In most ways she looked liked me. She had my tanned skin and a head of thick black hair which she'd been born with (explained the heartburn in the final trimester, apparently).

But her eyes... well, they were most definitely Malfoy eyes: piercing grey with an intensity to them which never failed to take my breath away.

It made me both happy and sad at the same time. Happy that she had a piece of him, sad that it all got stolen away.

So seeing Draco alive and well on Christmas Eve was a shock I did not know how to cope with. So much information was thrust upon me in such a short space of time, that I ended up falling into some sort of catatonic stupor.

When he tentatively suggested he could escort me home as though we had simply been on a date instead of just having witnessed his father die, I merely nodded.

It wasn't until we were outside, did it finally hit me.

"Alia?" Draco asked, frowning in concern as he noticed me gasping and gulping for air, grappling at my throat. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright! I thought you were dead! I've been grieving you for so long that none of this actually feels real!"

"It is real, it's all real. And I'm sorry I haven't come forward until now, but I was doing it for your protection, believing very much that whilst he was alive, you were safer not being with me. But now he's gone, we can finally be together-"

"Together?!" I said with exasperation, pulling my hands through my hair. "Draco, at this point, I feel like I've known you longer dead than alive. Fuck - we weren't even in that place for a full week. You have been dead to me for eighteen months!"

I could see panic begin to flash in his eyes. This was clearly not how he intended our reunion to go.

"I'd walk through fire for you then," he said vehemently, hastily closing the space between us to clasp my upper arms, "and I'd walk through it again for you today. I would deny my own happiness just to keep you safe from harm."

"You don't even know me!"

"Yes I do! In those few days during the games, I learned more about you than I ever did about anyone else I'd ever met. And do you know why that is? Because I listened to you, Alia. And the more I listened, the more I wanted to know you."

I was speechless. Passion seeped from his every word as his eyes sparked with life, swirling with such intensity and fierceness.

"And now," he continued, looking at me imploringly as he pulled me up against him, our lips so close we were practically kissing, "you being the mother of my child... Alia, it's all I could ever wish for. And I will do anything it takes to prove to you that you and our daughter are my world."

"You haven't even met her yet." I quietly pointed out.

"I don't need to. She's my daughter... our daughter. How could she not be my world?"

A large, noisy crowd stumbled drunkenly down the street towards us, tunelessly singing Christmas carols as they swigged from bottles of champagne, falling all over the place.

Draco protectively pulled me aside, and we stood in the doorway of the building we'd just left, waiting for them to pass by.

"We could Apparate." Draco murmured, lifting a hand to touch his fingers delicately against my face. "I can take us there right now."

I looked at him, swallowing down a huge lump in my throat. It had been a long while since I'd done magic. Aside from my bewitched basket I used to take with me down to the sewers, I'd almost forgotten it even existed.

"I'd like to walk, if you don't mind," I whispered. "It's not too far from here."

The truth was, I needed more time to prepare myself. I hadn't been expecting to be bringing my daughter's father back home.

Slowly, Draco nodded, offering out a hand. And, despite the drama of the night, a small smile tugged at my lips, one which he returned as soon as our fingers entwined, filling me with joy and contentment.

And so together we walked, and anyone who saw us could be forgiven for thinking that we were simply young lovers taking a midnight stroll: lifting our faces as the first flurries of snow began to fall, the flakes tickling our skin and making us smile.

"Tell me about her, Alia," Draco murmured as his eyes twinkled down at me, filled with such love. "Tell me about our little girl."

*****