Don't Ever Forget

XXIX.

The next day, Billingsgate eyed the new ring on my finger and kept his face unnaturally tensed. The ring seemed to have that effect on others as well. Some were obviously outraged at the fact a muggleborn was wearing the strictly pureblood Malfoy family ring while others were just confused. I ignored them all, though. To me, it felt like a new beginning. If Draco, the heir of a prominent pureblood family, could abandon the idea of maintaining a pureblood line, maybe others could too. 

In the coming days, Draco's ring would serve as a kind of protection against Billingsgate. It was sad that he would respect me belonging to someone else, rather than respecting that I would never want anything to do with him but I was grateful for him backing off anyway. He left me alone as I did my work, either answering questions or explaining the details of my idea. 

For the short weeks that the muggles have been at Hogwarts, there have been no more reported deaths or attacks on muggleborns or muggles. People began to ask when they should go back to their lives but I wasn't confident that they were out of harm's way just yet. It just didn't make sense that it would all just go away after an amount of time, someone had to be tracked down and held accountable for the deaths. 

After a week since the day at Hogwarts, the days grew long and exhausting. As time goes by I'm met with more skepticism about my idea and I'm forced to defend it. 

"This isn't over! We need to find who was behind the murders before sending the muggles and muggleborns back home, it's not safe!" I tell Billingsgate as he massages his temple, deep in thought. 

"I'm aware that it might not be safe, Y/N, but we can't keep them forever. It was hard enough excusing their absences in the muggle world for a short amount of time but it gets more difficult as time goes on!" he argues. 

"Magical Law Enforcement needs to be working harder! The Investigation Department hasn't come up with anything yet?" I ask desperately. 

"No, they haven't. And I'm doing all I can to keep your idea running, I really am, but time is running out," he replies. 

"What can I do?" 

"There's nothing you can do. We can only wait until some clue is found or if another attack happens. Unless that happens then I'm sorry but we're going to have to send the muggles back out of Hogwarts," he replies. He watches my face fall at the thought of all the wasted time and energy and he smiles, just a bit.

"It's okay, Y/N. Everyone in the Ministry has come up with failures during their early days. You'll get over it," he says, lingering on the word "failure". I look up at him with all the malice I can conjure and leave the room. Anyway, the plan wasn't about me and my personal successes and failures, it was about saving lives. Thinking about sending the people back in harm's way makes me sick. The plan was meant to be a solution, not a temporary setback for whoever was targeting muggleborns. Thoughts are flashing through my mind a mile a minute and I'm storming down the hallway, still fuming from Billingsgate's words. 

"Rough day today?" I hear a voice say and turn to see Draco catching up beside me.

"You could say that," I say, my anger already subsiding just by being near him. He chuckles a bit and takes the hand my hand in his. He twists his ring that's around my finger a few times and smiles at me.

"I like how my family's ring looks on your hand," he says and I blush, maybe reading too far into what he meant. 

"It's very pretty," is all I can manage to say and he chuckles again. 

Since our work schedules have been more stable, Draco has gone back to walking me home every night, even late nights like today. As we get closer to my home, we start to talk again.