Dreams of A Dishonest Man
Prologue
"Hermione!"
Hermione's head perked up as she heard Ron's voice over the sounds of chaos surrounding her. She paused in tending to the fallen fighter's wounds to search for the redheaded boy. He was running towards her, avoiding blasts of various spells as they whizzed past. He skidded to stop beside her and pulled her to her feet.
"Hermione, you have to get out of here," he rushed on urgently.
"Why?"
"It's not safe." Ron quickly began helping Hermione gather up her supplies and kept throwing furtive glances in her patient's direction.
"But what about you and Harry?" Ron shook his head.
"We have to stay here." He looked down at the patient, who was unconscious and still bleeding in several places.
"You need to take him with you, too." Hermione looked down at the boy that she had been helping. The boy who had been the bane of her existence since she had stepped foot into Hogwarts. The boy who had been such a crucial part of the plot to kill Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of their time.
The boy who had grown into a man and made the decision to fight alongside them instead of against them. And that's how it had been for the past three years.
"Why do I need to take him with me? And where will I go?"
"Lucius is after him. And here." Ron handed her a small stone. "This will take you to where you need to go. When it's safe, we'll come get you."
"But what about you? And Harry?" She knew that she had already asked this, and she knew that she was beginning to sound panicked, but she didn't know what she would do if something happened to them while she wasn't there. Ron gave a small smile.
"We'll survive."
"But…" Ron gripped her shoulders.
"Hermione, you need to go. I know you want to stay, but we need you to keep him safe." They both looked down at the young man that had done so much for them in the past three years.
It had been two months since the fall of Voldemort at the Battle of Hogwarts. Two weeks since the Malfoy family's very public trials, where Draco and his mother were acquitted, but his father had been put on house arrest for an indefinite amount of time. Two days after Lucius had found his dead wife's body in the same drawing room where Bellatrix Lestrange had carved Mudblood into Hermione's arm. It had turned out that she had been fighting illness since the time Voldemort had taken over their home and had failed to mention it to anyone. It had been the final straw that broke Lucius' back, so to speak, and he literally went mad with grief, taking his emotions out on his son, the only family he had left. Draco had managed to escape Lucius' clutches and dragged himself back to Hogwarts in search of a safe haven. McGonagall, knowing that Dumbledore would have wanted for the boy to be accepted and being a naturally compassionate person, took him in at the sight of his beaten state. Draco immediately revealed all that had been happening at the Manor right up until his mother's death and informed McGonagall that there was a rebel movement happening amongst the Pureblood community, which included his now deranged father. Draco had then asked to be on the Order's side, "the right side," he had said.
That September, Hogwarts had re-opened and only Hermione had gone back to accept the title of Head Girl, an honor that Hermione almost felt bad taking, considering that it wasn't her true Seventh Year. But McGonagall had assured her that all the students that had been at Hogwarts for that one Dark Year, as everyone was referring to it as, would be repeating their courses. Ron and Harry had not gone back officially, only going back to meet with Hermione and McGonagall regarding Order business and then they were gone again. And seeing as how the school favorite for Head Boy had left the school, Draco had been given the position and, incidentally, spent a lot of time working with Hermione.
Although they remained civil to one another, they did not go so far as to say that they were friends. They worked well together, though, albeit bickering and engaging into verbal spars during most of their meeting. But they had gotten their work done and the entire student body had to admit that the two of them had made the best Head team since Bill Weasley had been Head Boy. There was, also, the small matter that they might have even begun to develop some feelings for each other, and not just the platonic kind. McGonagall had not let Draco into the Order until two years later and he had been working alongside "the Golden Trio" since. Of course, Harry, Ron and Draco still called each other names and still bickered about Quidditch, but for the most part, they remained fairly civil to one another.
"Hermione! Go!"
Hermione was shaken out of her thoughts by Ron's urgent cry. She finally nodded and grabbed onto Draco as the Portkey was activated and they spun off to a place unknown.
A/N: Okay! So that is the rewritten prologue for "Dreams of A Dishonest Man" (a title rewrite is also in the works :P). I am currently reformatting the plot so that it is more relevant to Deathly Hallows but, of course, it will still not be compliant with the Epilogue. Maybe someday I will write one that is, but for now, let's focus on getting my current works done. Anyway! Thanks for reading! Please review!