Together, Keeping Us Apart (2,937 words)
Nagini hisses and snaps at Hermione and Harry, inching closer and closer with his fangs dripping venom. Hermione and Harry are backing with frightened expressions on their face and scream when their backs hit the wall. Harry grabs Hermione and is poised to apparate them out of Godric's Hollow when all of a sudden, someone else grabs Hermione and apparates with her, leaving Harry to apparate alone.
Hermione opens her eyes to a new destination, the Chamber of Secrets. It is still dark, damp, and creepy as it had been five years ago; only there was a skeleton of a Basalisk in front of the large face statue of Salazar Slytherin. She scrambles to make it to her feet and run out, but is soon stopped by Draco Malfoy.
"Glad to see you awake, Granger. I thought you died when you wouldn't wake up for three days." He ends with a sneer.
Hermione struggled to say something along the lines of "Why did you take me here?" , but instead, lets out an ear piercing scream that echoes throughout the chamber.
Draco covers her mouth and hisses in her ear, "If you don't want Death Eaters to come down here and kill you, I suggest you stop screaming like a banshee."
Hermione, breathing hard, nods her head. Draco hesitates uncovering her mouth, but does so anyways to Hermione's confusion. She expected him to smirk and say "That's a good mudblood," but he didn't. He looked relieved and almost worried.
"Why am I here?" She finally lets out in a shaky voice and scratchy voice. Draco instead walks her over to a table and chairs and helps her sit down. He manifested two water glasses and gives one to Hermione who insatiably drinks it up.
"I was assigned to capture and torture you for information about Harry Potter." He said when she was finished drinking.
Hermione panicked and stood up in a hurry, patting her pockets for her wand.
"Don't even bother." Draco told her while twirling her wand in the air. "I took it from you the moment I realized you passed out."
Hermione's face of panic turned into one of pure hatred. She slammed the table as she got up and walked away to the doors of the chamber.
"The door has a password to come in and go out. You're trapped here Granger, with nowhere to go." Draco called out to her. Hermione stopped walking and sank to her knees. Draco didn't know what possessed him to walk over to her and comfort her. This wasn't what he was raised to do; comfort muggle-born wizards. He was supposed to smirk and enjoy her wallowing in her own misery, but instead he felt guilty and sorry. Draco looks at his dark mark and scowls at it, disgusted.
Hermione sniffles and looks up to see Draco scowling at her. She pushes him away, reminding herself that he has been nothing but cruel to her ever since they met. She gets up and wipes away her tears and walks to an isolated space in the chamber, leaving Draco confused and disappointed.
Hermione didn't talk to him, again after that. She only ate when hungry and slept when tired. Draco didn't mind her silence that much, but for an odd reason, he felt as if he would do anything to make her utter a sound; anything except torture her, that is.
In order to make her do something other than eat, sleep, and read books he stole from the Hogwarts library, Draco would have one ended conversations with her during meal times.
"Bellatrix is hunting down Weasley." He shared one morning. Hermione hadn't acknowledged his words; she only ate her cereal.
"She would have caught him already if it hadn't been for his faulty wand covering her in black sludge." Draco continued. From under his eyelashes he could see Hermione smiling. He liked seeing her smile; it gave him hope. Hope that there was still time, or good, or a choice. With Hermione, the limits might as well seem endless for him, but with the dark mark branding his skin, the limits are around every corner.
"Draco!" Crabbe yelled from the entrance. Hermione then threw herself to the ground and looked defeated. Draco had told her Death Eaters would come down to the chamber from time to time, and if she didn't look tortured, both his ad her lives would be on the line; only, Draco thought she would sell them both out. He silently thanked her and went to Crabbe.
"Crabbe," Draco greeted him with his signature scowl on his face. "Is there news?"
"The weasel boy got captured!" Crabbe cheered and raised his fist in victory. Draco put on an evilly-happy face and celebrated with him. Draco and Crabbe manifested butterbeers and firewhiskies, sat at the table and drank in black delight.
An hour later, Crabbe was drunk, but Draco had managed to hold his liquor and remain tipsy. Hermione, who had been sitting in a dark spot of the chamber, had cried for forty-five minutes then glared at Crabbe and Draco. Hermione knew they were terrible but not evil. Unfortunately, Crabbe noticed her daggers.
"Oi! Mudblood," Crabbe slurred while picking up his wand. "You don't like the news? Well, let me take your mind off of it, crucio!"
A burst of red light shot out of Crabbe's wand and sprang for Hermione. Her eyes widened in fear and closed tight in pain. She screamed like a banshee, but for only a few seconds, because Draco shoved Crabbe to the ground with a wild anger on his face. Draco took out his wand and shouted a string of curses at him and teleported Crabbe out of the chamber.
Hermione watched all of it in wonder. Draco saved her from excruciating pain; she thought he would want this, him being a Death Eater and all.
Draco ran his hand through his sweaty, platinum blonde hair and slowly turned around. He saw Hermione sitting in shock and frankly, he was too. This was not a part of the plan; he is Draco Malfoy, he is a Slytherin, he is a Death Eater. He is falling in love with her.
Two days after the incident with Crabbe, Draco and Hermione still hadn't spoken to each other since that evening. Draco believed that things had gotten too weird for them to speak to each other on account of how she wouldn't look at him, even when he gave her a book. The silence was like a never ending scream.
While they ate lunch, Hermione broke the silence with a question that was on the evil side of Draco's mind.
"Draco, why haven't you tortured or killed me yet?" Hermione asked. Draco, stunned by her honey-like voice, cocked his head and mulled over whether he should tell her he loves her or not.'
"Well-," Draco started talking, but didn't get to finish because Hermione pulled his wand from behind her back and pointed it at him.
"Stupefy!" She screeched and a jet of scarlet light shot out of the wand and connected itself to Draco's chest. Draco's eyes widened as he flew in the air, completely off guard, and hit his head on one of the snake statues lining the runway of the chamber. He closed his eyes with blood running from his cheek to the gaping hole in his shirt, eyes closed in unconsciousness.
The next day, Draco woke up with a killer headache, a ruined shirt, and a depressed Hermione lying on his chest, looking up at him.
"I'm sorry." She croaked much to his surprise. "I don't want to be here and I don't have the strength to take myself away from here, but you could.
Draco sat up, trying to comprehend her words.
"Do it Draco. Kill me." Hermione gave him his wand and helped him to his feet. "Do what you were born to do."
Draco saw red. The most beautiful woman in the world wanted to die. By his hand no less. Despite all that she said, he was offended by her assumption that he would just do it. She mistook his kindness for pity and his anger towards his dark mark to her.
"No. No!" Draco started, but Hermione cut him off.
"Draco, I don't want to fight anymore." She sobbed and fell to the ground, going into hysterics.
The Death Eater in Draco said to kill her and make it painful, but his love for Hermione overpowered that and he held Hermione during her breakdown while thinking with a serious look on his face. His dark mark burned on his skin. It was like he had sold his soul to the devil, but would give his life for the angel in his arms to be happy. Draco's eyes gravitated towards the dark mark then to the head of Hermione. He thought about the first time they met and her hair. It was how he knew it from memory and could spot it from across the room. How come he could remember that quicker than why he shouldn't like muggle-borns?
"Hermione, I'm not going to kill you." Draco finalized. Hermione looked at him, flummoxed.
"I want to die Draco, I want to. Please finish me off-" she begged, but was cut off by Draco.
"No. I can't live without you." He let out, in return, feeling a thousand pounds lighter. "I love you Hermione Granger." He said.
Hermione's eyes widened and closed as he gently kissed her. Draco freaked out, thinking that she wasn't going to return his kiss or his feelings, but he calmed down once she touched his cheek with her hand. The newly made couple sat on the floor and for once enjoyed each other's embrace.
With everything copasetic, the silence in the chamber was broken and the newfound couple was much happier. They read books together, Hermione showed Draco that his dark mark didn't define him, and Draco told Hermione how hard he crushed on her in school.
"I was jealous of Viktor Krum when he took you to the Yule Ball." Draco blushed in embarrassment. Hermione was intrigued.
"Really?" She questioned with her eyes wide like saucers, "I thought you would end up with Pansy Parkinson or Millicent Bulstrode."
Draco shuddered at the thought. Pansy was high pitched and clingy; she only wanted the Malfoy name. Millicent was a bit man-ish.
"They aren't you." Draco cooed. Hermione's heart melted at his words and gave him a kiss that he gladly returned. Draco felt so peaceful now, except for the nagging voice in the back of his head screaming "What about You-Know-Who?", but he didn't care. Hermione was his angel guiding him out of hell; as long as she was there, there was no burn, until Goyle came to the chamber with very bad news.
"Draco!" Goyle bellowed. Hermione jumped away from Draco and got into her miserable position, even though she was faking it. It just made it painfully obvious that they were forced apart.
"The Dark Lord is going to start the war soon." Goyle informed Draco. Hermione instantly tensed up.
"But Potte's not here." Draco told Goyle. He dreaded the day Voldermort started this whole pure-bloods mess.
"I think he wants Harry to come to him if we can't get him here ourselves." Goyle said as he walked out of the chamber.
Draco turned to see Hermione standing with fear in her eyes. Draco strode over to her, kissing her forehead, and holding her in his arms, since it would probably be the last time anyways.
It wasn't fair. His life wasn't fair. As soon as something good came along, somebody had to take it from him. Draco wished that it was just him and Hermione with no one else interrupting their happiness.
All of a sudden, Draco thought of a plan. It was crazy and it might fall through, but it couldn't hurt to try.
"Hermione, what if we ran away together? Right now." He asked with hope in his voice. They could live in peace and away from prejudice, ignorance, and people that would kill them for feeling this way.
"Draco…" Hermione was at a loss for words. Draco was willing to take her away from all of this, but she couldn't do it. Hermione didn't want to live in fear all her life. She was in too deep.
"I can't. I love you and I want to be with you, but I need for Voldemort to end. We can't live in hiding forever." Hermione told him.
Draco was heartbroken. He knows that she is right, as she always is, but his greedy side doesn't want her to go. They just started being together. With a heavy heart, he knew what he had to do.
"Bookworm." Draco muttered, much to Hermione's confusion. "The password to the entrance is bookworm." He explained. He walked to Hermione and gave her the wand he took from her.
Hermione, with tears in her eyes, took the wand from Draco and gave him a long lasting kiss, since it would probably be the last one they shared. She walked to the entrance and looked back at Draco one more time before turning around and saying the password. She walked out of the chamber free, determined, and heartbroken.
On the day of the war, Draco went through with his plan to leave London and go off grid if Voldermort won. His parents joined him on his destination, making him feel less lonely, but he still felt distant.
"Darling," his mother broke him away from his thoughts. "You seem quite out of it. Is there anything wrong?"
How could he put this? 'Mom, I fell in love with a muggle and I let her fight in the war where she might die, and I don't think I can live on without her.' Draco took a deep breath and told his mother everything that happened in the chamber.
"Oh my." The matriarch of the Malfoy family put a hand over her heart. "You really love this girl." She said.
"Yes." Draco sighed happily. He frowned and ran his hand through his hair. "I want to go and protect her." He whined.
"Then do it." Mrs. Malfoy said proudly. "Draco, this is the girl that you love. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks. I want you to be happy."
Draco smiled and kissed his mother's cheek. He was going to fight with Hermione, but he needed to make a pit stop first.
On the Hogwarts battlefield, spells were flying through the air hitting anyone willy-nilly. Many had died but more were coming to fight.
Hermione was busy fighting the Carrow twins. It was hard work for Hermione because the twins were ruthless and more experienced. Even though she was doing pretty good holding her own, she was being pushed back. They were almost finished with her until a flash appeared and Draco was there along with Ron. Hermione would have looked relieved and squealed, but there was a curse flying at her.
Draco saw it and yanked her out of the way. He came up fast and yelled a spell that made both of the Carrows drop to the ground. He helped her up and looked in her eyes, a smile gracing both of their faces, but everything halted when Voldemort came with a dead Harry.
Hermione wanted to cry when Voldemort killed Harry and Draco was her shoulder to cry on. All hope seemed lost, until Harry came back to life. The war was on again and this time, they were pushing back the Death Eaters. Draco and Hermione flung spells at the enemy and made them drop like flies. Harry killed Voldemort and everything was peaceful again.
"You came." Hermione said elated.
"Of course. I couldn't lose you, and I don't want to ever again." Draco claimed. They kissed and relished in their new found freedom to be together.
Epilogue
"Momma! Where is daddy." Eudora Jane Malfoy asked her mother. Draco had been away all day and it was keeping his children up past their bed time
Hermione looked at her sweet daughter. Five years old and the smartest girl in her class just like her mother; had her mother's hair too. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy was the spitting image of his father, platinum hair and all.
"Well, if you and your brother check your rooms you might find a surprise." Hermione informed her children, spiking their interest.
The children ran upstairs much to their mothers chagrin and search their rooms only to find nothing. They walk out sad until they see their father in front of them. The twins chorus "Daddy!" and hug him which Draco gladly returns. After talking about their day, Hermione and Draco finally put the kids to bed. On their way down stairs Hermione sees Draco smiling at his forearm.
"What are you smiling at?" Hermione asked. Draco showed her his dark mark-free arm. Hermione was speechless, but she didn't need any words to tell Draco how much she loved him.
It was done. Draco always felt that even after the war, something was weighing him down. He had scowled at the dark mark, he had hidden it from his kids, and covered it up at his wedding; thank God that someone had made a potion that took it away.
Hermione kissed her husband, not really caring that he got rid of the tattoo. She would have loved him either way, but it made her happy to see him fulfilled.
The End