Title: Soundtracks to a Broken Heart
Author: nmpsr14
Pairing(s): Draco/Hermione, Ron/Hermione, Draco/OC
Rating: PG +15, light R
Warning! This story contains spoilers from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If you have not read the book I suggest you not continue with this story since it contains many important facts and revelations from the plotline.
1. Scars (This Year's Girl)
(I'm pissed cause you came around, why don't you just go home
Because you channel all your pain,
And I can't help you fix yourself, you're making me insane)
They stood in the Great Hall, and together, Hermione, Harry and Ron had left the hollowed room to look at the destruction the war had bestowed on them. The staircases had large pieces of marble ripped out of it and the walls dripped of unseen bloodshed. The roof was in rumbles on the floor and debris laid everywhere. Somewhere nearby was the voice of Peeves floating through the corridors singing in triumph.
We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter's the One,
And Voldy's gone mouldy, so now let's have fun!
"Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn't it?" Ron said, opening the door for Hermione and Harry.
They arrived at the gargoyle statue in front of the Headmaster's office. It was knocked over in the battle and laid on the floor, the creases in the stone moving as if it was in pain.
"Can we go up?" Harry asked the statue to have it return a groan of acceptance.
They stepped over him onto the spiral staircase.
They walked in to hear a piercing cry fill the room. The trio looked around at the portraits to see the benevolent faces of the previous headmasters and headmistresses applauding them. One portrait, the biggest of them all, stood behind the Headmaster's chair. He had tears running down his face as he pushed up his half-moon spectacles. Harry raised his hand in silence and gratitude.
"The thing that was hidden in the Snitch, I dropped it in the Forest. I don't know exactly where, but I'm not going to go looking for it again. Do you agree?" he asked, seeking advice from his old Headmaster.
Dumbledore looked at Harry, a hint of laughter in his voice. "My dear boy, I do."
"I'm going to keep Ignotus' present, though," Harry said, hinting at the Invisibility Cloak. Then he held up the last thing in his possession. The Elder Wand. "And then there's this." Hermione looked at it in awe but turned away at Harry's expression.
"I don't want it." Harry said.
"What?" Ron blurted out loud. "Are you mental?"
"I know it's powerful," Harry started, looking at the wand fondly. "But I was happier with mine. So…"
Hermione saw him looking through his bag until he pulled out what appeared to be his snapped wand. She shook her head in disbelief and watched as Harry laid it on the desk and placed the Elder Wand over it, lightly casting 'Reparo'.
Red sparks flew from the wand in amazement, as it sealed itself. Harry picked it up and grinned happily.
"I'm putting the Elder Wand back where it came from," Harry said, Dumbledore's eyes glistening. "It can stay there. If I die a natural death like Ignotus, its powers will be broken, won't it? The previous master will never have been defeated. That'll be the end of it."
Hermione, Ron and Harry all smiled at each other.
"Are you sure?" Ron asked him again, his voice going against him at his longing for the power of the Wand.
"I think Harry's right," Hermione said quietly, wishing she had the self-control Harry was exhibiting towards the Elder Wand.
'That Wand's more trouble than it's worth. And quite honestly, I've had enough trouble for a lifetime." Hermione smiled in agreement and Ron nodded. They all had enough trouble to last a lifetime and now that the war was over with, they had the chance to live a normal life.
The sparkling of the cleaned windows shone upon the stone streets of Diagon Alley. The stores passed along the way covered in new merchandise with advertisements lining up on the walls. Books leaning on their stands and owls perched in their cages. People rushing along the streets, their children in tow as they stare amazingly at the new Firefly 1000 in its display case. It signified the end of summer and the return of the school year.
A young woman walked through the lane observing the joyous atmosphere that seemed to be imparted on the magical town once again. It had been three years since the battle at Hogwarts, and the war of the Magical World. Everything had been restored back to its peaceful serene and Order member Kingsley Shacklebolt had been elected Minister of Magic. It was certainly an occasion to celebrate.
But with the celebration came the mourning. She remembered every day those people who sacrificed they're own lives for their world. People like Remus and Tonks who would never have the pleasure to raise their own son because they fought. Little Teddy was now a toddler, strolling around with blue wavy hair and golden brown eyes, a great resemblance to his metamorphous mother. But his spirit was like his father, a quiet and serious baby. Andromeda, Tonks' mother, had taken the little infant and had taken care of him ever since.
"Ms. Granger!"
All these deaths impacted her on different levels. Some people she knew quite well while others she only knew them by their face. When she had returned to Hogwarts to complete her 7th year everyone had proposed for a memorial to be made in remembrance to those who died in the war. So a year later a statue was made in the middle of the Great Hall with the name of all the people who were lost in the battle.
People were quick to commemorate the victory over evil. There was an explosion of marriages in the past few years. Last summer, Harry and Ginny had celebrated their nuptials in a small ceremony consisting of family and their closest friends. After them, it was George and his girlfriend, Alicia who got married.
And with marriage came babies. There was a large boom in births after the war. Women were getting pregnant left and right. Bill and Fleur had welcomed to the world their first child, Victoire. She was born with a nape of platinum blonde hair on her head and a pair of silvery blue eyes that was a mirror image of her mother. Whenever Teddy was around Victoire, his hair would change colours which obviously amused the little girl. Andromeda pondered on the two kids and continuously mentioned to Fleur and Bill how they would look so cute together.
"Congratulations!"
And with her own life, she had obviously gone back to finish her education. Her parents, with their memories back, had gone to Hogwarts for their first time to watch her graduate. Even though it was with the year before her, she had been happy and Harry was able to be with Ginny.
She had entered into the newly refined Ministry and gotten a good job with a reasonable pay. Harry had entered the Auror Department as an assistant, waiting when he'd be able to become an Auror himself, his life's ambition. Ron had helped George out with the WWW shops and they had eventually branched out to a new location in Hogsmeade.
"Ms. Granger!"
Hermione looked to her left and saw a middle-aged woman smiling brightly at her. She faintly returned it. "Congratulations Ms. Granger on your engagement!" The lady she had never met before gave her a tight hug and all she could do was nod at her, the word engagement stuck in her mind.
It was true. Last night, Ron had taken her to the lake near the Burrow and proposed marriage to her. In the moment, she had said yes in a heartbeat. Now, she wasn't so sure. And everyone congratulating her every second of the day wasn't helping.
It wasn't like she regretted it. She loved Ron with all her heart, she was sure of that. It was just they were twenty one. Ron was still living at home and Hermione was barely making her month's rent for her flat. True, they had been together for almost three years and all, but was it wrong to say she wanted to wait longer?
She shook her head. All these people were jumbling her thoughts. It was bad enough that she would see her name in the Daily Prophet every other day. But now people were going mad with her upcoming nuptials with Ron Weasley, fellow hero in the war.
Hermione walked along and Tom, the bartender of the Leaky Cauldron, had rushed out of the door to wave at her. She smiled. Then arriving at Flourish and Blotts, she entered and the lady behind the counter had given her a warm welcome.
"Hello, Ms. Granger! Is there anything I can help you with?"
"No thank you," she replied. "I'm just going to look around." Hermione walked around the bookcases, the aura of untouched pages surrounding her. She had been flipping through a new edition of Advanced Spells & Incantations when a sound interrupted her.
"So, Hermione Weasley," a voice drawled behind her. She turned around to see a flash of white blond. The man stood a head above her, looking down at her with a sneer that looked to be permanently smacked into his features. Talking to her was Draco Malfoy, the silky voice ex-Death Eater. A man who had disappeared soon after the war had ended. According to the Prophet, he and his parents had gone to Bulgaria.
Now he was before her, like a ghost she had forgotten about up until this moment. Hermione's hatred and bitterness toward him during her years at Hogwarts seemed to enter back into her system like the plague. She finally acknowledged his words.
"Never thought you'd show you're face back in Britain again," she bit back, ignoring his remark about her engagement.
"Wait, maybe it's Ron Granger," he said, paying no attention to her words. "I can imagine the poor bloke being whipped."
"Excuse me, what right do you have barging back into my life and insulting my fiancé?" she whispered menacingly, making sure no wondering ears could hear. "Sorry, I left my childish bickering behind when I turned of age. Sadly, I can't say the same about you." She quickly turned on her heel and left the store in a flash.
In her momentary anger, she had not noticed his following footsteps and as he pulled her into a dark alley, she yelped in shock.
"What in the world are you doing?!?" she screeched, punching him in the gut as a pure impulse. He placed his hand on her mouth fiercely and held back a groan as his other hand wrapped around his stomach.
"Can you stop screaming like a banshee?" he threateningly whispered. "You're voice is deafening." She stood stone still and bite into his pointer finger roughly. His hand fled away from her and he look like he was about to explode when he calmed and let his injured hand fall by his side.
"I'll give you five seconds to explain what in the bloody name you think you're doing before I castrate you."
She separated herself from him as best as she could considering the small space they were confined to. Instead of talking, he looked down at her left hand and grabbed it. In her shock, she froze, unable to jerk her hand away from his calloused one.
"So it's true?" he said in an undertone. He fingered her diamond ring. "You're getting married to Weasley?"
Crashing back to reality, she snatched her hand back harshly and let her steel toed shoe connect to his shin. He kneeled down in pain and looked at her. He let a laugh out. "Glad to know you're still as feisty as you were in school. That's the one, and only, thing I liked about you."
"Oh, stop it before you get a nosebleed. Complimenting a mudblood?" she laughed bitterly. "Still, never knew it was your life's ambition to get murdered by a Muggle born," she said. "If you keep this charade up, maybe I'll be the one to fulfill that dream of yours."
"Oh," Malfoy started. "Is it the one where you're dressed in that French maid's unif-"
"You're just asking for it, you pervert."
He scoffed. "Please don't flatter yourself on my behalf." He regained himself and towered over her. "I wouldn't touch you if you were the last person on this planet. Especially after tainting yourself with that red-head oaf..."
"Ron's more the man you'll ever be," she stated proudly, her head held high. "I've seen scum on the bottom of my shoe more appealing than you."
Hermione pushed him away and walked out of the alley. She looked over her shoulder.
"I'd rather face a troll than willingly touch an ex-Death Eater." And she left, not noticing him flinch in anger.
She shivered at the harsh wind that suddenly passed by. She crossed her arms and walked away from the dark alley that held her childhood enemy. It seemed he never grew up from his prejudiced ways. She was stupid enough to think he'd change, especially after the war. It seemed her bad mood worsened in a matter of minutes and it was all because of that blond git.
But curiosity stung her and she was wondering why he was back in Britain. She had the pre-conceived knowledge that he was happy in Bulgaria. Maybe she was wrong, or maybe he was just tired of hiding. She laughed at the thought of Malfoy being honourable. The man was a follower to the darkest wizard ever known. But she ignored the notion egging her in the back of her mind that maybe, just maybe he never wanted to be a Death Eater.
Hermione forced all thoughts out and continued to walk down the path, ignoring the climatic premonition of unfortunate events to come.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with it. Some parts of the above
chapter are based on dialogue from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I acknowledge J.K. Rowling as the rightful owner.
Title Credits: Scars by Papa Roach