BBPC's Note :D After hearing Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift, an idea struck me. This is for all my mates here, but still, I hope you all like it!
PS: The timeline would shift from POV to POV, or something akin to that; but mostly, it's Draco's POV. Just saying. Anyway, read on!
Disclaimer: Miss Jo Rowling owns Harry Potter. Taylor Swift owns Safe and Sound
He heard sniffles muffled by their pillow. He turned to his side to see her back facing her.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" He whispered on her hair as he hugged her from behind, closing the gap between them. Sheets lay tangled on their limbs as he hummed a tune that had always helped in keeping her calm.
I'm sorry, Draco. Hermione sighed and held on to his hands. They were warm.
He smiled at her curls. "It's all right, love. Everything would be okay." She let go of him, which left him wondering for a moment; only to find her hugging his torso, her face hidden from his view. Warm tears stained his shirt; he only tightened his hold on her.
No it's not, and you know it.
"We just have to trust Potter and the Order." He murmured as he combed her hair with his fingers.
But what if—
"They'll be fine. We will win."
Promise me.
"I promise." He kissed the crown of her head.
They could only wait.
Dementors roamed the castle grounds as the Dark lord's army made it to Hogwarts. Spells, hexes, and curses of different colors flew around, red and green mostly; the light and dark battling for victory. Students, teachers, elves, giants, Death Eaters, Aurors and other participants littered the courtyard in aggressive combat.
"Granger!" A boy with flaxen locks shouted. He had been looking for her since he had lost sight of her. They just got out of the Room of Requirement when she took off, most probably to aid the Order who were battling Death Eaters on the grand staircase.
No.
He ran.
Getting to the staircase was difficult. Rogue Death Eaters and members of the Order that he vaguely knows fought behind the ancient columns and walls of the castle. Dead bodies lay scattered along the corridor. The moonlight bathing the still, lifeless people made the scene more eerie. As much as the sight of it frightened him, Draco willed his legs to go faster. He must be with Hermione no matter what. He had to save her. He promised Potter.
"Malfoy," the emerald-eyed boy said as Draco began to walk away, his back facing Harry. "I entrust Hermione to you."
The Slytherin stopped on his tracks. "Just do your best."
"Take care of her. I know you love her, and just so you know…she loves you too."
Draco turned just in time to see a ghost of a smile on his face before Harry Potter walked out the door.
It struck him as odd as to how the Boy Who Lived knew of his secret love for the Gryffindor Princess. He made it a point not to look at her during the meetings at 12 Grimmauld Place.
Yes, Draco Malfoy joined the light.
He made kept their conversations short, sometimes even going as far as avoiding her whenever they're in the same room. He was afraid that he'll get addicted to their verbal battles; her witty remarks often spurred him to retort with the same intensity. He was afraid that he might get used to it and would always seek her company. But despite all this, he did.
There are times where she catches him staring at her, but he'd brush her off with a snide comment he never means. More often than not, he'd peek over his shoulder when he knows he's at a safe distance to look at her and see her frown. He doesn't like it when she loses that lovely smile, but he knows that it'd be better that way.
Christmas in the year 1997 was the first time she had confronted him after all the times he had attempted on evading her. The memory burned itself into his mind.
Hermione Granger slammed the door open to his room. "Malfoy!"
He had been expecting her. Her footfalls did nothing to conceal her unceremonious arrival. "What can I do for you, Granger?" he said in a monotone, his mask of indifference present in his pale face.
Her calculating chocolate brown eyes pierced through him. "I know you've been avoiding me."
"I see no reason to associate with people with the likes of you." He said nonchalantly, standing up to return his book to the shelf.
"Why don't you just say it?" She said with annoyance, making her voice pitch an octave higher.
"Say what?" He turned around and glared at her.
"Mudblood." She spat.
"Why should I?" He nearly shouted at her.
Her cheeks were tinted with anger. Her chest was rising and falling with every stress she put on her words. "Why won't you? I know you've been itching to spit it out!" Some of her curls fell down from the ponytail that was hardly keeping her wild hair in control. They framed her pretty face quite nicely.
He pretended not to notice, instead he retorted. "Because I choose not to! Shit, Granger. Why don't you just—"
"This is all an act, right? Eventually, you'd betray us and go back to your daddy!"
"I won't! You think I'm fucking stupid?" He scoffed, his silver-white hair falling over his eyes. "For someone as bright as you, you sure have dimmed."
"It's blindingly obvious!" Hermione said, casting a silencing spell in the room as she stepped up to him. He didn't back down.
"What's so obvious?" He shouted at her. His attention went to her face, which had a lovely blush on her cheeks.
"That you just want to save yourself! You joined us because you thought that you will be having some kind of salvation here. Well, you're not, you bloody coward!"
That did it. Draco grabbed her elbow and brought her closer to him. If she wasn't going to believe him, he will just have to say it to her face. The truth unbarred. "Has it ever occurred to you that I did all this," he said, spreading his arms, making an imaginary sphere around them. He laughed humorlessly. "To save myself? Well, fuck you, Granger. I did this to save my friends; to save them from the path we were all supposed to take. You think we all want to be little Death Eaters? You think we wanted to do the Dark Lord's bidding? No! Think again! Your sodding presumptions made you fail to see what's really happening."
A pregnant pause hovered over them. Hermione was speechless. Draco sighed and started to move away from her when she suddenly held his hand.
He tried to pull his hand from her grip but she won't let him. "Go away."
"I'm sorry." Hermione let him go. She was astonished that in that one simple phrase, all those years of animosity between her and the young Malfoy was seemingly negligible. She suddenly felt ashamed of herself; for judging him so quickly. How could she not? All their lives at Hogwarts, he did nothing but to make them miserable. He made their lives a living hell. But now…after hearing him say his real intentions, and letting her see where his loyalties really lie, it occurred to her that she wanted to just forgive and forget.
"I'm sorry, Draco."
The pale boy was surprised. Albeit feeling a bit angry still, a light feeling fluttered in him and settled in his gut. It felt unnerving but somehow it made him feel warm. "You just called me by my first name."
She smiled. He felt a tad warmer. "Yes, I did. Happy Christmas."
And then she left.
He finally reached the grand staircase. It was deserted save it for a mass of dementors hovering over the lone person who just crumpled down the floor. Perhaps they've moved outside. It didn't matter where the others were, really. He just had to find her.
The temperature dropped abruptly, he knew then that the cloaked figures were about to suck the soul of that person. He squinted to get a better view of the person who now lay on the floor, breathing with difficulty. The figure seemed to have a small frame, so Draco deduced that it might be a she. His stomach dropped to the ground when he saw the all-too-familiar bushy hair. He couldn't be mistaken.
Hermione.
He knew he can't just storm in there and collect her. Spells, hexes, jinxes, and chants ran through his mind. Which one must he use? Ah, the Patronus Charm, but he doesn't know how to use it. He doesn't know the incantation. But it's the only way to keep some of the dementors at bay, giving him enough time to swipe away the girl…he loved.
What did Potter say again? A happy memory? He doesn't have any…or maybe he does. That particular Christmas at Grimmauld Place.
Will that suffice?
And so, he tried. He closed his eyes and let the memory play in his head, remembering that warm feeling he felt when he saw her smile; recounting the way his skin tingled when she held his hand. Strong silver wisps of light in the image of a dragon emerged from his wand. It was so strong that the dementors instantly fled the area as the first sign of light graced them. Draco finally opened his eyes and smiled.
He did it.
The pale boy immediately rushed to the fallen girl's side. Marks from various hexes and jinxes scarred her porcelain skin. Tiny wounds were all over her. He held on to her hand, assessing her if she had any broken bones or if she had any poison injected to her. There were none, except for a light gash on her right leg.
"Granger! Don't lose it. Wake up!"
Her eyes opened ever so slowly, the effort that took her to do so seem to affect Draco greatly. She must've dueled intensely to be this exhausted. Her eyes, that were once alive with curiosity and bright with wit and amusement, were now seemingly far and barren. Dead; albeit it twinkled for a moment when she met his gaze.
Draco. Hermione said, but no sound came out. This startled Draco.
"Are you all right?" He asked as fear crept up on to him. He didn't like this.
Don't leave me here alone. She mouthed again as tears started to trail down her grime-dusted cheeks. She tried to hold on to him but she was too weak and tired to do so.
"I won't. I'm here." He hugged her tenderly, burying his face on the nook of her neck. "Why can't I hear you?" He whispered. "Please tell me something."
Denial.
Silence answered him. There, he knew that she was hit by that curse. It was made by his Aunt Bellatrix. The curse was designed to make the victim lose his or her voice, thus, effectively making the person unable to use magic which needed verbal incantations. He won't be able to hear her anymore; not until he found the counter curse.
"I'm so sorry, Hermione. If I got here on time then maybe I c—" He was cut off when she guided him to face her.
It's okay, Draco. We're together now. She tried to smile at him, as if it would reassure him. Let's fight with them. They need us.
He shook his head. "No. I won't risk you getting hurt again."
When she glared at him, he explained what Harry Potter instructed him to do. "This is his battle, Hermione. He must do this alone. He wants you to be safe so let's get out of here."
An unmistakable sound of an Apparition crack resonated through the air.
After that Christmas, they talked more often. They spent more time together, like most of the pairs in the Order. Everyone was desperate to do everything that time allowed them to do while the war hasn't come to the full scale battle. They had talked endlessly for hours. Each minute was cherished and filled with new memories and discoveries about the other.
Both knew each other's taste in books. They had more similarities than differences. However, Hermione was both astonished and thrilled to know that Draco could play the piano as well. They played with the only piano in the huge house. They brightened the lonely atmosphere with their music. But as the tension caused by the war became more stressed, they had stopped playing all together.
No one could bear the toll of it on them. Everyone was busy practicing on dueling, and gathering more reinforcements far and wide, since there's still a bit of time left. Everybody could feel the end coming. Anyone who would be passing the last room on the left wing of the second floor would know who's crying behind the door: Pansy Parkinson.
They've found her during the last week of February, alone in an abandoned alley with nothing but a cloak. Actually, it was Ron Weasley's team who found her there. She was barely breathing when they've made it back to Grimmauld Place. The poor girl suffered a pitiful fate. Not only were her jewelries and precious belongings taken away from her by some Snatchers, but they've also taken away her dignity. She had been raped by them and left her out in the cold.
Everyone sympathized with her, especially Draco Malfoy, her best mate, and Ron Weasley, her savior. Since that confession, she often locked herself in her assigned room. Despite shutting herself out literally and figuratively, Ron had given a lot of effort to talk to her and comfort her. He would always wait for her to come out to every meal time. If she wouldn't, he would take a plate of food to her and leave it by her door. Ron talked to her often, even if the door stands in between them. He knew he could hear her; sometimes she would answer. In the end, they became friends…and maybe something more than that. No one knows for sure. Yet.
Some of the Order's trips were spent on securing safe locations for evacuations in case there will be early casualties before the war begins, otherwise, they would be used for hideouts. Draco and Harry found one abandoned cottage during one of their trips together.
It was a light shade of blue with lilac shells for the roofing. There were tiny square windows that seemed to have a plaited piping. The cottage was standing near a beach overlooking the ocean. A gentle sea breeze caressed the area, leaving a feeling of serenity. The sight was lovely.
"You should keep this one." Harry said to Draco as they cleared the cottage. There only a few damages on the furniture, the cottage obviously need dusting, but overall, the place was still sturdy.
"Why?" Draco asked as he siphoned the dust from the walls and the corners of the little house.
"Because Hermione loves the ocean. I know she'll love it here."
The pale boy snorted. "Potter, I think the dust is getting to you. You talk as if Granger and I would live here. You're not talking me out of going to battle are you?"
The raven-haired boy shook his head. "No. I know you're unstoppable, Malfoy."
Draco chuckled, rolling his eyes.
"But seriously speaking. If you and Hermione make it alive, promise me you'll take care of her here. Promise me you won't abandon her."
The young Malfoy sighed and looked at the Boy Who Lived in the eye, "I will. But promise me one thing too."
"What is it?"
"Defeat him and make us win."
"I will."
Draco knew that Hermione was very frustrated with herself. She often berated herself after they reached their cottage. How does he hear her? Well, Draco used the charm that he has developed that enabled the other to hear the thoughts of the person that they cast the charm on. That way, it would be as if Hermione didn't lose her voice that all. She blamed herself, saying had she taken care of herself during the intense duel at the grand staircase; it wouldn't have come to this. She felt broken, incomplete. She couldn't execute proper spells anymore. Even though she could do a couple of non-verbal spells, its power has a great difference with that of when the incantations are said.
It has been three days since they arrived here, yet, there's still no word from any of their friends or the Order. They had been waiting for a sign, perhaps a letter if they're lucky, to tell them what's happened back at Hogwarts. No one has contacted them. It was very unnerving.
They were sitting next to each other on the couch, looking at the sea through the window, when a patronus appeared in front of them. It was a stag.
Harry's patronus! Hermione exclaimed, alerting a sleepy Draco. The pair came down from the couch and moved closer to the silvery-white creature. In Harry's voice, it began to talk.
"We won! The Dark Lord is defeated!"
A collective gasp came from them. Hermione hugged Draco as tears fell from her eyes.
It was over. Finally. It was as if the tension and stress they had been all enduring ever since the war began evaporated. A sense of relief washed through them, leaving them dazed for a moment. They couldn't believe it still, but there. They've heard Harry say it. The war is over. The Dark Lord was defeated. Everyone could be at ease now. They were saved.
It's over. We won. She was so relieved, and then suddenly, she started laughing. Her laugh, albeit a bit watery, still sounded beautiful in his ears. It rang out in their tiny abode, soothing Draco even more. It's over, Draco! Everything's going to be all right.
"I told you so." Draco said as he patted her back lightly. He smiled at her hair as he silently thanked Potter for keeping his promise. He kissed the crown of her head like he always does.
They were safe and sound.
I hope you liked it! Let me know your thoughts.