Chapter Two: It Seems You Are Still No Better Then Them
"We have to get out of here. They have taken over the castle." Hermione directed, taking a hand of both her friends and pulling them from the cupboard.
"What do they want from us?" Ginny asked, her shoulders tight as more footsteps stormed the halls.
"Well, if you don't mind me stepping in." Draco started, walking over to the teachers front desk. He started setting multiple vials up near the small cauldron, examining the ingredients casually before tossing them in without thought.
"Word around the Dark Lords long table is that each of you hold something important to your little band of do-gooders." he explained lightly, bringing his hood back up over his head as he poured in a small vial of green liquid, a muffled pop coming from the cauldron. He smirked with a huff at the potions response, stirring it slowly.
"The blonde one here." he said, gesturing to Loony, who stared back at him with bright hopeful eyes. "Is Longbottoms little girlfriend, who has recently shown that he is a threat, surprising to everyone I'm sure." Draco continued, earning a shrug of agreement from all three girls causing him to smirk at their admittance.
"And the little red haired girl." cocking his chin towards Ginny. "Is Weasels little sister and of course Potters one true love." he said as if the words were going to make him vomit. Hermione smiled at her friends with reassurance before she stalked over to the potions table and took the spoon from Malfoys hands, stirring the potion at the same pace he had been moments ago.
He looked over at her briefly before turning to grab one last ingredient. He dropped what seemed to be a small bowl of lions hair before the potion turned a bright shade of blue, sparks igniting inside the cauldron and static clinging to the sides.
"What is this?" Hermione asked, putting down the spoon and grabbing a handful of clear vials from the cupboards above them.
"And you, Granger." he said, ignoring her question. "You are the brains of the little gang of Gryffindors and surprise surprise, the biggest threat to the Dark Lord of them all." he finished, pushing her aside carefully and taking the vials from her hands.
"I'll do this. One drop gets on you and you'll be out for days." he whispered, pouring the potion into about half a dozen vials before handing them out to the girls.
"I assume you are all without wands so you take these." he said, pressing three potions into Luna and Ginny's hands.
"What about Hermione?" Luna asked, worried for her friend.
"I'll be fine, Luna." she assured her with a small before looking at Draco with a less friendly glare. "Not that he seems to be worried.
"Oh, sod off Granger. I know you have mastered wandless magic, despite how incredibly forbidden it is for someone of your age." he shot back, taking his own wand from his pocket and cracking it in two before dropping the pieces to the floor.
"Malfoy!" Ginny exclaimed in a hushed tone. "What is wrong with you. Now you're defenseless."
"Sweet of you to be concerned but I have also mastered wandless magic far beyond my years so I will be more then able to handle myself. Also this way, they will see that my wand has been broken and think that I have been compromised. They wont look for me."
"I thought you were on their side." Hermione asked, still wary of the wizard who moments ago saved her life.
"I told you." he said, walking towards the exit. "I do what I want, no matter the team." he said, opening the door and leading the witches out of it, killing only a few death eaters then saw their escape.
"So you are what all the fuss is about?" a eerie voice called from Hermiones side as she threw her palm up in defense, her friends falling behind her, wands pointed at the man.
"Yes, quite pathetic, don't you think?" Draco chimed in, stepping casually to Hermiones side, his hands at his sides without fear.
"Mister Malfoy." The death eater greeted, dropping his wand and bowing in front of them, Hermiones eyes flashing back to the door only a few feet away that held their escape.
"Luna, Ginny, go. We will be right behind you." Hermione said firmly, gratefully at their compliance as they slowly stepped backwards until their backs hit the threshold. Ginny threw the doors wide open before grabbing Luna's hand and running to the courtyard less then half a mile away.
"You found the mudblood girl." The man said with envy in his voice. "I take it you want a go at her first?" he pushed his hood down, a stupid grin playing across his face as Hermione took a precautionary step away from him., her hand still out and ready to fight back.
"Yes, Hendrix. I found her so I am to take her for myself." Draco said with a smirk, turning the the side and running his fingers down Hermiones chest. The heat of his touch burned her through her thin tshirt as she contained the shiver that hit her spine, biting her bottom lip to keep herself steady and collected.
"Enough of this." Hermione muttered, waving her hand swiftly towards the older man, knocking him back into the staircase, his body falling lifelessly to the ground.
"Well done, Granger." Draco said with a dry laughed, pushing her shoulders roughly, urging her out the front door.
"Bloody hell, Malfoy." she yelled as they bolted across the schools front lawn and headed towards the forbidden forest. "Do you like scaring me or are you really trying to have me first, as they so eloquently put it." she asked, leaning against a large tree trunk with exhaustion as they made it to their destination. The sky was pitch black, the only light coming from the full moon overhead, illuminating only what was within a few feet of site.
"I am many things, mudblood." he snapped, his jaw tight with anger at her words as he stepped up to her, pressing her harder against the tree, his face inches from hers. "But I am not a bloody rapist."
"Why the hell did you help us back there?" her words were shaky; hands on her knees as she took a handful of deep breaths.
"Are you complaining? I can take you back to the castle if you like." he snapped, looking around the forest cautiously before sliding down the length of a large willow tree a few paces from her.
"That's not what I said." she snapped right back, a small smirk appearing across Dracos lips at her quick wit.
"I did what I felt like doing. If my interests had conflicted with your well being, I would've let those animals destroy you, as well as your innocence. Do not confuse my selfish intentions with compassion, Granger." he assured her, his voice firm as his eyes pierced her own.
"Of course not. The thought that you had compassion never crossed my mind, I can assure you of that." she said, rolling her eyes to herself as she felt her breathing return to normal, standing up right in front of him.
"And I am hardly innocent but I appreciate your help none the less." she said honestly, looking down at him as he sat on the ground against the large tree. He ran his fingers through his hair quickly before pushing up from the cold earth to stand, nearly knocking the petite witch over in the process.
"You are innocent, Granger. The pure definition if we are being honest. Your virginity may have been what they were after but far worse would've happened to you. So I suggest you run while you have a fighting chance." he said sternly, stepping up toe to toe with the confident witch. Her brown eyes narrowed with fearlessness as she stood her ground as he move closer to her, her back barely an inch from slamming into the base of a tree if she let him intimidate her.
"I'm not afraid of you, Malfoy." she said with disgust in her voice. "Or your family of Death Eaters."
"That damn Gryffindor courage is going to get you killed one of these days. It's more like pigheadedness if you ask me." he replied with a grin, reaching out his hand to hover to the side of her face.
Hermione was sure he was going to strike her, holding her body still as not to give him any satisfaction of her fear towards him.
"And you shouldn't be afraid of me. But my family that you speak of." he said, his voice turning slowly into a whisper as he moved his hand closer to her face, the back of his fingers skimming her smooth cheekbone. She closed her eyes at his touch.
"My father in particular, you should be very afraid of. He will rip you limb from limb and love every second of it." he warned, cupping her cheek completely with one hand while the other shot down to close around her wrists. He pulled her back roughly with him as he stepped deeper into the forest. Before she could protest or fight, it became clear to her why he had reacted the way he did.
No more then three sets of footsteps were heard in the distance, no doubt coming from the castle to find the Golden Trios escaped member.
"I'm not checking the forest. You'd have to be daft to go in there at this hour. It's pitch black in there." they heard a voice mutter as the footsteps stopped. Draco kept his hand around her high cheekbone, the other moving to her stomach, pushing her back further until she was slammed into a tree. She bit the inside of her mouth to keep from reacting to the shooting pain that was now radiating up her spine. She heard the footsteps grow louder as Draco's hand pressed harder against her flat stomach, her body icy under his hands from her bare clothing in the winter air.
Draco slid his hand up her stomach and laid it flat against the side of her neck as his eyes locked with hers, telling her silently not to move an inch. She had never been so close to her enemy before in the many years they studied in the same castle. And now that he was mere inches from her face, his breath hitting her lips as he breathed, she couldn't help but take in his features for the first and potentially last time.
His skin was incredible smooth and pale, making his ice blue eyes stand out that much more. His platinum hair looked softer then she remembered as a chunk fell over one of his eyes, his hood covering the rest.
"Do you think the Dark Lord may be underestimating the mudblood?" one of the voices said as the footsteps grew closer.
She watched as Draco's eyes narrowed in curiosity at their words, his eyes moving back to her, raking her up and down with his stare.
She knew they were right. People often underestimated her be it her size or her blood. And it was always her biggest advantage. She reached around Malfoys body, lifting both arms up as her palms faced the dark sky.
"What are you doing, Granger?" he hissed, moving both his hands to press against the tree at both sides of her hips, his face leaning in even closer to her as if to shield her body with his own from site.
"She's just a mudblood. From Gryffindor no less." another voice snarled as they grew closer to the younger escapees.
"Yes, but the stories. The things she's done." the other said, their figures coming into view now as she felt Draco's body stiffen defensively against her own, his breath touching her neck more intimately then she cared to admit.
"What are the talking about?" he breathed, just loud enough for her to hear.
"Things I am not proud of." she whispered, raising her palms higher as a white flash igniting a few feet from them for a split second before darkness settled back into the forest. Draco took note of three loud thuds from the space in front of them before pushing away from her and running towards the voices.
Silence covered the forbidden forest now as Hermione felt tears fill her dark brown eyes. A few fell silently down her cheeks as she slid to the ground in a crumpled heap, watching Draco rush towards the clearing ahead where three Death Eaters no doubt were bloody and lifeless in the dirt.
"Bloody hell." she heard him mutter before he ran back towards her. He stood a few feet away as he watched her cover her face with her hands, tears spilling down her face at a more rapid pace.
"How did you manage that, Granger? I've never seen anything like that and I have seen a lot of shit in my days. In my home. And I have never seen magic like that." he stepped closer to her, reaching down for her wrists and yanking her up, pushing her back against the tree again to steady her. His hands moved to her shoulders as he tried to catch her eyes to no avail.
"I'm a monster." she whispered, holding her hands in front of her face like she was afraid of her own touch. "That's the real reason He wants me. I'm a killer just like him and he wants my power." she explained, finally looking up at him with the saddest gaze Malfoy had ever seen. And as he met her dark eyes with his light ones, he felt something in him change at that moment. And time would only tell what that was.
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