A/N: Thanks for all the reviews!!
And I know, it's a bit confusing at what has happened, but I will explain all in the next chapter.
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Chapter two
Thousands of pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at him. The silence was eerie, but to him, it was the best sound ever.
He smiled, his large owl-like eyes widening in excitement.
"Let's give them hell on earth, shall we?"
The silence was immediately lost as the spectators deafened him with eruptions of cheers.
"Then so be it, millions more will die tonight."
---
"Well, what do you think?" his voice, normally loud and ringing, was now reduced to a quiet, rasping noise from the stress and pressure he faced.
The room was silent. Nobody so much as moved as all of the inhabitants furrowed their eyebrows and sat in deep thought. Both of the muggle and wizarding community rested in their hands now, if they made one wrong choice...
All of them seem to shudder involuntarily at that thought.
He tapped his feet impatiently. Time was precious, and though this decision required time to think through, they were taking too long. He could already feel hear and feel another earthquake coming.
One by one, the members all raised their heads, nodding to the man who stood in the front of the room. "We are ready," they all seemed to say, though they did not speak a word.
He saw the determination and the worry on their faces; they knew that the decision they made now would affect billions of both humans and creatures alike across the globe. But was it for the better or worse?
Only time could tell.
"Green light in favour, red against." He croaked, standing taller to see the results of the vote.
He counted the wandlights quickly. Fourteen were against the proposal. Fourteen voted for it.
He nodded, indicating the decision was made. "The Minister of Magic has the last say in this, as it is a draw. As it is at his request the proposal was to be given thought, thus he agrees with the muggle Prime Minister. The conclusion is this:
We will inform the muggles of our existence in two hours time."
---
That night, it was horrible.
But it wasn't due to the reasons she had feared.
Malfoy and Hermione, after hours and hours of heated discussions, screaming, yelling, tears, and a lot of pointing, they had agreed on two things.
One: Hermione was to stay on the left side, and Malfoy would stay on the right side of the cave. Nobody was to cross that line, or Hermione would get the beating of her life, and Malfoy would have to give her his cloak and all his food.
The one exception, they said grudgingly, was if there was an emergency.
But their definition of 'emergency' was very different; they both knew that very well. However, they had been too tired and hungry to argue any further, so they had drawn the line with a branch, and settled down for the night.
Not one word was exchanged afterwards.
The other thing they had agreed on was that Hermione was to call Malfoy another name. Malfoy refused to explain to her why she had to, but seeing as only he, between the two, had food, she had no choice but to keep her promise. Malfoy told her (actually, ordered her more like), that if she needed to speak his name ("though," he said, "it's best if you keep your mudblood mouth shut at all times.") she was to call him Scorpius.
She had snorted at that name, but did not protest. After all, the berries were in his possession.
Hermione's tired eyes flickered open. She couldn't sleep.
The cold seeped in from every crack and every hole in the cave. It burned her and left her shivering madly in the moonlit damp ground. The only covering she had aside from her clothes was a small pile of leaves, and they did next to nothing to help her keep warm.
It did not help that not a single animal sound could be heard from the forest.
Hermione had expected hear at least one chirp from a bird, or a scuffling sound as a squirrel darted about, but apart from the rustling of leaves, and the wind howling furiously in the background, she couldn't hear anything that indicated a living creature was near.
The wind continued to blow, sending hair-raising chills all over her. She gritted her teeth and refused to give in, but it proved to be hard. Her clothes clung to her, caked in mud and dirt. Her robes had gaping holes in it and her cloak was nothing but a ripped rag.
But as she slowly fell into a deep slumber, it became warmer and warmer. She could still hear the wind, and feel it...but it felt nice, comfortable and warm. She murmured quietly and shifted closer towards the source of heat. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around the object radiating the warm breath.
Something finally clicked in her exhausted brain. Her eyes opened once more.
Hermione froze in horror.
"G-GET AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed, scrambling away as quickly as possible.
---
Something large blocked their way. Squinting, Harry pointed his wand at the figure.
"Move," he demanded, his tone icy. He did not have any time for this. Hermione needed help. Hermione needed them.
But the figure remained. As the three men walked closer, they saw that it was not one person who barred their way, but two.
Sudden light shone from their wands, Ron's eyes widened as he recognised the two.
"The Ministry has decided that everyone head to Hogwarts," Molly Weasley said, lowering her wand. There were dark circles around her eyes, and she was no longer the plump, cheerful Molly they knew, but a skinnier and grimmer version. She spoke with little emotion, as if she had forced all her feelings away and was left as nothing but a walking, talking machine.
Harry nodded, following her gesture and lowering his wand also. But then he stopped.
"Hermione's still out there."
Arthur, standing beside Molly gave a small choked gasp. "We looked for her in the forest, everywhere, but...w-we couldn't..."
His sentence died away, leaving nothing but hollowness as Ron and Harry digested this.
"NO!" Ron cried, flinging himself down at his father's robes.
"You guys didn't search properly! Hermione's still out there! She needs help! She's still alive!" He shouted, twisting Arthur's cloak in grief and in madness.
The older man leaned down and pulled him up, hugging him fiercely as his son sobbed on his shoulder. On normal occasions, Ron would have never dared to cry openly in front of his friends and family, but this was no normal event.
Hermione is dead, Harry thought, his own green eyes welling up as it finally sunk in. My best friend, dead.
They hadn't realised how much they needed her, but the knowledge of her never smiling and talking with them again dug deep holes in their chests. It was a wound no potion nor spell could ever heal, and Harry knew that neither time nor age would make it fade.
Unwillingly, both Ron and Harry remembered memories of Hermione with them. But strangely, none of them highlighted her good points. Ron remembered the way he felt annoyed at Hermione for being such a know-it-all and lecturing him about the way he was saying a charm. Harry remembered the betrayed feeling he had felt when he heard that Hermione had Professor McGonagall confiscate his Firebolt. Try as they both did, neither could dig up a memory where it wasn't when they were mad at her.
It scared them both.
Ron's sobs echoed around the destroyed block. Harry found himself sinking onto the ground, covering his face with his trembling hands. He had thought that Hermione, at least, wouldn't be the first to die. It was always Harry who was in that danger. Not Ron, and definitely not Hermione.
But... obviously fate had other plans.
It took them almost an hour for both of them to calm down and think straight. As Ron's parents guided them back to the Order's Headquarters, none of them spoke.
They desperately wanted the whole episode to be a lie, a nightmare, something that they could wake up from and would be able to see Hermione laughing again. They had decided that the journey to Hogwarts would be postponed until the day after next. Finding Hermione's body was their top priority no matter what.
They agreed on this all without speaking. Even Molly and Arthur understood their wishes by simply looking at their devastated faces.
Molly sank down onto an armchair watching as her husband half carried, half walked Ron and Harry to their bedrooms upstairs, with Percy trailing behind. She thought about the events that lead up to all of this.
Everything happened so suddenly. This never-ending nightmare sprang on them the least they had expected.
Aha! Yes, please wait until next chapter. Next chappie will be the events leading up to the first chapter, and also continues on from the Draco/Hermione scene. Please review!