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3 Weeks Later
A bold headline stood out the folded Daily Prophet sitting on the fine oak table. Hermione's fingers trembled slightly as her golden orbs flickered across the page. Her throat constricted as she laid it flat on her table.
'TWO MORE MUGGLES FOUND DEAD BEARING SAME MARK'
'Muggle officers called this a potential case closed, but the Ministry of Magic Auror's are concerned that a magical influence has been at play. Over the last month, dead muggle girls have been found in different places and all bear the same stab wound on their bodies. The stab wound for most victims occurred on their lower stomach and after their death, black lines expanded across their bodies to their now lifeless hearts. Is this an act of a Death Eater? Is there a new power at play? Auror Potter answers these questions on page five of the Daily Prophet.'
Swallowing heavily, she leant back into the chair, unshed tears clouded up her vision. She couldn't believe it. He had done it again. Turning her head to her cork board display, she glanced at the aging newspaper articles that contained similar headlines.
'MUGGLE FOUND DEAD WITH STRANGE MARK'
'TWO FEMALE MUGGLES LEFT IN ALLEYWAY'
'MASS MURDER AT AN UNIVERSITY PARTY IN NEWCASTLE'
'DEATH TRAIL ACROSS EUROPE. WHOSE TO BLAME?'
She closed her eyes as her stomach turned uncomfortably. Who was to blame? She was. The same question echoed in her head from the first death and the heavy guilt weighed upon her weary thoughts. Her mind flickered to the day it began.
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5 years ago
She was rushing past a thicket of trees as another bright blast came from the campsite. A scream wanted to release its itself from her throat, however she shoved that urge down. Her wandering thoughts rung with Malfoy's warning about her knickers when a sudden red light flashed past her ear. A silver masked death eater began chasing her.
Her pounding heart surged her onwards as she ran faster. She could see no signs of Harry or Ron nearby. Coils of rope wrapped around her ankles and she landed heavily on the ground. A rough hand grabbed her on the shoulder and rolled her over to her back. A heavy body straddled her hips as blind panic overtook her body. She lashed out with her nails; clawing any surface she could contact. The male figure grunted with annoyance before back-handing her across the cheek. Stars clouded her vision.
In that moment, she didn't notice the vivid spell knocking her attacker off her. She nursed her face and tried to round herself into a ball when a soft hand touched her non-injured cheek. The gentle hand turned her face towards her rescuer. Silver calm eyes looked into hers.
"No one hurts you," he simply said.
Draco Malfoy was crouched next to her, while blinding lights and echoes of explosions continued from the now distant camp. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his hawthorn wand. She swallowed nervously, unsure of his intent, she remained quiet. With one stroke, he had severed the binds coiling around her feet. The soft hand cupped her chin to hold it steady as he gently touched his forehead to hers.
"No one," he repeated; his eyes locked onto hers. She shivered against the cool grass that was seeping into her clothes. "Run east for 30 paces and you'll find your friends."
He stood tall and walked away from her. A calm eye in the middle of the disastrous storm. For a moment, she laid frozen on the ground, before her brain kicked into motion and followed his advice.
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1 and half years ago
"No! Take me instead!"
"You'll be next, Blood Traitor."
Fenir Greyback released the hold he had on her and slammed his fist into Ron's face. She heard a wet thud come into contact with Ron. But she didn't dare check if he was okay; her eyes were pleading to a grey-eyed boy to help. His face remained passive and eyes, watchful.
Heavy scuffles sounded when Greyback dragged Ron and Harry out of the room, out of earshot. Dark curls and unhinged eyes that belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange infiltrated her vision. She forced herself not to shake in fear. She was left alone in a den of wolves, with an unsure saviour.
"Where did you get the sword, mudblood?" Bellatrix snarled, whilst tapping her crooked wand against her hip, mockingly.
"We-we found it. It's a-a fake, just a copy-"
"Liar!" she hissed into Hermione's ear, baring her chipped teeth. "Telling us the truth will be so much easier, but it won't stop the torture. So let's just get started, shall we?
Hermione didn't even have time to brace for the first unforgivable curse. She fell to her knees. Her bones, blood, veins and everything felt like it was sizzling with fire. Her whole body spasmed and jolted at odd and unnatural angles. Blood filled her mouth as she clamped down on her tongue to stop any cries.
And then it stopped.
"How did you break into my vault?" shrieked Bellatrix.
"We didn't-"
"Crucio!"
The second round was much worse. It concentrated deeper and it left her writhing on the cold marble floor. Unable to control the cries, her scream ricocheted off the walls and she thought that it didn't sound like her at all.
And then it all stopped again.
Her dazed eyes gazed around the room with no thought, until she found his silver ones. She opened her mouth with a surprise of pain and mouthed the words, "No one" to him. Her eyes fluttered close from the effort and she didn't see his hand clench around his wand.
She felt herself being magically levitated into the air, before Bellatrix forced her body to hurtle back to the stone floor. To everyone's surprise, she landed on the hard floor and then bounced back into the air. She rose above the gigantic chandelier and hovered in a cocoon of blue crackling energy.
She rotated slowly in the air and fluttered her golden orbs open to peer down on the aristocratic family below. For a moment, she thought she was dead. She searched for her still body, but it remained unseen. Movements from the noble family caught her attention.
A blond figure was moving their wand swiftly against a dark shape. Yells and chaos came through her shield in distortion. Suddenly, a large beam of light hit her globe and she began to fall rapidly to the marble floor. Her hands raised up to protect her head and to brace for impact. Then, her movements slowed near the ground and she, again, was hovering, but about a foot above the ground.
"Are you really going to be worth all this trouble?" A voice grazed her ear. "Granger, we are going to have to talk about the cost of these actions you have done. My mind was not made up. You had to screw up everything up by being caught. Everything has changed now."
Warm hands turned her over in the air. Malfoy was unexpectedly carrying her in his arms. Her head throbbed with pain as he went to speak again. His face turned from hers in confusion and bolts of spells fired in the parlour. She felt herself being ripped from his arms. A magical pull started at her navel and soon, she had appeared on a quiet beach.
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6 months later (1998)
Smoke cloaked her vision and a thunder of rumble fell. Shots of spells swished out of wands. Hermione could only see the flicks of light through the smog. Another groan came from the ancient wall leaving her no choice to run into the thick of the madness. True to battle form, she dodged and rolled through the enemies until she flush against an alcove.
She was grabbed from behind and pulled flushed against a male body. The smells of cedar and apple floated around her in the battle dust as her blind panic gave her instinct to bite down on the hand against her mouth.
"Do you have a death wish?" Malfoy asked softy. His hot breath coated her ear with that distinctive drawl that crawled over her senses. Another loud boomed echoed in the Hogwarts halls when he removed his hand from her mouth and held her hip steadily. "I've waited so long to speak to you, Granger, ever since you rudely left the Manor."
"This isn't exactly the time or place," she quipped back. Her golden orbs focused on the masked Death enemies fighting nearby.
"They won't bother us until I want them too," Malfoy drawled out, placing his wand hand on the wall next to her head; obstructing her sight to the battle. "Let's talk about us."
Storm clouded eyes met her fiery golden ones. Her heart shuddered and a sluggish affect went through her mind.
"Us?" she murmured back; battle long forgotten.
"Yes… us, Granger," Tucking a strand bloodied hair behind her ear, Draco stared at her intently. "We are aligned in the stars."
She couldn't say anything. She couldn't think anything.
"I've spoken to my parents. I know just what to do to ensure our destiny together," he stated. "I've read the family book three times. I know what I need to do. I wanted you to know that will do anything to pay the cost. Our destiny will come to be and I will make sure."
At this point, he was alarmingly close to her, his body so close to hers, aligned from shoulders to toes. Her stomach flip flopped as his eyes and hair glowed in the lighting. An unexpected disturbing desire coursed within her to drag her fingers through that haloed perfect hair. Malfoy's mouth curved into a smirk when her fingers twitched as she forced them to remain at her sides.
The hand leaning on the brick wall slid to the back of her neck and cupped her throat, while caressing over her pulse. Goosebumps prickled across her skin. His hand traced a soft path up her neck towards her lips and parted them softly, causing a velvety groan to surprisingly escape. His eyes turned into molten silver and focused on her lips. Without warning, he learned forward so that his lips were ghosting hers.
It felt more than a light brush of flesh; more than a mingle of shared breath and more intense than other kisses from previous boys. "Our lives are fated to intertwined," he whispered before he touched her lips. He kissed her lips several times lightly, as if to simply awaken them before his tongue darted out to taste her fine lips.
Her whole world spun out of control, and she found herself sliding her hands around his back, pulling him closer to her own. She was inhaling his selective scent, mouth alive with his taste and nerves strung out with his touch. He pushed her more heavily against the brick wall as his hand fisted into her curls, tilting her head the way he wanted. His tongue battled with hers; his mouth fierce and hot while hers was ample and firm.
Warm hands sliding down her spine to her behind, cupping it familiarly, like he owned her, like he touched her this way every day. She knew she should've been protesting to his touch, but at the same time, she really didn't want him to stop. His lips left hers, making her almost cry out in protest, until he bent his head to her sensitive neck. An echoing explosion reverbed through Malfoy's invisible shield, making her jump away from him. The continuing battle raged on; screams and cries came from both sides. She shook her head to re-focus and made a move to return to the Order of Phoenix.
He roughly grabbed her wrist, which made her halt and whispered harshly into her ear, "Just wait. I will pay the price, in blood, for our eternity." Her breathing was still irregular, and body hummed with aftershocks, when he let her go and she watched him disappear into the frantic skirmish. Without another thought, she dashed off to find her friends.
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Trying to swallow the heavy lump in her throat, she remained in her cushioned chair. She remembered each moment so clear. It made it so much harder to comprehend.
Draco Malfoy had said some terrible, awful and confusing things to her over the years. These moments were more proof that he had indeed lost his mind in all the madness. Yet here she was, collecting newspaper articles that she was adamant that reeked of his last words to her. Paying in blood indeed.
Stirring her sugar into her tea, she folded the newspaper back up and made a mental note to contact Harry about the new death he was investigating. She didn't want to be the type of person to run from fear, so with a quick chug of her tea, she gather her things and left for work.
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