Chapter 2: I'm no Superman
As unfortunate an event as the death of his mother maybe, Draco was not recovering well at all. It had been weeks since the funeral now and if anything, his shell had become even harder.
As the day of return to Hogwarts drew nearer, Draco witnessed a loss of enthusiasm of the likes he had never felt in his life. He had grown a very unlikely fixation to the manor and spent most his evenings in the study reading and planning; as he somehow believed it upon himself to free his father and to complete the task awarded to him this summer by the Dark Lord.
Draco knew very well that once he reached Hogwarts, it would be fool hardy to plan there and thus on his last night at the manor he re-visited his mother's grave, packed his own trunk for the first time (to avoid suspicion even from the house elves), and sat down to plan and finally went to sleep after hours of unfruitful attempts.
Draco's POV:
Why is that damned house elf trying to wake me? ...I'll just go back to sleep, it must be six in the morning…
And after a brief debate in his head he decided to confirm that it was not yet time to leave…
Where is my watch? ...why is that friggin' portrait screaming? ...
Then realization hit him and his eyes flew wide open
...oh no no no no no no no NO... I over-slept, I, Draco Malfoy, overslept …shit where is my uniform?...
Draco yelled at the elf in panic "get me my uniform",
On second thought I'll change on the train…
"No wait, get me my trunk instead, where is my wand?"
He shouted loud and clear "accio wand"
And the wand flew into his hand out of the sheets, all of the last night's books and plans lay spread on the bed; he scooped up all the papers and the books and threw them into a trunk.
Then another thought occurred,
I need to get to the station…he took one last look at the watch, five minutes for the train to leave...
I won't make it... I don't have time for these thoughts...the car; the car must be waiting outside…
Draco then looked outside his window as a last hope
There's no car...what is this, hell? ...the floo network to the station, that's it...
Hermione's POV:
I can't believe that I'm late, I'm never late. I honestly can't believe that I let my parents choose the transportation and then to top it all off, I got stuck in a traffic jam...I'm a witch for God's sake, I'm not supposed to have such problems…Ron and Harry must be so worried… I guess I'll just have to take the bus then…
The bus compromised of all sorts of creatures and had an overall gloomy look to it. In her opinion it rather looked like a long corridor with double seats on both sides, and what surprised her was the large amount of people traveling causing almost every seat to be taken. As she struggled her way down the hall, on the verge of tripping every now and then she at last found an empty seat on which Crookshanks already lay curled into a ball.
Apparently the person sitting next to her was asleep; out of curiosity she gave a glance sideways towards the person to make out a face perhaps but no luck as the face was shadowed by a hood. After what seemed like hours, the bus skidded to a halt for a ten-minute-break, and Crookshanks lept out from her lap and ran out the open door of the bus; probably frightened by the sound of the whistle. Hermione quickly followed the cat out the door but due to the dark, she could not properly make out where the cat had gone.
After a momentary silence, she started looking around and finally decided to follow the cat's purring and entered a deserted alley where the cat lay rolled up in a corner. As she drew closer to the cat and opened her arms wide for her to leap into, a feeling of emptiness washed over her head to toe as tall hooded figures approached..dementors..
-dementors were here, heading her way and fast; Hermione tried to move but it seemed that the panic had glued her feet to the ground, it was too large, she could not escape this sensation..
I left my wand in the bus ...I'm doomed…
Was the last thought that came to her mind as her life flashed in front of her eyes..
Her parents beaming at her, Harry protecting her, the Weasley's, Ron, Ginny, Malfoy calling her a mud-blood and Ron getting protective,...wait...Malfoy! Why is he here, in my memory-?!..Books, Hogwarts, the Yule Ball...
And it was only a second later that the dementor was floating right in front of her closing in; she hit the wall of the alley behind, her heart racing but before anything could happen, someone had flung in between herself and the dementor with his wand pointed ...it was the person sitting next to her in the bus…
"EXPECTO PATRONUM"
She recognized that voice…it was Malfoy trying to save her… somehow her brain refused to comprehend this…
"EXPECT-"
Draco's voice was growing fainter and he was losing grip on his wand… his patronas wasn't strong enough… they were both going to die…
"Mother..." his voice was soft and thick with emotion,
Then a lot many things happened chronically…
Mundugus Flecher appeared at the end of the alleyway and conjured a successful patronas which drove the dementor away, Draco fainted and Hermione dropped Crookshanks to kneel down and break Draco's fall. It was only a split second before the realization dawned on her, Draco-what's-his-name-Malfoy lay in her arms at his weakest in an attempt to save her life.
"Get yer selves outta 'ere, this is no place fer students, quick get on the bus" said Mundugus with a slight frown adding "Go, I'll let Dumbledore know."
The rest of the way was comparatively calm and when they reached Hogwarts, Draco was still faint. Snape had come to collect them and McGonagall escorted her to the headmaster's office as Snape half-carried Draco back to his dorm.
"Apple Tarts" said McGonagall as the stairs animated to the headmaster's office.
"Ah Miss Granger, so nice of you to join us, I have reason to believe that you and Mr. Malfoy were detained" said Dumbledore in his usual calm voice.
"Well I-"
"Its quite aright Miss Granger" he said with a wave of his hand and gestured her to sit which she happily obliged.
"Mundugus did me the courtesy of informing me about your little encounter and what I could make out was that you went looking for your cat and a dementor cornered you at which instant Mr. Malfoy who happened to be strolling nearby fainted in an attempt to save you…" said Dumbledore more to himself than to her, "then of course Mundugus conjured a patronas, yes, yes.."
At this instant Snape arrived into the office and addressing the professor spoke, "The boy is still unconscious professor; I have taken him to his dorm while the other students are still having dinner in the great hall, so as of right now only we know about this incident".
"Very well Professor Snape, I will no longer detain you from resuming your dinner" said Dumbledore and with a courteous nod, Snape left.
As soon as they were left alone, Dumbledore spoke again "First of all I would like to say how happy I am that both of you are still alive given the circumstances and second, I would like to talk to you about your punishment, both of yours-..."
"But sir-"
"I understand Miss Granger that it was not your fault, but nevertheless you, both of you, could have avoided it somehow I am sure"
Hermione opened her moth for a reply, but when no words came out, Dumbledore resumed "Now I think that a fortnight's worth of detention would be quite satisfactory" with a pause he added "now you may go and enjoy the feast with your fellow house members, I am sure you have some explaining to do" he said with a wink and turned back to some papers on the table.
Hermione was about to leave when she thought out loud "I don't understand…" and she spun around now facing Dumbledore again.
Dumbledore asked in a polite tone "Yes Miss Granger?"
"I- I don't understand sir that when Draco, I mean Malfoy, was fainting, the strangest thing happened…" she said shuffling her feet, "I thought I heard him mention his mother…"
"hmmm…well you see Miss Granger, the Dementor feeds on your worst memories, and in his case I presume, was the death of his mother which, if I remember correctly took place only a few weeks ago" he said with a sigh" I take it that he is not coping very well", "Although I hardly doubt his ability as a wizard…" he added with a smile.
"oh…" was all she could manage and a rush of pity ran through her and she started to leave but Dumbledore spoke, one final time, "I trust that you will carry on this information regarding both of your punishments to Mr. Malfoy tomorrow. Goodnight Miss Granger".
It was only after she had left the office that she fully realized how hungry she was feeling…