Apocalypse
XxX
Questions
He shrugged silently for himself, and took a second to adjust the black tie that hung loosely down his white shirt. He blinked once before he laid his hand against the cold, metallic, golden door handle of his bosses office, and pushed it downwards towards the ground. The door made a click sort of sound and went up in an instant.
He stepped inn with a refined step and spun around on his heel to close the door behind him. Cuffee had stopped drinking the cup of coffee that he held onto and looked at Draco with a satisfied and proud mine on his old face, which Draco replied with a small nod. He immediately noticed that the puffy haired, or rather the now curly haired Gryffindor had not turned yet to welcome him, and felt even more ignorant toward her than he had at the beginning. The aversion just grew when he thought back to some minutes ago, when he had said that the woman was sexy.
Well, now he was definitely going to get sick.
" Ah, Mr. Malfoy!", the old wizard exclaimed with an expression that could remind of an elf.
Draco was just observant enough to notice how the witch froze still under her hair. It seemed like even her curls froze. He even imagined how the familiar icing down her body with the mention of his name caused the hair on her spine to raise, and somehow loved that he still had this dominant effect on her.
The reporter walked with definite steps towards the desk where the couple sat, brandishing the bunch of papers in his left hand. " I just walked through the whole report, and I believe it is the right time to gather some answers."
Cuffee nodded approvingly, and nodded towards a chair that stood in front of his desk. Draco smiled thankfully when he reached the desk and pulled gently at the chair, so that he would have a place to sit. Granger sat to his right, and she still had not moved. Not even the slightest. He then noticed how pale she had became. Last time he had seen her, which in fact was some minutes ago, her skin had been sunkissed. Now her cheeks were almost ivory coloured.
Cuffee turned his attention to the woman. " This is Mr. Malfoy. I believe you remember him from Hogwarts, don't you Miss Granger?"
She then looked up, cleaning her throat, and turned her head towards the blonde with a blank emphasis. " I certainly do."
He snorted sarcastically. " Well, who doesn't. I don't think there is a person that could possibly forget-"
" Oh, don't flatter yourself.", she snapped with a scornfully laugh, her eyes narrowed. " I remember everyone, without exeptions. Well, surely there are people in the first class who I unfortunately didn't have any time to greet, but I do remember all the others."
Draco turned his head towards her, and gave her a mocking smile. " But Granger, then I don't understand how you could guess on me being Zabini's coffee retriever. And anyhow, it didn't seem like you recognized me either." He cocked his head to the side. " It actually seemed like you believed me-"
He saw how she clenched her jaw. " I was in a hurry, and didn't really pay much attention to you."
Cuffe nodded slowly and thoughtfully. He narrowed his eyes and gave the blonde a warning, strict gaze. The wizard shrugged innocently, and when Cuffee had lifted his eyes off him he immediately rolled his eyes against his boss. He turned his head down to the papers in his lap, and tried to keep all of his Malfoy tempers and instincts to jump over her like a raccoon inside him, but Merlin it was a really hard task to accomplish.
" Alright. Back to business.", Cuffee shot out. He took a break to pull the glasses up his nose with his ring finger. " Mr. Malfoy will be leading this case among our reporters. He is already in possession of the necessary background information, but as you understand, we need an interview from the leading auror."
She looked around with a querulous gaze. She gave him a smile, and released a small, female laugh. " Actually, as I told earlier, I came here to get the medicinal report. I need it for my investigation-"
" You will get it, Miss Granger.", Cuffee replied calmly, smiling. Draco assumed he was affected by the charm that Granger has acquired, and only the thought made him want to vomit. " But first of all, we would like you to answer some simple questions for our interview. "
She furrowed her brows with an yammering expression. " My apologies, with all my respect Mr. Cuffee, but I can't remember to have entered an interrogation chamber. This is not an auror office-"
" It is, Miss Granger, our duty to inform the wizarding population of dangers and developments. And this case is of big connotation to all of us, as you probably understand.", Cuffee reasoned, raising slowly from his armchair. His tongue worked perfectly in harmony with his nerves, and if truth is about to be spoken than certainly the man's nerves were well- preserved for his age to be.
He nodded towards the young reporter, who found this situation way more diverting and amusing than it should be in ordinary. His hand had gone from his lap to his chin, which he stroke in an attempt to keep severe, but he realized that he had been smirking all the way. The gaze his boss gave him again made his mind alarm him. He urgently forced himself to lick off his smile, and he looked up from under his fringe with a pair of silver, glancing eyes.
" I will leave you two alone.", Cuffee finally stated. And then he pulled out his wand and gathered his stuff in one massive sway in the air, heading to the floo that was located on the other side of his office.
The last thing Draco heard of him that day was the sound of his address being rasped out.
The silence that followed the sound of the must have been the most clumsy and inconvenient moment during this day, if not his whole pitiable life.
Yes, he had to overwrite the previous context that had taken the award as the most awkward situation. Because this was definitely worse.
Draco fingered the papers awkwardly between two of his fingers, and rolled his tongue around in his mouth. His spine was just as tense as the atmosphere. The necessity to say something overfilled his head and all of his wits sooner than he thought it would, but all of his questions, as well as all the planned insults on the witch vanished without leaving any traces. He had the whole scenery planned out in his head before he entered, but now he realized that he had to improvise.
They sat like this for around half a minute, even though it seemed like hours had passed before the witch decided to speak.
" So...", she drawled longer than necessary. " Of all the things you could be, you decided to become a... reporter?"
He considered to answer properly for just an instant, but then he thought back at the time in Hogwarts and quickly embittered.
" No, I'm Zabini's coffee retriever. Did you forget?", he retorted sharply, but sarcastically. Then he turned towards her, and met her questioning expression. He rolled his eyes. " Literally, Granger. Do you always have to make situations more gauche than they already are?"
She snapped her eyebrows together. " Well, excuse me for trying to get us somewhere, because it didn't seem like you would do an effort to-"
" Fine.", he sighed dismissive, turning to an empty page in his notebook. " You haven't even begun, but you are already giving me a headache, just so that's-"
" Well, I have no problem leaving.", she replied, crossing her arms defensive over her chest. " I thought you wanted an interview. And here I am, Malfoy, using my precious time listening to your bothering complains-"
" I'm not really complaining.", he established calmly. " Just wanted to point it out. Perhaps, maybe you just needed to know how quickly you can deteriorate a persons head."
She shrugged her shoulders. " Frankly, I don't really care about you, or your sodding head, Malfoy. I just want to get this over-"
He looked up from his notebook. " Yes, me too. But we don't always get what we want, Granger. I know it is hard for you to understand, being daddy's little girl and Potter's best friend, not even to mention all the teachers little angel-"
" You think my life was easy?", she asked with an angry, trembling voice. " I suffered more than you can even imagine-"
And there came the thing that had annoyed him as far as he could remember. The instinct to always be better at something. Always outperform the others no matter what the topic is.
" You know, Granger, you still haven't changed. Four fucking years should have turned you into a fully grown- up woman, but so far you have done well by showing your immature side. Bravo.", he snorted, quickly placing a brief title on the top of the empty page. He cocked an eyebrow and sent her a gaze with his periphery view. " I really hope there is more to you. No really. For your own good. Even Neville has grown-"
" Don't you dare talking to me about growing up.", the blonde witch scowled. " You are acting like you're seven or something-"
" Something.", the wizard smirked with satisfaction. He sighed, shaking his head. " There you go again, Granger, proving once more that my calculations on your behavior and personality are all right."
Her face was definitely beginning to regain the sun kissed colour. Only now it was about to overstep her natural colour, if that was the right way to call it, and turned cherry red. Yes, actually it was a colour equal to the curtains in the office. Draco began writing down the first question, and the only thing he heard was the sound of his own pencil forming the words in a refined handwriting.
" You are such a pain in the arse, Malfoy.", she stated from nowhere.
He nodded, and ended the question swiftly on his paper with an elegant questioning mark. " Is there anything else you would like to get out before we begin?"
She turned away from him, and shook her head silently.
" Alright,", he started, turning his eyes up from the paper and against her. He was about to ask the question on his paper, but it quickly changed when he formed it. He licked his dry lips once, and sat curiously up on his chair. Rather, he straightened his back even more than he was used to. " Why did you return anyway?"
She whipped her head towards him with a distrustful frown. " That has absolutely nothing with the case to do."
" Oh, but it does.", he said as a pure attempt on improvisation. He clenched his fist as another memory from Hogwarts crossed his mind. War. Everything was just about the war. The next sentence just followed. " You see, trouble always comes whenever you or Potter are involved." He paused, and leaned further against her chair. " How come that this is the first murder in 4 years, and it happened just when you returned, Granger?"
Granger looked at him, with an unreadable expression. It seemed like she was trying to search things through and over analyze his sentence, but then she quickly turned away, half snorting half laughing, and honestly, this time Draco didn't see the humour.
She shook her head in something that seemed like disbelief. " Perhaps, maybe you have misunderstood. This is not an interrogation chamber as far as I am concerned, and I don't want to participate in any-"
He shook her off. " Just try telling me that I'm wrong, Granger, and I swear I will make-"
The witch gave him a severe and annoyed look before she bit her lip with a determined look, and pushed the chair roughly backwards as she raised to her feet. Draco believed that she did that on purpose. The chair slid down the polished, wooden flooring, and a loud, scratching, as well as ear shattering sound roamed around the office. Draco shivered from discomfort before it had even reached his ears.
He just hoped it didn't leave any marks. Cuffee would have given him the liability.
Shortly after he realized that this was about to turn into a full blown Granger rage, the one that he had seen so many exemplars of at Hogwarts. The girl, or rather woman, as he from then on was forced to call her, used an instant to shake off some dust that had gathered on the right shoulder of her coat, and lifted her black bag from Cuffee's oak- wooden, ancient office desk. He noticed that the bag was all of the expensive type, just as he had expected. It was of the sort that Astoria and his mother were so obsessed of.
" This is a waste of time, Malfoy.", she stated, for then reaching out her hand. " Give me the report."
" No." He cocked his head innocently to the side. " You haven't answered my questions yet."
" Well, you had your chance." Her hand fell loosely down, before it slid up to her waist. She fumbled with her coat. " I don't have any time for this. Just hand over the report." She stifted her gaze, and her brown eyes became darker, even though he avoided direct eye contact with her. " If you have any questions, let Ginny know. Ill answer them on paper."
He shook his head. " I don't trust the Weasleys, especially not when it comes to my work-"
" Potter.", she corrected. " Her name is Ginny Potter." She lifted an eyebrow. " Now, hand it over before-"
He talked before she was done. " Oh, but to me she will always be the red haired '' sister- of- a- donkey'' Weasley-"
" That's enough.", the witch hissed defensive. " I don't know what your problem is, Malfoy, but let's just stop here before this gets any worse."
He had to bite hard down at his lower lip to hide his smirk another time, but this time the attempt was bastardly and wasted, because she studied him way to intensely not to notice this. In addition, the woman was not an idiot. She knew how things worked out, and he found it difficult to keep his smirks away in this contention.
Now, he knew very well that now he was the one acting childish, but he couldn't help it. This was the one thing that he had enjoyed at Hogwarts, and he was going to do this with reminiscent thoughts. At least he'd get something out of this.
She looked at him with a haywire look. " Look, Malfoy. I could be investigating the case for a long time ago already if you could just hand over the report without being such an arse- "
" A very mature choice of words, Granger.", he commented, acting obsessed and busy by studying the thin, pale skin of his left palm.
There was silence for a long time. The only sound that came into his ears was the whispering from the leafs on the trees outside the window, some loud children voices from the street, and the sound of the reporters on the other side of the door typing in the letters one after one. Even those hushed sounds seemed to be loud in the silent atmosphere.
And then the silence was interrupted by a harsh breath. " Okay. So, I will be leaving for the victims house for now. If there will be anything, just-"
He looked up at her, and grinned. " Oh, Ill come with you. Perhaps, maybe you will be more talkative there with his dead body by your side."
Draco noticed that she thought otherwise. She shifted her weight impatiently from one foot to another on her high heels, and he could see that she was beginning to get desperate after leaving. The freckles on her sunkissed skin stood out all over her face, and she still fumbled with her dark coloured coat, only now her thin hand was also twitching nervously from side to side.
He rolled his eyes and looked down into his lap again. The woman was still naive. " Granger, for Merlin's sake, take a break. I was just-"
" Actually, that is a good idea." The long fringe whipped his eyes when he abruptly turned his head up again. She shrugged. " At least I will get my report back, do some work while you ask me out, and then hopefully you will get out from under my skin."
He eyed her with a frowning expression as she gathered her gloves and opened her bag to put them there while she talked. " Well, at least I won't longer have to bother my mind by thinking about the interview, and you will get the answers. And then let's just hope that our paths won't cross after that." She turned her attention to him. " What do you think?"
Frankly said, Draco was surprised. It was more meant to be a taunt, but the bloody woman had turned it into a suggestion. A suggestion that his benefit- personality couldn't decline. After all, he was the one who needed this. He swallowed the surprise far down his throat, and stood casually up from his chair, re- assuring for the fourth time this morning that his wand was well placed in the inner pocket of his black jacket.
" Suits me fine.", he deadpanned, pointing towards the door. " Ill get my jacket."
XxX
The house, or rather the cottage, was quite rusty; not even to mention neglected. As they had finally arrived, he understood why the floo had not worked and they were forced to apparate, for then walking another fifteen minutes.
" So this is the castle.", Draco sniffed sarcastically. He pulled the coat tighter around his cool body as they walked up the staircase that led to the entrance. " He must have been a millionaire."
Hermione gave him an admonitory and warning look as she opened the door that led into the first floor of the tall cottage. The door went up with a creaking sound, and Draco took a look over the witches shoulder to get an overlook over their current situation. He soon found himself staring at an wooden table that looked like it had been battered by several rampaging hippogriffs.
Behind the table he also noticed the white wall. Or rather, it was supposed to be white. The white colouring of the wall was falling apart from the wall leaving some parts cement grey, and parts of the wall were laying over the wooden flooring that looked like it had been used for several centuries.
Hermione looked back at him with narrowed eyes. " Are you coming?"
" Ladies first.", he smirked as he held the door open for her.
He could hear her murmur something under a deep breath, as she stepped on one of the wooden planks. The floor made a screeching sound that re vibrated into the walls, and the witch froze still under her position until the sound vanished. Draco looked sceptically down at the floor as he took a step forward after the auror, and soon felt an odd smell fill his olfaction. The smell could remind of the heinous smell of putrid moss, as well as the flavor of earwax in a mixture with rotten eggs and earthworms.
Yes, he recognized these smells from the famous Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. And the smell was needy. All consuming.
" Holy Merlin, who the fuck died in here?", he asked without thinking the question through, covering his nose with the sleeve of his coat.
Hermione coughed. " His name is Benjamin Bloodworth."
He nodded, and took another step in. His eyes scanned the location, and he took a quick look in to what seemed to be a living room. Granger coughed once more, and of course he didn't, and couldn't possibly notice how she stumbled backwards and against him. Draco grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her lightly towards the direction of the stairs. She groaned and grabbed the windowpane that was located beside the stairs.
" Don't you dare stumbling on me, Granger.", he growled, walking past her and up the stairway. He stopped mid way and looked down at her with an awaiting frown.
Her eyes looked like they would shoot arrows every second. " I wanted fresh air, you miserable prat!"
" Well, I won't give you CPR, if that is what you hoped.", he retorted teasingly, breathing the abominable air out into his sleeve. He leaned his back against the wall. " I would suggest you to go outside-"
He could see how her pale and cool face was beginning to restore its colour again. " That was what I was about to, you little-"
Her insult was interrupted by steps from the second floor. " Miss Granger? We are up stairs! The third room to the left!"
" Coming!", she shouted back, hurrying up to the second floor. She moved past him, and left him to stand behind her.
Draco sighed, and followed the auror soon after. He stepped lightly onto the outworn stairs, because the sounds they made were pretty much inconvenient. It sounded to him like he would fall down any second, but then he stepped safely onto the floor of the second floor. He took a look down the long corridor, and walked in the door that stood open. There were several persons there, whom he had never seen before. At least he didn't recognize them. That was because he had not really bothered by getting known to people he had no business with.
Astoria, however, probably knew these too. She was obsessed by getting known to people. That was kind of a hobby, finding people to hang out with.
Anyway, there were two males, and one female. One of the men was standing by a blood path writing down some notes. Draco's suggestion on him was that he was working at St. Mungo's. The other one simply sat on the bed, going thoughtfully through some papers, while the third person, the young woman, was talking to Granger. Just when he was about to overstep the doorstep, the woman turned her attention from Granger and towards him.
" Mr. Malfoy, with all my honor to finally meet you, you are not allowed to be here-"
" It is fine, Melissa.", the blonde auror sighed. " He is with me."
The witch apparently named Melissa whipped her head towards Hermione. " Granger, he is a reporter. You do know the risk-"
Hermione nodded. " It is not a risk. It is a necessity." She swallowed. " If this is as serious as I have been informed of, then I'm afraid people will have to be informed of the danger."
Draco noticed how everyone's attention was directed at him. Four pair of eyes were staring at him with different sorts of expressions, and he realized that he was in the center of attention. He instinctively took a step into the room, and scanned the room for any indication on a murder. Well, there were no visible evidences others than the small blood path beside the covered body as he could see, but then he remembered that the kill was performed with a potion, not a knife.
" Leave us alone.", Hermione commanded as she walked towards the bed, putting her bag down.
Melissa nodded and left the room without as much as a sound. Shortly after, the door was shut by the healer, and Draco found them being the only ones in the room. An eerie silence filled the atmosphere, and he took a moment to glance down at the covered man.
" Your... friends are easy to command.", he commented, as he sat down on the armchair by the door.
Hermione fumbled with something in her bag. " Well, I'm the leading auror. They don't really have a choice."
" You are naive, Granger.", he teased. " I would pretend like I didn't hear you."
She immediately turned around, looking at him with a frowning expression. Her hands were covered with the sort of gloves like healers are known for using, and she held a pair of metallic scissors in her right hand. They looked well used and rusty, but he knew it was sort of a pride to use ancient medicinal items.
" Well, it doesn't really surprise me anymore, Malfoy.", she told honestly. " And your teasing don't have any effect on me anymore. I guess I'm starting to get immune."
Draco snorted in disbelief as he raised from the chair, letting the hand that covered his nose fall down by his side. The fierce smell filled his nose again, and he had to swallow down the sickness that overwhelmed him far down the depth of his throat. He stumbled forward to the middle of the room.
" How do you even breathe in this smell?", he asked, coughing.
The auror shrugged, holding a filter- mask towards him. " Here, take this. I'm used to the smell already." She gave him a teasing smirk. " Aurors simply have to be in possesion of a sturdy mental health."
He accepted the mask, and put it on immediately. " Mental health has nothing with polluted air to do."
She gave him another smirk and shrugged her shoulders, before she took a step towards the corpse. Her eyes focused persistently on the scissors as she tested their capacity of cutting with frequent moves, and she watched her as she squatted down beside the body. The smell was like a swat even through his mask, and he obstinately tried to keep it out, and as seconds passed it really fascinated him that Granger, a woman, could handle it better than him.
What surprised him even more, however, was that she didn't even shiver as she moved the brown blanket away from his body.
Draco narrowed his eyes towards the body. Or rather what was supposed to be a body. " What the fuck is-"
" Could you come over here and hold this for me?", she asked without looking up.
He could see the small plastic bag with white, medicinal tampons that she was holding up for him, but his eyes kept on falling against the man that laid on the floor in front of him. When he had just read the report, he thought it exaggerated. But now as he was there, he understood what it had meant by a new sort of pestilence, black pustules over his body, and molds covering its face. He didn't feel anything however, nothing but disgust and an immense sickness in the depth of his stomach. And then there was this; he couldn't decide whether the sight of Granger or this man aversed him the most.
Probably both.
Draco grabbed the plastic bag and sat down beside her. He swallowed down again, and blinked away the water that had pressed out from the surface of his eyes. " Beautiful view."
Hermione looked at him with a calm expression. " You are not used to this kind of stuff, are you?"
" Are you kidding?", he laughed, after gobbling up the odd taste that had gathered into his stomach.
She shrugged. " I thought the ones that survived the war are used to everything."
The auror pulled out her wand and touched one of the pustules on his body. The tip of the wand started glowing, and she murmured a silent smell. Nodding towards Draco, he realized that he would have to use one of these tampons to help her, and so he did. He grabbed one of them and wiped at the blood that started to flow down his body.
" That's interesting.", Hermione concluded with a frown. She wiped at the blood with her index finger, and studied it as if it was fascinating. " The blood seem to be leaking out of those pustules, which means that something must have been-"
He sighed. " I have read the report. No need to read it to me again."
" I'm not reading it.", she replied, shrugging with a deadpan. " I haven't even read the report yet. I just came with my own conclusion."
Draco watched as she grabbed one of the scalpels, making an incision on the one that she had touched with her wand.
" What are you doing?", he asked her.
Granger looked concentrated. " Trying to find out what caused the pustules. If this was a murder, than the culpable one must have known how to create this horrible scenery that we have got here."
Malfoy snorted under his mask. " Well, good luck finding out."
" Thank you.", she shot out sarcastically. The auror narrowed her eyes against the blood that kept on flowing out. " Now, I believe I promised you to answer some questions. You can ask me now. Ill do my best to answer."
Draco's urge to spit at her superior was hard to resist, but he managed and raised from the floor. He fumbled with his coat to find the small notebook that he had taken with him, and prepared the magic feather to write for him. His feet trudged around the room, while he studied how Granger worked with the victim. Slowly, precisely and reputedly devoted to her work. Old memories came to him from the potion classes, when she had worked with the ingredients. Yes, even then the woman had been accurate, and didn't allow herself to make the smallest mistake, and this still had an effect on her.
" So,", he began as he stopped beside the window." The victim's name is Benjamin Bloodworth, right?"
" Yes."
He nodded. " Did the victim have any kind of enemies?"
" You are asking the sort of questions that aurors are supposed to ask the witnesses.", she answered, going ahead to study on his face.
Draco rolled his eyes. " That is because I want answers, Granger. The society won't wait for you to find out about everything by yourself. That can take months, if not years-"
" Bloodworth did not have any enemies as far as I know, or have been informed of, but then we will never find out.", she interrupted him tiredly. " Now, I can tell you that not all the victims necessarily need an enemy. In most of the cases the occasion is opposite: the victim is a good person with good reputation, and gets killed in vain."
" Right,", he breathed in disbelief. " Killed in vain."
She turned to him with questioning eyes. " You don't believe me?"
Draco took another step into the room. " Well honestly it is hard for me to believe in. During the war all the victims had a role. We were all like small, tiny puppets, where all the puppets that were killed died for a reason-"
" Are you telling me that Lavender, Fred, Tonks, Snape, and Albus-"
His eyes became darker. " Don't you dare going there, you little-"
" - Remus, all of them! You believe they all died for a reason?"
Draco noticed that she had raised, and had clenched her fists down both her sides. The tip of her wand was glowing, her right hand twitching, the hand that had slapped him before, and her breath was harsh, just as it had been when she had slapped him in their third year.
This actually reminded him of that day.
" You should be grateful that the Ministry forgave you for being on the wrong side.", she breathed.
The reporter turned away from her. " They forgave me because they needed me. I wouldn't be much resourceful in jail."
He could hear her taking a furious step closer to him. " Oh, don't flatter yourself! We would do just fine without you! Perhaps, maybe you don't know, but many still can't forgive you for the case with Dumbledore, and then Snape. Snape died because of you!" She stopped to take a breath. " It was because of you that Snape killed Dumbledore, his friend, and because of you that Snape eventually died! Voldemort killed him!"
Draco closed his eyes to stop himself from blowing up. " I don't think I'm the one to blame here, Granger-"
There was silence for a long time, where Granger took the opportunity to come close to him. He could hear her breathe.
" You don't know how Snape died, do you?", she asked, now calmly. " They never told you. They never told you, and all this time you have been wandering around, truly believing that you did nothing wrong-"
The Malfoy heir spun on his heel to face her, with his fists firmly by his sides. His eyes had became iron grey, the colour of clouds full of heavy rain, and the light in them had disappeared quicker than a snitch.
" Do you want to know what you are, Granger?", he growled in a breath. " Besides being the twin of a terribly annoying-"
Hermione raised her chin defensive against him. " What? Tell me then, if you dare."
Draco swallowed and began to nag about her behavior when suddenly he noticed some queer movements with his periphery view, on the spot just above her shoulder. He did however not pay attention to it, but focused on how her voice became louder as his own rough temper and rage grew, her face turning red from anger. He was certain that his expression remained pale with nothing else than an enraged scowl filling it, because his skin was known for never changing its porcelain- doll colour. As the seconds passed he noticed that there were other sounds. It was not only their shouting and loud, rough voices, but there was something else. Something in the background of their intense conflict. Something foreign. This low voice that re- vibrated into the end of his spine.
His fingers slowly went upwards his upper body, and slid his hand under the black coat, re- assuring his wands presence. Then he realized that he had stopped shouting, that now it was only Granger's voice that filled the room, and once again heard this hushed voice. A hushed sound. Something like an animalic growl.
" Now, I do have the authorization to tell the Minister about your insults, but I-"
His eyes grew wide. " Granger-"
Hermione's eyes sent a lightning through him. " Do not interrupt me when I talk! I'm not a-"
" Granger.", he repeated, the iron grey eyes turning even darker.
She closed her eyes with her teeth clenched, and waved a warning finger in the air. " I said, do NOT-"
" Fuck.", he murmured.
And the next second Hermione felt something heavy fall over her, covering her and squeezing her tense body down to the floor. She fell down to the ground on an instant, felt how her teeth rattled against each other and clenched her eyes together as a reflex. There was an intense, throbbing sound somewhere below her ear, and a buzzing feeling followed her confusion into the temporals. The weight over her vanished, and she felt how a shadow stood beside her. A tall, black shadow. Confused, not even to mention startled, she crawled forward to get hold of the chair, but something seemed to hold her back.
Hermione gasped as she felt something on her ankle, something cold obstinately trying to hold her back. She rolled around and saw a dark silhouette over her, attacking her, and without thinking it through she closed her eyes again and yelled with all the capacity her lungs had.
The next thing she heard was the rough voice of Draco Malfoy and snapped her eyes open as she watched how the green light gathered on the tip of his wand and shot out across her eyes.
Chapter comments:
I'm sorry for leaving you with a cliffhanger like that. I really am!
Now, I know my updates are quite late, but I just hope that you guys are doing fine anyway. I know I really have to pull myself together and write faster, but the days pass by so quickly that I don't even notice!
But here you go, chapter three of Apocalypse! :)
Thank you for reading, and I always appreciate a comment!
- Juliakri
Update 06.01.14:
Hello everyone!
So, I would just like to apologise for the leak of updates. The chapter four is ready, but unfortunately I can not post it until I have found someone who could Beta for me. I have written a request to two for now, but I still have not received any answer. So right now I am looking forward for an answer, and waiting impatiently together with you!
And yeah, so I would just like to say that if there are any volunteers among you, feel free to contact. Or perhaps, some of you may recommend Betaing for me to someone else?
Anyway, cheers and hugs to all of you, and I hope I will get an answer soon!
-Juliakri
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