AN- Please remember to watch the dates so you don't get too confused! Thanks to Nina for being the most amazing beta ever!
Chapter Two
And All Things Will End
When I see you, I can read it in your eyes, fate misunderstood. But things are bound to change. Swallowed the lies, can't blame you for, thinking with your heart. Sometimes life is altered. Break from the ropes your hands are tied. Uneasy with confrontation. Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right.
-Avenged Sevenfold, And All Things Will End.
September 30, 1995
Draco was wandering through Hogsmeade on their first visit of his fifth year at Hogwarts. The students had been permitted to go to the village on the last weekend of the month in order to purchase anything they'd forgotten to bring to the school.
He had managed to lose Pansy somewhere near Honeydukes, ignoring her very obvious hints that she'd be delighted if Draco would accompany her to Madam Puddifoot's. As if he would ever set foot in that monstrosity of a coffee shop, whether for show or not.
He had nothing to buy so was basically just glancing into windows to see if there was anything of interest to purchase, something to waste his money on. He stopped outside of the Quidditch shop and eyed the new broom that was on display, but shook his head warily to himself and stepped away. He didn't need a new broom.
He glanced at the sky for a mere moment, looking to see if it was going to start raining anytime soon, when he saw a flash of black on the other side of the village. A few flashes of black, to be precise, and Draco thought they'd looked strangely familiar before narrowing his eyes and deciding to go check it out. He wasn't doing anything else, anyway, so it wouldn't be a waste of his time.
He headed in that direction slowly, lazily, taking his time because he had nothing but time to spare. Malfoy's didn't hurry anywhere, anyway. People were supposed to wait on them, according to his father. Draco sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose when the thought of his father entered his mind. He had tried almost his entire life to appease the man and it didn't seem like anything Draco could do would make him happy and proud, make him want to call Draco his son instead of just having to because he was his offspring and heir.
He loved his father in his own strange way and craved his attention in way that was not healthy. Draco knew that. He'd spent his entire life looking for a moment where his father would look at him with a smile, a kind word, but it had never happened. In fact, whenever Lucius was forced to be in his son's or wife's company it was because they'd screwed something up and needed a firm reminder of the way they were to behave, act, and be perceived by others.
It was a feat to live up to, and Draco just couldn't do it. He knew his father was back in with the Dark Lord since the end of his previous school year and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. It was one thing to spew the words that had been drilled into his head since he was a child but it was a completely different situation to have to actually hate people of a different status, to have to want to kill them and eradicate them.
Draco was fairly sure he wasn't cut out to be like his father. To grovel to a man like a common beggar and even offer up his own home for the cause.
He was nearing the edge of the forest when the large clock in town square starting chiming the hour of four, jarring him from his troubled thoughts about what he was going to do with his life. He realized the time and was surprised that he'd been lost in thought, wandering from one edge of the village to the other for almost forty-five minutes. He almost turned away and started walking back to Hogwarts, a nice hot supper on his mind, but the black shapes took the sky again, almost startling him. He did end up taking a few steps backward in surprise. They flew from the ground and took off in a whorl of black before picking up enough pace that they disappeared completely.
Draco was 99% certain they were Death Eaters. What they were doing in Hogsmeade, though, was completely lost on him.
He stood still and contemplated for a moment, wondering if he should even bother checking to see what exactly it was they were doing in there, but, being a teenage boy, the curiosity got the best of him and he ducked into the foliage.
It seemed a lot darker when he was in the surprisingly dense forest and he walked with sturdy steps to the area he thought he'd seen the Death Eaters emerge from. He couldn't see anything at all and he scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion, his nose wrinkling slightly with the action. It didn't make any sense. They wouldn't have been there unless they had a specific purpose.
Draco continued walking, wondering if they had been farther away than he'd first realized when he'd been watching from his vantage point. He walked for five minutes and then stopped again, his ears pricked to listen for any sound whatsoever that wasn't rustling leaves.
And he heard a small whimper.
Draco spun to his right in surprise his eyes raking the forest, picking through the trees carefully, but he still didn't see anyone.
"Hello?" he asked quietly in his low baritone voice, not wishing to give himself up but dying to know what exactly the Death Eater's had been doing. "Is there anyone in here?"
"H-h-help me," he heard a pitiful voice whimper, causing his stomach to clench with anticipation.
He moved to his right again, watching the ground carefully so he didn't trip over any roots. That's when he saw the thin piece of wood that resembled a wand. He looked at it in confusion for a second before stooping to pick it up, inspecting it to see if he recognized it.
He didn't.
"Did you lose your wand?" he asked the seemingly empty forest.
Instead of a reply he heard a whimper again before a frantic scrambling from almost directly to his left ripped through the air, the whimpers turning into harsh sobs once he'd turned to face the person on the ground.
Hermione Granger was there on the ground, and while she'd been moving toward him at first she started and began trying to go in the other direction when she'd seen his face.
"Granger?" he asked in surprise, realizing in almost slow motion that she was barely wearing any clothes and he had never seen her looking so awful in his life.
"Get away, get away, get away," she groaned, struggling to move, but she was sitting on her bum and it was hindering her.
"What are you doing?" he asked, absolutely confused about what was happening. "I think you dropped your wand."
"Don't, don't," she moaned, lifting her left arm to cover her eyes, almost as though she could pretend he wasn't there if she couldn't see him. That's when he realized she was soaked in blood.
Draco reeled away from her for a moment, not believing what he was seeing. Granger burst into tears in front of him, dropping her arm from her eyes and wrapping it around her almost naked body in a defensive move.
"Merlin, Granger! What happened?!"
Draco took a few steps toward her, intent on helping her, covering her up, cleaning her up… something, but after he took only a couple hurried steps she turned away from him and vomited into the dirt. Draco stopped again, unsure how to proceed. She obviously needed help but she didn't seem too keen on allowing him to get too close to her.
He took a steadying breath and lowered himself to his knees, like he would with a child, and put the wands in his pocket so he could hold his hands out in a supplicating gesture.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, and for the first time Granger quietened down a little bit. "I won't hurt you, Granger."
She sniffled and looked down at her arm, covering it with a hand before he could see what was there, almost as though she was ashamed. She kept her lashes lowered and didn't meet his gaze for a few minutes, but her sobs were getting quieter and more controlled and she seemed to be running out of steam.
"Would you like to borrow my cloak?" Draco asked her, feeling like a complete moron. The sky was darkening and it was getting chilly outside; he had been watching the girl shiver uncontrollably for the past ten minutes.
Hermione didn't say anything, but she lifted her head and stared at him as though she had never seen him before.
"I'm bloody," she pointed out unnecessarily in a low, hoarse voice.
"I see that," he answered, trying to keep his voice light so he didn't frighten her further. "I could clean you up before taking you back to the castle."
Granger hitched in a breath. "I can't go to the castle," she said, her voice wobbling slightly. He was glad she didn't start crying again.
"Well, Granger, you're going to have to go back at some point, since that's where we live for ten months of the year."
"No one can see me like this," she all but whispered, panic lighting up her eyes.
The blood from whatever happened to her arm was dripping through her fingers that were clenched over it and Draco couldn't help but to stare at the crimson fluid that was falling to the ground in a continuous pattern. It looked very much like his own, he noted.
He shuffled forward a bit very slowly, glad that she hadn't scurried away from him in apparent fear.
"What happened?" he asked again, unwilling to look at her body too thoroughly. He felt sick to his stomach from looking at the rapidly swelling bruise on her cheek and noticed that she had some cuts littering her cheek and neck on the right side. He didn't even want to look any lower than her face, if he was being completely honest with himself.
Granger let out one derisive sob before catching the others in her throat and clamping her cut lips shut. She met his eyes almost defiantly this time, her left hand scrabbling up her chest and clamping the tattered pieces of robe closed as tightly as she could. She slowly moved her legs so that they were straightened out in front of her, her knees pressed together tightly. Her arms quivered and her breaths were shallow.
"I just want to help."
"Why would you want to help me?" she asked harshly, her voice still ragged with pain and fear. "Why would you want to help me after your… your… just why?"
Draco was confused a moment as he watched her battle with herself. She needed help, that much was clear, but she also didn't trust Draco at all, not that he blamed her. He had given her very little reason to think of him as anything other than a spoiled, bigoted wanker, but he did have another side, a side that no one knew much about because it wasn't safe to speak of. He was a confused boy, plain and simple.
Draco sat back on his haunches and looked at the girl closer. He had already inspected her face but he had yet to see her arm, as she was doing a surprisingly good job keeping it covered. He knew her robes were torn but it hadn't caught his attention that she wasn't holding a set of robes around her form at all – it was more like a strip of material that had been ripped from something. There were no sleeves on it and she seemed to have wrapped it around her body in the hopes of keeping herself covered, nothing more – she certainly wasn't getting any warmth out of it. He realized, now that her legs were straightened and he was allowing himself to actually look, that she wasn't wearing her school issued skirt or the muggle jeans she usually wore on weekends. She had nothing on her lower half at all and was trying in vain to make sure the strip of cloth kept her covered.
Her legs were shaking and bloody, especially her upper thighs, and Draco could distinctly make out finger marks that had either wiped the blood away, or had been on her thighs when the blood was flowing. There was a nasty looking burn on her calf and little bruises littered on the area of skin he could see that was her hipbone – they also looked strangely like fingerprints.
"Christ, Granger," he yelped, turning away from his assessment and letting the sickness take a hold of him. He could be embarrassed about vomiting later. He planted his hands firmly on the ground and dropped his head, letting loose right there in front of the poor girl. At least he'd been tasteful enough to turn away.
She didn't acknowledge his words.
"You were… raped," he said, swallowing harshly as he turned back to her, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. There plenty of things that Draco wouldn't, couldn't, stand for, and rape was definitely on that list. Depraved souls were the only ones low enough to do such a thing to a woman, an innocent.
Hermione sniffed and hung her head, but she didn't confirm nor deny his words.
They sat in a silence for a few moments, the sky darkening around them as Granger's shaking increased.
"Please just let me help you so we can get the bloody hell out of here. It's freezing and you have no clothes. If you don't want me to help clean you up then I will just lend you my cloak so we can get up to the school and to Madam Pomfrey."
Hermione didn't answer again and Draco reached his breaking point. He got to his feet in a fluid motion and stalked forward, not letting it bother him that she cowered away and her eyes lit up with fear as he reached down and pulled her to her feet. He was careful not to jar her or grip her too hard, but Merlin it was getting ridiculous just sitting there in the cold air, waiting for who knew what.
She whimpered as he ripped the thin piece of material – the bottom of her robe, it looked like – from her and wrapped his cloak around her shoulders. He couldn't help but notice the blood on her thighs again, but he averted his gaze and forced her arms through the sleeves of his warm cloak, seeing her left arm for the first time. The word 'Mudblood' was carved into crudely, obviously with a knife and not a wand, and Draco almost gagged upon seeing it. Instead of allowing his body to do what it desperately wanted to, he focused on getting Hermione into his cloak, buttoning up the front smartly before giving her a once over. She was clinging to his arm tightly, her legs shaking as she tried to keep herself upright.
What the hell had that depraved soul done to the poor girl?
"It's a long walk," he said, unnecessarily, noting the fear in her eyes as he removed the wands from the pocket of his cloak, transferring them to the pocket of his trousers, instead.
She nodded and tried to straighten her spine but no matter how she stood she still looked utterly defeated.
"You can lean on me, Granger," he said nicely. "I've got you, okay?"
Hermione nodded again, taking him up on his offer and gripping his arm tightly as he led her through the forest.
"It's probably around dinner time so no one should be out here still," he said, rambling along for his sake as well as hers. "I'm thinking that we should probably stick to the back streets, though. I don't want someone to see us and be all over you with questions. I also don't exactly what to get blamed for this, so if anyone at the castle asks you please make sure you inform them I'm just trying to help. I know what you and your friends think of me and I know it is for a good reason, but I'm really just trying to help you, okay Granger? Come on, now, the path is just over here. I followed it in when I saw something strange in the sky, and good thing too, wouldn't you say?"
Draco looked down at the girl who was gripping his arm with surprising strength, and she was gazing up at him as though hanging on to his every word. She tripped over a root with her bare foot, scraping it along the wood in a way that looked to Draco to be painful, but she didn't even seem to notice the new pain amidst the injuries she had already sustained.
She stumbled hard, though, and gripped onto him even harder. They were moving at a snail's pace and Draco had the distinct feeling that they wouldn't make it to the castle before dawn. He stopped and looked down at her again, wondering if he was about to cross some sort of line.
"Okay, Granger, I think from here on out I should carry you," her eyes widened but he pushed on. "I don't want to be stuck out here for hours on end and I really think it's imperative that you see the nurse as soon as possible, so I'm just going to pick you up and carry you right on up to the castle. If we get there soon everyone will still be at dinner and no one will even see us enter the castle, okay?"
Even though he posed it as a question he didn't wait for her answer and he bent down and lifted her weight easily with one arm below her shaking knees and the other around her back. She was tense for the first few minutes of the journey and then relaxed into him, her head dipping down to rest on his shoulder.
"I don't want Harry or Ron to see me like this," she said after a few more minutes, her voice surprisingly even. "They'll flip out."
"I'm sure you can ask Pomfrey to keep them out of the room until you've been healed."
"I don't want to be alone with her," she replied, her voice thick with tears again.
Draco wanted to sigh but held it in. "I'll stay with you, if you feel it's imperative."
"I don't want to put that on you but I don't know if I can do it alone." Her sobbing began to get louder again and Draco shushed her quickly, entering the gates and coming to the conclusion that the castle had never seemed so far away before.
"Look, there's the castle. We're almost there and then you can get fixed right up and we can put this whole mess behind us," he started, back in rambling mode. Hermione's head was back on his shoulder again, her tears soaking through the thin shirt he was wearing. He glanced down and realized that she was passing out and fear spiked through his chest for a moment. Had she lost too much blood? Were her internal injuries too horrific to help her hold onto life for a second longer?
"Open up those beautiful brown eyes, Granger, and tell me how far you think we are from the castle."
Hermione's eyes cracked open she gazed toward the castle but didn't give him a number.
"How about the sky, do you see any stars up there?"
Hermione slowly turned her eyes to the sky, but even though the sun was almost completely set, there were no stars yet.
"No," she whispered, her breath puffing out onto his neck, causing him to shiver slightly.
"None at all?"
"No."
"How close do you think we are to the castle now?" he asked, glad that he was about halfway. His arms were aching like they never had before but he couldn't put her down now, they were so close to safety. He was so close to answers.
"Almost there," she said with great effort.
"That's right. We're almost there. I have to wonder though, Granger, why didn't your two friends notice that you were missing? It seems they went right back to the castle without you."
"I left," she said, her voice a mere whisper. "Was going to… study."
"What were you studying?"
Hermione didn't answer him immediately and fear caused his stomach to clench tighter than it had before he'd found her.
"Stay awake, Hermione." Her eyes snapped open upon hearing her given name fall from her lips – a tactic he was hoping would work. "Don't forget that I need you to tell everyone I didn't do this to you. If you're sleeping you won't be able to keep me safe."
Hermione let out another puff of air and Draco wrapped her up a little tighter.
"Here we go. I have to climb the stairs now, Hermione, so hold on, okay?" he felt her arm tighten around his shoulder and smiled down at her, trying to keep her calm. "Once we climb the stairs I'm going directly to the hospital wing, okay? Be prepared for Madam Pomfrey."
He felt her nod. He took a steadying breath and managed to grip the handle of the door and open it just enough to stick his foot into. He all but kicked it open and scurried through before it could slam on his back, rushing quickly across the entrance hall so he could get into the corridor that led to the hospital wing without being seen.
He sighed in relief when he saw the doors to the Great Hall were still closed, which meant supper was still in progress and no one would be roaming the halls.
"Almost there, Hermione," he said gently. "Remember what I said about having my back?"
She nodded against his shoulder again and he let out a breath before kicking the door to the hospital wing a few times, hoping Madam Pomfrey would get the hint and come open it.
She did. With a horrified gasp Draco was ushered into the open space and led to the far end of the room nearest the Healers office and the older woman gestured to a bed. Draco approached it carefully and lowered Hermione onto it gently, not wanting to cause her anymore pain than she was already in.
He went to withdraw his arms and Hermione clasped onto the one that had been behind her back, hanging on for dear life.
"Were in the hospital wing, Hermione," he said gently. "It's okay to let go now because Madam Pomfrey is going to heal you up nice and quick."
Hermione didn't let up her grip even a fraction, holding onto his arm so tightly that Draco was beginning to lose feeling in his hand. She was crying again, he noticed faintly, almost silently but big, fat tears were leaking from her eyes, which were closed tightly.
"No, no, no," she whispered. "Don't leave me, don't, don't."
"I'm not going to leave you, Hermione, I'm just going to move away a little bit so Madam Pomfrey can access you and heal you, okay?"
"I don't want you to," she said, opening her eyes. Draco could see the intense fear radiating from them and nodded to her, letting out a faint breath.
"I can work around you for now, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey said. She'd been watching the situation unwind with immense curiosity, but it seemed plain that Miss. Granger wasn't in the state to let Mr. Malfoy go anywhere at the moment. She had summoned the headmaster while the two students were situating themselves on the bed, so while she was waiting she drew the curtains around the hospital cot closed and approached them warily.
"I'm going to have to remove the cloak, Miss. Granger," Madam Pomfrey said in her best placating tone.
It didn't seem to matter what tone she used, because the second the words were out of her mouth the girl began sobbing harshly, her fingers digging into Draco's arm tightly.
"Please don't," she whimpered, her eyes clenched shut again.
"I need to so I can assess the situation, Miss. Granger. I need to be able to see what needs healing before I can start."
Hermione was quickly entering full-on panic mode again so Draco looked down at the terrified girl, trying to distract her.
"If you want me to leave so the Healer can assess you I can, Hermione. I'll be right outside the curtains, okay? I'm not going anywhere but outside the curtains, so don't panic."
"No," she snarled, opening her eyes again and glaring at him. "I told you that you couldn't leave me here!"
"But… she needs to remove the cloak," Draco said, feeling his face start to flame suddenly. It was one thing to not look when he had just discovered her, but now that they were in the confines of a hospital room, on a bed, he wasn't sure he would be able to keep his eyes averted. He couldn't help but feel like a disgusting letch in that moment, thinking that way when the poor girl had just been attacked and he was the only thing keeping her latched onto reality.
"I don't care," the Gryffindor said stubbornly. "You promised to stay with me. Just… just don't look." Her voice cracked and her lip started to tremble, her chin quivering as tears filled her eyes again.
"I won't look, Hermione, I promise."
And he didn't.
Pomfrey pointed to a chair and Draco sat in it carefully, removing the extra wand from his pocket and placing it on the bedside table before he focused his attention on Hermione's face. It was a whirlwind from there. Pomfrey got the cloak off of her and threw it on a chair. She was unable to hide the surprise in her eyes when she realized the girl was naked, and she was unable to stifle her outrage when she realized what had happened to Hermione.
Draco sat amidst the panic, holding Hermione's hand tightly in his own and watching her face closely just to prove that he wasn't disgusting, he wasn't like the person who had done those perverse things to her. She stared right back.
Dumbledore arrived after a while, talking to them through the curtain so as to respect the girls' privacy. He was clearly shocked beyond all recognition that Draco Malfoy was inside with Hermione Granger, keeping her calm and awake while Madam Pomfrey did what she had to do. Draco explained how he'd found her in the forest, not taking his eyes off her face for a moment. He watched as the cuts there slowly disappeared and only showed faint lines that would be gone by morning. He was fascinated when the bruising around her eye went down, the burst capillaries on the whites of her eye fading away to be replaced with the regular hue.
Dumbledore waited until Madam Pomfrey was finished and Hermione was completely tucked into her bed, Draco still sitting at her side with his hand in hers, before he entered the makeshift room and pulled up a chair.
"I need to know who did this to you, Miss. Granger."
Draco didn't realize that his entire life was going to crash down around him with the name she spoke.
She looked at Draco in complete and utter fear for a moment, and that should have been his first hint, but he figured she was just scared in general, not scared of his reaction.
"There were three of them, Sir, but I only know the name of one."
"Whose name is that, Miss. Granger?"
Hermione gave him another fleeting look, her hand spastically tightening around his for a moment before she looked away to their Headmaster. Draco raised his eyebrows in confusion and watched her face closely.
"Lucius Malfoy."
November 23, 2004
Ginny was absolutely flabbergasted. She looked as though she'd taken something heavy to the temple and her jaw was unhinged as she stared at Hermione like she'd never met her before. It took her a few moments to realize that neither Ron nor Harry seemed surprised at the information, and surmised correctly that they had known about it all along.
"Married?" she finally stuttered out, meeting everyone's eyes. "For how long?"
"Just coming up on our three-year anniversary, actually," Draco answered lazily.
Ginny's eyes, if possible, widened even more.
"Three years?" she asked in a hollow tone. "You've all kept this from me for three bloody years?"
"We had to, Ginny," Hermione answered slowly, weighing her words. "We couldn't have anyone know for the sake of our lives. Draco was a part of the Order but mistrusted by everyone here and I don't think people would have handled it well if they were informed that we had been together since our sixth year at school. You remember the way Seamus Finnegan acted when he learned we were dating after Draco had already been a part of the Order for a year? It would have been that but a thousand fold. We also could not risk Voldemort knowing under any circumstances, I would never risk his life like that, and that's not to say we don't trust you but word spreads in these damn safe houses faster than it should."
"He knows now though," Harry pointed out, looking awkward and uncomfortable about Ginny being in on the secret. She'd know how long he had been lying to her now and it didn't sit well with him. He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't speak to him for a week.
"Oh yes, back to that. I'd like to get this out there before anyone arrives anyway… it'll be less of a fight." Draco glanced at Ron quickly with his words, knowing the lanky man was going to be furious with what he had to say next. He turned to his wife and grasped her hands tightly in his own, meeting her dark eyes bravely.
"You need to come back to the Manor with me."
"What?" Bellowed Ron, predictably. "That's a bloody death sentence, Draco! What the hell are you playing at?"
"Let's hear him out, Ron," Harry said calmly, waiting for Draco to continue as he gripped Ginny's hand tightly.
"It's not a bloody death sentence," Draco snapped, turning to the others. "Have you somehow forgotten about the fact that Voldemort wants Hermione in the last five seconds or are you just being deliberately obtuse? Obviously I would never lead my wife, whom I care for and love beyond anything else, directly into the line of fire you bloody idiot."
"Not to mention the Vow," Harry added in.
Ron's face reddened immediately but before he could snap back Hermione stood up. "Stop it, both of you. Why do I need to go to the Manor, Draco?"
Draco looked away from Hermione for a moment, running his hand through his hair roughly before turning back to her.
"He has your parents."