It Wasn't Enough

By: Acro

Chapter Three:

The Last Normal Day of Granger


Diagon Alley

3:36 PM

To Hermione, her work hours went by fast. Soon she was leaving Flourish and Blotts and heading down the stairs toward the Leaky Cauldron. She stopped short at the doorway and decided not to enter. She turned and started down the road again. She was coming to Gringotts when a hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She stopped dead and looked back to see Draco giving her a toothy grin.

"Well, hello again, Granger," he drawled. "I seem to be meeting you everywhere lately."

"I'm aware," she replied, swatting his hand off her shoulder. She turned to look at him to find yet another annoyance clinging to his arm. "Hello, Pansy." Pansy pursed her lips at Hermione who only rolled her eyes.

"Why are we talking to her, Drakie?" asked Pansy, looking up at the man she was clinging to.

"No need to do anymore of the sort, Pansy," Hermione retorted, making Pansy glare at her. "I was just going home." 'Not like I want to be around either of you anyway.'

Hermione stepped around them and entered the leaky Cauldron after all. The bartender gave her skeptical glance and then watched her head for the front door, leading out into muggle London. Hermione removed her cloak and robes, put them in her bag and retrieved a scarf. She tightened it around her neck and headed off down the lane. The days were becoming chilly and rain was becoming much more common on the day. Hermione had only taken a few steps down the sidewalk when it started to drizzle. Not feeling like walking all the way home in the rain, she took a few steps toward the sidewalk, checked to see if any muggles were watching, and then threw her wand hand out into the street.

A slight crashing sound came from down the street behind her. She looked over her shoulder and could see the outline of the Knight Bus through the rain racing in her direction. She withdrew her hand as the bus came to a halt beside her and the door opened. She stepped onto the stairs and climbed into the bus. The man inside the bus greeted her and took her money before showing her to a chair near the driver's seat. She watched the talking head on the review mirror swinging back and forth.

"So where to, Miss?" asked the attendant. (Is that what he's called? What was his name anyway?)

"East Apartments, Bristol, please," Hermione replied. The man nodded and the bus gave a slight cracking sound and was off again, making Hermione jolt and grabbing the armrests. It took her a little bit to get used to it but when she did, she glanced out the window and watched the scenery blur by. She was drifting into an uneasy sleep when she heard someone call her name.

"Hermione?" She opened her eyes and looked up to see a round man with chestnut hair standing in the aisle clutching a seat and looking at her.

"Neville? Neville! It's been so long!" Hermione exclaimed. "How've you been?"

"Fine, fine," he replied. "I opened a Magical Plant shop in Diagon Alley. How about you?"

"I got a job at Flourish and Blotts," Hermione replied.

"Oh…" Neville gasped. "I always thought you'd become a teacher."

"I thought about it after we graduated," she explained, "but decided against it. I much prefer the quiet life. Maybe in a few years I'll start training to become a professor but for right now I'm happy where I am." The man at the front of the bus approached Hermione and said to her, "We've reached your destination, Miss."

"Oh, alright," Hermione said, getting to her feet. "I guess I'll see you around, Neville. Maybe I'll stop by your shop some time."

"Okay. Bye, Hermione," Neville replied, holding his hand up in a slight wave.

Hermione stepped off the Knight Bus and onto the sidewalk outside the apartment building. She started up the stairs leading to the second floor and over to apartment B12. She unlocked the door and shuffled in, kicking off her shoes and heading into the kitchen after grabbing a towel from the linen cabinet. She dried her hair as best as she could and then draped the towel over her shoulders. She opened the refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of water, and sat down on her couch. She opened to water bottle and drank a large gulp. When it rained, she always seemed to get thirsty. When the water bottle was empty, she set it down on the table in front of her and lay down on the couch. She pulled her wand out of her pack and flicked it, turning on the television and lowering the volume.

She sat up when someone knocked on the door and flicked the T.V. off with her wand. She moved over to the door, still clutching the thin strip of wood in her hand as she did so. She peered outside the peek hole and sighed in relief when she recognized the two people standing outside her apartment. She unlocked the door and welcomed Harry and Ginny into her home.

"Hi, guys," Hermione said. Ginny smiled at her and Harry looked around the small living quarters.

"Seems different from last time we were here," Harry commented, looking at the living room that was connected to the kitchen.

"It's probably because the last time you were here, Trisha was here, too. When she moved out, I rearranged the apartment," Hermione explained. "Why? Does it look bad?"

"No…It definitely looks like you live here now," Ginny said, pulling an old looking book out of the bookcase in the living room. "Lots of books and reference material. So anyway, 'Mione, did you have fun last night?" Hermione suddenly grimaced.

"I wouldn't know," she replied. "I don't remember a thing from last night, Gin. It's all a blur. All I know is that I woke up this morning, wearing Draco Malfoy's shirt and with Draco Malfoy in my bathroom."

"Sounds like you had fun!" Ginny laughed. Hermione sighed and looked back at her friend.

"I don't think doing anything with that snotty prat would be 'fun,'" she said, scoffing slightly.

"Oh, c'mon 'Mione, you can't obviously say that you've never thought that Malfoy was at least cute," Ginny reasoned, making her husband give her a curious stare. Hermione was quiet for a moment.

"So, what did you guys come over for?" asked Hermione, changing the subject and putting on the best smile she could.

Meanwhile…


Malfoy Manor

4:10 PM

Draco paced back and forth in the study, looking at the shelves upon shelves of books that surrounded him and murmuring to himself. His normally perfect, gelled hair was a dangling mess about his face, giving him a slightly flustered look. His socked feet were wearing down the rug and a small house elf, draped in a bed sheet was chasing after him, writing down what he was saying on a piece of parchment it was carrying.

"…and furthermore, I would like to wish you my highest regard and my thanks for your being my fan. Yours truly, Draco Malfoy," he said as the house elf scribbles furiously. "Alright, make about three hundred copies of that and send it to all of my writers."

"Yes, sir," said the elf and raced out of the room just as Pansy was entering.

"Hello, Drakie," she greeted. "Still answering fan mail?"

"Just finished, Pansy," he replied, coldly. "I'll be retiring, soon."

"I'll come with you," Pansy replied.

"Not tonight, Pansy," he snapped. "I think it would be better if we slept in different rooms."

"But why, Drakie? We should get used to sleeping in the same room for after our wedding," Pansy complained.

"That will have to wait until after the wedding," Draco said and then left the study, leaving Pansy standing there with the look of uttermost bitterness of her face.

Draco strode down the corridor of Malfoy Manor, running a pale hand through his equally pale hair. He threw open a pair of double doors and entered his room. He removed his green tie and tossed it in an armchair. He unbuttoned the top to buttons of his shirt and plopped down on his bed. He ran his hand through his hair again and then picked up a yellow folder that labeled his first case file. So much for starting with the easy stuff.

His first auror mission was of a murderer who'd been going around, killing women of 30 years or younger. He always left the same distinct mark on his victims. A circle with what looked like horns on it carved between the collarbones of each of his victims. Draco looked at the photographs of each of the six victims so far and then closed the file and rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb.


Back at Hermione's apartment…

5:56

"Well, 'Mione, we've got to go," said Harry, dragging Ginny by the arm toward the door. "We've both got work tomorrow. See you soon, okay?"

"Yeah, see you," Hermione said in almost a whisper. She waved them good-bye and then turned to look out the window a little more. "Yeah, right…soon."

Hermione waited until she was sure that they were gone and then departed her apartment for an evening walk. The rain had stopped only minutes before but the sidewalk was damp and the streets, though empty, were slick. Her shoes shuffled against the pavement as she walked. Her eyes focus on the sidewalk as she slumped along and to her the eerie silence was welcome. She was just about to turn around and head back when she heard a rustling and crying from a nearby alleyway.

"No…please, no," begged a female voice. Hermione crept over to the edge of the alley and hid around the corner as not to be noticed. "I'll give you anything. Money, jewelry, anything…please just stop…"

Hermione peered around the corner and saw a hunched over figure towering over a pale girl much younger than Hermione. The girl seemed to be powerless and frozen under the man's wandering fingertips as he fondled her. The girl cried out for help and the man slapped her, dropping something onto the ground. The object glinted in the moonlight and Hermione could see what it was. A switchblade. After a few more minutes of fondling and violent touches, the man retrieved the knife and flicked the blade out with a sickening 'shick'. He pulled out something else out of his bag. A wand! Hermione covered her mouth to muffle the gasp as the man pointed the wand at the girl's chest and whispered, "Avada kadavra!" An ominous green light shot into the girl's chest and filled her body, so that her skin gave of a ghostly green glow. When the girl was dead, the man took the switchblade and carved a circle with two lines that resembled horns. He laughed unmercifully and replaced the wand in his bag and the blade in his pocket.

"Oh my god…" Hermione whispered, a little louder than she meant to. The man's head shot up and he looked back and directly at Hermione. She jerked around the corner and clamped her hands over her mouth. 'Maybe he didn't hear me…maybe he didn't see me…oh god…please say he doesn't know I'm here!'


A/N: Oooh! Cliffy! Don't you just love cliffhangers? I do. So anyway, R&R and I'll update soon.

Acro