Disclaimer: Like the other five chapters, I don't own Harry Potter. I do own Wormtail's stutter and Draco's silk pants, though.
A/N: One flashback and a bit of romance. Review! Please!
Escape
Chapter Six: Midnight Prophecy
"Fenrir's followers are p-positioned in Hogsmeade, your Lordship," Wormtail stammered. "They will keep a c-close eye on P-Potter."
The Dark Lord ran his hands over the smooth, sleek scales of Nagini before issuing Wormtail a short, satisfactory nod. Voldemort gazed out of the shattered window of the run down house, something of a smile playing on his smooth reptilian face. "And Malfoy's boy?" he hissed, his snake curling around the legs of the antique chair before resting her head on his shoulder.
"They have b-been informed t-to keep an eye on him."
"You, Wormtail, will be held accountable should any errors occur. I suggest you see that none do," the smile had yet to fade from the Dark Lord's face as Nagini hissed at the pathetic waste of air.
Wormtail took his dismissal graciously, bowing his head as he backed out of the room. He scurried back to join the Werewolves, reluctantly taking his place beside Fenrir. He was even more terrified than before of failure. The gurgling of saliva and heavy panting of his companions was all he had to keep him from expressing his fears.
He saw the grin appear on Fenrir's face as the leader of the ferals moved to join his comrades.
Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Flying, and a few other more obscure classes had been cancelled until the ferals were free from the Forbidden Forest. The students in those classes were assigned parchments to be returned to their professors by the end of the week so no one would fall behind. All Quidditch practices and matches were cancelled as well; the players and supporters causing a ruckus every time someone mentioned the fact. Many eyes were falling on Draco to be the blame. After so many years of Harry being the one to accuse, it was now Draco's turn to face the heat. As he made his way past the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, he heard silence. Conversations had ceased. The entire room turned to face him. He had been on lockdown for over a week since the incident had occurred. A select few, who had been hoping he had died, groaned with displeasure as Draco passed them. His cane clicked softly against the solid floor as he inched towards the Slytherin table, only to be refused his usual place by a handful of fellow Seventh Years including his own Pansy Parkinson. Not that he wanted her to be his; she just took the role upon herself. Draco pursed his lips, his brows coming together in a most unflattering position as he gestured for her to move her hand from his seat.
Pansy shook her head hard enough that, if one listened closely, they could hear the remnants of a brain rattling. "I'm sorry, Draco, but we're not risking ourselves because they want you! Go find somewhere else!"
Draco heard the weakness in her voice. Had he been in a better mood, he would have pushed her and pushed her until she was reduced to a sobbing wreck, but he hardly cared anymore. He leaned over her head, smacking the hands of those who denied him his dinner with his cane, and gathered some food before he made his way back towards the corridors. The chattering resumed once his fellow students had determined he was removing himself from their presence.
"Draco!"
The silence returned. Draco heard the shift of robes and plates as the students all turned to see who dared call his name. Draco felt his heart begin racing as a lump formed in his throat. He too began scanning the room for the source of the voice.
"Draco!"
He recognized the annoyance in the tone of the voice and turned himself fully around immediately. Why would she be so stupid…?
Hermione rose to her feet, the expression on her face brazen enough to reduce Draco to a glob of gelatin. Pineapple gelatin to be exact. She turned to face the Slytherins. Her eyes were shooting daggers and her words were venomous. "How dare you deny him anything! At least he had the courage to return to fight the war! The whole lot of you gathered your precious belongings and fled like the true cowards you are! Of all the people in this room, of EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!" By this point, heat coloured her face. Her voice was rough and entirely unlike anything Draco had heard from her throat before. "EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU felt that you were TOO IMPORTANT to be bothered! If anyone here should be denied anything, it should be you! One hundred and fifty points from Slytherin for your behaviour! Draco, let's go!" Hermione grabbed her belongings and Draco's plate of food and hurried out of the Great Hall. A warmth filled Draco as he looked at the slack-jawed fools staring at the place where Hermione originally stood. He caught Ginny Weasley as she silently celebrated Hermione's victory before he turned and followed after the Head Girl. He too was celebrating her amazing, and flattering, victory.
ooo
The small campfire blazed deep within the Forbidden Forest. The centaurs could no longer send their messengers to the edge to warn the school of the presence of the ferals. Twigs and branches snapped like bone as the pack circled before finding a spot to rest. They had not eaten in months now, saving their hunger for the moments that were soon to come. They had saved their aggression for the one who foiled their victory. No, not Potter. His fate was still destined. Malfoy's boy was to blame for their starvation. Now they had no rules to play by, no orders to follow. There was no Lord leading the pack. There was Fenrir. They needed no one else.
The hunger was fierce; the pain invigorating. Fenrir's eyes were glowing with rabid anticipation. They would strike the next full moon. None would survive and those who did, specifically chosen by Fenrir himself, would serve under him. They would become his kind…his slaves. His laughter rattled the creatures in the trees fiercely, causing them to flee their homes in search of safety. They were not safe anywhere now that the beloved centaurs were long since made unavailable. A loud snap drew deadly eyes in its direction. A lurking growl reverberated throughout his body as he advanced on the noise. With one quick swipe with his hand he threw the culprit towards the trees. Yellowing nails were stained with blood as Fenrir inched closer. He flicked his tongue over the tips of his nails as he violently picked the man up with his free hand. "Do you know what happens to those who disobey me?"
The man, terrified of his master, shook his head repeatedly.
"You have no method of spoken word?"
The gleam was all that remained in the man's eyes. The gleam that reflected from deep within Fenrir now the last memory the wretch would have. "Fight for it!" he called as he retreated to his tent. His feast was coming slowly, but he would savor it. How could one resist such a prize? The savage growls were music to his ears as his brethren tore apart the fool who had made himself a personal feast. It would not be long until the faculty realized their allies were no more. By then, they would be ready to strike. Yes, they would be quite ready. Fenrir's clawed hands ran across the back of Firenze, gently stroking the fur of the dying creature. "You, precious, will tell them we have fled," he growled. "Come day, you will tell them. Try to tell them we are here, and you will only make matters worse. You would not be as stupid as your kin, would you?" Fenrir dug his claws deep into the tender flesh of Firenze's hind before laughing as he exited. The plan was to be reviewed before played and he was going to see that everything played out to perfection.
ooo
"Honestly, 'Mione, what the bloody hell possessed you to stick up for Malfoy!?" Ron exclaimed in a hushed tone as they walked towards the library. Hermione had agreed to help Ron with his studies before working on her own only because he asked her so pathetically.
"Honestly, Ronald, why must you be so egg-headed?"
"He's Draco Malfoy!"
"Yes, but he's not the same Draco Malfoy you despise! Can't you see that? Or are you too blinded by the fact that he and I can have intelligent conversations when you know we can't?" Hermione's anger was lingering from the day's earlier events. She was not going to settle on being interrogated for being friends with Malfoy. They were, after all, stuck sharing the same space. What life would they have if all they did was quarrel?
Ron's face dropped and twisted. "I can too have an intelligent conversation! What makes Malfoy so special? You like former Death Eaters? Always knew you were gonna betray us."
That was it; the one statement that made Hermione Granger snap and ended Ronald Weasley in Madame Pomfrey's care for three days.
ooo
"You did WHAT?" Draco peered over the back of the couch at a frazzled and insanely embarrassed Granger.
"I hexed him."
Those words were music to Draco's ears as he rose from the couch and staggered over to Hermione. Without thinking, he pulled her into a tight embrace and laughed. "It's about time you stopped listening to his rubbish and did something about it!"
Hermione blinked, peeling his arms from around her waist as she stepped to the left and walked around him towards the large chair. She sat with a heavy flop and rubbed her temples with her first finger knuckles. Draco hid behind his hair as he blushed, his gaze quickly turning towards the wall as he fought the tinge of pink from his skin. Hermione watched him carefully, surveying the scars that she could see. All of them were permanent, caused by dark magic. Every scar held a different story and every scar was a painful reminder of the life Draco had fled. Hermione looked to her own hands and arms. The faint scars that reminded her of that night would fade away completely and she would be left with the memories and nothing more. Her face dropped as she watched him turn towards her again. This was not the same boy who had called her Mudblood or who sought to make her life a living hell every waking second. This was the man who watched her carefully in the Great Hall. The man who had checked on her when she was in Madame Pomfrey's care. He didn't know she knew that he had checked on her more than once during her stays. Madame Pomfrey was not quiet about the guests she had to shoo away. Hermione rose, the headache she was getting sending little waves of pain through her body. She stood for a moment bracing herself on the chair before she walked over to Draco and took his hands in hers. She turned them over and ran her fingers over the scarred porcelain before pulling him into a hug. He had been thrown off balance, but quickly regained it as his arms fell over her shoulders. They remained locked in each other's embrace for a few moments, lost in the thoughts of a different world. A world in which one was not hunted for being who he was.
"He can't settle that you're a different person," she said softly, her lips brushing against his milky flesh. "He won't accept that you are now who you always wished to be."
"Not everyone can," he replied, a thickness in his voice. "Not every wishes to see past who I was forced to be, Hermione," he pulled back a bit, brushing her hair from her eyes with his fingers. "What matters are those who can and those that do."
A smile spread across Hermione's face as she poked him in the ribs. "I've a massive headache starting. I'm going to take a bath and settle for bed. We can talk around the fire in an hour yes?"
Draco looked at the mantle clock and smiled. He had not realized how quickly time passed when he was with her. She made him forget his troubles and enjoy himself. As he always heard the muggles say, 'Time flies when you are having fun.' He issued her a nod as she disappeared into her quarters, emerging in a bathing robe with a towel draped over her arms. As she passed into the bathroom, the door shutting with a light click, Draco found himself watching her with an eager curiosity to understand her. She was complex; more complex than any female he had acquainted himself with either socially or physically. She through him for a loop and made him fight to understand her. He caught the faint scent of lavender as he returned to his quarters to ready himself for the night.
Draco stared into the silver pool of his pensieve, pleased he did not require its services for the night. Sleep would come to him quickly he felt. He moved from the object towards his dresser, draping an emerald silk robe over his skin as he glanced at the projection clock. Half-passed eleven. His black silk pajama bottoms caught the light from the waxing moon as he made way to the window. Without a glance toward the forest's edge he threw closed the curtains. His owl hooted softly, almost sympathetically as he watched his master limp through their quarter's door into the common room.
Lavender met his nostrils as he stepped into the room. He caught a slight movement and made his way toward the couch, leaning over and planting a playful kiss atop Granger's wet head. She jumped and looked up at him, justifiably startled, but settled as he made his way around to sit beside her. He expected a shove away as he made himself comfortable, but she did not. Instead she cuddled against him, the dampness from her hair seeping through the thin material. Before he would have thrown a fit, enraged not only with her touching him, but with the fact that she was ruining a very pricey silk robe, but not now.
"I'm sorry about earlier, Draco. If I could have stopped them…I would have."
He found her apology unnecessary since she was not the one who denied him his place. She had given him one. "Don't apologize. You've always been right about my house. We are a bunch of selfish, two-faced bastards."
"I wasn't right about everyone," she replied as she gazed up at him.
"Well, maybe not everyone, but you were pretty close," he chuckled. He felt her shift her weight against him and he smiled. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had chosen Gryffindor. You know? I wonder how different things would have been."
"You probably wouldn't have been nearly as accepted," her voice was sleep-filled, her words slow.
"What's that supposed to mean, Granger?" he mocked offense.
"Only that you would have been as desirable as Ron and Harry."
Ouch. He was better looking than them…and far more interesting…right?
"If that doesn't make me feel better about myself," he joked as he shifted an inch to the side. His good leg was going numb.
"You know what I mean, Draco, so don't try to act like you don't," she murmured, repositioning herself until she was comfortable again. Draco ran his fingers through her hair as he looked to the clock on the mantle. "Maybe we can have dinner together…just you and I…" her voice trailed off as her breathing became shallow. Draco smiled as she curled up in his lap and carefully positioned himself on the couch, conjuring a pillow to put under his head as he slid himself beside her. He rested a pillow under her head and there they stayed. Draco gave one final glance to the mantel. It was well past midnight.
ooo
No one could hear their howls as they positioned themselves around the school, hidden deep within the forests. They would perfect their attack. Nothing could go wrong.