So many questions, so many answers, so little time for Hermione Granger. She could barely handle all the stress. A seventeen-year-old girl shouldn't have to face a war like this. She shouldn't have to be constantly put down and diminished for her blood that shit hurt.
At least she felt safe with Harry and Ron at the former Black House Harry had inherited from Sirius. Even if Kreacher wasn't all that helpful, Dobby was always kind to them and would do anything Harry asked him to.
"Dobby is so happy to serve Harry Potter and his friends sir..."
"I'm glad to have you too Dobby." Harry nods.
"Much better than over there at the Malfoys. Even if Dobby did hear wonders of Ms. Granger back then."
This certainly caught their attention.
"W-what do you mean Dobby?"
"Well…" Dobby played with his fingers. "Dobby is not sure if Dobby should say but, Mistress Dracia talked about you a lot Ms. Granger. Dobby heard all about how you always had the right answer and knew everything. How you talked so eloquently and performed spells so gracefully."
Hermione stared at Dobby open-mouthed blushing madly as Harry and Ron both smirked widely at her.
"Looks like Malfoy had a little les crush on Mione!" Ron snickers.
"Shut up Ron." She kept blushing. "She….she…"
"What? Everyone knows she's into girls."
"Yes but she….she called me a Mudblood, made my life a living hell…."
"Could've been for a reason don't you think?"
"That's silly." She shakes her head. "No, no, no, impossible. Now stop talking nonsense and start thinking where the next Hocrux might be." She quickly goes out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
Harry and Ron look at each other raising a brow.
"Is it me or she smiled a little?"
They both snorted at the same time.
The war was at its peak. Should be the most fun for Dracia except it wasn't. She was scared and anxious 90% of the time. The Malfoys had fallen in disgrace and Voldemort often treated them like trash, one wrong move and they'd be all dead. Not to mention all the people whose murders she had witnessed in the past couple of months. She just couldn't be the witch they wanted her to be. As much as she tried to shut down empathy she couldn't kill.
Dracia's current worst fear was confirmed the day they brought in the trio to Malfoy Manor. Father had told her it wasn't time for stupid pity over anyone. This was war and she had to torture and kill whoever she had to torture and kill. But you can't just ask someone to torture and kill the people they went to school with regardless of whether they were friends or not. At least that's how Dracia felt and how every normal person should feel, but apparently her family of psychopaths didn't think that way.
"Is it or is it not?" Aunt Bellatrix asks her eagerly holding a deformed Potter.
Dracia makes a face kneeling next to him. She recognised him instantly especially for the look he was giving her.
"It's…very hard to say. I don't know…"
Her father angrily grabbed her by the arm. "Well you better be able to say, you know what will happen if we hand him over to the Dark Lord and turns out he's not the right Potter."
Dracia looks down and nods still refusing to give them away. She couldn't bear to look at Hermione now. Please not her. Her prayers fell on deaf ears as Aunt Bellatrix spotted the Gryffindor sword by their side when it was supposed to be in her vault. Before she could stop it she was already dragging Granger as Potter and Weasley were being taken to the dungeons.
"Aunt Bellatrix.."
It was almost impossible to talk to her deranged aunt once she got all psycho mode breathing heavily and all.
"…I don't think that will be necessary…"
"Shut up Dracia! Crucio!"
As Hermione's screams filled the room Dracia twitched and tried to cover her ears closing her eyes. But she couldn't. She couldn't just shut herself out like she always did. She almost cried herself watching Hermione screaming and twitching in pain.
"Mione…I'm so sorry…" she whispered so softly only she could hear herself.
She had to do something, this was too much to her to bear, she just wanted to kill. For the first time in her life she wanted to kill her aunt in anger over her doing so much as touching her Gryffindor princess. Instead however she sat there for another minute to think. She had to be slightly more cunning than that she couldn't just jump and go all "AVEDA KADABRA BITCH!" on her like that. She needed a smarter plan to save Granger and not get caught. She slowly sneaked away into the dungeons.
Ron and Harry jump when they see her.
"What are you doing to her?!"
Dracia rolls her eyes. "Giving her a massage Weasley, what does it sound like?"
"I swear you…!"
"Shut up now and listen, you have to escape, take the elf with you."
"WHAT? Now if you think we're gonna leave Hermione alone here…"
"I'll take care of Granger okay?!"
They both stare at her with open eyes. So what Dobby said was true. Unbelievable.
"Go! Go! I promise I'll get her back to you!"
"How can we trust you?" Ron says defensively. "After all you've done…"
"I'd love to give you some enlightenment Weasley but sadly there's not enough time okay? So either you take Potter with you and let me handle Granger's situation or you figure out yourself a better plan."
Harry and Ron look lost for a moment before giving up with a sigh.
"I swear to god Malfoy if anything else happens to her you're dead." Harry threatened her before taking Ron and letting Dobby apparate them out.
Dracia ran back up hoping no one had noticed her absence. Bellatrix was just done with Hermione who was laying on the floor still sobbing with the word Mudblood carved into her arm.
"I'll take her to the dungeon." Dracia does her best to smirk.
Bellatrix snickered and nods walking away with Narcissa. Dracia sighs and gets a wet rag before kneeling next to Hermione and wrapping it around her arm. As shaken as Hermione was, she gave her a surprised look.
"I'm so sorry…"
Hermione trembled a bit letting a couple more tears fall and doesn't say anything. Dracia slowly puts a hand on her stomach rubbing it gently.
"I'll get you out of here okay?"
If Hermione looked surprised at the beginning now she looked shocked.
"…w-what…?"
"Can you stand up?"
Hermione slowly tries to sit up feeling dizzy. Dracia places a hand on her lower back to support her and takes her hand with the other helping her up. Hermione was losing balance so she wrapped her arms around Dracia's neck. Dracia suppressed a smile as she pulled her closer by the waist and took out her wand with her free hand apparating away to Bill Weasley's house. She knew it was being used by the Order, Snape and her talked a lot lately.
Harry and Ron jump when they appear out of the blue.
"Mione!"
Dracia gently helps her sit on a chair.
"Well a promise is a promise." She hands her, her wand. "Here, Bellatrix has yours, you can use mine. I'll use my mother's."
"Wow…thanks Malfoy…"Ron says genuinely impressed.
Dracia salutes lazily and apparates out with Narcissa's wand before someone realizes she's gone. Harry and Ron quickly run to seat next to Hermione.
"Are you okay?"
Hermione sighs and nods. "Yes I'm okay…she helped me out…."
"Yeah we just saw that, that's a side of her I never thought I'd see."
Hermione chuckles. "She was…gentle…"
Harry looks at her raising a brown. "Mione…."
"She confessed she liked me since last year at Slughorn's Christmas dinner." She sighs.
The boys gasp in shock.
"Why didn't you tell us?!"
"Because I thought she was just lying to me okay? I laughed in her face and sent her away."
Harry's jaw hits the floor. "Mione, if she just risked her life to save you in a war I don't think she was lying."
"Well I didn't know that back then now did I?"
"And…how do you feel?"
"I…" she shakes her head. "It doesn't matter." She makes a move to get up but Ron stops her.
"Mione…we're always gonna be your friends…"
Hermione crosses her arms frowning. "I…I think I've felt a certain attraction from a while…but I didn't want to admit it.." she makes an effort to stop her emotional tears.
Harry pulls her closer for a hug. "Hermione it's okay. We don't get to choose who we fall in love with."
"We are at war…"
"And I am the living proof love can defeat a war." He smiles showing his scar.
Hermione smiles back before looking down at Dracia's wand in her hands.
"No one else can know."
"Our lips are sealed."
It was gonna be a difficult war but it was good to know she had an unexpected ally on the other side.
