Much to her mortification, Ginny and Harry had to literally pry her off Malfoy. She was shaking so badly and her legs were so wobbly she just sat there and hugged Ginny for a good five minutes while the boys argued about what to do in hushed whispers. She was going to kill them. She was going to murder those boys. They knew she was deathly afraid of broomsticks and heights and flying and all things stupidity related. The word 'broomstick' penetrated her consciousness and she whipped her head around, spooked.
"We will keep close to the ground," Ron was saying, "just use the speed of the brooms to get us past the anti-apparition barrier. She's not going to freak out three feet off the ground."
"It's clearly a phobia! She almost broke my neck in panic; you simply cannot expect her to get astride a broomstick. We are going to have to walk. I don't think it's very far," Malfoy was hissing back, aiming an angry thumb in her direction.
"We don't have time for her silly aversion to brooms. Those Ministry berks will be searching the forest any minute now!" Ron growled, trying to speak over Malfoy without being any louder.
Ironically, her familiar anger with Ron helped center her nerves a bit, and Hermione pulled back from Ginny, drying her tears and pushing her ruined hair behind her ears. She wished she had a headband or a hair tie to contain the wild mess, but she had nothing on but her school uniform and Malfoy's cloak. Embarrassed to be wearing his clothes but still grateful for the warmth, Hermione pulled it about her, ridiculously comforted by the enveloping feel of it. She knew that she was associating the cloak with the tiny shred of stability it had offered her during her ordeal, and that feeling comforted by a stupid cloak was irrational, but she needed the reassurance just a little longer.
"You can't just 'get over' a phobia, you moron!" Malfoy was shouting in a whisper.
"We should never have stopped before we hit the barrier!" Ron snarled back, equally quiet.
"I had to check on her! You know how afraid she is of heights, Ron! What if she passed out? Malfoy would have tumbled the damn broom!" Harry whisper shouted angrily, pointy finger aimed in her direction. The three of them were all worked up, huddled in an angry circle, gesturing and pointing and trying to be quiet while she recovered.
"I'm telling you, the barrier is close. We can be there in five minutes. It's not going to kill you to walk a half mile." Malfoy could even sneer in an undertone. "Even in those ragged shoes."
Hermione put aside the slightly surreal feeling that came over her watching Harry and Ron and Malfoy attempt to work together in order to insure her safety and replaced it with her usual no-nonsense attitude. She had a million and one things to ruminate over but right now they were not quite out of the woods, so to speak, and they needed to focus on getting out of this mess.
She marched up to her friends, having had just about enough of people talking about her, over her, for her. She let her anger at being pushed around off its leash just a bit, using that spark of outrage to keep her focused, keep her on point. Any decision making from this point forward was going to be hers. "We'll get on the brooms if we hear any pursuit," she declared, letting everyone know she was back with them mentally. "As it is, we had best get moving."
Hermione had thought her previous embarrassment was the absolute worst she was capable of feeling. She had obviously underestimated just how mortified a person could be. Malfoy turned to face her and she almost died of shame. Malfoy looked like he'd been whipped with a garden rake. He had a very nasty scratch down the side of his face, his neck and collarbone also marked with gouges. Blood stained his pale, wildly tangled hair, and he had deep purple bruises coming in on one high cheekbone and his swollen jaw.
"Oh my God, Malfoy!" she exclaimed, horrified. "I'm so sorry." She noticed a deep purple blotch on his neck with a distinctive shape and covered her mouth with both hands. "Is that a bite mark?"
"Not your fault, Granger," he growled, his eyes cutting towards the boys. "If I'd have known that I'd be flying with a wildcat today, I'd have cast a couple dozen protective charms. I'll know better in the future."
Ron let out a loud snicker, copied by Harry and Ginny, and Hermione gave them a look. This was not in any way, shape or form funny.
"That's what you get when you tangle with a Gryffindor," Ginny taunted, and they all erupted in another round of laughter.
She whipped out her wand, sick with guilt and desperate to repair the damage she had done. "Here, let me do some healing spells!"
Malfoy shied away from her wand, bringing up a hand to divert her. "Let's get out of here first. Do you know how to neutralize a scent trail? I'll do acidic, you do base."
She turned, sufficiently diverted by the task and not wanting to push her magic on him. She had certainly already done enough damage already. Still, even as she cast low and high and wide, erasing any trace of their path from magical or physical tracking methods, she couldn't help but look at him from the corner of her eye as he mirrored her spellcasting perfectly. The damage was awful. She couldn't believe she'd marked him up so badly. She gave Ron, who was still snickering, a desperate look, and he finally straightened up and started trying to put a serious face on. They finished their magic and were quick to get on the move.
Malfoy led the way, quick as a rabbit, through the woods, parallel with the path but not actually on it, and she fell to the rear of the group with Ginny. After only five minutes or so, she was huffing pretty good and feeling a pinch in her side from Malfoy's rapid pace and the exertion of trudging through the undergrowth and dodging roots and rocks. She wasn't exactly into nature hikes on her best day, and this was definitely not her best day. She was just about to suggest a rest when Malfoy called back that he could see the marker. Anxious to get out of the woods and somewhere safe, she powered through and tried to speed up as much as she could.
The group clustered around the white, waist high stone that signified the end of the Hogwarts wards that prevented magical travel, catching their breath, and waiting for her. Malfoy pulled out a now familiar looking disk and slapped it on the marker. "Anyone object to heading to Malfoy Manor?" he asked as she wheezed up to the group.
"Won't that be the next place they look for me?" she asked, staring down at the portkey, ambivalent about their next location as long as it wasn't here. Anything was an improvement.
"Maybe, but I can seal off the Manor to portkey, floo, and apparition. Lock down the physical security. It's probably the most secure place in Britain if you want to avoid the Ministry." There was a small silence, and she was sure that everyone was remembering that Voldemort himself had battened down quite comfortably at Malfoy Manor. When no one objected, Malfoy took out his wand, calling her attention to the wretched scratched condition of his beautiful hands, and cast the Portus spell.
Suddenly, it was very important to Hermione to not go to Malfoy Manor. True, Malfoy had been very accommodating of her wishes thus far, but he also desired her compliance. She needed to remember that. And she needed him to know that her compliance was never a foregone conclusion.
"Wait. There is no reason for everyone to miss classes over this." It did make sense to go to Malfoy Manor. But it wasn't the only plan that made sense, and she didn't want to be stuck there. She would go to Australia, check in on her parents. No one knew their location, not even the boys. "I have somewhere safe to go until tomorrow. Harry, you take Ginny and Ron back to the castle. You have a Malfoy portkey to meet me on location tomorrow at 2:30."
Harry was already shaking his head, mouth opened to protest her plan, when Malfoy spoke up. "You shouldn't be alone. If you don't want Potter to provide security, than I can call in my personal team to escort you wherever you would prefer to go."
Hermione really hated her sense of humor sometimes. It was bad and wrong to have to fight back a laugh as she watched Harry close his mouth, flabbergasted. The look on his face when he realized he and Malfoy were about to have the same argument, about to agree, was just priceless to her. She smothered the impulse to let a smile loose and rolled her eyes hard, being difficult and rude, just to make Harry feel better.
"I don't need security to visit my parents. Everyone needs to head back to the castle and act like they have no idea where I am. I'll send the Headmistress a note stating I've had a family emergency. Plausible deniability. We are not subverting a Ministry summon; I'm simply unavailable and unreachable." The more she spoke, the more she liked her plan.
Malfoy gave her a flat look, a look she was starting to realize meant she had somehow disappointed him. "The first place they will look for you is your parents. You need to choose a location they can't find you." He sounded a little strained, like he was trying to be reasonable but being pushed to the very limits of his patience. As if all of his reasonableness was only to pacify her, and he fully expected to get his way. She felt her metaphorical heels dig in a little deeper.
She looked down at her hands, noted the damage, the blood under her nails, and took out her wand, doing some quick cleansing charms. "They can look all they want, they won't find me. My parents security is impenetrable, and God himself doesn't know their location. I designed their defences against not only Voldemort, but the Ministry, knowing that the organization could be compromised."
She twisted her wand in her hair, trying to contain the mess of it and was insanely grateful when Ginny silently handed her a hair tie. Quick as thought, she plaited her hair into a messy braid, feeling absurdly more human with her hair pulled back and her hands clean. It was the little things that mattered. She shoved her wand in the pocket of her skirt she had sown there specifically to hold her wand, snugly next to the hidden ring, and suddenly she felt a whole lot more capable. More like a woman running a covert evade and escape mission and less like a scared little girl lost in the woods.
"We are wasting time here." Ron glanced around the empty forest as though he expected to be descended on any second, and for a heartbeat she was reminded of those awful days avoiding snatchers while they hunted horcruxes. "The Ministry could find us at any moment. If this requires further discussion, then we should Apparate to a second location and discuss it there."
Malfoy didn't speak over Ron, didn't clamor to be heard. He simply spoke at the same time...as if Ron didn't exist, as if he wasn't speaking. The casual dismissal of her friend lit a low flame in her blood and she found herself glaring quite rudely at Malfoy as he spoke. "Your parents are still under security measures you put in place during the war?" It was a loaded question, and she wasn't about to explain to him that her parents liked those security measures. That they liked the fact that magical people had no access to them. After she had wiped their memories, once they understood the far-reaching ramifications of her magic and their defenselessness against it, suddenly her extreme protection measures seemed appropriate to them. But she wasn't about to go into all of the complications and long-lasting damage that had been done to her relationship with her Muggle parents now. Or ever, with him.
For a moment her breath was painful to get into her lungs, but she did her best to pretend the question didn't affect her and shrugged. "Yes, that is correct." She turned her attention to Ron, dismissing Malfoy as thoroughly as he had dismissed her friends. If anyone was going to be ignored it was going to be him. He wasn't part of their group, no matter how he seemed to be horning in on their escape. "There isn't a whole lot to discuss here. I just need to heal Malfoy's face, and I can go on my way."
Harry, who'd been impatiently waiting to get a word in edgewise, finally butted in. His mouth twisted and sour from agreeing with Malfoy, but his voice determined and firm. "There is a whole lot to discuss, Hermione Granger. You've completely lost the plot if you think your friends are just going to let you go off by yourself when you are being hunted by the Ministry!"
"This is the first place they will look for you, Hermione!" Ron snarled, frustrated. "This or Hogsmeade are the only two places to leave Hogwarts through unauthorized channels. They will have finished the search by now. Just because Ministry officials are incompetent doesn't mean the Aurors are. We need to change locations!"
"Let's just go to the damn Manor! We can discuss where you want to go and who you want to go with you from there. Or I can put you up in a guest room, whatever you want." Whatever patience Malfoy had in reserve had clearly been exhausted, and he was almost as frustrated as Ron. It was slightly amusing, or would have been if she wasn't unable to separate the damage done to him and her guilt about it from the situation.
She tried to remember those frantic moments on the broom, figure out when she had bitten him like a frightened animal. It was all a blur. She supposed the majority of scratching and gouging, and, dare she think it, biting had occured in those first moments when she was trying to get away from him and back onto the windowsill. He'd had a death grip on her, which later had been comforting, but in those moments had held her anchored where she did not want to be. She remembered quite clearly being latched onto the windowsill, kicking and thrashing, while Ron pried her fingers loose and Malfoy pulled her into his body. That would explain the bruises, even the scratches. But even though she had ended up facing him on the broom, she still didn't picture herself as a biter.
Except right now she felt like she could bite through metal. "You are not listening! If we want to avoid implicating everyone in a plot to avoid ministry officials, then I need to Apparate alone, and you all need to go to class." She gave Harry a quick reassuring squeeze and tried to continue with a softer voice. "I won't have any trouble avoiding the Ministry now that you have all given me such a nice head start."
A lone dog bark, quickly taken up by an entire pack, broke the tense standoff. Hermione pulled out her wand to Apparate out of there, trying to shoo the boys, but Ron grabbed her arm in a fierce grip. "It's too late for us to get away clean, we need to stick together."
She processed that for half a heartbeat before sighing in agreement.
"Fucking finally," Malfoy snarled, downright livid at this point, and the five of them circled around the portkey, fingers hovering over the silver piece, spurred on by the baying of dogs closing in. Hermione could hear people crashing through the woods, and her heart began to really hammer in distress. "On three: one, two…"
As Malfoy said "three", she touched her finger to the cold metal and felt the tug of portkey travel at her navel. Seconds later, she was tossed free of the magic to the floor. However, much to her surprise, she didn't crash. Cradled by air, magic caught her and tossed her back to her feet. She saw everyone around her being magically centered and looked around in curiosity. They were in a completely unfurnished room with only a lovely wooden stand and a basket. In the basket were dozens of identical silver portkeys. Malfoy tossed his in the basket with a click.
Taking a deep cleansing breath, Hermione spared a handful of heartbeats to just enjoy having gotten away clean and safe. Then, she reordered her thoughts lightning fast and spun to confront Malfoy.
"Sorry about the rough landing," he was saying as he put away his wand. "I've been meaning to have the Apparition softening cushion calibrated. I'll have it done before your next visit."
How thoughtful of him. Like she'd be visiting the manor for tea every other Tuesday. She crossed her arms, put her interrogation face on, and squared off. "What were you talking about when you said there had been murders and bribes? Just how much do you know about this law that you have not told us?"
He sighed, clearly irritated, and she was relieved to see her friends all adopt similar scowls in Malfoy's direction, presenting a united front. The moment stretched a little too long before he spoke, quiet, polite, and annoying. "Let's get out of the Apparition room and somewhere we can talk."
"This location is fine with me, thank you," she argued back in an equally polite tone. Even as she said it she knew she was being unreasonable. But damn it. She was done with reasonable. She'd very reasonably went along with the law. She'd very reasonably went along with getting engaged. She'd very reasonably went along with the escape from Hogwarts. Now she was standing right smack dab in the middle of Malfoy territory, and she wasn't moving one damn inch until she got some answers. If Malfoy wanted reasonable, he should have picked someone else.
Ginny leaned over, whispering to her, red with embarrassment. "Actually, you are not supposed to linger in an Apparition space Hermione, no one else can use it while we are in here…"
Since when did Ginny Weasley care what you were supposed to do? So what if they were in Malfoy's fancy smancy Apparation room? She had been rushed, pushed, nudged, broom-napped, and wedged into an engagement contract. She didn't care if the whole world had to wait, she would be taking her time.
"Too bad," she didn't bother to lower her voice. "I like it in here and I want to know what the hell is going on!"
Malfoy crossed his arms to mimic her and gave her a slow once over that had her hackles rising. He looked ridiculously good in his Quidditch gear. The custom fit must have cost a fortune. What kind of asswipe dropped a months salary on practice gear? She was hotly aware that his outfit was incomplete because she was currently draped from shoulders to knees in his ridiculously luxuriously soft cloak. She could feel a blush staining her cheeks and resisted the urge to whip the cloak off and hand it back to him.
"Who's been murdered, Malfoy?" A horrible thought occurred to her. "Was it you? Did you kill someone over this law?
"What the utter fuck? I've been at school with you this whole time. When have I had time to run around committing murder?" He snarled, suddenly quite furious, and she was glad to see it. She was sick of his self contained fake politeness. If they were going to be honest, might as well let that fury and dislike off its leash.
Vaguely, she heard Ron and Ginny whispering in the background, heard Harry murmuring that maybe they needed to calm down. She didn't want calm. She wanted answers.
"Oh don't play dumb with me. Your family is knee deep in the Dark Arts and has killed before. Who's dead? And did you have anything to do with it? I deserve to know before I do this binding ceremony with a murderer!"
"We don't commit murder! We defend what's ours. With deadly force if necessary! Two totally different concepts. And in case you didn't notice, oh high and mighty Gryffindor princess...you are current on the list of 'Malfoy's shall defend at all costs' people, so I wouldn't be so smug and superior," he spat at her, taking a threatening step in her direction, practically dripping malice in a way she hadn't seen on him in years.
She didn't back down, didn't step back, just gripped her wand securely and leaned in. "So you admit it! You have something to do with the murders and the bribes and the badness!"
"I haven't admitted to a damn thing!" he shouted, leaning is as well, his face pale with fury and his lips peeled back from his perfect white teeth. "You didn't even know anyone was murdered until about five minutes ago, and now suddenly you know I must have done it. You really are a piece of work, Granger! Always so quick to judge, to place blame…"
Hermione was winding up, seriously considering striking him, as he ranted. He was saying a lot of words, none of them answers, and she was about to lose it for sure.
Ginny seemed to realize that things were about to get much worse and sprang into action. She pushed open the door and started physically pushing the three boys out. They didn't really resist her, but they didn't cooperate either, so she had to put her shoulder into stuffing them through the doorway. "Out, out, out!" she barked as she shoved. "We need to have a girls moment. Out, I said! Out with you!"
She finally managed to get the door closed with the boys on the other side and leaned against it dramatically, heaving. "Hermione, I can't believe you are making me take Malfoy's side of all people, but you absolutely can not accuse your fiance, in his own house, of murder."
Hermione couldn't care less if she had offended the precious Malfoy heir. Even if he hadn't committed murder, which really didn't seem likely since he had been at school, he was right in the middle of the whole mess and couldn't be trusted. What on Earth was she even doing at his house? Every step had seemed so small, so reasonable. A chain of choices that had made so much sense at the time had led her here, actually standing in Malfoy Manor about to be magically bound to Draco Malfoy. "What was I thinking Ginny? I can't be engaged to sodding Malfoy. I can't get magically bound to him! What if I don't get the law repealed in time? Do you know what that means? That means I'll have to get naked, with Malfoy! Oh my God, now I'm picturing him naked!"
She grabbed her friend's cloak frantically, pulling her closer. "I can't have sex with fucking Malfoy. Oh my God, I have to have sex with Malfoy. Malfoy! Draco fucking Malfoy will be fucking me! What was I thinking? I must be out of my mind. I can't go through with this. This was such a stupid plan. I can't marry sodding Malfoy!"
Ginny grabbed her shoulders and shook her, hard. Her head flopped back and forth, teeth clicking together forcefully, and her ribs protesting the motion, but it did get her attention. "Hermione, calm down. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. Say the word and we are out of here, out the back door, through the front. Whatever, wands blazing if need be. Just. Calm. Down."
Hermione sank to the floor in a heap and put her head in her hands. Calm down. She could do that. She could calm down. Calming down was what she was good at. Or at least it used to be before she decided she was going to get engaged to Malfoy of all people, running the risk of seeing him naked. Naked!
Ginny flopped down in front of her, rubbing soothing circles on her back. "Hon, we just need to know what you want to do. Do you want to call the whole thing off and leave?"
What did she want? It had been so clear just last week. "I want to graduate from Hogwarts. I want to go to medical school and take on a potions apprenticeship. I want to date Ron and go out with my friends and not ever have to worry about evil witches or wizards ever again." She took a breath. Those goals were still possible and solid and anchored her.
What did she want right now? She wanted vengeance. "I want to march down to the Ministry and tell those sorry cowards to shove their stupid law up their you-know-whats and set the building on fire and curse anyone who even thinks about making me follow that stupid law."
There was a smile in Ginny's voice when she answered. "Okay, we can do that. But you are probably looking at some time in Azkaban as well as a dramatic wand snapping, and some heavy fines. But you do you."
"Right, no assaulting Ministry employees and destroying property. Got it." Hermione looked up at her friend, insanely grateful for her support.
"I hate to say it," Ginny looked a little hesitant but pressed on, "but you seem to have somehow accomplished the next best thing by getting engaged to Malfoy. Kingsley was seriously livid. He wants you found and committed."
Hermione turned that delightful little fact over in her mind. "Why are they so upset? I'm complying with their stupid little law, I picked a pure blooded finance. Super pure blooded, too. Malfoy's explanation doesn't make sense. I get that maybe Kingsley doesn't like Malfoy personally and might wish he was unhappy, but most of those Ministry drones love the freaking Malfoys."
"I don't know," her friend answered sincerely. "It does seem awfully extreme to try to have you committed. No offence, but what is so special about you? I mean you're beautiful and talented and famous and all, but having you committed because they don't like who you picked to be your fiance?"
Hermione nodded. They were missing great big pieces of the picture here and she needed answers. She climbed to her feet, checking that her braid was still in place and dusting herself off. Not that there was a speck of dust from Malfoy's immaculate hardwood floor. "Right, I'm just a witch, why all this fuss?"
"I think you are right," Ginny said, adjusting her hair and looking Hermione over before reaching out and straightening her cloak for her. "Malfoy knows more than he's telling, and we ought to get answers before you agree to do a damn thing."
The two girls shared a smile, and Hermione was reminded why she loved Ginny so fiercely. It was time to get some answers. Shoulders back, Hermione turned to march out there and calmly insist on the truth for once.
Sincere thank you to lightofevolution for her sincere sweet patience while she helped me work out the kinks in this and future chapters. All the love and all the hugs and all the praise for her. Thank you so much.