Chapter Ten
As Dumbledore sat in his study, examining his ever blackening hand, he saw a flash of silver swim passed his head. He looked up and saw a silvery otter land on its back on his desk, as Hermione's voice began to speak. After her message was relayed, the otter disappeared into thin air and Dumbledore just nodded in silent understanding. Before long he sent for Professor McGonagall and Harry, Ron, and Ginny; thinking they might want to know what is going on with their friends and for Minerva, her pupils.
Once the four of them had arrived, Dumbledore greeted them with a smile and an offer of sherbet lemon candies. All but Ron politely declined the offer before Professor McGonagall, somewhat impatiently, spoke up.
"What is the reason that you called us from our busy schedules Albus?" She asked with a raised brow and pursed lips. "I was in the middle of a class, I had to ask Filleus to stand in while I was gone."
"Is it Hermione Professor?" Harry asked, noticing the small smile in his mentors eyes. "Did you hear from her? Is she alright?"
Dumbledore took a moment to walk around his desk, and down the small steps of the platform his desk sat on. He surveyed the four of them, noticing them all eager to hear what he had to say, so he began to speak.
"I have received a message from Miss Granger, just moments ago." Dumbledore paused to see them hanging on his every word. "She has announced that Mr Malfoy and she are both doing fine, however, Bellatrix is not dead like we thought she was. Miss Granger said Bellatrix saw them outside a café in Pitlochry Scottland, and as they fled from the café they heard her begin torturing and murdering every muggle in the establishment."
McGonagall gasped and put a hand over her chest, as she reached her other hand onto Ron's shoulder for support. Ron dropped the lemon candy he had been trying to unwrap as his jaw fell open. Ginny turned bright red, whether it was anger or fright was not clear. Harry, however, had heard enough.
"Let's go find them! Bring them back here, where it is safe! If Bellatrix finds Hermione she'll-" Harry was cut off by Professor McGonagall.
"I agree with Potter! Albus we can't let them run around on their own, not with Bellatrix still at large! She's the most dangerous Death Eater You-Know-Who has in his arsenal!"
"I know Minerva, I know." Dumbledore said as he slowly nodded his head. "I shall ask some of the Order members to go and look for them tonight. There is one other thing that Miss Granger mentioned in her message, something that is very saddening." Dumbledore paused as he looked at the four of them standing in front of him, all listening tentatively and impatiently. "Miss Granger said she and Mr Malfoy have found her parents dead in the trunk of their car this morning."
Collective gasps filled the room, along with Professor McGonagall mimicking her actions from when she found out Bellatrix was still alive.
"Bellatrix killed them. Whether she was aware of their relation to Miss Granger is unknown, but we know for certain she killed them." Dumbledore finished looking at the now teary eyed faces standing before him.
"What can…. What can we do Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked, wiping her nose with a handkerchief she had just conjured.
"I am afraid there is nothing we can do at the moment. Hopefully, Remus and Tonks will be able to locate the both of them and return them safely to school. Otherwise I-" Dumbledore began but was cut off by another flout of silvery mist.
The faint voice of Hermione could be heard coming from the now fully formed otter.
"Alright, Alright! Professor, there was something else I failed to mention to you before that Draco reminded me of. Last night after we fled the café we saw Bellatrix at, we spent the night in what looked like an abandoned tool shed. When Draco woke this morning however, he found clippings from the Daily Prophet about Voldemort and his work. He realized we were taking refuge in a Death Eater's shed. We don't know who it was or if they were dead or alive, but we left there as fast as possible without incident. No Draco I don't know how much longer the patronous will be able to hold out with a long message like this! Anyway, I hope you figured out my riddle of where we are, so you can look into the Death Eater's shed. Be in touch soon!"
Then the otter faded away leaving everyone in the room, including Dumbledore stunned.
"Albus…." Professor McGonagall began but then quickly broke down into tears, afraid for the two students she watched grow up who are now in peril.
"Minerva, it will be alright. I don't think I should wait until tonight to send word to Remus and Tonks. You all return to class and go about your business as normally as possible, and I will handle this." Dumbledore said as he looked at the four people trying to compose themselves. "Off you go."
Only Professor McGonagall stayed behind to talk to Professor Dumbledore, the other three slowly made their way out of Dumbledore's office, in absolute shock.
"Do you think they are all right?" Ginny finally spoke up, looking as though she had just watched a sibling die before her.
"Hermione is brilliant, she knows what she is doing. I'm sure she is fine." Harry answered, sounding as though he was trying to convince himself.
"Right. Hermione would have hidden some kind of code in that message if she were in trouble, wouldn't she?" Ron asked nervously.
All three of them exchanged looks with one another, all thinking that same nerve-wracking question. Hermione seemed to be fairly straight forward in her message that they all witnessed, they just hoped she was being smart, and safe.
Harry and Ron went back to their Potions lesson, wishing their meeting with Dumbledore had taken the whole length of Potions. Neither of them had done their homework the night before, and were not looking forward to a possible detention with Slughorn.
Meanwhile, Ginny went back to charms to take her place next to Luna, who had used a charm to duplicate the notes she was taking so Ginny would have a copy. No matter what anyone says about Luna, Ginny always appreciated her. Luna was a kind soul, a very odd soul, but a kind one none the less.
"Miss Weasley, how nice of you to join us." Flitwick called to Ginny as she took her seat next to Luna, and pulled out her books and quill.
"Sorry Professor, I was held up in Professor Dumbledore's office." Ginny apologized as he face turned red.
"Oh Very well then." Flitwick said dismissively. "Back to the lesson then."
Ginny breathed a sigh of relief as Flitwick turned back to the lesson and took the attention off of her.
"Thank you Luna, you are amazing." Ginny whispered as she began to take notes from where Luna left off.
They worked in silence as FLitwick continued the lesson, until Luna asked something she shouldn't have known about.
"Who is going to teach you Occlumency?" Luna whispered nonchalantly as she scribbled away in her notebook. Ginny broke the tip of her quill at the mention of the promise she made to Hermione.
"How… What makes you… Who told… How?" Ginny stuttered unsure of how exactly to word the question, frantically searching for another quill in her bag.
"You're not very good at it. I saw what Hermione asked you and why she asked you." Luna whispered dreamily, as though they were talking about the latest gossip, and not something serious. "It's quite nice to see you're thinking of things other than sleeping with Harry."
Ginny turned beet red and looked around to see if anyone heard Luna's remark. She was happy to see that no one was paying them no mind, but slightly creeped out that Luna saw her intimate thoughts and memories.
"You look into my mind a lot?" Ginny asked nervously, still trying to pay some attention to the lesson.
"Sometimes. Not often." Luna shrugged not thinking much of it.
"Can you teach Harry, Ron, and I how to do that?" Ginny asked feverishly, completely abandoning her attempt to focus on the lesson.
"Sure." Luna replied dreamily.
Ginny wanted to jump for joy! She found someone she knew she could trust to teach them Occlumency and Legilimency! She was keeping her promise to Hermione, which was all she really cared about.
"Luna, you're amazing! Truly amazing!" Ginny proclaimed, slightly louder than she meant to.
"Something you care to share with the rest of the class Miss Weasley?" Flitwick asked annoyed at the second disruption in his class.
"No professor. I'm sorry." Ginny replied nervously as she slouched down in her chair to try and hide.
"Good. Now as I was saying, memory charms…." Flitwick carried on, as Ginny wrote Luna a note and quickly slipped it on her desk.
'When and where do you want to meet?'
Luna lazily moved to open the note, and after taking a few minutes to read, then re-read the note did Luna finally reply.
'The old D.A. room will work. Tonight at 8 o'clock.'
Ginny read Luna's reply and became giddy. She found someone to teach them, she will keep her friends secret, and she will be keeping her promise. She can't wait to tell Harry and Ron, but first she has to find Dumbledore.
It seemed like ages before the end of class came and Ginny was the first one out of the door when they were dismissed. She tore out of the classroom and turned down the corridor back towards Dumbledore's office.
She found the gargoyle, announced the password, and eagerly rode the first step of the staircase to the top. Before the steps stopped moving, Ginny was running towards the door, and knocked hurriedly. After the first three knocks, the door swung open, and Ginny ran in.
"Professor! Professor!" Ginny called, looking left and right for Dumbledore.
"Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore called from the second floor of his office. "Didn't we just speak?"
"Yes, sir. Yes we did, and I'm sorry for bothering you again sir, but I need to ask a favor." Ginny asked urgently as Dumbledore made his way down to the main level.
"And what is that, Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore asked kindly, with a gentle smile on his face as he sunk down into his chair.
"Can you send Hermione a message for me? You know, with your patronus?" Ginny asked quickly but meaningfully. "Please sir, it is important that she gets this message quickly, so she can not worry about it ontop of everything else she has to worry about."
Dumbledore studied the young girl for a moment, he knew she was being sincere, and he also knew he was going to send the message. But he didn't want her to make a habit of it, so he was letting her sweat it out for a moment or two.
Ginny was losing hope that Dumbledore was going to send the message for her. If he was going to, he would have answered her by now. She was starting to think of the books the library may have on sending messages by patronus, when Dumbledore finally answered her.
"What does the message have to say?" He asked smiling broadly at the nervous red head.
Ginny breathed a sigh of relief and sunk into one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. She could have cried she was so happy he agreed to send the message for her, that is if she was the type of girl to cry over everything.
"Thank you sir! Thank you so much!" Ginny exclaimed, looking as relieved as she felt. She wanted Hermione to not have to worry about this one thing, and she felt Hermione deserved to know. "Can you please tell her, that I have found someone to teach Harry, Ron, and I what she wanted us to learn, and that we are going to start today, please?"
Ginny had an odd feeling that Dumbledore knew what she was avoiding saying they were going to be learning, but was pretending not to take interest. Dumbledore was to intelligent to not be able to see through a small child.
"Of course, Miss Weasley, I will send it to Miss Granger." Dumbledore replied as he bowed his head slightly towards her before rising from his chair. "It will, unfortunately, have to wait until after my meeting with Severus." He continued as he guided Ginny towards the door, and opened it for her.
"Of course." Ginny said beaming up at the old man as she walked through the threshold, and almost into Snape. "Thank you so much Professor, it really means a lot, thank you! Hello Professor!" Ginny waved kindly at Snape as she side stepped the dark haired man and made her way down the staircase.
"Severus, come in." Dumbledore instructed, gesturing for the pale dark haired man to walk passed him.
"Can you believe Hermione fell for that wanker?" Ron asked angrily as they worked on their potions assignment.
"No, I can't." Harry replied flatly. "But if she is happy with him, I can learn to deal with him, for her sake." Harry continued, stressing the point of dealing with Malfoy for Hermione.
Neither of them have handled the sudden news and absence of their best friend well, but they had no option but to accept it.
"I thought we had a chance to be together, you know? Now all of a sudden she isn't interested in… She's just being stupid! Dating the enemy! Leaving me with-" Ron began to rant but was cut off by an angry Harry.
"Leaving you with what? With who? Your girlfriend, that you insensitively snogged in front of her a million times?" Harry snapped angrily at Ron. "You thought you had a chance to be together, after you stomped on her heart by rubbing Lavender in her face every chance you had?"
Ron was starring at Harry with an embarrassed blank expression on his face at his friends sudden mood change.
"What you thought she has little to no pride or self respect that she would just sit around, watching you crush her heart until you decided you were ready to be with her? Did you honestly think that she wouldn't move on, or find someone else to make her happy?" Harry continued in a hushed, yet angry tone, so as to not attract attention. "I'm not happy about her choice of partner either, but that fucking ferret is a part of her life now, and I'm not about to let that ruin my friendship with her! You made your fucking choice with Lavender, so you have no right or reason to try and pull the 'pity me' card."
Ron was frozen in fear, guilt, and embarrassment all at once. He didn't know what to say or do to try and argue his case, so he just watch his friend pack up his book and extra ingredients in his bag.
"I care about my friendship with Hermione, the girl who has save our lives MORE than once, more than I care about the fact that she is dating OUR enemy." Harry spat angrily as he closed his bag and threw it over his shoulder. "If I can look passed that, and Ginny can look passed that, especially given her history with his father, I would like to think that you can be a decent enough friend and fucking be happy for her."
With that Harry stormed out of potions, completely and thoroughly pissed off at his friend for being so selfish and prickish. He couldn't believe what Ron had just said. He couldn't believe that Ron was really that stupid, or that he thought Hermione had so little self respect!
While on his angry walk to, he didn't even have a destination, he didn't notice the person walking right at him, until he ran into them.
"Oooof!" Hary said as he staggered backwards.
"Harry! Perfect! Come with me!" Ginny exclaimed as she realized who ran into her.
"Ginny?" Harry asked confusedly as Ginny dragged him into an empty stairwell. "I don't think now is a good time for a quickie."
"Good I wasn't planning on it…. This time." Ginny replied cheekily as she checked to make sure no one was coming. "Look, I just came from Dumbledore's office. I asked him to send a message to Hermione."
"Why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently. Worried something happened he hadn't heard about.
"I found someone we can trust to teach us Occlumency and Legilimency! We are meeting her tonight in the room of requirement at 8 o'clock!" Ginny exclaimed in hushed tones.
"Really?" Harry asked excitedly. "Fantastic! Who is it?"
Ginny looked nervous like she knew he wouldn't take her seriously, because I mean really who would when you tell them that Luna Lovegood is going to be teaching you something that involves complex magic.
"Who is it Ginny?" Harry asked again, noticing her hesitation, and stepping closer to her.
"Are you sure you don't want a quickie?" Ginny asked with a nervous smile.
"Ginny." Harry warned.
Ginny sighed. "Luna."
"Are you serious?" Harry asked, looking as though she had just told him that the two plus two equals fish.
"Yes! She asked me randomly during charms, who was going to teach us Occlumency, and I hadn't said anything to her about it." Ginny explained quickly hoping he would take this seriously.
"Are you sure she knew? Maybe she just guessed we would need it because Voldemort's gaining power or something." Harry suggested, slightly impressed that his quick thinking suggestion actually made sense.
Ginny gave him a look that reminded him of her mother, before speaking.
"No. She knew what Hermione asked us to do. Besides, she also said it was nice to see me thinking of something other than you and I having sex in my mind." Ginny continued, giving Harry an 'I told you so' look. "How would she know that we have been sleeping together? Only Hermione knew, and we have a mutual respect for secrecy between us. So how would she know?"
"Alright. So Luna knows Occlumency, perfect." Harry replied completely red in the face.
"Yes. 8 o'clock, room of requirement. You, me, and Ron." Ginny stated, readying herself to turn and leave when she heard Harry sigh. "What?"
"Your brothers no on my good side today. You tell him about tonight, please?" Harry asked with Ginny's famous puppy dog eyes.
Ginny growled and rolled her eyes playfully as Harry. Their relationship was still new enough to where the puppy dog eyes still worked.
"Fine I'll deal with him." Ginny conceded. "But you owe me." She added seductively, as she leaned in and kissed Harry softly.
"Deal." Harry said huskily as Ginny pulled away and began to walk away from him. "Oi! Gin!" Harry called after her suddenly, remembering something she told him about Luna.
"Yeah?" Ginny asked still coming down from that kiss.
"Tell Luna not to say anything about US to Ron, or around him." Harry said in a hushed tone, as he came up next to her.
"Right! Didn't think of that." Ginny replied as she slipped her hand into his pant pocket, and wrapped her hand around his half erect penis.
"Mmmm." Harry groaned happily before realizing where they were, and pulling his pelvis away from her hand. "Hey! Not here!" Harry half heartedly scolded, as he swatted her on the bum.
"Ok then." Ginny said deviously as she pulled Harry into an empty classroom, and locked the door, before pushing him up against the door. "How about here?" Ginny asked seductively as she kissed him repeatedly, pulling away briefly to say, "And this doesn't count as repaying me either."
Harry laughed lightly as he pulled her back towards his lips and continued to kiss her, while removing their uniforms.
"No. This is more like you repaying me for… well nothing." Harry picked as he magicked her bra off. "I'm alright with that though."
"Just stop talking and bend me over." Ginny commanded as she braced her hands against the nearby wall. She was grateful that Harry eagerly complied, and entered her strong and hard.
Hermione and Draco were sitting on the end of their bed, looking down at their laps. Hermione was trying to teach Draco how to use the television remote control. He was doing pretty well, except he kept messing up trying to scroll through the television guide.
"This is stupid! I give up." Draco stated as he flopped down on his back.
Hermione giggled and followed suit. He had learned enough for today anyway.
"How did you do it?" Draco asked randomly. Turning his head to face Hermione, who turned to face him as well.
"Do what? Hermione asked, slightly confused.
"How did you adjust so easily into the wizarding world?" Draco clarified stroking her cheek momentarily. "I've been in the muggle world for less that forty-eight hours, and I wasn't to crawl into bed and hide I'm so overwhelmed."
Hermione smiled a small, weka smile at Draco, and patted his cheek before sitting up.
"It wasn't easy for me to go from normal muggle life, to magical witch life. It was pretty hard actually." Hermione began, looking at Draco as he sat back up. "I thought if I read all the books, and learned all the material before hand, that I wouldn't seem so out of place at Hogwarts." Hermione paused briefly, recalling how well that worked for her. "Oh how wrong I was."
Draco felt bad for her, she looked as though she was going to cry. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him.
"Everyone thought I was annoying, a know-it-all, a walking book. I got shunned for being studious by everyone, except Neville. I was treated like I was inferior by you and your friends and housemates. Hermione stopped to steady her nerves, determined to not cry again. "Even Harry and Ron hated me at first."
"Some friends." Draco scoffed as he kissed the top of her head.
"They did save me from a troll, so they are good friends." Hermione stated.
"Yeah but wasn't it Weasley's fault you almost were killed by that troll?" Draco asked smartly, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah he was. I'll give you that one." Hermione conceded as she rubbed her hand on Draco's stomach. Her hand slowly going over each ab, and slowly changing the mood.
Draco could feel his thoughts shifting from sympathy to sex at a steady pace. She traced each ab, and as she went lower towards his groin, his lower half started to wake.
"But, uh, now you're everyone's favorite witch." Draco tried to sweet talk her, but was losing his ability to form sentences.
"Not everyone's" Hermione grumbled as she continued to trace her way down his stomach.
"Well they are stupid, like I used to be." Draco proclaimed as he made a ballsy move.
Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and moved it down onto his growing erection. He let out a deep throaty groan as he felt her hand put pressure on his aching cock.
The sound of his groan lit a fire inside her and she needed to hear more. She shifted herself so she was straddling his lap. The weight of her body pressing on his erection sent a wave of pleasure through him. He flopped his back down onto the bed, and lifted his head to see Hermione grinding her hips on his lap. The sight alone of her on top of him was enough to send him over the edge. He dug his nails into her hips, pushing her harder onto his needy prick and moaned her name.
"Mmmmm Hermione." He moaned through gritted teeth.
"Does that feel- What is that?" Hermione exclaimed, abruptly stopping the sensual moving of her hips on his lap.
"I thought you were well introduced to it earlier." Draco joked in a lust filled tone, until he saw what she was talking about.
He quickly flipped her from his lap to the bed, and lunged for his wand and trained it on the silvery light that was making its way towards the middle of the room. Suddenly the silvery light took the form of a beautiful phoenix, and Hermione gasped.
"It's Dumbledore!" She exclaimed as she rose from the bed and came to stand next to Draco.
"What? Dumbledore?" Draco asked looking at her like she had grown a set of antlers.
His confusion quickly disappeared as the deep, intelligent voice of Albus Dumbledore came from the majestic bird.
"Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy, hopefully I am not interrupting anything. I have an urgent message from your friend Miss Weasley asked me to convey a message to you. She would like me to inform you that Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, and herself have found a trusted friend to teach them Occlumency and Legilimency, and that you need not worry about that. They start lessons today, and I am sure that once they master that ability they will have me send another message. Stay hidden, stay safe. Remus and Tonks have been sent to where you last told me you were, to retrieve you both and protect you. Take proper security measure when they find you, Miss Granger you know what I'm talking about. Send word if you need anything."
With that the phoenix vanished, leaving Hermione and Draco awestruck where they stood. That is, until Hermione burst into tears and threw her arms around Draco, who was confused as to what she was crying about.
"Hermione, what's wrong? I thought you would be happy." Draco asked as he rubbed her back gently.
"I am happy!" Hermione exclaimed through her sobs, as she pulled away from Draco smiling through her tears. "Our secret is safe! We are safe!"
Draco kissed her gently and wiped her tears with his thumbs, slightly hurt that even when they are nowhere around her, Hermione still relies on her friends for protection and help. It was like she was saying he was dead weight and not helpful in keeping them safe.
"As long as I live and breathe Hermione, I will keep us safe." Draco said with such intensity, that Hermione was breathless. Before she could say anything to ruin the moment she pulled him down on top of her on the bed, and wrapped her legs around his waist.
It wasn't long before they were half naked, grinding on, teasing, and clawing at each other; that Draco made an admission he hadn't intended on making for a while longer.
As Hermione kissed his neck, leaving love bites here and there, Draco moaned in pleasure, loving every moment of her affection. As he slid down her body to capture her lips with his he said, "I love you Hermione Granger." And Hermione froze.