Chapter X: Carrow

It had been almost a week since Hermione's Horcrux inflicted breakdown. Harry and Draco had spent nearly every waking minute of that week tending to an unconscious Hermione while juggling ways to destroy the diadem. With luck, they had, using FiendFyre. Ron had been no help at all, choosing to reside in the corner of the tent with his radio.

Hermione was sat on the sofa with Draco, but neither of them spoke. Draco had immersed himself in one of Hermione's thick volumes while Hermione just simply watched him. She studied the way he furrowed his brow whenever he came across something in the book he didn't understand, she studied the way he would incline his head toward her without moving his eyes from the page whenever she moved slightly. In the end she was growing rather tired.

"Draco?" She whispered nervously. Draco stopped reading. He closed his book and hesitantly looked up at her. They stared at each other awkwardly. Hermione opened her mouth like a fish then shut it again.

"Hermione." Draco acknowledged her. His heart was thrumming in his chest painfully as she looked at him with wide curious eyes.

"I'm ready to talk to you." Hermione said. "About what happened."

"Well I'm not." Draco replied cruelly, standing up and depositing Hermione's book on the floor. He meant to stride off but Hermione suddenly grabbed his wrist. She looked up at him with pleading mocha eyes.

"Hear me out. You deserve an explanation."

"You explained pretty fully the other day how you feel about me, Hermione." Draco replied stiffly, her hand still wrapped tightly and urgently around his wrist.

"Please. You have to understand I didn't mean any of it."

"Oh really? I'm pretty sure the Dark Lord prefers to feed off true facts and manipulate them rather than be childish to create new ones." Draco sneered. "Everything you said, you meant."

"No." Hermione's eyes gathered with tears. "Please, Draco. I need to explain. I need to make you understand."

"I understand!" Draco yelled, tearing his wrist from her grasp. "I understand that you hate me. I understand how you see me. I understand that I am everything you despise, everything you fight against. I understand that I hurt you. That I'm hurting you."

Hermione had tears running down her cheeks now. Draco let out a strangled sound of anguish and fell to the floor by her legs. He rested his head on her knees, exhausted.

"Draco." Hermione whispered, running a hand through his ash white locks. He didn't move. "Give me a chance to explain."

"I'm scared." Draco admitted, still not looking at her.

"I'm scared too." Hermione whispered, as she slid off the sofa and sat in front of him. She held his face in her hands and forced him to look up at her. Draco's stormy eyes blazed at her with apprehension. "Please."

After a moments hesitation, Draco nodded.

Hermione took a deep breath.

"I am human. Humans doubt. I had doubts about you. About this entire thing. I've always had doubts, Draco." Hermione paused, but Draco just looked at her waiting expectantly.

"Tom Riddle forced me to face those doubts, forced me to side with them-"

"Who's Tom Riddle?" Draco interrupted.

"He's the teenage Voldemort." Hermione replied, noticing Draco flinch. She took hold of his hand. "There's no need to fear his name."

"I don't." Draco lied and Hermione sighed, choosing to carry on her story.

"I doubted your trust. Your alliance. I have seen you as a Death Eater for so long, Draco. And even though I know that you're not one anymore, that notion is still hard to fathom at times."

Draco breathed heavily through his nose.

"I know what you were. I know what you've done."

"You don't know the half of it, Hermione."

"I don't wish to know the details, but I know the facts." Hermione sighed. "I feel so much guilt over the fact that your parents are gone because of me."

"That was not your fault." Draco said forcefully, looking up at her. "I condemned them to their deaths. I chose you. I will always chose you."

"I'm grateful you saved my life, Draco." Hermione whispered, more tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm grateful you saved mine." Draco replied, reaching out to swipe away her tears with his thumb. She looked at him questioningly. "If I hadn't have saved you, I would have been condemned to that hell forever."

"Draco, I'm so sorry I Obliviated you." Hermione wiped away her fresh tears with her fingertips. "Even if you did ask me to, I shouldn't have."

"I shouldn't have asked you."

"I'm sorry about everything." Hermione whispered.

"I'm sorry too." Draco replied.

"I know, Draco." Hermione whispered.

"You need to understand I would never hurt you. Not again." Draco grasped her shoulders tightly. Urgently. She needed to understand.

"I need to know something." Hermione whispered. "You didn't mean what you said, did you? About..About cursing Borgin?"

Draco's heart stopped.

"What did I say?" He evaded. Hermione's heart deflated. She closed her eyes.

"You said you enjoyed it. Seeing the fear. Feeling the power you had over him."

"You must understand that the Dark Lord had nailed that into me. It's something I'm trying hard to avoid." Draco hung his head, staring down at his hands. Hermione suddenly enveloped him in a hug, pulling him flush against her.

"I understand." Hermione whispered, as Draco wrapped his arms around her waist and leant into her, inhaling her lavender scent.

"Did you manage to destroy the diadem?" Hermione whispered, her breath tickling Draco's neck.

"Yeah, Harry and I figured that we could use FiendFyre." Draco replied.

"Just you and Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I'm sorry Hermione but Ron hasn't even spoken to any of us." Draco said, looking at her. Hermione looked back at him expressionless.

"I can't apologise to him for what I said, because I meant it." Draco looked shocked. "I will not apologise to him. I can't."

"I understand." Draco replied, taking her cheek in his hand. His cool hand calmed her hot, flushed face and she leaned into his touch. She leant towards him, and Draco realised with a pang what she wanted. What he wanted. Draco pulled her face close to him as he bent his head down to her.

Hermione's eyes fluttered shut as she felt Draco's warm plush lips on her own, tentative and gentle. Hermione moved her lips ever so slightly, and Draco indulged her a sudden passionate kiss, leaning her back on the couch. Hermione sighed and ran her fingers through Draco's blonde hair, getting lost in the kiss as Draco explored her mouth...

There was a sudden bang from outside the tent, causing Draco and Hermione to jump violently as they diffused their lips. Ron and Harry suddenly came running inside, yelling.

"Quick! They've found us again!" Harry roared as he dived over the sofa to collect Hermione's bag. Hermione and Draco stood up from the floor and whipped out their wands.

"What do you mean, they've found us?" Draco yelled as he grabbed various things and shoved them into Hermione's bag, that Harry was holding open.

"Have the wards been breached?"

"Not yet, but me and Ron had ventured out of them-"

"You did what?" Hermione screeched frantically. "Okay everyone out the tent!" She ordered, and all three boys hastened to comply. Hermione magically folded the tent up and stuffed it in her bag, which Harry flung over his shoulder. If it wasn't such a drastic situation, Hermione would have found the sight of Harry Potter with her purple beaded bag over his shoulder rather funny.

"We've got to get out of here." Draco said, grabbing her hand.

"Stop!" Someone ordered, and the foursome froze on the spot. Hermione fearfully turned around with the boys and stared at the ten Death Eaters standing in front of them, having now breached the wards. She distantly registered Draco lace his fingers with hers.

"Ah, Draco, my boy." Draco narrowed his eyes at Amycus Carrow, who twirled his wand around and around in his fingers.

"Carrow." Draco acknowledged curtly.

"So it's true then."

"What's true then?"

"What everyone's saying. That you've abandoned us and formed an alliance with Potter, Weasley and their whore." Carrow smirked at Hermione, his eyes wandering up and down her body approvingly. Hermione shuddered and Draco grasped her hand even tighter, almost crushing her fingers.

"I suggest you wipe that smug look off your face, Carrow, before I wipe it off for you." Draco spat, his wand pointed at him. Carrow only laughed, along with the other nine Death Eaters.

"Listen to me, boy. You're the Dark Lord's number one priority right now, and if you don't offer yourself up, we'll kill the girl."

Draco's breathing stopped.

"Over my dead body." Draco snapped and sent a stinging jinx at Carrow, who smartly evaded it with a deflecting charm. Suddenly a whole fight broke out, Harry and Ron sending curse after curse towards the Death Eaters, only managing to bring down three between them.

Hermione had detached herself from Draco and sent a hex towards one of the Death Eaters who was coming her way. It hit him squarely in the chest as she watched satisfied at the blood pouring from his torso. Hermione spun around and hit another one in the face with a stunning jinx. He howled loudly before crumpling backwards onto the floor, unconscious.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled, running over to her and grasping her wrist, Ron's wrist in his other hand. "We need to get out of here."

"Where's Draco?" Hermione yelled, her heart thumping in her chest as she scanned the chaos in front of her. She spotted him duelling with Carrow, and then suddenly he'd gone. The world seemed to spin violently as she realised he'd fell to the floor, unmoving.

"DRACO!" She screamed, ripping herself from Harry's grasp, who called out to her but she barely noticed as she blindly ran towards Carrow.

"Avada Kadavra!" She screeched loudly and unhesitatingly, her wand pointed right at him. Carrow didn't even have time to raise his wand as Hermione's killing curse hit him squarely between the eyes. He crumpled to the floor. Hermione barely noticed that Harry and Ron were trying to take down the remaining two Death Eaters.

Hermione fell to the floor beside Draco. There was blood pouring from his head and his jaw was at an odd angle. She carefully hoisted him up onto her bent legs and rested his head on her stomach.

"Episkey." She whispered at his head, the blood instantly vanishing. Hermione hissed at the rather large deep slash across his forehead and went about fusing it together. She pointed her wand at Draco's broken jaw and whispered; "Brackium Emendo." It felt strangely familiar, as she remembered Draco performing these very spells on her. Satisfied at the sickening crunch of Draco's jaw realigning itself she pointed her wand at him again and whispered; "Enervate."

Draco's eyes snapped open, groaning groggily. Hermione let out a breath of relief.

"Draco?" She whispered, his head in her hands. "You okay?" Draco looked up at her. She was upside down.

"I'm peachy." He groaned sarcastically and struggled to stand up.

"Harry has my bag with my strength replenishing potions, so you're going to have to hold on while I disapparate us out of here. So don't you dare pass out on me."

"Oh god." Draco groaned.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled, as Harry and Ron came running over. They all grasped at each other and disapparated.

xxx

They did the usual. Set up the tent. Put up wards. It was all tiresome really, but Hermione was grateful she wasn't the one putting them up, although she did wonder whether Harry and Ron had managed to put them up strongly enough. She hoisted Draco onto her shoulder and dragged him into the tent, dropping him rather painfully on the sofa.

Draco grunted and rolled over, almost falling off the edge.

"Oh no you don't." Hermione said as she grabbed him and shoved him back on the sofa. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Humph." Was her reply, as Draco buried his head in a cushion.

Hermione pointed her wand at her bag that Harry had given her and with shaking fingers said;

"Accio potions."

Various potions came zooming into her hands. She discarded the ones she didn't need and rushed over to Draco.

"Okay, this one is for the pain." Hermione informed as she raised the vial to Draco's lips. He gagged but Hermione forced his mouth shut with her hand under his chin. "Swallow it." She ordered. He complied then gagged again.

"It's not that bad, stop complaining you drama queen." Hermione poked him playfully in the ribs and he grunted, only half managing to stick his tongue out at her. "This potion is for strength."

Draco took this one with only a slight wince. He could already feel energy rushing through him. He sat up properly on the sofa and looked at her.

"Thanks."

"I guess this makes us even." Hermione grinned and disposed of the empty potion bottles. Draco grinned back.

"Wards are up. I'm getting rather tired of this whole being ambushed then having to flee thing." Harry said as he plopped himself down on the sofa and inspected his wounds.

"I wonder how they found us." Draco asked and Harry shrugged.

"Beats me."

"Where are we?"

"I went on a camping trip here in Muggle school." Harry replied.

"Let me see your wounds Harry." Hermione said as he pulled off his shirt.

"You've cracked your collarbone." Hermione observed. She tsked and set about fixing his broken collarbone.

"How do you know that?" Harry asked as he tried to see for himself, but failed miserably.

"I'm clever." She grinned. "Where's Ron?"

"He's by the entrance." Harry said quietly, pointing to Ron who was fixing his own wounds.

"Do you need any help?" Hermione asked after a short hesitation.

"I can do it myself, thank you very much." Ron snapped and turned his back on her offensively.

"Touchy." Draco mumbled.

"We need to find the last two parts of Voldemort's soul." Harry ignored Ron, wincing when he felt his collarbone snap back in place.

"I think I figured out what another one is and I know the location too." Draco said, as Hermione handed Harry a pain relieving potion.

"Well?" Hermione probed.

"I figured out that we've had a locket from Slytherin, a diadem from Rowena, so that only leaves Gryffindor and Hufflepuff."

"And?"

"And, I'm pretty sure that Helga Hufflepuff's cup is one." Draco smirked triumphantly.

"How did you manage to figure that out?" Hermione's mouth was open in surprise.

"I remember Bellatrix mentioning the cup to me one day." Draco's expression darkened. "She said she had to guard it or something."

"Well, where do you think it might be?"

"My aunt's vault at Gringrotts."

As promised, some Dramione! :) I'm so sorry this chapter took me ages! I'm not entirely happy with it. I wrote and rewrote the beginning so many times. Ugh. Anyway! Thank you for all the reviews so far folks :) x