Chapter Eleven:
Hermione was laying in the grass, taking in the sweet smell of nature, and looking up above her at the clouds as they moved along, lazily, enjoying the sunny day as much as she was. There was still a little bit of dew on the grass, and it was sparkling in the light that was streaming through the trees. It had a sweet smell to it, and the leaves were beginning to change color. It was almost November, she assumed. They had been there for almost a month.
It had been almost a week since she had found out that Ron was cheating on her. In that time, she had taken her ring down to the little pond where her dad used to take her, and had thrown it into the water, and it was going to stay there forever. Ron had broken her trust, even though they were both out of love with each other, and in love with another, he had still broken her trust, and he wasn't going to get it back any time soon.
She was falling back in love with Draco Malfoy. She knew she was. Her heart skipped a beat every time she saw him, which was quite often. And she moved a little closer to him every night when they fell asleep and he held her in his arms. He made her feel so safe, and loved. It was just like it was when they were in Hogwarts together, and sometimes, she found herself wondering if she ever actually stopped loving him. If her feelings for Ron were even real when they were together, or if she was just faking them because that's what the world was expecting to happen. Everyone thought it would. Ron and Hermione would get married, and Harry and Ginny would get married, and everyone would live happily ever after.
It was stupid, and ridiculous, and heaven knows that the press basically forced she and Ron together. They were photographed together everywhere they went, even if it was just out to lunch as friends. They had decided to start dating to shut everyone up. After a while, she actually started to develop feelings, or what she thought were feelings, for the youngest Weasley boy. And then she grew out of the feelings, and fell out of love with him. She didn't understand why she had ever agreed to marry him in the first place, and she wondered how long he had been seeing another woman without her knowledge.
"Mione?" Draco asked, walking outside and laying down in the grass next to her. He loved seeing her like this, laying in the grass and staring at the sky. It made her seem so much more real to him, and so much more of a complexity. She had a reason for everything she did, but sometimes he stopped and wondered what they were.
"Hi." She said, smiling and turning her head towards him. She looked at him for a moment, studying his face, and then she looked back up at the sky. "My dad and I used to do this all of the time." She said. "We would look at the sky, and look for pictures in the clouds, we used to find the strangest things. Once, dad swore he saw a lion attacking a giraffe, but I never believed him."
"Interesting." Draco said. He too looked up at the sky. "When I was a child, I was never allowed out to play, and there were no other children around to play with, even if I wanted too. We lived far away from any society."
"What about Crabbe and Goyle?" Hermione asked, still looking at the sky. "They were your friends."
"No." Draco said, shaking his head. "They weren't. I didn't have very many good friends. They were just idiots that hung around me because our fathers were friends. I hated them. They were so stupid. You couldn't have an intelligent conversation with them."
"Of course." Hermione said, turning so she was laying on her side. "For some reason, I suspect that your childhood isn't what you came out here to talk to me about."
"And you would be right." He said, standing back up and taking a few steps away from her. "I need to tell you something."
"Alright." She said, standing and walking over to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind him and kissed his shoulder. "Tell me."
"There was a reason that the Death Eaters were after me." He muttered. He hung his head, and stepped out of her grip, keeping his back towards her.
"Draco, look at me while you tell me." She said. "I don't like it when people have their backs turned, you know that."
He turned towards her, and she walked close to him again. He didn't look her in the eye, and that made her nervous.
"Remember how I had my initiation sixth year?" he muttered, unconsciously itching his left arm. The Dark Mark had faded now, and it no longer functioned the way it used too, but it was still there and he hated it. "The same night as my initiation, they chose me as Voldemort's successor. At first, it was so appealing to me. You know how loyal to my parents I was, and how much I hated Muggle-borns and blood traitors. How much I hated you and Weasley and Potter."
Hermione nodded, fear building inside of her. He was chosen as a successor to the Darkest wizard of all time?
"I was okay with it, until I was given the task of killing Dumbledore, and then told I would be killed shall I fail. I was scared. Terrified, even. I didn't know what to do. So I made half-assed attempts, and meanwhile, I was falling in love with you. Head over heels, in so deep I couldn't breathe, love with you. I knew then I couldn't do it. I couldn't be his successor. I couldn't even face him, let alone succeed him. And if they had known that I was completely in love with a Muggle-born, I would've been killed on the spot."
Her fear began to grow.
"After the final battle," he continued slowly. "I knew I had to go into hiding, because I knew that I wasn't going to be able to do what they asked of me. I wasn't going to be able to do anything that was going to end up hurting you. So I did the only thing I could think of. I ran, and I was doing rather well for myself when the break out happened. I had a decent job, and a steady income, of course I never even looked at another girl, not after having you. I wouldn't have been able to be with someone else." He took a breath. "Anyway, after the break out, Rudolphus and his brother found me. Father was still in Azkaban for that bit of embezzlement he did a few years ago. They tried to capture me, and it was two against one. I killed them both. But not with an Unforgiveable curse. A Reducto to the heart. I didn't mean to kill them. I didn't want to kill them. But I was scared, and alone, and they were trying to capture me too. I'm sure that if I kept refusing them, they would've killed me.. I couldn't be a part of their games anymore. I'm not who I was six years ago."
He walked towards her and tried to wrap her in his arms, but she pushed him away. Her fear was still in the pit of her stomach.
"Get away from me!" she screamed at him. "I can't.. How can you even touch me! You foul, loathsome, evil cockroach!"
"Déjà vu." He mumbled. Then he pulled her towards him and put his hands on her face, making her stay still for a moment. He could see the fear in her eyes.
"Mione, it's me." He said softly. He brushed her beautiful brown locks out of her eyes. "You know me. You know that I want nothing to do with them, and their games. You know me, love."
They heard a crack in the woods before she could answer him, and they both jumped, looking to their left, where the noise came from. There were three men, dressed in black, walking around the cottage, with their wands out. They turned their heads, and looked directly at Draco and Hermione.
For a moment, Hermione was even more scared, scared that her enchantments didn't work, and that they were going to be forced into a duel. But the Death Eater shouted orders at the other two, and continued on with their search.
"I know what you're thinking." She said to Draco quietly. "Harry said stay here, and not to leave for anything. That he would come find me – us. We have to listen to him. I trust him. He's my best friend."
He nodded and pulled her closer to him.
"I'm scared." She whispered to him. He rested his forehead on hers and sighed. Closing his eyes and wrapping her into his arms.
"I am, too."
