Twenty Sinful Nights with Draco Malfoy: PART ELEVEN
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AUTHOR'S NOTE:Special shout-outs to Alyssa, Jeny, Carmen, Meagan, and especially Danielle. You guys rock. Review and I'll try to speed up the next chapter. I've been so busy lately with classes ending.
If you haven't heard, The Quarter Moon Gamble (my most infamous story), is being made into a video game. To visit its website, go to my MySpace and enter Castle Farrow
And now…
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Draco walked into Dumbledore's office during lunch. Om-ree was sitting in the chair before his desk and he was kneeling by her side, holding her hand sweetly as she looked away, painfully trying not to cry. For a moment, Draco saw himself and Hermione, pleading her to come back and forgive him for getting her into this. But the image of her was getting fuzzier. He felt like he was forgetting her, even though the need was still there. He realized he was in love with an emotional ghost.
"Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said when he saw him come in, straightening up. "I've got some news for you."
Draco sat down in the seat beside Om-ree and shot her a small smile hello. She faked one back. Neither really wanted to smile but there it was, a ridiculous courtesy. Dumbledore sat in his chair and pondered how he would say it. "What's up?" Draco asked.
"We've heard word."
He looked up at attention. "From Hermione?"
"Ginny. Something's happened to Hermione. She's not right."
"It's the curse."
"No, this is much worse. I'm afraid she'll need a lot from you when she comes back."
Draco raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Ms. Granger's been asleep all this time. It's a complication of the Essence… of Ambrosia," Om-ree said.
He snapped at her. "WHAT?"
"We believe she took it to help get you back after you went missing."
"But I've been here for a month! She-- She-- Is she coming back… What do you mean she's not right?" he asked, genuinely afraid of receiving a shell.
"As alright as she can be. I don't think she knows the implications. She certainly doesn't know what she's doing to these students," Om-ree said, getting up to go pet Fawks. He looked sickly too.
"She knows," he whispered. "I talk to her sometimes."
Dumbledore and Om-ree looked at each other quickly. "How?" they both asked, firmly and afraid.
"In our dreams. We dream of… well I'd rather not say but sometimes we just talk in this jungle we created," he said, a smile forming beneath his distant eyes.
"Was there a white bed with wooden posts?" Om-ree asked, resisting a tear.
He nodded.
"I'm sorry, Eli," Dumbledore whispered, watching her fall apart.
Draco looked at each and asked, bewildered, "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry. That jungle is not yours. Sadly, it's not even original," Dumbledore began. "I created it from a scene in a book Eli once gave to me. It was where we'd meet when she was away," he said. "I'm sorry, Draco. It's worse than I thought. You're being ruled by ghosts of a romance… What have we done to you, boy? All of us. None of this should have been. This was our life, our sins--"
"Albus, stop!" Om-ree yelled. Everything fell silent, even Fawks. In the distance, the Whomping Willow stopped whomping. Mrs. Norris hid in a dark corner. Everything felt her pain, saw her tears. "It wasn't a mistake. It wasn't a mistake for you to love her, Draco. Forget how it happened. If you love someone, you should fight to be with them. We gave up fighting and look what we turned into!"
Dumbledore sat down again, slowly reaching for his heart beneath his beard. Om-ree saw him in the corner of her eye and realization struck her, stopped her. She closed her eyes and gestured for Draco to leave. He got up and walked to the door, taking one final look. She had a hand over her mouth but it was too late. The truth had already come out.
He went to step out past the gargoyles when the floor shook and he lost his balance. He ran back into Dumbledore's office, about to ask what'd happened when the ground shook again and they heard a great blast in the distance.
"FIRE!" they heard in the distance and the roof shook where the students ran past.
Draco looked at Dumbledore and he to Om-ree and they all knew who it was. A great shadow entered through the window and took over the daylight. "Voldemort," she whispered, and they all ran out outside.
The sun had been nibbled away by the great swarm of Dementors that rounded them. They could not see wizards, only Dementors. Voldemort had not come. He had spent years collecting his soldiers for this, just an attack to weaken them, all-out war to crush them and later collect the pieces. The Dementors formed a great dome over the castle, enveloping them.
And that was the last the wizarding world would see of Hogwarts…
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Hermione reached Hogsmeade that night, her soul a tired shadow but her body a buzzing conviction. She saw the darkness in the distance and ran, leaving Ginny and Adlai behind. Three Dementors broke from the dome wall and went to stop her but the image of Draco just past that wall lit something inside her. She couldn't control the Essence anymore and a great light left her every pore, tearing at her soul as it escaped. Ginny and Adlai heard her scream in the distance. Draco felt her scream inside him, shaking him up inside. Om-ree had to catch him before he fell.
"HERMIONE!" they all yelled, but it did not stop her. The light hit the Dementors and it was a hundred times worse than any Patronus they had ever seen. Its fair brilliance burned away the cloaks and they turned to ash before her feet. Ginny and Adlai ran to catch her but she had begun to walk, her arms wide open as if welcoming an embrace.
They'd lost her again.
She walked through the wall as if nothing. The Dementors did not learn to run like most cowardly beings. They walked to the light like moths to fire, proudly to their deaths, trying to put out her light. But nothing. She remained pure and untouched, looking for her lost love.
When Draco saw the light in the distance, he ran towards it without cause. She was calling him to her.
"Draco!" Tonks yelled, running to catch up with him. Om-ree grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the castle but she struggled to get away. "Dumbledore, do something!"
"There's nothing to do, dear. This is as it should be."
"How is that natural?" she spat. He looked at her with apologetic eyes but did nothing. Tonks just stared at him as he disappeared into the distance. She looked up at Om-ree. There was nothing there either. They had become slaves to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Om-ree ran to catch up with Dumbledore and they walked into the light, hand in hand, after Draco. Tonks looked away and ran for help but there was nobody who could stop her now. Everyone was asleep. She hid between two beds in the infirmary but the light was already increasing. It was entering the windows. It was taking over Hermione.
And then it stopped. It died. The world became quiet.
She looked up to the soft light of a distant sun, but it wasn't the sun. It was Hermione again, losing strength. Instantly, the school heeded her call and every student asleep in that infirmary set firm foot on the floor. Like zombies, they walked to the light, eyes open but blank and fixed.
She saw Ron lead the charge and ran to stop him. "Ron? Ron, stop! Do NOT go into the light!" Tonks yelled but he didn't listen. She waved her hand in front of his face but nothing. He didn't even blink. She tried to push him back but he was much larger than she. Something told her to let them go, to follow them. She hid behind Ron, something she never thought herself do. When they reached outside, she tried to find Draco and Dumbledore and Om-ree but there was just a ball of a light that surrounded Hermione. She began to fear the worst and held onto a tree to stop herself from being drawn into it. The entire student body, even those who had not fallen asleep, was forming a circle around her. The Dementors were nearly all gone.
A great wind overwhelmed them and Hermione's screams echoed so loudly with the wind that Tonks was sent to the wet ground. Water from the lake was getting mixed into the air. She looked to the school. Harry was stumbling out. He was immune. Hope rose in her and she ran to push him back inside.
As the scream became deafening, the castle grounds began to lift themselves up off the ground, riding on a large mist with a life of its own.
"Hermione!" Harry screamed, reaching for the light in the distance. She must have heard him because the castle trembled. The trees withered down to stubs and the grass died… then everything regrew in the mist as if nature was being controlled by remote. Again and again, the world withered and was reborn, quickly before their eyes.
The light slowly receded back into two figures in the middle: Draco and Hermione. Draco knelt in the air before her. Her arms were still wide open, waiting for the embrace that never reached her. Elizabeth and Albus were still hand in hand behind him, frozen standing with their heads bowed as if praying.
The castle kept rising and rising. The sky turned dark and the stars changed as if they were being wiped from side to side.
"They're moving the castle?" Harry asked.
"What?" Tonks replied. "They haven't done that since the founders moved it here from out east."
"Hogwarts wasn't safe anymore. Now it is," he said with a smile. The castle finally rose till the circle touched the ground again. Little slivers of light left Hermione and returned to the students, every single one. They shook off the sleep and awoke, standing in the field with a little voice in their ear that whispered, "Thank you."
Hermione collapsed to her knees before Draco. Her eyes were dark and empty. A shell. "I've been looking for you," she whispered, trying to muster enough strength to caress his face. Her hand trembled but it never got up off the ground. She couldn't breathe.
"I'm here," he whispered back. "You found me." But she never heard it. She just fell limp, forward onto him. Draco kept telling himself she was fine. She was fine. She had to be. It didn't matter that his heart was saying goodbye. He laid her head on his lap and stroked her hair, trying desperately not to cry.
Ron made his way through the crowd and knelt down beside them. Harry ran too. Ginny and Adlai walked towards them in the distance, hand in hand, knowing all too well what was inside the crowd. No one spoke. A few cried. They'd shared 20 days inside her head. They had felt what she felt, thought as she did. And now, they mourned with Draco.
Dumbledore finally let go of Om-ree and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come, son," he said. "Let's take her inside."
Ron and Harry looked at each other and Neville ran to help them too. Soon, almost everyone stepped forward to help carry her inside. They pulled out their wands and whispered a spell that lifted her from the ground, gently, and took her inside. Draco held her hand as she floated to a bed in the infirmary.
Harry stayed back with Dumbledore as the rest of the school was herded back inside by the teachers. "This wasn't it, was it? The worst is still to come," he said.
Dumbledore nodded and replied, "But we have lived another day. This is all that matters. It's more than Ms. Granger may have."
"Will she be alright?"
"With time, maybe. Though I believe she and Draco may never be quite the same."
"What do you mean?"
Om-ree came up behind them. "Don't worry, Harry. Not for them. The worst is yet to come but they have fulfilled what was needed of them," she said.
"What was needed of them?" Harry spat. "They're not lawn tools! Their lives have been completely changed. Hermione might as well have died today. Voldemort's still out there."
"Yes, but now he can never find us," she spat back. "How many will be saved because of her? How many were saved today? I know it doesn't seem fair, Harry, but there's more the world than a single person."
"What about me? How am I to stop Voldemort? I am a single person."
Ginny let go of Adlai and walked to him. "No. If today proved anything is that we are not alone. We'll fight. All of us."
Harry looked at Adlai and back to Ginny and something in him told him he had lost a part of her, but he hugged her nonetheless and for that night, all was quiet. Hogwarts was safe and hidden in fog, miles away from evil.
No one was celebrating. No one wanted to talk. Most gathered around a fireplace, looking for warmth, trying to what the other was saying. They would not sleep for days. They would mourn their connection for an eternity.
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"Have you heard word from Draco?" Ginny asked Harry as he unpacked his clothes at the Weasleys. He hadn't really spoken to her since Hogwarts disappeared. He didn't really want to know if his assumptions were right. Every time he closed his eyes, he imagined her in Adlai's arms and felt his heart drop into his stomach and churn.
"Yes," he replied coldly.
"Well?"
"Well nothing. I didn't want to interrupt. He was having a lovely conversation with the outside of her eyelids."
"Harry!" she yelled. "I know you're angry with me but don't mock the poor boy. He's lost the love of his life!"
Harry spun around quickly, clutched her wrist, and hissed, "So have I!"
"You're hurting me."
"I learned from the best."
She pulled away and slapped him. He held his cheek lightly and stared at her, stunned. "I'm going back to the village for the summer, Harry. When you finally realize you left me first, you'll know where to find me."
"Ginny…"
"Don't you have a vendetta you should be tending to?" she spat and walked out the room.
Ron bumped into her on the way out. "What's the matter with her?" he asked. "Lovers' quarrel?"
Harry shot him a dirty look.
"Have you heard from Draco?"
"For the hundredth time, yes. No change."
Ron sat on the bed with his piece of toast in hand, staring into the void. "Do you think she ever will?" he asked sadly.
Harry felt like he was talking to a three-year-old. He pitied him. He'd lost Ginny but she was still in the next room. Hermione was lost to another world. They'd all mourned her but Ron remained optimistic. Harry pitied him even more for that.
"We'll be the first to know when she does."
"We'll be the second."
"Are you alright with that? With him? I mean, I know you and her…"
"I understand them now, what they feel. We all do. It's a feeling she and I never had."
Harry sat down on his bed across from Ron's and looked puzzled. "What feeling?"
"Peace. Perfect peace, Harry. When they're together, everything just… dissolves around them. They're happy with nothing, because they have each other. And not in the sort of human way we say we are. They honestly feel complete when they're together."
"I envy them then. When I'm with Ginny, all I feel is this constant pulling like there's something tearing me away from her," he said, making an angry gesture.
Ron raised an eyebrow. "You've never been alone together, have you?"
Harry raised both eyebrows. "Uh…"
"Take her away for a weekend. See how you feel when the world isn't staring you down. She fell in love with The Boy Who Lived, not simple ol' Harry. Make her fall in love again. Though I warn you… touch my sister the wrong way and I'll serve you for dinner."
Harry gave a nod and thought about what he said. Take her away… If it was to be nothing else, it would be a wonderful goodbye.
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Elizabeth and Albus, as Draco had come to know them, sat in his office for quite some time every morning. Draco could not imagine what they did but he always assumed they talked over tea. That was the image he had of them and chose to bury that image into his head rather than ponder what was really going on.
Upon inquiring about his mother, he was asked to come to the office before dinner. It's not like he went to dinner since Hogwarts became hidden. He wouldn't be able to sneak looks at the Gryffindor table anymore. His friends didn't care about him. The rest of the school welcomed him but Slytherin had its allegiances, some sworn in blood. They understood, as did everyone, what he felt but they couldn't publicly support his tired cause to stand by her side.
Blaise visited him often though. He was with him when he got the call to visit the headmaster. They were in her room. It had become a shrine, almost. Anyone who visited dropped by flowers and a large pile formed around her.
"They mourn her as if she's died," Blaise said, staring at the beautiful, wilting roses.
"They've lost hope because they don't know what's happened to her," Draco responded.
"Go, Draco. They're calling you. I'll watch over her."
"If she wakes while I'm gone--"
"I know."
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"Ginny?" Harry asked, walking into her room. She was getting ready too. The bed beside her where Hermione would usually sleep during summers was being used for storage. For a moment, he thought she was sitting there on the edge but it was just a trick of light.
"What?" she asked sternly, not realizing it was him. When she turned around and saw his face, she stopped. His eyes pleaded forgiveness. His hair was a mess, more so than usual. His hands were limp by his side. He took a step in and looked up at her again. She asked it again, softer, but she knew the answer. There were things Harry could never say to her – it was not in him - but his eyes always told her what his words, vacant and cold, could never say.
She felt like crying and took a step towards him. They walked closer and closer together until the space between them disappeared and they were tangled in a sad kiss and a slow caress.
Is this goodbye? she thought and gave a soft cry. Soon, their kiss had her pinned to the wall, his hand on her hip.
"When did you get so fearless?" she asked, remembering the fumbling old Harry. He was more confident now, took what he wanted.
"The day I met you." And he kissed her again.
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"Professor?" Draco called out, walking into Dumbledore's study. Om-ree was playing with Fawks in a corner. He'd recently caught on fire and was a cuddly little ball of feathers in her hands. "He's young again."
"Nah," she said with a smile, standing up. "He's still just an old songbird at heart. Have a seat, Draco. Albus will be right in."
He walked to one the chairs and rested back in comfort. He was safe at Hogwarts, finally. It comforted him that it all hadn't been for nothing. Fate had a way of doing that to lonely soldiers.
"How are you guys dealing with parents?" he asked as she sat down beside him with dreamy, content eyes.
"Fine, of course. What dad – or ministry man – can resist me?"
He looked at her, a tired old woman with ghostly features, and thought with disgust, She's right. She's just my father's type.
"Have you finally figured out where the castle keeps moving to?"
"Nope. It just floats around, concealed in some sort of mist. It's got a life of its own, even penetrated the halls and a few classrooms. We're worried it's going to interrupt classes but so far it's not even knee-high," she explained.
"Has the Hogwarts express been put out of commission, then?"
The door opened and Dumbledore came in just in time to hear the final question. "No," he answered. "We'll just have to find it new tracks. We're looking into ice ones. They're changeable, work over water, and melt quickly in case any Muggles should stumble upon it."
"Ah. So what did you want to see me about? Have you heard from my mother?"
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "No," Om-ree answered for him. "Your father seems convinced she's dead--"
"No! The seer told me she would be fine," he interrupted.
"—but we have gotten reports that she's being held at the old Riddle house," she concluded. "We don't even know why yet and the only thing we're sure of is that yes, she's still alive."
He leaned forward onto his knees. "Where'd we get the intel?"
Om-ree sighed and looked over to Dumbledore. He got the cue. "Professor Snape has been working on reclaiming his former title within Voldemort's ranks for quite some time now and he's quite fond of your mother. He seems to think Bellatrix is keeping her alive."
"That's not going to help for long. What if something happens to Bella? And I love old Snapey but--"
"We're aware of the vow, Draco. I assure you, it take more than death to stop this old songbird."
Om-ree smiled. She'd protect Dumbledore. Even if it tore her up to be with him, she'd still die for him. And, he was quite sure if anything happened to him she'd die too, the sort of death he felt around him whenever Hermione was away.
They explained they could not do anything for Narcissa at the moment. They weren't sure she was there anymore. The place was completely protected, of course. He decided he had to take a final stand but he stood an army of one. They talked more of the situation – mostly of Hermione and what could be expected – before he excused himself.
On the way back to her room, he passed by the empty Great Hall. The halls were lonely and echoed his footsteps. He heard a foot scraping in the distance and felt like running after them. Something told him it was Hermione, though he knew it couldn't be. Her voice was sounding in his ear telling him to run, that it couldn't possibly be her.
But the moment he turned the corner, there she was, just as he had left her. "Hermione?" he whispered, suddenly breathless. She looked like she wanted to cry, like she had been crying for days on end.
"Oh Draco," she replied, hugging him tightly and taking comfort in his arms again. "It hurts so much to see you again."
He loosened their hug at her words and parted to ask, "What?"
She quickly wiped her tears and pulled him down the empty hall to the room where he had left her. Blaise still sat next to her body on the shrine. When he saw them enter, he froze and looked back at her sleeping body. Two of them?
"Draco, I know you miss her but this is really creepy," he said, terrified.
Hermione smiled. "No worries," she said. "It's me, two weeks from now."
Draco stared at her too. "Oh… my… God…"
"Sweetheart, close your mouth. You'll catch flies."
"No," he hissed. "Why did you come back? What's happened?"
She looked to Blaise. "Blaise dear, could you give us a moment? We're going to need your help, alright? You need to go to the Weasleys' and get Harry, Ron, Adlai, and Ginny. Make sure you get Harry and Ginny yourself. Don't let Ron do it or else quite a few friendships may be ruined and Harry may be chopped in with supper. Tell no one else. Bring no one else. And tell Ginny to bring the vile. She'll know what I mean."
Blaise gulped, nodded, and hurried out. Hermione quickly ran to shut the door and took Draco to the window where she could see his face more clearly. She caressed his cheeks and smiled. "Oh it's so good to have you like this again," he whispered, kissing her lips then her neck.
She made a noise like a reluctant no and grasped both his arms to pry him off her. "Draco… Where I come from, you've just died," she said, the circles under here eyes even darker in the dimming light.
"What—How?" he asked, time suddenly catching up to him.
"It's nothing we can prevent right now," she said, hurried. "You died for a good cause. You saved your mother, Harry, everyone… I was not there. I came too late. I kept telling myself if I'd been there, I could have saved you. So I took a Time Turner. It's set so it'll snap me back to my time right after the moment you were meant to die. We have to hurry. There are things we must gather, places we must travel on the way…"
He didn't let her finish. He hugged her so hard she couldn't breathe. "Whatever happens, we'll deal with it together. I'll be there for you, no matter what."
She let a single tear escape her iron defenses. "That's what I'm afraid of."
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TO BE CONTINUED IN PART TWELVE:
--Will they be able to save Narcissa?
--Why doesn't Hermione want to be there when they make their final stand?
--How did Draco die?
--What role will Blaise play? Can he be trusted?
--What's going to happen to Dumbledore and Elizabeth?
--Has Adlai seen Draco's death? Why hasn't he said anything?
--What are Harry and Ginny doing that might get Harry killed?
--Someone will die. But who?
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