Dragon in the Lions' Den
Notes: Here's another chapter.. sorry about the wait. Thanks again to everyone reading, and an extra special thank you to my fabulous reviewers! I love reading them. I'm glad you like my story. I'm currently working on chapter 18, and at that point, I'm probably still 4 chapters away from Draco and Hermione getting together, but I promise, it's coming and I think it will be worth the wait. Thanks again... and enjoy.
#11 The Eye of the Hurricane
She should have known by the tense way he held his jaw that things would escalate quickly. She should have recognized the manic gripping of his wand indicating that he wasn't stable enough to engage in their normal verbal sparring. She should have noted the unusually cold glint in his eyes that made them seem like hard orbs of steel. For someone who paid attention to details, missing these signs in Malfoy would prove to be a nearly grave mistake. They were enemies to be sure, and perhaps she really shouldn't have known him well enough to catch these things. Given the time they'd spent training together in the previous 6 weeks, they'd both subconsciously picked up details about each other. If Hermione hadn't been so caught up in the fervor of the season, and the surprise of seeing him in the hall in such a state, she should have picked up on these subtle tells of his, and perhaps prevented a lot of pain. But, they would have avoided the single most influential relationship in the Great War, and Voldemort might never have been defeated.
The smile on Hermione's face was more than Malfoy could take. 'How dare she be so happy when all I feel is fear and pain?' he thought angrily, 'stupid mudblood.'
"Malfoy," her tone was easy, but slightly forced.
"Granger," he said flatly. "Just coming back from a shag with Potter? Or was it the weasel?"
Her face darkened. "You know nothing about my relationship with Harry and Ron!"
"Don't I?" he sneered. "They only keep you around as a sex toy and a homework machine, Granger. As smart as everyone thinks you are, you ought to know that. Why else would they keep a worthless mudblood slag like you around?"
"They are my friends, Malfoy, but I don't expect you to understand the notion of the word 'friend'!" She said sharply. "You have people who fear you, but they don't like you. I doubt anyone is capable of 'liking' you."
"I bet they tell you how much they like you when they fuck you, don't they Granger? Do they take you at the same time? Do you suck on one while the other pounds into your filthy hole?" he snarled.
Hermione turned red at the suggestion. "How. Dare. You. Malfoy. You sick bastard, nobody talks to me like that," she yelled at him, pulling her wand. "Those boys love me, do you understand that? And I love them. I'm sure that love is yet another concept you are unfamiliar with. I highly doubt a Death Eater like Lucius Malfoy has any idea of love."
"I warned you, Hermione, never to talk about my father ever again," he said slowly, control seeping away from him completely.
"Ohhh, poor little rich Draco. Daddy's in Azkaban. You do know why, don't you?" she taunted.
He said nothing but his jaw clenched even harder.
"Daddy's a Death Eater, Draco… but I'm sure you already knew that, being groomed to be one yourself." She said sweetly, eyes blazing. "Your Dark Lord is angry with him because he couldn't beat 5 teenagers to a prophecy at the Department of Mysteries. Did you know that?"
He glared at her.
"Want to know how I know?" she said in a sing-song voice. "I was there, Draco. I was nearly killed by Dolohov, one of Lucius' Death Eater cronies, but I was there and I saw the whole thing."
Malfoy was shocked by this information, but filed it away to discuss at another time.
"So, Daddy is in prison, and mummy…." Hermione started, locking her eyes with his. She knew that this would be the final straw, the straw that broke the 'ferret's' back. "Mummy is missing, isn't she? Or is she already dead?"
The sound that ripped from Malfoy's mouth was inhuman as he lunged for her.
"You BITCH!!" he snarled, wand out and pointed it at her.
Hermione knew that she had pushed him too far, and was ready for whatever he had…. At least, she hoped she was.
"Protego!" she cried while she heard him yell "Expelliarmus!"
Their spells hit and threw each other backwards in to the walls.
"Argghh," she grumbled as her back hit the wall, she pulled herself up as quickly as possible and made herself ready to fight once again.
"Tarantallegra!" she called out and Malfoy's legs started their charmed dance.
"Diffindo!" Malfoy shot back.
"Bugger!" Hermione groaned as a slice appeared in her right arm.
"Impedimenta!" they yelled at the same time, once again both were thrown into the nearest wall.
She heard the crunch of bones as she hit, and knew that her left arm was broken. 'At least it's not my wand arm' she thought to herself. Malfoy also seemed to be quite injured, slowly getting to his feet.
"Damn" he muttered, struggling to stand.
"Incendio" she said, and fire broke out on Malfoy's robes.
"Aguamenti," he countered, and water shot out of his wand to extinguish the flames.
"Diffindo" he called out again and another cut appeared, this time across her abdomen.
"Grrrrr" she growled at the sudden pain as she slumped against the wall.
"Pressum!" she yelled as she pointed her wand toward his ribs. He fell back to the floor.
Malfoy screamed, and the sound died suddenly as he began gasping for air.
Both students were unable to stand at this time. Malfoy couldn't breathe, due to the squeezing spell Hermione had used on him, and original spell she'd created. Hermione could barely stay on her feet, let alone focus on her own. The last time she hit the wall, she heard several 'cracks', one of which was clearly her head striking the stone wall. She was afraid that she had a concussion. The only thing keeping her on her feel was the knowledge that Malfoy was down and she could win this duel. 'Just a little longer' she thought to herself.
From across the hall, Malfoy raised his head and pointed his wand at Hermione. He aimed at her stomach and mumbled "Cutisacidus", and just as he passed out, his wand drifted, and the spell hit a bit higher up than intended.
Without warning, she felt a slicing and a burning on her neck. She was consumed with pain, and screamed despite herself. She reached up to her neck and brought her hand back to her face, covered in blood. Her vision clouded for a moment.
"Ms. Granger?" she heard a familiar voice call out to her. "Ms. Granger!" But she couldn't respond, the pain was so great.
""HERMIONE!" the voice yelled out, and she tried to focus. Snape.
"Sev" she whispered, voice straining with the pain of the curse.
"What happened?" her professor asked, quickly grabbing her as her body went rigid and she slid down the wall.
"Draco. Looking. For a duel." She responded, and the older man could see that the girl was in terrible pain, but he couldn't figure out where. "I gave him one."
"Hermione, where are you bleeding?" he inquired, noting the blood on her hand.
"Neck." She smiled weakly at him, "I beat him."
Her smile twisted into a grimace and she slumped to the floor. She only saw black.
Later
….pain. Pain. Pain. Pain! Pain! PAIN PAIN PAIN!!! PAIN! PAIN
"AAARRRRRHHHHHHHH!!" she screamed, trying so hard not to, lips bloody from holding in screams. "Merlin and Morgana. OH SWEET MERLIN, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!!!!"
"Ms. Granger?" a familiar voice soothed, "Drink this. It will knock you out and you won't feel anything."
Groping, she found the vial and consumed the potion. She didn't care what it was, or even if it was poison, but if it promised peace, she would take it.
Hours later, Hermione wakes again.
"Bloody Hell!!!" she yells, a plethora of curses spew forth from her, words that she would never say in the right state of mind. "MAKE IT STOP!!!"
"Can somebody shut her up?" a voice asked, annoyed.
'Malfoy' she thought, a moment of coherent thinking. She heard shuffling towards her bed.
"Hermione, take this potion," a voice said. She did, and all went black.
Several beds away, Draco Malfoy was grateful that Hermione's screams had stopped again, as quickly as they started. The sounds the girl made were frankly tearing him apart inside, knowing that HE was to blame for the pain that she was in. He didn't notice his Headmaster and Potions professors across the room, taking seats near his bed.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy., we can 'shut her up'" Malfoy cringed at the harsh sound of his own words as Professor Dumbledore snapped at him. "However, the real question is will we." The usually jovial blue eyes of the headmaster were hard slabs of ice, beholding Draco in a manner colder that he'd ever experienced from the elder wizard. "You need to explain exactly what it is you've done to Ms. Granger, and the best way to make that happen is having you listen to her screams."
Malfoy shuddered, and closed his eyes. What had he done?
The screams might have died down, but Hermione was still whimpering and whining in her sleep. A curtain was drawn around her bed, but he didn't need to see her to know she was still thrashing about on her bed. Their confrontation and subsequent duel was slowly coming back to his mind.
"What did you do to her, Mr. Malfoy?" asked Severus Snape in a tone Malfoy was unfamiliar with. It was a tone full of anger and… disappointment.
"We fought," Malfoy started. "Verbal at first, then it turned into a duel."
"We gathered that, Mr. Malfoy." Said Dumbledore quietly.
"What curse did you use on her?" asked Snape sharply. Malfoy snapped his head up.
"I didn't use an unforgivable!" Malfoy cried, defending himself.
"Unforgivables aren't the only curses, Draco. You know that." Snape replied simply.
"Cutisacidus" Malfoy mumbled. Snape's eye sharpened at him.
"WHAT?!?" two voices bellowed.
"Cutisacidus," Malfoy said softly, now quite worried.
Malfoy saw Dumbledore and Snape look at each other. The Headmaster jumped up abruptly, nearly knocking over his chair.
"I'll tell Poppy, Severus, most quickly so she can administer appropriate potions. I think you need to talk to young Mr. Malfoy" said Dumbledore sadly, and walked briskly to the medi-witches office.
Snape sat in his chair silently for a moment, looking at the young man in front of him… wondering if it might be too late to save the boy.
"Draco," Severus Snape's tone was of sad disappointment. "Where did you learn about that curse?"
"Lucius. I overheard him talking to Aunt Bella one night," Malfoy said, as Snape silently cursed. "He said it was an effective curse, but not what it did."
Snape held his head in his hands.
"What does it do, Severus?" Malfoy asked his Godfather, not convinced that he really wanted to know at all after hearing Hermione scream.
"The curse literally means 'acid cut'. It creates a cut in the victim, and every 2-3 three hours curse will cycle. The cut will start to heal, and then the wound will open up and acid will course through it. It is rumored to be excruciatingly painful." Malfoy cringed and turned white as he learned what it did. "The whole process will go on for 24-48 hours, depending on the person casting the curse and the strength of the victim. After that, the wound will heal, but the scar will permanently hurt, infrequently, but it can cause intolerable pain even after the wound has long been closed."
Malfoy turned green and vomited over the edge of his bed. 'Good' thought Snape, 'He doesn't have the stomach for what he's done. Perhaps he's not so far gone after all.' He waved his wand over the mess to clean it.
"Draco, you cannot imagine the depth of my disappointment in you right now. I expected better from you. You are not your father." Snape said sadly.
Malfoy cringed at his Godfather's words. "She was beating me, sir, fairly, before I used that curse on her." The boy hung his head. "I'm so sorry."
"I don't think I'm the person you should be apologizing to." Snape said, and the blond nodded. "Try to get some sleep, Draco."
Malfoy closed his eyes, only to be awakened a short time later by conversation from the bed next to him.
"Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley are starting to worry about you. I fear that they will soon be disrupting the whole school to find you." Professor Dumbledore explained to the young woman. "Would you like me to send them to see you?"
"NO!" she exclaimed, voice weak from the curse. "No. They can't know that I'm here. Tell them that I had a family emergency. Tell them that my grandmother is ill, and they needed me at home. When will the majority of the curse wear off?"
"Sunday, by lunch time we believe," said Snape.
"Ok. Let Harry and Ron know that I'll be back sometime that evening. Then, you can tell them the truth… that when I got back, Malfoy and I had a duel and it put both of us in the hospital wind. I'll take it from there." Hermione informed them.
"The boys will be worried about you, and the curse will be quite painful to endure. Don't you think it would be easier for you if…" started Snape.
"NO!!," Hermione shouted with as much force as she could muster. "If Harry and Ron know what Malfoy's done they'll kill him. Merlin knows I love them, but they are so overprotective, and Harry's been itching to let Malfoy have it, not that he doesn't deserve a painful hex or two. There isn't anything that would deter them from hurting Draco. Even the knowledge that he had a duel with me is enough to send them over the edge… but I can control THAT!"
"How do you explain..." Dumbledore added.
"You will NEVER tell them about the curse. Never." She was angry now, and Malfoy could hear the rage, and yet the strain of the curse remained. "This is my life, my friends, and we will do it MY WAY. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" As she ranted, her voice began to break, indicating another cycle of the curse was beginning.
The two professors sat in silence, only able to nod at the young woman. They saw her face grimace. Hermione screamed as her face contorted in pain as she writhed in the bed.
Malfoy could not see her, but he could hear her pain, and it left a cold, bitter spike in his soul. 'I did that' he thought, 'because I wanted to beat her, not caring whether it was fair. More than that, I wanted to make her hurt, make anyone hurt, just like me. She was just the person who happened to be there at the wrong time.' Yet, here she was, protecting him. Draco Malfoy did not understand how or why she could go through such pain and not sic Potter and Weasley on him, why she didn't exact revenge. Being Slytherin, revenge was almost as common as eating breakfast, part of their code. It took him a long, long time to understand Gryffindor courage, even though his prime example was lying in the hospital bed next to him, screaming silently as another cycle of the curse ran its course. He closed his eyes, willing his mind to shut out her cries of pain, the screams. He prayed for sleep.
It never came.
00000 ooooo 00000 ooooo 00000 ooooo 00000 ooooo 0000
The silence in the room was overwhelming, as all eyes were on Draco as he bolted from the table, running to the nearest bathroom. Hermione and Draco had not spoken about the curse much in the years following and she was painfully aware that he still held a great deal of guilt for what he'd done. For the longest time, he'd refused to go near her neck, the scar too much of a reminder of who he was. Right now, he was probably purging his stomach of the dinner he'd eater, and her first thought was to grab something for him to eat once he returned, if he's stomach would allow it. She was willing to do nearly anything, just to avoid the angry glares from around the room. 'There isn't anything I can say that will make them not hate Draco after that,' she thought, 'if they could only understand.'
"That duel was…" she started, searching for the appropriate words.
"Brutal?" suggested Ginny.
"Insane!" growled Lupin, just now learning details about how Hermione and Draco came to work together.
"Barbaric," barked Harry angrily.
"Necessary!" yelled Hermione. Her tone caused all in the room to jump, it was commanding and powerful. Even Draco, waiting in the doorway, was affected by his wife's voice. "You heard what Snape told me. You saw, all of you, the type of person 'Malfoy' was. I know this all seems terrible irresponsible to YOU, but only Draco and I know the full scope of what was expected of us."
She stood up abruptly. "Merlin, we didn't even know what we were getting ourselves into, but the fact that we needed to work together weighed heavily on my mind. To stay where we were would mean certain failure. We hated each other. I did what had to be done, and you will soon learn the consequences of my actions impacted both of us."
She looked around the room to see Draco standing quietly by the door, waiting to come in. She smiled lovingly at him as she walked in his direction. He swept her up in a strong embrace.
"You need to understand, 'Draco Malfoy' was in an understandably fragile state – his mother was missing and he was given a task by a madman that revolted him to his very core, the people he expected, TRUSTED, to help him with his burden were uncharacteristically quiet. He was bound to snap eventually… it was probably best that he took it out on me."
She released him and walked out of the room. Draco went back to his seat, meeting each pair of eyes defiantly. He was angry; at himself for still being affected by that bloody curse enough to need to vomit, at his lovely wife for revealing more information about him than he felt necessary, and at the whole situation. He now wished that he had apparated with his wife to their house by the sea once Voldemort was defeated, effectively avoiding this whole situation. He knew Hermione wouldn't have it – she was too attached to Harry and Ron, and all of her friends. Truth be told, Draco was too, although they wouldn't understand why just yet.
"How long did the curse last, Draco?" asked Remus Lupin in a tight, yet interested voice. All eyes shifted to the DADA teacher. "That particular curse is very advanced and requires a great deal of power to perform. I've never known anyone to cast it, or to be on the receiving end."
"Just under 48 hours. The full effects of the curse were wearing off by the time she met with Harry and Ron that Sunday evening." Draco said, turning pale again.
"Impressive," the werewolf whispered, in awe of the power the younger version of Draco exhibited.
Hermione walked back into the room with a bowl of pasta and gave it to Draco. He looked at her with quiet gratitude, both for the food and for her understanding and thoughtfulness.
"What was the spell you used on Draco?" asked MacGonagall.
Draco couldn't help but laugh as Hermione explained, "He asked me the same thing once we were out of the hospital. It puts a great deal of pressure on the torso, effectively breaking the ribs. The incantation is 'Pressum.'"
"An original spell?" inquired Lupin.
"Yes, Remus. It was one of the first that I tried." She admitted, blushing.
The room fell silent again, but Hermione did not miss the looks on Harry and Ron's faces. The tension radiating from their side of the room was thick. They were quietly simmering and any minute they would explode, years of friendship had given her much insight into what made them tick. It was either meet it head on and try to diffuse it now or ignore it and face the explosion. Hermione was not one to back down, and she wasn't fearful or either of her friends…
"Ok guys, spit it out." She said pointedly at her friends. Ginny's eyes went wide, and she scooted back in preparation. The red-head knew few people would seek out Harry Potter's anger on purpose, knowing that the raven haired young man was often swift to rage. On the other hand, the two young men, and many other people for that matter, carefully avoided the wrath of the female third of the Golden Trio. Watching Hermione draw out and address their anger, Ginny had to admit, she admired the other woman's boldness.
"What are you on about, Hermione?" Harry said tightly, forcing his voice to be light.
"Perhaps you need a reminder of who I am. Hermione Granger, best friend to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley since we were first years at Hogwarts." She snorted at them. "I know that look on your face. You can't fool me. You're mad and you're just itching to pull your wand on him, or me. This whole situation has left you feeling out of control, and you don't like it."
Harry's eyes flickered for a moment, and she knew that he was startled that she knew him so well, but he gave up nothing else.
"How do YOU know what we're feeling?" Ron snarled at her. "Do you even care?"
"Damn it, Weasley! Back off of her. Would she tell you everything, waste time telling you this whole story, just so you'd understand if she didn't care? Would she cry herself to sleep at night, praying that the two of you could forgive her fore keeping such a monumental secret?" Draco was angry. These two could be so daft sometimes, and it frustrated him. He noticed that Harry's eyes softened a bit when he mentioned Hermione crying over them. 'If they only knew how much this whole situation hurt her' he though. Draco just didn't want to see her hurting anymore, and he'd be damned if he was going to sit by and let them lash out at her in their anger.
"I can understand being upset with her," Draco continued, "but you really need to start seeing this from her perspective as well, and you need to understand the toll this took on Hermione."
"Guys," Ginny started, "while us girls appreciate the show of testosterone in defense of our honor, this little detour isn't getting us very far."
Hermione gave her friend a smile of gratitude. Harry looked at this girlfriend, and nodded his head reluctantly.
"Ginny's right. We're not getting any further." Harry hung his head for a moment, and then lifted it to stare into Hermione's eyes trying to convey his frustration and concern. "How much longer does he continue to hurt you?"
"Never again, Harry." Draco responded solemnly. He took his wife's hand and kissed it. "Not like that. Ever. Not Hermione."
