All characters belong to JKR
Part XII:
Detention, what joy
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Cormac had all gathered outside and were waiting for Draco and Snape to arrive that morning, so they could start their detention. Snape had already told Draco his true intent for the detention. He wanted Draco to have some time alone with Hermione. He said that he and Don and spoken about it, and they figured it was what they both needed. If they continued as they were, they would both become reckless, and perhaps Ellen would find out that Draco was not who he claimed to be.
Therefore, Don and Snape had decided that Draco needed to tell Hermione the truth. The whole truth. If Rowena Ravenclaw's theories about the blue moon were correct, then after Draco and Don went back, Hermione of this time wouldn't remember anything that happened anyway. It seemed to be the only way.
Snape and Draco were walking toward the others when Snape said, "Make her take a solemn vow not to tell anyone. Don't reveal anything that will compromise Mr. Potter. We don't want Potter to find out, because that means the Dark Lord might find out. Tell her just enough so that when you are near others, you both can act accordingly. I will make certain that you two spend your detention together.
They approached the others and Snape said, "Very well. I've decided since Mr. McLaggen's only offense last night was to meet Mr. Malfoy's fist, he is excused from detention."
"Brilliant," Cormac said. He said, "Rotten luck to the rest of you, though."
"Go now, or I may change my mind," Snape shouted.
The boy ran back to the doors of the Castle. The rest of the motley crew stood around the courtyard and Snape said, "Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley will go to the Black Lake. They will find the plants I have listed here, for Professor Sprout. They will not come back until they find each and every one of them." He handed Ron a piece of parchment. Harry was slightly concerned. If he teamed Ron and him together, did that mean he would team up Hermione and Draco?
Snape said, "Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy shall go into the Forbidden Forest and collect this list of ingredients for Professor Boot's classes."
Harry spoke up. "I'm top in Potions. Hermione is second. Perhaps she and I should do that task."
"Believe it or not, Potter," Snape sneered, "I'm the one making the decisions here, not you."
"But," Harry began, only to be cut off when Snape said, "And furthermore, you aren't fooling anyone. When I was Potion Master, you barely squeaked by my classes, and if it weren't for Miss Granger, both you and Mr. Weasley would have failed long ago. I've decided that Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger will go in the forest."
"I need to speak to Dumbledore," Harry abruptly said.
"Good luck finding him. He's been away all week. Now, go on and do your task, and don't return to the castle, any of you, until you find every item on your list." Snape handed Draco the second piece of parchment.
No one moved. Finally, Hermione started toward the forest. She looked back once and said, "Come on, Malfoy." She saw Harry and Ron's concern and she said, "I'll be fine." She knew she would. She liked how this had played out. It was perfect. She needed to speak with Malfoy anyway. She wanted to know what he meant when he told her that he was trying to protect her.
Snape stayed in the courtyard until all four were out of sight. Once at the edge of the forest, Hermione said, "May I see the list?"
Draco unfolded the piece of parchment and all it said was, "Take your time. Explain everything to her. Make up items to find to bide your time. You're a Potion Master now, so you should be able to think of things. Come back after you've made her vow not to tell a soul. Don't tell her that she won't remember any of this after we return to our time. Just tell her what you need to tell her so she will no longer be in danger. Remember, I do love you both. Don."
"I think I'll keep the list," Draco said, folding it and putting it in his pocket.
"Well, do you want to share?" she asked.
He stopped and looked at her. "I want to share with you very much," he said. There was never a truer statement uttered.
"Then what's on the list?" she asked.
"Just come on, and keep up," Draco said, walking past her. They walked for many long moments and finally Draco found some Ossian moss. He pointed toward the brown moss and said, "That's on the list."
Hermione bent down and said, "How much?"
"Who cares," Draco said.
Hermione rolled her eyes and took out her wand. She procured a nice size piece and placed it in the pocket of her robe. She said, "It is helpful with rashes and things."
"Great," Draco said. He was brooding, because he didn't know how to proceed. They found five other 'fake' ingredients, and after an hour of aimless walking, Draco finally felt the courage to tell her the truth, or at least part of it.
He said, "Can we rest?"
"Perhaps we should finish so we can get back before lunch. How many more items do we have to find?" she asked.
"A lot," he said.
"Let me see the list, please," she said, holding out her hand. Her nose was red from the cold, as were her cheeks. It was a beautifully day, with a bright sun and blue sky, but through the trees of the forest, the sun wasn't able to do its job, because it was biting cold. She had on her school robes, and cape, and her scarf, and yet she still seemed miserably cold. She looked so pretty with a red nose. He held out the list and started to hand it to her, as a joke, and then he held it up high above her head.
"No, I don't think so." He laughed.
"You know, you did the same thing to my wand that day. You held it over your head out of my reach. I already know you're tall." She stood with her arms crossed, one foot tapping on the ground.
He smiled and said, "Do you like tall men, Granger? After all, opposites do attract."
"I'm not that small."
"Yes, you are," he said. "And by denying your stature, and ignoring my question as to whether or not you like tall men, you are agreeing that you find me attractive."
"No," she said. She looked away. "That's convoluted logic, Malfoy."
He smiled. He folded the parchment and started to put it in his pocket, but she lurched forward and grabbed it. "HEY!" he said.
She ran away from him and started to open the piece of parchment. He reached her in time and tackled her. He swung her around, his arms around her waist, and pulled her to the ground, right on top of him. They both laughed, but then, with her weight on top of him, and their bodies pressed together, even under layers of clothing; they both stopped laughing and looked in each other's eyes.
She was taking deep breaths and so was he. Her hands were on his chest. His were tight around her middle. She still had the paper, balled up, in her hand. He had an idea. He said, "Read the list, Granger. Read what Professor Boot wanted us to find."
What's so Funny?
She rolled off him and sat down beside his body. He tensed, from her closeness, and from the uncertainty of how she would react to the note, and what he would tell her. He sat up as well.
She read the note and looked at him. She was frowning. She said, "What's going on here, Malfoy? Who's Don?"
"Don Boot. Professor Boot."
She stood up. He stayed on the ground. He picked up a twig and twirled it in his hand as she read the note once more. To his surprise, she sat down next to him and said, "Start from the beginning."
He thought she was overly calm at first. As he began to weave the tale to her, their tale, she became agitated. The story of their future was sure to seem incredulous to the present Hermione, but as he finished glossing over the more important parts of the past five years, she did something he never thought in a million years would happen.
She laughed.
She laughed and couldn't seem to stop. He wondered if she was suffering from hysteria, brought on by posttraumatic stress, or disbelief, or if she had just suddenly gone insane.
Whatever the reason, her laughter, instead of being contagious, made him angry.
Then, to add insult to injury, she did something even more shocking. As she sat on the cold ground beside him, laughter finally gone, along with the morning, she pushed him, hard. He fell backwards.
"You are such a liar!" she said. She stood up and began to run away from him.
He stood up and followed.
He called her name. She ran as fast as she could. He knew his wife well enough to know the real reason for her sudden departure. She believed him. Her knee jerk reaction to run away was attributed to that fact.
She looked back once, said, "Stop following me!" and then she turned back toward the path and right before his eyes, she disappeared.
He gasped, drew his wand, and yelled her name.
She looked back once, said, "Stop following me!" and then she turned back toward the path and ran right into a tree. Before she could register the pain in her head and her left arm, which were the result of running into a tree, she realized she was no longer on the path. She blinked several times. Where was she? She was running away from Draco, after his outrageous tale of Eighth year students, falling in love, the founders of Hogwarts, and time travel, and then, nothing. She was in a dark unknown place, seemingly free from the confines of the forest, and most certainly alone.
She reached out blindly with one hand and in her robe for her wand with the other. One hand encountered a smooth surface. The other encountered nothing. She was alone, afraid, and wandless. Her forehead hurt from running headlong into a tree, and she felt a trickle of warm blood travel down her forehead to her eye. Her left arm hurt. What was more, she believed Draco Malfoy, and now she might never get to tell him that.
Draco ran to the spot from where she disappeared and called her name. There was nothing there but a large tree. He spun around in circles, still calling her name. He stomped his foot, like a five year old child who was outraged at not getting his way, and then with his hands in fist at his sides, he yelled. "HERMIONE!"
She heard Draco scream her name. Should she call back to him? In that moment of indecision, she had an epiphany. And that was that she believed him. Moreover, she loved him. In the here and now, she loved him, and that one single thought was what made her believe his completely, incredible story emphatically, with no question.
Yes, the Draco she had always known was often cruel, certainly portentous and vain, but that didn't mean that was all there was to him. He had to have more to him, because she knew she was a smart, levelheaded woman, who made good decisions, and if she was in love with him in the future, then he must have some redeeming qualities. She decided to give in to his story, believe him without qualms, because he must be telling the truth. If he was telling the truth, then she might be in danger, and she might need a helping hand. If he was telling the truth, then they were married. If he was telling the truth, then he would leave her at the end of this year, and she wouldn't remember any of it.
She yelled back.
Draco heard her yell back to him. She yelled his name. The sound of her calling for him both unnerved him and made him feel elated. She believed him.
That didn't mean he could find her.
He continued to shout for her, and she continued to answer, but he was no closer to finding her. If he swayed from the path, her voice sounded farther away. When he walked closer, she sounded closer. He got down on his hands and knees and pressed his face to the ground, which looked like an ordinary ground, undisturbed except for the fact that Draco was lying on it.
Hermione was doing the same, in her hiding place. She still didn't know where she was, she was still literally in the dark, but she had free reign to move about, so she moved and continued to call for him. DRACO! DRACO! She was no closer to escaping the dark abyss of her literal prison, so finally she sat down and decided to let the dark envelope her, until she either escaped, was rescued, of heaven forbid, ceased to exist.
Draco finally decided to go find Don. He was about to leave when he was drawn to the tall tree that stood in front of him on the path. The trunk was larger around than most of the trees in the forest. Something drew him to this tree, and he walked up to it and placed his hand on the rough bark. He sighed and said, "Hermione."
She heard his voice as if it was next to her.
In a normal voice, at a normal level, she said, "Can you hear me?"
"Hermione?" he asked, surprised. "Where are you?"
"Well I hardly know that, do I?" she said back.
"I think I know where you are, but you would never believe me," he said.
"Where am I?"
"I think, somehow, you are in a tree," he said.
How could she be in a tree?
"I know I'm not in a tree, Draco Malfoy," she said. "There are no limbs, leaves, or anything. I'm somewhere dark and confined.
"I know," he said back. He had both hands on the tree, as if he was embracing her and he elaborated. "I don't mean that you are up in a tree. Somehow, I think you are inside the tree."
"I did hit a tree before I disappeared," she said.
He started to walk around the tree, touching it the entire way. He said, "Can you tell how big the space you're in is?"
"No."
"Light your wand," he said, still circling the tree. His foot encountered something. He bent down, picked up her wand, and said, "Oh."
"I don't have my wand," she said.
"I know. I just found it." He put her wand in his pocket. He said, "I need to go get help."
"Don't leave me," she said. "We can figure this out."
"I'm not bloody Harry Potter. I don't know how to get out of tight spots," he said desperately.
"Well, I am Hermione Granger, and I do," she said.
They worked together for perhaps another hour. It was now long past noon. Draco was hungry, and he knew she must be as well. He decided to send his patronus to Don. He would risk someone seeing it, if it meant help for Hermione. He told her he was about to do that when she said, "What if that Ellen woman sees it?"
"I don't think she knows my patronus," he said.
"We can't risk it. Besides, did the Draco of this time already know how to conjure a patronus?" she asked.
The truth was that no, he didn't, so Draco wouldn't risk it. "Fine, I won't send one."
She sat down, succumbing to the desperation she felt. They were wasting time, him on the outside of a tree, and she, however it was possible, on the inside. They didn't have much time together, and she had so many questions she wanted to ask him.
"May I ask you a question?" she asked. He sat next to the tree, his back against it.
"Anything," he said.
"Do we have children?" she asked.
He had smoothed over the story so quickly, that he hadn't told her that. He looked down at the ground, picked up a stick as he did earlier, and while twirling it in his fingers he said, "We are about to have our first. A girl, I guess."
"Wow," she said softly.
"Yeah," he agreed.
"Is Harry married?" she asked.
He expected more personal questions about him and her. He said, "Old Scarhead married little red."
"Do you still hate him, in the future?" he asked.
He really had to think about that one. "I don't hate him, but I wouldn't say we are friends. We tolerate each other."
"Is Ron married?" she asked.
Draco chuckled, and decided to have some fun. "No, he's gay."
"WHAT?" she said with a voice so shrill it was as if she yelled in his ear.
"I'm joking! No, he's not married."
"Oh, good. I mean, I don't mind either way, but I hate to think I wasted all my time all those years on a gay man." She sighed and then smiled. "You have a good sense of humor after all, don't you?"
"Some say, some say," he answered. "And to clarify, you did waste all your time all those years, on a stupid man, because after it was all said and done, you ended up with me."
"When did we first kiss?" she asked.
"That's a debate," he said. "I tried to kiss you the first time by the Black Lake, but Neville Longbottom thought I was accosting you and came to your rescue."
She laughed. He continued with, "Then I kissed you up in your room, while it was raining outside, after Michael Corner called you a Mudblood. Then I kissed you, a real kiss, and a passionate, long kiss, after a dance on Halloween night."
"When did we first make love?" she asked.
He smiled again. He expected questions like, "When did Harry succeed in vanquishing the Dark Lord," and such. She was asking personal questions, just about them. He liked that. He said, "On Christmas, when we came back for our eighth year."
She was quiet for so long that he said, "Hermione?"
"I'm still here." She was quiet a long time again and said, "So, do we have sex a lot?"
He laughed aloud and rolled on the ground. "We are expecting our first child, so you figure it out."
"Oh, yeah," she said, with a smile. Then, she stopped smiling and asked, "What did Professor Boot mean in his note when he wrote that I would forget everything? Does that mean that when you go back, I won't remember this conversation?"
Draco stopped smiling also, but he stopped smiling because he saw what looked like a large animal perusing between the trees. He stood up and with wand in hand, he said, "Hermione, don't say a word for a moment."
She stood up again when she realized that his voice was laced with fear. Safe inside her dark cocoon she said, "What's wrong?"
He answered, "We aren't alone."
A/N: Dum, dum, dum. Cliffhangers...oh how I have missed you.
