Chapter Twelve
Draco and Blaise dropped the plates they were holding as soon as they heard the first shouts. They ran into the entrance hall to see Hermione fending off a handful of Death Eaters, and joined in immediately.
"Stay out of this, Draco!" yelled one of the Death Eaters. "We're here for her, not you!"
"Like hell! You're the ones who barged into my house!"
They fought them off for a few minutes more until Blaise, then Draco, were hit with a body-bind charm. Draco saw the rest of his friends out of the corner of his eye, huddled next to the Christmas tree in the living room with a Death Eater standing guard over them. His attention was drawn back to Hermione as she was disarmed and forced to her knees by two of the Death Eaters. Another stepped forward from the crowd, and he knew who it was before he even lifted his mask.
"Hello, Miss Granger. How lovely to see you again."
"Really, Lucius? Because the last time I saw you, you were on your knees beg-."
He backhanded her before she could finish her sentence. "You are a lying little bitch, and you know it."
"I'm pretty sure I couldn't forget the sound of your pleas if I tried." She laughed as he hit her again. The third time, she spit the blood that pooled in her mouth into his face. "I'm really getting sick of being hit. Can you get on with whatever it was that you had planned? I'm getting bored."
"You little bitch!" he fumed and, after scrubbing her blood from his face, motioned for the Death Eaters who were holding her in place to move. He pulled out the wand he was using. "Crucio!"
Draco looked on in amazement as all the girl did was tense her muscles. When the curse lifted, she smiled at Lucius. "Come on, boy-o. You're supposed to really hate me!"
"Crucio!" he yelled louder.
When the curse lifted this time, she released the breath she had held. "What was that? I know you can do better!"
"Crucio! Crucio! You fucking bitch! Crucio!"
She dropped onto her hands, panting. "There you go. That's a bit better. I think I felt it that time."
Lucius grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet. "Do you think this is funny? Do you?"
"Yes, actually. I know how much it must be killing you to not be getting the reactions from me that you hoped to see. I take great pleasure in knowing that I'm fucking up your evening."
He punched her hard enough that she fell back down to the ground. "Then I'll make sure to ruin you properly. Your friends won't be able to recognize your pretty little face once I'm done with you and they come to collect your body."
She laughed again, rolling over onto her back so she could breathe better. "About my friends, you see, your charming son was kind enough to invite some of them over for dessert today. The way I figure it, they'll be here in, oh, 15 seconds or so, and you and your little friends will be shit out of luck."
Panic flashed across Lucius' face, and he grabbed the nearest Death Eater. "You told me it was just the children tonight! You told me that it would be the perfect time to attack!"
"I-I didn't know! I didn't know!"
The doors flew open right on cue, revealing Remus, Harry, and Sirius, wands at the ready. Less than a minute later, all the Death Eaters (excluding Lucius of course) were on their knees with their wands surrendered.
"What are you doing?" Lucius yelled. "Get up! Get up, all of you! You swore your allegiance to me! I helped you escape from Azkaban so you could help me kill that little bitch!"
"It's over, Lucius," Hermione said as she pulled herself up to her feet. "Please, just surrender yourself. We all would prefer to get back to our holiday."
He all but gaped at her before sputtering, "You-you did this! This is your fault! If-if it wasn't for you-." He raised his wand. "Avada-!"
"Expelliarmus!"
His wand flew across the room, and he met Draco's eyes. "Son…"
"I'm no son of yours. Petrificus totalus!"
Lucius dropped to the ground like a stone, and the Order members began to detain the rest of the Death Eaters. Someone had the idea to page the minister before bursting in, and he arrived with a team of aurors to help get everything straightened out. Hermione helped Harry make sure the other guests we unharmed, and Draco and Blaise gave their accounts of what happened to one of the Aurors. Once the intruders were removed, Harry hugged Hermione.
"I was so worried about you, 'Mione."
"I know. I've dealt with worse pain than that, though. You should know."
He gave her a sad look, "Yeah. You were really brave, from what I understand. Stupid, but brave."
"Me? Stupid? Never. I knew exactly what I was doing."
"Of course you did," he replied and ruffled her hair. "Are you sure you're okay? Your face looks pretty bad…"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's pretty sore, and my bones are still a little shaky from the curses, but I'll be alright after I sleep it off."
"Good."
She was swept up in a hug from Remus, then one from Sirius.
"Is what the boys say true? You laughed at him?" Remus asked.
"I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't let him see me suffer."
"You, my dear Miss Granger, are a bad-ass," Sirius joked and punched her playfully on the shoulder.
"Thanks, guys. It really-."
"Wasn't anything," the three of them finished for her.
"You have to get over this whole modesty thing, 'Mione. That was incredible, what you did," Harry said. "Now, why don't you go make sure that Draco's alright?"
Her face fell. "Yeah… I should… I should do that…"
She walked over to where he was standing with Blaise and his other friends. Draco, in true British fashion, was pouring everyone tea. He couldn't meet her eyes.
"Hey. Is everyone alright?" she asked, mostly to hide the hurt she felt suddenly.
"You're asking us if we're alright?" the one girl- Amanda, if Hermione remembered correctly- asked. "You're the one who got beat up."
"Naw. It's nothing. I'll be good as new in the morning."
They chatted for a few minutes, then slowly everyone began to leave. Hermione made sure they all had their presents and some desserts to take with them.
"I think we're going to head home as well," Remus said. "The desserts were fantastic, by the way. I'm really glad that you invited us, Draco.
"I am too, especially since, you know, you saved our asses."
"Anytime," he replied and laughed.
"Draco, Blaise… I really think Hermione made a good call when she decided to become friends with you guys. I'm glad we're able to get past all of that stuff," Harry said, shuffling his feet awkwardly.
Draco and Blaise exchanged looks.
"I feel like we should still make him suffer," Blaise said.
"He was a prat," Draco agreed.
"You weren't really any better, mate," Harry replied.
"Touché."
The three boys smiled and shook hands. Harry, Remus, and Sirius apparated away, leaving the three remaining people to clean up.
"Hermione, why don't you sit out? Draco and I can finish this up."
"I'm fine, honestly. I don't know why everyone's making such a fuss about it."
"Because you could've died!" Draco exploded with the first words he'd spoken to her since the fight ended. "You almost died, Hermione, and you're acting like it's no big deal! You act like it wouldn't matter if you died!"
"Draco… I faced this kind of stuff all the time. I'm used to it at this point, I guess. I-I'm sorry I brought it here, to your home. I'm sorry you had to see that."
"Now-now you're apologizing? Hermione… fucking hell." He cleared the space between them in two strides and grabbed her by the upper arms. "Don't you ever, ever, make it seem like your life isn't worth anything! I'm sick of seeing it happen. Hurting yourself to save me, sacrificing yourself to save me- Fuck, Hermione, I'm supposed to be the one protecting you! Not the other way around!"
"Why on earth would you think that?" she demanded, anger clouding her thoughts.
"Because- Damn it! Because I love you, alright?"
And then he kissed her.
