A/N- Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy this chapter! Thanks!
Disclaimer- I don't own this. Don't sue me. Please.
Chapter 12- Admitting It
"A letter? From him?" Hermione said, bewildered.
Draco groaned into his hands. "This complicates things so friggin' much."
Harry then ran back into the room, causing dust to fly up in their faces. Hermione coughed harshly, and Draco patted her back, trying to get the dust out.
"I found it!" Harry exclaimed. "It's perfect that you're here, I need you two to tell me if this is real or not."
Hermione grabbed the ragged parchment, held it out so Draco could see, and began to read.
Harry Potter,
I pen you this as your superior, as the winner, as the victorious side in a battle that was too long. And you are making it longer.
I know you have destroyed one of my two remaining horcruxes. I know that you will be heading for the next. And I'm not going to let you do that.
I would like to inform you that I am holding captive your every reason to give up this war: your friends. They are alive, currently, but won't be for much longer if you do not give up your life now.
I'm giving you two weeks Harry Potter. Two weeks, or they all die.
The three of them stood in shocked silence. It was Draco who broke it.
"This is as real as it gets, Potter."
Harry sighed. "I thought as much. I guess I just didn't want to believe it."
"Oh, Harry…" Hermione placed her hand over her best friend's. "Listen, we'll find a way to solve this."
"Wait- who's still at the Mansion?" Draco asked.
Hermione paused to think. "Um, well, there was me, Ron, Luna, Neville, Ginny, Dean… I think Seamus was there… and a couple others."
Harry blanched. "Really?" he rasped.
"Wait. They're all in my family's dungeon, right?" Draco asked hurriedly.
"Yes," Hermione said unsurely, "Unless, of course, they got given away like I did."
"Hermione, we have to go." Draco said.
"Wait- what? We just got here!"
"You can't leave without me!" Harry said.
Hermione repeated herself, this time to Harry. "Wait- what?"
"Potter, you're staying here." Draco said.
"No! I'm going with you." Harry insisted. "Voldemort will kill you all unless I give myself up."
"Harry, no, we-"
"Stop playing the hero Potter!"
"I'm not 'playing the hero'. I just don't want to see my friends die! You wouldn't know what it's like, Malfoy, seeing as you don't have any." Harry seethed.
Malfoy glared daggers. "You shut your mouth now Potter."
"Harry, Draco, come now. Stop arguing! Were we not discussing how to go about the fate of the world?" Hermione exclaimed.
The two boys stopped glaring and sighed.
"You're right of course, Mione." Harry said.
"Listen, Potter, the letter is a trap, quite obviously. He's going to try to kill all of us either way. So you are to stay here while Hermione and I find a way to free them all," he sent Hermione a glare, "which I would have done previously, had she told me they were all in the family dungeon!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to risk it!" Hermione said.
"I don't like this plan. What am I supposed to do?" Harry pointed out.
"Don't trust me?"
"Never have."
"Likewise."
"You're avoiding the question, Malfoy."
"Listen, Potter, you just stay here. If you come to the Manor, it's nearly inevitable that you are going to die. And as much as I hate to admit it, we need you alive."
"Draco's right, Harry."
Harry was silent for a long time, head bowed, fingers playing with the dust on the shack floor. A moment later, he spoke. "Alright."
Hermione leapt up and threw her arms around Harry's neck. "Thank you!"
"I know that I probably can't change your mind, Potter, but you can trust me now. I'm no Death Eater."
"I suppose I have to."
Hermione smiled, but her expression slowly changed to a grimace. "I guess we have to go now."
"The sooner the better." Draco agreed. "My father will be returning from wherever he went soon."
"Okay," Hermione said. "Could I- could I have a word with Harry, alone?"
"Sure." Draco hitched the backpack up his shoulder, nodded to Harry, and then left the shack. Hermione turned to Harry.
"I don't believe you." She said.
"Hermione!"
"I don't. I know you too well, Harry. Please, please, I'm begging you. Don't let this be Sirius all over again. " Tears welled up in her eyes.
Harry bowed his head. "I don't know, Hermione. I honestly don't know anymore. Dumbledore only could leave me so much, and now I really don't know what to do."
"Trust me. Trust Draco. I know you don't want to believe it, but he has changed."
"Alright." Harry said. Hermione grinned as she pulled Harry into a farewell hug.
"Good luck." She said, voice muffled.
"You too." Hermione let go, and began to walk to the front door.
"Wait." Harry called from behind.
"Yes?" Hermione turned around.
"Mal-Draco," Harry said. "I was just wondering, if, er, you-you like him?"
Hermione wasn't too surprised by this question. Truth be told, she had thought of it a couple times before. "What makes you say that?"
"Just the way you trust him like that, the way you look at him, the way he was so unMalfoylike-ly gentle when he helped you cough the dust out that you had swallowed." Harry said.
"I-I don't know, Harry. He has changed. But to be honest, I don't know." Hermione gave him a final weak grin, before walking to the door and leaving for real.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
She doesn't know… Draco was surprised beyond belief at Hermione's answer to Harry's question. He was contemplating several things as he and Hermione walked through the forest in silence.
First, and foremost, what the hell is going to happen when we get back to the Manor?
Second, she might like me.
Third, do I like her?
And finally, why did Potter have to make a door that I could hear so well through?
"Draco?" Hermione said. "Where are we going?"
"To a place where we can apparate. If we apparate here, it'll look suspicious if anyone detects it."
"Oh."
"In case you're wondering, about forty-five more minutes."
"Oh." She repeated.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Hermione's head was a raging mess of thoughts as she walked.
Harry's not going to stay there, I know it.
What is Draco going to do; he better have a well-thought-out plan!
Oh, who am I kidding, we're dead.
Do I like Draco?
Does Draco like me?
Am I that obvious? Does it look like I like him?
How much more damn walking am I going to have to do?
Are Ron and Ginny and the rest okay?
Do I like Draco?
Does Draco like me?
Is Voldemort going to kill me?
Is Lucius going to find out that we were gone?
Is Draco a spy?
Do I like Draco?
Does Draco like me?
It seemed like those two kept coming back.
Well, Draco was now trustable, not a Death Eater, and had nice hair…
What was that?
Well, he does.
Am I arguing with myself? I need to get out of this forest!
"Draco, what time is it?"
He looked up at the trees, trying to get a glimpse of the sky. "Just by my internal clock, I'm guessing around midnight."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Well, Hermione wasn't that bad. She wasn't so much of a nagging know-it-all, she was fun to argue with, and she finally had tamed her hair. Slightly.
Draco did like to talk to her and such. She made for a good conversation, as well as a good argument, as she had to wits to fight back.
Wait- did he like her?
Maybe.
And the worst part about it was, he didn't even feel repulsed by this idea! He rather… enjoyed the fact he might be falling in love with Hermione Granger.
This wasn't right.
Perhaps the lack of sleep was getting to him.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
You like Draco Malfoy.
You like Draco Malfoy!
You are in love with Draco Malfoy!
Hermione was repeating this over and over in her mind, trying to make the puke come up.
A year ago, if anyone had told her that she liked Draco Malfoy, bile would have risen in her throat.
But know she was saying it over and over, and she wasn't even slightly disgusted.
This wasn't right.
Perhaps this enclosed forest was getting to her mind.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Here!" Draco said. "We're here."
It was an open field, and Hermione could finally see the night sky. When she saw the stars that she had been deprived from for so long, she suddenly felt tired.
Draco interlaced his fingers with hers, and prepared to apparate. Hermione nearly gasped.
It was like her whole body was warm from just one touch from him, and despite the fact that the wind was freezing, she was cozy all over.
Then, as suddenly as the feeling came, it left, as Hermione went through the choking-like sensation of apparation.
A moment later, she was doubled over, lying in the Manor hallway. She stood, and noticed that Draco was beside her. His face was glowing the moonlight, but his eyes were fixated on something in the shadows. Hermione followed his line of vision, and let out an audible gasp when she saw the pale face of Lucius Malfoy.
"Hello."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
A/N- I know, I know, I'm so mean for leaving you on yet another cliffie. I'm proud of this chapter, though! It's longer than usual, and it was perhaps my favorite to write. I'm sad though! This story is coming to an end, somewhere from 4-6 chapters left. It will have a sequel though! :)
Now REVIEW! Please!
