Chapter Eleven: Hermione

Hermione smiled as Draco approached her. "May I have this dance?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied and laid her hand in his as they walked out onto the ballroom floor.

She could not remember a time when she felt happier. And who would have thought she would find this happiness with Draco Malfoy of all people? She looked up at him and saw the same emotions reflected on his face. She'd be happy just to stay like this forever.

Suddenly Ron appeared as if out of nowhere. "Mind if I cut in?"

Hermione looked at Draco and nodded that it was okay. She switched partners and began dancing again. Just as she was about to say something to break the awkward silence between them, Ron interjected.

"What do you think you're doing Hermione? This is Draco Malfoy we're talking about here. He can't be trusted."

Hermione narrowed her eyes in anger. "Who I see is no longer any of your concern, Ronald. We broke up, and you are marrying Lavender, remember?"

"Like hell it's none of my business," Ron replied. "You're mine, remember? You said you'd always be mine."

Hermione struggled futilely to get out of his grip, but he just kept spinning her around faster and faster. "Let me go, Ronald Weasley."

Ron started to laugh as she continued to struggle. Suddenly his laugh became much more high pitched and had a hysterical note to it, causing Hermione to freeze in fear. She slowly looked up to see Bellatrix Lestrange standing before her.

"So, you want to dance, do you, Mudblood?" Bellatrix summoned a staff and began beating it on the ground in time to the music. "Well then dance for us," she cackled and with a flick of her wand, Hermione had no choice but to do so, for she was under the Imperius curse.

As she continued to dance and spin, the tempo began to increase, as did the volume. She just kept spinning and dancing, and the music kept getting louder and faster. Hermione was growing weary, but she just could not stop.

Bellatrix raised her wand again. "And now, Mudblood, it's time to die. Avada Ka-"

Hermione sat bolt upright in her bed, a scream on her lips and her wand in her hand. Her chest heaved as the fear and adrenaline slowly faded away. "It was just a dream," she told herself. "Just a dream."

When she finally felt like she had regained her composure, she dragged herself out of bed for a long, hot shower. She allowed her thoughts to drift to her nightmare. It had certainly started out nicely, dancing with Draco, probably because her date with him had gone so well.

Which was surprising when she thought about it. She had not expected them to get along so well considering their history. Although he had given her grief over her belief in house elf rights. Truthfully, she was looking forward to their picnic on Sunday.

She exited the shower and got dressed. Just as she was leaving her bedroom, she heard a pecking at the window. She reached out and retrieved her morning edition of the Daily Prophet. After giving the owl a treat, Hermione glanced at the front page and almost fainted. There, in big bold letters, was the public announcement that she and Draco were dating! She looked for the by-line and was not surprised to see that it was by Rita Skeeter.

Oooohh, Hermione growled to herself, how she would love to put that woman away permanently.

Before she could take that thought any further, she heard more pecking at the window. She was greeted by no less than three owls this time and could see more coming in the distance. Dozens more.

"What on earth…" she thought out loud.

She opened the window and the birds began a pile of letters on her bed. She grabbed one and quickly opened it only to wish she had not. The last thing she needed was someone else's opinion on her relationship with Draco Malfoy. Thewholelotisprobablymoreofthesame, she thought.

She randomly selected another letter, then opened and read it. JustwhatIthought,rubbish. She grabbed another, then another, and another. All of them appeared to be full of the same stupid comments. Either the writer was hopelessly romantic, or indignant over the idea that she was a Muggleborn dating a Pureblood. It seemed everyone was conveniently forgetting that the Malfoys were social outcasts.

Hermione reached for one last parchment to indulge in before Banishing the lot of them. She fully expected to scoff at the writer, same as with the previous letters, but as she read the letter, she began to feel horrified and fearful.

If you know what's good for you're parents, filthy Mudblood, you'll stay away from Draco Malfoy.

She noticed there was no signature, but that didn't surprise her.

She did not want to believe that someone would actually threaten her parents over something as silly as dating Draco Malfoy, but she was not about to take that chance. Hermione went to her fireplace and Flooed to Harry's, where she was greeted with Ginny's wand in her face.

"Hermione? I nearly cursed you! What are you doing here? What's wrong?" Ginny exclaimed, lowering her wand.

"Sorry, Ginny. Is Harry here?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, he's in our room. What's wrong?" Ginny asked again.

Instead of answering, Hermione just headed for the bedroom. "Harry?" she called out.

Harry came out of the bedroom, still buttoning his shirt. "Hermione? What are you doing here? I thought you would be visiting your parents right now. Is something wrong?"

She thrust the letter into Harry's face. "Someone is threatening my parents, Harry."

"Threatening your parents? Why would someone do that?" he asked, as he read over the short letter.

"Rita Skeeter found out I was seeing Draco and now it's all over the daily Prophet. You wouldn't believe the stack of 'fan mail' I got today. Haven't you read the paper yet today?"

"Not yet," he replied. "I don't get it. Why would someone threaten you or your parents over Draco Malfoy? No one even likes him anymore."

"I don't know. I'm sure it's just more Pureblood rhetoric or something," Hermione replied with a shrug and a roll of her eyes. "I'm not even sure I believe this is a real threat, but even if my parents were…well…They wouldn't be able to defend themselves against a fanatical witch or wizard. I don't want to take any chances. Is there anything you could do to help? Officially, I mean."

"Hmm. I'm not sure. But I'll take this down to the office and see what Robards says," he assured her. "In the meantime, why don't you go to St. Mungo's and make sure they're aware of the situation, okay?"

Hermione exhaled in relief and hugged Harry. "Thank you, Harry."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Now who could that be?" Harry wondered aloud.

Hermione shrugged and went to peak outside. "It's Draco! I wonder what he's doing here?" She turned and looked at Harry, who appeared deep in thought.

"Something's not right here. Keep your wand ready, just in case."

Hermione nodded her assent and followed him to the door. She slipped into the living room where she could cover him and see the door at the same time. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ginny take up a similar position in the dining room opposite her.

Harry silently counted to three and threw open the door, wand at the ready. From her hiding spot, Hermione could see Draco's hands immediately raise up.

"Whoa there, Potter, easy. I'm just looking for Hermione. From your greeting and her letter, I'm assuming I've upset her somehow. She wouldn't happen to be here would she?"

Hermione's eyes widened in confusion. What letter? She hadn't sent any letters to Draco. She stepped forward and lowered Harry's wand, then pulled Draco inside quickly. "What are you talking about Draco? I haven't sent any letters to you"

Draco frowned. "Well I did think it rather odd that you were calling off the courtship already. But if you didn't send it, who did?"

"Let me see this letter, Draco," Hermione said. He handed it to her, and she could tell immediately that it wasn't even her handwriting and said as much. "It does look like the other one though, Harry."

She passed it on to Harry, who agreed with her. "I'll take this to the office, as well. See what the others can make of it," Harry said. "In the meantime, you should go check on your pa- um…" Harry trailed off suddenly and glanced over at Draco.

Hermione followed his glance and realized why he was hesitating. Did she really want Draco Malfoy of all people to know about her parents? Notespecially, she thought, though she supposed he was going to have to find out eventually since they were giving this whole courting thing a shot.

She sighed. "My parents," she finished for Harry.

Harry gave her a wordless look asking if she was sure this was what she really wanted to do. Hermione nodded, and he continued. "Right, let the Healers know about the threat and that the Aurors are looking into it. I'll come and explain things later when we know more."

Draco interrupted. "Wait, what threat?"

"I received a lot of 'fan mail' this morning regarding our date last night. One of the letters was a threat against my parents if I didn't stop seeing you," Hermione replied. "Maybe it's just more Pureblood rubbish, maybe not, but I can't take that chance."

"So why do we need to tell the Healers that someone's threatening your parents? They're Muggles. They wouldn't have anything to do with the Healers," Draco said.

"My parents are at St. Mungo's," Hermione said quietly. "In the Janus Thickey ward."