UNEXPECTED SERIES OF EVENTS

AN: Sorry for the long gaps between updates. Please take this new chapter as an offering.

PROMISES

The following days in Hawaii were filed with mischief and fun for Hermione and Draco, and by the end of the trip, Hermione had finally let herself relax and enjoy herself to the fullest. We join the two protagonists of this story on their last night in Hawaii, at a luau held on one of the hotel's many beachfront properties.

The setting is the beginning of the afternoon, the sun is just about ready to begin it's descent into the horizon, and the torches are being lit to prepare for the ensuing darkness. The smell of smoke from the barbecue fills the air, and the conference attendees begin to filter into the designated area. Hermione and Draco are among those people, and they are bitterly arguing between themselves about their day's adventure into an old temple.

"I can't believe you managed to get yourself poisoned," chided Hermione as she and Draco walked to the luau. They were dressed in typical tourist garb. "I even warned you not to stray from the path."

"It's not my fault Hermione," Draco shot back, "it wasn't marked one way or the other. How was I supposed to know?"

"You shouldn't have eaten the thing at all! You could have died," said Hermione through gritted teeth. At this, Draco takes Hermione's shoulders and steadies her to look her square in the eyes.

"But I know for a fact that I wont," he said with his award winning smirk, "not as long as you're around."

Speechless, Hermione accepted his roundabout way of apology with a heavy sigh.

"Kids!" said a voice. It was Hermione's dad, and he was waving them down to the table they'd been assigned. Already seated at this table were Hermione's parents, and another family. They looked like they had spent every living moment out in the sun; they positively glowed from the exposure. They smiled politely as Hermione and Draco took the remaining seats.

"Name's Bob Phyllis," said the tan man, "this here's Sharon, and my boys Fredrick, and Dyllan, they're fraternal twins." At the mention of their names, both boys rolled their eyes at being bundled together by the label.

They politely shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.

A very fit and tan man burst onto the stage yelling and began spinning batons lit at both ends with fire. He would spin and jump and toss his batons, all the while garnering all of the proper 'ohs' and 'ahs' from the audience. Following the show, the food was brought out by women dressed in hula skirts, no doubt a following act to the fire dance later in the night.

The dinner went pleasantly, and the sun sank as it always does into the horizon, giving off different hues of sunset as it grew dimmer, and day turned into night. They were merry, and made the best of their last night in Honolulu. Draco danced with Kimberly, despite having more of an interest in his new and interesting food, and Hermione danced with both of the Phyllis boys. They're laughter and smiles cemented the end to one of the more agreeable Dentist Conventions that Hermione had been forced into attending, and made the return trip all the more bittersweet. This would be the happiest that Draco and Hermione will be for the rest of the summer.

Once they return to Hermione's home she takes off to The Burrow for a week, leaving Draco to occupy his days by himself. On her return, her demeanor is grim and gets Draco alone to tell him the news she'd learned while staying with the Weasleys.

"Draco we need to talk," she said grimly, "it's about your father."

Draco's eyes widened but he stayed silent and nodded for Hermione to continue. "He's escaped Azkaban, we don't know how, but we suspect that he had help." She wrung her hands nervously, "That's not all though. We thing he might come after your mum to find out where you are. I've already spoken to her, and I've advised her to go into hiding."

"How do you know she'll be safe Hermione?" Draco impatiently paced the room, "Do you know where she's gone?"

"I'm not here secret keeper Draco," replied Hermione, "but she asked me to give you this note." She handed him the folded parchment sealed with his mother's favorite ring. "I'm sorry that you had to find out like this, but it's become more imperative that you return to Hogwarts where you can be kept safe."

"We're not safe," said Draco, "You're not safe. My mum needs me, and I'm stuck in this borough checking the skies for suspicious owls and shady characters."

"Look," said Hermione, "we've taken every precaution. We're safe, and she's safe." She put in his hands the letter, and gave them a good long grip. "We'll get through, I promise you. As long as you've got me, you'll always have someone at your back. I wont let anything bad happen, not to you, not to your mum." With those parting words, she left him to read Narcissa's note in private.

Dearest Draco,

If you're reading this, it means that the thing I fear most has happened, your father has escaped Azkaban and he's out for blood. As we are his closest of kin, he'll come after us first. I want you to be aware Draco, he'll stop at nothing to have his way, and he'll use and go through anyone we care about.

I'm making the sacrifice of my freedom so that you can have yours. Don't try to look for me, I promise that I will be in safe places. He can't get to you as long as you're in Hogwarts, I've been assured of that. I can't be found by him, I know for sure that he'll use me to get to you. Darling, don't fall for his tricks – we know what he truly is, and we must overcome him.

Know that I will not try to contact you by owl, any correspondence we'll have will be mediated by Hermione. Trust only her to deliver my messages.

Take care of the Grangers.

Love Always,

-N-

An uncontrollable anger coursed through Draco's blood, he shook and clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white and they ached. It would only be a couple more weeks until he'd be back in Hogwarts, but now every minute he wasn't there was a minute lived in anxiety. Anxiety that at any moment Lucius Malfoy could blow down the door of this lovely family's home and ruin everything that Draco had built with them.

Taking care to secure the note in a safe place with his belongings, he got up and went to find Hermione. He found her sitting in her room looking out the window, clearly lost in thought. He knew she was thinking about their situation, and he felt a little dread that she might want him gone to protect her own family. When the thought crossed his mind he immediately felt like turning back to his room in order to avoid having the conversation, but she hears him before he has a chance to move. Turning, she looked at him somberly and before he could even open his mouth she'd crossed the room and embraced him.

His lapse into fear and anxiety quickly passed when he realized that Hermione wouldn't leave his side. He allowed himself to be comforted now, as he had comforted her earlier this summer.

"We'll get through this, I promise," she said, breaking the embrace.

"As long as you're around," he replied weakly.

The coming weeks passed, but Draco and Hermione felt tense the whole time, afraid that Lucius might discover their location. Yet, nothing crossed their path that even remotely resembled ill-will towards them. They received their letters from Hogwarts, and were able to fetch their school books without any trouble, they also received news that they had been chosen as Head Boy and Head Girl.

Aside from that one morsel of happy news, they received no word from Narcissa, which worried Draco to no end. Every morning he would ask Hermione of new developments, and the answer would always be the same; an unequivocal 'No.'

The day would finally come that Hermione and Draco would leave their safe borough for Hogwarts, and the weather mirrored their glum mood that September 1st. Storm clouds loomed overhead as Mr. Granger drove the pair to Kings Cross Station.

"I'll let you lot off on the curb," said Mr. Granger, "I've got to get home and help mum out with things at the office. You two'll be fine, yeh?"

"Of course dad," said Hermione. She leaned over and planted a kiss on her father's cheek and exited the car.

"It was lovely staying with you this summer, Mr. Granger," said Draco, as he made his way out of the car.

"Know you're welcome anytime in our home Draco, wherever that may be," said Mr. Granger cheerily. After a quick hug goodbye, and once the trunks had been unloaded for the pair, Mr. Granger waved them off, and left of his office. Once out of sight, Draco and Hermione's backs slumped.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Hermione, "this changes everything you know."

"It's the right thing to do," Draco said certainly. "You're friends need to know about us, our friendship. They need to trust me, like you trust me."

"I know we've pretty much resolved to do this," said Hermione, "I'm just giving you this opportunity to back out. You don't have to do this. I know how Ron and Harry get, and they wont take this well."

"No, we have to do this," said Draco. "You have the box right?"

Hermione nodded and produced a dark purple box with silver trimming. The box had been their project the last three weeks of their summer, and now it was time to reveal its contents to Ron, and Harry. Hermione hoped to sway them to give Draco a chance with the box, and Draco had faith in Hermione's skill in persuasion that she would have her way.

"Good," said Draco, suddenly his senses prickled and every hair on body stood on end as if electrified by an unknown force. "You go on ahead, and I'll catch up."

"Why?" asked Hermione.

"Just trust me," said Draco sternly. "I promise I'll meet you inside." As Hermione went off to look for a trolley to load her trunk onto, Draco looked around for the source of his unease. Scanning the crowds of people at Kings Cross his eyes met with figure he hoped he would never see again.

He wanted to charge after Hermione, to make sure of her safety, but he couldn't move. Slowly the figure approached Draco where he stood, with two others following in his wake. It dawned on Draco that they had been enchanting him the second he stepped inside Kings Cross, that's why he could sense them, and why he currently couldn't move his arms and legs.

"Gelson, take up my boy's trunk and bring it to the train," said Lucius Malfoy in his usual nonchalant tone. "The Head Boy will be missed for just a few minutes."

Although, his voice was calm and collected, his appearance was not. The time he'd spent at Azkaban clearly took its toll on Lucius, but he didn't let it stop his appearance at the train station.

"Follow," said Lucius as he walked through the barrier of 9 ¾ and Draco followed his father through. "You and I have a lot to catch up on, but that's not important right now." They stood just outside of the group of parents wishing their children farewell, watching as tears were shed and hugs exchanged. Lucius nodded to the second figure, an unnamed man to move into the crowd, and Draco followed his trail to lead near where Hermione was standing.

She was directing first years to go onto the train, while the purple box sat near her feet. The unnamed man stood away from her, but kept close proximity, awaiting an order from Lucius Malfoy.

"You have a choice," said Lucius, "choose wisely. My man over there will hurt Ms. Granger where she stands and not think twice about it. The kind of hurt you don't recover from."

Draco tried to rush to her side but couldn't; he tried to scream but it came out as a growl.

"It's simple really. You have to give her up, all of your fond memories, gone." said Lucius, "And that's that, you save her from the fate I've got in store. Now I'll let you talk, but you so much as scream and I'll kill you both." The promise was icy, and Draco was certain of what Lucius would do if provoked. He nodded, and Lucius allowed him to speak for the first time since being captured.

"Promise you wont hurt her," said Draco. "On your life she get safe passage to Hogwarts."

"You're really in no position to make demands, Draco," replied Lucius, "but I'm feeling generous. So . . . yes. Ms. Granger will be safe if you agree to my proposition."

"And her family." Added Draco.

"Yes," said Lucius growing bored of the conversation, "Them too."

Draco looked at what his father had become, and felt sick to his stomach. He saw an unrepentant man, clearly driven insane by his own ambition and schemes. He also knew that by agreeing to this contract that he would lose his best friend, and for the first time Draco allowed himself to feel an emotion he'd been afraid to share even with himself. He deeply cared for Hermione, he loved her, which made his sacrifice all the more painful.

Lucius smiled, for he knew what was to happen next. Draco consented, and his world became black.

AN: Thanks for reading, please review!