I am so, so sorry for how long it has taken me to update. If you consult my profile you'll see that I'm pregnant and have been incredibly sick, and I've had trouble finishing up this chapter. I finally think I've found a direction I'm happy with, so I hope you enjoy.
A/N: When you've perused the previous chapters and are ready to read this one, I would recommend listening to "The Killing of Dumbledore" followed by "Drink of Despair" from the Half-Blood Prince Soundtrack on repeat 1 while reading this chapter. It really adds to the mood and the way I felt when I was writing it.
Chapter 14: …That I am up to No Good.
Draco watched from a corner of the Great Hall as finished up some pumpkin juice, careful not to spill it on Harry's invisibility cloak.
"You can't, Cormac, I won't let you."
So Emily still chose Draco over Cormac. That realization filled Draco with a curious sense of satisfaction. She ran from the Great Hall, and Draco quickly followed.
He found her crying in an empty second floor corridor. He was about to say something when she swatted at the air without warning.
"How many times have I told you to leave me alone?" Emily flicked her hand at seemingly nothing.
Draco thought perhaps she was going mad – she did hang out with Luna after all – but then he could have sworn, out of the corner of his eye he detected a seemingly invisible force tugging at a thick, black lock of hair.
"Fine! But I can't see you yet. Let me put in my contact lens."
Emily began to put what looked like a thin, convex piece of glass in her eye, and he shrank back into the shadows near a large pillar. Could she really see invisible things with the lens? Draco didn't want to take that chance. Still, his curiosity was riveted, and he wanted to know just what invisible creature she might be talking to.
"All right, all right, I can see you now." Did one of her eyes suddenly look darker?
Emily suddenly looked in Draco's direction, seemingly at Draco himself. "What are you pointing at? There's nothing over there, fairy."
Draco crouched further back behind the pillar. So it was a fairy. A fairy who definitely knew he was there.
"No, absolutely not," Emily shook her head briskly. "I told you already, if someone sees me like that then I might be killed; Draco might be killed. It'll put everyone in danger."
Draco? He couldn't help but inch further from the shadows to see what would possibly make things so dangerous for him.
Harry and Ron stepped out of the Great Hall soon after Cormac and Emily had taken off.
"We'd better find Draco and let him know about Cormac in case he missed it."
Harry dragged Ron away from the crowd and pulled out the Marauder's Map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He tapped the map with his wand and waited as every room and corridor and person in the castle came into view.
"There, he's on the second floor, right next to—"
"No way!" Ron interrupted. "He found her?"
Harry pointed at a nearby corridor. "And it looks like Cormac's on his way to meet them. Come on, if we hurry we can head him off." He cleared the map with a tap of his wand and tucked it securely in his robes.
They ran without stopping until they reached the corridor. Draco was nowhere in sight, and the only other person was…
"Emily?" Harry breathed in shock. "No, that's not possible."
Emily suddenly swung in their direction. "Who's there?" she tensed.
Harry stepped forward, holding the map. "All this time? All along it was you, and you couldn't be bothered to tell us – to tell Draco?"
She hesitated. "I don't know what you're talking about."
He held up the blank parchment furiously. "The map doesn't lie, Hermione."
"Hermione?" Draco choked, emerging visibly from behind a pillar. He looked like he was about to break from grief and astonishment. "It's you?"
She looked up desolately, holding her finger up in the air at seemingly nothing, but sparks of gold flew around her finger, and there was no mistaking that she was definitely touching something. A glittery dust swirled around her finger, which immediately cooled in color. Her silken, black hair transformed into springy, light brown waves, and her face lightened and altered until there was no mistaking.
"I wanted to tell you, Draco, but it wasn't safe. I—"
Whatever she'd planned to say, Harry never heard. Draco rushed at her with such force, planting his lips on hers with such ferocity that Harry had to look away. As he did so, he spotted another figure emerging from the shadows.
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry and Ron's wands flew out of their hands, several feet away, and Cormac McLaggen stepped into view, looking livid. Suddenly Harry felt weighed down by dozens of invisible ropes, and he realized that Cormac had just nonverbally cast the Impediment jinx on Ron and himself.
"So this is why you always defended Granger?" He spat at Hermione, shaking his head. "Are you both working for him then?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Cormac," Hermione clutched Draco's hand behind her back. "You have no idea how dangerous it is for you to be a part of this. Go – before you get hurt."
Cormac shook angrily. "He's the reason my sister was taken! He has to pay!"
He fired a hex, which Draco quickly deflected, and soon Cormac and Draco were firing so many jinxes and spells that there movements were more like blurs.
But Cormac was angrier and faster, and with a burst of light, Draco's wand flew out of his hand.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!"
Draco closed his eyes, bracing for the curse to hit him full force. Instead he felt a dense, warm pressure push against his chest, followed by a quiet gasp.
Draco's eyes flew open as Hermione fell into his arms. No.
Blood sprayed from her torso across the hall, and for several seconds he could hear nothing but the ringing in his ears.
No.
Not Hermione.
Cormac looked completely horrorstruck as Draco raised his head, blind with rage, but Hermione's rough gasps brought his attention back downward.
"Hermione—" Draco peered down with frenzied agony, touching her hair and face. "—Hermione, why did you – why would you—" …It was supposed to be me…
Screams echoed in the hall as a cluster suddenly appeared on their way from the Great Hall.
"Somebody help me, PLEASE!" Draco shouted into the gathering crowd. Hermione's grip was slackening by the second.
Miraculously, Professor Snape appeared the corridor, and without hesitation he flew to Hermione's side, kneeling over her bloodied, frail frame. Tracing his wand over the deep wound Cormac's curse had made, Snape muttered a songlike incantation over and over. After his third time performing the countercurse, he half-lifted Hermione into a standing position.
"You need the hospital wing… Come…."
Draco watched as Professor Snape carried Hermione away – then he rounded on Cormac with a fury no one was expecting.
"You did this." Draco lunged maniacally toward Cormac, who stood petrified against a pillar. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
Harry inched across the floor, fighting to throw off the Impediment jinx. He was nearly to his wand as Draco turned his gaze toward McLaggen.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Draco raised his wand, crying out, "CRUC—", but Harry had finally reached his wand, shouting "Expelliarmus!" before his friend could finish.
The wand flew into Harry's hand, and Draco stared at him with such a force of loathing that Harry was suddenly grateful that his best friend was wandless. He ended the spell holding Ron and himself down and stood warily.
"Draco, you need to calm down. Hermione's going to fine; you saw what Snape did."
Ron stepped forward, hand outstretched. "Draco, mate, it's going to be fine."
"Shove it, Weaselby," Draco snapped his head up with a scowl. "If I wanted your imbecilic opinion – I would've asked."
Weaselby? Harry was too shocked to even blink.
Draco suddenly shook his head roughly, as if he'd just come to his senses. "What did I just – Hermione, I need to see Hermione." Then he grabbed his wand from Harry's surprised grasp and broke through the confused crowd.
Harry peered after him feeling utterly bewildered when he caught a glimpse of Crabbe and Goyle in deep discussion, sneering furtively. Draco was in greater trouble than he realized.
Hermione blinked, peering around a dusty room that smelled of stale doxy droppings.
"Professor Snape?" She propped herself up onto her elbows. "Where are we? Why aren't we in the hospital wing?"
"Going to the hospital wing was of no consequence, Miss Malfoy. I am perfectly capable of healing a dark curse."
"But – why are we here?"
Snape grimaced slightly. "As soon as word gets out that Emily Jennings is Hermione Malfoy, the Dark Lord will undoubtedly see my part. I housed and protected you from capture, and I would expect nothing less than a cruel and painful death after such betrayal."
"I'm sorry, Professor…"
"Do not waste your time sulking about, Miss Malfoy. What's done is done."
Hermione sat up, feeling stiff but healed. "So where are we then?"
"In the lowest of circumstances, but – for the time being at least – we are safe. That is to say – we are currently in hiding at The Order of the Phoenix."
Hermione's eyes widened. "I've heard of this place."
"Yes, undoubtedly Bellatrix would have informed you how it had been overrun with muggle-lovers and filth."
She turned to Snape sharply. "They're not going to get Draco – are they, Professor?"
"I'm afraid that is out of my hands, Miss Malfoy."
"What do you mean, SHE'S NOT HERE?" Draco stood at the entrance of the hospital wing, glaring at Madam Pomfrey. He'd been denied entrance for several minutes to suddenly be told Hermione wasn't even there. It seemed more than a little suspicious.
Professor McGonagall passed through the door, looking sympathetic. "Draco, you must understand that there are things at work beyond your capacity to understand—"
"Why are you constantly treating me like I'm some sort of hapless invalid? I think I understand a fair bit more about Hermione than you think, Professor, and I know the last thing she needs is to be trapped on the run with Severus Snape," Draco sneered at the thought. He turned to run, shoving anyone and everything out of his way as he fled through the castle, McGonagall's voice echoing after him.
He'd just passed the bathrooms on the first floor when a familiar silhouette emerged in the corridor.
"Get out of my way, Harry," he growled with as much venom as he'd ever felt in his life.
"Not until you tell me what you're on about." Harry stood, wand at the ready. "You almost used an unforgiveable on McLaggen; don't think Ron and I didn't notice."
"And I'll use it on you if you don't get out of my way, Potter."
Harry's face contorted with disbelief. "Is this because of that article in the Daily Prophet? Draco, we've been best mates for over six years."
"My entire life has been a lie, Harry," Draco seethed. "Whatever parallel dimension I'm supposed to be in where I'm a Malfoy, we were NEVER friends. I HATED YOU. And I hated…Hermione." His voice dropped to a whisper, lanced with agony at the admission.
"How do you know all this?" Harry's wand remained raised with suspicion.
"I don't BLOODY know!" He threw his hands in the air wildly. "Ever since I found out about all this I keep getting flashes of another life – Draco Malfoy's life."
Harry's wand lowered slightly. "Then Hermione – she would have been… I don't understand. If everything you're telling me is true, then why risk so much for Hermione now?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" How could Draco possibly make Harry understand? He and Hermione were connected somehow. "But you need to get out of my way, Potter." Draco's wand flicked up sharply toward his best friend.
"I'm not going to let you go off and get yourself into more trouble." Harry crouched to fire a jinx.
"THAT'S QUITE ENOUGH!" A woman's sharp voice echoed across the hall. She stepped toward the two boys, an expression of anticipation mingled with curiosity.
Draco stared in horror at the waifish woman. "You're – you're Hermione's mother." His voice broke slightly, edged with fear.
"No, Draco—" The woman's lips curled into a wicked grin as she approached. "—I'm your mother, and it's time to come home."
I know I'm the worst. I finally come back after a long hiatus and end the chapter with a cliffhanger. I'm going to try really hard to get back on track with this, but like I said at the beginning of the chapter sometimes I am so sick that it's incapacitating. Thanks for reading, and please let me know what directions you'd like to this to go! -V