And you can't tell
I'm scared as hell
Cause I can't get you on the telephone
~Lullaby by Nickelback

Chapter 20

Hermione was tossing and turning, lost in an extremely vivid nightmare.

She finally woke up, gasping for breath, and immediately jumped out of bed, grabbing her robe and apparating to Grimmauld Place.

"Harry!" She yelled the second her feet hit the ground. "Harry!"

When she didn't get an answer, she ran through the house, looking for him. She'd never been patient, especially not when it came to something this important to her.

"Harry!"

Just then, she ran into a wall of chest and stumbled back slightly before the person steadied her.

"What is it, Hermione?" He asked. Ginny came out of the room right when he said that, looking just as worried as he did.

"What's happened? Has there been an attack?" Harry was saying. Ginny looked at Hermione's white face.

"I don't think so, Harry," she said. He looked at his wife and then back to Hermione before leading them all into the sitting room.

"What is it?" He asked again, slightly calmer now. Hermione felt tears prick at her eyes, but fought them back.

"My parents," she whispered. "I forgot to hide my parents." Harry and Ginny looked at each other.

"Has something happened to them?" Ginny asked. Hermione shook her head.

"I don't think so, but I had this awful, vivid dream that they were attacked and murdered," she said. "I want to hide them. I couldn't bear it if something bad happened to them."

Harry nodded. "Stay here," he told Ginny, who pouted but nodded. He grabbed his cloak. "Come on Hermione."

They apparated to her parents' house, not caring that it was ungodly o'clock in the morning. Hermione was panicking. How could she have forgotten her parents? She felt awful.

They walked up to the door and Harry knocked as Hermione pulled out her cell phone and dialed their number.

"Hello?" a tired voice said on the other end. Hermione recognized it as her mother and breathed a sigh of relief. Despite what she had said to Harry, she hadn't been certain that they were all right.

"Hey mum," she said.

"Hermione, dear!" She said happily. "It's great to hear from you, but did you really have to call us at 2 am?" Hermione blushed, even though they couldn't see it.

"Sorry, mum," she said. "I didn't think about the time. I'm at the door with Harry."

It was silent for a few seconds, probably while her mum was telling her dad the news.

"Alright dear, we'll be right down," her mum said. "But do you mind telling us what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I'll tell you once we're inside."

"Okay, bye," her mum said. Hermione sighed.

"Bye, mum."

A few minutes later, Hermione's mum opened the door and beckoned them inside.

"I have tea brewing," she said as she led them to the sitting room. Hermione smiled and nodded.

When they got to the sitting room, Harry and Hermione sat on the couch across from her parents. Hermione looked at Harry nervously, and he smiled encouragingly.

"Well, you see, people still believe that muggleborns are inferior," she began, seeing no other way to start it. It would probably give her parents heart attacks if she went right out and told them that they were in another war.

Her parents nodded, and she could tell by their dark expressions that they knew where this was going.

"Go on," her father said. She nodded.

"Anyway, lately our friends have been being murdered and we realized that people from the last war are behind it. They know now that we know about them, that we know who they are and where they are, so they'll probably strike more to try and scare us. I want to put you in hiding, in case they come after you," she said.

"Hermione, this is why we never wanted you to live in that world," her father said. "Another war? Honey, this is ridiculous. Let the others handle it. Come with us."

She shook her head with a rueful smile.

"You know that I could never do that," she said.

Eventually, she convinced them to pack their bags, that this was for the best.

"Where should we take them, Harry?" She asked.

"I think America would be the best place. So many people to blend in with. And the Death Eaters hate Americans, so they would never look for them there," he said.

"Good idea, Harry," she said.

"It's going to be okay, Hermione," he said.

"I know," she said. "It's just so hard, you know? I hate doing this to them. At least this time I won't have to wipe their memories though."

When her parents came downstairs, Harry and Hermione led them outside. They were about to apparate to the airport when they heard the sounds of apparation.

"Well, well, well," they heard a voice say. Hermione's blood ran cold. She knew that voice. It was Rudolphus Lestrange. "If it isn't little Mudblood Granger trying to save her filthy muggle parents. Too bad that it's all going to be for nothing."

Hermione let go of her grip on her mum's arm. "Go back-" Then she heard the back door close, and more Death Eaters poured out from within the house. She closed her eyes.

"Hermione, take them," Harry muttered. She looked at him in shock.

"Are you insane? I'm not leaving you to take them on all by yourself!"

With that, the hexes started flying. Hermione tried to make sure that her parents were always behind her, protected, but it was so hard. Then she was hit from behind with a curse. As she fell to the ground, she remembered the golden coin in her pocket. Just as she started to fade, she was able to flip it.

In the vision, she was in the center of a room, staring upwards to where her friends were hanging in rope nets. She was alone in the room, but as she reached for her wand to free them, she was horrified to find that she didn't have it. Instead, her figures made contact with wood, but it burned her at the touch, eating away at her skin. It was FiendFyre.

She fell to the ground in pain.

"Hermione," she heard her friends calling. "Hermione!"

She was being shaken awake, and very soon she came back to the real world, still feeling what was left of the burn on her skin. She looked up into Ginny's worried eyes that filled with relief when she woke up.

"Harry! She's awake!"

Harry came into the room, his face concerned and full of worry.

"Are you okay?" He asked. She nodded tentatively.

"It was Lestrange," she said. "The Illusio curse. The spell makes the victim writhe in pain. It was his creation and his favorite spell to use."

He nodded. Then she remembered why she was cursed in the first place.

"My parents?" She asked. Harry smiled.

"Safe and sound. Your quick thinking saved all of us, Hermione, as usual," he said. She smiled.

"Good," she said. Then she noticed the alarm clock by her bed and realized the time. "Oh, Merlin, I've been gone all day! I have to go back to the flat!"

Harry nodded as she stood, and sidelong apparated with her. She opened the door, and the first thing she saw was an angry, disheveled Malfoy pacing in the sitting room. When he heard her come in, his head snapped up and his eyes went dark.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" He yelled at her, causing her to wince. He was pissed. Hermione knew that most of it was probably his fear for her, but it sounded like anger.

"I had to put my parents into hiding," she said. "It took a little longer than planned though, because we were attacked."

Draco stopped pacing and took a few steps toward her.

"And you couldn't have woke me up, or left a note, or something to let me know that you hadn't been kidnapped, or, I don't know, MURDERED?" He shouted at her.

"Calm down, Malfoy," Harry said.

"Calm down? No, I'm not going to calm down," he said. "That was beyond the range of irresponsible!"

Harry looked uncomfortable.

"You can go," she muttered to him. "I'll be fine." He looked unsure, but at her stern look, he nodded and disapparated.

She walked towards Draco. "Look, I know you're upset-"

"Oh," Draco said, voice quivering with anger. "Upset doesn't even begin to cover it."

Hermione didn't want to admit it, but he scared her when he was like this. She'd only ever seen him this upset a few times, but it terrified her when he was.

"Imagine waking up and then discovering that I wasn't here. How would you feel?"

"Draco, please stop," she said. He looked at her, and there was nothing of the gentle man that had hidden her when they were attacked by Death Eaters in them.

Luckily, the floo chimed, saving her from the conversation. Unfortunately, Draco didn't seem to care.

"I had no idea where you were," he said. "No idea at all. And then-" Hermione had to work to keep a straight face as Blaise Zabini walked up behind him and then got hit right in the nose by Draco's violent gesture. He didn't even notice.

"Draco-"

"I don't understand. You just run to Potter without a second thought? Don't you trust me? Or are you whoring around behind your best friend's back?"

When he realized what he said, his eyes snapped to hers in shock, and he took a step back, walking into Zabini. He turned.

Draco gasped at Blaise's face. "Where did you get that bloody nose?" Blaise looked at him in disbelief.

"Oh, you know, I just woke up and decided to walk into someone's fist," he said. "You know, just to shake my day up a little bit."

Draco smirked, and Hermione realized that he put two and two together to figure out what happened. By Blaise's expression, he knew too.

"Now Blaise," Draco said condescendingly. "What have I told you about your strange habits?" Blaise clearly wasn't amused. He looked at Hermione, clearly not wanting to deal with Draco.

"Andromeda's dead," he said solemnly. Hermione's eyes widened and she flipped the coin to call the others.

Harry swore when Blaise told him what had happened.

"How could I forget about her?" He asked himself angrily. Then he looked to Blaise. "And Teddy?"

Blaise looked at him seriously. Harry turned and kicked the wall, running his hands through his hair angrily. Ginny walked up to him and they went into the hallway so that he could calm down. The others dispersed since their leader had left, leaving Hermione and Draco alone again. She couldn't look at him.

"Hermione-" He tried.

"Save it, Malfoy," she snapped. "I know: you were worried. That doesn't excuse what you said to me. I can't believe that after all of this, that's what you think of me." She shook her head. "And to think that I was starting to trust you."

She tried to walk into her bedroom, but he grabbed he arm.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," he said. "It slipped out, I didn't mean it."

Hermione jerked her hand away.

"Well then maybe you should learn to control your tongue," she said harshly, causing him to wince. "And besides, if you said it, you thought it. If you thought it, you felt it. And if you felt it, you meant it, Malfoy."

She was trying desperately not to completely break down in front of him. She was trying to be strong. But after everything that she had went through that day, his words had really hurt her.

"Hermione, what would it take for me to convince you?" He practically begged. She felt herself soften at his pitiful tone of voice, but she couldn't allow herself to show him that. He needed to know that she wouldn't tolerate that crap, especially not from him.

"Prove it," she snapped, right in his face. He looked at her and his eyes flicked to her lips, and before she knew it, he was kissing her. She responded until she came to her senses. Then she pushed him roughly away and slapped him across the face. His face darkened and he all but dragged her into his room.

He sat her on the bed before stalking to a far corner. They stared at each other for a minute, and she could tell that he was warring with himself. He didn't want to let her in, but he didn't want what he said to come between them. Finally, some part of him won, because he pushed off the wall and came over to her, kneeling right in front of her.

She turned away, not wanting to look at his eyes, already knowing what they would show. They would be pleading with her to forgive him. But she couldn't, not with just a look.

Giving a frustrated sigh, he reached up and turned her head to face him, putting a hand on either side of her face to keep her from moving. He looked at her, not knowing what to say, his eyes searching her face for any sign of softening.

Finally, he licked his lips and decided to say something.

"Hermione," he said regretfully. "I was so worried that something had happened to you, that I couldn't protect you. I was so, so scared, you have no idea."

She closed her eyes, not wanting him to see them soften. She hoped that he took it as a gesture of exasperation. He seemed to.

"I know you hate me now," he said. At that her eyes flew open, and she tilted her head to the side, studying him. No, she decided. She didn't hate him. "But seeing Potter with you when you came back, I-I just snapped, you know?" His voice was changing with every word, and it hurt her to listen to it. "I didn't understand why you trusted him but not me to help you. I didn't-"

Hermione didn't want to listen anymore. The minute he'd told her that he was worried about her she'd forgiven him. So she decided to shut him up. She pressed her lips gently to his, a sort of teasing butterfly kiss. When she pulled back he watched her, both in awe and begging for more. But she smirked and pushed him back, walking out of the room.