all characters belong to JKR

Part XXXVI:

Who are you?

"Who are you?" Hermione asked breathlessly. The other woman had her wand pointed at Hermione and Draco. Hermione had her body over an unconscious Harry.

"You will find out shortly. Stand up, we have to go," the woman said. Draco stood up and reached down to help Hermione, but she hit his hand away.

"Stand up, Hermione," Draco said to her. His stare never left the witch holding the wand. He fingered his wand slightly, as it hid in his pocket.

"No, Harry's hurt," she said.

The woman said, "He will be dead soon, if you don't get up, and come with me now. Helena Boot and her followers are on their way." A moment later, two wizards came out of the shadows. It was Nick and Don. Hermione stood up.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked, staring first at Don, and then at Nick. Don ran up to her and embraced her tightly.

Nick ran up to Harry, looked back at the woman, and said, "Why did you hurt him?"

"He's only stunned. I hardly expected him to come with them, and we can't very well take The Boy Who Lived with us, can we?" she said.

Don said, "Hermione, Draco, Helena is on her way, any second now. She arranged for you two to come here. She found out your hiding place days ago. Ellen has been working for us, undercover, for a long time, and she received information that Helena was going to try to get to you before you went back to Hogwarts. She cannot touch you at Hogwarts and we are not sure why. We think that is why she has had others do her dirty work for her, when you were there before. Now, please, we don't have anymore time." He took Draco's arm, as Nick took Hermione and Harry's arms. They started to disapparate, when the room filled with a bright, blinding light. Soon, spells, with green, red and gold, sparks were firing all around them. Hermione kept her body over Harry as Draco pulled them both to the corner of the room. He took out his wand, and put himself over them both, to protect them.

In the chaos, Don and Nick both became wolves and attacked the three wizards who had entered the room. That was when they saw her. Helena Boot entered the room, blue light emitting from her body, her black hair long and flowing. She put her hands up and the room once again filled with the same white light. The woman, known as Ellen, crawled over to Draco and Hermione and said, "Get Harry Potter out of here. Apparate somewhere safe and we will find you again." She put a shield charm in front of them. Draco took Hermione's hand, and as she was still holding Harry, disapparated them to the only place he could think. He apparated outside of Malfoy Manor.

"NO!" Hermione shouted, when she realized where they were. "Not here!"

"Do you have a better suggestion? No one can touch us here. We should have come here in the first place!" Draco shouted back. He went in the house, and came back outside shortly with his mother and father in tow.

"Oh, is Harry hurt?" Mrs. Malfoy asked with concern.

Draco tried to remove Hermione from Harry, but she still had him in her arms. "Hermione, we have to get in the house, now!" Draco yelled. He reached around her middle and pulled her in the house by the waist. Lucius levitated Harry's unconscious body in the entryway. They shut and locked the door.

Hermione fought against Draco, forcing him to let her go. She ran back over to Harry's side. Mrs. Malfoy bent over him, to try to access his injuries. "Get away from him!" Hermione shouted.

"Hermione, she's trying to help him!" Draco said.

"Draco, control your fiancée," his father said.

"Why don't you control her?" Draco spat back.

Harry woke up and said, "Why don't you all shut up." He rubbed the back of his head. "Someone, tell me what's going on," he asked. Hermione threw her arms around him.

"Oh, Harry, it was a trick. Helena Boot lured Draco and us to the studio, then somehow the dressmaker stunned you, Don and Nick showed up, then some other wizards showed up, and there was a fight. I don't know what to think," Hermione said. She helped Harry to stand.

Harry took in his surroundings. He said, "I need to get back to the Ministry, and report to the Aurors. Hermione, I know you didn't want to be here, but I think you will be safe for now. After I am done at the Ministry, I'll let your parents know you are okay." He started to walk out the door, so he could apparate away, but Hermione ran to his side.

"Harry, I really can't stay here. Please, let me come with you," she said. Draco was standing in the doorway, listening. Harry looked up and caught Draco's gaze. He turned to Hermione, and she said again, "Please."

"Draco, come and get Hermione for me," Harry said. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm.

"Please, Harry, don't leave me here," she said.

"You are being irrational," Harry said. He did not really think she was. After all, this was the house where she was tortured and almost killed by Draco's aunt, and this was the place where just a couple of months ago she was held captive, but he also knew that she would be safe here, and at the moment, nothing else mattered.

"Harry!" Hermione said. Draco came up behind her and pulled her fingers from Harry's arms.

"Grow up, Hermione. I'll return," Harry said. He took two steps from her, turned back and saw her hurt expression, and then left. Hermione sank to the ground and cried.

Draco turned back and saw his mother and father's disapproving looks from the threshold of their house. His father looked disgusted and his mother looked embarrassed. He picked Hermione up, turned her in his arms, and held her tight. "Its okay, Hermione, we don't have to stay here. I'll take you wherever you want to go."

"Draco, come in the Manor now," his father boomed. He heard what his son had said to his fiancée.

Draco stroked her hair and said, "Ignore them and tell me, what you want to do?" He spoke softly in her ear and kissed her tear soaked cheek.

"I just don't know if I'm strong enough to face going in that house," she said meekly.

"Granger, you are the strongest person I know. Do not let bad memories keep you from facing your fears. However, I'm sincere when I say we will go wherever you want," Draco said. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, comforting her, with his slight swaying back and forth.

"Draco," Mrs. Malfoy said, "Please, you aren't safe out there. Come in the house."

Hermione took in what Mrs. Malfoy said and looked up at Draco, "Don't leave me alone one minute with your father." He smiled. He put his finger under her chin and kissed her. They walked together into the Manor.

At the Manor:

Hermione had been uncomfortable all day, to say the least. She had hoped Harry would return right away. She was also worried about Don and Nick, but mostly, she wanted word on when it would be safe to leave Malfoy Manor. There was no way she wanted to spend the night there.

They ate dinner in silence. After dinner, Draco's mother said she would have rooms made up for them in the west wing. Hermione was held in the south

wing before, so Mrs. Malfoy did not want her to have to stay there again. She asked Draco to come with her, to make sure the accommodations were all right. He looked over at Hermione, as she sat in the corner of the living room, reading. His father had retired to his study. He said, "Hermione, will you be alright here for a moment, if I go with my mother? My father is in his study." He thought he would throw that last part in there, to reassure her. Hermione looked up from her book and smiled her affirmation. Draco walked over, kissed the top of her head, and told her he would be right back.

Draco left the living room with his mother, leaving Hermione alone. She stared at Draco as he walked away. She started to read again, when she heard someone enter the room. It was Lucius, clearing his throat. Hermione's whole body tightened in response. Didn't she tell Draco not to leave her alone with Lucius? Which parts of those words were too complicated for him to understand? She sat in the chair, in the corner of the large room, her face toward the window, her book in her lap, her legs crossed, and her foot bobbing up and down.

"Miss Granger, do you have a nervous tick that I need to know about?" Mr. Malfoy asked as he sat down on one of the sofas.

Hermione looked over at him and said, "Excuse me?"

"If you keep moving your foot up and down at such an alarming rate, I am afraid that you might get a cramp in your leg. What is your problem, anyway? Have we been less than gracious to you? Have we caused you any physical discomfort or pain? My wife and I have graciously opened our home to you, and yet there you sit, in the corner, acting as if each moment here is a moment spent in hell," Lucius said. He stood up and walked over to her. She uncrossed her legs and put her hand in her pocket, to touch her wand.

"Are you going to hex me? I'm merely coming closer so I can speak with you," Lucius said.

Hermione stood up and said, "I think I will go find Draco." He put his hand in front of her to stop her.

"Stop being rude. He will return shortly. I think it's time we got to know each other better, since apparently you are marrying my son in two months," he drawled.

"Apparently?" she mocked. She walked around him and started to leave the room. He used his wand to shut the double mahogany doors. She whipped around and said, "What are you playing?"

"Miss Granger, I assure you, I am not playing at anything. I merely want to get to know the most famous Mudblood of them all, whom my son seems to think he loves. You won't deny me that privilege, surely," he said. He sat down in the chair she had just left.

Hermione glared at him and was very close to hexing him. She said, "First, kindly refrain from calling me a Mudblood. Second, your son is in love with me, I am in love with him, and there is nothing you can do about that. As for your assertions from earlier, you want to know when you caused me discomfort and pain, I will tell you. How about when you insisted that Don bring me here against my will, without knowledge as to where Draco was, and without telling him where I was, just a couple of months ago. How about when I was 18, and I was tortured in this very house, by your sister-in-law? How about when I was 16, and you and your little Death Eater friends decided to fight Harry and the rest of us at the department of mysteries? How about when you put Tom Riddle's diary in Ginny Potter's cauldron when she was a little girl? Do you want me to continue?"

He smiled and said, "My, what a good memory you seem to have. All of that is in the past, however, and if Mr. Boot's claims are correct, and you are the heir of two of the founders, well then, I think I can overlook your blood status, and consider you marrying my son."

"Overlook my blood status!" Hermione shouted. "Never overlook anything about me, Mr. Malfoy. I have had enough of this. I am leaving. Tell Draco that I am going back to my parent's house!" She ran from the room and started to the front door. Draco and his mother were walking down the long staircase at that exact moment.

"Hermione, dear, where are you going?" Mrs. Malfoy asked. Hermione looked back, caught Mrs. Malfoy's eye, and then looked over at Draco.

"Granger?" he asked. She did not respond. She opened the doors, and ran outside. He ran down the stairs after her. When he reached the door, she had already gone. "Bloody Hell!" Draco shouted, slamming the door shut. He ran to the living room and said, "What the hell did you say to her?"

His father said, "Your Mudblood fiancée has the manners of a pig, Draco, so she may think it's acceptable to speak to me that way in my own home, however, I will not have you speaking to me that way as well."

Draco looked at his father, then to his mother. "Mother, I'm sorry, but I have to go find her."

"It's not safe, son," his mother said.

Lucius Malfoy stood up and said, "Draco, your mother is right. You are staying here. Let her go to her people. We offered to keep her safe, and she declined. She will have to live with the consequences. I had a feeling if I called her out on a few things, she would bolt as soon as possible."

"You wanted her to leave?" Draco asked. Mrs. Malfoy even looked taken aback.

"Lucius, why?" his wife asked. "You know that Mrs. Boot woman wants her dead."

"Exactly, she wants the Mudblood dead, not our son," he said. He turned to Draco and said, "Listen, Son, it's not that I wish her dead, or even harmed, but I have to admit, I do not want you marrying that witch under any circumstances, and she was endangering your life, so it's best that you are rid of her."

Draco shook his head and said, "You won't ever change, will you? I am sorry Father, for I love you, but I love her more. All you have done is to ensure that you and I will never have a relationship again, and more the pity, for you will regret losing me, and your grandchildren, someday. Goodbye, Mother." Draco turned and kissed his mother goodbye and ran out the front doors.

You aren't Hermione:

Draco apparated directly to the Granger's house. The house was dark and quiet. No one was around. He called for her, several times, but could not see her anywhere. He looked upstairs, and then ran back downstairs. He opened the basement door and ran down the stairs. There, he saw Hermione, sitting in the middle of the room, on a lone chair, her arms in her lap, her head down. Something about the situation seemed staged to him. He stayed on the stairs, looked at her for a few moments, and then said, "What's wrong, Granger?"

There was no answer. He ran down the rest of the way. He put his hand on her shoulder. He shook her gently. Something was amiss. Something was not right. He removed his hand from her, and kneeled down to face her. He said again, "Granger? Hermione?"

She looked up. He yelled in fright! It was not her! It was not even remotely close to being her! He heard a maniacal laugh emitting from the person in the chair, and the 'fake' Hermione lifted up, and flew around the room, disappearing in a puff of smoke. He withdrew his wand and turned around. Behind him was Helena Boot.

"Mr. Malfoy," she greeted, her voice dripping in feigned sweetness. "Did you think I was your girlfriend? I have to admit, it fooled her parents as well."

"Where is Hermione?" he asked. His wand was pointed directly at her chest. With a wave of her hand, his wand flew to her.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you it was impolite to point?" she asked.

"Where is Hermione!" he demanded.

"Well, wouldn't we all like to know that one, dear," she said, smiling. She walked around him and with a swish of her hand; almost as if they were stuck in the wall, her parent's reflections appeared before him. "I know her parents are dreadfully worried about the poor girl. So is my son," she said. She moved her other hand, and next to the Grangers, appeared the reflection of Paul. All three looked to be behind glass, as they banged on the cold surface and yelled for help. "He thinks he loves her. He has been so hard to handle. It was easy in the beginning; his feelings were driven by lust, more than love, so it was easy for me to make him hurt her. But later, he really began to care for her and you as well, and that is when he was harder to control."

"Where are they?" Draco asked, pointing to their reflections on the wall.

"Oh, they are all safe, at my little hiding place, these are just their reflections. I might let her parents go, once I kill her, but then again, since we do not know which of her parents are from the magical line, we will probably have to kill both of them as well. You, however, dear boy, do not have to die. I already told your father that. However, he refused to help me, and turn her over to me. What a pity. At least now, I can use not only her parents as bargaining tools, but you as well." She pointed at Draco, and chains came out of nowhere, to bind his hands and feet. He toppled over.

"Why?" he asked from the floor. It seemed like the only thing he could ask.

She looked down at Draco and smiled. "My dear boy, you see, my son Nick had a prophecy, but even without that prophecy, I knew I had to kill her. She is the reason my son Terry died. I do not hold you responsible. You see, even though Mankin wanted revenge on you, you are not the reason Terry became involved. He became involved, because just like everyone else, little Miss Mudblood holds some sort of power over people. Terry thought he loved her. He never admitted as much, but I have the gift of second sight, and I could see what was in his heart. My son was good, Mr. Malfoy, and he would never have acted on his feelings, as long as she loved you, but that is why Terry became involved, because of her. That is why he died."

"Furthermore, it was long ago prophesied that the heir of Hufflepuff and Slytherin would bring about the end of the Ravenclaw line. Of course, I always thought I was that heir. I thought if I married the last of the Ravenclaw descendents, Henry Boot, and we had children together, then that little prophecy would not come true. The fact was, I thought my children's place in the magical world would be more powerful than any other's, even more so than Voldemort, for I assumed they came from three of the four founders, where Voldemort only came from one. It was a pity, really, that Henry was already married when I met him, with a little brat of a son. Of course, his first wife was easy enough to kill."

She continued walking around Draco, and she continued her rant, never raising her voice, or changing her intonation, or inflection. "Imagine my shock, when two years ago, right about the time Terry died, my son Nick had a prophecy. He was guarding you two, and his close contact with Miss Granger caused the visions to appear. I did not know at the time he was also a secret keeper, to the fate of the real heir. His prophecy was that the heir of Slytherin and Hufflepuff would come from a non-magical background, and that this 'woman', for he knew it was a woman, would have power beyond any other witch of our time. He said that she was preordained to heal the wounds created by Ravenclaw, and was meant to help the souls of the founders rest in peace. She was to be the future of Hogwarts, predestined as the greatest teacher, and then Headmistress, the school would ever have."

"He said that she would abolish the four houses, and reconcile those who in the past only honored prejudice and intolerance. He said he knew who this person was and how that was to come about. He never came out and said it was Miss Granger, for he could not reveal that secret, but he told me enough of his prophecy that I was able to figure out the rest."

"He had no knowledge that I had always thought I was that heir. His father knew and I found out later he told my sons. When I found out I was not the heir, I knew I only had one thing left to do. I had to kill the real heir. By killing her, I could end the prophecy that said she would end the Ravenclaw line. I could ensure that the four houses and the blood purity issues remained at Hogwarts, and I could assure that all of my followers, who had been faithful to me for 25 years, because they also thought I was the heir, would remain faithful to me forever. I knew I could carry out Salazar Slytherin's initial dream that only purebloods be taught at Hogwarts. Unlike Voldemort, I do not want the destruction of all Muggle borns. I just do not want them taught with our children. They are an abomination, their magic a mere birth defect."

Draco sneered from his place on the ground and said, "Yes, well, Hermione's birth defect, as you call it, comes from two of the most powerful wizards in our history. She is going to wipe the likes of you from the face of this earth, for she has more magical ability in her little finger, than you do in your whole pathetic body."

Helena laughed, and bent down, stroking Draco's bangs out of his eyes. "You dear, misguided, little boy, we will see who the most powerful witch is. Perhaps when you watch your little girlfriend disappear, as if she was nothing more than dust on the bottom of my shoe, you might whistle a different tune. I will kill her, before she can fulfill my son's prophecy, before she reunites the souls of Helga and Salazar, and before she can undo all that I have worked so hard in my life to preserve. Yes, Mr. Malfoy, she will die, and you will have the pleasure of watching. Do not worry, dear, I will not kill you, for you are a pureblood, and rumored to be a Ravenclaw descendant yourself, although I know that to be a lie. The Boots are the last of her heirs. I will, however, be more than happy to kill my stepson, in your place. I think he will give himself in sacrifice for your life. I have wanted to kill him since he was a small child and now I will have a perfect reason to do so."

She lifted one finger and Draco's body lifted from the ground. She forced him to stand. "My stepson and Miss Granger will perform the ceremony which you and she were to perform, but which my misguided son Nick decided to try to perform with her instead. Of course, Nick had no reason to believe that the ceremony would have killed you both, and damned the souls of Helga and Salazar forever. He thought he was being noble, taking your place, since he thought you could not remember. This time, I will have Don and Hermione perform the ceremony, and all my problems will be over."

Without touching Draco, she disapparated them both away. That was when Hermione and Don Boot came out from their hiding place, underneath the transfigured stone table.

When Hermione first arrived at her parent's house, Don Boot was waiting for her. He knew that his stepmother had taken the Grangers, for he had just come to protect them, and he saw the entire event unfold. He waited, for he had a feeling that Hermione would come back to there. When she did, he hid with her, shielding their bodies from Mrs. Boot, with magic, only seconds before Helena arrived. Only a few seconds later, Draco arrived.

"She's right, I will sacrifice myself for him, and for you, too," Don said, after Helena left with Draco. Hermione started crying, as he wrapped his arms around her. "Don't fear, Hermione. We will go to Nick and my father, and we will end all of this once and for all."