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Chapter 35 – I'm Happy Just to Dance with You

Whoosh.

Everything sounded as if she were in a long tunnel. Her eyes felt gritty, covered with grains of sand. Her limbs heavy, filled with lead. She couldn't move. It occurred to her that she might be dead – except it was too soon. Wasn't it too soon?

Whoosh.

Then there was that odd noise again - a sort of 'whooshing' noise in her ears, or perhaps only in her brain. She thought she might hear voices. Yes, she definitely heard voices, except she couldn't respond to them if she tried.

"Hermione love, wake up."

A cold hand was upon her cheek. She was oddly aware of her surroundings, yet she didn't quite know where she was. It was a bit scary, even though she knew the voices of the people around her now.

"What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything! I Disapparated with her here, and then this happened, and then I called all of you!"

"Little cub? Little cub. Wake up, sweetheart, wake up."

Another hand was now stroking her head. It felt rather nice. Perhaps she would keep her eyes closed. It reminded her of when she was young and her mother used to stroke her head when she had a fever as a child.

"Granger? Wake up right now. This isn't even remotely funny!"

"Is she breathing?"

"Granger? Please wake up!"

"See if she's breathing, or if she has a pulse."

Someone was feeling for a pulse on her wrist and now on her neck. She wanted to swat their hand away but couldn't. How silly of them. Of course, she had a pulse. She was thinking wasn't she? Of course, they didn't know she was thinking. She definitely needed to try to open her eyes.

"Here, move aside. Theo's here now. He'll know what to do," a familiar voice echoed.

A gentle pair of hands framed her face, as she lay upon something wickedly soft. Turning her head slightly, the gentle hands moved their thumbs simultaneously and then the voice of a man whom Hermione had recently begun to consider as more than an object of mere affection said some sort of incantation.

"What was that?" a man with a deeper voice asked. "Was that a healing spell of some sort?"

"Sh, quiet for a moment, Marcus," the man said. He moved to sit beside her, his hands still on her face. "She's in some sort of stasis. She's awake and aware, and yet she's not." Theo looked up at Draco. "Tell us exactly what happened."

Theo, Blaise, Marcus and Adrian all looked up at Draco, who stood in the middle of his mother and father. Draco growled lowly in his chest, but then sighed. Knowing his parents would support him, he was about to spout off, "I didn't do anything."

However, he was man, so he would be truthful and stand up for what he had done, right or wrong. He had Disapparated with her without telling her, and he had taken her directly to the main Apparition point at the Manor without thinking. If he had thought…or considered her feelings, (as he had the night in the graveyard) he would have Apparated them somewhere else into the Manor, but instead he Apparated them directly into the Manor's parlor, right to the very spot where she almost lost her life when she was a girl.

She stood only a moment after Apparition, then swooned on the spot, falling onto the floor. Draco didn't even have time to catch her. He called for an elf to find his mother and father. Then he told his mother to find all his friends as he hefted her into his arms to place her on one of the many sofas.

Adrian arrived first. He wanted to take her directly to St. Mungo's. Marcus was right behind him. He had the forethought to take her out of the parlor (why hadn't the rest of them thought of that?) and place her in one of the guestrooms.

Blaise arrived a few minutes later, saying Theo was right behind him. Then Theo arrived, touched her face, said some sort of incantation, announced that she wasn't hurt, only unconscious, and that he could bring her back.

Theo used some sort of silent Leglimency to delve into her mind. He could tell that she was aware of everyone and everything. He told everyone that her mind was protecting itself, and her body, by shutting itself down somehow, because of the past trauma from the Manor, and because of the present doom looming over her.

"What can we do?" Marcus asked.

Before anyone answered, Adrian turned to Draco and asked, "Why did you bring her here?"

Draco felt all eyes upon him. If he said, 'for waltzing lessons,' he would seem like such a fool. That would be a lie, anyway. Looking down at the pattern on the rug at his feet he stammered, "I thought the library here might have the answers we need to cure her. I thought we might find a counter-curse here, and truthfully, I thought my father might be of help, since he's an expert on the Dark Arts."

No one said anything, so he looked up and concluded, "After all, every book on Dark Magic ever written is in the library here at the Manor, so wouldn't it stand to reason that we might find the counter-curse?"

"We know the counter-curse," said Marcus. "The Triad."

"Really? Do we?" Draco countered. "Because it seems to me that we're taking an awful big chance on merely your word, Adrian." He turned to look at the man standing next to Marcus. "And what if you're wrong? Or what if there's another counter-curse?"

He started walking around the room, his hand out plaintively, and he pleaded, "Are we all willing to wait until September to see if it works? I mean, I'm not! Just because Blaise, Theo, and Granger are a happy little trio now doesn't mean she's all cured and everything and no matter what any of you say, I know her better than any of you know her! I spent more time teasing and tormenting her than any of you, growing up, and I know she's still worried! She's not convinced she's cured yet! She's not acting like Hermione Granger is supposed to act!"

"I think I know Hermione, Malfoy," Adrian leveled, walking closer to his friend.

Theo left her bedside to go stand near the other men, who were now all in a circle around the end of the bed. Draco's mother and father stood off to the side, waiting, watching, and listening.

"No, you really don't!" Draco spat. "Did you know I've been in contact with Potter? He even agrees with me. The Hermione Granger we both knew growing up…he loved, I hated, wouldn't be going around baking fucking biscuits and being all benign and resigned to her fate, flitting around happy as a little clam! She'd be out there doing something to ensure that she was going to be alive come September!"

Marcus stepped around to Draco's right and explained, "But she did that for six whole months, Malfoy, and it got her nowhere. For six months, she went to every Wizarding library in Great Britain and the continent, and she visited well-known wizards. She even went back to South America. She tried to find the counter-curse, and she found nothing concrete! So now she wants to live the last six months the way she wants, and who are we to question that?"

"But don't you see?" Blaise said, agreeing with Draco. "That's just it; she didn't visit every Wizarding library. That's what Draco's trying to say. She didn't go to Hogwarts, which is where Adrian purportedly saw this book as a kid, and she didn't come here! And frankly, if she is hypothetically already cured by our love, or whatever shite that is, then why is she still acting out the tasks from her list? Why isn't she back to her normal life, going to work each day, doing the mundane?"

Blaise turned to look at the woman on the bed, then back at his friends. "That's been bothering me." He sat on the foot of the bed, hung his head and said, "She must not believe she's cured either. She still thinks she's going to die come September."

"Then we'll go to Hogwarts and find that book Adrian knows about and prove it to her," Marcus relayed. "It's so simple, I'm curious as to why no one thought of that in the first place."

All eyes went to Adrian.

Theo asked, "Why didn't anyone think of that in the first place?"

Adrian took a deep breath. "I lied about the book."

A hushed silenced filled the room like a darkening echoed vacuum.

Draco finally turned to his parents and asked, "Mother, Father, do you mind leaving us alone for a moment?'

Lucius glared at Adrian, then turned to his son. "No using Unforgivable Curses before dinner, Son." Lucius took his wife's hand and removed them from the room.

The other four men stared at their oldest member, their revered leader, and no one said a thing. They waited for his explanation. He finally said, "I didn't mean to lie. I did see a book about the Peruvian curse at Hogwarts when I was a kid, and it was in the Restricted Section, and when we were called to investigate that cave, I remembered the book I read, and the curse, and somehow I got the counter-curse of another curse mumbled in my head with this curse."

"What?" Theo asked hoarsely, almost in a whisper.

"The triad love…it's a counter-curse to another curse, but not the Peruvian curse on that cave," Adrian admitted. After a continued silence in the room, Adrian said, "But that doesn't mean that I still don't think all of this will save her. I know the cure is a counter-curse to a curse by the same dark wizard!"

"But how will all of this save her?" Marcus asked, stepping closer.

"Listen mates! I did go to Hogwarts. Potter went with me. We went to the Restricted Section and saw the book on the Peruvian curse on the cave. An evil, dark wizard, who also placed curses on many other objects, placed the curse on it. I do know his name; it was Thomas Connell, although I've never seen his name mentioned in any other books."

"Although we couldn't find the counter-curse in that book, I absolutely know that I read of the counter-curse somewhere before, I just can't remember where, or exactly what it entails. I also know that this counter-curse, the Triad love, is the cure to another curse that this wizard made, so I thought it might save her."

"But why do you assume a triad will cure her of this curse?" Draco pleaded.

Adrian looked over at the bed, then back at his friends and said with a lamenting shrug, "It won't hurt."

That was when one of the men pulled back his fist and punched him right in the face.

When Hermione finally woke, she opened her eyes slowly. She found she was in a bed, next to Adrian Pucey. He was on his side, facing her. She turned to her side and then reached over with her finger and traced his newly formed bruise lightly over his skin, on his cheek, over his eye, around his eyebrow. It was already blue, black, and purple.

Adrian opened his eyes.

"Hi," she said.

"You're awake," he replied.

"So are you. You have a hell of a black eye. Who did it?"

"Marcus. He has a bad habit of hitting me lately. He's supposed to be my best friend, but there you go." He reached over and stroked her hair. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. I need to go to the toilet, and I'm thirsty. Are we still at the Manor?" She continued to touch his face, but not only his bruise. She was now tracing the little frown lines around his eyes and mouth.

"Yep. The lads are all down in the Library," he answered, his hand going up to capture hers.

"Are they trying to find a counter-curse?" she asked, pulling her hand free as she sat up on the bed.

He sat beside her. "How did you know?"

"I heard everything," she admitted. "I couldn't open my eyes, and I really did fall asleep or something, just before I woke up, but in the beginning I was awake. I merely couldn't open my eyes." She turned to look at him, her hands tightly clasped on her lap. "For the briefest moment I thought I was dead. It was scary."

He reached over for one of her hands, pulling it free from the other. "I bet."

There was silence in the room for a long time, with the pair sitting just as they were, Adrian holding Hermione's hand in both of his, stealing glances her way every few seconds, and Hermione looking down at the bedspread before her.

"Are you angry that I lied about the counter-curse?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I think I knew all along. I knew the wizard's name who cursed the cave. I knew all about the other counter-curse and everything. I'm pretty smart."

He laughed. "That you are." He dropped her hand and stood up, brushing off his trousers. "You were baking I hear."

She stood and ran her fingers through her hair. "Yes. I was making biscuits the way my granny used to bake them for Christmas, because I wanted to have Christmas early, since I won't be alive for it. Silly, huh?"

She looked up in time to see him wince. Walking over to him, she pulled on one of his arms. He caught her gaze and she said, "I was joking. I was merely baking. Where's the loo?"

He doubted her claims of joking, but pointed to a door over his shoulder. Stepping around him, she walked over to the door and disappeared inside. Using his wand, he straightened the bed linens and then opened the drapes in the room to let in more light. Walking over to the fireplace, he spied a music box and smiled.

Hermione walked out of the bathroom and said, "Will you take me home, Adrian?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. He held out his hand for her.

She looked at his hand, then at his face, puzzled.

"Malfoy brought you here to learn to waltz, so we're going to learn to waltz, Miss Hermione. That last time I tried to teach you at that Christmas party you clomped all over my feet." He smiled and reached down for her hand.

She smiled in return and said, "Is clomped the right word to use? I would have used 'stamped' or 'stomped' but yes, I guess I did, but they are such big feet. They should have gotten you to play the clown, instead of Goyle. You wouldn't have had to wear clown shoes."

"You know what they say about men with big feet, Hermione," he leered proudly, cocking one eyebrow in the air.

She feigned an air of indifference, sighed and said, "What? That they have to buy big shoes?"

His chest rumbled with silent laughter as he pulled her into his arms. Then with a nod of his head, music started playing from the music box on the mantle.

"Hmm, silent magic. I approve, and am properly impressed," Hermione praised, relaxing in his arms.

"You should be," he smiled. "It's a requirement of our job. Now, shall I teach you the waltz?"

"Fine, but tell me, fine sir," she started, "where did you little pureblood boys go to learn such ancient oddities as the waltz in these modern times?"

He laughed again, pulling her closer, realizing how sweet and fragile she was in his arms. It made him yearn for something he would never have. A pang of regret followed this as he answered, "Waltzing is a must for all young purebloods, and we took lessons in primary school, along with etiquette lessons, and fencing and such. Now, are you ready?"

"I love to learn," she joked. "Teach me."

With the music still swirling around them, he had one of his hands on her back, high enough not to be improper, and his other hand held her hand lightly. Looking down into her face, he said, "The man holds his partner just so, clasping one hand lightly in his, the other hand on her back. It's daring if she has a bit skin showing, and his hand is on bare skin."

She laughed, enjoying herself. "Too bad I have on a t-shirt."

"We could take it off," he jested.

"Now you sound like Malfoy," she mocked.

"Enough with the insults, I'm trying to teach you here," he muttered. "The grasp must be firm and steady, so the man can glide his partner effortlessly across the floor."

She asked, "How close do we stand?"

"Ah, well, there's the rub, Hermione," he said thickly. "If the man and woman are intimates, they stand very close. The waltz was the first dance where the man and woman stood face to face for any length of time, and when it first came out, a proper distance was always maintained. But in these modern times, the partners can stand closer, almost as if they are lovers, even if they aren't."

He started to move with her, and she followed his lead effortlessly. "But if you hold me too closely, my movement is restricted, isn't it?"

"But if I don't hold you close, you won't know which way to go. I have to hold you just right, to give you the proper support," he said with a smile.

She concentrated on his verbal instructions at first, 'move your left foot back, glide over, move your right foot up, glide up'. He moved easily, his hand on her back a constant support, their clasped hands never wavering.

Soon, they were waltzing across the floor, around the bed, throughout the entire guestroom. Hermione laughed, her eyes glowed, she smiled up at him with rosy-cheeks, and a happy gaze that made his heart soar with delight. It also slightly broke his heart, for he was acutely aware of the envy that he felt because that smile was merely a friendly smile, only there because of her happiness in the moment.

He wanted to love her, and have her love him back. That thought hit him so hard that he almost stumbled, and she joked that now he was the one with two left feet. He quickly recovered his footing, but the sensation of want and desire remained with him, along with the empty, hollow ache deep inside.

Blaise told him the night before that Draco admitted to loving her. At the time, Adrian didn't know what to make of that news. He figured that Draco was merely jealous of the fact that Blaise and Theo had her. Now he wasn't so sure, because this wasn't the first time that he thought that he might love her, too.

Though he didn't have the right to love her. Waltzing with her, having her in his arms, he realized that. He didn't have the right to kiss her, caress her, hold her, or give her what she wanted or needed. He had brought this curse upon her head. In his heart, he knew she would never forgive him for that.

The only right he had was to cure her.

The music ended but Adrian didn't want to release her. She stopped moving, as did he. He tried to release her, he really did, his arms wouldn't move. Her chest was against his, and his arms moved to wrap securely around her body. Her rapid breathing pushed her breasts up so that he felt the softness of them seared against the fabric of his shirt, through to his chest.

A sigh escaped his lips, and he bent his head and captured her mouth for a swift kiss. It was over too quickly and he released her. Turning toward the bed, he stared at it with self-loathing. He wanted to drag her to this bed, push her onto it, drop down on her, and push his way into her warm heat. He knew what it felt like to have her beneath him and it was heaven, but it was also only a memory. It was all he would ever have.

Just once.

Only once.

A small hand touched his arm, and it was as if she threw him a raft, saving him from drowning. He looked at that hand and then over his shoulder at her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He could only nod.

"Is the lesson over?" Hermione asked.

Adrian turned to her, a bit dazed, a bit confused. "You waltz well. You learn everything well. I think I'll take you home and then join the Vipers. Lucius gave us free reign over his library."

"To find a cure?"

He nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go." She held out her hand.

He took her hand in his again. He might not have many more chances to have her hand in his, so he might as well enjoy it while he may.

Walking out of the door of the guestroom, down the long corridor to the library, she said, "One more task completed, right Adrian? I have one more task completed with my waltzing lesson. Soon my list will be complete."

Adrian swallowed the knot in his throat and again could only nod in agreement, pulling her along after him, hand-in-hand toward the library. Yes, one more task completed. It was almost completed. It was almost over. It was almost done, one way or another.