Becoming Mrs. Malfoy
38
Of course the Daily Prophet found its way into the Order´s headquarters in Grimmauld Place.
The death of Hermione Malfoy had made the front page. "Potter´s best friend died in accident" read the headline.
It was more about how tragicly hero Harry Potter must be suffering from yet another death among his loved ones. The article not only featured a picture of the coffin but also one of Draco Malfoy.
It was this photograph that drew in Ron´s attention the most. Unlike Ron Harry had not wanted to read the article and was content with what Mr. Weasley had told him about it.
He had his mind on other things. Well, rather on the girl sleeping in the room next to his and Ron´s. All of a sudden they were together. He was happy that it had come to this although the reason for it was a horrible one. Death Eater became stronger by the minute.
There were even rumors of them trying to invade Hogwarts, which was impossible.
His research on the Horcruxes was still very fruitless and with this the fall of Voldemort far away. With a sigh Harry slumped down into a chair and grabbed a bowl of cereals.
"Man, look at that asshole. As emotionless as ever, not even her death could bring him to show some feelings." Annoyed Harry shoved the paper, Ron had put right in front of his eyes, away.
"What?! Look at him!", Ron snapped. Fixing him with a look that told him to just leave it be Harry grabbed his bowl and a glass of water.
"I´m going up. Maybe your mom will let me finally in."
Lucky as he was, a very exhausted Mrs. Weasley left the room, and so he just had to wait for her to be out of sight to go into the room.
Only a single candle casted light in the room. It was dim, yet warm. Taking a seat on the chair next to the bed Harry put down the glass of water he had brought for her and began to eat his breakfast.
The clatter of him throwing the spoon into the bowl when he was finished seemed to wake the girl. With a long moan she turned around to look at him. "Harry.", she said with the attempt of a smile on her lips. Her voice was hoarse.
"Here, have some water." Letting her hold onto the glass on her own had been foolish of him for she still had not strength in her. Quickly he took the glass and helped her drink some.
"Thanks." After he had put the glass away he held her hands.
"Your hands are warm. You really scared me when you appeared out of nowhere, all soaked and ice cold. I was worried." For quite some time he had thought that she would die. It would have been very ironically. After all she had managed to escape from within a no-apparition area.
He and Ron had been in their room talking about Quidditch when there was this enormous noise downstairs.
The others were already blocking their view of whatever had appeared. The high squeaky voice betrayed the house elf. Harry had been very puzzled about a house elf coming to Grimmauld Place for Kreacher and Dobby had been the only ones who could get in. Well, at least that is what he had thought.
His puzzlement was replaced with pure worry as he saw that the house elf was not alone but had brought an unconscious Hermione with it. Mrs. Weasley, Lupin and Tonks quickly brought her up into Ginny´s room to take care of her.
Three days had passed without any of them being allowed to see or even speak to her. It had been nerve-wrecking and Harry always expected the worst.
Watching her sleep peacefully in Ginny´s bed with just shallow scratches he could not describe the weight that dropped off his heart.
"Oh, Harry.", she whispered and threw her arms around his neck with the little strength she had in her. He held her close and could not stifle to sniff.
"I´m sorry I scared you.", was what she kindly whispered into his ear. He could not hold back and bark out a laughter. There was no reason she should feel sorry for if she had not escaped she would have been dead and that would have been a lot more horrible than her appearing soaking wet. Seeing that she could barely sit upright he placed her back into bed.
"How did you do it anyway?" The ghost of a grin passed her lips and the intelligent glint in her eye twinkled at him. This was the Hermione he knew, at least a trace of her.
"In Malfoy Manor I had a lot of books I had never heard of before at my disposal."
"Of course it had to do with books, Hermione.", he said jokingly and she rolled her eyes at him.
"The books are old and many spells should never be used but some are quite useful. It was one of those spells that allowed me to create a very convincing dead form of myself. Although…." Here she coughed and Harry helped her to take a sip from her glass of water.
"Thanks, Harry. Anyways, the spell took a lot of time to prepare but there never was much I could do in the manor and I figured that it might come in handy." Once more she opened her mouth to say some more but her eyes became distant and she just clutched her glass of water. Realizing that she must have remembered something terrible he reached out to caress her hand.
"It´s okay, Mione. I´ve heard enough for now." As she began to sob he sat down beside her in bed and circled his arm around her so she could cry into his shoulder.
Both of them were so exhausted that they fell asleep. Harry did not know how he had gotten into his own bed but he was quite sure that Mrs. Weasley had taken him out of Hermione´s room so she could get more rest.
As Hermione got better she was allowed to go downstairs for meals but she felt that everyone was treating her as if she was fragile as porcelain. The way they looked at her and how they did every little thing for her. Even fetching a spoon for her bowl of cereals seemed to be too much for her in their eyes.
Also she noticed how they stopped talking from time to time when she entered a room or the sound of paper being put away. Sure, when Harry had asked her about the spell she had used to get out she had broken out in tears but she was not so weak that she could not handle whatever it was they were keeping from her. She wanted to know- she needed to.
The thought of something the others meant to hide from her made her imagination run wild.
How bad was the situation outside of Grimmauld Place really? How many had died so far? What had happened at the Manor after she had escaped?
Not knowing weighed down more on her than any bad news could have and soon she found herself sneaking out of her room at night to search the rooms for the papers and other things which might give her a clue about what was going on.
Only by knowing the twins and their habits for so long was she able to find the papers in some trick drawer. The drawer had been spelled to look full with random things and felt like it but only for a split second. Then the image changed and the drawer appeared to be empty. Still it was not as deep as the others and in there she found the newspapers which had been hid from her.
There was barely any normal news in them. Mostly about the Death Eaters.
After numerous attacks they had overtaken the Ministry of Magic, putting one of their most vile ones as minister. There also was an article of her death with a picture of Draco.
To most people he might have looked cold and indifferent but after spending so much time with him and getting to know him better she saw something very different. A strange mixture of sadness, fear and determination. He had always hated to show weakness.
She wondered what had happened after her faked death. Whether the Death Eaters had forced him to join them or if they had punished him as a blood traitor.
Although it was harsh of her she hoped for the later. There definitely would come the time when she would see him again and then she would rather still have him on the good side than anywhere else.
"That prick did not even care one bit about you.", it was a cold voice, a hard one but she recognized it to be Ron´s.
"Oh, really? And you would know because you cared so much about me?" She did not even turn around but kept on looking through the papers. From the corner of her eye she could see him move on the armchair in the corner of the room.
To find information was what she had come down for not to hear him insulting her and the ones she loved.
Love.
Did she really love him? Draco? Maybe, it sure felt different from what she had felt for Ron and was far away from what she had had with Viktor.
Below the article she held there was a ripped-out page of a notepad. The writing was barely legible but there clearly were the words Malfoy and Death Eater on it. Uncontrollable tears ran down her cheek and she crumpled the piece of paper.
"At least I´m not one of them.", Ron bit out and tore the article from her hand.
"Because he for sure is. A dream came true." His voice was dripping with venom and sarcasm.
"Shut up, Ronald." Her voice was weak and begging. It seemed like slowly her world was beginning to crumble around her. All she had done was for nothing in the end. The whole purpose of the marriage had been to keep him from becoming a Death Eater and right after her death – or more after her fake one- all had gone to waste. She could not even try to imagine what was currently happening in Malfoy Manor.
"Tsk. You can´t tell me to be quiet. All I´m doing is telling the truth."
"Shut up!", she yelled at him and when that would not wipe the triumphant smile off his face she drove her fist right into it. The pain she felt was paired with satisfaction at the sight of Ron´s bleeding nose.
Still the world started spinning around her because she had used too much energy on treating Ron the way he was supposed to be. Under his breath he cursed her and even the much dreaded word was among those hateful things he called her.
It had become warmer and so it rained instead of snowed. Still her grave was framed in white.
From where he stood at the window Draco could not see her peaceful face through the little glass. Her features would not wither for they had put a spell on her. If it had happened under any other circumstances it would have been a nice idea but like this it was punishment. Every day since it had happened they forced him to go out into the cold to look at her – at what he had done. Sure, it had been Bellatrix´s curse that killed her but it had been him who had started their charade and in the end this was the one and only reason of her death.
Most of the room had been trashed by Death Eaters especially the books and all the muggle things.
From his father he had received a fierce beating in front of the Dark Lord and his followers. His wanting to protect his mother when it had been her turn to get punished had ended with a Cruciatus from Snape. It had been the worst pain he had ever felt but still he knew that the curse performed by anyone else would have been more intense.
They wanted to see him trembling with fear and screaming in horror. Only once or twice he had given them that favor – his weakest moments. Sure, disobedience meant that he brought his and his mother´s lives into danger but he could not bring himself to act like they wanted him to
… not yet.
/so I know this update took me forever but I had already written a couple more chapters but hated all of them so I redid this one and hope that the next ones won´t take me that long to write so you will know what will happen next
how do you like this chapter? (I hope better than the previous one)
Review, please?