Hey people! Nearly the end of school! God I cant wait! School is so pointless right now!
Thanks for all the reviews, yes, I do know that I'm evil.
Aredhel- grins sorry.
Panther28- huh? Hermione was in the dorm, and then she saw Malfoy, and she ran after him.
All of you need to go read (AND REVIEW!) witchlight, becks89, shootingstar19(who actually updated!) and fanfic-frankie's stories!!
Ok, on with the story, and another crap title!
Chapter 50- Alliances
Hermione said nothing, as she grappled with the disarmed deatheater. She managed to punch him, right in the face, slamming the heel of her hand up on his nose and knocking him backwards with a cry. Two other deatheaters, one on either side of her, raised their wands. She had hers out, pointing at one, but she couldn't do anything for she knew that when one fell, the other could kill her. It was a stale mate.
"I see." Said the lead deatheater curiously. He looked at Malfoy, who had pulled himself up, and was standing once more, only a few feet from Hermione. The four remaining deatheaters (one wobbling slightly, with a very bloody nose) were surrounding the two sixth years. "So you couldn't complete your mission, but you lead the mudblood here, to us, instead?" The leader said to Draco. The boy's expression did not change in the slightest as he starred at the death eater, and then at Hermione, who looked back with startled eyes. They were all waiting for his answer. Each of them knew that Draco had just been given his way out. He would be forgiven, if he stood here and let them kill Granger instead. The deatheaters all knew Lucius Malfoy- they were giving his son a chance.
"Answer me!" The death eater snapped, "It's very simple, a yes or a no." he chuckled coldly, "Even a nod would suffice."
Draco looked between them again, before starring off into middle distance, not focussing on either of them. His eyes flickered to Hermione once. What was that? She thought, sorrow? Her heart clenched in fear as he ducked his head in a nod, and suddenly she understood.
Hermione ducked as fast as she could, closing her eyes and covering her ears as the simultaneous cries of,
"Avada Kedavra!" echoed out. Two jets of green light erupted from the wands, flying over the girl's head, and hitting the two stunned deatheaters. Draco spun, his heel connecting with the leaders masked face with a sickening thwack. The next movement disarmed the man, and then an elbow to the face knocked him out cold. Hermione was already back up, fighting with the bloody nosed deatheater.
"Bugger off!" She yelled angrily, thrusting her knee quickly upwards, causing the deatheater to double over with a moan. She bought her elbow down on the back of his head, and he collapsed. The two teens starred at each other.
"Makes sense." Draco said after a moment, "You're a swat in everything else, why not in Potter's class too?"
"Shut up." Hermione snapped, but she only just stopped the smile of pride that tried to form. "Why?" She asked. Draco looked bewildered,
"Why?"
"Why didn't you let them kill me? It was your ticket, they gave you a second chance- now they'll want you dead as much as any of us." She said, almost angrily. He turned his eyes from her, and began walking round the circle of floored deatheaters, snapping their wands for good measure. Eventually he said,
"Cos I tried to kill you, Granger, and yet you came after me, and saved my life. Mudblood or not, that takes some doing."
"And?" Hermione asked quietly.
"You always have to ask all the questions, don't you!?" He cried, but Hermione didn't quake, or reply. He looked furious, "And… If I let them do that, then sure, I'd get another chance, but to do what? Kill other people? Maybe it makes me weak, maybe it makes me a coward, but I cant do it!" He cried, "I tried, remember!? But I couldn't." He finished bitterly.
"That's not a bad thing." Hermione said softly.
"Speak for yourself." He snapped. Draco looked up into the sky, and around himself in the street, "…we should get outta here." He said more calmly. "They'll send more."
"Yeah." Hermione sighed, and turned to begin walking.
"No." Draco said, "We need to go a whole lot quicker than that."
Hermione looked back at him, and she too felt the coldness on her skin, the presence of something very dark. Draco picked up his bag and broom, and set the broom in the air, so it hovered. He swung one leg over, and beckoned to her, "Come on."
Hermione gaped at him,
"You have to be kidding."
"No I'm bloody well not." He replied, "Now get the hell on before I change my mind!"
Hermione considered it for a second, before climbing onto the back of the broom, and awkwardly holding the back of Draco's robes. The boy rolled his eyes, and set off, fast. Hermione yelped, and wrapped her arms quickly around the Slytherin boy in front of her. They both heard the cracks as Deatheaters apparated nearby, but the broom sped out of the town too quickly for them to see anything. Within moments they were through the school gates and whizzing up the drive. They whipped past Harry and Ron, who were running full pelt down the drive. Draco kept going, but Hermione poked him in the ribs, crying,
"Go back!"
He continued, and she poked harder, "Malfoy!"
Draco groaned, and reluctantly returned to the two confused Gryffindors, who both cried,
"Hermione!"
And then Ron followed it up with,
"Get the hell away from her you slimy git!" They all looked at him, and then Draco and Hermione looked at each other. She was sitting on his broom, rushing towards the school, holding on to him- what did Ron think? That he was kidnapping her? Ron scowled, and Hermione shook her head,
"I don't know what you two are doing down here, but you need to get back inside, quickly!"
"But…"
"Deatheaters in Hogsmeade, Weasel. Run, for fucks sake." Draco snapped, and started flying again.
"You'll always be a total bastard, wont you?" Hermione spat.
"Yes. Deal with it." Draco replied.
Harry and Ron began running back up the drive. Harry pulled out his wand, and yelled,
"Accio Firebolt!" Mere seconds later, the broom arrived, doing a U turn to allow Harry and Ron to leap on, and follow the others at full speed.
The two brooms sped straight through the front door, which opened before them thanks to Hermione's quick thinking. They set down in the entrance hall, and the four all looked at each other as they dismounted.
"You attacked Hermione!" Ron cried angrily, breaking the silence.
"Ron…" Hermione sighed.
"So bloody what?" Draco snapped, "I saved her life just now!"
"After I saved yours." Hermione added indignantly.
"Why did you run off?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Because I saw him leaving the school." She replied.
"And you wanted to bring him in!" Ron said triumphantly.
"No, I wanted to stop him from getting himself killed."
"Why?" Ron asked genuinely.
"Ron! I…"
"What on Earth is going on!?" Professor McGonogall cried, hurrying down the marble steps.
"Professor…" Harry began.
"What are you lot doing?" She snapped, cutting him off. "It is far too late for you all to be out, and definitely too late for me to see a broomstick flying past my nose all on its own!"
Harry winced,
"We needed the fast transportation, professor…" He tried again.
"Minerva!" Dumbledore called, also descending the stairs, "What is this?"
"I don't know, headmaster. The four of them have been doing…" She trailed of, counting round again, and gaping. Yes, there were four of them, not three, and the fourth was not Longbottom, or another Weasley, but Malfoy.
"There are deatheaters in Hogsmeade, Sir." Hermione piped up.
"And you would know this how?" McGonogall said exasperatedly. Hermione glanced at Draco, but said nothing. He stared at her for a moment, in complete wonder. All she had to say was the truth; that she had followed him, and it would instantly be he that was in the wrong more than any… so why did she not say it? He found himself frowning, and then, even more bizarrely, found himself saying,
"Because of me." Everyone gaped. "I… after I… I attacked Granger… I knew I would be in a lot of trouble, so I left. I went down to Hogsmeade… but they turned up, saying that he was angry, and I had failed… which I already knew. Granger followed me… she saved me." Then he added, "And I suppose those two came after her."
McGonogall's gaze shifted back to Hermione, while Dumbledore watched with interest.
"You saved him from a group of deatheaters?" She repeated disbelievingly. Hermione swallowed, and said,
"They were torturing him. They were distracted… I knocked two of them out with manoeuvres Buffy taught us before they even realised who I was. The rest was luck."
Draco snorted.
"Yeah, very lucky your fist was so hard when it hit that guys face." He said. Neither Harry nor Dumbledore missed the spark of respect in the comment.
"Well you're the one who kicked the leader's face in!" Hermione added, "And you gave me the time to duck out of the way of the curses."
"The curses?" Dumbledore asked, stiffening.
"They tried to kill her, because I couldn't." Draco said, not sparing himself in the slightest, which shocked him as much as anyone else. "Two of them used the killing curse, aimed at Granger, but she ducked, and… well… they hit each other."
"Wait, wait…" McGonogall said, "How many were there?"
"Six, professor." Hermione replied.
"So you are saying that the two of you took down six deatheaters on your own?"
The two looked at each other, and shrugged,
"Yes."
"Guess Buffy's sessions did come in handy." Harry said with a grin.
"But if you took them down, why did you need speed?"
"Because more were apparating in as we left." Hermione explained.
McGonogall looked sharply at Dumbledore, who shook his head,
"They will not come within the school grounds." He said. "They will probably retrieve their casualties and return to Voldemort."
The four teens said nothing. Dumbledore looked them over, his eyes resting on Draco, who looked down, unable to meet the headmaster's gaze. "Mr. Malfoy." He said, "We need to talk about your unacceptable behaviour earlier today."
"I know sir." Draco murmured, "I've already packed, if that's…"
"You are not expelled." Dumbledore cut him off. McGonogall and Ron gasped in outrage. Harry's brow creased in interest. Hermione looked a little happier, and Draco's head snapped up,
"I'm not?"
"No. But all your post, in and out, will be monitored. You will not use fireplaces to contact anyone. I am putting you on report- all the teachers will give me a report on your behaviour each week. And I am taking one hundred points from Slytherin for your actions."
Draco did not argue. In fact he was waiting for the ban on quidditch… which didn't come. He stayed silent. "Now." He added, "While we're on that subject, each of you shall lose five points for being out of bed after curfew, and… and" He repeated over their groans, "Miss Granger, and Mr. Malfoy, you gain twenty five points each for an incredible display of bravery in front of odds that most full grown wizards would run from."
Hermione's jaw actually dropped. With the lost points, the gain was only 10, but she felt a swell of pride never the less. Draco found he had in total lost 80 points for his house, but considering the circumstances, he too felt rather pleased.
"Now all of you must return to your beds." Dumbledore ordered. "Mr. Malfoy, we will have our talk tomorrow morning- eight O'clock sharp in my office."
"Yes sir." Draco said, and the small group split and headed in their respective directions.
"Are you ok?" Ron asked as they walked, putting his arm around Hermione's shoulders. She leant in to him,
"I'm fine." She replied, "Really. Malfoy actually helped me."
"When you went to save his ass." Harry put in.
"Yeah…" Hermione sighed, "But before that even… he knew that this is what not killing me would get him- a death sentence of his very own, and still he couldn't do it. I don't think he's as bad as he seems."
"Whoa, whoa, Hermione, are you under a confundus charm or something?" Ron cried, "This is Malfoy. Y'know, little git, slags you off at every opportunity…"
"I know, Ron!" She cried, "I know that… but… that's him being what he's bought up to be, and I know that he's a total dick, but when it came down to it, when he had the choice of become a murderer or be murdered, He chose the latter."
The words hit Harry like a tonne of rocks. Hermione thought that was right, that that was the courageous thing to do. Was his situation any different? She was continuing, "I mean, they actually gave him the choice down there. They all had their wands pointed at me, and they asked Malfoy if this was him delivering me to them- they gave him a way out, if only he would stand there and let them kill me, and finally join them. And he didn't take it. He knew that after that he would be expected to take the lives of innocents, and he wouldn't."
Innocents. Harry thought, maybe that was the difference. Killing Voldemort in self-defence, or even world defence… surely that was different. It had been a while since Harry had let himself get bog down in thoughts of the prophecy. Since he'd been with Buffy, she had allowed him to get on with life with the knowledge that he would never be alone in his fight. But now… well, in truth, Harry got the feeling that the fight had finally truly started.
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Dun dun duuuuunnn!!
grins
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