Here's a new update! It took longer than I expected to write this one, but the next will be up soon.
A guest reviewer mentioned that sometimes my writing is difficult to understand and that I should think about using a beta. I do genuinely appreciate that feedback, but I just don't have time to build a relationship and work on this story with another person. That being said, I'm sure my writing is hard to understand at times. If anyone ever notices a spot that is confusing, please message me or leave a review. In that sense, all of you are kind of my betas, and I'm certainly open to going back through and republishing chapters with more clarity, better grammar, no typoes, etc.
Seriously though, I love constructive criticism, so thank you to that reviewer!
It's my dream to publish a novel someday, so any feedback you give me helps me with other fics and my original work.
Flying over the Quidditch pitch with his two friends, Draco felt the happiest he had in years. He wished he'd agreed to do this sooner, but he had been too busy drowning in his guilt to do much more than attend classes and complete assignments.
They lasted just over an hour in the cold weather before deciding to return to the warm castle.
"So, a Hufflepuff?" Draco asked Theo as they walked toward the castle.
"Susan happens to be an intelligent, feisty, and yes, kind witch," Theo protested.
"I believe you, don't freak out," Draco smirked back. "Is she... good?"
"I mean, yes. She's a Hufflepuff, of course she's a good... oh-"
Theo turned and whacked his friend across the chest with a loud thud. Despite Draco's rude question, Theo was happy that his friend was acting more like his old self.
"They haven't slept together yet," Blaise explained, rolling his eyes. "He only likes her because she can find anything he loses within like five minutes."
"That's not true! She's fun to talk to... she did find my Quidditch gloves I guess. But she is so kind and caring and-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard this a million times," Blaise interrupted, remembering all too well the night his friend woke him up to gush over the Hufflepuff.
"Whatever Blaise," Theo's sulky tone quickly turned to a mischievous one. "What about you Malfoy? Any Gryffindor ladies caught your eye recently?"
"No."
"Oh, come on. I hear you sat next to someone in class?"
"I sit next to a lot of people, Nott," he bit out.
Blaise shook his head at Theo, recognizing he was pushing their friend a bit too far. The group walked in silence for a while as they made their way through the massive castle doors.
The Italian boy stood by his statement that there was no world where Draco Malfoy would even consider going out with Hermione Granger. Sure, most Slytherins made a deliberate effort to ignore blood status now, but some were more successful than others. Theo disagreed and had reminded Blaise that Draco was no longer a Slytherin. He claimed Draco progressed enough to ignore Hermione's blood status. Anyone could see that she was smart, brave, kind, funny… he continued to list all the Gryffindor's good traits until Blaise asked why he didn't date her. Theo's response was to start talking about how amazing Susan was, and Blaise, needing to shut him up, bet that Draco and Hermione would never be together.
And thus their bet had been born. If Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy kissed before the new year, Blaise would owe Theo five galleons and have to go on a double date with him and Susan. If they didn't kiss, Theo would never be allowed to discuss Susan around Blaise again.
"Any other ladies you might be interested in?" Blaise broke the silence. "Daphne's sister is-"
Draco hushed his friend and froze noticing drops of blood leading away from the library.
"Granger," he whispered to himself, a feeling of dread seeping through his whole being.
"We should fetch a teacher," Blaise suggested.
"This could be a trap," Theo said rationally. "Or not related to us at all?"
But Draco was already following the trail of blood.
"The Gryffindors are rubbing off on him," Theo muttered, and Blaise nodded his agreement before they followed after their friend.
Hermione had hardly taken a step when Theo smacked her across the face. The blow sent her to the ground where she grasped her wand tightly, now positive that this was not Theodore Nott.
"Granger," he spat out in Theo's voice as he loomed over her. "Not the one we wanted, but perhaps you'll do."
He grabbed her arm and hauled her up roughly. Her nose ached and dribbled blood down the front of her muggle clothes. It was broken, she decided.
"Who are you?" She asked, without even a hint of panic in her voice.
"I'll ask the questions mudblood," was his response.
Hermione wasn't called the brightest witch of her age without reason. She leaned forward to let her blood drip onto the castle floor. Someone would see it and raise an alarm.
"Give me your wand," the Theo impersonator demanded.
She shoved her bag hard into his chest.
"In there."
He stupidly didn't think to check, just shouldered it and hauled her down the corridor. Hermione continued allowing her nose to bleed onto the floor. When it began to slow, she gritted her teeth and silently cast a cutting spell across her palm, squeezing her fist until blood flowed.
"Keep up!" Her companion snarled, yanking hard on her arm.
He led her into an old and rarely used classroom in the dungeons of the castle. Two boys waited inside dressed in Slytherin robes. Hermione could only assume they were the three Slytherins helping Parkinson.
"That isn't Malfoy," the curly-haired one said stupidly.
"He wasn't there," the Theo look-alike responded. "Mudblood says he's out flying with Zabini and the real Nott, but I figured she'd be just as fun to take care of as the blood traitor."
He pushed Hermione forward, catching her off guard. Her head smacked solidly into the side of a table as she fell to her knees, but she still didn't draw her wand.
"My father always said torturing mudbloods was the best part of being a Death Eater."
This was the biggest of the group talking now.
"Want to find out?" Curly-hair asked with a sickening grin.
"I've faced worse than you," Hermione spat out, climbing to her feet.
"Silencio," fake Theo cast a silencing charm around the room.
"Not ready for wandless magic yet are you?" Hermione mocked.
"Crucio!"
The curse tore through her in an all too familiar way but compared to Bellatrix's it was nothing. She told them as much, and the next one sent her to her hands and knees.
"What's Parkinson going to think when you've failed to get to Draco?" She asked, panting slightly.
That caught them off guard. The identity of their leader was supposed to be a secret.
"How do you know about her?"
"The same way I know she's being manipulated," Hermione answered.
She watched all three boys look at each other with the same confused expression. Either Parkinson was actually doing this of her own accord, or her henchmen thought she was.
Hermione was still pondering that problem when she felt another curse rip through her.
"Don't make us doubt her, mudblood," the largest boy snapped, his wand trained on her. "She only wants to finish the work her father started… killing blood traitors and mudbloods."
"How'd Parkinson end up with a trio as stupid as you three," Hermione breathed heavily, sitting up carefully.
Her head was throbbing, and though the curses they cast were significantly weaker than Bellatrix's, the cruciatus always hurt. The Theo lookalike kicked her hard in the ribs and something in her side made a quiet cracking sound. Cracked ribs were familiar to her too.
"Parkinson hand-picked us," he said proudly. "Wrote us telling how much she admired our families' dedication to the Dark Lord, and that she hoped we would continue their noble work."
That didn't sound like the Pansy Parkinson Hermione was familiar with, the one who wanted people to flock to her and beg for her approval and friendship. She would never willingly associate with someone who didn't raise her social status, and these three unfamiliar Slytherins certainly wouldn't.
"The small fortune she promised us helps too," curly-hair said, obviously thinking about how he would spend the galleons.
That wasn't right either, Hermione thought. The Parkinson family had been fined millions after the war, and Pansy would have no money to spare.
"Good luck with that," she spat out.
Hermione learned enough from the three to believe what Theo and Blaise had been saying about the Slytherin girl. She suspected Parkinson hadn't even recruited these brutes, rather, someone else was making everyone think she had. If that was the case... Hermione cast that thought aside for the moment. It was time to use her wand.
She needed to get close enough that she could take two out with one spell. Summoning the same strength, she used to survive at Malfoy Manor, Hermione pushed herself to her feet again. Blood ran down her front as she took a few steps closer to where the three stood.
"Don't move another step," the large one demanded.
"Or… or what?" Hermione struggled to speak as she inched closer. "Go ahead. C-curse me again."
"Don't tempt us mudblood," pretend Theo snarled as all three raised their wands.
"Crucio!" Two of them yelled at once.
Both hit Hermione directly in the chest. Combined, their curses were comparable to Bellatrix's and she fell to the ground, writhing as they held the curse but stifling her scream.
"Good enough for you?"
Hermione didn't see who was talking, curled into the fetal position where she was pulling out her wand. The biggest one knelt down and wrenched her head back, forcing her to look at him.
"Well? Was it?"
"No!" She snarled, spraying his face with blood from her mouth.
He moved to wipe it off and Hermione took the opportunity to point her wand at him. Her nonverbal stunning spell sent him flying back, crashing into pretend Theo who seemed to be shifting back to his own form. The pair slammed against a wall hard and slid to the floor, unconscious.
Laying on the ground, Hermione aimed her wand at the curly-haired one who aimed his right back. She struck first with another stunning spell and he jumped out of the way. Not letting up, she continued sending curse after curse at him while she climbed, shaking, to her feet.
Even in her weakened state, the war veteran far outmatched the younger Slytherin who was obviously inexperienced in battle. They circled each other until Hermione was in a strong defensive position. Her back was to the only exit, and the boy she was dueling stood in front of his unconscious partners. If either of them woke up, they wouldn't be behind Hermione to curse her.
She blocked a sinister-looking spell and countered with a jinx that sent him flying back into the wall. As he hit the stone with a crack, he called out a spell she was unfamiliar with. Hermione dodged but not quickly enough, and it caught her already injured shoulder and spun her backward. When she looked up, all three Slytherins lay unconscious in a heap.
Hermione sat up slowly and bound them all with a few quick flicks of her wand as she leaned against the wall next to the door. Her breathing was ragged, and her body ached in a way she never wanted it to again.
The wounded Gryffindor was about to cast her Patronus when the door burst open. She raised her wand, suddenly aware of a slicing sensation on her left forearm that grew increasingly painful with each moment.
"Granger."
When Blaise, Theo, and Draco burst through the doors of the classroom, the first thing they noticed were the three boys slumped in the corner. Theo's gaze was fixed on the one who looked eerily like him. Blaise was the only one who thought to draw his wand as he stepped in. Draco immediately began looking around for the student he was expecting to see.
"Granger," he breathed, finally noticing the girl who had her wand trained on him with a trembling arm.
"Tell me…" she breathed heavily. "Tell me what Draco Malfoy always wanted as a child."
He thought quickly, before remembering what he'd told her in the dungeons of his home.
"A puppy."
Hermione let the wand fall from her hand, and the blond knelt down beside her.
"Take care of her, Draco," Blaise took charge of the situation like it was second nature. "Theo, run and fetch a teacher. I'll guard these three until you get back."
Draco barely heard his friend, too focused on Hermione. Blood ran down her face, some from her nose and some from a long gash on her temple. The sleeve of her shirt near her shoulder was soaked with blood too.
"What happened Granger?"
"Draco," she muttered quietly. "You have to help me."
"I know. Theo's finding help right now."
She didn't seem to hear him.
"Please! I'm going to die here. What she's doing to me, I can't take much more. Please get me out. Malfoy… please."
Blaise stole a glance at the two across the ruined classroom, hearing Hermione's confusing words.
"Hermione," the boy next to her said reassuringly. "You're at Hogwarts. You're safe now."
"You're the only one who can help me… please Malfoy. Draco…"
Draco watched as the same scene he'd seen so many times in his home played out in front of him again. Obviously, she thought they were still there. He wondered what they had done to her that could revert her back to this vulnerable state so abruptly. When he saw Hermione cradle her left forearm carefully, Draco suddenly had a strange feeling that he knew exactly what they cursed her with.
He reached for her arm, pushing her sleeve up and half hoping he wouldn't see what he suspected was there.
"Don't look! I don't want you to see," she protested but didn't pull away.
The horrible word that his sick aunt had carved into her arm was again a bloody, fresh wound. It looked like it happened yesterday. That confirmed his suspicions; they had cast a spell on her that made people think they were still undergoing some torture. It was dark magic he once read about in his family library. The curse almost always caused the reappearance of a physical injury. The mental part of the spell would wear off after a few hours, but her arm would have to heal normally.
Draco sat down and pulled the bleeding girl against him. She tensed, but eventually relaxed her shaking body against his steady one and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"I'll get you out of here, Hermione. I promise you will be safe soon."
That was how they stayed until Theo's return.
Wow, okay. I hope that was a good chapter that answered some questions and created some new ones.
I want to finish this up in the next two weeks before I get back to college, so be on the lookout for updates soon. As always, please review/follow/favorite!