I'm still here! Sorry for the late and short update. I finally got around to watching the new Star Wars trilogy and become Reylo TRASH. So I've been reading and writing fanfiction for that pairing because I am a sucker for a redemption story. I'll have a Reylo one shot (with the potential to become a full length story) up soon, if that interests anyone.
Enough Star Wars though. Enjoy the update!
Hermione woke up in the Hogwarts hospital wing the following morning. She looked down at a mop of blonde hair resting on the bed near her hand, the owner of it sitting in a chair and leaning forward in a way that had to be uncomfortable. Malfoy. To her right, Harry and Ron sat in chairs with their heads tilted back at odd angles that would leave their necks aching. Blaise was asleep on the ground next to them, using his robes as a pillow, and Theo was leaned back against a wall snoring softly. His presence made Hermione uneasy, but she reminded herself that she couldn't fault him for the actions of someone who looked like him.
She sat up carefully, trying not to wake Malfoy or cause herself more pain. She was unsuccessful at both.
"Granger," he whispered, raising his head to look up at her. "How are you feeling?"
"I've been worse," she replied truthfully, feeling the bandage wrapped around her left arm.
"Do you remember…" Malfoy trailed off awkwardly.
"That I believed I was back in Malfoy Manor, or that you carried me the whole way here? Yes, I remember both."
There was silence for a long time as they stared at each other, both quieted by the weight of last night's events.
"How'd you find me?" Hermione asked, shattering the silence.
"Someone smartly left a trail of blood. Theo, Blaise, and I followed it right to you."
She smiled a little at that, happy her plan had worked. Draco, on the contrary, looked angry.
"If you had a wand the whole time, why in Merlin's name would you let them torture you?" He demanded.
Hermione quickly shushed him, glancing over at the four boys who were still asleep.
"They were stupid," she replied quietly. "I learned a lot from them. Parkinson is giving them their orders, but I know for sure now that she is being set up by someone else to take the fall."
"And how exactly do you know that?"
"Allegedly, she recruited them and offered them money."
"Recruited them?" Draco pondered that phrase for a moment. "Pansy would never ask people for help. She makes people work for the privilege of being bossed around by her."
"I thought the same. Plus, she has no money to give."
"She doesn't?"
"Don't you read the paper?"
"I avoid reading lies and half-truths about my family. And frankly, you may want to do the same, Hermione."
She raised her eyebrows as her first name slipped out of his mouth as casually as if he was Ron or Harry.
"I like to know my enemy… Draco," she responded with a smile pulling the sides of her lips up slightly.
"Get a room," a groggy voice joined their conversation, and Theo stood and stretched, his joints popping as he did.
Hermione glanced at him for a moment, then turned back to the boy sitting next to her. He could see that her eyes were full of slowly subsiding fear.
"You know it wasn't him," Draco whispered softly, so Theo couldn't hear them.
"Of course, but…" Hermione didn't know what to say.
Theo seemed to sense the discomfort in the room and left to tell Madam Pomfrey that her patient was awake. He knew that their new Gryffindor friend didn't mean anything by it, and he could only imagine what it was like to be tortured by someone with a friend's face and voice. Still, the look in Hermione's eyes when she looked at him just now… it hurt.
As Madam Pomfrey changed her bandages, after shooing the five boys out of the room, of course, Hermione had plenty of time to think about the increasingly elaborate plot behind Draco's attack. Right now, the three Slytherins, Henry, Samuel, and Lawrence, would probably be ratting their leader out, trying to minimize their own punishment. Their treatment was taking place in the criminal ward at St. Mungos, not because of the severity of their injuries, but to keep them away from Hermione and Draco and make the investigation easier for the Aurors.
What didn't make sense was how Parkinson was involved, or rather, why. She was a middle-man, an extra person making the whole plot riskier for whoever had imagined it. Why add such an unnecessary person? They attacked Draco Malfoy, a man seen by Voldemort's followers as a traitor, and then her, a woman seen by blood-purists as unworthy to do magic. Perhaps Parkinson was considered a blood-traitor too, and Azkaban was ger punishment for betraying Voldemort.
What was it that Blaise and Theo told her earlier in the year? That Slytherins only hated Draco because he swore his loyalty to a cause then betrayed it. Pansy had never been a Death Eater, but her father had been among the most loyal.
The group of Slytherins that actually carried out the attacks would almost certainly be imprisoned too. Five family members of Death Eaters and one muggle-born would suffer for this. But who would want to harm all of them?
"Oh," Hermione breathed softly.
"I know dear, but don't worry, it will heal with time. It will scar, but no worse than it was before," Madam Pomfrey reassured her, thinking her exclamation had been about the wound she was currently dressing.
The fresh 'mudblood' scar was the only thing the school nurse hadn't been able to heal with magic that morning. That was no surprise to Hermione who had already lived with the scar for nearly a year, but the older woman felt quite guilty that she couldn't do more.
"Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said steadily. "As long as it doesn't get infected you have to chop my arm off, I promise, I will be okay."
"I just wish… well, never mind. That was quite a nasty spell they hit you with Miss Granger, to bring you back to such an awful time… I've never seen anything quite like it."
"Poppy," Professor McGonagall's familiar voice called. "May I come in?"
"Yes, yes, Minerva. We've just finished up here."
She wound the rest of the bandage around Hermione's forearm and used a soothing spell to reduce the uncomfortable feeling that came with healing.
"Hermione," the Headmistress took a seat next to her. "You look much better today."
She looked at her favorite student who was no longer bruised, bloody, and clinging to Draco Malfoy as if her life depended on it.
"She's almost completely healed, and I'm happy to let her go before lunch," Pomfrey turned to Hermione. "You will need to take a few potions. The cruciatus will leave your whole body very sore, but only for a few days. These will help."
"Only a few days?" The Gryffindor asked. "Last time it took… a long time."
The two older women hid their pained expressions well as they were again reminded that many of their students were already familiar with the effects of the cruciatus.
"You should heal much faster this time," Pomfrey reassured her before leaving them alone.
"Hermione, an Auror will be here within the hour to interview you," McGonagall explained. "If you'd like, I can tell them to wait."
"Today is fine."
"The three boys that attacked you will be transferred to Azkaban to await their trial. It is likely that since they are so young it will be a short sentence, and they'll be released sooner than you may like."
"I understand."
"There's one other thing. They claim Miss Parkinson is their leader, but the story doesn't make complete sense. The papers, of course, are running with it, painting her as a villain. Naturally, Aurors have taken her into custody."
Both knew that 'the papers' meant Rosaline Pierce.
"Someone set her up, Professor," Hermione insisted. "We're sure of it."
"We?" The older woman asked with a heavy sigh, already knowing what was coming.
"Well… since the first attack, Blaise, Theo, Dra- Malfoy, Harry, Ron, me, and some others have been investigating."
"A larger group than the normal three," she noted, annoyed but not surprised that Harry Potter and his friends were still getting into trouble.
Hermione smiled at that.
"It was Blaise and Theo's idea really, but we've suspected it was Parkinson being controlled by someone for ages."
Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows.
"And we've known about Henry, Samuel, and Lawrence for a while."
Her eyebrows rose higher.
"We had people we trusted watching Malfoy all the time, making sure he was safe," Hermione defended their decision, still believing it was the right one. "And, well I was thinking, and I might know who is orchestrating all of this… I just have no proof."
"And who would that be?"
"You won't like it, Professor. If it's who I think, moving Malfoy to Gryffindor was just taking him out of the frying pan and shoving him straight into the fire."
If you hadn't guessed already, do you think you know who's behind it now?
I'll have a new chapter up in a few days. I'm planning for about five more total, and yes, Dramione is going to start getting romantic soon. It is really difficult to write Draco's transition from being an angry former-Death Eater to someone ready for a healthy relationship, and likewise Hermione's transition from suffering what is basically PTSD to being ready for a relationship. If their character development seems choppy, I'd love to hear that feedback for a potential revision of this story and for other stories I'm working on.
As always, thank you so much for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! Be sure to follow my author profile since I have a few one-shots I plan to post soon!