Chapter Nineteen
It was the morning of the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match and Harry was being heralded as some sort of Messiah as he strolled into the Great Hall with his Firebolt. Despite now having it back in his possession, Harry and Ron were still not speaking to Hermione.
"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" said a drawling voice.
Draco had arrived for a closer look, Crabbe and Goyle right behind him.
"Yeah, reckon so," replied Harry casually.
"Got plenty of special features, hasn't it?" said Draco, eyes glinting mischievously. "Shame it doesn't come with a parachute, in case you get too near a Dementor."
Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.
"Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy."
The Gryffindor team laughed loudly, and he stalked away. The impending prank had been in Draco's mind for a long time now, and today was the perfect opportunity. Potter deserved it for all the trouble he had been causing Hermione.
At quarter to eleven, the students began excitedly heading down to the pitch. Eventually the whistle blew, and the game began.
Hermione was reading yet another book in the desperate hopes that it would help Buckbeak, when she heard Cho Chang scream from her broom and point downwards. Getting up and peering over the edge of the stands she saw three Dementors on the pitch. Panic flooded through her but, as she looked back to Harry, he plunged his hand into the neck of his robes.
Whipping out his wand, Harry roared, "Expecto Patronum!"
Something silver white, something enormous, erupted from the end of his wand. It shot directly at the Dementors and Harry drove his broom forward to catch the Snitch.
Whilst the Gryffindor's burst into cheers around her, Hermione looked more closely at the crumpled heap of black material on the floor. She could see something… wriggling?
Suddenly, a pale face emerged gasping from the pile and Professor McGonagall stormed over, her rage palpable. Hermione could barely contain her laughter. There, in the middle of the Quidditch pitch were Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint, all struggling to extricate themselves from the long, black, hooded robes.
She would never let him hear the end of this.
Despite their continued silence towards her, Hermione made herself go over to Harry and Ron in the common room as soon as she received the letter from Hagrid.
Without preamble, she said, "he – he sent me this."
Harry look confused but took the damp parchment from her. Enormous teardrops had smudged the ink so badly in places that it was very difficult to read.
Dear Hermione,
We lost. I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts.
Execution date to be fixed.
Beaky has enjoyed London.
I won't forget all the help you gave us.
Hagrid
"They can't do this," said Harry. "They can't. Buckbeak isn't dangerous."
"Malfoy's dad frightened the Committee into it," said Hermione, wiping her eyes. "You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There'll be an appeal, though, there always is. Only I can't see any hope… nothing will have changed."
"Yeah, it will," said Ron fiercely. "You won't have to do all the work alone this time, Hermione. I'll help."
"Oh, Ron!"
She couldn't help herself. Hermione flung her arms around Ron's neck and broke down completely. She had her friends back, and they were going to help.
Since Sirius Black had attempted to break into Hogwarts for a second time, the safety measures imposed on the students made it impossible for the trio to visit Hagrid in the evenings. Their only chance of talking to him was during Care of Magical Creatures lessons.
He seemed numb with shock at the verdict.
"S'all my fault," Hagrid said. "Got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes and an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, Hermione. An' then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em…"
"There's still the appeal!" said Ron fiercely. "Don't give up yet, we're working on it!"
At these words, Hagrid burst into tears, buried his head into a handkerchief, and hurried back towards his cabin.
"Look at him blubber!" Draco said derisively. "Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic? He's supposed to be our teacher!"
Harry and Ron both made furious moves towards Draco, but Hermione got there first – SMACK! She had slapped him around the face with all the strength she could muster. Draco staggered. Harry, Ron, Crabbe, and Goyle stood flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again.
"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic -"
"Hermione!" said Ron weakly, and he tried to grab her hand as she swung it back.
"Get off, Ron!"
She pulled out her wand. Draco stepped backwards. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him for instructions, thoroughly bewildered.
"C'mon," he muttered, and next moment, all three of them had disappeared into the passageways of the dungeons.
Hermione walked into their nook in the library incredibly sheepishly that evening. She was hoping that Draco wouldn't be there but, unfortunately, she had no such luck. He had purposively positioned himself so that she could immediately see the mottled purple bruise on his cheek.
"Draco…" she began.
"Granger."
"How are you?"
"I'm really fucking pissed off, Hermione."
She couldn't help but tilt her head and look at him curiously, she didn't think she'd ever heard him swear before.
Draco waved his hands in front of her face, "hello? Don't go off into your head."
"Sorry, yes, I'm here. I am really sorry Draco. I don't know what happened, I j-just…" she broke off, horrified to find her eyes filling with tears.
"No! Granger, no you can't cry. I'm the one having emotions right now, not you!"
Frantically swiping at her eyes Hermione said in a rush, "there's no excuse for what I did, I was so overwhelmed with everything that was going on and, and, well you were there. You were doing my least favourite sneer –"
"You've ranked my sneers?" Draco interrupted.
"In my head, I suppose, there are ones I prefer more than others –"
"Please, go back to your original soliloquy."
"Yes okay, so your face, and then you said those awful things. I don't know, it felt like the wall I'd built around my emotions just broke. Does that make sense?"
Draco's laugh was hollow, if only she knew how much sense it made.
Hermione continued, "I'm so, so exhausted, all the time. Harry and Ron have spent weeks not talking to me, continuing to get into trouble even though a mass murderer is after one of them. I've been constantly researching information for Buckbeak and it hasn't made an ounce of difference. Your father's word is law, after all; who cares about the truth, right? I feel so helpless, all the time. I wanted to hurt someone, anyone. I wanted to hurt someone so maybe… m-maybe I'd stop hurting."
Draco felt his own walls shatter and pulled her roughly into his chest. He was almost a head taller than her now and could rest his chin just above her forehead. Gently stroking her back, Draco could feel Hermione shaking. Tugging them to the ground, he leant against the bookshelf and curled himself around her small frame.
They sat like this for a long while. Drifting in and out of consciousness, floating in the bask of their safe and warm cocoon. Eventually, Hermione shifted towards him. Her breath tickled his face. "Why did you say those things about Hagrid? I know you don't like him, but it really wasn't necessary."
Draco hung his head, "I know that. Blaise has started making snide comments to me recently, saying I've 'changed' and that I'm 'weak'. I can't risk my father hearing that, Hermione. I don't know what he would do to me. Or what if it made him start looking at me a bit more closely, and he found out about you?" he buried into her neck. "I can't let that happen."
"What are we going to do, Draco?"
"I don't know. But I'll always keep you safe."