January 5th, 2012
A/N: We're past 20,000 hits, everyone! Gah, this is so exciting. I want to thank you all for your lovely reviews and appreciated support, and your amazing suggestions. I honestly hadn't thought about Hermione being taken for herself until one of you mentioned it. You're all amazing, and my way of paying you back for being so wonderfully awesome is filling this chapter with a lot. Also, if you ever just want to talk, feel free to PM me. I love helping people :D It's the least I can do, since you lot help me all the time.
Thanks to the lovely Cat for beta reading this!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter Twenty Three
After three weeks of being tortured, Hermione was breaking. She wasn't losing her mind quite yet – she had too big of a mind to lose that quickly – but she did let out the occasional whimper and once screamed while under the Cruciatus Curse. Umbridge especially took pleasure in hurting her.
It wasn't exactly the pain that was causing Hermione to falter in her stubborn silence. It was more the fact that no sign of a rescue party had been made clear, and that she couldn't even use her magic to heal a minor cut.
Narcissa went down to the basement from time to time. Her eyes were glazed over, and she moved about in a dream-like state. It was obvious to Hermione that she was under the Imperius, which caused her to feel some minor amount of relief for an extremely short while. The fact that the Imperius could only be broken by a person with strong will dampened any good spirits Hermione had.
On August twenty second, Hermione heard a loud bang from the floor above the basement. She didn't think much of it – a house elf could have dropped something. But when several pairs of feet rushed over the stairs, she sat up and stared at the door locking her in.
Boom!
The door burst into a million tiny pieces, and in its place stood Draco, clutching an empty vial that had contained a potion up until then.
Despite her shock, Hermione managed to say, albeit faintly, "I had no idea about your expertise in pyrotechnics, love."
"Hermione, thank Merlin," Draco breathed out, running over to Hermione and taking her up in his arms. "How are you? Are you hurt badly?"
For the first time in twenty one days, Hermione relaxed. "I'm as well as can be expected."
"I'm sorry it took so long," Draco said, kissing every part of Hermione's head he could reach. "We saw Rodolphus Lestrange with my mother. Harry's dealing with him now. Did they do anything to you?"
Hermione shook her head and squeezed Draco's hand. "Please, let's just get out of here."
Draco's eyebrows furrowed together in worry as he tucked a lock of Hermione's filthy, ridiculously tangled hair behind her ear. "I've got your wand," he said, taking it out of his pocket and handing it to her. "Let's go."
Followed by several Aurors, Hermione and Draco emerged in the main floor of Malfoy Manor. Harry was dueling Lestrange with ease, and by the time one would think the battle was going on for too long, he killed the man. Nearby, Ron shot a stunner at Zachary, followed by the spell Reducto. Goldman's ribs shrunk until they pierced his lungs, and he collapsed.
"Where's Umbridge?" Hermione asked, wide-eyed.
"Umbridge was here?" Harry replied, quickly stepping up to Hermione's side. He drew her into a hug and heaved a sigh of unrepressed relief.
"She was here," Hermione affirmed, hugging Harry back. "I think she was the one who organized the whole thing."
Harry nodded and tightened his grip around Hermione before he let her go. "We'll solve that problem later, tighten up security at Azkaban. First, we need to get you home."
"No, Potter. Hermione needs to be looked over by healers first," Draco intervened severely. "If we're taking her anywhere, it'll be St. Mungo's."
"I can't argue with that," Harry said. "We'll go immediately."
"Hermione!"
Draco's head snapped towards the direction of the sound and he automatically scowled. Ron tried to put a hand on Hermione's shoulder, to convince himself that she was okay, but she shrunk away from his touch, further into Draco.
"Ron, leave it," said Harry, when he saw Ron's mouth open in protest. "She was tortured and she needs time to recover."
"You're alright," Draco whispered, pressing a kiss to Hermione's forehead. His gentle demeanor with her was entirely different from his harsh, critical one around Harry and Ron. "They can't hurt you any longer. It's just Potter and Weasley."
Hermione was receptive enough to Harry, but she was no longer used to physical contact with Ron. The memories of being molested by Zachary and sometimes Rodolphus were fresh still. Hermione daren't mention the theory she had about not being comfortable around men other than Harry and Draco for a while aloud. She didn't need to go to therapy, the way she had after the Battle of Hogwarts. She could deal with this problem on her own.
Draco apparated to St. Mungo's first, along with Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the other Weasleys who had assisted them in the raid. The remaining Aurors went to the Ministry, to file a report about what happened and to search for Umbridge.
At the hospital, Hermione had two options: to be examined by women healers, or Draco. Obviously, she chose Draco.
There was little external damage – some odd amount of bruises and a new scar given to her by the late Rodolphus Lestrange. Draco hissed when he saw the damage done to his fiancé, and was glad the Death Eaters were dead.
"It's possible that you may suffer from long-term effects after being subject to the Cruciatus for so long," Draco told Hermione, maintaining a somewhat professional attitude, though Hermione saw the raw emotion in his eyes.
She smiled wanly. "Don't fret so much. As you can see, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."
"I'm sure you want to sleep. And shower, too," Draco added, blatantly staring at Hermione's hair. She chuckled and hit him on the arm, then allowed him to take her back to his flat.
Hermione did take a shower – in fact, she took two. She crawled into bed, wearing Draco's old Slytherin Quidditch jersey, and fell asleep at once. Draco checked in on her literally every minute, and got next to nothing done because of it.
When Hermione woke up, four hours after originally falling asleep, Draco was by her side, his face buried in her mane of hair (which was blissfully clean by then).
"I'm sorry you got taken because of me," he said softly. Hermione didn't correct Draco. She didn't have the answers he would most certainly want; she never did learn what Umbridge needed her help with. However, Hermione suspected that she would find out sooner or later, whether she wanted to or not.
Up until the day before Ron and Lavender's wedding, Draco walked on eggshells around Hermione. He hardly ever argued with her – and they used to argue every other day – and would wait on her hand and foot. Now, Draco was still a Malfoy, which made this uncharacteristic behavior even stranger. Hermione found it funny, so she didn't say anything on the matter.
On the day of Ron's wedding, Draco blindly headed towards Hermione whilst unsuccessfully trying to knot a tie in a decent manner. She smiled and performed the task for him, then sat back down on the sitting room couch.
"Why aren't you dressed?" Draco asked, as Hermione was still in her pajamas.
"I thought it would be best if I didn't go," Hermione said, tucking her feet underneath her and wrapping her arms around her knees. "I, um, I'm not feeling well today," she continued. She wasn't lying, exactly. Her head was throbbing painfully and she didn't know the cause of it. But Hermione didn't want to go to the wedding and ruin it for Lavender, who looked overcome with guilt whenever she passed by. It was a good day for them and Hermione wouldn't be the reason it turned bad.
"Do you want me to stay with you? I won't be missed."
"Are you offering out of concern or do you just not want to attend the wedding?"
"In all honesty, a mix of both," Draco answered, settling down next to Hermione, who snuggled into his side, laughing.
"It's good to know you can still be honest."
"Whatever do you mean?" Draco asked, feigning surprise.
Hermione grinned. "You've been nothing but nice to me for weeks now. You've even invited Harry here a couple of times. I'm not going to break, Draco. I promise you that much."
As per usual, Hermione was comforting Draco when he should have been comforting her. Who was the one that had gotten tortured for three weeks on end? Hermione. Who was the one being comforted? Draco.
Draco hated that he wasn't the strong one or the brave one in their relationship. In reality, he was both of those things; Hermione just a tad more so in some situations. Luckily she saw what Draco did not; she saw that he was slowly turning into a promising young Gryffindor, though his Slytherin side threatened to come out from time to time. Hermione loved him all the more for the odd combination.
Ron and Lavender's wedding had a wonderful turn-out. Their Hogwarts classmates and fellow war veterans made appearances, as well as representatives from several newspapers and magazines. There were the families from both sides, naturally, and a few crashers, but the more the merrier.
Harry, Fred, George, and Neville were Ron's groomsmen, Harry being the best man. Parvati, Padma, a former Hogwarts lion named Fay, and Ginny were Lavender's bridesmaids. Ginny was chosen to be one because she was Ron's only sister and Lavender was genuinely fond of her, though Parvati was still the maid of honor.
After the ceremony and during the reception – hell, even during the ceremony – Ron scanned the gathered witches and wizards for one Hermione Granger. He didn't see her once. Her git of a fiancé wasn't there either.
"Congratulations, Ron," Harry said, smiling at the redhead and handing a glass to him.
"Yeah, thanks. Have you seen Hermione?" Ron asked before he could stop himself.
"No, but she called me earlier and said she wouldn't be coming. She doesn't feel well today. Draco thinks it's the long-term effects of the Cruciatus finally showing," Harry replied. "She's doing better now."
"Who told you this? Hermione?"
Ron disliked the sympathetic way Harry looked at him. "She was asleep when I called to check in on her. Draco answered," Harry said.
"What, you're friends with him now? What happened to thinking he was an absolute arse?" Ron spat. "He gave us away when those damn Snatchers caught us, and let his bitch of an aunt torture Hermione."
Harry pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and sighed. "And he's been torturing himself ever since for his past mistakes. Ron, why do you care so much? You just got married. You should be happy. I was ecstatic when I got married to Ginny." The two were doing very well together, by the way, and had managed to have a wedding where the only people present were ones they knew personally. They now lived in Grimmauld Place, which had been renovated using lots – and that does mean quite a lot – of magic.
"You didn't get married because Ginny was expecting a baby," Ron pointed out. He paused. "She isn't expecting a baby, right? You would have told me, and the others, wouldn't you?"
"Gin is not pregnant," Harry said. "Now you've got to get over your grudge against Hermione, mate, because she's trying to be friends with you again and it'd be nice if you'd meet her halfway. Besides, Lavender needs more support in the family. Female support, I mean."
"Hermione's technically not a part of the family."
"I really didn't want to get mad at you on your wedding day, Ron," Harry said, frowning. "Saying she isn't part of the family is like saying I'm not. Grow up, mate. You're about to start a real family of your own, and your child is going to need a mature father in their life. Act the part as a favor to Lavender, and your parents and siblings, me, and yourself."
Harry walked away to talk to Seamus and Dean, Lavender taking his place beside Ron.
"Wasn't it beautiful?" Lavender said, beaming at her husband. "You and your mother did such a wonderful job. I can never thank you enough for making this special, Ron."
Ron wrenched his thoughts away from Hermione and smiled at Lavender. "Anything for you, Lav."
Hermione took her engagement ring off whenever she went to sleep, and one night when Draco couldn't follow her example, he rolled the ring around in his hand absently. In roughly a year, he would be married, the way Potter was, the way Weasley one, three, four, five, six, and seven were. The thought of being responsible for Hermione and any children they would have scared him witless.
"What's wrong?"
Draco looked down at Hermione and kissed her temple. "Nothing's wrong, love. Go back to sleep." How could she have known something was wrong…? I wonder if Granger can read minds.
"I don't believe you, but I do want to go back to sleep, so tell me in the morning," Hermione said, nestling closer to Draco, who chuckled quietly and ran his fingers through her hair.
Draco set Hermione's ring down on the nightstand by their bed and sighed. He was excited about the wedding, but he figured Blaise was much more so. In fact, Blaise had been ecstatic at the prospect of organizing a stag party for Draco and had started listing absurd things they needed to do at once. Even Harry had made a few suggestions as to what would be "interesting."
Am I really ready for this? Draco asked himself. Hermione moved her arm so her hand was resting about Draco's heart, and Draco answered his own question. He was more than ready.
The following morning Draco made to get out of bed right when he woke up, but Hermione wouldn't let him. She had her head on his chest, and one of her legs was draped across Draco's own. He grudgingly – not really, he couldn't say he minded the arrangement – resigned himself to his fate.
"Mm, good morning," Hermione said, kissing Draco's cheek.
Someone knocked on the door, and Hermione felt a brief flash of panic. Were more Death Eaters going to disrupt their peace? Was Umbridge still looking for her?
"Who could that be?" Draco wondered, standing up. He grimaced. "You don't think it's Astoria, do you?"
Right. Astoria. It was possible that she was the one at the door. Hermione grabbed her wand and quietly crept outside anyway, just to be safe.
It turned out to be Astoria. Draco pleaded with Hermione to not let her in, so they went back to the bedroom and closed the door.
"What's she doing here?" Draco asked.
Hermione shushed him and covered his mouth with her hand. "Shh, she might hear you," she whispered. She hid the fact that she was slightly intimidated by Astoria very well, but deep down she truly was. Astoria was beautiful and successful and most of all, a pureblood – everything Draco should have wanted in a future wife, everything Hermione wasn't.
Draco distracted Hermione from her own self by lightly nipping the finger that was mainly covering his mouth. He grinned at her and her shocked expression. "Never tell a Malfoy to shush, love," he said, kissing her.
"I think she's gone," Hermione announced after she and Draco had snogged for a good ten minutes.
"What's your point?"
"I just thought I'd let you know," Hermione replied, letting Draco take control again.
Draco smirked. "Be quiet, Granger, and stop talking about things – and people – I don't care about," he said, moving to Hermione's neck.
"You get to tell me to be quiet but I don't get to shush you?"
"You can shush me whenever you want, but first say that you don't want me to stop talking right now."
Hermione scowled at him, and Draco decided that he had won that particular argument.
A/N: To make things clear...Narcissa was under the Imperius and that is the only reason she allowed the Death Eaters and Umbridge to use Malfoy Manor as head quarters for that...time...She'll come back later on. Thanks for the suggestions again, everyone! They were great :) Also, Hermione wasn't raped, because I would hate that, you guys would hate that, and it just isn't right to have a Death Eater, who is a purist, rape a Muggle-born since they hate them. That's my logic.
Also, Umbridge got raped by centaurs. That is all.
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