I hit 400 followers last chapter :D I have never had a story get this much reception this quickly before. It's quite exciting, and I'm not sure how to feel. Writing for a bigger audience at such an early point in what will be a long, long story is nerve-wracking, but I'm excited nonetheless.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Once everyone had returned the next morning, she chose to wait strategically for Fred before walking down to the kitchen. He met her at her room, taking her hand to lead her downstairs to face the others.
They entered without notice, the magnanimity of her evening lost in the everyday flow of the war.
Seamus, Tonks, Blaise and Lupin were all standing around the kitchen table, discussing the report mission from the night before. They had met with high level Order members at Shell Cottage to explain the situation with Blaise and Malfoy.
Given their exhausted expressions, she knew they had only just gotten back.
Lupin looked up at Fred and Hermione a few moments after their entrance. Deep bags lay under his bloodshot eyes. "Good morning, you two. I hope last night wasn't too eventful while we did reports."
At his words, the others looked up to greet them. Tonks waved, Blaise tipped an imaginary hat, but Seamus just stared. Hermione met his eyes and for a moment, she recognized him.
But the Seamus she knew disappeared the second she looked harder.
"Basically," Fred said, replying to Lupin's question. The two Gryffindors walked forward as Hermione wished desperately to stay behind, Fred pulling her by the hand. "How was the report?"
Lupin shrugged, brushing his limp hair out of his face. "Fine. We only do these things to keep track of everything and to make sure that everyone knows what they need to."
Knows what they need to. It was as if Lupin opened a door he didn't know they needed.
Fred chuckled nervously at Remus's statement, his eyes glancing sideways at Hermione. After a moment, she let out the breath she'd been holding and nodded. Permission "While, speaking of needing to know things…" he stuttered off, as he and Hermione made eye contact once again.
She sighed. This was her burden to bear and her story to tell.
"We had a slight incident last night," she said quietly.
As soon as the words had left her mouth, Seamus' eyes darted to her, an emotion in them that gave her pause.
She knew those eyes. She had seen those eyes when Dean didn't make it back to Headquarters. These were the eyes she had cried over. The eyes that she wished, more than anything, that he would never have to wear again.
"What happened?" Seamus asked, his voice cracking despite his attempt to steady it.
Face to face with Seamus, she hesitated, unable to bring the words to fruition. She was overwrought momentarily with guilt. Why should they all worry about her? Not now. Not with Dean having died barely two months prior. Not in the middle of a war. It was just a tattoo, wasn't it?
Sensing her trepidation, Fred jumped in, shooting her a look under his light lashes. "Everyone's favourite mystery tattoo had a… er… little temper tantrum."
Lupin's eyes flashed to Hermione, as their leader stood up fully, his posture suddenly dominating in the small space. Hermione felt like the walls were closing in. "What happened?"
She tried to brush it off, avoiding her old professor's eyes, staring resolutely at a spot on the wooden floor. "Same thing as before, overdose of power and energy. I felt drained afterwards."
She could almost taste the disbelief in the air.
Lupin cocked an eyebrow, incomprehension evident on his face. "Don't underplay it, Hermione. We're past that point by now."
She opened her mouth to answer, unsure what she was going to say. However, before the words had the chance to meet the air, ignite her lies like fire and oxygen, the flame died in her throat.
Her muscles tensed, sensing eyes tracing her skin. Prey in the moonlight, knowing that she was about to be caught. It was a primal reaction, felt from her core and spreading out slowly across her skin until the small willow tree on her wrist burned in anticipation.
Before he even spoke, she knew he was there.
"She was white, pale, shaking, and unable to move," Malfoy said, as he sauntered into the room. Expressions of shock appeared on the faces of all the Order members in the room, but not Hermione. "She was blinking in and out of awareness."
She kept her eyes focused forward, suddenly fascinated by a portion of the wall where the paint had flaked off. She tried desperately to ignore his presence and its unusual effect on her body. It was like trying to ignore the sun in July.
Pointless, and it blinds you anyway.
Lupin stared stupefied at Malfoy's intrusion before turning to Hermione. "Is that true?" he asked tentatively, as if Malfoy's words meant nothing until corroborated, but he believed them nonetheless.
After a moment of hesitation, she nodded, allowing waves of surprise to wash through the room.
"How did you fix it?" Remus asked, incredulity carved into the war-weary lines on his face.
The silence in the room lasted just long enough to become awkward. Fred and Hermione exchanged short glances, betraying nothing outwardly as Malfoy continued to stare forward at the other members of the Order. Hermione opened her mouth to spout a downplay of the situation, but Malfoy beat her to it.
"An hour of deep breathing."
Hermione's eyes snapped to him, her lips falling open just a touch at his statement.
He…he was lying. For her? For him? For the both of them?
He wasn't telling anyone about the magic transfer either. An oath of secrecy made without confirmation.
At least they were on the same page.
With her heart hammering, she turned back to Lupin.
"Fred and Malfoy walked me through it," she said, the fabrication leaving from her mouth without stalling. "After enough time, the energy disappeared."
The lie slid off her tongue easily, as if she wasn't speaking at all. Lying to her friends and comrades felt as straightforward as breathing.
She heard Malfoy's footsteps and felt his approach simultaneously. With every decreasing inch of separation, her heart rate increased. When he was standing directly beside her, she felt as if she would explode under the pressure; tachycardia was the only possible outcome.
Lupin's eyes shifted between the two of them quickly, trying to solve a puzzle that shouldn't exist in the first place. Hermione felt self-conscious under the observation. As if sensing her discomfort, Malfoy took several steps forward to put himself between the two Order Members; a defensive manoeuvre, with Malfoy in the protective stance.
This did not go unnoticed by the group.
Seamus's eyebrows hit his hairline. "What the fuck were you even doing there, snake?" he growled, his broad chest shifting forward infinitesimally. It was such a small change that she should not have noticed.
But she saw. Of course she did.
Malfoy didn't flinch at the overt act of aggression. "Weasley was looking for someone to help and I happened to be the only one around. I feel I performed excellently given the situation. Wouldn't you say so, Princess?"
He turned back towards her, their eyes meeting for the first time since the magic transfer. A jolt went through her foundations; she could not look away. As she drowned in his silver orbs – who had silver eyes anyway? – she felt herself nod.
"Malfoy helped a ton."
She did not recognize the words as she said them.
His trademark smirk appeared with a vengeance.
"There we go, then."
Fred took this opportunity to step up, drawing attention away from Hermione and Malfoy and the energy between - was Hermione the only one who could feel it? "We were able to handle it without you lot here, but, in the spirit of knowing what the hell is going on, we figured it was best to inform you."
Lupin pursed his lips in response. "You can't expect me to nod and brush this aside, do you?"
"I mean," Fred shrugged, a slight grin appearing on his face. "A little bit."
The older man sighed in response. "Sorry, but that's not exactly what we're going to do here."
Blaise took this moment to jump in. Hermione had almost forgotten he was there. Malfoy had turned away from her, but her gaze was glued to the back of his head.
"You sure, Lupin? I mean, if meditation can solve this, then how serious can this really be?"
When Blaise spoke, the spell between her and Malfoy broke, and she glanced over at the other Slytherin in the room. For some reason, what Blaise had said didn't quite sit right with her. Quickly reviewing his expression, there was nothing to tip her off that something was wrong. Nothing at all.
However, her mark was tingling as she observed the Slytherin.
And for some reason or another, she trusted the willow tree.
Lupin frowned. "If meditation can solve it, that's an improvement over last time when she screamed and almost fainted at dinner. However, what if she's on a mission and is hit with one of these attacks? What then?"
Hermione's eyes snapped to her mentor as her stomach dropped. "What are you saying, Lupin?"
His expression turned weary; a long-tired general at the centre of the battlefield. "I know you aren't going to like this, but I really don't have much choice in the matter."
She crossed her arms. "What matter?"
"You're a liability in this condition," he replied, his voice suddenly formal, as if the man in front of her had morphed back into her professor, and not her friend. "I cannot have you doing missions with this unknown threat in the air. You put others at risk…you put yourself at risk."
It felt as if her chest had caved in. "You…you can't be serious."
Tonks spoke up, an apology written across her face. "He's right, 'Mione. What if in the middle of a battle the mark knocked you out? You'd be dead in seconds."
"I…I'm one of your best fighters!" Hermione stuttered, her body rejecting the direction this conversation had taken.
"True," Lupin conceded, wincing. "But right now…you're a variable. You're uncertain. The mark has total control over your capabilities as a combatant. And as the leader, I will not put my soldiers, including you, at the mercy of a variable."
She was openly gaping. "Harry and Ron left me behind because they knew you needed me."
"And we still do need you," Lupin replied. "You'll be moved to research until we figure it out."
"They left me here to fight."
He pursed his lips, as if in sympathy. "Honestly, Hermione. You know that's not true. They left you here to live."
She was floored by his statement. "You don't know anything about that."
"I'm not an idiot, Hermione," Lupin said, his patience wearing thin. "I know how Harry's head works. That boy would damn well sacrifice all of Sweden before putting you in unnecessary danger."
"What qualifies as unnecessary danger in a war?"
Before Remus had a chance to respond, a soft voice sent shivers down her spine.
"Risk without reward," said a quiet voice on her left. She turned to look at Malfoy.
His silver eyes held an intensity that she recognized from the magic transfer. "Unnecessary danger is handing your fate to the gods without thought, on the slim hope that somehow, by luck and chance, things will work out in your favour."
"I create my own fate, Malfoy," she spat, no weight or force behind the words. She crumbled under his gaze.
He tilted his head, silver orbs tracing her face like fingertips. "I don't mean to offend, Princess…"
She snorted, anxiety bubbling out of her throat. "That's rich, coming from you."
The Slytherin Prince crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow. "You're going to get yourself killed and all your freedom fighters beside you. I know how badly you want to fight, but until you figure that tree out, you have to sit out."
"Oh fuck off, Malfoy," she snarled, sounding like a house cat. "Who are you to be looking out for my safety, anyway?"
He moved towards her like a tiger stalking its prey, until he was standing just inches away. She sucked in a breath through her teeth as his breath danced across her skin.
"Don't martyr yourself out of anger," he whispered, ignoring the piercing glare of everyone in the room. "Sometimes there is a need for death. But frankly, Hermione, your death has no need whatsoever, and choosing to off yourself and probably others because you're angry is not only a waste of talent, but supremely selfish."
"You're one to talk about being selfish," she spat back, hardly noticing his use of her first name in her rage. Later, when she tried to describe hearing him say it, only one metaphor came to mind.
Her name on his lips burned like firewhiskey.
Malfoy shrugged in concession. "Never said I wasn't. But Hermione Granger shouldn't be. Aren't you supposed to be the selfless one?"
His words hit her like a battering ram. She would have stumbled backwards if she hadn't been locked in his gaze. For a moment, she stood very still, eyes trained on the man beside her. He stared back, unblinking, a challenge written clear as day across his face.
The bloodline must survive sounded at the back of her head.
Her mark tingled.
She broke away from Malfoy's penetrative eyes and turned towards Lupin.
"I'll do research until we figure this out."
The words fell from her lips without conscious thought, as if someone was speaking through her, agreeing on her behalf.
The older man's jaw dropped, obviously expecting the fight to last longer. "Will you…really?"
Her dazed expression shifted without reason to where Blaise was observing her. His face was stony and unreadable.
There's something more there.
"Yes," she said, her mark tingling. She touched it absent-mindedly, tracing it with her fingertips. "I'm not going to put others in danger."
"Or yourself," Malfoy reminded her, his voice low and controlled. His words drew her gaze back to him.
Everyone's eyes turned to the Slytherin, but the blonde's never left Hermione's.
"Or myself," she replied, feeling the same compulsion to speak as earlier.
Several moments of silence followed this before she spoke again, unsure of her place. She felt out of orbit.
"I should go set up shop in the library," she said quietly, ripping her eyes away from Malfoy, immediately feeling the absence. "I have many books to go through."
Before waiting for anyone to say something, she nearly sprinted from the room.
His gaze followed her out.
Review :)
