I feel as if I owe you all a massive explanation.
It has been two years since I updated this story, and almost four since I started it. I started this story in the car ride from my home to university for the first time, when I was starting my Bachelor's degree. Over the past four years, I have been busier than I ever was in my teenage years (obviously), which is when I was writing fanfiction often. My life is entirely different than how it was when I started this story in September of 2015.
However, as I finished my degree, worked many jobs, traveled abroad, at the back of my mind, this story lingered. I never wanted to abandon it. I never thought I really would. But as time went by, and I just never wrote, I felt like I had to make a choice. But I didn't want to abandon it. I wrote the plan for this story in August 2015, and on occasion, I open it and think of this amazing story I have in my head that i want you all to read, and enjoy, and experience with me.
I'm now finished my undergrad, living abroad, and I have time for the first time in what feels like years. Something had been nagging at me, and its this story. I know how it's going to end, and I want it to.
I've decided to go back to my schedule from years ago, of how I used to write fanfiction to relax, and publish every week because I was just creating story after story. The Sapphire Princess will be finished, within the next year. I have the plot, I have the love of writing, and now, after a really long time, I have the time.
Every once and a while over the past few years, I've come back to this story and read the reviews. People are constantly asking me to finish it. It means the world to me that you've all stuck with me this long. It has not been in vain.
Thank you for sticking with me, even when I wasn't sure I could do it.
I hope you enjoy the rest of this story. It is (I PROMISE), coming soon.
She was falling.
Part of it was the apparating. Part of it was Draco.
She knew that she had about ten seconds from the moment they left number 12 Grimmauld Place before they landed at the Malfoy Summer Home. Holding Draco's hand like a lifeline, she gave herself those ten seconds to try and understand what was happening to her.
Ten.
The past few days had been a whirlwind, so much so that she could barely conceive how much had happened. It had only been five weeks since her birthday, about four weeks since she had rescued Draco from the burning shop in Diagon Alley. How was everything in her life changing so quickly while the world seemed so slow in comparison.
Nine.
She had spent the night with Draco Malfoy. No, she hadn't just spent the night with him. He had given her the night, the stars, the moon, and the entire galaxy. Feeling him on top of her was like feeling the universe inside her veins. Maybe it was the magic transfer, and the connection between them, but something at the back of her mind was whispering that there was something more there.
Eight
Related to the aforementioned point, she was possibly going to be murdered by Seamus, Harry, or Ron, a combination of them, if the latter two ever returned and found out. Things with Seamus had ended, that much was certain. However, after a year and a half of being involved with him, she felt like she should somehow care more about the end. It had just ended, the way a breath does. It happens, it's over, and you move on to the next one.
Seven
In the past five weeks, she had been left by her two best friends to go search for Horcruxes, ended a relationship that had become more familiar to her than her own heartbeat, and slept with a recently defected Death Eater who spent their childhood mercilessly bullying her. And for all the change, she still hadn't thought about the biggest one.
Six
She still had to figure out the mark on her wrist. Her willow tree birthmark, that had appeared on her 20th birthday. She had come no further in understanding its origin, impact, or consequences, but for some reason, she knew this was old magic.
Five
And the war raged on. It had been slowing for a while, with the Lestrange South Shore Manor and this mission to the Malfoy summer home as shining events in a sea of grey. It worried her fundamentally. At three years in, it couldn't just be that Voldemort was tired.
Four
The world kept spinning around her, as they apparated to the Manor. Yet she felt grounded, holding onto Draco's hand. For reasons beyond her, for reasons beyond her life, and this war, and the mark, she felt grounded flying through space with him. And so, for the last few moments before the sharpness of reality returned, she let herself breathe with him, breathe him in.
Three
Two
One
Their feet hit the ground with resounding thuds. Hermione blinked rapidly, trying to get her bearings. Once she did, she realized they were standing in a dark moor, surrounded by trees. The sky above them was grey, unyielding of hints to the time of day. She knew it was still the morning, and from the map she had glanced at, she guessed they were standing in the forest on the edge of the Malfoy estate.
Malfoy.
She turned towards him. She knew he could feel her eyes, but his stared forward, she presumed in the direction of the manor from his childhood summer times. His jaw was locked. His grip tightened around her hand.
"Alright everyone," said a voice from behind her.
She turned towards Lupin. He had gathered the others in a circle. The mission comprised of her old DADA teacher, Seamus, Fred, Tonks, Luna, and Neville. Her and Draco joined, Blaise at their side.
Lupin glanced at all of them, the serious face he reserved for missions adorning his features. "You know what we're here for. Hannah, Dedalus, and Ernie are the ones we know are here, though we know that younger muggleborns who are not in the Order are being held as well. They're being held at the back of the dungeon. We have our plan. Team one, we'll be taking the main entrance. Team two, you'll be taking the secret passageway. Our goal is to get them, get out, no injuries, no casualties. The security should be light because of the wards. But I imagine the alarm will be raised once we enter. Once the group is freed, we return to Headquarters. Understood?"
Everyone nodded.
Lupin turned to Draco. "Now, as we learned from the Lestrange raid, we know which wards the Death Eaters are using. Do you know if the ones here are blood-based as well?"
Draco nodded, not giving anything away. "Last I checked."
"Then I believe, Mr. Malfoy, that you are the secret weapon today."
Hermione didn't understand the look that passed over Draco's face. It was fleeting and indecipherable, but something deep in her bones felt uneasy.
Without emotion, Draco took out the wand she had handed him this morning and pointed it at his forearm. He didn't flinch as he made a long cut along it. He turned back to Lupin, now cradling his bleeding arm.
"Well? Are we going to save your lot or not?"
With Draco leading, the team was led out of the wood. Hermione stayed back, not wanting to attract any more attention to herself or to Draco. She found herself next to Fred. It was less than thirty seconds before he spoke.
"What's going on with you and our secret weapon?" whispered the twin into her ear. Even though she had been expecting the question, she still flinched slightly.
"What are you talking about?" she whispered, forcing her eyes to stay looking forward.
"Well, besides the fact that I know about the transfer, and you two stayed holding hands way longer than expected after arrival, the way he looks at you is, frankly, indecent."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's none of your business, Fred."
"I didn't say it was, my dear Hermione. However, I would bet you whatever profits I make off Weasley's Wizard Wheezes after this goddamn war is over that a certain man you've been previously involved with is going to make it everyone's business."
Her head snapped towards him. "What on earth are you talking about?"
Fred looked down at his own feet. "Just a bad gut feeling."
Before she had the chance to respond, murmurs ran through the group and everyone crunched down. They had reached the edge of the wood.
She saw Draco stand at the front of the group. He raised his bleeding arm above him and started muttering. She saw the air shimmer around it and drops of blood fall from his cut and disappear instantaneously.
A moment later, a crackle filled the air. Draco turned back towards everyone. "It's down."
Lupin stood up. "You know your orders. Get those captured out, get yourselves out. I don't want to even see a cut on any of you when we get back."
He raised his wand, and Hermione felt her skin tingle as the disillusionment charm covered the group.
"On my mark…ready…NOW!"
The group took off running, splitting into their formation of two groups as they sprinted towards the dark manor across the yard. If Hermione had had time to really focus, she probably would've admired the gothic architecture, while being equally horrified and envious that Draco had spent his childhood here.
She fell into her spot next to Draco, with Neville at the front. As they approached the manor, she saw two guards standing at the gate. Lupin and Blaise both raised their wands and from the cover of the disillusionment charm, both guards were hit, promptly falling to the ground.
Stepping over their bodies, they slipped into the gates of the manor, up the front steps and they were in. In the large entrance hall, the group split in half. She followed Draco along with Neville and Blaise towards the secret entrance.
As they made their way through the dark hallways, she watched Draco closely. She couldn't recognize his expression.
"Hey," she whispered, directly behind Draco. "How are you doing?"
He looked briefly over his shoulder, his wand-arm up with a bright Lumos light leading the way through the dark manor's corridors. "I'm confused."
Hermione cocked her head, checking quickly and noticing that Blaise and Neville were both listening to what they were saying. She turned back. "Confused? Why?"
"There were only two guards," he muttered. "Two guards to guard a bunch of captured prisoners that the Dark Lord knows that the Order desperately wants back. Why were there only two people, when my parents must've known the manor would be stormed."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You think they knew we'd try?"
"A bunch of captured people hidden in a manor with two guards, they'd be fools not to. And normally, at Malfoy manors, there are four guards. Where are the others?"
A sinking feeling settled in Hermione's stomach. "So what does that mean?"
"I think…" he started quietly before pausing. She could see the cogs in his brain spinning at lightning speed. "I think that we should keep our guard up."
At this point, they had reached the second-floor library. Draco gestured towards a bookshelf on the right wall. On the surface, it looked like any other bookshelf in the room. Looking back at her briefly, something flashed through Draco's eyes that she couldn't quite recognize. However, before she could contemplate it more, he had turned back, and pushed the bookshelf aside, revealing the entrance to a dark passageway.
Draco led the way, his wand high. Hermione came directly after him, followed by the other two of their group. As Draco led them down the passageway, down several staircases, all Hermione could hear was the sounds of their light footsteps on the stone floor.
"Draco…" she whispered. The quiet word echoed through the corridor, alarming her, and reaffirmed her unsettledness. She reached forward and took his non-wand hand. It felt clammy.
Suddenly, he stopped. Nearly ripping his hand from hers, he held it up to gesture at them to stop and extinguished his Lumos.
They had reached the end of the passageway. Over Draco's shoulder, in the darkness of the dungeon, Hermione could see figures moving around. Shadows danced on the stone walls.
She took a step forward, hoping to see something more, when she was hit with a wave of pain. The pain took over her entire body, but she could feel the beginning point on her wrist. She couldn't stop a gasp from escaping her mouth as she reached out and grabbed Draco's shoulder, trying to steady herself.
He whipped around. Even in the darkness of the passageway, she could see the fear in his eyes. "Hermione…" he whispered, reaching out and wrapping one arm around her waist.
As suddenly as it had come, it stopped. The second she found herself in Draco's arms, the blasting pain subsided. Instead, it was replaced with an overwhelming calm. She breathed fully.
"Hermione," he whispered again. "Your mark is glowing."
She looked down. Though she had seen her willow tree mark transition between several colours since it first appeared, she had never seen it the way it looked now. It was bright gold, emitting light like a charm. Instead of the burning pain she had felt a moment ago, her mark felt...not even normal…not necessarily good…but complete. The mark that had appeared on her body without her knowledge and against her wishes, that had felt like a foreign invasion, offering her powers and pain from outside her realm of comprehension, finally, and for the first time, felt fully like a part of her.
She met Draco's eyes in the darkness. The light coming from her mark illuminated his, and she could see clouds of worry behind the grey orbs. For a moment, her breath caught and she could not form the words to explain how she was feeling.
She heard a slight cough behind her. Breaking the connection between herself and Draco, she turned to see a frustrated looking Neville and an amused looking Blaise. Whether from reflex or something else, she felt Draco's arm tighten around her.
"What?" he hissed. She started at the possession in his voice.
If Blaise was surprised, he didn't show it. "Mate, we've got a mission to finish. Save this for later, when we have something to celebrate." He looked at Hermione. "You feeling alright there, Princess?"
Draco made a guttural noise at the back of his throat.
Not understanding what was going on, Hermione extricated herself from Draco's arms. Her mark continued to glow.
"Yes," she said, trying to sound confident. "Just a moment."
Whatever had just happened between her and Draco, she did it a disservice by calling it a mere 'moment'.
She pushed forward past Draco, into the dungeon of the Malfoy summer house. There was about a foot-high step down to the floor from the secret passageway. Her boots hit the ground softly, but the noise echoed through the large, stone cellar.
From the furthest point away from her that she could barely make out, even with the Lumos from Draco's wand behind her, the shadows she had seen stopped suddenly. Behind her, she felt Draco take the step down, as he lifted his wand towards the figures.
The illuminated faces appeared, crowded together in a corner. The prisoners were fearful, unable to make out who had entered the dungeon space. Hermione scanned them quickly, and felt her heartbeat pick up as she recognized her captured friends.
"Hannah…" she whispered, stepping forward towards the Hufflepuff.
The woman, whose face had once been full and surrounded by a luscious mane of auburn hair, looked up at hearing her name. Her face was gaunt, and what had once been beautiful curls now fell around her face limply, with several patches missing from her head. Around one of her ankles was an ankle cuff and chain.
"Who's there?" she whispered back nervously, clutching the hand of one of the male prisoners next to her. Ernie.
"It's the Order," Hermione whispered, stepping forward and having to crouch to avoid hitting her head on the low ceiling. "Hannah, it's me."
The woman's eyes widened, and her chapped lips fell apart. "Hermione?...Is that you?"
"Yes," the Gryffindor whispered, kneeling down and grasping the Hufflepuff's hand. "We're here. We're going to get you out, all of you."
"Hermione?" whispered Ernie next to Hannah, his face gaunt as well. "Is this real?"
Hermione had to hold herself back from crying and stay focused on the mission. This whole situation rang familiar for her. Two months prior, in a different prison in a different part of the country, they hadn't even gotten this far. Getting the muggleborns out had been the goal. Oliver Wood and Dean Thomas's lives had been the consequence.
Without thinking, Hermione lifted her marked arm, not her wand hand. It was still glowing gold after her encounter with Draco. As if she had been using the mark her whole life, and it wasn't a new addition, she focused her mind on the crease of her wrist, funneling her power through it. The cuffs around all the prisoners' ankles fell off, sliced through as if they were made of water. When they hit the ground, they disintegrated into dust.
She heard small gasps from both the prisoners in front of her and her comrades behind her.
"The cuffs were cursed," Hannah whispered, leaning down and rubbing her free ankle. "They couldn't be broken with magic, wandless or otherwise. You needed the special key. How did you…"
Hermione shook her head. Her heartbeat, after having sped up upon seeing her friends, had slowed down to a nearly glacial pace. She was breathing slowly. She felt calm, and for the first time in a while, in total control.
"Do you have the strength to apparate?" Hermione asked Hannah before hearing an interruption from behind her.
"The dungeon has anti-apparation wards," Draco whispered, leaning down and placing his hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't matter if they have the strength."
She heard a noise from the captured group. It came from Ernie. His gaunt face had narrowed in suspicion and anger. "Is that…Malfoy?"
Hermione reached forward and took his hand. Without thinking about it, she felt her magic flow through her arm and into his hand. His anger dissipated as he looked at the held which Hermione was holding. It was glowing gold.
"Trust me," she said to him. "Trust the Order."
As if possessed, he nodded.
Hermione turned back to the men behind her. They were all watching the exchange with varying degrees of confusion, and in the case of Neville, a bit of fear.
Hermione didn't have the time to be concerned with their reactions. She only had time to rescue her friends, to make what had happened to Oliver and Dean worth it. She reached towards the floor of the dungeon, feeling around until her hands fell onto a rock large enough for her purpose. Holding it up in her right hand, she waved her mark over it, muttering an incantation that seemed to come directly from within her soul. She did not recognize the language she was speaking.
The stone, once black and dull, was now blue with a shimmering aura. Holding it in front of the prisoners, she placed it on the ground.
From behind her, she heard Neville splutter. "That's…you just made a portkey."
Nodding, she turned to the seven prisoners. Hannah, Ernie, the gaunt face of Daedalus Diggle, and four others she did not recognize. They were all thin enough that though it would be tight, they would be able to touch the stone at the same time.
"Go on," she whispered. "Everyone take your place."
As if awoken from a deep slumber, the captured jumped up and stumbled forward, reaching a finger towards the portkey like the lifeline that it was.
"Hermione," Draco whispered. She hadn't realized he was still touching her shoulder, grounding her. "Anti-apparation works on portkeys too."
As if her body was working on its own, she shook her head. Turning back to the prisoners, and making sure they were all touching the rock, she lifted her hands. Breathing slowly, focusing on the air between her outstretched palms, she started to mutter again. A speck of light appeared in that space. As she kept breathing, kept muttering, kept focusing, kept letting the mark lead her thoughts, words, actions, and magic, the speck of light increased. At first it was the size of an almond, then a ball, then as it kept growing, it encircled the crouching prisoners. Hermione stayed focused on holding the light force between her hands. However, instead of feeling drained or overwhelmed, as she had recently with her magic, she felt in control, calm, and empowered.
As the light overtook the prisoners, the rock at their centre began to glow brighter. As the light from Hermione's hand and the light from the portkey became intertwined, the team from the Order of the Phoenix became blinded by it. Not Hermione, though. She was able to see the portkey glow to its brightest point, and in that moment, disappear into the air, successfully transporting all seven prisoners back to Headquarters.
Taking one final breath, Hermione clapped her hands together, and the light disappeared, leaving them alone in the darkness of the dungeon.
What followed was suffocating silence. Hermione hadn't realized how quiet the dungeon was without the harrowed breath of the prisoners. The three men behind her were not making a sound.
Eventually, Blaise spoke.
"We better go find the others," he said. He sounded in shock. "Nothing more to be done."
Hermione finally stood up and turned towards them. Neville, after looking slightly fearful, now looked petrified. Blaise looked shocked. But Draco.…
Was that pride?
As she contemplated his expression, she felt her mark start to burn again. This time she did not feel complete or empowered, but rather, unsettled. The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up, and goosebumps erupted over her arms as a thought occurred to her.
"The other group," she whispered, feeling her stomach drop. "They should be down here already. It took more time to take the secret passageway than the main entrance."
There was a beat of silence before Blaise hissed at all of them.
"Wands, out. Upstairs, now!"
They took off running towards where the staircase entrance at been in the plans. Falling into formation, with Hermione and Blaise in front, and Draco and Neville as flanks, their feet hit the steps in unison. Blaise raised his wand at the top of the staircase and blasted open the gated door, leading them into what Hermione, from the plans, knew would be the foyer of the manor.
The second her group burst into the foyer, she understood why her mark had started burning.
It was her warning.
Around the foyer stood the members of the other group, Fred, Lupin, Seamus, Tonks, and Luna. Each of them was standing silent, staring at the ground, with a different masked Death Eater holding a wand to their head.
Hermione felt her heart stop.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Blaise and Neville raise their wands. Behind her, though she couldn't see him, she felt Draco raise his.
For a reason she found herself unable to explain later, she did not raise hers.
The Death Eater at the centre, who had his wand at Lupin's forehead, turned towards the new arrivals. Though she could not see his face behind the mask, she felt the smirk in her bones.
"Why, Miss Granger," the Death Eater said, his voice drawling. "What a pleasure for you to join us. I believe you and I got off on the wrong step last time."
As the voice filtered through the air, she felt Draco behind her stiffen. Though the two weren't touching, his physical motions felt like her own. She could recognize them.
"Have we been so fortunate to be acquainted?" she snarled back, trying to simultaneously calm herself and stay focused.
"I should be offended that you've forgotten," the Death Eater drawled again, pushing his wand further into Lupin's temple. She was her old teacher flinch. The Death Eater continued. "We were acquainted at the Zabini residence, and given your current company, I believe you remember that mission."
Hermione stiffened, her body mimicking that of Draco's, as the realization hit her. This was the Death Eater she had fought over a month ago when they had rescued Blaise. The Death Eater who had caught her off guard and had called the retreat.
This was the Death Eater who had recognized the mark.
He must've seen the realized in her eyes. "Yes…now you remember. Tell me, how is your new willow gift treating you?"
She felt the mark pulse beneath her skin. "Wouldn't you like to know," she hissed.
"I already know," he said. "I imagine you are the one who would like to. Have you been able to discover its origin?"
Hermione felt her stance falter.
As if the Death Eater could sense her emotions, she heard him chuckle darkly. "It would seem you have not."
"I know enough," she barked back. "I know that mark rescued every single one of the prisoners you had captured in the dungeon."
Audible gasps ricocheted throughout the room from the mouths of her other Order Members.
However, the Death Eater in the centre, who seemed to be the leader, did not react. "Sometimes, Miss Granger," he began. "Sacrifices must be made in a war to get what you want."
"And what is it you want?" she asked back, eyes darting around the room at her captive partners. Her eyes landed on Seamus, who was being held to the left of Lupin. His eyes were fixed on her, almost screaming.
She knew what he was screaming at her to do.
Her attention was turned back to the main Death Eater. Without thinking, she took a step forward. As if he could read her mind, Draco stepped to the left, flanking her, making sure no side was left unguarded.
This move did not go unnoticed by the leader.
"Ah," he chuckled. "I see your charms have managed to ensnare my deserter son."
Hermione balked. "Your…son?"
After a beat's pause, the pieces fell into place.
Lucius Malfoy, with his wand at Lupin's temple, lifted his free hand in front of his face, disintegrating the mask, until she met the dark eyes of a man she had not seen in years, since that fateful day in the Department of Mysteries.
"Yes, my deserter son," Lucius continued, his face drawling, overtaking the whole room. "Well Draco, I cannot say I'm surprised to see you in the company of such mudbloods and blood traitors, as you have proven yourself to be. But at the side of Harry Potter's mudblood herself? Thank the Dark Lord your mother cannot see you now."
Hermione felt Draco loosen a bit. His voice barked out from beside her. "Father."
That's all he said.
Lucius appraised his son for a moment, several emotions dancing behind his horrid eyes. After a few seconds, he laughed again, before turning back to Hermione.
"Apologies for the family affair, Miss Granger," Lucius said, his eyes darting quickly back to Draco. "To answer your question, what I would like is to offer you a deal."
If it was possible for the silence in the room to become more pronounced, it did.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "A deal? What could you possibly want to trade with me?"
"Easy," Lucius said. "The deal is as follows: your friends get to leave here, untouched, uninjured. You stay."
As Lucius lips finished the final word, the room erupted into shouts and yells. Draco stepped forward and grabbed her arm, as if he could keep her with him if he just held on tight enough. Of all the Order Members, Seamus's voice hit Hermione the hardest, as he cried out in desperation.
"Don't you dare leave me, Hermione!"
"QUIET!" Lucius shouted, raising his wand-less hand and forcing silence on the room. His eyes returned to meet Hermione's.
"The choice is yours, Miss Granger."
She should have felt terrified. She should have felt her fighting urge kicking in. However, all she felt was confusion. "What do you want from me?"
"It's not what we want from you," Lucius answered. "It's what you want from us."
"I want nothing from Death Eaters," she hissed, venom spitting out at the man in front of her.
"Oh?" he answered, the sneer evident. "What about the information that only I can give you?"
"I don't care about your information, Malfoy," she snarled.
"What if I can tell you about the mark on your arm…and perhaps, its connection to your mother."
If Draco had not been holding her so tightly, Hermione's knees would've buckled. The image of her mother, her beautiful, kind, loving, dead mother flashed before her eyes.
"My mark has to do with my mum?" she said, emotion creeping into her voice without permission.
Lucius nodded. "Yes, your mother. I heard of her death in that fire several years ago. Tragic, isn't it? If only she had had a daughter with a willow mark to protect her the way those mudbloods in the basement did."
Before Hermione had a chance to respond, Draco had stepped in front of her and raised his wand, pointing it directly into the face of his father.
"Don't you dare," he hissed, his arm snaking back to hold Hermione protectively at his side. "Don't you dare speak of her mother like that when you know."
"Now, now, Draco, we are civil people," Lucius responded, though his eyes seemed unsure at his son's response.
Hermione finally found her voice, the entire situation overwhelming her. "Do not speak of my mother, you bastard."
Lucius turned his attention back to her. "She may be dead, Miss Granger, but she lives on, in that small mark on your wrist."
Hermione's willow began to tingle again, but this time, with warmth. Like a familiar comfort.
Lucius could sense her falter. His smirk widened. "You need to do only one thing to understand why, and how, and who that mark makes you. Weren't you curious why I called the retreat after seeing it? Aren't you confused at the new power you find within yourself? You can sense it can you, this old magic."
"Yes," Hermione whispered, her eyes darting down to her glowing wrist.
Lucius took another single step towards her, his wand still at Lupin's temple.
"I know that you crave knowledge. What more important knowledge could there be than that of yourself, of your origin, of your power. You cannot lie to me, Miss Granger. I know you want this more than anything. You love of information is…infamous. You can know it all, as if you had found your own personal library. The choice is right in front of you.
"All you need to do to learn everything is stay."
Out of the silence of the room, a voice screamed out. It was Seamus again. He was fighting against the Death Eater who had his hair gripped in a fist and a wand at his neck.
"Hermione, don't you dare do this for us! Don't you dare!"
"Silence, half-blood," Lucius hissed. The Death Eater charged with Seamus pulled his head back by his hair, so Seamus was forced to stare at the ceiling. Hermione could see tears starting to stream down his face.
"So what will it be," Lucius asked. "You can save all of your friends in one decision. Don't you think your mother would want you to save others?"
It was with this final mention of her mother that Hermione was able to break out of the daze she had fallen into over the course of the conversation. Lucius knew. He knew what was happening to her, what the mark meant, where her magic came from, what it had to do with her mother. Every answer was in front of her.
But.
"My mother," Hermione whispered. "…would never have wanted me to hand myself willingly over to the enemy."
Lucius, who had been sporting an expression of confidence, suddenly frowned.
Hermione stood up straighter and opened her mouth. The words that came from within were not from her consciousness, but rather, came from something deeper, spoken through her from the past, from a time she did not know and a power she did not understand.
"The bloodline must survive."
Stepping forward from Draco's tight embrace, she raised her left hand. Suddenly, emanating from her mark, a blast flew through the room, knocking every Death Eater down. It gave her comrades the time to jump forward and grab their discarded wands, which seemed to have been scattered throughout the room.
Lucius, who had been knocked over by the blast as well, scrambled to his feet quickly, wand raised.
"So be it," he spat at her.
The battle began.
Hermione was not sure where the first curse came from. It seemed to be from one side, and if Blaise had not moved it would have hit him. It missed her by an inch, skirting past her ear and hitting a tapestry on the opposing wall. Bursting into flame, the old depiction of what seemed to be the Malfoy family tree began to disintegrate.
Topical.
Around her, her fellow Order Members began to fight the Death Eaters who, mere seconds prior, held their lives in the balance. Multi-coloured curses flew across the room. She watched Luna battle a Death Eater, trading curses and dodging them with nimble proficiency. Next to her, Neville had taken up the torch against another two, who decided to tag-team him. Suddenly, Draco appeared at his side, helping to lighten the load.
Hermione spun in a circle, trying to figure out where she could be the most helpful. As she tried to figure it out, a curse flew towards her, narrowly missing her once again. She raised her hand towards the attacker.
Lucius.
She saw him raise his wand towards her, trying to get her again. Without conscious thought, she blocked the curse with her marked arm, which, every time a curse sped towards her, created a golden shield that the curse bounced off like it was iron.
Smirking, she lifted her wand hand at the irritated Lucius, who, no matter what he sent her way, couldn't hit her. Sending a well-aimed Stupefy his way, he was knocked through the air, until he slumped against a cabinet across the room.
As soon as Lucius hit the ground, a rush of emotion went through her body, burning her mark in the process. The feeling of danger returned. As if forced by God himself, she turned a direction she had not been facing just in time to see a different Death Eater raise his wand and aim it across the room.
However, the Death Eater wasn't aiming at her. He wasn't even looking at her.
No, he was aiming at Draco.
The light from the Death Eater's wand started to appear. As if time had slowed, she saw the burst of green appear and start moving through the air.
A curse she would have recognized anywhere.
Without a thought, without a care in the world for her safety, or the consequence of her next action, she threw her body across the room. By the grace of God and nothing else, she reached Draco before the curse did. She shoved him forward, and he tripped to the ground.
She turned and raised her left hand just as the killing curse reached where Draco had been standing a moment before. It hit her mark.
The sound of impact was like a nuclear explosion. The energy matched. As the killing curse collided with Hermione's willow tree mark, the light sunk into her skin, before a moment later, bursting out of her arm as the spell rebounded against the Death Eater who had casted it in the first place. He fell to the floor.
Dead.
She gaped, staring in front of her at the man she had just…killed? Killed by proxy?
Had she…had she just survived the killing curse?
Before she had a moment to consider these questions, Draco was back at her side. He was screaming at her, but for some reason, the words didn't really hit.
"Stop," she whispered, as his mouth opened and shut rapidly, but she couldn't hear the words. She turned from her yelling lover, to face the rest of her group.
She hadn't noticed, but when the spell had rebounded, it had knocked out all the other Death Eaters. They didn't seem to be dead, but certainly disorientated. All the members of the Order were staring at her.
"Go," she whispered, before taking another deep breath. "Everybody go!" She screamed.
Like clockwork, the Order sprinted towards the main doors and back onto the lawn. She followed, feeling the burn in her legs, fighting to get away from the manor and outside the ward location, to where they could safely apparate home. In front of her, she saw Lupin reach the apparition point, which was right by the tree line, and swiftly disappear into thin air. Luna, Neville, Seamus, Tonks, and Fred all followed.
Hermione, Blaise, and Draco all reached the point.
"What a fucking day, merlin fuck," Blaise spat out, wiping sweat from his brow. "We need to get out."
"Go, Blaise," Hermione cried. "We'll be right behind you."
Blaise stared at her and Draco for a moment, something brewing behind his eyes. He nodded slightly, and with a pop, disappeared like the others.
Hermione turned towards Draco, reaching out her hand. For the first time since the start of the battle, she really saw him.
He was sweating, white as a sheet, with a thin cut down the side of his face. He was staring at her and gasping, his pupils so wide that they blocked any grey she knew he had.
"Why did you do that?" he screamed again. For the first time, she thought she saw tears in the corner of his eye. "Why? Hermione, for the love of Merlin, how could you have jumped in front of an Avada Kedrava for me?"
She was shocked as the events of the past few minutes and their magnitude hit her in turn. She spluttered, trying to explain her actions, her reckless, reckless actions.
He was right. How would she have known the curse would rebound off her mark? She had willingly jumped in front of a killing curse to save Draco.
"I don't know," she whispered, feeling tears start to well in her eyes. "I just…I knew you were in danger."
She did not understand the emotion that passed across her face, and before she knew it, Draco was holding her face in his hands and kissing her aggressively. She was overtaken with the sensation, feeling tears stream down her face to mix with those on his. She had never seen him cry.
He pulled away, placing his forehead against hers. "Never, I repeat, never do that again," he ordered, his voice choking on the words. "I'm not worth you."
She opened her mouth to reply, when he was suddenly pulled back from her. She screamed as they were separated.
Unbeknownst to either of them, Lucius Malfoy had appeared at the tree line and ripped his son off her. He seemed to have recovered fairly well from her Stupefy.
The Death Eater had his wand pressed against his son's temple.
"Well, son," Lucius hissed. "I guess you really have gotten closer with the Order."
"Let him go," Hermione shouted, raising her wand. However, Draco shook his head.
"Leave, Hermione," he whispered, silver eyes meeting her green.
"I'm not leaving you," she replied, shaking her head viciously.
"You saved me already, I'm on borrowed time," he replied. She watched chest rise and fall faster with each moment.
"How touching," Lucius interrupted. "But unfortunately, Miss Granger, you gave up my offer. You do not get to save everyone."
And suddenly, he grabbed his son's arm, and side-apparated the two of them away with a pop. The last thing Hermione saw was Draco's expression.
It was one of fear, anger, and something else.
She screamed, alone in the clearing. Spinning wildly, hoping in vain that they were just behind another tree. But they weren't. Draco was gone.
Hermione took a moment and let the tears fall from her face. The feeling she had felt earlier when Draco had held her, that complete and utter completeness, was gone, leaving her empty. She had lost before, friends, lovers, family. But something was different.
The willow tree on her arm was no longer burning, tingling, or experiencing any sensation at all.
The willow tree was hollow, and she was alone.
New readers, old readers, welcome. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think :)
