Before you all read this chapter, I want you to know that I planned this story out in detail in the summer of 2015. This has always been a part of it. And as hard as it was to do, I hope you'll forgive me and understand that there is a reason. We're not done yet.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Content Warning: Character Death
Hermione came into consciousness as quickly as she had fallen asleep, blinking up at the green canopy bed she was lying in.
Slytherin green. It was almost too perfect.
She barely remembered the rest of her night after her meeting with Voldemort. Almost bewitched, she had stumbled upstairs before falling into bed, mind filled with ancient wizards and witches and legends.
Sapphires dancing across her eyes as she drifted into other worlds.
Sitting up in bed, she hugged her knees to her chest. She glanced down at her body. Unsure of where it had come from, she was wearing a dark grey t-shirt. Glancing around, she spotted her clothes folded in a small pile at the foot of the bed.
House-elves, she gathered.
She looked at the t-shirt again. Could it be his? She wondered briefly, before shaking her head, trying desperately to clear it of Draco Malfoy.
However, clad in his t-shirt, curled up in bed, her conversation with the Dark Lord still at the forefront of her mind, she couldn't seem to escape him.
Not that she necessarily wanted to.
Closing her eyes, she leant against the backboard, allowing for an instant, only one fraction of a second, for his face to fill her mind. The way he had looked the last time she had seen him… that was weeks ago now, wasn't it? In his bedroom at Grimmauld Place, her impending absence hanging over them like storm clouds, striking her with the insane plan to say goodbye.
But Blaise was right. She couldn't have left without seeing him, one last time.
Was it really going to be the last time?
Here she was, trapped in the Death Eaters Headquarters, with the Darkest Wizard in History demanding something from her… something she barely understood, let alone could find.
What was the sapphire? Nott Sr had mentioned it when the Order had gone in to save Draco. Her uncle had said it was the only thing that would protect her fully… and here she was, a month or so later, with Voldemort himself asking her for it. Asking.
He couldn't torture it out of her.
Whatever it was, it had to be given freely. That was the only thing that made sense. There was a reason she was curled up in a bed, without shackles around her wrists. There was a reason she hadn't been threatened by the Death Eaters since they had discovered her heritage. The Dark Side had wanted to speak to her, to get her for a moment, all for some rock that Morganna Le Fay had hidden almost two millennium prior…
What was it? She wondered again, picturing a sapphire in her mind. Did they have any innate magical properties? She tried to think back to her Hogwarts' days, but nothing came to mind…
Whatever this was, it was secret. Shrouded in mystery, in the legend of Morganna and Merlin…
Hermione closed her eyes. Merlin.
He had left her, Hermione understood that now. Whatever connection she had with Draco, Morganna had had with Merlin. And he had left her, for Arthur, for glory, for riches, she knew the stories… And so Morganna had given up everything she had for him. For the greatest wizard who had ever lived.
She had given up the sapphire.
Hermione felt something pull at her core, like gravity shifting her in orbit, as if she were approaching a black hole, about to fall in.
Would she give it all up for Draco? In the sanctuary of her own mind, without criticism or judgement, she allowed herself to wonder, for just a moment, if she would do that. Could she?
That's what Voldemort had offered her in exchange for the sapphire. Draco. As if Hermione placed them at equal value.
Morganna had, a voice at the back of her mind whispered.
"No," Hermione whispered to herself, heart hammering against her chest. "Morganna had put Merlin above it. Above everything."
Her green eyes wandered around the green room, that once belonged to the green boy who had teased her mercilessly, who had grown into the green man, who she couldn't force herself not to love, no matter how hard she tried.
And oh, how she had tried.
Would this magic overpower her? Her bond with Draco was beyond her control, and the only thing that Hermione knew about this sapphire was that Voldemort wanted it, and therefore, he could never be allowed to get it.
Which meant Hermione needed to find it first.
She glanced towards the window. The sun seemed to be at its peak. High noon. Had she really slept for so long?
The sun seemed to be getting brighter with each moment, a white light filling the sky. Hermione squinted, trying to see what was happening outside.
Suddenly, a flash filled the air, blinding her.
Pulling the blanket to her chest as if it could protect her, Hermione blinked at the window.
What she had thought was the white light of the sun had materialized before her, a small creature swimming playfully through the air.
"Oh," Hermione whispered, her mouth falling open as the otter Patronus approached her.
The little creature landed on her bed, just at her feet. With its big eyes staring up at her, she knew before it spoke.
She just knew.
"We're coming for you," Draco's voice echoed out from the otter's mouth. Her heart exploded in her chest. "Meet me where the water flows between the puzzle pieces when the sun's just disappearing. I'll find you there."
I'll find you there.
"Oh," she whispered, her voice cracking, a sob fighting its way from her throat. The otter cocked its head at her.
She felt a tear escape the corner of her eye, falling down her cheek. She leaned forward, letting the blanket fall. Reaching towards his Patronus, his otter, she wanted to touch it, hold it as a tangible object, to believe for a moment that this was reality, that he was coming for her, that this little ball of light had offered her an out.
That he would find her.
The Patronus looked at her for another moment, before jumping into the air from the bed and dematerializing, a white light filling the air and escaping towards the window.
"Please," Hermione whispered, falling out of the bed after it. "Don't leave."
She stumbled towards the window, as the light disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Putting her hands on the glass, she leaned forward until her forehead was resting against cold clarity.
He was coming. The Order was coming for her.
She would be able to return to him. To figure out this mystery of the sapphire. She had saved her friends, and now he would save her.
She felt the pull on her chest once again.
Opening her eyes, she looked out onto the Malfoy grounds.
And almost by divine providence, she could see it all.
Meet me where the water flows between the puzzle pieces when the sun's just disappearing.
She could see the fountain at the centre of the hedges.
Of the maze.
"Oh, Draco," she whispered. "You brilliant bastard."
The hours passed with exponential slowness. It was as if the earth's rotation had slowed deliberately to torment her, prolonging the space between her and him.
The devil's game.
She paced around his room, trying to plan her escape. She had stared at the maze for long enough, trying to memorize the twists and turns in the hedges, leading her to its centre. Now, she had to get to the maze in the first place.
She was wandless and she could hear Death Eaters walking around the Manor. She was surrounded in this structure. There were no secret passages, no Marauder's Map, no Deus Ex Machina to fall from the sky and plant her in the middle of that maze at sunset.
There was only her mind, her nerve, and her desire to get to him.
She watched the sun inch closer to the horizon.
How had they done it? She wondered, thinking back to their Hogwarts' Days of sneaking around after hours, and never getting caught. There was always a way, a magical exit offered to twelve-year-olds on adventures.
But here she had nothing. Just her.
She was on the third floor, facing the back of the Manor. She could conceivably jump from Draco's window, but it had been locked when she had arrived. All afternoon she had tried, but she couldn't muster the magic to break it.
Besides, a third story jump with no cushion was pushing it, even for her.
But, a second story jump was manageable.
So, she had to get out of Draco's room, down one story, and out any of the back-facing windows.
All without running into a Death Eater.
She took a deep breath as the sun moved closer to her escape.
Moving towards the door, she tried to still her beating heart. She raised her hand to the doorknob and rattled it.
No luck. Of course not, that was too simple.
Hermione glanced back around the room, trying to think. Her eyes landed on the discarded grey t-shirt she had slept in.
The clock ticked. The sun moved once inch closer.
It hit her like a wrecking ball.
She stood up to her tallest stature, trying to ignore the disgust she felt coursing through her veins at what she was about to do.
She had to, at least, that's what she tried to convince herself.
Perhaps that was true, but could she possibly forgive herself for this?
The sun was starting to disappear, turning blinding red in the distance over the trees.
She brought her fingers up and snapped.
As she had expected, a 'pop' rand through her ears, and out of thin air, appeared a house-elf.
"Miss would like something?" the little elf asked, as her heartstrings clenched. The elf looked just like Dobby.
"Yes," Hermione responded, trying her best to imitate the superior tone she had heard certain witches and wizards use. "I order you to open this door."
The little elf, who had been smiling, suddenly froze. They glanced quickly towards the door and back to Hermione. "I… Frankie cannot!"
"Frankie can, and Frankie will," Hermione said, trying to sound commanding. "You work for the Malfoy family, yes?"
Frankie nodded, looking fearful. Hermione tried not to cry.
You only have minutes.
"I order you," Hermione said, mustering up her courage. "I order you to open that door, and then return to your quarters and tell no one."
"Miss," the elf whispered, beginning to shake. "You… you are not a Malfoy…"
"My magic runs through the veins of the Malfoy heir," Hermione said, her voice strong. It had worked on the wards, why not here? "His magic and mine are forged together. The wards of the Manor recognize me as a member of this bloodline. You should as well."
She saw the moment that the magic hit the elf. She saw tears appear in their big eyes, and their little hand reach towards the doorknob.
Hermione's heart skipped a beat.
The door opened and she saw the corridor beyond. Of course, the elf would be able to open all the doors. The Malfoys would never have thought the elf would betray them.
And Frankie hadn't. Hermione had ordered it.
She felt sick to her stomach but forced her eyes back on the little elf.
"Go downstairs," Hermione whispered, her voice gentle. "And tell no one."
The elf wrapped its arms around itself, and still nodding, disapparated.
Hermione allowed herself a moment, only a single moment for the guilt to wrack her body.
But she had a deadline.
The sky was painted auburn.
Hermione snuck out the door, closing it softly behind her until she heard the click. The torches were out in the corridor. Hoping the portraits turn her in, she began her way down the hallway.
Reaching the end of the hall, she came to a staircase. Taking a deep breath, she snuck down each step, before coming to a screeching stop at the bottom, forced face-to-face with a pair of black eyes she knew like a reoccurring nightmare.
"What the devil do you think you're doing, Miss Granger?"
Severus Snape stood before her, his black robes billowing around his feet. His eyes were narrowed on her, his gaunt face unreadable.
She couldn't see his wand.
He was the only one standing in the corridor. She could hear no other approaching footsteps, no other sign of obstacles. Just Severus Snape, and all the demons he came with.
"Do you think you'll be able to waltz out, Granger?" Snape asked, cocking his head, barely concealed anger as the undercurrent of his voice. "You cannot be that daft."
Hermione felt frozen. She had known this was a possibility, to run into a Death Eater on the way out. She hadn't adequately planned for it. Searching for an escape, she glanced towards a window on Snape's right side.
She could just see the top of the hedges.
That was her exit. She just had to get there.
"So, you're planning to jump from the window and escape alone into the woods?" Snape asked sardonically, reading her mind, whether through Legilimency or her gaze. "You must know that the first floor is crawling with Death Eaters who will not let you off the property, and when you're recaptured, will happily punish you for the attempt."
Of all the men to stand in her way, why on earth must it be Snape? His words irked her, and before she could stop them, the words escaped her mouth.
"I won't be alone."
She watched Snape blink, taking the information in. Before she knew it, he was directly in front of her, having traversed the corridor in a millisecond.
"Do you mean to tell me, Miss Granger," he hissed. "That the Order is about to descend on Malfoy Manor to rescue their princess?"
"I'm no one's princess," she snapped back.
"Don't be stupid, Granger," he retorted, black eyes narrow. "We're past that."
"They are on their way," Hermione said, hoping her voice wouldn't betray the temporal closeness. Were they already here? Could they be?
Snape appraised her for a moment, his black eyes narrowed.
"And you are to meet them, aren't you?"
Hermione couldn't respond.
"You realize that there are more Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor right now than you've seen at a mission in years?" he snarled. "And your precious Order is putting all of their miserable lives on the line to save you … from what? Sleeping in a canopy bed?"
"I'm in danger here, don't you be stupid, Snape," Hermione whispered, praying desperately that no one heard their argument.
"You are not in danger as long as that sapphire remains hidden," Snape said, his eyes darting briefly to the staircase behind her. "But your Order will be in deathly danger the moment they discover your brilliant escape plan."
"Don't mock me here, Snape," she said.
"I am not mocking you, you stupid woman," Snape snarled. "I'm reminding you that everything has a cost. And that cost may be an arm, a leg, or a life. Are you really willing to sacrifice someone's life so you can return to your beloved Grimmauld Place?"
Hermione flinched under his words. "I'm not merely 'returning to Grimmauld Place', I'm being saved. I am a prisoner here."
"A well-fed, well-treated, unharmed prisoner. But by all means, sacrifice your lot. You Gryffindors and your conception of glory…"
Hermione couldn't take it. "If you're going to stop me, then bloody well get on with it," she hissed, ignoring for a moment the way that her voice carried.
But as her voice echoed through the corridor, something else caught her attention.
Hermione had never really seen emotions in the dead eyes of Severus Snape before. But what happened before her, as he watched her, could be described as nothing less than a kaleidoscope spinning behind his black orbs, before landing on something so foreign to Snape's face that she nearly gasped.
Pity.
And then, he stepped aside.
"Get out of here, Miss Granger," he whispered, his eyes closed, his chest heaving with a deep breath.
Hermione stared at him, shocked, the surprise overtaking her for a moment. But just as quickly, she snapped out of it, and rushed towards the window. She was able to unlatch it in a millisecond, swinging her leg over the ledge and looking down at the two stories she was about to jump.
She turned back to Snape, compelled to say something, but unsure what could sum up her emotions in that moment. The words spoke for themselves.
"You know that's not my name."
Snape glanced back at her, the pity in his eyes a long-lost memory.
"It will always be, in a way. Now disappear."
And as if he had commanded her, Hermione jumped.
She heard the snap before she felt the break.
Landing with all her weight on her right ankle, the bone didn't stand a chance against gravity. She collapsed on herself, struggling not to cry out in pain.
Stars danced behind her eyes, but she remained silent.
She was so close.
Grabbing at the brick wall, she forced herself to stand, blinking away tears and turning towards the hedges.
Think, Hermione. Just think.
It was a maze. A maze was just a logic problem that had gotten out of hand. She had been able to study it from Draco's bedroom. She could do this. She knew the set up.
She limped towards it, seeing an entrance just feet away from her.
She would be hidden in there, at least for an instant. She reached out and grabbed the hedge with her right hand.
Keep to the right.
And she pushed forwards.
Where the water flows between the puzzle pieces.
At the centre of the maze stood the fountain. And at the fountain stood Draco. Hermione visualized the maze in her mind, as much as she could see from Draco's bedroom. It wasn't everything, but she could do it.
Left, right, fork right, straight.
The shooting pain in her ankle would not surrender, but Hermione ignored it. There was time for that later, and a wand, and a recovery.
For now, the colours of the sky painted a masterpiece, taunting her with its beauty.
She was running out of time.
As if she had commanded it, a sudden ringing filled the air, a siren declaring emergency. Even without confirmation, she knew what that sound meant.
The wards had fallen.
The Order was here, and the Death Eaters knew it.
Right, straight, fork left.
She stumbled into the unknown, losing track of how many turns she had made, desperation overtaking logic. Tripping over a root in the path, she could not help but cry out as her hands broke her fall.
She was so close.
Pushing herself back to her feet, she paused for a moment.
And in that pause, the moment between seconds, she heard just the faintest sound of running water.
Where the water flows between the puzzle pieces.
Right, left, straight.
And suddenly, as a blinding fire filled the sunset sky, as ringing panic filled the air, she found it.
In another life, she would have thought it was beautiful. Elegant, old-fashioned, maybe Italian? Water rustling down the wings of angels.
But, nothing could be viewed as beautiful in comparison to the man who, in perfect synchronization to her arrival, ran out of the maze on the other side of the fountain.
He skidded to a stop, heaving for air, grey eyes wild, searching, demanding, until finally they met hers.
"Draco," she whimpered, as her ankle finally gave out.
"Hermione!" she heard him shout as she fell.
A moment later, he was at her side, speaking frantically, looking her over for signs of torture, damage, pain. He was speaking, his lips caressing the air, but she couldn't seem to hear him.
"You're here," she said, shock evident in her voice.
He paused in his invisible monologue. Green eyes on grey.
"I told you I'd find you here."
She nodded frantically, suddenly overcome, reaching her arms around his neck and pulling him flush against her.
"I can't put weight on my ankle," she whispered into his ear, her voice dancing across his skin. How long had it been since they'd been close like this?
"Right or left?" he whispered back.
"Right."
He whipped out his wand and muttered a quick Episkey. She felt the bone heal but remain brittle under the skin and tendons.
"That'll hold it for now," he said, pulling her up to standing. "When we get back Tonks can look at it."
"Where's everyone else?" she asked, trying to focus on the mission. They needed to get out.
They were skin on skin.
"In the maze, at my flank," he answered, pulling her towards the crack in the hedges that he had come through. They just needed to get out the other side.
He paused for a moment, nervous eyes looking down at her.
"Hermione… I…" he turned towards her, stopping for an instant. "Before, we go… and we have to go…"
She felt suspended in time, frozen in milliseconds, trying to wade her way back to him. She watched his lips move, his eyes turned from grey to silver as the sun began to disappear behind the evergreens.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and Hermione could not seem to hear the sirens ringing through the air, could not seem to see Van Gogh's paint streaking across the sky.
All that she could see, hear, feel, and know was this man holding her, them against the Darkness.
As Merlin had once held Morganna. Before…
Draco's eyes burned into her soul. "Hermione, I lo…."
And before his lips could close on the consonant, before the vow could enter the world, suddenly, above his head, the hedge burst into flames.
Hermione spun on her heel. Racing towards them from the other side of the maze from where she had come was a masked Death Eater, his wand up, his lips about to shout another curse.
She whipped back to Draco, who seemed frozen for a moment.
"Run!"
His hand wrapped around his, and he pulled her back into the labyrinth.
She followed him blindly into redemption.
Curses rained down on them from overhead, and as they burst past openings in the maze's walls, Hermione saw glimpses of other figures, some masked, some not.
The Order had come for her.
Voices screamed around her, but Hermione couldn't make out who they were from. Draco turned back, still sprinting, and shot a few jinxes behind her at their pursuers.
"Come on!"
She was lagging. Her ankle wasn't fully healed, and she couldn't keep up with him. She was stumbling forward, hoping, praying for a miracle.
They rounded a corner.
Ahead of her, she could see the tree line. The apparition point. All they had to do was make it.
She saw figures ahead of her, sprinting towards their exit.
They were so close.
Above them, a curse exploded the hedge, sending a rainstorm of burning pine onto her heads. Hermione screamed out in pain, as the flames licked at her skin. She stumbled and tripped.
She let go of Draco's hand as her body hit the ground.
She rolled across the dirt, her back hitting the maze wall. Coughing out smoke she looked up and saw the moments that would follow with perfect clarity, of which Divination could only dream.
Approaching her from down the corridor of hedges was a Death Eater. His wand was raised, pointed directly at her. He took a few more steps forward, languidly, enjoying each moment.
"Now who do we have here?" a low voice asked from behind the mask, the wand twitching ever so slightly in his hand.
"Avery," Draco barked from behind her. She glanced back at him. He was so far down the maze corridor. Too far. The fire was still raining down from between him and her.
Suspended indefinitely.
"My, Mr. Malfoy," the Death Eater Avery said. "What a treat this will be."
"Don't do this, Avery," Draco shouted. Hermione could feel the terror in his voice. She could hear his footsteps moving towards her, at an increasing pace.
"You had your chance, Miss Le Fay," Avery snarled at her. He was less than ten feet away. "Not even you get to escape this place alive. I'm sure the Dark Lord will forgive me."
The wind rustled through the hedges, giving her enough air to breathe. To take one last breathe before it was stolen from her.
She heard Draco running.
But he was too far away.
She saw the green light appear out of Avery's wand, directed at her. She knew what was going to happen.
Suspended indefinitely.
The Avada Kadavra burst forward from his wand, spinning through the air towards her, to suck out the only thing she had left.
Life.
"Hermione!" she heard Draco scream from behind her.
But she couldn't move.
She only had seconds left.
The sun set fully behind the trees.
She was out of time.
Draco watched in horror as the scene unfolded. They had been separated by the raining flames, by that stupid man who wanted a piece of glory for himself.
He had lost her. He had promised he would find her.
And there she lay, covered in dirt and soot, looking death in the eye. And he was too far away.
He sprinted towards her, hoping he could travel at the speed of light. But this was not children's fable. In a world of magic, there were no miracles.
He couldn't save her.
He had failed.
The Unforgivable burst forward from Avery's wand, seconds away from ending the life of the center of his. He screamed, he couldn't even say what. Maybe her name? Maybe a prayer? Maybe for just a few more seconds so he could get close enough…
Sometimes a single moment changed everything. Draco watched his world come to an end in front of him, wishing desperately that he could take her place.
But he could not – as desperately as he wanted to.
And suddenly, his prayer was answered.
Not by God.
Not by salvation.
Not by all the clocks in the world stopping for him.
Not by him jumping in front of the woman he loved.
No.
His prayer was answered by the sound of sprinting footsteps materializing in a man, who, from a break in the hedges to Avery's right side, threw himself in between the curse and Hermione.
With seconds to spare, the Avada Kadavra hit the man instead of her, sending him flying over Hermione, and hitting the ground behind her, his body rolling several times before it stopped, only a few feet from Draco, face up.
Living through this nightmare, Draco looked down at the man staring up at him.
His grey eyes met the lifeless brown eyes of Seamus Finnigan.
And he understood.
Finnigan took another drink, before taking a deep breath and looking back at him.
It was as if the man had opened his soul in his eyes.
"You need to understand what it means to love Hermione the way she loves you," he replied, ignoring how Draco flinched. "The way Dean loved me. I don't think you're unselfish or that you can even comprehend unconditional love, but you've laid down everything for her, and you need to know that it doesn't mean shit unless you lay it all down."
Draco heard Hermione scream, and in the distance heard the crash, and vaguely understood as Avery went flying and slammed to the ground, but he couldn't move his eyes.
Finnigan's parting gift. Those eyes stared up at Draco's. He couldn't move.
The Gryffindor glanced back at the Slytherin, a ghost of a smile playing at his lips.
A past happiness.
"Don't presume to know me, Malfoy."
Draco heard screaming. He tore his eyes away from Finnigan's lifeless body. Hermione was still on the ground, struggling to get up. She was mad, tears streaming down her face, screaming like a banshee. He couldn't understand her.
"Hermione," he whispered, reaching for her, as she stumbled forward, crawling towards her once lover.
"No, no, no," she cried, shaking her head, falling over herself until her hands grasped at his shirt. "Seamus, no…"
"Hermione," Draco said, louder. "We can't… he would have wanted… we have to go!"
She shook her head vociferously, grasping at the dead man like a lifeline. "I'm not leaving him… I can't leave him…"
"We don't have time," Draco said, his awareness heightening of the battle sounds still emanating around them.
"We need to bring the body," Hermione sobbed, her hair falling over Finnigan. "I…I won't leave him here!"
"I'll take him," a voice said from behind Draco. He turned to see the bleeding face of his childhood best friend. The only one who knew the maze like he did. His face was shadowed, barely hidden mourning etched into the battle-weary lines.
Draco nodded. He turned back and reached for Hermione, pulling her to her feet. She fought him, desperately, like an animal, trying to get back to Finnigan.
Blaise reached down and lifted Finnigan's body up, throwing him over his shoulder. The once proud Gryffindor's arms flopped helplessly against the Slytherin's back.
Draco began dragging Hermione towards the exit, towards the tree line. She fought and screamed, but Draco ignored her, pulling her against him as Blaise trailed behind them.
The other Order members raced behind them, sprinting for the salvation point. Draco heard some screams but couldn't figure out if they had realized what they had lost yet.
Who they had lost.
Metres to go. Draco pulled her, trying to calm her, shush her, anything. But she was lost in a sea of misery. Trauma overtook her, so that when they finally reached the line, Draco had to hold her against him to apparate away. She was limp in his arms.
A final parting gift from Finnigan.
The tragic completion of the circle.
"You're with Thomas now," Draco muttered, glancing back towards the burning maze and the Death Eaters sprinting towards them before he and Hermione went spinning away from this hell.
As if they could ever escape this.
Next chapter out soon. Please review and let me know what you think.
