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song: bloodstream by stateless. nelsonwood lane by matt maeson.
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He was not a patient man. He demanded and got what he wanted.
She was potentially the only exception to his tolerance, but even Granger sent him in a manic.
A patient man could only wait so long.
He had her, blooming and aching in his hands.
So fucking beautiful. He'd burn hell and heaven for another moment with her.
Then, his quick clever witch got away. Their link only partial made.
He felt her over the coming weeks, when the pain was unbearable, when her heart thumped slower. Her emotions were a tugging thread in his soul. He felt whole when everything was too much for her. She burnt whilst he felt alive.
It wouldn't last though. Their connection would turn on itself, consume itself back to nothing, back to her death. He would not let that fucking happen.
It was so convenient for Draco when Potter and Weasley showed, and practical held his hand to deliver her to him. Nothing would be stopping him; nothing would stop him from tying Hermione Granger to him.
He yearned for her when she was far, soothed when they touched. Call it love, call it obsession, call it whatever you want, but he needed her.
He nuzzled into her soft curls; fuck, he couldn't wait to wake up every day, face buried in these curls. He pressed chaste kisses to her head. He allowed himself to indulge too long. He had to get his witch out of here. She was too vulnerable here.
"Time to take you home."
He yanked the hospital sheet to her feet. She looked fragile in the white gown. He unclipped his dark cloak from his figure and wrapped her in it.
As he bent over, a silver light glimmered on his back. It was the Malfoy ritual knife. Platinum blade clean of Hermione's blood, strapped discreetly in a knife sheath that pressed between Draco's shoulders. He bent over and lifted Granger into his arms, bridal style. She whimpered quietly when her bandaged arm was pushed roughly.
"Shhh," he soothed out quietly. "It'll be over soon."
Heels clicked across the floor behind him.
A trail of hair stood on the back of his neck.
He turned his body to look more easily over his shoulder to take in the intruder.
"Evening," he greeted, a devilish smirk fitting across his mouth.
"Ginny, really, I need to go," Harry tried to interrupt once more. Ron and Malfoy were climbing the last stairwell to the fourth floor. Ginny was on a rampage though; magic was crackling down her frame.
"You don't even take him into questioning! You blindly trust him to be near her!" she screeched, her wand quivering in her hand. Harry gulped in fear that she might turn it towards him. "Especially after how she arrived at home. I can't believe you, Harry!"
Malfoy and Ron slipped through the fourth-floor door. It clicked shut.
Ginny heaved in a small breath to continue her rant. Harry raised his right hand swiftly, green eyes watching the fourth-floor door. Shadows passed by the opaque glass of the door, red sparks zoomed under the door frame and cascaded down through the stairwell.
He rasped out a breath, nearly collapsing with relief. Ginny's demeanour becoming palliative with the falling red lights. He leant against the stair railing and glanced down at his dented gold watch.
"Five minutes, right?" murmured Ginny, stepping down to the same step as him.
"Yeah, Turpin, Aldermaston and other Aurors will move into position and strike when Ron gives the signal." Ginny brushed a rogue lock back that was tangled near his glasses. She leant in and brushed a soft kiss against his cheek. Her sweet flowery scent calming his racing heart.
"You really think he did this to her?" She pulled back, eyes full of questions. "If he cared for her, why do this to her? It's sick and fucked up."
"Maybe…that's all he knows." Harry grasped Ginny's hand in his, squeezing it three times.
"Pfft, even so, he has hell to pay," she promised with vengeance.
"Ginny…" Harry tried to sound assertive, but a small smile tugged at his lips.
"What?" She replied innocently, baby brown eyes blinking innocently at him. "Just look the other way, Auror Potter, while Mr. Malfoy is surprisingly hit with a Bat-Bogey Hex."
His other hand reached up and slid around the base of her neck. It pulled her carefully close. Red wisps of her hair crowding his sight, the scent of treacle tart and flowers was stronger.
"You are incredible," he mumbled. Her pink lips soft against his for a brief moment, before he leaned away. He moved closer to her on the small step, her breath ghosting his lips, before he pressed down one more time.
BOOM.
The stairwell shook underneath them. Harry pivoted, pressing Ginny against the railing. A cloud of dust floated through the air, coating them in the pale powder. Screams and sirens sounded through the hospital; stairwell doors banged open. Healers moving quicker to evacuate patients and their families. Soon, a stream of people were hurrying towards the exit.
BOOM.
Harry felt his training kick in. He bellowed orders to Healers to get everyone out. The fourth-floor door was shoved open. He could see spells being fire rapidly, colours of purple, blue, orange, red flashing through the opening. Holly wood in hand, he began moving to climb to the landing.
"Ginny, follow the Healers and get out," he shouted.
"Get stuffed, Potter." Ginny had her yew wand at the ready. "My family is up there."
"Ginny," Harry gritted out between his teeth, but didn't slow his steps. Patients and Healers bumped into them, as they climbed higher to the landing. He could hear Auror's yelling through the mayhem.
"Just stick close."
Harry peered into the manic floor; bodies strewn across the floor. Some still alive, moaning with life; some still. Auror's were using turned over bed frames and Healer's desks to cover behind. Further into the ward, the opposing fighters had done the same.
From his point of the doorway, Harry couldn't make out their faces. He soon realised that the fighters' faces were covered by a golden mesh. Glimmering heavily threaded patterns were weaved across the masks, obscuring their faces. Each fighting member donned a dark hooded murky brown cloaks with matching trousers and boots.
One fighter stood further back; wand raised in front of a closed door. He could make out the curve of their nose, but the rest of their face hidden beneath the dark hood. The lone figure was all but still, except for the wave of their wand, that was alit and pointed at Hermione's door.
"Cover!" someone shouted.
Harry tumbled forward towards a turned over bed, a stunner spell marking the door frame where he was peering in. Ginny moved with him and ducked into the safety of the bedframe. Harry glance around at the Aurors firing around him. He spotted Aldermaston.
"Aldermaston!" he shouted, getting the Auror's attention. "Where did they come from?"
Aldermaston shot a spell back to the cloaked horde.
"Don't know, sir. Saw someone got blasted out of Ms. Granger's room," Aldermaston crouched behind a Healer's desk. "Then, this lot was suddenly here. They have been throwing exploding potions at the room."
"Where's Ron?"
"Still in there. Malfoy hasn't come out as well."
"Evening," he greeted, a devilish smirk fitting across his mouth.
The heels clicked across the room until Daphne Greengrass stood only but a few feet away from him.
"Draco," she cooed, blonde hair shifting under her dark hood. Her eyes luminous and full of greed. "It's been too long."
He arched a single eyebrow at her.
"I swear, I saw you at Flint's house at the meeting last weekend." She shifted in her stance, wand in hand. "Oh no, I've got that wrong. I last saw you at that charity ball held by the Ministry. And you were so distracted…"
Daphne's blue eyes were fixed on Granger.
"Didn't realise you had such high interest in me," he drawled out, uncaringly.
Her blue eyes met his steel ones.
"We have all been watching, Draco," she stated.
Granger breathed a small whimper. Their eyes stayed connected.
"She doesn't have long, does she?" Daphne murmured, almost seductively. "Soon, the magic will be too much for her."
He shifted in his stance, demeanour growing dark.
"I know all about what you are doing, Draco," she continued in her seductive tone. "Astoria's blood curse is known amongst our circles. I researched for years, trying to find a cure. I came across the ritual that you are exploring. I know the risks; I know the costs."
He sighed, almost if he was bored. Daphne swallowed the sudden lump of nerves in her throat.
"Souls bounds together, hearts as one. No bond means no heir. You would bound yourself to a mudblood forever. Your children won't be pure, and your children wo-
"This is really the most pathetic attempt to stop the evitable," he said coldly, and Daphne met his eyes again. She almost fell silent; he made her feel inferior with just one statement.
"You can't," she blanched out. "The Sacred Twenty-Eight are pure, due to-"
He clicked his tongue several times; his head tilting down, a dark smile growing.
"You need understand, Daphne, because we were friends, right?" His eyes beaming with a terrible mirth.
"Yes, that's why I'm here." She clenched her wand tightly. Seductive tone gone from her voice; her gaze solely focusing on Granger. "You can't go through with this. The Sacred Twenty-Eight have decided. This is wrong. I can fix it before it's too late."
"There is no right or wrong side," he smirked. "Just my side."
Daphne was thrown back into the hallway as he blasted her through the door, whipping his wand quickly to the door with a Colloportus and sealing it shut further with an unsaid spell. He placed Hermione back on the bed, gently.
BOOM.
He covered her with his body, for a moment. Hands pushed off the bedframe and reached for the platinum knife on his back. He twirled it in his hand, as he pulled her arm towards him. He cut the bandage off. He steadied his grip and did the first cut across her skin.
BOOM.
Her blood was dripping already, staining the sheets. He gripped on her shifted, seeing the cracks appearing around the doorframe. He won't have long.
With quick precision, he donned eight more slices, climbing towards the cusp of her wrist. Her final cut bleeding from the centre of her palm. Her body shifted, the power waking her from her dreams. Her spine arched, mouth contorted to a grimace, a scream begging to be loosen from her tongue.
He placed the knife into his right hand, drew down quickly. Red spilling into the sheets, like hers.
He aligned their palms, so their blood met and fused. The final string on his heart pulled; he tasted freedom for the first time. The knife clattered to the floor, her eyes moved rapidly behind her lids, sweat beaded on her skin.
A wand pressed into his neck. Weasley was awake.
"Step away, ferret."
He stepped away from Hermione, the willow wood burning his neck when it pressed further into his skin. But it did not matter, their bond pulsed between them.
A gleeful smile was on his lips.
Weasley's gasp could be heard over his shoulder.
Beads of light pulsed through Hermione's body as she levitated above the bed. The lights pulsed quicker until they were a glowing light underneath her skin. Her curls floated around her head as she levitated to a stand; eyes pulled open. Irises of golden honey piercing his. An aura of golden light floated in the air. She was burning in every of heavenly fire.
Harry raised his wand towards one of the vigilante's.
"Stupefy!"
The vigilante ducked between a desk and a bed frame. Harry crouched once more. He opened his mouth to shout to Aldermaston that they needed a new plan. When suddenly, a disturbing scream sounded from across the room. A ceasefire occurred without anyone saying. Harry peered over his cover.
Golden light shone, so bright that his green orbs had to adjust to the blinding light.
Hermione's door was open. She was floating in the hallway. Her face serene and unearthly. A deep sense of power beat around her. The hooded horde paused and turned to her. One of the mask figures raised their wand, spell on their tongue.
"Incarcerous!"
Ropes flew towards her but were burnt in an invisible wind. Her serene expression morphed to fury. Irises of golden flames snapped to the cloaked figure before they collapsed to the ground with a deafening scream. The scream awoke the fighters.
The group attempted to work together, throwing curses at Hermione. None touched her. She wordlessly spelled each attacker that tried to hurt her. Harry, Ginny and the other Aurors could only watch the fallout.
When less than six attackers remained, one of them called for a retreat. Harry leaped over his cover and aiming his wand for the closest vigilante. He couldn't even breathe out his next spell. With a whirling cloak, each fighter popped away. He swore loudly.
Malfoy hurried out of Hermione's room, his eye developing a purple bruise. He spat blood on the floor as he approached Hermione.
Ron, soon, stumbled out of the room, cuts on his face, swaying on his face.
"Hermione, watch out!" Harry called out, point to Malfoy.
She turned and slowly descended to the ground. Her golden aura fading slowly.
A scowl was still present on her face. Malfoy quickened his pace towards her.
"You bastard!" she shouted, a hand cracking across the pale skin. Malfoy took the hit and pulled Hermione roughly against him.
"NO!" Harry shouted, running towards them.
Malfoy pointed his wand to a trinket in his hand.
"Portus."
They disappeared with a pop. Harry shuddered to a stop and swore again.
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