Disclaimer: All hail Ms. Rowling for her work, not me.
A/N: Hello once again. Again, I apologize for how long it takes me to update. Darn that homework. By the way, the HP and the CoS movie is SO much better than the first one..anyway..on with the story…
"Hahaha. I never knew you had sense of humor, Professor Snape." Draco said, clearly believing that his ears had deceived him.
"This is no joke, Mr. Malfoy. Your father saved your life and Hermione's, at the price of his own." Snape said. Draco looked into Snape's eyes, looking for the lie that must be hiding there. He found none.
"This is impossible. My father would never do this. I have the bruises to prove it." Draco replied.
"The point, Mr. Malfoy, is that he did save your life. And we have you mother to prove it." Dumbledore interjected. Draco looked on in awe as his mother was brought into the room. Her mascara had run, creating many black rivers flowing down the hollows of her cheeks. She looked frail and empty, as if she hadn't comprehended what had happened.
"Mother." Draco said, jumping off the bed and pulling the fragile body into his arms. "It's not true, is it? Lucius didn't save our lives did he?" He said, gesturing to Hermione. The meek shivering creature that was Narcissa Malfoy, sat down on one of the beds.
"It is true, Draco. I didn't believe it myself. He realized that Voldemort was cheating him. They had made a deal, and you father received information that Voldemort's end of the deal was not to be fulfilled. You should have seen him. He didn't eat or sleep. He lost so much weight in so little time, that I thought he would slowly deteriorate into nothing. It's hard to understand. You have to put yourself in his position, Draco. His whole life had been a lie. Everything he'd known, and everything he'd believed in was no more." She had to stop because her voice was beginning to crack, from fighting back tears. Draco's eyes that had softened a bit at the sight of his mother, regained their cold stare.
"He was weak, mother. Don't think that he did anything for us. He probably wanted to kill himself, because he realized what worthless scum he really was. I went through the same thing. I am in love with Hermione, mother. It went against everything Lucius had taught me, to embrace that passion. And in the end, I came out on top. I'm stronger than him in mind and body." Draco said all this through clenched teeth, as if to keep from yelling or crying. Hermione couldn't tell which. She draped her arm around Draco's shoulder. This triggered the tears. They flowed freely down his pale skin, dripping off his chin, and falling onto the floor. He leaned into Hermione, resting his head on her shoulder. Hermione, also crying, placed her head on top of his his, letting her tears fall into his soft golden hair. Unknown to the two lovers, everyone had left them alone, to be in each other's company. They both cried themselves to sleep, still in each other's arms.
The next morning, Hermione and Draco were allowed to leave the hospital wing. They went down for breakfast, holding hands. Hermione looked over at the frantically whispering Slytherin table, who had silenced when they noticed Draco. Pansy Parkinson approached him, her ugly nose scrunched up more than usual in disgust. "I heard about your father." she began, "I'm so sorry for your loss."
"Quiet, Pansy. That's total bullshit and you know it. You're only pretending to care about my father because you think that I'll take his position. Well, you can stop your façade, because I will never become a death-eater." Draco explained. Hermione pulled him over to the Gryffindor table.
"You can eat with us." She said. Many of the Gryffindors either looked shocked, appalled, or insulted.
"Keep your blood away from us, Malfoy." Seamus said.
"He can eat with us." Hermione repeated, looking daggers at Seamus.
Draco sat down with Hermione and they had a calm breakfast with only a couple of weird stares. Behind, Pansy was looking at Hermione with pure hatred in her eyes. Hermione could practically feel Pansy's eyes boring holes in her. She turned around, but Pansy was already gone.
"This can't be good." Hermione muttered to herself.
"Huh?" Draco questioned.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Hermione answered, trying to reassure Draco.
Hermione was walking to the charms classroom after breakfast. She walked in and saw Harry and Ron, except they were frozen. And so was everyone else. Hermione screamed and turned to run, but a sharp pain entered her head and she saw no more.
She blinked a couple of times. Her eyes couldn't focus on anything in the darkness around her. Hermione wondered, in horror, if she was blind. She felt around and picked up something hard. She just clutched to it like a child with her doll, until she was able to see. She looked down and realized that what she was holding was a bone. She yelped and dropped the horrid object. It fell to the floor with a clatter, awakening the senses of Pansy, who slumbered across the room from her. "Just couldn't stay out of trouble could you, mudblood? Did you actually think that your suffering was over with that small escapade in the forest?" Pansy raised her wand and muttered "Wingardium Leviosa." Hermione knew that it was a weak spell and didn't think too much of it, until she realized what Pansy was trying to do. She spun Hermione onto her back and swished her wand to the left. Hermione went crashing into the wall and a sickening crack was heard throughout the room. Hermione glanced through her tears at her wrist. The bone was sticking out at an odd angle. Pansy wasn't stopping there. She made Hermione do a flip, and then she ran her into the opposite wall. This time her shoulder dislocated itself from her body. Hermione was biting her lip to keep from screaming. Screaming would just give Pansy the satisfaction she wanted. A bright flash of light illuminated Pansy's sneering face. In the door stood Voldemort. Hermione was too weak to do anything, but mutter a small, "Shit." Pansy swung her wand down and Hermione went plummeting to the floor. She turned over onto her back and looked into the cruelest eyes known to mankind. "Voldemort," she spat. Voldemort smirked at her.
"You dare to use my first name? Not many people have done that. Especially in my presence. Maneuverous!" He yelled. Hermione thought that the Cruciatus Curse was the worse pain she'd been through. She was wrong. Immediately, she felt the bones of her legs and arms being ripped from their sockets. Her eyes rolled back into her head from the pain, but the curse wouldn't allow her to faint. As soon as she'd felt it, the torture stopped. "A taste of what's ahead for Draco if he doesn't join us." Voldemort and Pansy both walked out of the room, locking the door behind them. Hermione didn't hear a word they had said. All that she was aware of was her own faint breathing, before she slipped out of consciousness.
When Hermione awoke, she was fully healed. She figured that Voldemort had done it. He wanted her alive, so that Draco would try to rescue her. The thought of Draco going through the pain she had experienced made her sick to her stomach. She felt around with her hands, trying to figure out where she was. There was a cold stony floor, musty smell, and chains on the wall. "A dungeon." Hermione said. Unfortunately, she didn't know which dungeon. She couldn't tell whether she was inside Hogwarts or in some cave. How could she possibly let anyone know where she was? Suddenly, she heard voices. Tons of them. People laughing, cheering, and carrying on polite conversations. She pressed her ear up against the wall.
"There's no way she would skip class on purpose. Maybe she's in the library." A voice said. Hermione immediately recognized it.
"Ron! Ron, can you hear me?! Ron!" she yelled, but to no avail. At least she knew that she had to be somewhere within the walls of Hogwarts.
"Another torture device." Pansy said, walking into the dungeon. "You can hear everyone out there looking for you, but we've made it impossible for them to hear you in here. Drives some people insane, it does." Hermione tried to punch Pansy, but her hand hit some force field and rebounded back at her. She ducked her own flying fist and glared at Pansy. "You have a boundary around you. Try to harm anyone and you'll just end up hurting yourself. Have jolly good time." Pansy once again slammed the door, shutting Hermione out from the world. She dug around in her robes, hoping that they were too stupid to take her wand. She had obviously underestimated their intelligence. Her wand was nowhere to be found. Like a helpless puppy, she crawled into the farthest corner of the dungeon and cried. Her sobs rang out through the dungeon, reminding her how very alone she was. She lay down on the floor, not bothering to brush the bothersome wisps of hair out of her face. Her eyes closed, and she hugged herself with her arms, trying to block out the penetrating cold.
"Get out. Now."
Hermione awoke with a startled gasp, retreating to a corner. "This isn't possible." She breathed. Lucius Malfoy was standing before her, offering his hand to the abused girl. "You're dead. I must be dreaming."
"I know you're confused, but all will be revealed tomorrow. Now, we have to leave." He said.
"Why should I trust you? You abused your own son." Hermione seemed to have struck a nerve. His hand went rigid, and for a moment, she could see the emotion in his eyes that Malfoys seemed so good at hiding.
"Either come with me or not. It's your choice." Lucius said, and he turned to leave.
"Wait. I'll go. Remember that I'm placing my trust in you. If you break that trust, there will be consequences, I promise you." She said, in a firm, but nonetheless, reluctant manner. He put his arm around her feeble body, helping her up. They walked out of the dungeon door and into the dark hall. Hermione had a feeling that Lucius had been there before, since it was pitch black and they had yet to trip over anything. After what seemed like hours of running in the dark, Hermione saw light up ahead. She and Lucius ran into the room before them, filled with silver and green furniture. "The Slytherin common room."
"Exactly. Go up those stairs to the left and walk to the very last door. That's Draco's room. You'll be safe there." He said. Hermione turned around to thank him, but he was gone. She looked back at where they had come from, but all that was there was a stone wall. After that, she didn't hesitate in running up to Draco's room. She needed that feeling of safety. She didn't bother trying to be quiet; she just raced up the stairs and into burst through Draco's door. All of the beds were empty except for one. Draco's bed. She walked over to where he lay, sleeping peacefully. The wind coming through his slightly open window, tousled her brown hair, making the image even more surreal than before. She stared at his form, just marveling at the way his breath traveled in and out of his slightly parted lips, vibrating the wisp of hair brushing against his flawless cheekbone. She was thankful, more than anything else, for that breath that was causing the rise and fall of his chest. She was thankful just to know that he was alive. Without waking him, she climbed into his bed and put her arms around him, allowing that signal of life to play upon her own face, worn with fatigue. For now, she was too exhausted to think about Lucius or anything else that had happened. "I love you, Draco," she whispered in his ear, before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
A/N: Yeah…kinda fluffy..but o well. I'm in a hopeless romantic mood right now. Thanks SO much to poopookachoo, goth123, Rebecca, Draco Fluff, Katie Crickett, Draco's one and only, Draco'sGal13. I'm glad you liked my plot twist!