Chapter 28- As Long As He Had Breath In His Body
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I know I've left it another long time but the chapter is finally here, der :) I hope you all enjoy it and I'd just like to say war is not the answer!
Disclaimer: nope not mine otherwise I wouldn't have to wait until June to read the next book I'd just whip out my draft and have a bit of a flick through!
'-'=thoughts
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***
Hermione gradually returned to consciousness and heard voices arguing above her.
"We have to take her to Madam Pomfrey!"
"No way! I'm not letting that mad old bat near her. She said Jonathon had the flu for Merlin's sake!"
"The Flu?!" Hermione croaked out incredulously
Ron nodded, "I know isn't that ridiculous and not only that but…Hermione!"
Her head was thumping but her fighting spirit was kicking in and she struggled to a sitting position. Looking around her she realised that she was in the Gryffindor common room, obviously one or both of the boys had carried her up, turning her attention back to her friends she smiled weakly.
"I'm sick of passing out! I seem to be doing it a lot these days." she said jokingly to try and erase the worried expressions off her best friends faces. They didn't smile.
"What happened Hermione?" Harry asked gently cupping her face and looking at her seriously.
"Oh forget that Harry!" Ron interjected, "Cut to the chase, what did Malfoy do to you? Because give me half a reason and I swear I'll kill him."
"You're not being very helpful!" Harry said through gritted teeth
"Oh and I suppose you are?" Ron retorted scathingly
"More then you."
"Oh yeah?"
"Oi quit it!"
Both boys stared at Hermione in shock as she staggered to her feet.
"It doesn't particularly matter what happened. Suffice to say that things are back to normal." She looked at Harry's haggard face, Ron's red one and took stock of her own weak and swaying body and added, "Well sort of."
Harry and Ron exchanged looks that quite plainly said 'yeah right!' But then they turned to her and smiled.
"You're the boss." Harry said
"Whatever you say." Ron affirmed.
Hermione breathed out a sigh of relief
***
Draco lay seething for a while after Hermione left but his anger soon subsided and gave way to an all consuming misery. Dragging himself off the bed he started packing his bag to return to Hogwarts, after all he had nothing to gain by moping about in the tent and everything to gain by being by Hermione's side. He tried a little bit of magic to see if his power had returned to him…it hadn't. As soon as Draco stepped outside a prickle of dark magic tugged at his senses just as he knew it would, trying to ignore it he shouldered his bag and turned in the direction of Hogwarts. He had been walking less then a minute when a loud clap of thunder rolled across the sky and the heavens opened dumping buckets of icy water down onto him. Draco's sense of foreboding was growing stronger and stronger and eventually he had to stop as the chilly feeling, which had nothing to do with the rain, permeated his entire being. "Three, two, one." he murmured and just as he finished there was a small pop and Lucius Malfoy appeared next to him. 'Right on time.' Draco thought grimly, crossing his arms and raising his chin slightly in defiance of his father. The two of them faced each other scant inches apart. Lucius, magically keeping himself dry, his clothes and hair all immaculate his face covered in a superior smirk and Draco, soaking wet, his face taught and tense, his teeth clenched tightly together and his eyes burning with a fire of hatred, sized each other up forgetting all bonds of family. Lucius was the first to break the stare, shaken by the level of fury and determination he saw reflected in the son he had always thought to be lazy and weak. Concentrating on a point just above Draco's head he regained his composure and waited for his son to make the first move.
"And so," Draco spoke in a hard, brittle tone that seemed to completely drown out the wind and rain, "it begins?"
Lucius gave a small, almost imperceptible, nod. Draco squared his shoulders. "Take me to him."
***
"Oh Harry!" Hermione threw her arms around his neck and wept unashamedly against him.
"It's alright Hermione, I'm okay." Harry gave Ron a pleading look and Ron, smiling slightly, pulled Hermione off his friend.
They had told Hermione all about the Cho and Cedric incidents and after the traumatic events she had already suffered she hadn't taken it very well.
"And you!" Hermione sobbed grabbing Ron this time, "You had to cope with everything on your own and look out for me, I'm so sorry, so, so, sorry!"
"Cripes!" Ron's eyes bulged as she squeezed him, "What has gotten into you? We're all fine, there's nothing to get so emotional about."
It was Harry's turn to rescue his friend and Hermione fell limp against the back of the couch.
"What is wrong with me?! I must be losing my mind!" she wailed.
"Ah Hermione, if we tried a sedating spell on you would you mind?" Ron commented rubbing his neck where she had gripped him. Hermione glared at him through her tears and Ron gulped, "Right of course you would." He murmured.
"Perhaps you should rest though." Harry suggested gently, handing her a handkerchief which she used to mop up her tears.
"No," she said shakily, "I think we should…what was that?!" an especially loud rumble of thunder had just shaken the room making the portraits on the wall jiggle around, startling the occupants.
"It's just the storm Hermione." Ron reached out and touched her cool cheek tenderly, "Nothing to worry about."
Hermione jerked away from him and jumped to her feet. "Storm?!" she questioned wildly running to the window and throwing up the sill. A blast of freezing rain hit her in the face and she spun back around, "No, no, no, no!" she chanted racing across the room, grabbing her cloak and disappearing through the portrait hole. Ron and Harry stared at each other in amazement before galvanizing into action following her with their cloaks whipping out behind them.
"I think she's right you know, she is losing her mind." Ron panted
Harry shook his head, "Something else is going on and we're finally going to find out what it is. Come on!"
***
Draco followed his father through the howling gale and sludgy snow. The lightning strikes were getting closer and more frequent; the thunder roared and shook the ground while the wind battered them from all directions at once. Suddenly they walked into a clearing where the storm didn't touch. There was a bubble of about 20 metres all around where it was as if someone had turned the sound off and Draco's ears rang with the oppressive silence. All of a sudden there was a shimmer in the air before Lucius and Draco and the image of a man began to appear. The senior Malfoy knelt in the melting snow and signalled for Draco to do the same. He ignored his father and instead narrowed his eyes at the phantom being conjured up. Once the thing was fully formed Draco saw it was like a death eater in a long cloak, the face hooded, except that this creature was incredibly tall and he could see right through it to the raging storm behind.
"What? Is the all mighty great lord too frightened to meet me in person?" Draco smirked "what does it say about him when he is represented by a wisp of smoke which could be blown away by the slightest puff of wind?"
Lucius stood and, before Draco had time to react, brought his hand down swiftly across Draco's face causing his son's head to snap to one side with the impact. Draco didn't feel the pain, his anger encompassed all emotion and there was no room left for anything else. A trickle of blood oozed from his lip and snaked down his jaw and he glared at his father with all the hatred he could muster.
"Do you remember," he snarled, "when I told you never to touch me again?" Lucius took a slight step back and Draco smiled mirthlessly, "Well I warned you." His fist shot out and caught his father a resounding blow across his cheek. Lucius fell back clutching his face, tears of pain springing to his eyes.
"Enough." A cold harsh voice rang out in the clearing of calm and Draco ignored Lucius and turned back to the shadow of Voldemort.
"What do you want from me?" it was the question he had been longing to ask for years, "why not just let me go?"
"Because there is something you have which I want." The answer was hissed so quietly Draco wasn't sure he had heard correctly.
"Stunning good looks? An incredible brain? A father? Well you can have the last one, I certainly don't want him." Draco quipped darkly looking over to where Lucius was curing himself via magic.
A sudden blinding pain knocked Draco off his feet and he sprawled backwards onto the ground. "Obviously not what you meant." Draco winced sitting up and rubbing his temples, trying to dispel the lingering agony.
"Just speak again when you want more of that." The form said gliding closer to Draco who scrambled to his feet and wiped away some of the blood still seeping out of his mouth. "What you have is something none of my other followers have."
'A brain?' Draco thought but he wasn't ready for another bout of punishment so instead he said: "And that is?"
"A position inside Hogwarts, the ambition to succeed and, most importantly, the love of a muggle-born who is a vital link in this whole thing."
"Yeah perfect," Draco said sarcastically unable to stop himself, "now all that is missing is the will to use these things for you."
"Foolish words, which you will soon regret. Now listen carefully as there is not much time. Things will soon come to pass and if you are not with us then you shall surely perish. Your death means little to me but it would be a waste of a, shall we say, valuable resource. Things have been set in motion that cannot be stopped and if you join us this one last time you shall be rewarded with your freedom."
"Gee, where have I heard that one before?!" Draco murmured sardonically
"I never took you as an imbecile Draco but now I see I was wrong not to have seen your stupidity earlier. If you will not willingly join us then we must force you. You and the mudblood are essential to our plans."
"So basically what you are saying is that you need me more then I need you." Draco hissed clenching his fists tightly to prevent himself from doing something silly like lunging out at the apparition in front of him.
His answer to that was a harsh chuckle which grated on his nerves.
"I'm glad you haven't lost all of the Slytherin traits although in this instance you are sadly mistaken. I don't need you or any of my followers; I have absolute power over the wizarding world."
"Liar!" Draco said swelling with anger at Voldemort's patronising tone. "If that was true you wouldn't be here."
"I don't have time for this!"
Draco smiled as he realised he had hit close to the truth; he decided to press his advantage, never mind the consequences. "You have some plan but without Hermione and I it can't go ahead and everything is useless. Really if you are such a master mind you must know that neither of us will ever submit to you! We are trained in throwing off the Imperius curse and there is no spell we will surrender to."
The Voldemort ghoul laughed loudly making the jarring sound fill the clearing in which they stood.
"You brat! You think I need a spell to get you both to do whatever I want you to do? No I have other ways of making this work."
"Draco?!"
The younger Malfoy froze then sank to his knees in despair.
"No Hermione!" he croaked out, "Go back! Go back!"
"Draco?!" the voice was coming nearer despite his cries.
"She can't hear you." Lucius chuckled "and soon we'll have both of you and the means with which to ensure your co-operation."
"You bastard!" A blinding rage overtook Draco and he pounced on his father forcing him to the ground. His fists were a blur as he pounded Lucius with all his might. Suddenly he was punching thin air and his father appeared with a pop several metres away from his berserk son.
"Tut, tut." He muttered, "Didn't I teach you anything? Avoid getting your hands dirty at all times. It is so much easier to use magic, oh hang on you don't have any." Lucius smirked the smirk which was so like Draco's own.
"Quiet!" the image barked and all three fell silent and watched as Hermione flanked by Harry and Ron burst into the glade of stillness. They were all three soaked from the tempest and their eyes grew incredibly wide as they saw the other occupants in the eye of the storm.
"Draco." Hermione whispered seeing the blood on his face and his body crumpled in the snow. She went to go to him but Harry and Ron caught her and pulled her back.
"Ah so good of you to join us." Lucius smiled reaching his hands out towards them, "Boys, let the mudblood come forward."
"No." they said as one moving slightly so Hermione was hidden from view. "If you want 'Mione you'll have to go through us first."
"Kill them both." Never had Hermione heard a voice so dead and devoid of emotion and she shivered, forcing herself not to shrink back.
Draco considered the situation and out of nowhere a cloud of serenity enveloped him. Hermione was here but as long as he had breath in his body she wasn't going to be harmed. It unexpectedly all seemed so clear now. His sarcastic nature settled over him like a shield and his customary cruel smile developed itself upon his lips
Lucius looked at Draco. "Are you going to join me in this one?" he asked in a voice dripping with malice. Draco stood, looked over at Ron and Harry then shrugged.
"Oh well every cloud has a silver lining."
"Draco!" Hermione's voice was so aghast Draco had to chuckle.
"I was kidding Hermione." He assured her
"I should think so!"
"Malfoy!" Both Lucius and Draco turned and stared at the ghostly form which, although it was hard to tell on its translucent features, looked distinctly cross. "Did I or did I not just order you to kill them? Well? What are you waiting for?"
"Well Draco, here is your moment. Join us and live or die with these pathetic children?"
Draco mock considered for a moment causing Hermione to gasp out in surprise but then he smiled. "It's tempting to get rid of Potty and the Weasel over there but…no thanks I think I'll pass on that one."
"If so it is the last decision you'll ever make." His father promised him stepping forward threateningly.
Draco shook his head slowly "Nope, wrong again, this is my last decision." and so saying he walked over to Harry and Ron joining the line shielding Hermione.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" Ron hissed glaring at him.
"Well I figure if you can't kill 'em join 'em." Draco said loudly looking his father right in the eye. Then in a whisper he added, "Look, you don't like me and trust me you aren't exactly my favourite people either but if we're going to save Hermione we have to work together."
"Together?" Harry whispered back as if it was a foreign word
"Together." The Slytherin confirmed.
"Alright, together."
They both looked at Ron who was staring determinably ahead.
"Well?" Harry asked.
"Just this once," Ron paused then looked directly at Draco also known as his mortal enemy, "together."
***
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I have this phobia of making the grand finales of stories way too dramatic so I try to scale them down a little. I hope I didn't kill you with all the clichés! Anyway I think there are only a couple of chapters to go so please stay with me!
Thankyou to these people…and you all for reading:
DolceEspressivo: Doing great? Oh shucks, that's really nice of you! Yeouch you don't like Hermione I suppose?! Thanks for your review, made me all happy and bubbly!
Alix: I will write more and it would be cool if you could uphold your end of the bargain too! Just kidding:) Thankyou for reviewing and saying my story is wow!
Kitten85: no need to wait any longer. I will try and keep up the good work and thankyou for reviewing!
CG: I'm glad I help make those boring days just a little more interesting! Well I hope this scratches your itch sufficiently and that you like it of course! Thanks so much for reviewing and saying I am one of your favourites wipes tears away
Akira Gown: No that is just what Madam Pomfrey said so she didn't alarm Jonathon; sorry if I confused you, you're right it wouldn't make sense if that was just the flu! Well I hope your thirst is truly satisfied, water is the best cure I find. I really like writing arguments…does that seem weird? But they are so full of emotion and I take sides with characters (stupid though that sounds!) I'm glad you still love it and thankyou for continuing to review.
MysticalStormz: It's okay the fight is kind of forgotten about in this chapter. Thankyou for reviewing and saying my chapter was awesome, very much appreciated.
Tom felton's babe: Wonderful? Thankyou so much, that makes you wonderful too! I don't like when Harry and Ron are right too, oh well the argument had to happen but as you can see from this chapter Draco didn't really need to make it up to Hermione as defending her against certain death gives him points! You reckon no? I think I have to agree with you…seems a little too soon to me. It's a shame you couldn't fix the problem, oh well you still come on to FF.net which is what matters, to me anyway! Here is chapter 28 finally, hope you like and thankyou again.
Vixen: Oh good I was worried about what people would think of the Cho/Harry thing I'm not sure it made sense but if you liked it then it's all good! You'd read it again, truly? Well thanks. I hope you like this chapter, no Crabbe and Goyle but some moments that I think are funny :)
Felicity: Hey no need to apologise, that's fine. Sorry I didn't really hurry but it is here at last! Thanks for reviewing.
Hyper_shark: Amazing? Terrific? Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! Here is another chapter just for you for being so nice!
Gryfyndor Girl: Glad you liked it. I suppose you could call their relationship highly strung and that's why they're suddenly at each other's throats! Hermione was in the rain because it began to pour as she was walking back to Hogwarts, sorry if I didn't make that clear. Thanks for reviewing.
Gohansfollower: Yep Hermione was briefly okay before she plunged into yet more danger! Yes poor Draco, I care! Thankyou for saying my story is wonderful and brilliant…makes me all warm and giddy inside!
Mexx: I'm so sorry there is no fluff in this chapter either…maybe next one?! I'm sorry you were tearful, I hope this chapter doesn't make you cry as well! Sorry as well that I didn't update sooner but I'm finally here so I hope you liked! Thanks for the review :)
SlitherinGirl: I'm sorry you didn't like it…probably means you won't be reading this either but never mind! I suppose it does take a long time to get to the relationship but I wanted to establish a story and plot before diving into the fluff. I get annoyed with stories that have too much romance and nothing else. I suppose my author's notes are really long but it is really only because I like to thank my reviewers to show how I appreciate them. People can skip all the bits that don't concern them. Too much death? Who died?! I don't understand the death one but everyone is entitled to their own opinion! Sorry again and thanks for letting me know my downfalls…a little late now though!
Silver: Eek homework is so evil. I should be doing that now but thanking you is much more interesting! Re-read it?! Man you have stamina, this story has become rather long with not much happening, sorry about that! Even though you asked so nicely I haven't updated in ages, sorry again! Thanks for reviewing so wonderfully :)
H20: No need to apologise, it's great that you've been reading at all! Well here is the next chapter and thankyou for reviewing.
Kat Xcelman: Are you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that chapter to be sad! Thankyou for reviewing:)
Michelle: On the edge of your seat? Cool! Well Draco cleverly managed to skip another confrontation with Hermione by protecting her against certain death! You'll have to wait and find out about the ending because I'm not gong to tell you! So sorry I was so mean but here is the next chapter albeit a little late! Thankyou for reviewing so encouragingly.
Envision: Well I don't know…we'll just have to wait and see! I will keep going and thankyou for saying you love my story it really means a lot.
Alina: I seriously write this story for an ego boost! With people like you continually saying such nice things my head just keeps getting bigger and bigger :) I always worry that my story is same old, same old so thanks for setting those fears to rest! I will keep writing and thankyou so much for your lovely review!
Ravyn Nyte: That's really nice of you to say. I suppose my point was that Hermione doesn't trust him yet so she jumps on any excuse to put him in the wrong. Rambling is good, I do it all the time, I am the queen of ramble! I have written more so I hope you like! You are on my updates list, oh and by the way I've updated "Won't you come to the ball with me?" too! Thankyou for reviewing...twice!
Dreaming One: Ah really?! Wow that is so fantastic! Yeah I like this one more then "Love a magic all its own" too I suppose because I've learnt from some of my mistakes. Well done, you guessed?! Darn and I wanted that to be a surprise too! Oh well at least you got to gloat which is fun I must admit! That is one of the biggest compliments I have ever received because I'm always worrying that I go too slow or fast and you said that it was fine. THANKYOU! I will keep writing and sorry I haven't updated in so long! Thanks again :)
Stormy: Thanks for saying my story is getting better, that's really kind. I finally read your story and it is really, really good, thankyou for letting me know about it and I'm sorry again for not getting to it sooner! Thankyou so much for reviewing and saying you love my story, makes me so happy!
Black Rein: Wow you read it over again? I'm proud of you! Thankyou for reviewing and I'm so happy you cared enough to go back and remember everything!
Princess Istawen: heh, heh, you were addicted? Cool! Yeah there is a bit going on, its kind of hard to keep track of it all and I'm writing it I can't imagine what it would be like trying to read it! I came up with it because my mind wanders and doesn't stick to one thing at a time which is sometimes annoying! Thankyou so much for saying it seems real, that is really high praise just like you reading my story is! Hey you read my story I don't care how fast or slow you did it! The Cho/Harry thing was fun to write as it gave a little mystery…well I hope it did anyway : p I can't believe your story is finished, but you've started another one already which is fantastic! No need to thank me but I really want to thankyou, your reviews have been so nice! Love ya!
Sumeragi Kousei: Thanks for saying that, means a lot. Ta :)
Well that is it for this time folks thankyou again to you all for reading.
Jess/star123
