Chapter 15

Epiphanus

Scena Quarta

"Coward," Hermione finally said to him. Then, Hermione sprang out into the corridor without another thought. Draco's hand lifted weakly in a last reflex of restraint, but he knew it was no use. Voldemort could already see her.

Hermione's eyes thinned into slits as she whispered hoarsely: " Stop!" A trickle of sweat ran down the side of her face, sliding into the crease where her mouth pulled back in a frown. She watched the dark-cloaked figure at the other end of the upper-stairs hallway turn to face her, his red eyes glaring distastefully.

" Who's there?" Lily whispered, panicked. " James...?"The heartbreaking hope in her voice prompted Hermione further.

Hermione lifted her wand, her mind flashing back to the beginning of the year. There was a new course being offered, an Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which was only for the wisest, most mature students. The spells Hermione learned in there were simple to cast but oftentimes deadly, paralyzing the victim of the spell. They were mostly spells that were taught to students like Hermione only to keep any 'accidents' (like Neville in the whole) from 'accidentally' putting them to use.

She thought hard of the spell that caused momentary paralysis. It would give her enough time to gather her thoughts together. Her mind was racing madly and she didn't know what to do next. One wrong choice could change everything that Harry had known in his life, after all. One wrong choice could also make an end to the Boy Who Lived as well as to save him.

" Petrificus Stupor!" Hermione shouted, her eyes widening as she said this. She needed to have precise aim for the paralysis would strike only the part her wand directly pointed towards. A sudden shot of light escaped the tip of the wand and then pulsated in the air, creating the effect similar to the way air looked over a fire - as if everything was slowly moving, sliding, a world that was turning to an inevitable liquid.

Draco pushed back from the hallway.

She's an idiot! he thought, angrily. Thank the stars I can control myself better then that. Jumping right in front of the Dark Lord. Great thinking. He bit his lower lip in worry. "Don't hurt yourself, okay?" His mind buzzed the thought out without his consent. It just slowly moved from his brain. He looked up and saw Hermione looking at him, briefly. He must have spoken aloud.

Hermione's eyes didn't linger on him for long. She shook her head and then turned her glance back at Voldemort to see if the spell had worked. Voldemort had turned to face her and his strength appeared overpowering. Instead of being affected, he absorbed the dark power and a strange aura seemed to circle him. The air in the hallway grew hot and heavy, taking a reddish tint.

It infused Hermione's hair and she looked wild, almost lost - a hypnotized doll. She sank to her knees, her lungs squeezing tight. She coughed loudly. The air was horribly tight in the hallway and his eyes seemed to bore right through her, to read all her weaknesses. Draco hugged his knees to his chest. This was not happening, really. Shouldn't he and Hermione just warp themselves back into the real world still, or was it too late? If they changed the memory as profoundly as they already might have done, it could be essentially impossible to return in time. If they survive this, they might be locked in this time. Harry would be a baby. They would be heroes - but how could they even exist? Their parents were probably already expecting them, or they were already born into this world -babies as well. It was overwhelming to think about it.

Where would they fit in, then? Would they just be erased and start over from little babies, and live in a world changed from the one before? Hermione gasped for air. The air was choking her. " Stop it!" She coughed out. "Stop it..."

Her wand fell from her hand and she groped blindly in the hallway for it. The red, cloudy atmosphere in the hallway was like a gray cloud of ash after a volcano. Draco leaned to take a peak into the hallway, but he saw nothing but Hermione, coughing horribly and trying to find her wand, which was only about a foot away. Yet, she couldn't find it. She looked like a blind puppy, lost and helpless. He didn't understand it. What had happened to the strong, powerful Hermione, the jump-out-and-face-Voldemort Hermione? Draco glanced at Voldemort at the end of the hallway. The Dark Lord seemed satisfied with his effect on Hermione.

She was eventually going to cough up bits of her lungs because the air in the hallway was suspended in a red, dark atmosphere. Voldemort must have grown so powerful that he could absorb the dark art spells. Is it possible? Hermione coughed harder. Tears streamed from her eyes and down her face. She found her wand and shouted another spell. This one, upon striking the target, could even kill it.

The more powerful the opponent, the lesser the effect. Hermione suspected it would stun Voldemort for long enough to make the red atmosphere in the hallway to break away. Draco watched as Hermione continued to fight him. He was baffled. Why would anyone resist him this much when they could avoid such a fate by joining with him? Hermione watched in anguish as her spell fell short of even creasing Voldemort's robes. Voldemort laughed shrilly and then turned his concerns to Lily and Harry in the bedroom, kicking James's body aside. Lily asked, again:

" Who's there? Who is it?"

Hermione shouted: " Mrs. Potter, escape through the window! Run!" Draco was stupefied. He whispered to Hermione: " What are you doing! If you're going to change the future around like that, then you're going to erase me from the future as well!" He looked at her, finally, but saw she didn't even hear him. She had fainted, her body still convulsing, gasping for air.

It was a natural reaction to loss of oxygen - the body feels that the body isn't taking oxygen in and it assumes the human is willingly not breathing. Therefore, the brain causes the body to pass out in order to stop the willing blockage of air from the lungs. Yet, Hermione would have been more then eager to breathe again. Draco felt a sudden tightening inside of himself and he leaned out into the hallway again. Voldemort was now trying to get into the room with Lily and Harry Potter inside. He grasped Hermione, pulling her towards him.

Her head rolled lifelessly onto his chest as he held her up.

Holy Merlin's Wand, what do I do? Draco wondered. She'd know how to get out of the past… come on, think, Malfoy…

He looked down at her paled face. By removing her from the hallway, he'd saved her, in a sense. She took a breath, but was still unconscious. " You're so stupid!" He hissed at her. " Going out there at the Dark Lord. Hadn't your stupid books taught you anything?" Draco felt a sudden anger for no reason at all. " Stupid! What am I supposed to do without you?"

The words struck him oddly to his ears. Silly… I don't need her. That just came out of nowhere.

Draco moved silently down the hallway, trying to think hard as to what to do next. The stairs squeaked quietly as he slowly backed downwards, pausing to lift and set Hermione down step at a time. He wasn't sure why he was doing this, except he knew he should back away before he changed the past any farther.

" Little girl?" Lily shouted. " Are you alright?"

Draco looked at Hermione again. Hermione wasn't alright. In fact, she seemed to still have trouble breathing, and each breath seemed to be a terrific task. He shifted her and then pushed her hair back from her face. He thought hard. Hadn't Hermione mentioned something once about simply waiting the memory out? Once the memory climax passes, they could leave. Draco pressed his forehead against the wall of the stairs and waited for Lily's screams.

Coward.

He felt the word rise up in him. Through his light-colored eyelashes he could see Hermione in his arms, her head tilted backwards slightly, her dark hair spilling across his arms. This felt so strange to him, but he didn't know what else to do. She was completely unconscious, he was in his worst enemy's home listening to his mother get killed by his idol, and in his arms he was cradling a girl he was brought up to despise, for the way she was a Mudblood and for how she wasn't a Slytherin. Draco paused in his train of thoughts. Did he hate her? Or did the lines blur along the way?

Shut up, he ordered his mind, shut up.

He saw that Hermione was waking up. He quickly moved her from his arms now that she was less likely to roll down the stairs and attract the attention of the Dark Lord. Draco realized Hermione was right about a few things – he was afraid of You-Know-Who. Was that why the Malfoys were to attracted to him in the first place, because they feared his wrath?

" Is… is it over? Did he…?" Hermione asked, before looking around wildly. " You didn't…?"

" You fainted." He said, simply.

" He was trying to choke me!"

" Serves you right. What sort of a fool would just jump out into a hallway to be face-to-face with the Dark Lord?" He asked angrily.

" What? Are you afraid for my life?" She whispered hotly.

" No - - just - - well - - it's stupid. It's not that I care, but it's stupid." Draco didn't know what else to say. His ears burned hot and he looked away. " Just get me out of here."

" We're going to have to sit through this, listening to Lily get killed. Unless, of course, you'll help me out." Her eyes caught a devilish gleam.

" Enough of helping you out! I won't have anything to do with this! Do you really think we're even going to change anything? We're only going to interfere with everything. We might even get killed. Do you know how much confusion that would make? We could even rewrite history as we know it." Draco sighed. " I'm staying here, and I think it'd be best if you stayed here too."

" What if he comes after us again?" Hermione questioned. " Once he's done with Lily?"

" Don't you get it? If he kills Lily, the memory is over. You don't think she'd remember anything after her death, do you?" Draco asked.

Hermione's cheeks reddened. " Don't you feel we should do anything?" She had tears in her eyes.

" I just think it'd be best if we leave everything as it was." Draco admitted. He looked down at his hands and then tightened them into fists. He slowly unclenched them, then tightened them again.

Hermione released a few tears and they slid down her cheek.

" Stop crying." He said, finally.

" I just feel so terrible." Hermione whispered.

" You didn't do anything wrong." He replied. " You were just trying to…" Draco didn't finish the sentence for she was interrupting him:

" I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you a coward, I guess, since you had perfectly good reasons not to… we could have really messed things up." Another tear slid down her cheek. " I'm sorry."

Draco shook his head. What if I was a coward? Don't apologize to me. "Don't." He took hold of her shoulders, holding her squarely in front of him, their eyes locked. " Don't cry. He'll hear us."

" It's just that he was so evil and horrible, and Lily and James and Harry were so innocent and - - and - -" She let out a low sob. A loud crash was heard in the hallway as Voldemort broke in through the doorway and attacked Lily and Harry. Lily screamed: "Don't! Take me! Don't hurt my baby!" She was sobbing heavily.

There is no evil, after all, nor is there a good. There is just a power struggle. The ends justify the means. You'll see… you'll see… The charade of words that his father implanted into his mind from birth rattled through Draco's mind like a sweet lullaby, blinding his eyes from the tears that Hermione wept, shutting out the sobs of innocent women and children from his ears, and shielding him from being a live witness to the horrors. As long as he was a vessel to carry out the Dark Lord's doing, it would be all right. As long as his young mind remained forever poisoned with those words, it would be all right. There is no evil, after all.

Hermione's head hung forwards, her forehead pressing down onto his chin. The feeling broke him out of his sudden trance. He could feel her hands grasping his wrists tightly. " I want to go back… please let it stop…"

Lily's sudden scream echoed through the air, and a blinding light filled the air. Lily's sacrifice for Harry – a mother's love for a son. It was all going to be over soon.

He could feel Hermione's every breath and shudder. She was afraid but he didn't know what advice to offer. This isn't evil. It sounded empty and hollow, an old excuse created to keep the worker bees out and about of the hive while the Queen Bee did her own wishes. Just stop crying! He couldn't stand it, he wanted to stop her from crying, and he felt so horribly sorry for her. She was so disillusioned, taking it all so deeply to heart, when her own resistance of the Dark Lord would only fuel his power more and eventually swallow everything up. But then… wasn't it people's support that fed the Dark Lord with fuel, keeping him alive, like a candle alit in hearts? Wasn't it the fear that people would willingly bring him back that kept his evil haunting houses?

Suddenly, he felt numb.

It would never end. The Dark Lord would take everything up, absorb it the way he absorbed the Dark Spells Hermione cast on him, building up stronger and stronger, until with one mighty sweep he would knock the world down like a row of toy soldiers. It wasn't the droning, mechanic voices of thousands that supported the Dark Lord that would keep people safe. It was resistance and Hermione's constantly fragile heart that put up the strongest wall against the Dark Lord. They were truly protected from him, they would never be his empty vessel-servants. With these people around, he would never take the world over. Draco's father was vulnerable, ready to do his every bidding, and could be easily discarded. When Lucius told Draco it was safest in the panther's nest, it was all a lie. It was safest away from it, he could see.

Hermione wouldn't stop crying.

The numbness in Draco subsided to a wave of sorrow. He didn't believe in epiphanies. I won't be good. I'm not evil either. There never are such boundaries on this world. He tried, weakly, to explain to his mind what was going on. It was a desperate last trial to see if his views were unchanged. Yet, for some reason, the words still held little meaning.

Hermione looked up, sensing something was wrong. For the first time in a long time, she could see a different emotion in Draco's eyes other then a self-centered hate or pity. His eyes were glossy with what might have been tears, or perhaps he had come out of a long train of thoughts.

" What's wrong?" She whispered.

He didn't answer. Instead, he embraced her close, feeling both cold and warmth running through his body. She didn't really struggle, tired mentally and physically. Hermione's eyes snapped shut in instinct though and she was afraid of what was coming. Draco slowly found her lips after kissing her upper cheek below the left eye.

It was strange, Hermione realized, that when she kissed Harry it felt warm, fuzzy, and familiar. Draco felt different – dangerous, frightening, yet so passionate that it was wild in a sense. Draco's kiss was exciting; Harry's was familiar and simple. She didn't know what was happening as the time slowly began to change and the world around them seemed to smudge apart, and she didn't know whether she'd like it.

*

Author's Note: I swear I have no idea what I was thinking as I wrote this. I just love epiphanies. I think Draco was due for one. Out of Character? I don't know, you tell me. Would it be possible, in a sense, in these surroundings? What do you think?

P.S. I think there are about 2 or 3 chapters left… just basically Hermione, Draco, and Harry figuring some things out. And I wonder – who would Hermione choose? To be honest, I don't even know myself. About halfway through last week, as I was about mid-way through this chapter, I realized how much I like Draco! (sigh). Yet, I don't know… Harry/Hermione is practically tattooed into my arm – I excel at these fics. Oh well, if this turns out against someone's liking, I promise I have plenty other H/Hr fics and a few D/Hr fics in plan. NEVER Draco/Harry though. Don't even ASK me about that. *Frownie face*

P.P.S. Scena Quarta or Scene Four because Draco actually goes through four phases in this fic. Spot them if you'd like. Too tired to explain.