Ashes and Dust: Chapter 2 : Survivors and Suffering

Disclaimer: I don't own, JK Rowling does. Don't sue me, sue one of the other hundred thousand fanfic-writers out there. =P

A/N: This chapter was written rather quickly, and it's not bad and it's not all that good. But please read and tell me what you think. Apologies for anyone who finds this confusing, but I have already promised to explain most, if not all, the war next chapter.

***

Hermione wiped her palms on her ripped robe and reached out to Malfoy. He took it, and she pulled him up. Hands clasped for moment, they stood silent, a sign of forgiveness perhaps. Hermione let go, and moved her hand to lay on his shoulder.

"I was down here looking for survivors. I didn't find many. Some were doomed to die. To put them out of their misery…" She trailed off. "The rest of us are in the old Hospital Wing."

"How many?"

Hermione smiled sadly, a memory of a once bright and eager student, a girl now changed by war. "Not enough."

"Who?"

"A handful of fifth, sixth and seventh years left. Most of the younger students escaped. Some Aurors. Flitwick. Snape. Some others... probably more. Probably."

"Who's missing?"

Hermione couldn't look him in the eye, and took to staring at the now black sky. There wasn't even a star to shine down of times like these.

"Harry. Dumbledore. McGonagall. More teachers. More Aurors. Most of the older students are confirmed dead."

She felt hollow and weak as the words came out. It was like the weight of it had hit her, not with brutal force, but with the force of a strong gust of wind that lifted you up and dropped you, letting you hit the ground. Hermione had never really thought about her reactions, let alone the fact that they could've been delayed. But now. So many are gone. So many are never coming back. Gone. She wavered, and Draco reached out instinctively to steady her.

Hermione breathed deep. "Thanks."

"You ok?"

"I hope so."

She took from her pocket a stopwatch, and from her sleeve a wand. A few words and a wave was all it took.

"Touch it."

"A Portkey?"

Hermione's nodding face swirled into a mix of green and black as the hook in his navel tugged hard. A moment later, they were standing at the door of the Hospital Wing. Amazingly, Draco noticed, all four walls were intact, something you couldn't say for many rooms.

"Two more students have been found in the Dungeons." Someone was saying.

Draco and Hermione turned the corner to see a black-haired Nymphadora Tonks standing beside Remus Lupin. They were helping a sixth-year on a patient bad beside an already batted and beaten…

"RON!"

Hermione had run forward, pushing Lupin out of the way to her friend. She buried her head into his shoulder, and Draco saw that her body was racking with tears. He looked at Weasley, and felt… well, admiration for the boy. They had fought alongside in the final battle, and Weasley was to be taken seriously. To see him cut, broken, bruised in such a way that almost made him unrecognizable made the guilt swell up again. Sure, he hadn't done this to Weasley, but he had done this to other people. Other victims.

"Are you hurt?"

Lupin was talking to him.

"No. No, not seriously," Draco answered, not taking his eyes off Granger and Weasley.

"Well, you've got to leave them. All we can do let them heal naturally, and magic will be of no help when we don't know if their injuries are magical or not. Miss Granger. Miss – Hermione. Please."

He finally pried the girl off Ron Weasley and shut the white curtain. Hermione wiped her eyes, and turned only to see more faces of grief, pain and loss. More patients, mostly in makeshift beds, as the Hospital had not been ready for such a need of medical services. In fact, no one had been ready. Those who saw them looked at the curiously, only to have that expression replaced with hatred when they saw Malfoy.

"Draco Malfoy."

Both Hermione and Draco turned to see one Severus Snape leaning against the door's archway. They couldn't tell if he was injured, as everything except his face seemed to be concealed by his black robes. His expression was a mix of a grim look, and his permanent scowl.

"Sir." Draco replied respectfully.

There was a short moment of silence, in which Snape seemed to study the both of them, especially Draco.

"Congratulations." He finally said.

"For what?"

"For surviving."

Draco felt Hermione jerk suddenly. "Don't say that!" She cried. "Do you know how many we could have saved if we had been prepared?"

"Yes. Yes, I do."

"Then tell me why we weren't?!" She exclaimed, outraged at the apathy he was showing.

Draco touched her arm, and she flinched.

"Let it go." He was saying.

"Don't." She whispered fiercely. "Just don't."

Draco realized her eyes were shining with what he recognized as tears, but she turned to face them anyway.

"We can't blame it all on them… THEM! It's our fault too. It's our fault there are bodies out there that are mangled and tortured beyond recognition. There are no congratulations, Professor. There's nothing anymore. And I can't just let that go, Draco. How can you – how can ANYONE just let that go? You can't okay?! You can't."

Hermione fled. And Draco found himself following her.

*

She ran, and he ran after her. This was a girl he had hated, mocked, for over six years, but now he was feeling a pain for her he had never knew he had inside of him. He suddenly realized how it was that emotions had always been so easy for him. They had always been so straightforward, so simple to read, and to understand.

Hate. Indifference. Dislike. And the occasional pride.

Was this because I was a Slytherin? Or was it because I was a Malfoy? A pureblood? Why did it matter so much? Why had it mattered so much? I knew it didn't matter now, now that most of the purebloods were gone. Killed for their allegiance to Voldermort. Like my father. Like I should be. All these years, all I had been taught was that Voldermort was God, and the deaths of, the riddance of Mudbloods and Muggles were God's will. We were only disciples, followers. Who were we to oppose him?

Hermione slowed to a stop, panting softly. He stopped too.

"Where are you running to?"

"Away from this. All this."

"We can't leave them. There still might be survivors."

"No. They're all dead."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do."

She moved to turn, but Draco grabbed her arm. "Don't run again, Granger."

The girl looked at him, half curious, half angry. She twisted her arm free, but she didn't move. "I don't want to stay here. I've got to get away." Her voice shook violently.

"Then we'll go. We'll walk."

Hermione looked at him, the same mask of curiousity. She nodded slowly. "Why are you still here Malfoy? I mean, why have you not run yet, so to speak?"

He paused, searching for the right answer. "Run? There's nothing to run from."

But Hermione didn't believe him. Even as they walked in silence towards the direction of the mountains, the wheels in her head we turning. "I get it."

"Get what?"

"You want answers, don't you? You want to know what happened afterwards."

It was Draco's turn to glare at Hermione, but he too, gave in and nodded in the end.

They stepped quietly, but it seemed strangely loud anyway in the eerily silent graveyard or figures. Eventually they moved further and further until you couldn't see the bodies anymore because of the distance and dim light. Reaching the each of the lake, Hermione sat, to which Draco followed suit. The squid once known to have existed there had either left or was dead, Draco mused.

"So you want to know what happened during and afterwards," Hermione repeated softly.

Draco nodded again, but she wasn't even looking at him. She was looking at the shimmering half moon in the empty sky. Her next words surprised him.

"All you had to do was ask. I'll tell you what I know."

***

Well? How was the chapter? It's slow, I guess, but next chapter does a whole lot of explaining about the war. I don't think there will be flashbacks though, just recounting in the form of them talking. Unless anyone thinks it would be better. I'm not really sure.

Anyhow, please review! And thanks to everyone who reviewed the 1st chapter!