Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I wouldn't mind taking Draco and
Harry off of her hands!!! (J. K. Rowlings of course is the only one
brilliant enough to come up with something as ingenious as Harry Potter.)
I hope that this came fast enough, I've been waiting for this chapter for like ever! I hope all of you like it. This took me three hours just to think about what was going to happen exactly and two days almost nonstop to write it. Well, enjoy and please read and review!
Chapter 18
All of the students leaving for war got on a ship to sail to Voldemort's mansion in Ireland. It was a long and tense ride there. The air was thick and forbidding the closer they got to Ireland. Harry and Draco talked to Ron, Ginny, and Starlight about the whole thing with Draco and Hermione to pass time.
"So you and Hermione were dating?" asked Ginny incredulously. "I had no idea! Hermione never mentioned anything like this to me in her letters."
"Yeah, but something happened. I have an arranged marriage that I couldn't change. But I've a feeling that something else happened to cause her to get so upset," said Draco looking over the side of the boat.
"Something did happen," said Harry as though speaking to himself.
"What?" Ron, Ginny, Starlight, and Draco asked in unison.
"I don't know if she'd want me to tell though. She said that it wasn't really a big deal but I could tell that it's been tearing her up inside. She was really upset about the fact that she ended up telling me because her mum asked about it."
"Harry . . . someone needs to tell what happened to her. I know that I haven't really had a chance to meet her, but I think that it's important for something like that to be talked about to maybe fix it," said Starlight.
Harry ran a hand through his unruly hair and sighed, "Well . . . she was raped by someone and she doesn't even have a way of knowing who did it. They used a specter charm and a whisper charm so that the identity couldn't be revealed to her."
"WHAT!" Draco looked as though he had found out the secret to Hermione's sudden hate for him.
"What are we going to do? We have to fix this," said Ginny to herself.
~*::-::*~
Hermione had been training since the moment the school left for the war. She had been getting progressively more and more sick because of the predicament that she was in. She and Arabella and Sirius had become much closer since the time the whole of Hogwarts had departed.
The only ones left at the school were the twenty that had signed up for hospital duty and all the Professors. Apparently all of the Slytherins whom had not signed up for the war had left to join their parents on the dark side. For the first month of the war, Hogwarts had only good news about the progress of the battling. Hermione wondered if maybe they would be coming home soon.
Just when things were looking bright, Hogwarts received the worst news of the war thus far. The Death Eaters had attacked one of the student camps and taken about fifty of the ranks captive and tortured them. That was when the rush started and all the hospital was in an uproar. The students that had been sent in were in very bad shape, some of the students were so badly tortured that they died within a few days of being sent back because they were too far beyond help.
One of those people, to Hermione's dismay, was Parvati Patil. Those two were never really close like Lavender and Parvati were, but it still was a great loss for her. Hermione had cried for about an hour when Parvati had passed on. Arabella had been there to comfort her, but it was like having to live in death for Hermione and nothing could change what was happening. All she could do was keep on doing her job.
Luna Lovegood had lost one of her best friends as well, but she couldn't even be there because by the time they had found her, she was already too mutilated to even move away from the fighting. She died at the end of the day.
Circumstances were bleak and they weren't looking any better. The fact that she was getting more and more upset the longer she was away from everyone. She was figuring that she was really worried about Justin since she was going to marry him eventually.
'No it's not, you know that it's really Draco that you're worried about. You said so yourself that you loved him.'
"What are you on about Hermione?" she scolded herself.
'You're still in love with him!' said her little voice inside.
"What?!? I can't be. I thought I was over this already. He is engaged and so am I . . . I can't be worried over that fact that I used to love him."
'There is no used to about it! You're still in love with him and you know it!'
"Stop saying that!" said Hermione with her head in her hands. "I can't love him anymore can I? Why am I even having this conversation? It's not that hard to figure out . . . he betrayed me and that's all there is to it!"
'You can't change what your heart is feeling. You're fighting a losing battle; he loves you and you know it.'
"Damn it all to hell!" said Hermione giving up a sigh of frustration. "He's engaged and he never told me about it."
'You know that he doesn't want to be, and besides, it was an arranged marriage that he had no say in.'
"Hermione are you all right?" asked Luna walking up to her and sitting next to her.
Hermione looked up startled at the invasion of her thoughts, "No Luna . . . I'm not."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know!" said Hermione desperately. "I'm so confused right now, and I don't know what I can do about it."
"It's Draco isn't it?" she inquired knowingly.
"How did you know?" asked Hermione looking surprised that she had been caught.
"Like you I am telepathic, but I didn't need that to tell me that you're still in love with him."
"You're telepathic?"
"Oh yes, my family once used to be well known for their telepathy. But don't change the subject."
"Right. But how do you know that I'm still in love with him?"
"Every time you looked at him since you broke things off you looked as though you were incomplete because you were no longer with each other. He's your match Hermione, and there's nothing you can change about that."
"But he lied to me." This was the only thing she could rely on anymore.
"Yes, but he wanted to tell you the truth. He didn't want to hurt you like he did. It just so happened that Blaise, Pansy, and Millicent got to you before he could. He was planning to tell you that night that you were raped, but you wouldn't talk to him."
"Wait, did you just say Blaise, Pansy, and Millicent? You mean Zabini, Parkinson, and Bulstrode?"
"I do not know of any others," she said impassively. "I know that that is a sore topic with you about the rape and all, but you can't keep hiding it. You have to do something about it."
Hermione didn't know what to say anymore, she had just received so much information and it was almost too much to take in now that everything was past and it was too late to repair anything.
"Thank you Luna, you're such a good friend," said Hermione hugging Luna as she let her thoughts take over again.
~*::-::*~
Harry had killed Voldemort finally but at no little cost. He was in the medic station, which was amazingly still not found by the enemies.
He was left shirtless with bandages wrapped around his waist and ribs to cover his injuries. Ginny walked in to him and sat on the edge of his bed next to him.
Harry sat up gingerly and took her hand. "Hey Gin. How is everything going?"
"Well considering the circumstances, everything is good. We broke into another one of the Death Eaters camps. They are now at work on infiltrating it and gaining control of it."
"That's good. How are you doing?"
Ginny blushed, "I'm good Harry. But why are you asking about me when I should be asking about you?"
"I'm fine Gin, these people are too over cautious honestly. I feel ready to be back in action considering I can use magic and no one else can."
"Harry, you're such a bad liar sometimes. I could tell that it hurt for you just to sit up when I came in," said Ginny looking at him like he was crazy for insisting that he was ready to fight again.
"Oh fine! Deprive a man of the only fighting he can do without getting into trouble!" said Harry jokingly.
Ginny and Harry laughed for the first time since the start of the war.
~*::-::*~
Two months had passed before they finally infiltrated the base of Voldemort's closest followers. There were only thirty Death Eaters left, but they were by far the most dangerous.
Finally, a battle that would actually do some damage to the dark ranks. Everyone drew their swords and the battle commenced.
Both Pettigrew and one of the other Death Eaters were swinging their sabers around towards the helpless Neville, and there was no more doubt about their intention. They could not miss at that range. Neville turned his head suddenly, his fear-stricken eyes meeting those of Draco.
In a split second, with the sound of clashing metal and with the blades of two men reaching for him, Draco made a decision. With a catlike leap he sprang past his own adversaries. There was a low railing around the top floor of Voldemort's mansion, and without breaking stride; he used it for a springboard. The blades of the weapons were lowering as he crouched, then drove himself headlong into Pettigrew and the other Death Eater. As he flew through the air, he twisted his body, so that he went crashing with his torso on Pettigrew's squat body, driving him into the rail. His legs hit the other Death Eater waist high, but though he staggered, he didn't go down.
"Potter! Cut them down!" Draco yelled, and a red mist seemed to fall over his eyes, the rage of battle driving him beyond logic or reason.
Draco saw Neville being backed into the large stone pillar, and others were rushing to help them.
He did his best, twisting as MacNair's naked blade shot forward, and by twisting his body to one side, he managed to take only a minor wound, a raking shallow cut across his back, high up.
Then he was through, for he was practically on his face after his last lunge. 'Now it's over,' he thought; he was sad at what he would never have, but not afraid.
Then he heard a chorus of yelling and, rolling over quickly, saw Harry and Ron and Ginny had come up to attack MacNair.
He heaved himself to his feet, grabbed his sword and with a yell, he threw himself at the two men about to finish off Neville.
One of them turned with a startled look of rage and made a pass at Draco. He parried it with ease and drove his own blade through the man's heart, withdrew it and turned to meet an attack from the rear.
It was well he did, for he found himself face-to-face with none other than his father, Lucius Malfoy.
The tall, thin form of the man was twisted sideways, one foot out with knee bent, left foot back and at right angles - the classic position, and the moment their blades touched, Draco knew he had never crossed blades with a better swordsman.
"It's over father!" he cried. "Throw down your sword."
"No, it's not over, not until you're dead!" Lucius sneered and moved ahead with a rapid attack such as Draco had never seen before.
Lucius' blade darted faster than a snake's tongue, and only by falling back in a half-stumble did Draco survive. He was exhausted after all the fighting, and the wound in his back was draining his strength. Back, back he went, staving off death by the last fraction of a second as he pushed aside Lucius' darting blade time and time again.
His back stuck to the wall of the mansion, and he twisted to one side, missing death by inches as Lucius' blade struck the stone where he had been an instant earlier.
Draco turned, driven back by the brilliance of the man's swordsmanship; never once was he able to mount an attack of his own. Dimly he was aware that the wizard's duel between Harry and Voldemort would be over soon; Ron and the other's would come to his aid - but it would be to late . . . but this was his fight and his alone.
He could back up no more. His legs struck the railing, and for a few seconds, the blades made a ringing clash so rapid, it was impossible to separate them. He was fighting on instinct now, his mind not able to keep up with Lucius' tactics. Parry, parry - twist and turn. But now he was getting slower and he was the fiery light of victory in his father's eyes as he crouched for the final lunge.
Do what he'll nevair expect! The words came to his mind like a flash of light from his past - the words of his old master, Dupree. And in a desperation born of despair, he did exactly that. With a wild yell he leaped at Lucius, lifting his sword high over his head like a club. If Lucius had kept his head he could have run Draco through the body at that moment, but he did not.
The wild yell and the totally unexpected abandonment of the classic style for the rough, vicious swing of the sword rattled him. He took one step back and when the downward stroke of his raging opponent struck, it nearly tore his own blade from his hand.
He had only time to lift his blade to catch the next wild sweep, which Draco threw at him crossways like a scythe.
Screaming like a banshee, Draco drove Lucius across the floor by brute force. None of the smooth exact science he had spent years learning. He swung his blade like a wild Irishman swings a shillelagh in a brawl, and it shattered Lucius' confidence.
He caught himself for one last try, but he went into the classic stance, Draco kicked him in the knee and Lucius went down without a single cry.
Instantly Draco was over him, his eyes mad with battle fury and years of hatred now pounding through his veins, his sword poised over the fallen man's body.
Lucius looked up and there was no fear in his eyes. He spat out, "Do it then! I am not afraid to die!"
Still Draco stood there, the sword drawn back, quivering and ready to drop.
"Well, you going to kill him or not?"
Draco twisted his head to see that Ron and Harry had come upstairs and were watching the scene with clinical interest.
The roar of blood in Draco's ears quieted, and he looked down at his father, glaring at him with pale hatred.
"Yes, I will - and then you will know how much I have always hated you father," he said raising his sword; and with a swift fluid motion, the saber pierced Lucius heart.
As he pulled the blade out, a violent tremor shook his body, and Harry at once whipped off his cloak and draped it over his shoulders. "We'd best get you to Ginny at once. That's a bad cut you took - and the freezing conditions aren't doing you any good."
By the time they'd returned and Ginny had finished with the medical treatment, Draco's head was swimming and he seemed to be burning up.
"W - what's wrong with m - me?" he asked feebly.
Ginny threw her wand down and cried, "Damn it all, someone used chemical weaponry on you, or I'm no medic! I think Lucius might have done something to his weapon . . . it's the only logical explanation. Just when they said they wouldn't allow magic, they come back and try to kill one of us with biological warfare. Damn it!" but then she caught herself and said, "But we'll pull you through Draco - don't doubt it."
But Draco only heard the first part of her statement. His head was swimming and he slipped into a black hole that seemed to be waiting to swallow him up like a huge and merciless beast.
Author's Note: I won't be doing thank yous this chapter; I will save those for the next chapter. If you want me to write a thank you to you, review!!! Well I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter! Click on the little review button below thank you muchly in advance!!!
I hope that this came fast enough, I've been waiting for this chapter for like ever! I hope all of you like it. This took me three hours just to think about what was going to happen exactly and two days almost nonstop to write it. Well, enjoy and please read and review!
Chapter 18
All of the students leaving for war got on a ship to sail to Voldemort's mansion in Ireland. It was a long and tense ride there. The air was thick and forbidding the closer they got to Ireland. Harry and Draco talked to Ron, Ginny, and Starlight about the whole thing with Draco and Hermione to pass time.
"So you and Hermione were dating?" asked Ginny incredulously. "I had no idea! Hermione never mentioned anything like this to me in her letters."
"Yeah, but something happened. I have an arranged marriage that I couldn't change. But I've a feeling that something else happened to cause her to get so upset," said Draco looking over the side of the boat.
"Something did happen," said Harry as though speaking to himself.
"What?" Ron, Ginny, Starlight, and Draco asked in unison.
"I don't know if she'd want me to tell though. She said that it wasn't really a big deal but I could tell that it's been tearing her up inside. She was really upset about the fact that she ended up telling me because her mum asked about it."
"Harry . . . someone needs to tell what happened to her. I know that I haven't really had a chance to meet her, but I think that it's important for something like that to be talked about to maybe fix it," said Starlight.
Harry ran a hand through his unruly hair and sighed, "Well . . . she was raped by someone and she doesn't even have a way of knowing who did it. They used a specter charm and a whisper charm so that the identity couldn't be revealed to her."
"WHAT!" Draco looked as though he had found out the secret to Hermione's sudden hate for him.
"What are we going to do? We have to fix this," said Ginny to herself.
~*::-::*~
Hermione had been training since the moment the school left for the war. She had been getting progressively more and more sick because of the predicament that she was in. She and Arabella and Sirius had become much closer since the time the whole of Hogwarts had departed.
The only ones left at the school were the twenty that had signed up for hospital duty and all the Professors. Apparently all of the Slytherins whom had not signed up for the war had left to join their parents on the dark side. For the first month of the war, Hogwarts had only good news about the progress of the battling. Hermione wondered if maybe they would be coming home soon.
Just when things were looking bright, Hogwarts received the worst news of the war thus far. The Death Eaters had attacked one of the student camps and taken about fifty of the ranks captive and tortured them. That was when the rush started and all the hospital was in an uproar. The students that had been sent in were in very bad shape, some of the students were so badly tortured that they died within a few days of being sent back because they were too far beyond help.
One of those people, to Hermione's dismay, was Parvati Patil. Those two were never really close like Lavender and Parvati were, but it still was a great loss for her. Hermione had cried for about an hour when Parvati had passed on. Arabella had been there to comfort her, but it was like having to live in death for Hermione and nothing could change what was happening. All she could do was keep on doing her job.
Luna Lovegood had lost one of her best friends as well, but she couldn't even be there because by the time they had found her, she was already too mutilated to even move away from the fighting. She died at the end of the day.
Circumstances were bleak and they weren't looking any better. The fact that she was getting more and more upset the longer she was away from everyone. She was figuring that she was really worried about Justin since she was going to marry him eventually.
'No it's not, you know that it's really Draco that you're worried about. You said so yourself that you loved him.'
"What are you on about Hermione?" she scolded herself.
'You're still in love with him!' said her little voice inside.
"What?!? I can't be. I thought I was over this already. He is engaged and so am I . . . I can't be worried over that fact that I used to love him."
'There is no used to about it! You're still in love with him and you know it!'
"Stop saying that!" said Hermione with her head in her hands. "I can't love him anymore can I? Why am I even having this conversation? It's not that hard to figure out . . . he betrayed me and that's all there is to it!"
'You can't change what your heart is feeling. You're fighting a losing battle; he loves you and you know it.'
"Damn it all to hell!" said Hermione giving up a sigh of frustration. "He's engaged and he never told me about it."
'You know that he doesn't want to be, and besides, it was an arranged marriage that he had no say in.'
"Hermione are you all right?" asked Luna walking up to her and sitting next to her.
Hermione looked up startled at the invasion of her thoughts, "No Luna . . . I'm not."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know!" said Hermione desperately. "I'm so confused right now, and I don't know what I can do about it."
"It's Draco isn't it?" she inquired knowingly.
"How did you know?" asked Hermione looking surprised that she had been caught.
"Like you I am telepathic, but I didn't need that to tell me that you're still in love with him."
"You're telepathic?"
"Oh yes, my family once used to be well known for their telepathy. But don't change the subject."
"Right. But how do you know that I'm still in love with him?"
"Every time you looked at him since you broke things off you looked as though you were incomplete because you were no longer with each other. He's your match Hermione, and there's nothing you can change about that."
"But he lied to me." This was the only thing she could rely on anymore.
"Yes, but he wanted to tell you the truth. He didn't want to hurt you like he did. It just so happened that Blaise, Pansy, and Millicent got to you before he could. He was planning to tell you that night that you were raped, but you wouldn't talk to him."
"Wait, did you just say Blaise, Pansy, and Millicent? You mean Zabini, Parkinson, and Bulstrode?"
"I do not know of any others," she said impassively. "I know that that is a sore topic with you about the rape and all, but you can't keep hiding it. You have to do something about it."
Hermione didn't know what to say anymore, she had just received so much information and it was almost too much to take in now that everything was past and it was too late to repair anything.
"Thank you Luna, you're such a good friend," said Hermione hugging Luna as she let her thoughts take over again.
~*::-::*~
Harry had killed Voldemort finally but at no little cost. He was in the medic station, which was amazingly still not found by the enemies.
He was left shirtless with bandages wrapped around his waist and ribs to cover his injuries. Ginny walked in to him and sat on the edge of his bed next to him.
Harry sat up gingerly and took her hand. "Hey Gin. How is everything going?"
"Well considering the circumstances, everything is good. We broke into another one of the Death Eaters camps. They are now at work on infiltrating it and gaining control of it."
"That's good. How are you doing?"
Ginny blushed, "I'm good Harry. But why are you asking about me when I should be asking about you?"
"I'm fine Gin, these people are too over cautious honestly. I feel ready to be back in action considering I can use magic and no one else can."
"Harry, you're such a bad liar sometimes. I could tell that it hurt for you just to sit up when I came in," said Ginny looking at him like he was crazy for insisting that he was ready to fight again.
"Oh fine! Deprive a man of the only fighting he can do without getting into trouble!" said Harry jokingly.
Ginny and Harry laughed for the first time since the start of the war.
~*::-::*~
Two months had passed before they finally infiltrated the base of Voldemort's closest followers. There were only thirty Death Eaters left, but they were by far the most dangerous.
Finally, a battle that would actually do some damage to the dark ranks. Everyone drew their swords and the battle commenced.
Both Pettigrew and one of the other Death Eaters were swinging their sabers around towards the helpless Neville, and there was no more doubt about their intention. They could not miss at that range. Neville turned his head suddenly, his fear-stricken eyes meeting those of Draco.
In a split second, with the sound of clashing metal and with the blades of two men reaching for him, Draco made a decision. With a catlike leap he sprang past his own adversaries. There was a low railing around the top floor of Voldemort's mansion, and without breaking stride; he used it for a springboard. The blades of the weapons were lowering as he crouched, then drove himself headlong into Pettigrew and the other Death Eater. As he flew through the air, he twisted his body, so that he went crashing with his torso on Pettigrew's squat body, driving him into the rail. His legs hit the other Death Eater waist high, but though he staggered, he didn't go down.
"Potter! Cut them down!" Draco yelled, and a red mist seemed to fall over his eyes, the rage of battle driving him beyond logic or reason.
Draco saw Neville being backed into the large stone pillar, and others were rushing to help them.
He did his best, twisting as MacNair's naked blade shot forward, and by twisting his body to one side, he managed to take only a minor wound, a raking shallow cut across his back, high up.
Then he was through, for he was practically on his face after his last lunge. 'Now it's over,' he thought; he was sad at what he would never have, but not afraid.
Then he heard a chorus of yelling and, rolling over quickly, saw Harry and Ron and Ginny had come up to attack MacNair.
He heaved himself to his feet, grabbed his sword and with a yell, he threw himself at the two men about to finish off Neville.
One of them turned with a startled look of rage and made a pass at Draco. He parried it with ease and drove his own blade through the man's heart, withdrew it and turned to meet an attack from the rear.
It was well he did, for he found himself face-to-face with none other than his father, Lucius Malfoy.
The tall, thin form of the man was twisted sideways, one foot out with knee bent, left foot back and at right angles - the classic position, and the moment their blades touched, Draco knew he had never crossed blades with a better swordsman.
"It's over father!" he cried. "Throw down your sword."
"No, it's not over, not until you're dead!" Lucius sneered and moved ahead with a rapid attack such as Draco had never seen before.
Lucius' blade darted faster than a snake's tongue, and only by falling back in a half-stumble did Draco survive. He was exhausted after all the fighting, and the wound in his back was draining his strength. Back, back he went, staving off death by the last fraction of a second as he pushed aside Lucius' darting blade time and time again.
His back stuck to the wall of the mansion, and he twisted to one side, missing death by inches as Lucius' blade struck the stone where he had been an instant earlier.
Draco turned, driven back by the brilliance of the man's swordsmanship; never once was he able to mount an attack of his own. Dimly he was aware that the wizard's duel between Harry and Voldemort would be over soon; Ron and the other's would come to his aid - but it would be to late . . . but this was his fight and his alone.
He could back up no more. His legs struck the railing, and for a few seconds, the blades made a ringing clash so rapid, it was impossible to separate them. He was fighting on instinct now, his mind not able to keep up with Lucius' tactics. Parry, parry - twist and turn. But now he was getting slower and he was the fiery light of victory in his father's eyes as he crouched for the final lunge.
Do what he'll nevair expect! The words came to his mind like a flash of light from his past - the words of his old master, Dupree. And in a desperation born of despair, he did exactly that. With a wild yell he leaped at Lucius, lifting his sword high over his head like a club. If Lucius had kept his head he could have run Draco through the body at that moment, but he did not.
The wild yell and the totally unexpected abandonment of the classic style for the rough, vicious swing of the sword rattled him. He took one step back and when the downward stroke of his raging opponent struck, it nearly tore his own blade from his hand.
He had only time to lift his blade to catch the next wild sweep, which Draco threw at him crossways like a scythe.
Screaming like a banshee, Draco drove Lucius across the floor by brute force. None of the smooth exact science he had spent years learning. He swung his blade like a wild Irishman swings a shillelagh in a brawl, and it shattered Lucius' confidence.
He caught himself for one last try, but he went into the classic stance, Draco kicked him in the knee and Lucius went down without a single cry.
Instantly Draco was over him, his eyes mad with battle fury and years of hatred now pounding through his veins, his sword poised over the fallen man's body.
Lucius looked up and there was no fear in his eyes. He spat out, "Do it then! I am not afraid to die!"
Still Draco stood there, the sword drawn back, quivering and ready to drop.
"Well, you going to kill him or not?"
Draco twisted his head to see that Ron and Harry had come upstairs and were watching the scene with clinical interest.
The roar of blood in Draco's ears quieted, and he looked down at his father, glaring at him with pale hatred.
"Yes, I will - and then you will know how much I have always hated you father," he said raising his sword; and with a swift fluid motion, the saber pierced Lucius heart.
As he pulled the blade out, a violent tremor shook his body, and Harry at once whipped off his cloak and draped it over his shoulders. "We'd best get you to Ginny at once. That's a bad cut you took - and the freezing conditions aren't doing you any good."
By the time they'd returned and Ginny had finished with the medical treatment, Draco's head was swimming and he seemed to be burning up.
"W - what's wrong with m - me?" he asked feebly.
Ginny threw her wand down and cried, "Damn it all, someone used chemical weaponry on you, or I'm no medic! I think Lucius might have done something to his weapon . . . it's the only logical explanation. Just when they said they wouldn't allow magic, they come back and try to kill one of us with biological warfare. Damn it!" but then she caught herself and said, "But we'll pull you through Draco - don't doubt it."
But Draco only heard the first part of her statement. His head was swimming and he slipped into a black hole that seemed to be waiting to swallow him up like a huge and merciless beast.
Author's Note: I won't be doing thank yous this chapter; I will save those for the next chapter. If you want me to write a thank you to you, review!!! Well I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter! Click on the little review button below thank you muchly in advance!!!