A/N: This is a random little plot bunny (why do we call them plot bunnies?? Is there a reason?? At all??? Anyway...moving on...sheepish look) that got into my head and wouldn't leave. So I wrote it. A bit angsty...sorry...well, really, I'm not...anyway, go read the story. Oh! For all the people reading my Sweep fic, I'm really sorry, but I like one-shots better cuz they're easier to write...so the Sweep fic is on semi-permanent hiatus...sorry...
A/N2: I apologize for the screwed up formatting...it SO was not my fault...
A/N3: The song is "Sonny" by New Found Glory
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I've either written it before, or it isn't mine. Anything that I claim is mine but isn't umm...I'm sorry? (Don't sue me!! pitiful look)
Memory's Forever
By Ariannaid
"No...no..." the broken whisper was the only sound in the room.
"Hermione..." Harry tried to get her attention.
"No...he can't...he can't just..." Hermione was unable to articulate her thoughts.
"Hermione..." Ron said, reaching towards her.
"Don't touch me!" she snapped edging away from her friend.
"Hermione-" Harry tried again.
"Just get away from me!! All of you! Leave me alone!!" Unable to think of anything else, all in the room complied.
"Hermione...I am so sorry...." Harry said softly. Hermione didn't respond. But then, he hadn't expected her to.
"What should we do?" Ron asked Harry once they had left the room. There was an audible pause.
"Wait, I guess," Harry said at last. "It is up to her when she is willing to face the rest of us. I only hope that she doesn't wait too long."
"God, Harry...he...murdered like that...how...how could anyone have done that?"
"I don't know Ron. Hopefully we'll never understand."
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I'm sorry
I heard about the bad news today
A crowd of people around you
Telling you it's okay
And everything happens for a reason
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Hermione couldn't cry. The tears were there -just out of her reach- but they wouldn't come. All she could think of were Draco's dead eyes, and frozen, pain-filled face. He was dead. Draco, who had loved her, and promised to always be there for her, was dead. And there was nothing she could do about it.
And she had never told him the big surprise. The one that, even now, was growing inside her, unaware of the tragedy around it.
"Damn you, Draco Malfoy! You can't leave me like this! You promised! You promised..."
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When you lose a part of your self
To somebody you know
It takes a lot to let go
Every breath that you remember
Pictures fade away but memory is forever
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"She's talking to us again, at least," Ron remarked to Harry.
"Yeah..." Harry trailed off. "But she's still so...distant. I don't think she'll ever go back to the way she was before he died. I don't think any of us can be the same."
"This just sucks!" Ron exclaimed. "We defeated V...Voldemort. His body was already rotting in its grave when Draco was murdered. Who could have done it?"
"The ministry thinks that they know who. I heard Dumbledore speaking to Snape."
"Who, then?" Ron asked.
"Lucius Malfoy."
"Lucius!? His father?"
"Couldn't bear his son's defection, I imagine." Harry winced as reality hit him again. Draco Malfoy had been pivotal in the final struggle against Voldemort, and in the battles before that, since he had switched sides at the end of their seventh year. It had taken them two years to trust him, and another two to become friends. It had taken only another four months for Hermione to begin to fall in love. They had been married half a year before Draco was killed.
"Have they found him yet?" Ron broke through his reverie.
"No. But they don't want Hermione to know. They're afraid that she is too unstable, and that she would attempt to track him down herself. Especially with the condition she just revealed that she's in." Harry grimaced at the thought of the hardships ahead for Hermione.
"How did she manage to keep her pregnancy hidden for three months?" Ron voiced both their thoughts aloud.
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They knew who had killed her husband, and they had kept it hidden from her!? She would never forgive them for that. And she would hunt him down and find him. After all, not for nothing was Hermione Granger-Malfoy the smartest witch in her year. And nothing would stand in her way. Holding back tears that she still, even after two months, would not, and could not, let fall, Hermione went to find the book that would tell her how to find and kill one Lucius Malfoy.
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An empty chair at all the tables
And I'll be seeing you when all my days boil down
But it's better where you're going anyway
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"Hermione?" Harry cautiously stuck his head into her room. "Hermione? Hermio- Oh...bloody hell. Ron! Ron, Hermione's gone after Lucius!"
"What?" Ron hurried into the room. Harry pointed at the message written on her wall. "Is that-"
"It's ink, don't worry. Well, do worry. We'll have to notify the Order and get teams out immediately. Who knows what might happen meanwhile."
Ron stared at Harry. "How are you so calm? Aren't you worried about Hermione?"
"Of course I am. But Hermione is a powerful witch. I'm more worried about Lucius getting hurt then Hermione. We need him alive so that we can try him and get any information out of him. Besides, emotions add power. I'm sure Hermione could kill him with a whispered Stunner right now."
Ron nodded absently. "Maybe we should let her kill him..." Harry glanced at him sharply. Ron shrugged uncomfortably. "I dunno. It's just...he killed her husband. Shouldn't she be allowed to get some retribution? I know that if Hermione had been killed, Draco would have not only hunted down the murderer, but anyone else who could be involved. Hell, I would have too. And you as well, Harry, don't deny it."
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Hermione's grin grew more feral as her wand buzzed slightly in her hand. Good. She was getting close to Lucius's hiding spot. Slowing down, she held Harry's invisibility cloak close around her. She had been lucky that he had not been home when she used a spare key to get in. She hadn't wanted anyone to know that she was leaving. Swallowing a feeling of nausea that had seemed to appear soon before she realized that she was pregnant, and had persisted through the months, she repeated the spell she had found, and was rewarded with a harder buzzing. Lucius was close.
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"You're sure she's gone to find Lucius?" Dumbledore asked worriedly.
"I think that her message made that pretty clear," Harry snapped, annoyed at having been asked that for the third time.
"I know, I know. But how could she have found out? We made every precaution..." Lupin's brow was creased with worry, his one remaining eye also betraying his mood.
"She must have just overheard somehow...or just concluded that he made the most sense. She's far from stupid," Ron pointed out.
"Yes...if only..." Dumbledore seemed unable to finish his thought. "Never mind. Let us continue searching. We have to find her."
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I'm sorry
I heard about the bad news today
It's really hard to get through
Tough times and long days
But it really just depends on the season
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"Lucius Malfoy. What a comedown in the world for you." Hermione said emotionlessly, looking around in the dilapidated shack that he had been forced to hide in. He sneered at her, not deigning to reply. He wasn't afraid of his traitor son's lover. She was a mudblood, therefore beneath consideration.
It was thinking like that that would end his life.
"You killed Draco." Hermione seemed to stare through him.
"Of course. I couldn't let him live, after his choice to switch sides. I always knew that he would be a failure," Lucius replied derisively. "It would be just like him to take up with a mudblood."
"You'll have to pay, of course," Hermione said conversationally.
"And who will-" Lucius was cut off by the act of Hermione leveling her wand at him. He was then possessed by an urge to laugh. "You are going to kill me? You?" He gave in to his urge, and laughed.
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"We've found her. Or, the town that she's in, anyway," Lupin reported breathlessly to Harry, Ron, and Dumbledore. Dumbledore nodded, then turned to the people gathered.
"Split into teams of two, keep your wands ready. If you find Lucius and he's not dead, do not remedy that. We want him alive." Nodding, he and Lupin apparated to the coordinates. The others soon followed.
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"Do you know what it's like to have your world destroyed?" Hermione asked, after tying Lucius to the wall with that ever-so-handy spell. She had yet to let any emotion other than a distant politeness to her tone. "Do you know what it's like to find the body of one you love with your entire being, and find that he's been murdered?"
"What is your point?" Lucius asked, still unconvinced that she would do him harm.
"You killed the one person I loved more than life itself. You murdered him because he didn't believe in the same things as you. You do not deserve to live." Her cold announcement of that nurtured the first thread of fear that flitted through his mind.
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When you lose a part of your self
To somebody you know
It takes a lot to let go
Every breath that you remember
Pictures fade away but memory is forever
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"Harry! Harry! Over here! The spell said she should be in here!" Ron yelled. He and Harry ran towards the building, and arrived in time to hear her coldly denounce Lucius Malfoy's right to live.
"Hermione!" Harry yelled, and raced towards her. He was stopped short by an invisibly barrier.
"Please don't interrupt, Harry. I'm only doing what should have been done ages ago."
"Hermione, you can't kill him," Ron said quietly.
"Why ever not?"
"We need him alive. He may be able to tell us...things."
"Ah, but you said 'may'. It is possible he knows nothing. And he killed Draco. It is only fair that he dies now, too."
"Hermione, you're not thinking rationally. Yes, Draco's dead. But killing Lucius will not change that. So please, think about it. Draco would not want you to become a murderer. You are not a licensed auror. You know that the ministry will leap at this chance to get back at you, first for being involved with Malfoy, and then for defending Snape." Harry was desperately thinking of any way to get through to Hermione, who seemed to have blocked off all emotion since Draco's death.
"You can't go along like this. Draco's dead, Hermione. Don't lower to Lucius's level to get retribution," Ron added.
"He is dead, isn't he?" Hermione said, almost as if this was the first time she had really thought about it. "And you know what? All I want to do is join him."
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An empty chair at all the tables
And I'll be seeing you when all my days boil down
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"Hermione, think of your baby," Ron pleaded.
"Yes." Hermione put her wand-less hand over the slight bulge appearing beneath her shirt. "Draco's baby. Who will grow up without a father, thanks to that," She spat out. Hermione turned to Lucius, and prepared to kill him.
"Hermione..." Ron whispered in defeat.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Malfoy?" Hermione asked.
"Filthy mudblood," He spat at her, looking around wildly for a way to escape.
"You really are filth, Malfoy. Maybe I shouldn't kill you. You don't deserve death." Lucius didn't answer, but Ron and Harry started to look hopeful.
"No, but you shouldn't be without pain, either." Hermione looked coldly upon the suddenly panicked form of Lucius Malfoy. "Crucio."
And the room was filled with screaming. Lucius's screams were agonized, as he desperately tried to muffle them. Ron and Harry started a second later.
"Hermione-no! Stop!" Ron yelled.
"Don't do this Hermione!" Pleaded Harry.
Finally, Hermione lowered her wand. Silence reigned, and was interrupted as Lupin, Dumbledore, and several others burst through the door, crowding with Harry and Ron on the other side of Hermione's barrier.
"Hermione..." Lupin whispered, staring at the prone form of Lucius, blood trickling from several places. "Hermione, what did you do?"
"Atonement, dear Lupin, atonement." Hermione looked around the room at the faces of her friends, staring at her in shock, horror, and a deep, profound sadness.
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For now we'll say goodbye
We know it's not the last time
I've lost the best part of my day
But it's better where you're going anyway
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"I'm done for now, I think," Hermione said softly. "Someone had better get that out of my sight before I lose control again." No one moved.
"Um, Hermione...the uh, barrier..." Lupin said hesitantly.
"Oh...right." Hermione lowered the barrier, and Ron and Harry rushed to her. Lupin and Dumbledore moved towards Malfoy.
"Hermione..." Harry started, and then stopped as Hermione's control vanished. She fell to her knees, sobbing.
"He's dead...he's dead...he's dead..." she whispered, tears falling in a torrent down her face. Ron and Harry collapsed next to her, wrapping their arms around her. They didn't say anything; there was nothing that could be said. But they did hold her, and continued holding her until her tears stopped, and, exhausted, she allowed them to lead her away.
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Several months later, Hermione was in the infirmary at Hogwarts. She had refused to go to St. Mungo's, or even a muggle hospital. Harry and Ron had stood by her every decision, and Madame Pomfrey had bowed to their wishes. The birth had gone relatively smoothly, with no unusual complications. Now, Hermione was resting with her new baby son, eyes bright with unshed tears.
"So what are the tears for now?" Hermione started at the sound of her friend's voice.
"Ginny?" Ginny walked into the infirmary and sat in the chair next to Hermione's bed.
"I mean, are they the happy tears of motherhood, or the sad tears that Draco's never going to see his son?" Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I think," she said slowly, "That it's a little of both. I've never quite felt this way before. But it's like a part of the hole inside of me has been filled. It's..." Hermione trailed off, unable to think of words to describe her feelings.
"I think that I know what you mean." Ginny nodded, and then looked down shyly. "Seamus just asked me to marry him."
"Oh, Ginny! That's great! I mean...it is great, right?" Ginny smiled at Hermione.
"Yes. It's a good thing. Anyway, I was hoping you would be a bridesmaid for me."
"Of course I will. I would have been offended if you hadn't asked." Hermione smiled at Ginny, and Ginny grinned back.
Several hours later, after Ginny left. Hermione was again left alone with her thoughts. Looking down at her son, her eyes again filled with those tears that she couldn't seem to get rid of. Slowly, the baby's eyes opened. A single tear escaped her eye.
"You've got your dad's eyes, little one. I always loved his eyes."
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This is the last thing
I will remember
It's better where you're going anyway
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