"In My Life"
Partially inspired by the song by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Disclaimer: I still own nothing but the plot.
Chapter 8
"What?" Hermione was starting to feel the happiness she had from the night before slip away from her. She was staring in Draco's direction but not really seeing him.
Draco stood nervously before her, fiddling with his ring. "Ni-, er, Hermione?" he said cautiously.
She looked into his eyes for a second before speaking. "Draco," she began softly, "I need to be alone for a little while, okay?"
"Of course, Hermione." he said quickly. "Give me a call…." He let himself out of the hotel room. Hermione slowly sat down on the bed. She was so confused and…stunned. As she sat motionlessly for countless minutes, she felt her surprise turn to sadness. How could she have thought that she was the only one keeping secrets these past months? Somehow hers suddenly seemed small and insignificant compared to what she had just heard. Her mind was in shambles, nothing was right anymore. She eventually gave up trying to fix her brain and fell back softly on her bed, sobbing quietly.
Draco quickly left the hotel, trying to convince himself that everything would work out fine, when in reality he knew that it would be a very long time before Hermione would even talk to him. He felt terrible, but didn't see any other possible alternatives for what he could have told her. Should he have waited to let her know? If he had, it would have been worse, and he knew it. There was no fixing the mess he had started so many months ago when Lucius and he had figured this all out. He remembered feeling worse than he had ever felt before; discussing the deaths of innocent people he hadn't yet met. But it was that or disappointing his father, something that Draco had grown up avoiding at all costs. Though he was disgusted with himself for not facing his father when it would have helped, Draco knew little could be done. Now he could only be happy with the knowledge that Hermione was safe in knowing the truth. Whether or not she would ever want to see him again was another matter; one that would be discovered later.
Dante and Macnair waited patiently outside until nightfall, going over their plan in whispers all of the late afternoon. At one point, they looked up and saw Draco leaving the building. Perfect.
When night had fallen, the two men whispered quietly one last time before disappearing with a POP! into thin air.
Macnair apparated to the empty elevator waiting on the first floor and calmly pressed the button indicating floor three. Upon reaching the third floor, Macnair quietly whispered a spell under his breath, instantly putting the security guard into a deep sleep. He then exited the elevator, calmly walking down the hall to the stairs near Hermione's room. He descended them, cautiously placing signs reading Stairs Under Construction! DO NOT ENTER! on all of the doors leading to the stairwell. Noticing happily that there were no cameras in the stairwell area, Macnair quickly ran back to the third floor, where he awaited the arrival of Dante.
Dante had apparated immediately to the third floor corridor, just outside Hermione's room. He cautiously approached the door and knocked casually.
Hermione sat on a chair, gazing in wonder at the wand in front of her. 'I haven't used this in years…' she thought to herself, 'would I remember any of the spells now?' she wondered. Quickly, she tried to remember everything that she had learned in magic school four years ago. She was surprised at the amount remembered, but then again, she had been rather fond of studying…. She chuckled softly to herself.
Suddenly, a knock on the door awoke her from her thoughts. "Who is it?" she called to the person behind the door. An unfamiliar voice responded.
"Ms. Madison, a package for you." Hermione stood slowly. It was only hotel staff. She stuffed her wand in her back pocket and opened the door. "Silencio," muttered Dante, his wand just visible in his right hand. He quickly stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. Hermione, terrified and realizing that she was no longer able to use her voice, quickly backed away from the stranger before her. She had backed straight into the wall on the opposite side of the room before Dante laughed and said, "Stupify."
Hermione collapsed, unconscious, immediately.
Hermione awoke with a terrible headache, in a place that could only truly be described as a dungeon. She was lying on a cold stone floor, growing more confused by the second. She tried sitting up, but it made her headache worse, so she lay back down. She felt something sticking uncomfortably into her lower back, and rolled over to see what it was. Not seeing anything on the floor, she slowly reached into her back pocket, pulling out her old wand. Suddenly, everything came rushing back to her—the hotel room, the Malfoys' plan, the knock on the door—everything. Hermione groaned, wondering where on earth she could possibly be.
This question was soon answered. Hermione heard someone walking down the stone hallway, and, too exhausted to do anything else, waited until the person passed her cell.
Lucius Malfoy soon appeared before her. "I see that you are awake." He said coldly.
"Mr. Malfoy? Where am I?" Hermione turned on the "Nicole" part of herself, carefully hiding her wand from view behind her back. Lucius smiled evilly.
"Ms. Madison, you are in Malfoy Manor. I suggest that you get used to your environment, you're going to be here for some time."
Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why am I here? Where's Draco?"
Lucius smiled again. "Oh, Draco is fine. He's upstairs right now, in fact. Feeling rather proud of himself, I would imagine."
"Pardon?" asked Hermione, wondering what could possibly be going on.
"Yes, Draco's plan worked very well. It is because of him that you are here. Yes, he made sure that everyone could attend, including you."
"Attend what, exactly?"
"Oh, just a little ceremony. You wouldn't understand the importance of it, even if I was willing to tell you, which I am not."
"What does Draco have to do with any of this?"
"It was his idea, he thought of it. Well, now that you can't get out of here, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to say…." Lucius laughed softly. "Why not? You are going to die, Ms. Madison. You and the rest of the cast of this stupid little muggle production. Draco will kill you all, for the sake of our kind."
"Draco…?" Hermione didn't know whether she believed Lucius or not. He did seem confident…
"Yes Draco. Failed to mention that, did he?" Lucius looked coldly down at her and then quickly walked away, chuckling to himself.
'Draco?' Hermione thought to herself numbly.