Chapter Twenty-Four:

Severing of Ties

It took a while for the crowd that formed on the Pitch to dissipate, but it eventually did and the crowd paraded to the Hospital wing. Once again Harry was infirm and now the attention was actually on him.

The subject of the game traveled on many tongues through the castles voluminous corridors. Students wanted a rematch between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but Dumbledore announced that there couldn't possibly be more excitement in a rematch and concluded that the Quidditch Cup would be awarded to both Houses at the end of year feast.

Amidst the groans of disappointed fans, Dumbledore had them ushered out, encouraging them to assemble at the Great Hall for the dance that night.

Everything appeared well, but all was not resolved in the castle.

Up in his room, Draco changed out of his robes and into his dress robes for the dance taking place in a few hours. Without warning, the door flew open, clanging against the wall with a shudder.

In the doorway in all his glory and splendor was Lucius Malfoy, snake-headed cane in hand as he fumed.

"DRACO!" he hissed as he stormed into the room, slamming the thick wood door shut.

Draco didn't look up, continuing to fold his clothes neatly atop his bed coverings. "I was wondering when you'd show," he said in a smarmy tone.

Lucius whipped his cane towards the boy with a look of rage on his face.

"How dare you!"

Draco turned to face him, standing his ground.

"How dare I what?"

Lucius snapped his wrist out, pointing the snake head inches from Draco's face.

"You SAVED Potter!"

"I saved my classmate's life," Draco corrected. "What is so wrong with that?"

"What's so wro -"

"You should be proud of me, Father." Draco cut in.

"DON'T YOU BE SMART WITH ME!" Lucius bellowed. "YOU RUINED OUR PLANS!"

"Our plans?" Draco replied snappishly. "What do you mean our plans?"

Lucius thrust the cane up, knocking Draco in the chin. He fell back with a yelp.

"Not us as in you and me you miserable excuse for a son!"

Draco massaged his now throbbing chin. But he wasn't going to show that he was hurt. He still had his pride.

"Who're you talking about then?" he snapped back.

Lucius turned from him, walking to the window.

"Oh, there's so much you don't know, Draco. So much…"

"Then why not tell me?"

Lucius chuckled nastily.

"Because…you think I can trust you now? And what is this rubbish you're wearing?"

Draco slapped the cane away.

"Dress robes."

Lucius laughed. "Dress robes? For what?"

Draco glared at him heavily. "For the dance."

"There's a dance at this miserable school?" Lucius mused. "And you're going alone?"

"No. I'm going with Hermione."

The words slipped out before he realized what he was saying. It was in that moment that he sealed his fate.

A sharp pain forced the wind out of his lungs as the shaft of the cane connected with his stomach, causing him to double over. The heat of it raged inside him, spiraling up his windpipe like a fire. Before he could cough or suck back in the air that was lost, the rod connected with his lower back.

The floor rushed up to meet him as he collapsed on himself. He couldn't breathe. Slowly, he was suffocating. But then he spluttered and his father was above him.

A hand clasped the collar of his robes and lifted him up by the neck. He was so close to his father's face now that he could smell the sour scent of his breath.

"You miserable wretch." Lucius said darkly. A smack across the face erupted stars in Draco's eyes. "How dare you go against my wishes." Another blow to the face, a knuckle striking his eye. It felt as though it were being ripped out.

Then, everything was falling. His skull connected with the floor, a sea of black clouding his vision.

His father's voice echoed as he felt the room tile and spin.

"Let's see you go to that dance now. You are no longer part of this family."

But Draco found his voice and cried out.

"Where am I supposed to go?"

Lucius was halfway out the door, his figure blurred and shaking.

"Go to your Mudblood friends."

And with that, Draco was left, a broken boy on the cold stone floor.

The Great Hall was brilliantly lit, the hundreds of floating candles having been collected into the center of the ceiling. What appeared to be a chandelier hung suspended from the collection of white candles. Resulting from this change of decoration was a dimmed Hall where all the tables were swept to the side to allow congregations on the floor.

It was really quite large without the tables. The torches were no longer red and orange but icy white and blue. In accompaniment, streamers shimmered in the air.

Hermione stood outside the Hall, arms crossed in anxiety as she waited for Draco. He had promised to meet her by the entrance before they went in. His whole thing had been appearing as a couple to the school.

At least, Hermione was under the impression. But Draco wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Hermione!"

Her face lit up as she turned to see…

"Oh…hi, Ron."

She couldn't help the disappointment that showed on her face. Ron wasn't exactly the person she wanted to see. But, he looked nice.

Ron was - surprisingly - wearing very nice robes she had never seen before. They looked almost…brand new.

"Wow - nice robes!" she exclaimed as she stepped around him to see all of the jet-black robes with a stripe of maroon across the chest.

"You like them?"

"Yeah…where's you get them?"

Ron grinned.

"Fred and George sent me them with some of their profits from their Joke Shop. Mum had them flown in today before…" His happiness faded. "Before the game…"

There was a moment of silence before either of them spoke.

"What…what happened up there?" Hermione asked. "It looked like you and Harry were fighting."

Ron's eyes were aimed at the ground.

"We were."

There was another moment of silence between the two, broken only when Hermione looked up at the Marble Staircase. A gasp escaped her lips as she spotted Draco descending them.

On closer inspection, his eye was black and a deep gash was sliced across his cheek. There was a cut on his lip stemmed only by a white cotton swab. As his eyes met hers he grinned, which looked painful.

"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed as she rushed up to him, leaving Ron alone at the doors. "What on earth happened to you?"

A grin broke out on Draco's face, but lasted only a moment. It was only his defense mechanism. His voice was soft as he attempted to explain.

"I…uh…was beat up…"

"Beat up? By who?"

Draco's eyes lowered in shame, Hermione noticing tears forming in them.

"My dad came up to my room after the Quidditch match and…well…as you can see…"

Hermione was outraged.

"What kind of man is he?! Beating on his only son?"

Draco put a hand up to stop her.

"Hermione - please. I've had enough family matters to last me a while. Can we just…dance?"

Hermione wasn't finished, but she took his hand anyway and led him into the Great Hall. She made sure that they were deep in a crowd before she turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, he doing the same to her waist.

The music was soothing as she rested her head on his shoulder, taking in the scent of his neck. He smelled of expensive cologne, the sweet but tarty scent she couldn't describe with words.

Slowly, her lips brushed his soft neck in a silent kiss.

"You know," she started quietly. "I've been worried about you."

"Don't be." Draco replied shortly. "I'm tough. I can take care of myself."

"Can you?" Hermione questioned as she pulled back to look into his eyes. "From what I see, you need a little help in the defending department."

Draco shook his head.

"I'm fine -"

"No, you're not. Look at you! I have half a mind to stop you from going home for the Holidays."

This did something to Draco and he looked away, his eyes glistening in the light of the candles. He was silent for a moment, then spoke softly.

"You won't have to."

Hermione blinked.

"What?"

"You won't have to keep me from going home."

Hermione was confused. "Why not?"

Draco sighed, still looking away.

"My dad disowned me tonight."
Hermione stopped dancing then, a wave of shock washing over her in buckets. She was lost in disbelief. How -

"Oh Draco…" she let her voice trail off, realizing there was nothing she could say to comfort him. Slowly, she pulled him into an embrace as his shoulders trembled.

"I just can't face it!" Draco sobbed into her shoulder. "What am I supposed to do now? I mean - I have nowhere to go - no home to return to…"

Thought fluttered through Hermione's head as she raced for something to say. But there was nothing.

"Hermione, I'm scared…" he sobbed. "What's going to happen? I have no money that I can call my own -"

Then, it snapped into place.

"Come home with me."

Draco stopped. Had he just heard correctly? Was Hermione actually -?

"What?"

Hermione looked into his eyes, looking back and forth from one to the other.

"Come home with me. To my house. I'm sure my parents won't mind - I mean, they don't exactly know about you yet because I haven't written and all. But -"

Draco put his fingers to her lips to quiet her. Looking deeply into her eyes, he smiled.

"Thank-you, Hermione Granger." he said, just before his lips met hers in a soft kiss with Ron watching just feet away.