A/N: I would once again like to thank all those who have been reading my story, and a special thank you to those who have reviewed: couch-potato01, Lauz, pixieballerina, mara, Viresse Lote , omnipotent otaku , Lucifer's Lair , the little elf from hillcrest, Linwe Amandil, The British Youth Guardain, England, saerry and also to Lil' Bode who e-mails me her reviews. Reviews always cheer me up because that way i know that people are actually reading what i am writing... so once again thank you.
I would have updated sooner however i had a mixture of food poisoning and writers block. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please review and tell me what you think of it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (duh!)
Ok i will let you all read it now. Hope you enjoy.
The girl seemed familiar; she stared at her intently but with the distance between them it was no use, Hermione couldn't tell. She looked up at the sky, it was snowing and Hogwarts grounds were covered by a thick white blanket. A man ran out of the castle; he looked amazingly like Lucius Malfoy. Her breath caught in her throat, something was going to happen, she could feel it. He greeted the girl and she seemed to know him.
He turned his back to her for a moment, taking something out of his pocket; it glistened in the moonlight and made Hermione gasp, "RUN!" she shouted out to the girl but neither heard, she tried to run forward but it was as though she was stuck in place, a mere spectator of what was about to happen.
She watched in horror as the delicate silver blade slid easily into the girls' stomach, her expression not one of pain, but one of confusion. Hermione watched his lips move as he whispered something into her ear; she was unable to do anything but slowly watch the life leave her. A few drops of red blood spattered onto the snow staining its perfect whiteness. He stepped back grinning, letting her limp body fall to the ground.
"NOOO!" she heard a voice call out from behind her.
The figure looked up, "it's too late" he called out; wiping the blood off the knife onto a clean handkerchief; "try saving your little princess now." Cold laughter penetrated Hermione's mind. She looked over her shoulder to see who was there... Suddenly the dream began to fade.
The Gryffindor girl woke with a start, cold laughter still resounding in her ears; the dream still fresh in her mind. She breathed in deeply allowing air to fill up her lungs, yet the more she did this, the less the oxygen entered her body. She held onto her throat, gasping for breath.
"Draco…" she tried to call but it came out more like a whisper, she was running out of oxygen fast. The girl stumbled out of bed yet fell to the floor almost immediately; she crawled to the wall and with the last of her energy banged her fist on it, praying Draco would hear.
It was as though she was choking, her airways had blocked up, and the harder she attempted to breathe, the more she coughed and spluttered. The last thing Hermione saw before she passed out was a blonde figure running into the room.
McGonagall and Snape stood in a well-lit chamber by the fire, unmasked rage replacing their previously calm faces. They were not alone. Cornelius Fudge sat in a large chair opposite the two teachers gently sipping a cup of tea.
"As it is the unanimous vote of the other teachers there is nothing further I can do but slightly delay the closing of the school," he said carefully placing his cup onto the table and crossing his legs for lack of anything else to do. "I personally believe it would be best to shut the school within the next week… for safety reasons of course," he continued, "however as you are so adamant I will give you one month exactly," he said in a matter of fact tone. "Hogwarts School shall close on the sixteenth of January. All students and teachers alike will be sent home."
McGonagall tried to keep her voice steady as she argued, "But they will be safer here, together! Dumbledore would have…"
"Dumbledore is gone," Fudge interrupted, "there is nothing more I can say. Good day Minerva… Severus" and with a slight bow of his head in the direction of the two teachers he left the room leaving behind Snape to deal with McGonagall's filthy mood.
"One month!" she fumed, "one bloody month!"
"We'll have to send out letters to all of the parents," Snape said calmly.
"Where the hell is Dumbledore," mumbled McGonagall staring darkly into the fire. This was not how it was supposed to happen; she had once made a promise to the head master that if he be absent from Hogwarts she would do everything humanly possible to keep the school running as it should be. He had only been gone a few weeks and she had failed already. She shook her head sadly causing a few strands of hair to fall out of her neat bun, "this is all wrong," she mumbled.
Ron was eliminating a fifth bowl of cinnamon porridge; Ginny observed him in mild amusement, content with watching her brother eat almost his body weight in food whilst she and Harry talked.
"Ahem" The Griffindor table went silent; Harry Potter turned around, and upon seeing Malfoy standing there he leapt up wand poised.
"Put that down Potter before you poke your eye out," Draco rolled his eyes; he waited patiently whilst Ron fumbled around in his pocket for his own wand so as to defend Harry. "It's on the table Weasley," he sighed exasperated, pointing to Ron's wand, "not very good at this sidekick thing are you?" he asked patronisingly.
"What do you want Malfoy?" muttered Harry, whilst Ron tried to control his temper.
"A word in private actually," the Slytherin Prince said, looking down the Gryffindor table, a few of the younger students pretended they hadn't been eavesdropping, but most just stared, open mouthed waiting for Harry's reply. "It's about Hermione," he added.
Harry and Ron looked at each other confused, "Hermione?" Ron asked.
"Yes," Draco replied getting annoyed, "you know about that tall," he said indicating with his hand, "bushy hair… thinks she knows everything."
"What your on a first name basis with her now?" snorted the ginger boy.
"Yes," Draco shrugged and swept out of the great hall, hoping Potter would follow him.
Harry nudged his friend in the stomach and followed the blonde boy; "Ron shut your mouth before you catch some flies in there," scolded Ginny who was still in denial of the fact that she was slowly turning into her mother. The Weasley boy did as he was told and then, after a second of contemplation, ran to catch up with Harry.
Once they were out of the great hall Draco got straight to the point, "Hermione's in the hospital wing she…."
"What did you do to her you git!" Ron shouted; Harry had to grab him from the back of his robes to keep him from jumping on the head boy.
"I give up with you two," Draco sighed shaking his head, "I don't see why I even bothered."
Without a glance back Draco walked up to the infirmary leaving the two Gryffindor boys wondering what to do. Upon reaching he crept inside in hope that Madame Pomfrey would not hear him. No such luck...
"I think not Mr Malfoy, she needs rest," the nurse emphasised the last word as if Malfoy were a child which needed everything explaining to.
"But…" he complained
"I said no!" she barked.
"Please Madame Pomfrey leave him in, I'm fine," joined in Hermione, she got out of bed gently.
"Goodness me!" the nurse squealed, "get back in bed at once," then she added grudgingly, "and I will allow Mr Malfoy to stay for a little while. With an annoyed glance back at the head boy and girl she locked herself in her office.
"How are you?" Draco asked.
"We haven't got time for that now," Hermione whispered urgently, "I had another dream, someone's going to die…" she trailed off.
"Who?" Draco asked sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I don't know, they were too far away to make out a face, but the man, he had blonde hair, I think it was your father," she looked up at him sadly.
"I wouldn't put it past the bastard," the boy growled, then as an after thought, "when does it happen?"
"I don't know…but it was snowing, I remember it was snowing," both of them simultaneously looked out of the window, Hogwarts grounds were as they always were; both gave a sigh of relief.
"We have time yet," he mumbled.
"There's one thing I don't understand," Hermione mused, "the man, he stabbed her. Why not just use magic?"
Both students remained silent for a few moments thinking over what to do, when something occurred to Draco, "what happened this morning?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" the girl asked.
"Exactly that, why couldn't you breathe?" he replied.
"I think…" she paused for a moment, "when in the dreams, whatever the victim feels, I feel. It was like that with…" she trailed off looking into the boys eyes.
"My mum?" he asked gently.
"Yes, I felt the curse. Last time however the pain stopped when I awoke, this time it continued," a tear escaped the corner of her eye and Draco tenderly wiped it away.
"GET OFF HER!" came a voice from the door making them both jump.
"But I was just…" before Draco could get any further the Weasley boy tackled him to the ground.
"RON!" shouted Hermione, "get off him NOW!"
"Maybe I should go," sighed Draco, gently pushing Ron off him. "Perhaps it is time you told them," Draco stood up and then leaned closer and whispered in a voice only Hermione could hear, "about your dreams".
With that he casually walked out of the room, leaving the three Gryffindors behind, "Tell us what Hermione?" came the distant voice of Harry.
"Sir," the teenager bowed to Lucius, "I have a name," the young death eater grinned. "Indeed your son is close to someone, a lady friend."
"Waste no more time you fool," shouted Lucius, "GIVE ME THE NAME!"
"Granger. Hermione Granger."
At this Lucius Malfoy jumped forward, grabbing the boy by his hair and pulled his head back, placing a wand at his throat, the boy whimpered pathetically. "Is this some joke?" he snarled, pressing the wand harder upon the boys pale skin.
"N...no" he stuttered, "I s…saw it with my own eyes."
"A Malfoy and a mudblood," Lucius spat, "he has shamed the Malfoy name more than I ever thought possible; both of them will die," he smirked coldly, "but first I have a promise to keep... when I have finished with them, Draco will be nothing more than a burnt out fire." He laughed coldly, "I have an idea…" he said, turning to the young death eater, "but first…" The blonde man lifted his wand and with a few well-placed words, the boy was nothing more than a corpse lying on the floor.
Over the years Lucius had been growing increasingly irate with the mudblood, he would enjoy killing her as much as he would enjoy killing Draco. He would stand over them both and watch the life slowly seep out of both of their bodies; this thought made the blonde man smile.