Her nerves were on edge as she slowly walked along the street towards the Ministry of Magic. The cuts on her face stung as the chilly wind blew against her cheeks, but she kept walking.
Hermione did not want to do this. She did not want to fake that she had been attacked by Draco and lived to tell the tale. She did not want to do any of it.
But she had to.
She wanted to be with Draco. She didn't know why, but something in her heart told her she wanted to be with him.
Something in her heart kept telling her about their past together.
Hermione paused in front of the doors of the Ministry, grabbing for her locket. She opened it, seeing a familiar face smiling back at her.
He loved her so deeply, so truly…and she loved him back.
As she looked at that picture of Draco as a young, sexy, seventeen year old, she thought of something she had never thought of before.
'I think I still love him…'
She shook the thought out of her mind for the moment, tucking the locket beneath her shirt and running into the Ministry, faking the heavy breaths. When she was about halfway past the check in counter, she stopped.
Hermione looked around, breathing heavily. Without another thought, she screamed. Her shrill scream echoed throughout the entire front entranceway.
And with that, she fell to the ground, pretending to have passed out.
Moon ran to Hermione's side, panting heavily as if he had just run up twelve flights of stairs.
"WHISPER!"
Hermione did not respond to his voice, for she was "unconscious". Moon fell to his knees beside her body, the tears falling down his cheeks.
"Whisper…Whisper, wake up," Moon paused in mid sentence as Eagle walked over. "Wake up, Lionheart…"
"What's the matter with her, Moon?" Eagle knelt down beside Moon.
"I don't know! One minute I hear her screaming, the next, she's lying her unconscious!"
"Come on…let's take her downstairs to your cubicle. It should be quiet there."
Eagle and Moon nodded to one another, then with Eagle holding her legs and Moon supporting her head, the two of them began their slow march down the stairs.
"Hermione…don't die on me, Hermione." Shadow knelt beside her, attempting to wake her up.
Hermione's eyes began to flicker open slightly. She was thinking of Draco's instructions as they tried to wake her. "Wh-Where am I?"
"Lionheart…you are at the Ministry of Magic…do you know who I am?" Shadow asked her, just in case she had a slight case of amnesia.
"Shadow…Shadow, it was so horrible! I was so scared, Shadow!" Hermione's eyes welled with tears, the "fear" showing in her eyes.
"What happened, Hermione? What did he do to you?" Moon was concerned for the girl he loved.
"Oh, Moon, it was so terrifying! He came out of the shadows at me, his cloak swaying in the breeze. He had a knife in his hand…oh, Moon. I wish you were there…you would have helped me." The "tears" fell down her cheeks. Hermione was the master of making herself cry. It was so simple for her, yet for others, it was a difficult task.
"What did he do to you, Lionheart?" Shadow was concerned for Lionheart as well. He did not want to loose his best Auror.
"He came at me, slicing my face with his knife. I fell, screaming. After he cut apart my arms and hands, I pulled out my wand and cast the Killing Curse."
The room was silent for a moment. Then, very cautiously, Eagle whispered, "Is he…dead?"
Hermione was silent, looking away from them to wipe her eyes with her bloody hands. She waited for a few moments, and then she softly muttered, "Yes. He died instantly."
Shadow's eyes lit up. "Are you fucking serious!"
"Yes, I am serious. I killed him instantly."
"Oh my god…Lionheart! You just saved everyone's lives! You just changed the course of the war! YOU ARE A HERO!"
Other Aurors came over, hearing the uproar. They asked a ton of questions, such as, "What did he look like?" "Were his eyes red like the Dark Lord's?"
Hermione got to her feet, dusting off her pants. "I won't take any questions right now…I'm really tired."
"Oh, you must have an office now! You are my partner, Lionheart!"
A chant of, "Lionheart! Lionheart!" sounded throughout the entire floor. People who didn't even work with them were out cheering for her.
"Way to go, Lionheart!"
"You really showed him!"
Hermione nodded to them all as Shadow led her to her new office, beaming.
When the two of them reached room 253, Shadow opened the door and let Hermione walk inside. "I'll let you be for a little while. I'm sure you're tired and want to get a little alone time. You can come out later."
"Thank you, Shadow," Hermione waved goodbye and then shut and locked her door, falling to the floor and bursting into tears.
She hated this feeling of being the best Auror in the league…she didn't want to be like this anymore…she hated the publicity that went along with it. She just wanted to be with Draco…she didn't want to be here any longer. She hated every single person in her league…Moon, Shadow, and Eagle… every single one of them.
They were all a fake.
They were all robots controlled by the master computer.
And she didn't want to be a part of it any longer.
She was not under their spell any longer.
Hermione got to her feet, wiping her eyes and fishing around in her desk for some gauze, tape, and a few band-aids. When she found them, she began to bandage her hands and put band-aids on her other cuts.
'I do love Draco,' She thought to herself. 'Everything in my heart tells me I still love him…I have always loved him. That's why I didn't want to be with Moon…my heart was still attached to Draco. It always has and it always will…oh, Draco…I wish I was with you right now. I wish I could fall into your arms and cry myself to sleep…'
As she began to finish bandaging her wounds, she heard three knocks upon her door.
Hermione stood beside the door and waited for the paper to come beneath her door. Sure enough, there was a paper sitting beside her feet a few moments later. She waited for Draco to leave, and then she unlocked her door.
But something happened that she did not expect. Someone was opening her door.
Moon was standing in her doorway.
"Hermione? Hermione, are you all right?"
"Yes…yes, I'm fine. Could you leave me be for a moment? I really want to get some rest before I have to start work again."
"I just wanted to ask you if you read the letter I gave you…you know, that one that I gave you when you were given your nickname?"
"Oh, yes. I read that one." Hermione was still not looking at him.
"I just wondered…if you had anything to say about it…"
"Oh, no. Not at the moment. Can I talk to you later?"
Moon was taken aback. He expected her to jump into his arms and tell him that she loved him back…but this…this was something he did not expect. "Oh, yeah. Sure. I'll leave you alone then…"
And with that, she was alone again.
Hermione carefully opened the letter from Draco and silently read to herself.
Hermione,
I will be coming for you at midnight tonight. Stay after hours end. There is nothing further for you to say or do there today…you've made your impact. I can tell…I wrote this outside your office. They were all talking about you, cheering for you…I'm sure you don't really like the whole "national heroine" thing, but they all seem to think you are a prodigy. Wonder what they'll think when you end up missing in the next few days. Anyway, that's really all I have to say at the moment…we'll talk more later.
Draco
Hermione gently smiled. He was right. If she did everything she was supposed to do, she would see him again.
And she was sure that tonight, she would tell him exactly how she felt about him…
In fact, she would tell him exactly how she felt about him since the moment she laid eyes upon him.