A/N: this is the second chappie! (: all this is pre-written stuff, so i hope you enjoy it. read and review as usual! lowdown on this chapter: Draco goes on with his mission and starts to adapt to his new situation and tries at every chance to make things turn out his way, whilst we learn more about why Dumbledore and co have hidden and what's exactly happen to Hogwarts.
lots of arrows shot your way-- lovecupid-
OH YES! Replys to the wonderous reviewers! (: I LOVE YOU ALL.
Cocoamo1223- Here's the update! I'm glad you enjoyed the story! Thanks for reviewing! -shoots you a love arrow
urges- Hehee, your nickname's cute. I like those pairings too! I read a very good one recently, by freaker, go check it out! thanks for reviewing! (: -shoots you a love arrow
This chapter therefore is dedicated to my FIRST two reviewers, Cocoamo1223 and urges! 3
Chapter 2
The Meeting
Draco Malfoy found himself sprawled out on the grass in a bad shape. His flaxen hair, usually in an impeccable 'do, was now filled with what could politely be called 'grime' and dirt and fell into his face. His grade A branded robes were torn and tattered, the logo 'D.M' was shredded and a large hole in his chest showed him a at least 4 inch long gash on his stomach that still bled slightly. He felt weak and tired, and as he stood up, his legs trembled violently, and he limped slightly when he walked due to the fact his right ankle was swollen; probably broken.
In short, Draco looked every part the traitor that was 'injured' by Voldermort.
Draco cast a glance at his surroundings. It was a bleak bleak future ahead of him he could see. The Dark Lord had obviously sent him towards Filan Canyon where Dumbledore and his lackeys were hiding. Draco smirked at the thought of Potter's face when Draco should come to their hideout. But now he had to figure out where exactly their hideout was. Voldermort had not been very good at his navigating, and thus far had sent Draco to a clearing in a forest, and it was nearly dark now.
Following a long path further down of the clearing, Draco could see smoke comming from a chimney.
"Found you." Draco grimaced as he walked on forward, towards the chimney, where Harry Potter now resides.
Must not fail this mission Draco, you cannot. Make the Mudblood..No, make Hermione, fall for you by hook or by crook.
As our handsome Death Eater was slowly making his way towards them, Harry Potter was currently in the living room of their latest hideout; a quaint home with three levels in it.
Harry was pacing the living room, where a cackling warm fire burned brilliantly and Ron and Hermione sat on squashy armchairs reminisent of those in the Gryffindor common room. Harry heaved a sigh as he thought of how life was now.
It would have been seventh year for all of them now, Harry, Ron and Hermione, and all the other seventeen year olds. However, their last year was spent in hiding, dodging Death Eaters, and escaping from Voldermort's evil clutches. Sixth year was their 'last' year in Hogwarts. Voldermort returned to power, and everything was at a disarray. The Ministry of Magic was close to nothing now, and Azkaban was just plainly another Voldermort town. People relied on no one but themselves, and the only form of resilance against Voldermort was of course, the Order of the Phoenix. In their sixth year so many things happened, it was a change in the tides and the start to the uphill challenge of dethroning Voldermort and stopping his reign of evil. In Hogwarts,no one in Slytherin could be trusted, they all more or less turned to the dark side in the Sixth year. Hogwarts could not operate any longer with the Slytherins turning out to all be ardent followers of the Dark Lord. Draco Malfoy, as Harry remembered, was one of the first to proclaim his loyalty to the dark side.
As soon as all these cracks started to appear in Hogwart's seemingly perfect face, Dumbledore saw the sense in closing down the school. And he did, and just 2 months after the students were told to leave the school, Voldermort attacked the castle, and though many students returned back to their homes, there were still Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs in the school, and the teachers never left Hogwarts.
Harry remembered the battle in Hogwarts, his emerald green eyes filled with tears. The battle had occurred as a surprise attack, and Dumbledore's side was caught offguard. Many were killed, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Padma Patil were just some of the casualties. Teachers did not come off unscathed either. Professor Sprout, sadly, was killed by Draco Malfoy himself.
The mere mention of Draco Malfoy made Harry's blood boil. He remembered Malfoy's smirk, his snarl and the lazy drawl of his voice. He also remembered that Malfoy stood out amongst the other Death Eaters, wearing a green cloak instead of the usual black, and also having gloves that looked like some hide of an animal, a snake probably; thought Harry. Malfoy no doubt was christened the 'favourite' as most could see. But that term wasn't just for fun, Malfoy was really a trump card for Voldermort. Malfoy had the best grades next to Hermione, and Harry distinctly remembered him boasting about achieving 9 OWLS earlier on. Yes, Malfoy was a pain in the ass, but he was a threat to Dumbledore.
Ever since that fateful battle, though a majority of them escaped unscathed, Hogwarts could no longer play 'home' to those students that remained. The rest that survived, nearly seventy percent fled back to their homes, and the remaining ones either joined the Order and worked against Voldermort, or they joined Voldermort. It worked either ways. They all were forced to grow up in a matter of weeks, and for some, Hogwarts seemed like a passing dream that never occurred, now lost amongst the current fighting and wars.
Voldermort had not stopped at just attacking Hogwarts, he seemingly knew that they would not stay in Hogwarts for long anyway, and soon he began treking down Harry and company, and attacked them relentlessly. Malfoy had been the leader of those attacks. But Hermione, being Hermione, always fended off the attack somehow. For that she was most respected and many owed their lives to her. Harry's life too, was indebted to her.
Just as Harry reminised about the year's events, Hermione noticed the creasing frown on his forehead. Standing up from her comfortable position, she walked towards him and eased her hand across his forehead, causing a smile(a rare one) to appear on Harry's otherwise fatigue-filled face.
"You look so worried, whats wrong?" asked Hermione softly, her two hands entwined in Harry's as she squeezed his hands for comfort, her brown eyes searching his face for answers.
Harry gave her a wane smile, and squeezed her hands harder. "Nothing's wrong 'Mione. I'm just..thinking about..thinking about Hogwarts." he said quietly, his eyes downcast.
Hermione lifted his chin, making him look up. Smiling, she circled her hands around his neck and kissed his cheek, pulling him into a hug.
"Don't. Don't think about that now, ok?" she whispered softly into his ear, his hands around her waist.
Harry nodded, still holding Hermione.
The pair had struck up quite a 'romantic' relationship during this time of chaos if you may. Ron was indefinitely estatic about his two best friends getting together, but with times so bad, the tension in the air was so thick that sometimes you could cut it with a knife. Their relationship was shaky definitely, wrought with fears and troubles. It had been a hard ride from the start of sixth year when Harry decided to ask Hermione out. But Hermione had never stopped supporting Harry, and though things weren't the way she'd imagine them to be normally, she accepted her fate and chose to stick it out with Harry, believing that after all this was over, they'd finally be able to have a proper relationship. Not the tension filled, squabbling one they had now.
Ron stared at the fire as the two pulled away from their hug, with Hermione rubbing Harry's back comfortingly, saying soothing words softly. All this happened daily, and the stress took its toll on Harry, whose fun personality was seemingly robbed from him. But Ron and Hermione hadn't taken it any easier either. Ron was now less humourous, and mellowed into a quieter person, now often staring in space, his blue eyes no longer sparkled, and his smile did not come as often as it used to. Ron still was probably the humour amongst the three, but in recent times he had to grow up quickly, and now no longer held thoughts of Quidditch or girls anymore, it was just thoughts of death and dying, and how they'd get away from Voldermort and 'kill the old faggot' as he often said.
Hermione too, had grown wearier and thinner through these trying times. Her appearance changed alot, though she retained her bossy yet kind personality. Hermione's eyes once full of vigour and happiness, now were dark and suspicious. She grew taller, thinner, and morphed into quite a beauty if not for her constant tiredness. That said, all three looked haggard and tired that evening, the first in their new hideout.
"So, how do you like this place?" said Ron, slightly more enthusiastic, breaking out of his daze.
Hermione, now seated at the couch holding Harry's hand, smiled at his enthusiasm. "I think its alot better than Albercroft's Hill. At least we've got enough place for the Order."
"Yeah, I like it better too. The last place," Ron paused and made a face, "totally too squishy. No place to just hang and chill."
Harry mumbled an agreement, sinking quickly back into his own depressing thoughts.
Ron saw a look of concern flicker over Hermione's face, but he motioned for her to quiet, and leave Harry be. Harry was nowadays constantly in this sort of daze. Ron and Hermione had to learn to leave him for awhile.
Nodding at Ron, Hermione cautiously pulled her hand away from Harry's and pecked him swiftly on the cheek.
"I guess you don't want to be disturbed now, I'll leave you for a bit and help Mrs Weasley with dinner. I'll come call you later?" asked Hermione softly.
Harry simply just nodded, and continued staring at the fire. Ron got up and left too, clamping a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Take it easy, mate." mumbled Ron as he followed the worried Hermione out of the living room and into the kitchen.
As Hermione walked down the stairs towards the kitchen, she couldn't help but cast a glance backwards at the living room.
Ron, seeing her worry, draped an arm across her shoulders. "Don't worry too much Hermione, he..he just needs time."
Hermione smiled, "I know Ron, I'm okay, really."
Ron grinned, "Good to know. Lets go down and help Mom, maybe we'll get some food!"
Hermione laughed, and the pair went down towards the kitchen to help Molly Weasley, who was preparing dinner for twenty.
The group that Ron, Harry and Hermione were part of, consisted of twenty members of the Order. The rest of the Order were scattered around England, and moved in seperate groups. Dumbledore had decided that every one should be grouped and the groups should scatter, for fear if they remained as one solid community, each time they faced elimination during Voldermort's frequent attacks. All had agreed with the solution and all still kept in touch through Floo networks, or through appariation. Hermione, Ron, and Harry, were joined in their group by Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape(though he did not stay there), Molly and Arthur Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Moody, Professor Flitwick and Kingsley Shaklebolt.
This group of seventeen mostly all bunked together as they moved in a group, but this time they managed to get not one, but two houses to live in Filan's Canyon. So they further divded themselves between two houses and all agreed to congregate in this house for dinner. They would be joined by Dumbledore and two other former Hogwarts students who were expected to join the group.
As Hermione made her way down,(Ron was already AT the kitchen), the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" she yelled and made her way towards the door and flung it open.
"Good evening Hermione," greeted Albus Dumbledore. Hermione greeted him back, and welcomed the other half of the group into the house. Fred and George had cheekily offered her a tart for "opening the door so graciously" but Hermione, had 'graciously' declined and laughed as she watched the twins offer Ron a tart, which he gamely accepted, only to be turned into a fat rat, causing quite a bit of turmoil in the now bursting household.
Dumbledore then introduced Hermione to the two latest additions to their group of seventeen. Two more boys, Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot.
Hermione smiled widely, and greeted them with each a hug. The two were in the same year as Hermione, Harry and Ron, and were excellent students. They would be an asset to this group.
"Its so nice to see you again Hermione." said Anthony, holding Hermione at arm's length, examining her. "You've thinned considerably."
"Its too be expected, Anthony. All this rush and tension doesn't do much for me!" she joked, "Its great to see you again." she added, smiling at Terry Boot.
"The pleasure is ours Hermione. How good it is to see fellow Hogwarts students.." Terry trailed off, obviously thinking back about Hogwarts.
Anthony slapped a hand on Terry's back, and smiled. "Now, now, Terry, lets not be a damper today alright?"
Terry nodded, and Hermione linked arms with them as she led them to see Seamus, Dean, Ron and Harry, all of which were delighted to see the two Ravenclaws. Harry actually laughed and smiled a genuine smile. Hermione felt relieved when she saw Harry laugh. It had been quite awhile since he did.
The seventh years settled at the living room awhile before dinner. Anthony, now a lot taller and darker skinned, spoke jovially most of the time, his brown eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, and he seemed a lot more cheerful than the gloomy Terry, who from his arival, had smiled less then 3 times. Once when he met Hermione, the other two smiles were also reserved for meeting his old Hogwarts friends. Hermione could not help but feel that seeing all these fellow students only made Terry miss his girlfriend, Padma Patil more.
The group sat around the fire, some on the couch, others on the floor.
"So Anthony, where did you come from?" asked Seamus Finnigan cheerily, flashing Anthony and impish grin.
"Oh, just from Diagon Alley actually. Terry and I had to meet Dumbledore there first. Before that of course, Terry and I were kinda, hiding out with the other groups of the Order." said Anthony.
"Did you see Ginny, Bill and Charlie?" asked Ron. Ginny, Bill and Charlie Weasley belonged to another group of the Order, they kept in touch regularly, but the Weasleys were still very worried about them. Their current location is said to be near Albercroft's Hill, where Voldermort just last attacked, and the past week had been very worrying for all the Weasleys when they heard Ginny's group was nearing Albercroft's Hill.
Terry shook his head. "No, we didn't get to visit their group though. But we met Roger Davis and Colin Creevy in one of the groups."
Harry smiled, "Is Colin well?" Harry had become fast friends with the Creevy brothers, though Dennis still somewhat annoyed Harry, Colin was a fine friend.
"Oh yes, he is well," said Anthony, "I hear Lavender Brown's quite soft with him."
The group burst out laughing at that news, and Ron's face flushed a bright red. Anthony teased further with Lavender's news, but they were stopped by Mrs Weasley's yell.
"Kids! Dinner's ready!" she called from the kitchen, and soon everyone in the house filed into the kitchen, which had been majicked to fit twenty comfortably.
A huge round table sat right smack in the middle of the large room, plenty of cushy chairs lined around it. A Lazy Susan sat atop the table, filled with food. All kinds of food.
Hermione's eyes grew large at the amount of food on the table. There was turkey, ham, roast beef etc. The list just when on and on! Usually they did have quite a fair amount of food on the table, but this was like a Hogwarts feast!
As if reading her thoughts, Harry bent towards her and whispered in her ear. "Just like Hogwarts huh?"
Hermione turned to him and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Just like Hogwarts." she smiled.
Harry grinned, and led Hermione to a seat next to Ron, and then settled comfortably next to her. The chairs were all soon filled, and there was endless chattering and talking throughout dinner. Severus Snape had managed to join them tonight, and they were all talking happily, momentarily forgeting about the great war right outside Filan's Canyon.
Ron was stuffing his face while talking to Terry Boot(a remarkable feat for Ron), eating to his heart's content. Hermione too had an appetite and was helping herself to a third helping of roast beef and potato.
"Molly, you've really outdone yourself this time!" exclaimed Minerva McGonagall, sitting right opposite Hermione. Hermione flashed Professor McGonagall a knowing smile and continued with her food.
"Oh, Minerva, this is just simple fare!" said a slightly flushed Mrs Weasley.
"Ye Gads! No way Molly! This is better than those feasts we had in Hogwarts!" chimed Professor Flitwick, who with the aid of four cushions, was sitting at the same height as everyone.
The rest of the table mummered their agreements, all still stuffing their tired faces to the food. They all seemingly had a great appetite that night and ate like they never ate before. Perhaps it was because of the arrival of Anthony and Terry, who injected new blood into the order, and it was great to see new faces.
Nevertheless, the atmosphere was light and happy, and Hermione felt contented after a huge dinner, and watched as the people begun to mix around and mingle for awhile before some of them returned to the other house just next door. Terry and Anthony were shown to the other house, as there was no more room in this home.
Hermione was helping Molly Weasley clean up, while joking and laughing with Ron and Harry. The latter had cheered up considerably with the arrival of the two Ravenclaws, and now was busy wiping dishes while shooting Hermione impish grins as Ron bantered on and on about how he missed food at Hogwarts.
It was nearly midnight now, and everything was clean and cleared. Molly and Arthur Weasley, and most of the household had already gone to bed, but Dumbledore still remained here, playing chess with Ron, whose ears were turning red with annoyance that finally someone was beating him at his favourite game.
Harry and Hermione were sitting on the couch facing each other just talking about mostly nothing, with Ron's added jabs into their conversations and Dumbledore's useful information. Harry was in a pretty good mood, talking and laughing for most of the conversation.
Just as Ron yelled an estatic "Checkmate!", the doorbell rang. The sound resounded off the walls, and Hermione could distinctly hear at least three Order members were roused from their sleep.
Dumbledore looked up, a frown on his face.
"I wonder who that could be," mummered the wizard.
Harry looked perplexed too, "Its so late already," he added.
Hermione shrugged, "Maybe someone left something behind just now. I'll get it."
"I'll come with you." offered Harry, and Hermione smiled, and the two walked together to the door with Dumbledore not too far behind.
Hermione pulled open the door.
"Avada-" Harry yelled, but Hermione quickly stopped him, shushing him.
"No! Harry! Don't!" Hermione grabbed his wrist, pulling it down. "Professor Dumbledore!"
Dumbledore fastened his pace and rushed towards the door.
"Mr. Malfoy?"
Draco Malfoy looked up expectantly and smirked his famous Malfoy smirk. "Professor Dumbledore." he nodded in reply.
Malfoy looked like he just went through a hurricane. His robes were torn, tattered, and had he had a long gash on his stomach, that was still bleeding. He sported numerous bruises, cuts and his right ankle was swollen. His normally impeccable hair was now flopping onto his face. Dried blood on his chin.
"Granger..Potter.." he mummered, his grey eyes darkened slightly.
Before they knew it, Malfoy was slumped, over ontop of Hermione, falling right into her arms.
How did you like it? Not as I planned actually.. Hmm. but I do like Malfoy falling into Hermione's arms. (: its his start to the 'game'.