Happily Ever After…Not

Draco and Hermione managed to have time to order in room service before Will returned home. It was a good-looking woman who had delivered the food. Draco signed the bill that came with it, tipped the woman, then closed the door behind him. No flirting, no sexy smile, nothing. He had Hermione now, and she was all that he wanted.

"Honey, I'm home!" Will bellowed ten minutes later as he pushed the door to his and Hermione's suite open, arms loaded with leftovers of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Draco and Hermione were sitting in the living room, munching on food and staring at the television, but not really watching it. Hermione was still jittery from her moments of passion with Draco; she felt like running out onto the balcony and screaming, "I'm not a virgin!" Of course, she didn't. How unappropriate would that be? Still, the thought crossed her mind, that's how ecstatic she was. Draco, on the other hand, smirked inside. Finally, she gave up her 'I want to wait until I'm ready' opinion and just gave in to tempation. About time, too, Draco thought. And yet, for a first-timer she was not that bad. As a matter of fact, she was excellent compared to Pansy Parkinson, who'd already had a couple years of experience. Yup, both Draco and Hermione felt on top of the world at that moment.

"Honey?" Draco asked. "Will, I'm not sure if you know, but I don't swing that way. Sorry to disappoint you."

Will let out a sarcastic laugh. "Don't flatter yourself, Smith. I was talking to my beautiful roommate. You guys have fun while I was out?"

Hermione tried so hard not to release the enormous grin that was bursting to escape, but it was impossible. She smiled greatly at Will, then grinned at Draco as well.

Now, Will had already proven himself to be thick. How could he not notice the tension between Draco and Hermione when they first saw each other? But no matter how thick he was, he was still the expert at figuring out anything that was sex related. Draco could see the comprehension dawning on Will's face, and for the first time Draco did not want someone to know that he had just done the deed. Especially not Will.

"No. Way." Will said. "You didn't! Damn, Bob! You are good!"

"What?" Draco asked, trying to act as though nothing had happened.

"And you, Hermione!" Will exclaimed, looking down at her. "Miss holier-than-thow is not so holy, is she!" He burst out laughing and went over to high-five Draco, but Draco did not return the hand gesture.

Hermione looked shocked. Surely he didn't know? How could he? "Look, Will, I have no idea what you're talking about, but-"

"So, how is she?" Will asked Draco, completely ignoring Hermione and wearing his goofy, obnoxious grin. "Is she the little sex-kitten that I thought she would be?"

"Will!" Hermione cried. Draco stood up, balling his hands into fists. Then, remembering that Will had no idea that he and Hermione were aquainted, he sat back down.

"Will, you are such a disgusting pig!" Hermione exclaimed. "Completely obsessed with sex. What is wrong with you?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who just had sex with a completely stranger." Will replied smugly.

"Where do you come up with these things!" Hermione cried. "You don't know anything, okay? You don't understand anything. You are so completely stupid and immature considering you're twenty years old. Grow up already!"

"Whoa-ho!" Will exclaimed, taking a step back and feining a hurt expression. "That was cold, Granger. Real cold. Now, since my buddy Bob got a turn, I think it's only fair that I do, too. Bob, if you wouldn't mind leaving us alone for a bit-"

Draco stood up again. "No way in fucking hell am I going to leave you two alone." He said in a calm, clear voice.

"Got a crush, Bob?" Will teased. "Well, that's okay. You can stick around for it if you'd like." Will strutted over to Hermione on the couch and sat down, throwing his arm around her shoulder, kicking his shoes off and throwing his feet onto the coffee table.

Hermione pounded Will in the gut with the back of her hand and stood up. "Let's go, Draco. We can grab a drink or something-"

"Draco?" Will asked, confused. He looked over at Draco, who was shooting Hermione a Look. "As in Draco Malfoy? Damn! I knew you looked familiar! I've seen you in the daily prophet more than a couple times when I was visiting London! You're Lucius Malfoy's son, aren't you?"

Draco shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about-"

"But the old man died, didn't he? Well, he was a Death Eater, so it served him right. Anybody who follows in with that sort of crowd should be beheaded. You're dad probably got off easy. Too bad-"

"Crucio!" Draco bellowed, aiming his quickly withdrawn wand straight at Will's chest.

Will began to scream. He keeled over and his legs were all over the place as he twitched and shuddered incontrollibly. He continued screamed, obviously in antagonizing pain.

"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed, shrilly. "Draco, stop it! Please, stop!"

Draco was filled with a rage that he had never felt before. Yeah, Potter had always found a way to piss him off. But this was beyond Potter. How dare some stranger taunt Hermione about sex, then tell Draco that his father deserved to die a painful, antagonizing death? I'll show you pain, Draco thought, focussing more on the spell and causing Will's twitching to become even more violent than before. His screams echoed throughout the room.

"Draco, STOP!" Hermione screamed. Her voice was trembling and tears were rolling down her cheeks. She looked geniunely terrified.

Draco broke the curse. Will fell into a heap on the floor, his legs still involunteerily twitching every now and then. He looked helpless. Almost lifeless.

Hermione ran over to Will and kneeled down next to him, rubbing his back and whispering, "Are you okay?"

With what looked like great difficulty, Will lifted his head to look into the eyes of his torturer. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Will managed to whisper to Draco, his lips trembling as though he were about to throw up.

Draco stood, motionless. What had come over him? That was an Unforgiveable Curse! He could be sentenced to Azkaban for that!

Will pushed Hermione away with as much strength as he could muster. He slowly stood up, his arms hanging limply at his side. To Draco's surprised, he grinned. But this was not Will's usual, cheesy grin. This grin was evil and filled with loathing. "You're going to wish you never did that." Will said in a deathly quiet voice. "Your Ministry of Magic is not going to be too happy with you. That's…what… a life sentence in Azkaban? You can rot away there for all I care. Good day." Will turned with difficulty and made for the door.

Oh god, Draco thought. He's going to inform the Minister for Magic! No. He couldn't. Everything that Draco had been working towards would just be a pile of ashes on the cold, Azkaban floor. His Headboy title would mean nothing. His top grades would be fruitless. And Hermione… he would lose her forever. No. He refused to lose her again. Draco lifted his wand once more, his hand surprisingly steady. Then, in a voice so much like his father's, he bellowed, "Avada Kadavra!"

Everything seemed to go by in slow motion. It was like a horror movie. Hermione's mortified scream was just background music as the flash of green light protruded from Draco's wand and slowly, beautifully twisted it's way through the room. And then it completed it's task. It hit Will square on his back. Hermione clasped her hand over her mouth. Only she could see the look of terror on Will's face as he heard Draco bellow those two, deadly words. The last look that he would ever have. Will fell forward and dropped to the floor, instantly dead.

"Draco." Hermione whispered after a long period of silence. "What did you do?"

Draco did not answer. His eyes were glued to Will's lifeless body sprawled out on the floor. Slowly, his brain started working again.

"Someone would have heard the scream." Draco said, suddenly.

"What?" Hermione asked, shocked that that was the only thing Draco had to say.

"Someone would have heard the scream." Draco repeated. "We have to go. Now."

As though someone had read Draco's mind, a loud, banging noise came from the door. "Hello? Is everyone okay in there?"

Draco ran over to Hermione and clasped his hand over her mouth so that she wouldn't scream of fright. Hermione thought that there was no need for this, though. No way in hell would she say a word right now. Too much was at stake.

The banging grew louder. "Is everybody alright? Open up, please!"

"We need to leave." Draco whispered in Hermione's ear. His warm breath in her ear was reassuring and felt like a shield; as long as Draco was with her, she was safe. Everything would be okay.

"We're going to go back to Hogwarts. When I say Apparate, we Apparate. Got it?" Draco whispered, releasing his hand from Hermione's mouth and taking her hand instead. He squeezed it reassuringly.

Hermione nodded. She felt sick. She looked down at Will. He was a rude, horny boy, but he didn't deserve this. Nobody did.

"We're going to knock the door down!" The person outside the door called. "Please back away!"

"Ready?" Draco whispered.

Hermione nodded slightly.

"Apparate!"

CRACK! BANG!

The door broke open. A woman and two security guards bursted into the room. They heard a loud crack, but no one was in sight. Then, the woman looked down at the carpet. At the man lying on the carpet. She kneeled down, took his wrist into her hands and felt for a pulse. There was none. Her shriek could be heard by everyone in the hotel, except for the young man who lay dead on the carpet, never to hear anything again.

……………………..

CRACK!

Draco and Hermione appeared a long way out from Hogwarts. They could see the tops of the many turrets and towers over several large hills, but for once Hermione did not spare a second to appreciate them.

Draco took off towards the school. Hermione whimpered. Silent tears still rolled down her cheeks and her whole body felt stiff and rigid. She could not relax. Draco had just killed someone. Cold-blooded murder. That was how Lord Voldemort had killed Harry's parents. It was sick and disturbing, and every time Hermione thought about it she felt sympathy for Harry and a disgusted, revolted feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was no different. She stifled a sob.

Draco stopped walking. He turned around and looked at Hermione. She was shaking and crying and obviously cold. He sighed, then removed his sweater and wrapped it around Hermione's shivering body.

"What happened?" Hermione whispered, hoping for an answer this time.

Draco looked into her deep, brown eyes. They looked so frightened. "I don't know." Draco mumbled. "I got… I got scared. I don't want to go to Azkaban. If I had let him out of that room, that would have been where I was headed."

"Draco, the Ministry of Magic is going to be involved in this!" Hermione exclaimed. "You don't think they won't find out who killed Will? Even muggle policemen manage to uncover these things!"

Draco dropped his head into the palm of his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to come up with something, but no such luck. His mind was as blank as a fresh piece of parchment. But he told nobody his name. Will was the only person he met in Paris, and he went by the name of Bob Smith. Even though Will found out that he was Draco Malfoy, he was in no condition to tell anybody now. There was no way he could get caught…

"Shit." Will muttered. "SHIT!" He kicked at the snow in the ground and sent a good bit of it flying. He bent down, picked up a handful of snow and whipped it at a nearby tree. "SHIT!"

"What?" Hermione asked. She could not see how this could get any worse.

"Room service!" Draco exclaimed, kicking the truck of the tree and causing his foot to throb with pain.

Room service? Hermione asked herself. How can he be thinking about room service at a time like this! "What about room service?"

"We ordered room service before Will got home! I had to sign that damn bill!" Draco exclaimed.

"What's your point?" Hermione asked, scared at the rage that Draco was showing.

"I signed it as Draco Malfoy! The woman delivered our food to room 714. A person died in room 714. They'll put the pieces together and check to see who signed that bill! SHIT!"

Hermione's eyes opened wide. She was terrified beyond belief. No way could Draco go to Azkaban, not when she just got him back.

"I have to flee." Draco stated. "It's the only way. I can't go back to Hogwarts. That'll be the first place they check once they put the pieces together. I have to go into hiding. It's the only way."

"No!" Hermione exclaimed. "No way in hell. I refuse to lose you again, Draco. I refuse!"

"We don't really have a lot of options here, Hermione!" Draco shot angrily.

Hermione nodded. "You're right. Okay then, fine. I'm going with you."

"You can't go with me!" Draco cried as though Hermione was out of her mind. "You're the most brilliant witch I have ever met. You need to finish Belle Strait-"

"Draco, they will look at me as an accessory to murder, okay? For all we know, they'll think that it was me who killed him. I'm the one who invited him to stay. It was my room, remember?"

"Shit, you're right." Draco said. "Shit! What have I done? What the fuck is wrong with me!"

"We can't go back to Hogwarts." Hermione said, quietly. "I'll never see Ron or Harry or Ginny again. I'll never see my parents again…" Her voice trailed off as she began to cry once more.

Draco walked over to Hermione and embraced her. "We have each other, okay? That's all we need. But right now, we need to leave."

Hermione nodded to say that she understood. She looked back at Hogwarts for what could have been the last time ever. Bye bye, Hogwarts. Bye bye, life.