Fugitives at Large
After hours of walking (and Hermione's gently crying), Draco decided it was about time to stop and set up camp for the night. He was surprised that Hermione had not suggested it an hour ago, but then again she had hardly said two words to him since they left Hogwarts. Luckily, they found a cozy little cave that was just big enough to accommodate the two of them. Draco had conjured up a warm, blazing fire just outside of the cave and now he and Hermione were sitting around it, enjoying it's warmth.
Draco's head was dropped in his hands. I killed someone, he thought to himself for about the thousandth time that day. I killed an actual person. I used two Unforgiveable Curses. I'm just like… oh god, I'm just like my father.
Scratch, scratch.
Draco felt sick in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to throw up continuously, but no such luck. Will wasn't even that bad of a guy. Sure, he was a prick, but what happy-go-lucky twenty year old wizard wasn't? Twenty years old. He still had years ahead of him to graduate from the top wizarding school in the world and obtain any job that he wanted. He could have been rich and been married and had five kids…
Scratch, scratch.
Draco looked up, frustrated. Hermione was sitting on a log a few feet away from him, a conjured quill and a conjured piece of parchment in hand. She scribbled nonstop, her tongue slightly sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she thought long and hard about what to write.
"Do you mind?" Draco asked irratably.
Hermione looked up at him. "No, I don't." she said, before going back to her writing.
"What are you writing?" Draco asked, curiously peering over the top of the paper.
"A letter to Will's parents." Hermione replied, simply. "About how sorry I am for Will's death. Do you have any idea how traumatized they're going to be? How traumatized they might already be? We snatched a child away from his parents!"
"He was twenty years old. He wasn't a child." Draco replied.
Hermione glared at him, angry that he was so far away from the main point, and angry at hearing him use past tense while describing Will. But the truth was, past tense was the correct way to go. Will wasn't alive anymore. Simple as that.
"You can't write a letter to his parents." Draco said, suddenly.
"Why not?" Hermione retorted.
"Because! They think you're involved in his death! And what if they trace it back to you or something?" Draco challenged.
"They won't." Hermione said, simply. She knew better than anyone that letters were almost impossible to trace, seeing as Harry and Sirius had sent letters back and forth in his third year and Sirius had never been caught. She went back to writing her letter. The scratching of her quill was enough to drive anyone insane, especially Draco in the state that he was in.
After a few moments of silence, Draco asked, "And how do you expect to get it to them? With our invisible owl? Or perhaps the letter can fly itself. Wouldn't that be a miracle?"
Hermione couldn't stand the sarcasm dripping from Draco's words. He was acting as though Will's death meant nothing to him. Who cares if a young boy died at the hands of an angry child? Obviously not Draco.
"You know what, I'm getting really sick of your tone-" Hermione began. But she was interrupted by the swooping of a gorgeous, snowy white owl and the letter that the owl dropped in her lap. "Hedwig!" Hermione exclaimed, feeling happier than she had since her time together with Draco back at the hotel. It seemed so long ago now…
"Potter's owl?" Draco asked, cautiously. "Don't touch it. It's probably a disguised Howler or something that will give away our location."
"You're so paranoid, Draco." Hermione said, rolling her eyes and unpeeling the back of the envelope. She dug her hand in and pulled out a piece of parchment with Harry's familiar handwriting scribbled on the page.
Hermione,
I pray to god that you get this letter before Malfoy does. ARE YOU OKAY? I cannot BELIEVE that Malfoy would actually kill someone. He's a cold-blooded murderer. Just like Voldemort. And then he takes you as a hostage! It was all over the Daily Prophet this afternoon. Ron and I don't reckon that Malfoy will hurt you, it's so obvious that he's purely obsessed with you. Crazy lunatic. I really hope you get this letter and I really hope you're alright. Ask Malfoy how much gold he wants in order to have you returned safely. I'm willing to pay ANYTHING just to get you back. The Ministry's out looking for you and Malfoy. Don't worry, help is on the way.
Love, Harry
Hermione laughed shakily. "Hedwig is a brilliant owl."
"Well?" Draco asked, tapping his foot impatiently. "What's it say?"
Hermione thrust the letter at Draco and watched him closely as he read every word, careful not to miss one. Once he was finished, he looked up at Hermione.
"Crazy lunatic?" he asked, obviously outraged that Harry would insult him. "I'll show him who's the crazy lunatic when I beat him over the head with a troll's club-"
"Get over it." Hermione replied.
Draco reread the letter. "Well, one thousand galleons ought to do it. Is that how much you're going for nowadays? Write him back and let him know."
"Not funny!" Hermione exclaimed. "We've got it all wrong! They think you've taken me hostage!"
"I've read the letter, Granger." Draco said.
"Which means I'm innocent." Hermione said, her heart lifting just a little bit. "They don't think I'm involved!"
"Hurray for you." Draco said, darkly. He poked at the fire with a stick and was determined not to look at Hermione.
"But they know that you did it." Hermione said, her heart dropping once again. Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "A part of me was hoping that they wouldn't think to look at that bill. But why would they think that you took me for randsome? It's not as though there were any clues pointing in that direction."
"They think I'm psycho." Draco said, simply. "I'm the crazy boy who Apparates out to Paris to find his girlfriend, and then when I find her with another guy, I freak out, kill the guy, and take the girlfriend out of pure anger."
"You don't think that they would have come up with that, do you?" Hermione asked, shocked at the thought.
"The Ministry comes up with whatever they think will sound good in the Daily Prophet." Draco answered. "And that sounds pretty good."
"Oh my god, this is so messed up!" Hermione exclaimed. "What is the matter with you!"
"Excuse me?" Draco asked.
"I hated you with a passion before our seventh year. Everytime I saw you I just wanted to curse you to hell. And everytime you made fun of me or Harry or Ron, I chose to ignore it. I never decided to just pull out my wand and kill you! For heaven's sake, Draco! How can you kill someone? How do you even know how to perform the Unforgiveable Curses?"
"My dad taught me." Draco answered, quietly. "The summer after my fifth year, we set aside a lot of time so that I could learn the Curses."
Hermione stared at him, stunned. "I don't even know who you are." She finally said. "One second you're this sweet, loveable boyfriend who Apparates out to Paris just to save our relationship, and the next you're using illegal magic to kill an innocent boy."
"Fuck this, Hermione!" Draco exclaimed, standing up and tossing the stick he was holding into the fire. "I already know what happened, okay? I don't need a replay from you of all people. You don't understand shit. All you're best at is critisizing people for their mistakes. This was a mistake and yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill him. But I did, and I believed that the one person who would stick by me through this no matter what would be you."
Hermione's eyes began to mist. "I'm here, aren't I?"
Draco sighed. He dropped his face into his hands and tried with all of his might not to scream as loud as he could. He finally released his hands and looked down at Hermione. "I'm going to bed, alright? See you in the morning."
Hermione nodded and watched Draco disappear into the darkness of the cave. When he was completely out of sight, she conjured a fresh piece of parchment, picked up her quill and began to write.
Dear Harry,
I'm fine, honest. I can't say much here, but Draco is not going to hurt me, so there's absolutely no need to worry. I just don't know what to say. Please send my love to Ron and Ginny and let them know that I'm fine.
Love, Hermione
Hermione tied her two letters to Hedwig's leg. She stroked Hedwig's feathers and allowed her to hoot softly for a few moments before telling her who the letters were for and watching her fly away into the night. Soon enough, the darkness swallowed her, and Hedwig was nowhere to be seen.
…………………………..
"I seriously just want to strangle the little fucker!" Ron exclaimed, picking up an orange and squeezing it with all of his might until juice began leaking out of it.
"Couldn't you tell how obsessed he was with her?" Harry asked in a calm tone. "He won't hurt her. I'm sure of it."
"Well then why would he kidnap her?" Ron demanded, licking the juice off of his fist. "What could he possibly do with her if he won't hurt her? Use your head, Harry! The bastard's crazy!"
Suddenly, the familiar sounds of swooping owls poured into the Great Hall, dropping letters and packages to their recipiants. A bright white owl caught Harry's eye, though; Hedwig swooped down and landed on Harry's shoulder, a piece of parchment tied to her leg.
"No way!" Harry cried. "I didn't think she'd actually reply!"
"What? Who?" Ron asked, sounding suspicious. "Hermione?"
Ignoring Ron, Harry untied the letter from Hedwig's leg. She hooted indignantly, awaiting a treat from the mountains of bacon and kippers surrounding them, but Harry was too preoccupied with Hermione's letter to pay any attention to her.
"Is it from Hermione?" Ron demanded as Harry unraveled the rolled up parchment and began reading it, careful not to miss a single word.
"Damn it." Harry muttered under his breath.
"What?" Ron cried, acting like an impatient six-year-old. "I want to read it! When did you write Hermione?"
Harry thrust the letter at Ron, dropping his chin into his hand and poking his egg with his fork.
"What the hell!" Ron exclaimed. "Why wouldn't you tell me that you wrote to her? She likes me better than you, anyway!"
Harry glared at Ron but chose to overlook his rude comment. Instead, he said, "She doesn't even sound pissed off, does she? Malfoy kidnaps her and she sounds completely fine with it."
"Maybe they're in this together." Ron suggested.
Harry shot Ron a look that implied that Ron was stupid for saying such a thing.
"No, really!" Ron cried, getting excited. "Maybe Malfoy killed that guy and then Hermione and him just took off together because they don't want to be seperated!"
"Don't be stupid, Ron." Harry replied. "Hermione's not that dense."
Ron's face fell as his brief moment of brilliance was recognized as a thought of stupidityness by his best friend. "Hopefully they'll find her soon." He said, wiping up the drops of juice from the table.
"Yeah." Harry agreed. "Hopefully."
………………………………….
That morning, while Harry and Ron discussed Hermione's letter, Hermione herself was poking at the died-out fire, hoping to salvage it if only a little bit.
"You may as well stop trying. It's dead."
Hermione turned around to see Draco emerging from the cave, stretching his arms and wearing only his boxers. You'd think that he would have been cold seeing as how it was Christmas day, but if he was, he certainly did not show it.
"I just wanted to see if I could salvage it." Hermione replied, her voice a bit icier than necessary. "I could have started a new fire if I'd have liked to."
"I know." Draco said, pulling his pants on. "It didn't look as though the thought had occurred to you."
"I'm not stupid, Draco." Hermione shot back defensively. Luckily Draco did not know about her brief moment of panic in her first year when she needed to make a fire in order to save Ron and Harry from Devil's Snare, but the thought of using magic had not occurred to her.
"I know!" Draco cried. "Holy shit, Granger. Chill out! You've been jumping down my throat since-"
"Since we've had to become fugitives?" Hermione supplied, bitterly.
"Exactly." Draco replied, calmly. He did not want to fight again. Instead, he strolled over to her, wrapped his arms around her waist and began kissing her neck.
Hermione sighed. Why couldn't life just be like this? Just her and Draco, together forever, without a care or worry in the world. Just perfect.
Turning to face him, she allowed Draco to brush against her lips with his own. Missing this feeling of security, Hermione slid her arms around Draco's neck and began kissing him harder, this time forcing his mouth open and sliding her tongue in to continue the tongue war from the day before. Slowly and gracefully, Draco and Hermione fell to the ground.
"You can't do this everytime I'm angry at you, you know." Hermione said, pulling away from Draco for a brief moment.
"I know." Draco said. He continued to kiss her while pushing off her robes at the same time. Now, Hermione knew that the middle of nowhere wasn't the best place to do it, especially when you're on the run from the Ministry, but what the hell They deserve a break.
Soon enough, Hermione was stripped down to a bright, yellow thong, while Draco was still sporting his boxers. Draco smiled, then kissed her gently on her lips. Slowly, his lips trailed down to her collar bone, not stopping until they reached her breasts. He bit lightly on her nipple, sending a tingling sensation down her spine.
Hermione had had enough. She was sick of Draco taking all of the initiative just because he was the one with a load of experience. Reaching down, she pulled off Draco's silky purple boxers, then took his hands and placed them on her thong, silently telling him to remove them.
Draco smirked, pleased to see Hermione's sense of enthusiasm, then pulled the thong down. Hermione's now-familiar sense of self-consicousness swept over her once again, but she pushed it aside, only wanting to be with Draco at that moment. She took Draco's length into her hands and began stroking it until it instantly became erected. Draco looked into Hermione's deep, brown eyes, realizing how badly he wanted her. Screw this fucking around, he needed to be inside of her. Pushing Hermione up and making her fall onto her back, he pounced on top of her, kissed her hard and hungrily thrust himself into her. Hermione noticed that it had not hurt so much this time as it had before, much to her happiness. She loved the feeling of Draco inside of her. She moaned his name and arched her back, yearning for more force. Draco did not have to be told twice. His thrusts grew harder and faster as Hermione's moans and cries grew louder, and once again that feeling like they were both on the exact same line on the exact same page came crawling back. It was incredible.
……………………………..
A couple of hours later, Hermione awoke on the hard, dirt ground outside of the cave. It was amazing how exhausting sex was, but it was definitely well worth it. She sat up, realizing that Draco was no longer beside her with his arms wrapped around her, but he had put a light blanket over her. How sweet, she thought, smiling to herself. She stood up with the blanket wrapped around her body, then walked over to the cave, assuming that that would be where Draco was. However, when she peered inside, Draco was nowhere to be seen. Strange, she thought. She walked back to the dead fire, completely stumped at Draco's whereabouts. Then she noticed a piece of parchment underneath a rock laying in the pit of the fire. Suddenly, her stomach dropped. She could not explain it, either. It was just a piece of parchment. Nothing special. Probably Draco telling her that he'd gone out looking for food or something. Beside the parchment was a petite, lilac box.
Bending over, she picked up the box. She undid the tiny ribbon wrapped around it and opened the top of the box. Inside was a ring. Hermione gasped. It wasn't an engagement ring. More of a promise ring. Real diamonds lined the golden band, and on the inside of the ring was an engravement: D+H 4EVER.
Hermione smiled as her eyes began to water with joy. The ring was so beautiful. But why wouldn't Draco present it to her himself? Remembering the piece of parchment, she opened it up with unexplained trembling hands, revealing Draco's cute, scribbled handwriting.
Hermione,
I can't do this. It's quite obvious from Potter's letter that they know you're innocent, so if you go back to Hogwarts than you will not be convicted by the Ministry. I, on the other hand, will be. I am quite aware that you are now only staying with me because you do not want us to part, but I refuse to ruin your life just because I have ruined mine. I would have taken you back to Hogwarts, but I know you too well. You would not have agreed with this. So, I leave you with this letter and hopefully you'll go back to Hogwarts and carry on your life without me. Graduate Hogwarts, get married, have kids. I would love more than anything to do all of these things with you, but I just can't. I'm sorry, Hermione. Please forgive me and remember that I will always love you. Always.
Love, Draco