Disclaimer: Tcha. I wish I owned them.
A.N.: As I'm off to Uni at the end of this week, I'm gonna try to finish this before then. This and another chapter are all that's left anyway. And to all the fans of The Invitation, I'm too lazy to type it again so I'm taking it off. Maybe I'll write a new Draco fic to make up for it, huh? Someone give me an idea for one!
Chapter Eight: The Veil
Much to Hermione's surprise, Harry moved them not toward the back door of the tavern, but toward a seemingly deserted shed in the back.
"Everyone else is already waiting." Harry said. "They needed time to prepare, however."
He threw the shed door open and lowered his three captives to the floor so he could put his wand away. Hermione lay facing Blaise, and wished she could shut her eyes and close herself away from the despair on his face. But the Body Bind even stopped her from blinking.
"Ready to die, sweetlings?" Harry crooned sickly before throwing a moldy horse blanket over the three of them. Hermione felt a tugging sensation, and realized the blanket was a Portkey. She sucked in a breath just before she hit a stone floor with a thud, the impact forcing the air back out of her. She heard many people laughing as Harry Apparated in beside their prone forms. As the Body Bind lifted, Hermione looked around, hoping she wasn't where she thought she was. The circular room hadn't changed; it still held the same benches that reminded her of a Greek theater, the same forbidding gray stone….and the same archway in the center, its gray veil stirring in a mysterious wind.
"You bastards." She heard Draco mutter thickly. Laughter rang out again, and then above it all came a voice she had always been fond of, always respected…until now.
"I think, Mr. Malfoy, that you are in a bad position to be throwing insults about." Remus taunted, descending the stone steps in front of them like a king. Draco didn't answer, just clenched his teeth.
"Move the other two to the side. Give Malfoy his wand." James Potter ordered. Hermione felt a bind take hold of her again as she was levitated to the side. She watched in silent horror as Draco was given his wand and shoved to the center of the room, just before the veil platform.
"Kill him, Master! Just like his parents!" Petunia Dursely shrieked from among the assembled Death Eaters. The whole group shifted in anticipation as Remus raised his wand.
"I won't fight you." Draco said. Remus laughed.
"You may look like your father, but you don't think like him." The Dark Lord said. He waved the tip of his wand inches from Draco's face.
"I beg to differ, Remus." Boomed a deep voice from the top of the room. Hagrid slowly walked in, wand in hand, looking as if he had just happened to stumble onto the festivities.
"Kill them!" Remus shouted, Draco forgotten as the oddest Order of the Phoenix Hermione had ever imagined entered and began dueling the Death Eaters. Peter Pettigrew appeared and lifted the curses holding she and Blaise.
"Potter has our wands!" Blaise shouted over the din, in which the two of them had been virtually forgotten. Hermione began looking about for Harry, and saw he and Draco dueling near the veil.
"Some things never change." She muttered as she struggled toward them. As she reached the foot of the platform, she grabbed Draco's ankle and pulled it from under him.
"Hermione! What the bloody hell are you doing?"he shouted as Harry aimed at him.
"Sorry! Habit!" She replied, jumping up and hitting Harry full force, digging in his robes for her wand. She got Blaise's instead, but hit Harry with Tarantella anyway. He danced madly as she helped Draco up.
"Habit? What the—" Draco began, but a slew of curses, both verbal and magical, flew at them and he couldn't finish. Hermione used the safety of his shields to recover her wand and joined in the fray. Harry had fallen off the platform and danced halfway around the room before Petunia removed his curse. He charged Draco, sending a curse at him from behind. Hermione had seconds to react, and so did the only thing she could think of.
The beam hit her in the chest like a thousand bullets, or what she imagined they would feel like. Draco spun in shock…from somewhere she heard him scream something about twice…and then she was surrounded by cool watery darkness.
"…want to be happy? you were lost in this world…"
She listened to the warm whispers, trying to decide if they were male of female.
"…all who have lost happiness find their way to me in time…"
She wondered what had happened, what good thing she had done to deserve this peace after so much turmoil.
"…you have been happy. i will take you to where you were happy if you wish…"
"Who are you?" Hermione found she spoke through her forehead now.
"…you came to me. you entered my realm…"
"Are you behind the veil?" she asked in fearful awe. She had gone and jumped through the veil.
"…i am behind everything. do you wish to return to your happiness?..."
"I wish to return to my world. This is not my place, not my life."
"…i take my guests to their happiness. i will take you to yours…"
She felt a breeze, and then she fell asleep.