Chapter Thirty Two
Hermione awoke the next morning feeling completely refreshed and relaxed - she no longer had the feeling of a great weight on her shoulders and she could not wait to tell Draco of her good news.
She got dressed quickly and went out to the Head Common room to wait for Harry to get ready. He came out soon afterwards and Hermione beamed at him warmly, and he smiled back at her heartily, trying hard to smooth down his hair, which was messy as usual.
"Did you have a good sleep?" asked Harry.
"I sure did." Hermione answered brightly, "It was the best night's sleep I've had in quite awhile in fact."
"Well, that's good to hear, Mione. So are you ready to face the aftermath of your decision to go public?" asked Harry wryly.
Hermione rolled her eyes and leant back against the couch as her weariness returned. She had been so preoccupied with trying to sway Ron and Harry to her side that she had practically forgotten about the rest of the school and their reactions.
"I'm ready." She declared after awhile, gathering her wits and getting up.
Harry winked at her, and took her arm as they exited their Common Room.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine." Harry assured her.
Hermione nodded, and then as she suddenly remembered her talk with Draco last night, she stopped walking.
"Harry, I've just remembered that Draco's supposed to be picking me up so we can go to Potions together this morning."
"Oh really? Its getting pretty late, Mione. He should be here by now." Harry remarked.
"Yeah, well maybe he slept in or something. You should go to class first, I'll wait for him for awhile." Hermione suggested.
Then an unexpected voice interrupted their conversation.
"I'm afraid, Ms. Granger, that you will be waiting for a long time."
Hermione whirled around to find Professor McGonagall standing behind her.
"I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall - I don't understand what you mean." Hermione said as politely as she could.
"Perhaps it may be better if we discussed this in private." Professor McGonagall said pointedly, giving Harry a look.
Harry took the subtle hint and said goodbye to Hermione reluctantly, leaving her standing apprehensively with the professor.
"What's the matter, Professor?" asked Hermione as Harry rounded a corner and disappeared from their sight.
"Draco's in the Hospital Wing." She replied simply.
Hermione gasped.
"What? Is he alright? What happened? Can I see him?" she asked frantically.
"Calm yourself down, Ms. Granger. Draco is in a stable condition and of course you will be permitted to see him - however you must not skip classes, so you may visit him after Potions today." Professor McGonagall said firmly.
Hermione sighed.
"Could you please tell me what happened to him, Professor?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"I think it may be better if he tells you himself." She replied quietly.
"Well there's still fifteen minutes before class starts, Professor - I'm sure that I'll be able to get back from the Hospital Wing in time…" Hermione suggested feebly.
"No I'm afraid that you would not be able to speak to him if you were to visit him now as the Headmaster is currently speaking to him." McGonagall answered, dashing all her hopes.
Hermione was still visibly upset and so McGonagall took pity on her.
"Oh very well, Ms. Granger. If you must know, Lucius Malfoy somehow found a way into the school last night and attempted to choke Draco to death after performing the Cruciatus curse on him." Professor McGonagall explained succinctly.
To the Professor's great distress, upon hearing that disturbing news, Hermione promptly fainted.
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Meanwhile, Draco lay weakly in his bed in the Hospital Wing.
He was staring at the ceiling as dark thoughts raced through his head. He had just woken up from unconsciousness and the last thing he remembered seeing was his father's manic expression as he strangled his own son - he closed his eyes as he relived those raw memories of the previous night and he was still shaken at the fact that his father had actually attempted to murder him.
He laughed bitterly as he wondered who else's father would be horrible enough to want to kill their own flesh and blood, realising that nobody else's father hated their son as much as Lucius had hated him for defying him.
His hands gingerly touched his throat and again he felt his father's strong hands around it, choking him mercilessly. He winced as he felt a sharp jolt of pain pass through him as he tried to roll over - his body was still aching all over from the Cruciatus curse that his father had cast on him…
Shit.
How the hell did he survive all that?
And then he remembered taunting his father, feeling the delicious feeling of adrenaline coursing through his veins, giving him the courage to stand up to the monster of a father that he had hated once he had found out what he was really like and lastly, he remembered that feeling of helplessness that had come over him as he realised that he was unable to save himself from what seemed to be an inevitable death at his father's hands…
But then who had saved him?
Suddenly he was jerked from his thoughts by a bustling Madam Pomfrey.
"My dear boy, you're awake!" she exclaimed happily.
"Yeah, when can I get out of here?" was Draco's first question.
Madam Pomfrey looked slightly taken aback.
"Oh no, Draco, you mustn't think about that just yet. Your body will require quite a bit of time to heal considering what its been put through -" She broke off muttering about Unforgivable curses, "But don't worry about that now, just let your body rest and recover."
"But Madam Pomfrey I don't want to stay here!" Draco protested.
"I'm afraid there's no way I can discharge you before the weekend, Draco." Madam Pomfrey said sternly.
"But I can't just leave Hermione to take care of herself - especially after all that's happened! What if my father comes back for more and decides to strangle her too!" Draco exclaimed wildly.
"Calm yourself down, Draco! Hermione Granger is a perfectly competent girl who will be able to take care of yourself, don't you worry. You should not be agitating yourself - your body needs rest! Now I would give you a Dreamless Sleeping Potion, but the Headmaster wishes to see you before classes start this morning - so in a few minutes he should be coming up to speak to you." Madam Pomfrey sniffed.
Draco nodded and the nurse exited his makeshift room which was closed off with the customary white curtains. He wondered if Hermione knew of what had happened - he hoped for her sake that she hadn't yet…he would rather tell her himself rather than let her hear it second-hand because she would definitely get very worried about him, and he didn't want that.
He wondered if the rest of the school knew and if right now they were thinking that he deserved it because he had decided to date a Mudblood. He couldn't shake these thoughts out of his mind and contrary to Madam Pomfrey's instructions, he was getting very agitated. He had wanted to be with Hermione today to face the school and for their first day together in public but now - thanks to his deranged father, he was stuck in the Hospital Wing for god knows how long and unable to do anything.
Draco turned his head towards the opening in the curtain upon hearing a soft rustling, expecting Dumbledore to appear. However, as a dirty blonde head poked through the opening, Draco realised that it wasn't the Headmaster, it was -
"Pansy?" Draco half-asked, half-greeted.
The blonde Slytherin nodded in response, walking slowly towards his bed.
"What are you doing here?" he asked uncomprehendingly.
Pansy still didn't reply, instead laying her hand on his cheek. Draco eyed her suspiciously - what the hell was she doing?
"Pansy?" he tried again, but she didn't respond.
It was only when a burning hot teardrop fell onto his face that he realised that she was crying.
"I'm so sorry, Draco." she choked out softly.
"What?"
"I-I never meant to get you killed." she whispered.
"What are you talking about, Pansy?" asked Draco in shock.
"Its all my fault that you're lying here at the moment, Draco. Oh god, I'm so sorry! I only wanted to have the old youback - I never intended for everything to go so far." Pansy sobbed.
"So you're the one behind all this!" Draco exclaimed as he suddenly realised what she was trying to say.
"No! No - it wasn't my idea, Draco. You have to believe me! It was Blaise's - I think he liked Granger too and when he saw you two together one night, he got very angry and came to me, asking me if I wanted to help him get you back. Of course I agreed - I've missed you so much, Draco…ever since you've come back from the past, you've been different. You barely notice me anymore and I resented that. So when Blaise told me about his plan to stalk you two and then send Granger threats, I decided to help him out." Pansy explained.
"Why couldn't you have just told me that you felt that way instead of getting me almost killed!" Draco burst out furiously.
"Draco don't say that! I-I just couldn't see any other way at the time…and the fact that Blaise had seen you and Granger together just got me so worked up that I wasn't thinking straight. I would never hurt you intentionally, Draco." Pansy whimpered.
"So Blaise stalked us and you sent the threats to Hermione." Draco stated hollowly.
"Yes."
"And how did Blaise let my father into the school last night?" asked Draco.
"I'm not too sure. I think that after we saw you and Granger near the Lake, he went to Snape's office and disabled a ward that stops outsiders from Flooing in, while all the teachers were supervising the Yule Ball and so Lucius slipped in, undetected." Pansy answered.
Draco was silent for a few moments and Pansy was too scared to break the silence because he seemed to radiating an icy fury even in his weak state, not unlike how Lucius had reacted to the news that his son was dating a Mudblood, she thought to herself.
"Draco?" she ventured after awhile.
"Just get out, Pansy." He responded coldly and with one last pleading glance at her former friend, she left, leaving him alone to absorb what he had just learnt from her.
But before everything could sink in, Dumbledore himself strode into the ward.
"Ah, good to see that you're up, Draco. How are you feeling?" asked Dumbledore genially.
"Terrible." replied Draco sullenly.
"I assume that Ms. Parkinson has already come to see you?" Dumbledore said softly.
"Yeah. I cant believe she was in on it! I mean I can understand Blaise's motives for it but -" Draco exclaimed heatedly.
"Draco, you mustn't blame Pansy for what she did because everything that she caused to happen was completely unintentional on her part. However, Blaise was not quite as innocent as Pansy in this matter and -"
"Yes I knew that already, Professor. I've always suspected that it was him anyway but I just cant believe that Pansy helped him." Draco said disbelievingly.
"Draco, Pansy's part in this is not what's important. I came here today to speak to you about your father." Dumbledore said evenly.
"He's an arrogant lunatic and he tried to kill me, what else is there to talk about?" asked Draco irritably.
"Aren't you curious as to how you ended up in the Hospital Wing, Draco? Haven't you wondered who it was that saved you?" asked Dumbledore serenely.
"Yes."
"Well last night I was in my office when I was alerted to the fact that one of the most important protection wards had been breached somehow and I was shocked to find that it had been breached in your private dormitory. So I quickly informed Professor Snape of the situation and we arrived just in time to prevent your father from accomplishing his deed." Dumbledore explained.
Draco was speechless.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry for being so rude to you, Professor. Thank you for saving my life." Draco stammered embarrassedly.
"Don't worry, Draco. I understand that you're going through a tough time at the moment and you're still trying to get your head around all that's happened. But yes, I must admit that I was very shocked that your father managed to breach the ward against Unforgivable curses being performed at Hogwarts - if I'm not mistaken, he performed the Cruciatus curse on you?" asked Dumbledore seriously.
"Yes he did." Draco replied quietly.
"No son should have to suffer at his father's hands as you did, Draco." Dumbledore commented.
Draco's lips curled into a crooked smile at that.
"My father is very different to other fathers, Professor. I've known that for quite awhile - but its just that I never expected him to go so far…"
"Well would it please you to hear that he has been arrested and is now awaiting a trial before the Wizengamot?" asked Dumbledore.
"Only if it means that he'll get sent to Azkaban." muttered Draco darkly.
Dumbledore smiled.
"Draco, I'm very glad that you stood up against your father. It would've taken a lot of courage to do that against such a powerful man." He said, with his eyes twinkling.
"Thank you, sir." Draco smiled back at the Headmaster.
"I've taken up enough of your valuable recovering time, Draco and I'm sure Madam Pomfrey is not happy at all about that. So I'll leave you to rest now. Take care."
Draco nodded, and said goodbye to him. As Dumbledore pulled aside the curtain that obscured his view of the rest of the Hospital Wing, he saw that there was one other person lying unconscious in the ward.
It was a girl, with curly brown hair and a fairly pretty face -
"Hermione." He breathed in realisation.
As he heard the sound of the Hospital Wing door closing behind Dumbledore, he summoned up all the strength that he could muster and got out of bed delicately, testing if his sore body could hold up. Wincing with pain, he doggedly sneaked across the ward to where Hermione lay, unconscious.
Her chocolate coloured hair was scattered on the pillow and her eyes were of course, shut. Thankfully, he could not see any signs of physical harm on her body and he sincerely hoped that her hospitalisation had nothing to do with Lucius' attack on him yesterday. He watched her chest move up and down in time with her breathing, he concluded that she had probably only fainted. He looked back to see that Madam Pomfrey was making angry gestures at him through the office window to go back to his own bed, and so he kissed Hermione gently on the forehead and gave her one last worried glance before obeying the nurse's instructions.
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A/N: Okay! Hope that you guys enjoyed that very illuminating chapter and that all your questions have been answered by it. The next chapter will be the absolute FINAL chapter and it will be the EPILOGUE.
Thank you to all my reviewers for your ongoing support even to those who criticised my writing, because it was all constructive in the end. And here's a virtual cookie to Hg-bookworm who figured out that Pansy was the final piece of the puzzle!
Stay tuned for the FINAL CHAPTER of Through the Ages,
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