Message in a Bottle
Chapter 15
When Helen and Hermione arrived back at the Hog's Head, they found the two men sitting around in silence. Apparently neither one really knew what to say.
"Hermione!" Draco exclaimed upon seeing his friend, happy to not be alone with the Dark Lord anymore. "I was wondering when you would get back. We should really be going back to school. It's late in the afternoon and dinner is in an hour."
"Right," she said in acknowledgement. "Well then...mother, it was good to finally see you again. I'll write as soon as I get a chance but that might not be that soon considering I'll be busy with Head Girl duties and all."
"Alright, well congratulations on the Head Girl thing and I hope you have fun this year! Try to make time to write a letter to me. I'd really love to hear from you."
"Okay, thanks. Bye."
"You're not going to say goodbye to your father?" Voldemort said in his calmest voice.
"I have absolutely nothing to say to you. I don't care what you say. You don't care about me at all. You just for whatever reason are in love with my mother. And maybe it's true that we share the same DNA but ask me if I care. You don't deserve me to say goodbye to you and I will not show you that kind of respect. Isn't it enough that I acknowledged your presence?"
Before he could respond, Hermione had grabbed Draco's hand and ran out the door, running as fast as possible back to the school. They didn't talk on the way back. The day had been too eventful for both of them.
As soon as they got back to the Head Tower, Hermione collapsed onto the couch in frustration.
"When did life become so bloody confusing?" she sighed into the pillow, allowing her hair to fall in front of her face, blocking her view of the rest of the room.
The room was hushed and a pin could have literally been heard dropping had anyone actually dropped it. Hermione buried her face further into the pillow to block out all of her racing thoughts. She could feel her head pounding and knew she was in deep need of rest.
After about a half hour, she looked up to see where Draco had gone off to, anxious to get to dinner. She found him heading up the stairs towards his room.
"Where are you going?" she asked him in worry. Maybe he had decided that she wasn't worth going through all that. Maybe he had realized that he was jumping through for her even though he didn't really like her.
When he turned to look at her, his smile was calming for her. "I'm going to get changed for dinner. The Hog's Head reeked of some of the most fowl stenches my nose has ever dealt with and I want to get out of these smelly robes."
"Good idea," she replied. "I think I'll do the same."
The two went in their opposite directions and met up again in ten minutes in their common room.
"About today..." Hermione began.
"You don't have to say anything about it," he stopped her.
"But I do, Draco. I'm so sorry about today. I have no idea what he said to you but I apologize for anything my father did or may have said. He was..."
"NO! Don't apologize for your family. We can't be held responsible for what the members of our family do or say. I know that every encounter you've ever had with my father has been rather unpleasant but I never once saw you complain. So guess what. I'm not going to complain. I won't lie, I don't like your father but for you, I'd sit with him as often as you'd like. I would have Sunday night dinners with him if you wanted. I would jump through hoops. Don't you get it, Hermione? I'm crazy about you! If it would mean that you would feel the same way, I would get the dark mark for you!"
In a wave of passion, he walked over to her and grabbed her in his arms. "I need you in my life so badly right now. If you ask me to, I will be just a friend to you. But I beg you...please don't ask that of me. I want you to be mine. I want to call you my own. Please can I call you my own?"
Hermione took her time to think about the question, feeling more awkward than ever. She questioned everything in her life that led to this point and discovered that the occurrence of Draco Malfoy asking her out was definitely the oddest thing to ever happen to her. IF he was even asking her out. Maybe she had misunderstood what he said. Maybe she was just hearing what she wanted to hear instead of what he was actually saying. Maybe he hadn't taken her in his arms and it was all just a big dream.
"Did you really just ask me out?" she asked him, not allowing a single emotion to show on her face. She didn't want to let him know how excited she was if it had just been a mix-up.
He let out a nervous laugh, responding, "Only if your answer is a yes. If not, I never said a word and this was all just a misunderstanding. But between you and me, I'm really hoping that the answer is a yes."
Now without any hesitation, she replied, "Yes. My answer is yes, Draco. I know it's weird and this happening was always a thought that never crossed my mind... but now it's happening and it's real and...and...and my answer is yes."
But of course, that's when she woke up. She still had a headache but it had died down slightly.
She lifted her head off the pillow and looked at the stairs only to find Draco walking towards her. "Hey, sleepy," he greeted her. "Rise and shine...it's dinner time!"
She cracked a smile and stood up, fixing herself so she was decent to go to supper. "Okay. I'm up. Will you walk down with me?"
"Sure, why not? I never liked keeping secrets anyway. Let's go." He figured that as a Malfoy, people in the school had feared him for years. They'd be too afraid to start anything with him over a new friendship. And even if they didn't accept it, he didn't really care. Screw the world!
He took her hand and led her out the portrait hole, escorting her down to the Great Hall. When they reached the double doors, Hermione finally noticed that they were already fifteen minutes late and dinner had already begun.
"We're tardy. Everyone'll notice if we walk in together, Draco," she pointed out, making sure he knew what they were getting into.
"Your point? Listen, if you don't want people to know that we're friends, that's fine with me. I'm okay with it. But I don't want to hide our friendship so if it's alright by you, I'd like to walk you to your seat, make sure you're all set up and all that before I head off to eat dinner at my own table with all those dunderheads that somehow weaseled their way in to this school."
They both laughed and then she took his hand. "Okay then. I'm ready. We can go in now."
They pushed open the doors and walked in, earning the attention of the entire Hall. Just as Draco had said, he walked her to her seat between Harry and Ron and then he kissed her forehead and whispered, "See you later," into her ear.
As soon as he was gone, Ron nearly choked. "What - was - that!" he exclaimed, putting space between each word to emphasize his astonishment. "Why did you walk in with Malfoy? And why did he kiss you? And why aren't you horrified by the whole thing? And what was it that he whispered into your ear? And..."
"ENOUGH, RON!" she shouted in order to shut him up. "For your information, though it seems to me that it should be none of your business, Draco and I have become quite good friends over the summer. Please don't blow things out of proportion! It's not like I'm seeing him or anything."
"But Hermione...how could you!" Harry jumped in. "He's Malfoy! I thought we all hated him. I really don't have a problem with you making new friends and if you want to be friends with him then that's your choice, but I just don't understand. Malfoy has been nothing but awful to us for the past six years. I know you're a very forgiving person but some of the things he's done, well that's unforgivable!"
"Forgiveness is in me. I will not become a cold-hearted ice queen. I'm forgiving by nature! I can't change that. Besides, everyone deserves a second chance! EVERYONE!" She took a piece of chicken from the center of the table and began to eat.
Ron sat there in silence, awestruck by what he was hearing. "I can't believe you're so willing to forgive Malfoy after all he's done to you...to Harry...to ME! I...I can't believe you're just going to forget all of that!"
"I'm not forgetting, Ronald," she said matter-of-factly. "I'm simply forgiving. It's absurd to think that one can wipe out their entire memory of a person. Draco and I aren't starting over. We're simply opening up to one another, becoming friends. You should really try to get to know him. You'd be surprised at how kind he can be. I spent the day with him today. We went into Hogsmeade, had a drink at the three broomsticks, and we spoke for a while. It was nice spending time with him."
Harry took in a deep breath and responded before Ron could. "It's your choice, Hermione. I just want you to think about what you're getting in to before you go and fall in love with the bloke."
"I'm not going to fall in love with him, Harry. That'd be just too weird. Listen, can we just not talk about this anymore. The last thing I need right about now is you two hating me! I can't take it! Please just drop it for now! Please?"
Though Ron wanted to tell her how stupid he thought she was being and how much he thought Malfoy was a waste of oxygen, he refrained and instead just patted her shoulder. "Sorry, Hermione. Didn't mean to upset you. I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into but like you said, it's really not my business. You're a smart girl. You always tend to make the right decisions so I'll stay out of it."
"Thanks, Ron. I knew I could count on you two."
At the Slytherin table, Draco was getting a lot of grief for his new found kindness for the Gryffindor know-it-all but his only facial expression was a huge smile. "Listen...I don't care what all of you say! I don't need your approval to be friends with someone so just bugger off!"
Meanwhile, in a quaint little town in England, a drunken man sat in his brown leather recliner, drinking the night away. He picked up the Daily Prophet, which he had recently decided to subscribe to in order to keep up with whatever his ex-best friend and his former spouse were up to.
He stumbled to his feet and walked to the refrigerator, grabbing another beer from the top shelf. As he turned around, he saw something moving across the living room. "Who's there?" he called out in fake bravery. "Come out and show yourself."
"As you wish," a deep and threatening voice pronounced as they took a step out of the shadows.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"It's been a while, Riley," the man said, ignoring his old friends questions. "I hear you've been...busy!"
"TOM? Is that you? What are you doing here?"
"You know...in my life, I've seen a lot of odd things that may frighten other people but you know me, I've never been scared of anything. But then I hear that I'm a father and my daughter is already turning seventeen and is living with a guy that I never really trusted."
"You didn't want the child! You told Helen to get an abortion so we decided that the best thing for everyone was to tell you that there was no child. I took them in and I took care of them when you wouldn't!"
Still ignoring him, the man continued. "After I heard she had actually kept the child, I was ready to run back here and pick her up but Helen protested, arguing that it would be too hard for her to see you again. Apparently, when she broke up with you, she was really rude. Anyway, I decided that my daughter would probably be safe but then. And she also said that Hermione wouldn't want to see me after all the years that had gone by...well Helen and I found her today and spoke with her. Turns out, her summer wasn't as fun filled as I had hoped. Actually, it was quite the opposite. You beat her. You abused her."
"You used to abuse Helen! I just learned from you," Riley spoke out with a smug grin. "And wasn't it always your belief that if it doesn't kill you, it only makes you stronger? Isn't that why you make sure that the dark mark hurts like hell?"
"You had no right, Riley! You scarred my daughter!"
"Mentally AND physically," he retorted with a chuckle, seemingly proud of himself.
"I find it hysterical how you can still laugh after what you did."
"Oh really? Well what about you? What about every time you kill another innocent muggle? I see you have no problem with that!"
"How dare you compare my daughter to a muggle! You'll pay for that, Riley!"
"You want to know something? I visited her just last night, at Hogwarts. I used that invisibility spell you taught me when we were still in seventh year. I was on her, IN her, touching her and feeling her writhing beneath me. I figured, if I can't have Helen, I can still have her daughter! I left a bit early due to the Head Boy coming in and breaking up the fun but I'll go back and next time, I'll use a silencing charm to make sure he can't hear her scream."
"You are a very foolish man. You're smashed, aren't you? No matter. I'll kill you either way!"
In the Daily Prophet the next morn, the front page read:
VOLDEMORT STRIKES AGAIN: HEAD GIRL'S FATHER FOUND DEAD
A man by the name of Riley Granger was found dead last evening. He was said to be the father of the infamous Hermione Granger, muggle born and the best friend of Harry Potter.
Ministry officials believe that this could be the work of the Dark Lord, trying to unnerve Miss Granger who is known to be the brains behind all of Potter's operations. This girl is rumored to be the most intelligent witch ever to live let alone to ever attend Hogwarts. By the end of first year, she had already mastered many difficult spells and all of the easier ones.
It is no exaggeration to say that the entire Wizarding Community owes a great deal to this young woman. She has helped prevent the Dark Lord from returning time and time again, though no one could have stopped him from eventually coming back. He is said to be back to full strength again and gathering troops.
This attack on Mr. Granger was one of a series of murders, using the unforgivable curses as his weapon.
Everyone here at the Prophet sends our deepest condolences to this poor teenager (even Rita Skeeter). More on the story can be found in the Obituaries.
A/N... It's 10:53 on August 14, 2004. I'm in Georgia right now. I just got through Hurricane Charley...scary stuff there. I was in Kissimee, Florida where supposedly the heart of the storm passed over us. I'm so sorry to any of you who suffered significant property damage during the storm. I know how terrified I was just hearing the winds. I was staying in a resort and I was actually really safe so I'm fine but when I walked outside after the storm had passed, I saw so many trees all around my villa had fallen down and part of our roof was missing.
Anyway, about the chapter, it's about 6 pages long and it gave me a clear understanding of where the story is going. I finally know how it's going to end. I won't give any spoilers or any hints but I do believe you'll enjoy it. Like I said in one of the previous chapters, the story's almost over. I know how it's going to end but I don't know how long it will take. It may be two or three chapters, it may be five or six. Who knows?
Hope you enjoyed. Sorry for the long author's note. I tend to get bored after I finish writing a chapter so I like to type. My A/N's are like my little journal. Maybe, years later, when I reread these stories, I'll look back on it and it'll refresh my memory.
Oh well...if you'd kindly go review now, I'd be much obliged. Thanks everyone.
Ok...added authors note...it's is NOW August 24, 9:48 at night... i've been at band camp all week so it's taken a little while to get this out. Sry...i don't know when chapter 16 will be out. I'm swamped down with practice. I'll try to hurry.
