To Get Back Life
Thank you thank you thank you –
Danish Pastry 28,
Louiebugooey,
Swtndreamypnay,
Countrybuttlerfly,
epiphany-the-storyteller,
mysteriouscharm,
londonmalfoy – don't worry there will be no more cleaning! Promise. I guess I pressed on the fact I wanted you all to feel sorry for her a little too much.
Chapter 7
Ron
"Baker, get your ass down here!" A voice barked from down the stairs. Ron sighed and got up from where he was sat. It was almost two years since he had left his home and disguised himself. He now lived in Scotland, working in the safe house closest to the Portal that took Muggleborns to France. His heavy amulet banged against his chest as he bounded down the stairs and into the pub that occupied the bottom floor of the large house.
"You called Rose?" He asked the woman behind the bar kindly; he was now used to her tempers and could ignore them completely.
Rose had lost her husband in a fight that had broken out between some Deatheaters in the bar just a week before Ron had arrived. She was in an awful state when Ron first started and he found he had to almost run the pub single-handedly for quite a few months. But she had pulled herself together and opened her attic as a safe house which was now running quite smoothly offering protection to both male and females.
He sometimes missed his old life, his family, his friends, Hermione whom he had loved with all his soul, but he knew that he had done the right thing in getting away from it all. The bounty on his head was ridiculously large and added to the stress that had piled up with trying to deal with his best friend's death. He loathed Voldemort, of course, for killing almost everyone who he held dear, some of his family luckily not all, a few been able to make it across the sea and into safety, Harry with the death so many had witnessed, Dumbledore, his teachers and some classmates in the violent attack on the school and Hermione? Since changing his name to Russell Baker and moving he had hear no word about her. All he knew was that when he had left she had been on the run. But that meant nothing by now she could have been caught, tortured and killed quite easily.
"Shift the barrels in the basement for me." Rose instructed, "And you'll need to take the small one up into the attic for fermenting."
Ron nodded and climbed down the stairs that were behind the bar and grabbed the small barrel by the door. It was not full of liquid as everyone thought bit of food, the Muggleborns were up in the attic and this was how their food and other supplies were brought up to them. He enjoyed spending time with the Muggleborns, getting to know the new faces and telling them all news of what was going on downstairs. He often accompanied people to the portal to say goodbye.
He was not ready to go through the portal himself yet, as when he did he would ditch his disguise and go back to being Ronald Weasley, best friend to Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, there on 'The Last Night'. For now he was happy being plain Russell with no fame whatsoever.
--
He picked up the newspaper and read through the front page when he returned into the bar, it was fairly empty so he grabbed a bar stool and began to read the article properly.
Life Gets Better For Pures
Reporter: Rita Skeeter
With the great Lord Voldemort's new plans to make Pureblood's lives even easier he receives great praise. The Dark Lord's new plans to sell Mudbloods as slaves to pure families are the answer to our House Elf problems.
Since the House Elf revolt of three years ago against the old government the work of the elves has never been able to reach par. They wanted freedom and even our Great One has found it a struggle to control them when they gather in large groups to combine their powers against us.
Powerful Deatheater leader Lucius Malfoy had this to say –
"Using Mudbloods as slaves is a great idea, we can put to use the last generation of the hopeless, embarrassment to our society. House elves have become too cocky but take the wand off a mudblood and they're defenceless, this means that we'll finally be able to put them in their place. Finally they're where they belong; dead or serving us."
With these strong words there have been much demand to obtain a slave or two, it is the new must have and no household should be without one. Not only did he have that to say Mr Malfoy also had a very special treat of being given a free slave for reasons that will not be disclosed.
But it does not stop there not only did he get this slave for absolutely nothing but we have just found out that it is none other than Hermione Granger, friend to Pathetic Potter and Runaway Ron. The girl was finally found in a safe house that was raided only the night before the Farm opened.
The house was run by a well known family; The Bennetts, all have been put to death on charges of helping Mudbloods and conspiring to help these foul creatures out of the country.
Will the slaves work or will it end up being just a flash in the pan before they get the same ideas as the House elves and start a protest? Watch this space for the latest news on the subject.
Putting down the paper Ron sat completely still, unable to move or gather his thoughts in any way. So Hermione was still alive but now working for that bastard Malfoy. He was at a loss, could he help her and blow his cover possibly getting them both killed or should he leave her there where she had a roof over her head and wouldn't be killed for a little while at least? It was a complicated matter that would require a lot of thought.
--
Three week later Draco was getting more and more frustrated with the fact that Hermione still did not trust him and decided that he needed to do something about it. Something big, very big, something that she couldn't ignore or walk away from and he had just the idea!
With one last trip to Muggle London he brought a new duffle bag and female clothes to fill it, guessing Hermione's size. Once that was done he paid one last trip to Gringotts to take the last of the money from his parents account in one big chunk before returning home.
He did not go to find Hermione immediately; instead he went into his study area in the room next his bedroom which was hardly ever used. He took the small key from its hiding place and unlocked the top draw. Rooting around through all the letters from Cassandra he found what he was looking for. An amulet that he had stolen from a Deatheater a year before, it was not longer on a chain but he placed a length of string which he tied in a knot to make a sort of necklace before placing it in his back pocket.
Going into his room he packet some of his clothes into his own duffle bag along with some food and his Gringotts key before going in search of Hermione. He finally found her in the Dinning Room polishing the table, trying to get rid of all the wax that had been 'spilt' by his mother the night before when she had moved a candle.
"Hermione, can I talk to you?" He asked quietly as he entered the room.
She jumped, not expecting the voice, and turned around hardening her expression as she did so.
"What?" She snapped waiting for him to talk while going back to cleaning.
"Can we sit down or something?" He asked, watching her clean put him on edge.
"Unlike you I have a lot of work to do and will be punished if I don't do it so either talk now or piss off, I haven't got time to stop I'm already behind on it all." She sighed wearily pushing her hair from her eyes.
Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out the amulet, dangling it from the string in front of her face.
"What's that?" Hermione asked, stopping polishing as her attention was captured by the object.
"An amulet, just like mine, so when we escape you'll be safe too." He said happily.
"Escape? Yeh like you're going to help me do that!" She snorted.
"Really Hermione believe me." He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him so she could look into his eyes and see that he was being sincere.
"No." She said after a very long pause of gazing into each other's eyes.
"No?"
"No."
"Why? I have everything planned, my parents are visiting Thomas tonight so we can slip away I have some clothes for you and money. We can carry on through the safe houses until we get to Scotland. We can make it to France, both of us together!"
"How do I know this isn't some kind of trap?" She asked him suspiciously.
"Fine then." he sighed and took the amulet from his own neck and handed it to her putting on the one hanging from the string instead.
Hermione placed the amulet into the pocket of her baggy jeans and gave a ghost of a smile. "I'm not going to wear it." She said decisively.
"Why not?" Draco cried.
"Because that would undermine the fact I'm a Muggleborn, I am proud of that fact not matter what happens and I'm not going to pretend to be something I'm not."
Draco's face crumpled, he had not pictured the confrontation going this way at all. He would have to go that night no matter what, before his parents fond out that he had stolen all their money from the shared account. He wanted Hermione to go with him; he didn't believe he could make the trip alone. Especially as he was a pureblood, he wouldn't be welcomed into most of the safe houses, but not only that he enjoyed her company and he needed a friend with him.
"So you won't come?" Draco asked sadly.
"Ah, I didn't say that now did I." she replied with a grin.
Draco's face broke into a grin as the first barrier that had been wedged between crumbled and was demolished. She was still weary of him but at least she didn't think he was about to rat her out to Voldemort at the first possible instant.
"So when are we going?" She asked him when they had both stopped grinning like small children.
"Tonight, late though so none of the House elves or Matt sees us. If you come down to my room about half twelve we'll set off then." He said. "In fact I think all there is to do now is replenish our energy levels."
They both quickly made for the kitchen and pigged out on all that was in the cupboards, when they were satisfactorily full they went to bed. Hermione sleeping in one of the guest bedrooms on a soft feather mattress instead of the pile of sheets she usually slept on.
--
At midnight an alarm went off in the room where Hermione was lost in dreams. She quickly got up and washed before putting on some of the new clothes Draco had bought her and making her way as quickly as she could to Draco's room. She was full of apprehension about this plan. She wanted to get out of the house more than anything in the world and if she was with Draco she could do that as the magical binds that pinned her to the house only let her a certain distance from the Manor without a Malfoy family member without hurting her badly.
But could she really trust him? How did she know that he didn't really rat her out to Voldemort? As much as she did want to believe him there was still the niggling doubt at the back of her mind. Did he really just save my life so he could help Voldemort uncover a safe house or is he telling the truth? No matter how much she thought about it she could not decide.
In the end she decided that the worst that could happen would be that she was killed and most of the time she thought that that could be a blessing in disguise, anything to get her out of this hell hole that was her life.
--
Draco was pacing his room when Hermione knocked on his door. Could he really do it? As much as he hated his parents could he really make it on his own? He didn't care that he wouldn't finish his medicine course; he had never really wanted to become a doctor anyway. Once he was in France he could do something else anyway.
He pulled the door open, wincing as it creaked, and ushered her inside. They did not speak, but they knew exactly what the other was thinking as they were collecting together their things.
Very slowly they crept down the stairs until they reached the front door where they both stopped abruptly. This was it, once they crossed the threshold there would be no going back. They would be on the run, Draco for deserting his side and Hermione because she was Muggleborn, both crimes punishable by a very gruesome death.
--
Ron was down in the basement when they came. He heard their heavy footsteps and saw as the dust fell from the ceiling up above. He joined Rose up by the bar and waited as they went room to room searching. They did not find anything though. Ron had created a room much like the Room of Requirement but he had tied in the idea of the Mirror of Erised, only someone with kind intentions would ever be able to find the room.
The took a full hour searching through every room before they left but they didn't even find a hair, there was no way they could charge either Ron of Rose even though they could sense that there was something not quite right.
"That was so close Russ!" Rose exclaimed as the door banged shut. "I did not like that one little bit."
"Me either Ro, me either." He sighed and rested his head against the shiny wooden of surface of the bar.
His thoughts turned to Harry and Hermione. He didn't want that life anymore, this is where he wanted to be, he want to help people but not in a way where he would have to battle. No more fights, was his new resolution; that part of his life was over, he didn't want to go down that road again. He would stay at the pub, he would help Muggleborns escape and one day he would go too and he would be Ron Weasley, but a new Ron Weasley. A Ron Weasley who didn't loose everyone close to him.
