The Price of a World
Chapter Nineteen
Authors Note: Well, I've decided I won't adjust my story to suit the latest changes in HBP. Because then my entire story would need redoing. And I'm liking where it's heading at the moment. So sit back, relax and enjoy this chapter! Tupz xox
But what worried Draco the most; was that Voldemort now knew about Hermione. He knew, that Hermione brought out a potential weakness in Harry; the boy-who-lived. An emotion that could be manipulated and used against Harry as a weakness. And that emotion was love.
That night, the entire school slept within the hall. Professors went around comforting scared children. Ministry officials and Auror's were scattered throughout the school and were cowering the grounds a mere hour after Voldemort's departure. Dumbledore had sent out a standard school letter informing the students' parents that their child was safe and in the utmost care from Professors and Ministry workers. Harry, Hermione and Ron were huddled in the far back corner of the hall. Hermione was snuggled into her sleeping bag, lying against Harry's stomach her eyes slowly lowered as she drifted into a deep sleep. Harry sat up against the stonewall with Ron next to him. Ron looked to his best friend.
"Harry…"
"…Yeah?"
"You alright?" There was a pause.
"Yeah. Well, I have to be don't I?"
"No, no of course not. You can't be expected to put on a façade. I know, and I'm sure many others know, how much pressure is being put on you."
"Mmm. And yet, they're still prepared to criticise every thing I do… and still expect me to save their sorry asses in the end." Ron looked at Harry. Anguish and torment swirled in his eyes. He knew better then to confront Harry on this matter. Muttering voices caught Ron's attention at the far end of the hall.
"Harry, look who it is!" Harry looked towards the entrance to the hall, and there talking to McGonagall was Lupin, Tonks, Charlie and Moody. Ron shook Hermione slightly to wake her before making his way through sleeping students to see his brother. Harry helped Hermione up before following Ron.
"Tonks!" Hermione ran and hugged the Auror.
"Hermione, my dear!" She turned to the two boys. "Ron, Harry." She gave each of them a hug and kiss on the cheek.
"Harry, we need to talk." Harry looked to Lupin and nodded. Moody led the way and Hermione watched as Harry left with Lupin, Moody and McGonagall.
"Ron, are you okay? Where's Ginny? Was she hurt?" Charlie checked his youngest brother making sure each limb was intact.
"Ugh," Ron grunted and brushed his brother off him. "Stop it. I'm fine. Ginny's over there," he pointed to a group of 6th years huddled asleep on the floor. "She's sleeping – Don't disturb her." He added before Charlie could go over and wake her. Tonks turned to Hermione and Ron.
"I may as well tell you now, so Harry doesn't have to repeat it."
"Don't take Harry away from us." Hermione interrupted. Tonks giggled slightly.
"No, he's staying here. And so is Lupin, Moody, Charlie and I." Hermione and Ron stood silent.
"But – the Order - " Ron began.
"The order isn't doing as well as we'd like Ron."
"What do you mean?" Hermione questioned, regaining some of her usual functioning.
"Well we've had a few members back out – preferring not to risk the lives of their families and loved ones." Hermione huffed at this.
"So they'd rather let Voldemort come and torture them?" Hermione folded her arms across her chest. Tonks smirked slightly before continuing.
"As soon as we heard from Dumbledore we apparated here to assist. Dumbledore suggested that we stay here. Charlie and I will be taking a class and Moody and Lupin will have their own tasks to keep them busy."
"Such as?" Ron looked from his brother to Tonks, awaiting an answer.
"They need to put Harry through an intense training course to prepare him…" Charlie answered his brother's question. Hermione stifled a sob in the back of her throat.
"You – you really believe he needs training?" She turned to Tonks. "Tell me the truth, does he have any chance at winning?" Tonks stared at Hermione for a minute. "I don't know. Voldemort is strong; not as strong as he's capable of, but still strong. Then again, we have never really seen Harry's true power. He could surprise us all."
Just then, the doors of the hall opened and Harry, Lupin and Moody returned. Harry looked from Hermione and Ron; it was evident to him that they knew what was going on. He smiled at them reassuringly and he watched as they both let out a nervous sigh.
"I heard you two would be taking a class Tonks, Charlie?" Harry asked.
"Yeah. Care of Magical Creatures…" Charlie said, grinning from ear to ear. Hermione's cheeks flushed a bright red at the thought of Charlie in dragon hide pants and jacket. Harry poked her in the stomach inconspicuously and she grabbed his arm and squeezed it gently.
"What about you Tonks?" Ron enquired.
"Transfiguration for me. Taking over from Professor McGonagall so she can assist Dumbledore." Quietly the door to the hall creaked open and shut, to reveal McGonagall.
"Mr Weasley, Lupin, Moody and Ms Tonks; your rooms are ready." She smiled and left the hall again as quietly as she'd entered.
"Well, we'll let you lot get back to sleep. Harry, you've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow. I want you well rested." Lupin smiled before heading out the door after McGonagall. Moody, Tonks and Charlie left in a silent succession after him.
The Trio weaved their way back to their little corner. Hermione snuggled down into her sleeping bag, placing herself between Ron and Harry. As soon as Hermione's head touched the pillow she was asleep. Harry could tell Ron was asleep by his heavy breathing and occasional grunting. He leaned over and planted a kiss on Hermione's forehead, and with a quietly whispered 'Night' he lay next to Hermione and drifted to sleep.
A pair of blue-grey eyes on the far side of the hall was watching the trios every movement – especially the brunette beauty.
3 Days To Go:
The next day classes were back to normal. Moody and Lupin escorted Harry to the east wing of Hogwarts and into an empty classroom. This classroom was where Harry was to spend 14 hours a day for 3 days; training with Lupin and Moody.
Early in the morning students were allowed to go back to their dorms before breakfast. It was now lunchtime; Hermione and Ron hadn't seen Harry since breakfast. Charlie and Tonks came to sit next to Hermione and Ron at the Gryffindor table for lunch.
"Charlie, do you know where Harry is?" Charlie looked up at Hermione from his overly crowded plate of food.
"He won't be attending meals with the rest of the school. Those three are in luxury up there. They get anything they want; Dobby is taking care of them." He said with a half full mouth of Shepard's Pie. Hermione sighed and played with the food on her plate. She hadn't seen Draco since he left her on the dance floor the previous night and frankly she didn't want to see him in her present state of mind. Ron finished his glass of pumpkin juice and looked to Hermione.
"If you are just going to keep on playing with your food we may as well start walking to class." Hermione smiled, said a quiet goodbye to Charlie and Tonks and left with Ron.
Draco looked up from the Slytherin table to see Hermione leaving the Great Hall with Ron. He longed to comfort her and to receive her comfort, he longed to be able to touch her and kiss her without worrying who'd see. He longed to walk with her to class, to be part of her life – he didn't like hiding it anymore. He needed to protect her and by keeping what they had, a secret; would no longer work. Voldemort knew that Harry and Hermione were an item and it would only be a matter of time before he acted on it. Draco got up from the table but Pansy shot out her hand and grabbed Draco's wrist.
"Where are you going darling?" She asked, batting her eyelashes at him. Draco held back a shudder.
"To class."
"Oh I'll come with you!" Pansy made to get up but Draco pushed her back into her seat.
"I don't want company." And with that he stalked away from the table and pushed his way out of the hall.
He took the stairs at a run, he needed to catch up with Hermione and Ron. They'd be on their way to Defense Against The Dark Arts. He caught up with them when they were heading down the corridor towards their DADA classroom. Draco, being the cunning Slytherin he was, needed to come up with a way to get to Hermione alone. And he had the perfect spell to help him out.
"Accio DADA textbook," Draco whispered and Ron's textbook flew into Draco's hand. Stuffing it into his own bag, he waited around the corner out of sight. He could faintly hear their conversation.
"Have you done the homework Hermione?"
"Of course I have Ron. Have you?"
"Yep, are you proud of me?"
"Oh very." Hermione's voice rung out with a hint of sarcasm and Draco smirked to himself, knowing she'd probably picked up the sarcasm from him. "Well you've done your homework. But did you bring your textbook to class this time?"
"Yes, I'll even prove it to you." There was a slight pause. And Draco waited for it. "It's… it was… I swear i…" Draco muffled a laugh. "I must have left it on my bed. I'll be back in a second Mione." Draco could hear Ron's footsteps coming closer and he watched as Ron came to the end of the corridor and took the path that went in the opposite direction to where Draco was hiding. When Ron was out of sight Draco walked towards the DADA classroom.
Hermione was leaning against the cold stonewall, her bag at her feet and Ron's bag next to her own. She could hear footsteps coming towards her but she didn't bother looking up, knowing it was probably just more students coming early to class. The footsteps came closer and the person stopped standing right in front of her. She ran her eyes from the black polished shoes, up the black pants, up the evergreen suede shirt, to the blue-grey eyes and finally to the platinum blonde hair.
"Draco…"
"You don't seem to pleased to see me?" Draco leaned forward to kiss Hermione on the lips but she turned her head and Draco's lips met the smooth skin of Hermione's cheek.
"Draco you left me there. In the dark. Surrounded by Death Eaters. I was terrified." Draco's heart sunk and he stepped back from her, resorting to leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the corridor. He looked at the floor for a period of time before replying.
"You have to understand; my father was there. The head death eaters were there… I still have a duty to my father, the Dark Lord and all the Death Eaters. I may love you and hate my father – but the duty and loyalty is still there. I'm bound to them…" Hermione looked up and met Draco's eye. Hermione didn't even need to ask, Draco was by her side and wrapping his arms around her. Hermione let out a deep sigh and tightened her embrace on Draco.
"I love you…" Draco whispered in her ear.
"I love you too." Hermione rested her head on Draco's chest and they stayed in each other's embrace for as long as possible.
"Oh, by the way. Give this to Weasley for me" Draco got Ron's textbook out of his bag and gave it to Hermione. With a final smirk and kiss on the cheek, Draco turned around and headed to class himself.
Harry wasn't at dinner either so Hermione decided to join Ron in the Gryffindor common room. They were in the middle of a game of exploding snap when the clock chimed 9 O'clock and the portrait door swung open to reveal a very exhausted looking Harry. He stumbled over to the couch and collapsed. Hermione got up and ran over to the couch, plonking her bottom on the floor so she was near his head. She leaned over him and planted soft kisses across his face but Harry brushed her away irritably. Hermione, stunned, sat back. Ron frowned at this and went to sit next to Hermione.
"Hey mate. Tired?" Harry opened his eyes slightly and looked at Ron.
"You think? I've never had so much strain put on my body. I feel as if I'm under the Crucio curse."
"How about we get you up to bed. You're going to need your beauty sleep if you're going to go through it all again tomorrow." Hermione said as cheerily as possible. Ron and Hermione leant forward to help Harry up but he shrugged them off.
"I don't need your help. I'm perfectly capable in getting up myself." Harry slowly and stiffly stood up as his friends, horrified, stood back and watched. Harry slowly stumbled over to the stairs and using the walls to support himself, climbed the staircase to his dorm. Once around the corner and out of sight and earshot of his friends, Harry collapsed in exhaustion onto the stairs and cried. Hot tears streamed down his cheeks as he leant his head back against the cool stonewall.
Ron looked over at Hermione whom was more hurt then shocked at Harry's behavior.
"It's been a tough day for him. He's got a lot of pressure on his shoulders."
"I know…" Hermione said almost inaudibly.
"He needs our support Mione…" Hermione nodded her head.
"I think I'll head back to my dorm. See you tomorrow morning at breakfast."
"Night Mione." Ron kissed her cheek and headed up the staircase; by this time Harry had already clambered up the staircase. Ron opened the bedroom door to face Harry's bed with the curtains already drawn. He sighed and made his way to his bed unaware that Harry lay wide away on his back longing for his Godfathers comforting words.
2 Days To Go:
The next day passed much like the previous. Hermione and Ron ate meals without Harry and went to class without him. That night however, Hermione headed straight back to her common room. She wasn't in the mood to wait up for Harry's return to the Gryffindor tower, nor did she want to be treated, as she had been the last night. She trudged down the corridor that led from the portrait and into her private common room. She dumped her tote bag next to the bookcase and was about to head up the stairs to soak herself in a hot bath, when the stonewall next to the fireplace began to move. The secret passage door opened and Draco stepped into her common room.
Hermione smiled and her mood was instantly enlightened at seeing him. He picked her up, spun her around and kissed her passionately.
"I've been wanting to do that all day." Draco whispered as he pulled Hermione onto the couch with him where they spent most of the evening.
1 Day To Go:
A harsh knocking on her bedroom door awoke Hermione. She rolled over and mumbled 'come in' before pulling the blankets over her head.
"Wake up and get up beautiful." Hermione pulled the blankets back off her head and blinked her eyes open.
"W-what?"
"Come on, I've got something for you." He leant over and kissed Hermione on the cheek, forehead and lips.
"Oh only because you asked nicely." Hermione rubbed her eyes and sat up.
"Before I give it to you. I just wanted to say. I'm sorry how I treated you the other day. I shouldn't have pushed you away, it was wrong of me. You and Ron mean everything to me. You're the only family I've got left." Hermione smiled slightly and kissed Harry gently.
"It's okay. I suppose I understand. And Ron does too…" Harry pulled a small box from out of his robe pocket.
"This – is for you." Hermione's eyes opened in surprise. The little box was a silver shade and it was tied with a royal blue ribbon. "Go on. Open it." Harry sat next to Hermione on her bed. Gingerly, Hermione pulled an end of the ribbon causing the bow to untie and the ribbon to unravel from its hold on the box. Slowly, she pulled the silver top off the box. Inside, held neatly in place was a silver bracelet. In the center of the bracelet was the most beautiful stone Hermione had ever seen. The stone was linked with the bracelet by a silver bracket. The stone in itself was amazing. It was completely black but when you looked closer, veined with an electric purple. It was mesmerizing.
"Harry – it's…" Hermione spoke breathlessly. Harry looked from the bracelet to Hermione's large chocolate brown eyes. "It's beautiful." Tears formed in her eyes and she wrapped her arms around Harry's neck in a tight embrace.
"It's not quite finished yet." Hermione sat back and looked at his quizzically.
"What do you mean?" Harry smiled and put the bracelet on Hermione's right wrist.
"It's a special sort of bracelet…" He took out his wand, touched the stone and whispered 'pateovenustas'. Immediately the purple veins glowed brightly and stood out starkly against their black surroundings. Hermione watched amazed as the purple veins glowed, pulsating and suddenly turned to blood red. Once they turned red the glowing slowly started to ebb away till eventually, the red veins were only visible upon close inspection. Hermione, amazed, touched the stone.
"It's warm…" Hermione looked up at Harry who sat smiling at her. "Harry, I don't understand, I've never seen anything like this. What is it?"
"This bracelet connects me to you. See how the stone's veins are red and subdued?" Hermione nodded. "It means that I'm alive and quite alright." Hermione nodded slowly, starting to understand.
"So… if you were - " Hermione stopped.
"If I were dying it'd start glowing again, the colour of the veins would vary depending on how I was feeling. And if I were dead… it'd be completely black." Hermione nodded.
"Thank you Harry. So much." Harry smiled and kissed Hermione's forehead.
"My pleasure but I really have to go. Lupin will kill me if I'm late. Will I get to see you tonight?" Hermione smiled and nodded.
"I'll be waiting for you in the common room." With a goofy-happy grin on his face, Harry ran out of Hermione's room and headed towards the classroom where Lupin and Moody would be waiting for him.
Authors Note: Wow. A chapter up. I'm on a role here. I'm in the middle of two weeks of end of year exams. And i needed a break from studying. And as soon as i started I couldn't stop. So here's Chapter 19. sorry about the wait. And now for someacknowledgments.
Crazyboy88 - Heh. Shhhhh. I was hoping no one would notice. Here's the update you asked for deary!
rat-gal2000 - Thank you x
BloodBlackRoses - Ah my faithful reviewer!You're back! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And the many more to come. I can't believe I'm up to chapter 20 and I haven't even gotten HALF way through the plot i've got lined up for this story. Perhaps I need to cut to the chase and stop blabbing about unimportant stuff.
Mysteriouscharm - I really like your username btw. Ahahah, I love the little triangle that's happening. But I'll tell you a secret, this triangle is going to be broken soon! Shock horror. Who WILL she choose?
Badgurl13a - Mmm. See, I agree with you. Voldemort is actually a real, living, breathing person and a lot of stories don't acknowledge that. Thank you for your review, you've uplifted my spirits.
wiccan-witch88 - Where would the fun be in making Hermione go with the guy everyone expects her to go with? Heheheheh.
Malfoy-Jacky - Aw. It's reviews like yours that I love. No matter how many times you hear how much people like your story; every time I hear it i'm completely amazed. Thank you so much for reading my story. Hope you liked this chapter.
Bluebaby3296 - omg I'm so sorry. I've made you wait longer then that weekend! I hope this chapter subdues your curiousity until the next update. I've got a surprise in store for you all with the next chapter. You'll be blown away with the plot twists I've got hidden up my sleeve.