Here's your last xmas special, so I hope you like it. I'm sorry it's short, but this is being quite difficult to write so I've not got loads to put up. I hope you like it. Istalindar
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"Married!" Harry yelled. He was in the library with Ron.
"It's a library, Harry. Stop yelling." Ron said calmly.
"You let them get married!"
"It wasn't exactly my decision to make, Harry. And what's the big deal? They're both sickeningly in love with each other, and Ginny had my arm twisted around my back anyway. And if you actually get to know him, Draco's not that bad. He has his moments, I'll grant you that, but he's not that bad."
"Not that bad! Ron, this is Draco Malfoy! Our enemy for years! And all of a sudden, he's NOT THAT BAD!"
"Sorry, am I interrupting?" Draco walked in, took one look, and walked out again. The door slowly shut behind him.
"You know what, Harry? I don't know what your problem is, but I think you better get it sorted." Ron said coldly. "Draco's a great guy, and he loves Hermione. He's saved my life more than once, and I've saved his. We're mates. Not best mates. But mates. He saved my sister's life, and he's been there for all of us if we needed him. And not because he has to. He could leave and betray us any time, and he knows it. But he wont. You know why? Because he actually cares about us all. Because he loves Hermione and he loves their daughter Lani. I know you used to love Hermione, heck, you might still for all I know. But she's married and happy now. And I don't care if you're the king of England or my best mate. I'm not going to let you ruin her life again. Try and get your issues sorted, please?" Ron walked out, leaving Harry flabbergasted.
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Dinner that night seemed rather tense affair, as Hermione refused to look or talk to Harry, and Ron declined to attend, saying he needed to check some things. As he was rather vague, and Draco had heard the larger part of Harry and Ron's conversation in the library, no one thought he was actually checking 'things' though only a few actually knew why he had deigned to attend dinner, which was more of Luna's surprisingly good cooking.
After dinner, Hermione walked off without a further word, and Draco hurriedly followed her, without looking back. He caught up with her on the main landing, by the huge window that looked over the back garden from which you could see for miles on a clear day.
"Hermione! Hermione, wait! Are you alright?" Hermione whirled, and he grasped her arms to stop her moving. She was so much easier to talk to when she was still.
"No, I'm not alright." Hermione answered flatly.
"What happened? Was it-"
"Potter? Yes, it was Harry." Hermione said tiredly. She wrapped her arms around Draco, burying her face in his chest. "I love you. You know that, right?" Draco kissed the crown of her head.
"Course I do sweetheart. And I love you too. What's going on?"
"I told him about us…and he totally flipped." Hermione sniffed.
"I know. He and Ron were arguing about it in the library." Draco said.
"What were they saying?" Hermione asked, looking up. Draco grinned and kissed her forehead.
"Shouting, you mean. Harry was ranting about us being married, and Ron told him to shut up and get over it."
"Really?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah. I even used the 'you ruined her life once, I'm not gonna let you do it again' line." Ron said, emerging from his room looking tired and anxious.
"You did?" Hermione disentangled herself from Draco and hugged Ron tightly. "Thank you!"
"For what? Totally yelling at Harry?"
"No, for defending me and Draco. I mean, I know you don't like him very much usually, but-"
"He's alright. He has his moments, but he's okay."
"Your vote of confidence is gratifying." Draco said dryly. Hermione glanced over her shoulder at him where he was leaning against the windowsill. And looking out the window, she saw them.
"Oh my god. Look!" Draco whirled, and Ron jumped down the steps to stand by them as they saw the dark figures circling. Hermione suddenly felt depressed.
"Dementors!" Draco exclaimed. The three of them went running down the stairs.
"Guys, we've got trouble!" Hermione exclaimed. Everyone rose to their feet. "Dementors are circling. I don't know if they know we're here or not, but I think we'd better skedaddle."
"Cho, Luna, Hermione, Harry and Ron, come and help me with the kids. Everyone else, get the stuff we need." Ginny snapped. People automatically did what they were told. They had drilled evacuations often, and they'd done it often enough in real life to be really good at it by now. Despite Ginny's orders, everyone knew what their jobs were, and they would have done them anyway, with the exception of Harry.
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In the kids room, they were all playing and laughing, oblivious to the circling Dementors, whose soullessness weighed heavy on the adult's hearts.
Ginny flicked the lights on and off a few times, and all the children fell silent.
"We're evacuating." She said clearly. "Get your partner, and get to your group, in silence." The children immediately did as they were told. Harry was impressed by the way the older children easily controlled the younger, and helped the adults get the children organised. Harry mainly stuck by Ginny's side, as it was clear she knew what she was doing, and he wasn't particularly fond of Ron or Hermione at the moment.
After ten minutes, the room was empty of all the children. It was silent, as was the rest of the house.
Then a noise broke the silence. Then another. Then another.
"Get back! I told you, stay back!" a sharp voice ordered. A tall blonde man strode into the kids room, and flicked on the light. The three dementors at his back hissed, and he turned and regarded them coldly before turning back to the room. He was silent, waiting.
A sniff seemed to echo in the room. An icy smile spread across the cold handsome features of the blonde man. He strode across the room, and pulled a girl from behind a shelf. She was sniffing and crying, her brown hair falling over her eyes. Then a sudden change came over, when she realised that she'd been found. She stood up straight, yanked her arm from the man's grasp, pushed her hair out of her face, and glared at the man, who chuckled cruelly.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Janine Brown." Janine answered flatly. "Who're you?"
"Me? I'm Lucius Malfoy."
"But you're dead. Draco killed you."
"You mean he tried, little girl."
"Are those…dementors?" The dementors hissed.
"They are. Are you going to cooperate, or am I going to have to give you to them?" Lucius asked, almost kindly.
"I'll cooperate." She said haughtily.
"We might get on well then." He held onto the girl by her brown hair, and apparated away.
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"We're missing one." Hermione stated, walking up to Draco. He looked down at her worried face.
"One what? Who?"
"One of the kids. Lavender's kid, Janine. She's not here." Hermione said, her voice flat. Draco recognised the voice as a pre-hysteria warning.
"Calm down love. She's probably just wandered off. The kids havent been at this safehouse before, have they?"
"Not since we abandoned it after Voldy decided to turn up nine years ago." Hermione replied.
"Well then. We'll get some people looking for her, and we'll find her. Don't worry about it. Hey, Seamus! See if you can find Janine Brown, she's wandered off and we want to keep track of everyone." Seamus nodded and waved before walking off. "There you go, sweetling. We'll find her in no time. Now go organise something." Draco ordered teasingly.
"I love you, you idiot." Hermione said with a laugh, as she headed off to where a couple of kids were fighting.
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"She's not here." Hermione said levelly an hour later. "We've searched everywhere." Draco sighed, staring at his wife. She was really beautiful when she was on the verge on hysteria, with bright eyes and a pink flush on her cheeks. "Draco? Hun, stop staring at me like that."
"Sorry. We'll have another look and-"
"She's. Not. here." Hermione repeated stonily. There was a tapping at the window, and when Draco opened it, an owl flew in. it glared at their raised wands, and shook its leg which had a letter wrapped around it. "Careful." Hermione warned as Draco undid it. The owl gave a ruffled hoot and flew away.
Draco unrolled it and read it quickly, his eyes scanning the paper. Then he sighed and passed the parchement to Hermione.
I have the girl.
Hermione raised her eyes to meet Draco's. then together they went downstairs to where the rest of the group were about to eat.
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