Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. All credit must be given to J.K.

The Cradle Will Fall

Chapter 16

The harsh rays of sunlight filtering through the tree above were what woke Harry. With an agonizing groan, he pried his eyes open. His throbbing head was resting on Hermione's abdomen and his feet were tangled in a bush. For a moment he thought he was still at Hogwarts, but when he went to sit up, the shooting pain from his leg reminded him of where he was and what had happened.

Hermione slowly stirred. She too had been awoken by the sunshine, but had not bothered to open her eyes until Harry had first gotten up, not wanting to disturb his sleep. Knowing he was awake, though, she did not hesitate to open her eyes and prop herself up on her arms. Her entire body ached like she had just fallen from a building. She sneered with disdain at the memory. Lucius had finally had the last laugh. It was more of a cackle, she supposed. But had he really been triumphant? Her thoughts were pierced by Harry's deep voice.

"Do you feel well, Hermione?" Harry cringed at the lunacy of his question, knowing full well she was in as much pain as he. Regardless, she smiled and nodded.

"Yes. I mean, I'm definitely in pain, but nothing life threatening." She tried to comfort him by sounding optimistic, but she had not convinced him. He frowned as he brushed his fingers over a large purple bruise on her arm. She tried her best not to wince.

"My leg is broken. I don't think I have enough energy or concentration to apparate anywhere." He reached down and adjusted his leg as he spoke. Hermione frowned.

"I don't think I can apparate either." She pushed her long hair away from her face and tried to concentrate on a destination, but it was no use. Her thoughts kept slipping back to the throbbing pain throughout her body. If she had her wand she could try and heal their injuries.

"Perhaps," Hermione began with reluctance, "there is a village somewhere around here where we can contact Hogwarts or the ministry." She eyed Harry's leg as she completely sat up.

Harry was silent as he thought of other alternatives. After a few moments he nodded. "I guess we're going to have to." He then began to grab sticks from around them. Hermione sat silently as she watched Harry create a makeshift splint for his leg.

"There." He tied a scrap of fabric torn from his shirt to his leg. It would have to do. When he looked up and grinned, Hermione realized she had been staring at him. She could feel herself blushing.

"Hermione," he said softly as he reached out and traced his fingers across her neck lovingly. Hermione stiffened as he leaned in and kissed her. After a second, Harry pulled away with a confused frown.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She had responded a little too quickly, and he knew it as well.

"Could we talk?" Harry pulled himself back against a tree as he became suddenly serious.

"About what?" Hermione knew what he wanted to talk about, but she wasn't sure how she was going to respond. She inclined her head a fraction and was able to see Malfoy Manor through the trees. "Shouldn't we be concentrating on getting home?" Harry shook his head slowly.

"We're safe for now. We have time." Hermione bit the inside of her cheek as he continued to frown.

"What's between you and Malfoy?" He lifted an eyebrow accusingly as he recalled all the moments he had seen Malfoy near her, talking to her, smiling at her. "I know I've been a bit neglectful of you, but I've still noticed how he had attached himself to your side, even if no one else did."

Hermione felt something constrict within her. "I thought I liked him." She thought bitterly to the previous night, when he had allowed his father to kill them—attempt to kill them. She had told Draco that she loved him. She felt her cheeks begin to warm at the thought, regretting her words. 'I didn't know what I was saying. It was a lapse of judgment.' She squeezed her eyes shut trying to believe her thoughts.

"He's the biggest arsehole at our school. How could you have liked him? He hurt you, Hermione. "He was referring to all the times Malfoy had made Hermione's life hell, including the rape. He comprehended from Lucius' conversation that it had been Draco Malfoy all this time. Harry clenched his teeth as he tried to keep his anger under control. He didn't want to explode at Hermione. It wasn't she that he was angry at.

"It's not like I knew, you know. I only found out recently." She opened her eyes as she realized Lucius had taken Daniel away the same day she had found out. Had he known all along? Had Draco known all along? Had it been part of their plan—to destroy who she was and what she had accomplished—because she was a muggleborn, had 'dirty blood'? Of course. It was clear now. Why did she ever believe Draco was different? Draco reformed? What bullshit. She looked into Harry's eyes and saw the anger burning in them. She wondered if his animosity was directed towards her, and also wondered whether her eyes too reflected the sudden anger and humiliation she felt.

"I'm sorry." She said it silently and caught Harry off guard. He hadn't been expecting an apology. He had been prepared for a long winded explanation as to how she had allowed Malfoy to wrap her around his finger. But no, she was accepting that she had made a mistake and was apologizing. He supposed it made more sense than an actual explanation.

"Do you still have feelings for him?" Harry wasn't sure if this too was a silly question. Should he assume that because they had been abandoned by Malfoy at the manor that she would stop liking him? She was looking down at the ground as she fiddled with a twig.

'Do I still have feelings for him? Why do you ask these questions, Harry? They sound simple to you, but they require so much thinking to answer. Malfoy humiliated me, impregnated me, abandoned me. Do I still like Malfoy? Yes.'

"No." She looked up to meet his eyes. Her gaze belied nothing and he accepted this as truth.

Both Hermione and Harry snapped their heads towards the dirt road at the sound of old, wooden wheels rolling heavily across the ground.

"It's a carriage leaving the manor." Hermione said as she peeked through the bush. "Come on. We can follow it out of these hills and away from that manor. Maybe it'll pass through a town where we can find our way home. Can you walk?" She held her hand out to Harry and he stood awkwardly as he rested on his stiff leg with the improvised splint.

"Lend me your arm and I'll be fine." Complying, Hermione proffered her arm. The two followed the carriage at a safe distance.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked worriedly as Harry stopped to breathe. The carriage had turned down another road a few minutes earlier and now they were making their way down the last slope towards a tiny village.

"Yeah. You?" Harry nodded to his death grip on her arm. Hermione shook her head.

"No, Harry. Don't worry about it." He swallowed hard before continuing down the slope. Hermione smiled at how odd the scene of the tall Harry clutching to her must have looked. She was pulled from her thoughts when Harry stopped again. She hardly minded. He was in pain.

"Do you two need help?" Harry and Hermione froze. They skillfully scanned their surroundings, their gazes finally settling on an old lady emerging from the trees directly to their right. Hermione sent Harry a nervous glance.

"No. We're just heading down to the village." He pointed to the dozen houses at the bottom of the dirt road.

"But you look like you've been attacked by trolls! I mean, if such things existed." Harry forced a polite smile. He had a feeling of what was coming next.

"You two come with me. My home is just inside the woods here. I'll fix you up." She motioned for them to follow. "You're just in luck. I was just preparing lunch." She smiled warmly and turned on her heel, disappearing into the trees. Hermione looked at the spot where she had occupied only moments ago.

"I am hungry," Harry said resignedly. She sighed and nodded reluctantly. Getting home was going to take longer than expected.

"There we are." Ella, they found to be the old lady's name, said, as she finished wrapping the last bandage. It was all finely done, but Hermione did find her smaller, unbandaged cuts and scrapes to be stinging a bit.

"You seem to know what you're doing." Harry pointed out as he examined his leg.

"Ah yes! I used to be a—a—" Ella stumbled as she fished for words.

"Nurse?" Hermione suggested.

"Yes. A nurse." Hermione lifted an eyebrow to Harry and they both silently agreed that she was odd. She did appear a bit senile, though.

"You two, make yourselves at home. I'm going to make lunch now." She began to hum as she bounced up and out of the small living room and through the kitchen door, leaving Hermione and Harry to sit in silence.

Hermione tilted her head up as she examined the contents of the room. There appeared to be crosses slung about everywhere. There was a very large portrait of Jesus hanging near the window, and the eyes of the portrait appeared to follow her wherever she moved.

Harry too noticed all of this, and also spotted a very large bible on an end table. He narrowed his eyes a fraction as he began to wonder about Ella.

"You think she thinks us freaks?" He asked Hermione silently.

"Hm?" She pulled her eyes away from the large portrait and settled them on Harry. He looked a bit worried.

"What do you mean?"

"No doubt she's wondering how the hell we got ourselves so beat up. Just hasn't said anything yet, has she? But I remember my uncle muttering about freaks wandering the streets in bathrobes a few years back. You don't think she thinks we're part of some cult?" Harry motioned to their abandoned, bloody robes that were sitting in the corner. Hermione blew a strand of hair from her face as she contemplated.

"Guess we'll find out," she said humorously, attempting to lighten the mood. Harry eyed the large portrait worriedly. She shrugged tiredly, not wanting to put too much thought into it, lest she exhaust herself once more.

"If we just had our wands," Harry muttered as he shifted to where he was sprawled across the sofa, forcing Hermione to scoot away, "we could have defended ourselves last night." He closed his eyes sleepily.

"Don't you find it a little odd that Lucius had thrown us off his balcony," Hermione asked as she voiced her earlier suspicions.

"Lucius Malfoy is an odd person. Or a mad one, rather." He kept his eyes closed. She was thankful he did. The memory of Lucius buckling his pants as he hovered over her had suddenly shot through the haze that was her mind. She felt hot tears prick her eyes and she immediately pressed her palms to them. Like father, like son.

"No, I mean, he said Voldemort didn't care that he was disposing of us." Her voice was so steady she surprised herself. "If that was true, and he was really going to kill us, you'd think he'd use a killing curse or torture us himself." Harry opened his eyes now and listened to Hermione attentively. "Instead, he left a chance for us to survive. I mean, you're Harry fucking Potter." He grinned at her use of profanity. "Malfoy knows better. You're a walking good luck charm."

"Or bad luck charm." Despite it being depressingly true, they both laughed to themselves. Harry sighed.

"I feel really vulnerable without my wand," Harry muttered to break the silence. Hermione took a breath to respond, but never got the chance. Ella burst through the kitchen door, eyes wide and waving a knife.

A/N: It's been a long time. I've finally finished re-doing chapter 17. Like I said before, I didn't really want to post 16 without 17 being done first. That way, if I didn't like how something went in 17, I would still be able to go back and alter 16. Get me? Maybe not! Oh well. 'Snot important. I need to do some last minute editing for 17 and then it'll be up. I'm just really tired from school at the moment. I swear 17 is really done! REALLY! Don't want to give too much away, but the last four words are 'bastard in no time.' See! Of course, who's to say I'm lying and when I actually write 17 I just make sure the ending ends in 'bastard in no time?' ha! You'll never know! I'm not lying, though. ANYway!

Until next time, Lana.

Next: Lucius recounts how everything came together and Ron receives a letter.