A/N: Wow, this took a bit to write. Sorry about the gap once again, this should have been up sooner but I randomly went on vacation to some place for a week, came back for two days, then went to The Keys for a week for the 4th of July. Then I stayed with my grandparents for the weekend after, without stopping by home. I just came back from a cruise for another week, so I'm finally back to writing. It's been insane! And school starts in two weeks
Thank you all for your loyalty to the fic! This chapter is longer than usual, to make up for the wait.
Also, just one more thing: HBP was an amazing book! Sure, I was depressed, but it was still phenomenal. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you do! I couldn't put it down! Did anyone else get the idea that it was like one really well written fan fic? I won't give away any details in case some of you haven't read it yet. I realize the events in that book ruin many WIP fics like this one, but let's just pretend book 6 hasn't existed yet haha. BTW, I LOVED DRACO IN THIS ONE! LOVED LOVED LOVED! He finally became..3D!Draco.
NOTE TO READERS: Be on the look out for a possible two-part one shot (that makes no sense) that I'll be writing soon, based on something really happening in my life right now. I'll be using Draco, Hermione, Ron and Pansy. It's quite a good idea for a fic as my beta and I figured out, so I'm going to turn it into one. Very angsty, no happy ending, sorry :)
Chapter 27: The Antidote
Seamus was red with anger as he stormed into the Slytherin girl's dormitory.
"Pansy! You lying bitch!" he shouted.
"What now, Finnigan? You did have your round of fun with the mudblood, yes?" Pansy retorted calmly, idly observing her nails.
Seamus was panting in frustration. "Malfoy got to her before I could! And now she's fucking dying! You told me nothing would happen to her!"
Pansy looked up at Seamus, her painted mouth forming an evil grin.
"Oh well," she said with false disappointment and a shrug. "I lied."
-----
She is lost. She hears his torturous screams, yet she cannot find him. He means the world to her. He is her world. Without him, she is nothing.
It is cold, dark, damp. She feels the cold, taking over every inch of her body, her own breathing resounding in her ears. It is not a physical feeling.
She feels locked inside of herself, desperately searching with every last breath; and for all this while, a part of her is missing, not allowing her to be whole. She needs him; she needs him more than the very air she breathes…
Her breathing is shallow, she feels her consciousness leaving her but she must continue…before it is too late.
His echoing cries grow louder, as if he is but an inch away. And then…
Yet another voice, emitting a dark, malicious laugh. The two words are uttered.
A flash of green light.
A twisting, falling body.
She drops to the ground, holding his head in her hands. Not a single sob escapes her, and but one solemn tear rolls down her pale cheek, onto the stone, cold floor upon which her lifeless love lays.
She cries out into the empty room, what feels like a now empty world to her aching soul.
"Draco Malfoy, I love you."
Hermione's eyes flew open, tears flowing down her cheeks. She looked down and saw Draco, holding her hands in his, his head resting on them.
A small sob escaped her lips and Draco immediately awoke. His eyes lit up when he saw Hermione awake but was alarmed when he saw her current state.
"Oh, Hermione, you're awake!" Draco whispered, as he took her in his arms.
Hermione noticed he looked tired, weary, and quite stressed.
"D-Draco, w-why am I here? W-what happened?" she managed to say in a shaky voice.
"It doesn't matter love, you're safe now," Draco lied, not wanting to scare her.
Hermione knew that wasn't the case, but she felt too weak to protest.
"Why were you crying love, bad dream?" Draco asked softly, as he gently placed his hand on her chin, wiping a stray tear away with his thumb.
"Terrible," she nodded slowly, closing her eyes.
"Don't worry, it was just a dream, it's all over now," he said soothingly, as she leaned back against her pillow.
He kissed her cheek lightly and held her hand as she fell back asleep.
----
'What have I done,' Seamus thought to himself. 'If she dies, it'll be partly my fault and I'll be sent to Azkaban! And worse…she'll be dead…'
Seamus made up his mind. He was going to fix things. Sure, he wanted revenge. But he couldn't let Hermione die.
He gritted his teeth. He was going to do the right thing for once—after all, he was a Gryffindor.
----
"Headmaster, I do strongly believe we should intervene," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "We cannot risk Miss Granger dying, for more reasons than one!"
"My dear Minerva, please do take a moment to listen," Dumbledore responded calmly. "I would not allow Mister Malfoy to do this on his own if I doubted his capabilities. If he prevails, which I am absolutely sure he will, this whole event will only have brought them closer. Their strengthened bond can only be better for the breaking of the curse."
Professor McGonagall sighed. "I do hope you know what you're doing, Albus. Hermione is one of the best witches Hogwarts has ever seen. It would be a shame to lose her so young."
"Indeed, a shame it would be," Professor Dumbledore agreed. "A shame it would be."
-----
"Your homework comes directly from your notes. Therefore, I would hope you copied them or you are in a most…unpleasant situation," Snape drawled in his monotone voice. "Please turn in last week's potion sample before exiting the classroom, unless you prefer receiving zero credit for today's qualifying marks."
Students quickly packed up to leave the Potions chamber. Draco, however, purposely took a while. As soon as he noticed a most empty classroom, he approached Snape's desk.
"And how may I assist you, Mister Malfoy?" Snape said idly, without looking up from his work.
"Well Professor, I was wondering if you had a sample of a very rare herb…Dumbledore asked me to fetch it for him," Draco said quickly.
Snape looked up at the blond Slytherin. "I carry the rarest of ingredients, Mister Malfoy. But what would you need such a rare item for? I'm sure Dumbledore could perfectly well find it himself. He would otherwise request the services of a Gryffindor."
Draco sighed. He knew it would do him no good to hide the truth. After all, it was Snape.
"Well, Professor, I suppose I should be honest with you…" Draco began.
Snape nodded. "Do go on."
"I'm sure you've heard of the tragic incident involving Miss Granger. In order to create an antidote, we need a sample of the original herb. I was wondering if you had any?"
"Mister Malfoy, I assure you, if I had a sample, Miss Granger would already have been restored to full health. However, just a few days ago, I was robbed of my entire supply, which wasn't much to begin with," Snape explained.
Draco's felt his spirits immediately dampen. He would have to do things the complicated way, which he had attempted to avoid, but to no avail.
"Thank you, Professor. I appreciate your help," Draco said, discouraged.
As he turned to leave, Snape spoke again without looking up from his papers.
"Mister Malfoy, when you do happen to find the herb, please do not hesitate to come to me. That antidote will need help brewing."
Draco smiled to himself. "Thank you, sir."
He had Quidditch practice in about thirty minutes, but this was more important. Seamus or Pansy would obviously assume he would be at practice, giving him an advantage.
'I'm falling way behind in my studies,' Draco thought to himself, 'but Hermione is more important. Besides, that's the advantage of having a brilliant girlfriend.'
Of course that was a selfish thought, but he needed to reassure himself that she would live.
'What are you talking about, Malfoy? Of course she's going to live,' he told himself unconvincingly.
'At least I hope so.'
-----
Seamus crept into the Slytherin girl's dormitory. Just as he suspected, it was empty. They were all out watching the Slytherin practice, giving him a major advantage.
'Perfect. Now to find Pansy's…there it is,' Seamus thought to himself as he determined which bed was hers.
This didn't seem to be too much of a challenge, seeing as Pansy's bedside was the only one plastered with pictures—of Draco. The obsession was sickening.
He placed his wand next to him and quickly opened her drawer, rummaging through it. He found various items—makeup, magazines, used tissues, used…condoms!
'This is disgusting,' he thought, face twisted in disgust, as he closed the drawer quickly. He rummaged around her trunk, tossing out books, clothes, scraps of parchment—Pansy obviously had no knowledge of the word organization. He found a dusty, thick volume titled Rare and Dangerous Herbs and Toxins. He noticed a few pages were ripped out.
Finding nothing helpful in her messy trunk, he proceeded to her bed. Glancing quickly at the magical clock on the wall, he noticed he had little time before practice was to be finished.
He leaned down and looked under her bed but found nothing. Tucked behind her pillow, however, was a torn sheet of parchment, containing information about the herb. He picked it up to take a look, when suddenly someone spoke.
"Put that down, Finnigan," Pansy ordered.
Seamus slowly turned around to see Pansy standing in the doorway, wand outstretched.
"And what, may I ask, are you doing looking through my things?" she demanded.
Seamus glared at her.
"You know exactly what I'm looking for."
Pansy chuckled. "Seamus, Seamus, Seamus. Do you think I'm going to even let you get near to that herb?"
She took a few steps toward him, her wand still held firm.
"Now put that down…" she said, gesturing with her wand.
Seamus slowly moved the hand with the parchment down onto the side table. He set the parchment down carefully.
"There we go, now maybe I won't have to completely kill you…" Pansy grinned, an evil gleam in her mud colored eyes.
In one quick motion, Seamus grabbed his wand, which he had earlier placed on the drawer. Before Pansy could react, he quickly shot out the first spell that came to mind.
"Expelliarmus!"
Pansy's wand went flying out of her reach. She gasped in a surprised manner, and ran to reach for it. However, Seamus stopped her.
"Locomotor Mortis!" he shouted, causing Pansy's legs to be trapped together.
"FINNIGAN! CALL THIS OFF NOW!" Pansy screeched most annoyingly, as her bag dropped to the floor.
"Oh shut up," he said casually, throwing a 'Silencio!' her way.
She immediately lost her balance and fell to the ground, but attempted to grope around for her wand.
"Oh no you don't!" Seamus said, and quickly shouted "Incarcerous!"
Ropes shot out of the tip of Seamus' wand, binding her together so she could do nothing but wriggle around like a worm.
He picked up her bag and searched through it. A small, glass vial with a green plant-like object was hidden in the front pocket.
'Here you are!' Seamus thought triumphantly.
He quickly darted out of the room, leaving a struggling, silent Pansy behind.
-----
Draco blew his whistle.
"Alright mates, that's enough for today," he shouted to his team, as he hovered to the ground.
He noticed a few Slytherin girls had been watching the practice and they all cheered and clapped when he looked their way.
'What whores,' Draco thought nastily to himself.
However, among the crowd was one missing.
'Pansy! What in bloody hell is she up to now?' he pondered as he noticed her heading back into the castle, quite ahead of everyone else.
He headed for the locker rooms and took a quick shower. It would seem too suspicious if he followed her right away.
Draco threw on a clean pair of robes and headed out of the changing rooms. He noticed most of the Slytherin girls were still out on the Qudditch pitch, flirting with some of the team. He rolled his eyes and made his way to the dungeons.
Muttering the password, he entered the deserted common room and quickly found the girls dormitories.
He noticed a rather large mess near one of the beds—trunk open, papers thrown about, drawers rummaged—and in an attempt to go investigate the mess, he almost tripped over a squirming Pansy, who was apparently under Silencio, as her mouth moved frantically but no words were audible.
"And what has dear Miss Parkinson gotten herself into now?" Draco chuckled, casually stepping over her bound body.
With a flick of his wand, Pansy's voice became audible again. She was screeching and yelling for Draco to untie her.
"Shut the bloody hell up Parkinson, or I'll re-do that Silencio as fast as I undid it!" Draco snapped at her.
Pansy glared at him and let out a small 'hmph', but stayed silent.
"Good," Draco said. "Now, you're going to tell me where the rest of the poison is."
Pansy grinned with a fake air of sweetness. "Seamus took it!"
She let out a giggle while Draco threw her an evil glance. With a quick silent charm and a shocked looked from Pansy, Draco left the girl where she was and quickly ran out of the room.
-----
Seamus was swiftly making his way to the Hospital Wing, poison in hand. He burst through the door, much to the surprise of the visitors and patients. It took Ginny a bit to hold Ron back from attacking him.
"P-Professor Dumbledore…" Seamus stuttered, looking toward the floor.
He quickly held out the poison and Madame Pomfrey gasped.
"It is the poison!" she cried, quickly scuttling over to Seamus and taking the vial from his outstretched hand.
A small grin appeared on the Headmaster's face.
"Very well done, Seamus," he whispered to the boy as he headed toward the door, signaling for him to follow. "Why don't you accompany to my office, and we can discuss the matter at hand? And do not worry, Mister Finnigan, your heroic acts have proven much of your attempts."
Seamus seemed a bit scared. "Aye, sir."
"Poppy, it would be lovely if you could get to work on the antidote needed to revive Miss Granger. I would suggest the assistance of Professor Snape," Dumbledore said calmly, with a small bow of his head.
"Right away, Headmaster!" she cried as she scurried over to her office.
---
Draco sprinted through the castle over to the Hospital Wing. He had to make sure Hermione was still okay.
"Where…is…antidote…Hermione!" he panted, running in through the door.
Hermione was in a deep, restless sleep, Ginny by her side.
"You're lucky Harry and Ron just left. Sit down, I'll explain everything," Ginny said calmly, gesturing toward a chair.
He quickly took a seat as Ginny explained the whole ordeal.
"Finnigan actually did all that?" Draco said sounding surprised.
Ginny nodded. "I didn't expect it either."
"Well I daresay the lad deserves a handshake…a quick one anyway."
Ginny smiled and rolled her eyes. "Just like you, Malfoy."
Draco pretended not to hear the red-head and moved his chair closer to Hermione's bedside. He leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
It killed Draco to see her like this. She seemed weary even as she slept, her chest rising and falling softly. Most of the color had left her face and she seemed overall physically ill. It was a good thing they had gotten the poison, for if it had been any longer, Draco figured, she would not have lasted.
'But that's a scary thought,' he shuddered at the image of losing Hermione.
Just then, Madame Pomfrey, accompanied by Snape, emerged from her office.
"Good news," she said cheerfully. "We have concocted the antidote!"
----
A/N: There you are! 8 pages on Word! Sorry this took so long to get out; I wanted to make it long. I believe I covered everything in my A/N at the beginning, so now for some thanks.
Silver Water Angel: Wow, thank you! I'm flattered, haha. Yeah, my MSN is my email, which you can find in my profile.
Chelsea: Really? Well, I'm glad it inspired you! Let me know when you come out with that fic, so I can try to read if I have time.
Andrea: I love you too Andie XD
supafly09: We never do quite know exactly how Dumbledore finds out things, but he just does. Remember he's a very powerful, wise wizard, along with being very talented in Legilimens. Plus, being so smart, he probably put two and two together, since Dumbledore always knows more than we think he does ;)
chandramukhi: Well, Draco may be feisty but he's not stupid. Doing anything too serious to Seamus (although he may have just about wanted to Avada him!) could get him in deep trouble, when Seamus was the one who needed to be punished. Dumbledore is wise, and he would eventually get to Seamus after this whole ordeal, but the more important matter at hand was making sure Hermione was okay.
Lady Knight 1512: Seamus isn't too nice at all! Well, that will change as you noticed in this chapter. Yes, I tried to show their close friendship somehow, I'm glad you noticed :) Thanks for the review!
Also, many thanks to the rest of my reviewers: Missez Malfoy, mysteriouscharm, paper-sky, oOweirdoOo, hermdrayreturns, dracosgirl2515, KatiePhantom, I3aI3ygurl, Brittany, Nattie88, Marla1, liz valentine, cat