Libera me

Summary: Some truths come out and a plan begins to hatch…

Warning: There is a suicide in this chapter just in case you wanted to know…

Rating: PG-13…I wouldn't say it's too bad so PG-13 sounds fair enough…

Chapter Three

The day was half over by the time Draco had left Hermione sitting in the common room on his way to the lake. He had ended their conversation in a strained manner. It was entirely visible that Draco had no desire to be in the room with her and talking about their incident right now. She knew that he would probably have no desire to speak of it later either.

Even after he left it was his face that kept re-entering her mind. She couldn't shake the feeling of fear when she thought of Draco submerged in that bath. And she couldn't shake the memory of her sister either. Horrible memories rose to the surface and made her heart ache with unresolved pain.

Her sister had been sixteen and it was the summer that Hermione received her Hogwarts letter. It was also the summer her sister died.

"Read it to me again! Read it to me again!" cried out the eleven year old Hermione.

The morning post had arrived bearing an unusual letter addressed in emerald green ink to Ms. H. Granger, First Bedroom on the right, 16 Wallington Way, Cokeworth, Britain. She had broken the unusual seal and pulled out the thick heavy parchment and read the first page. As soon as she read the signature of the deputy headmistress she letter out a little scream and began to dance around the living room. Her older sister, Autumn, had run down the stairs to see what was going on and jerked the letter from Hermione's little hand. Her parents came into the room as well and listened with matching incredulous looks on their faces as Autumn read the letter out loud with a flourish only learned in drama classes.

Autumn was so proud of Hermione and excitedly accompanied her to the wizarding shopping center in London, Diagon Alley. Her eyes were wide as she ran her fingers over the bindings of spell books in Flourish and Blotts. The entire place was, in a word, enchanting. She never wanted to leave and Hermione agreed whole-heartedly. In the back of her mind and in the bottom of her heart she wished that it were her who had received the letter, not Hermione and secretly resented her for it. But no one would ever know that.

The summer passed quickly and Hermione spent time with Autumn reading her textbooks and practicing small spells. That letter had opened up a whole new world for both of them that they planned to explore thoroughly together.

That's why just three weeks until September 1st came it was such a shock to find Autumn lying still, beneath the water in the family bathroom.

Hermione hadn't enough tears for the pain that shook her then and the long suppressed sorrow threatened to spill over with the memories.

"It is a particularly great sadness when our children are taken away from us. It is an even greater sadness when a child like Autumn is taken from us so suddenly. Autumn Granger was a wonderful person. She was an inspiration and a challenge to everyone. Today we come to mourn the passing of such a great soul so that tomorrow we can remember the greatness of that soul…"

The words of the pastor flowed around the room at the funeral home like water. His voice lifted up around each like the wind as he commemorated the wonderfulness that was Autumn. But even with such comforting words and compassion Hermione couldn't help but feel as if she had been cheated out of something. Why had her sister done this? What had been so bad that she felt the need to end her life and cause Hermione such horrible pain? Her vision swam with her thoughts and the tears broke forth into sobs splitting through the pastor's words. She couldn't bear it any longer and fled down the aisle and out of the chapel.

The bells to release classes for the day rang out through the school. Doors slammed open in unison and streams of students poured from the classrooms into the halls, all en route to various dormitories. All accept for one.

The story of Seamus' death had spread like wild fire through the school along with several different versions to it, all in which Harry Potter was exulted as a hero. Although hero status wasn't unusual after the defeat of Lord Voldemort. Harry very rarely spoke to anyone anymore and he had immersed himself into his studies with Hermione. Ronald on the other hand become Harry's unofficial publicist and would give comment of Harry's well being and current events and often regaled any who asked with the story of how Harry brought down the infamous Marcus Flint.

Draco Malfoy on the other hand was not so nicely looked upon. No one knew what had occurred between Seamus and Draco and they saw no thawing in his icy mask. He was nothing but a slimy Slytherin to them and he gave no reason for them to think otherwise of him. He was unusually quiet but his snide remarks still came out from time to time but their viciousness and bite had seeped out.

Professor Snape was sitting behind his black lacquered desk with his fingers laced and sitting on top of a pile of fourth year essays. He watched the child that he had known since birth fidget in front of him. How could such a secret have been kept from him? How could he have never known that this child, this 'boy', was the opposite of everything he had seemed to be? How great his pretending skills must be…

"Draco", he started, "I've...er...noticed that you've not quite been yourself lately". Draco nodded and started to say something. Professor Snape held his hand up for silence. "Let me finish please… you've not been yourself lately and if there is anything you need to talk about you have my permission to seek me out…even after hours." Draco nodded again. "Well…" Draco took a breath to collect his thoughts. An obvious change came over Draco as he centered himself and let the resolution fill his mind. "Thank you for your observation but I'm fine I just need a little time to get myself in order. In a few days my limitation… will be removed and then the Christmas Holidays will be here and everything will be…better". Before Snape could answer Draco turned, picked up his bag and strode from the Potions dungeon.

Draco found Hermione bent over her books at the desk in the head student common room and writing furiously across an extremely long scroll of parchment. She didn't even acknowledge his presence when the portrait door slammed behind him or when he dumped his books on the end table or gave a very exaggerated sigh when he dropped down onto the couch. Hermione's quill just kept scratching on and on in that annoying way of hers when she was thoroughly engrossed in her work. "What's got you in such a right state?" asked Draco lazily. He immediately regretted it when she stilled and tensed. Slowly she turned to face him and he was suddenly very sure the apocalypse was coming and he was going to die. Her eyes were swollen and red from tears and her face was contorted in fury. " Leave Me Alone!" she screamed at him. The shelves rattled and the lamps exploded out as she screamed before she broke down into shattering sobs.

Draco was stunned. This was nothing of what he had expected to happen. Would the surprises of his life never end?

Smoothly he slid away from the couch and tentatively approached her. She didn't respond to him in anyway so he figured it was okay to come closer. In one motion he wrapped his arms around her shaking shoulders and held her while she cried. He didn't understand it but he knew that in this particular second this was the best thing to do. After a while her sobs slowed before halting into hiccups. "Now…" he said gently, "Do you want to tell me what this is all about?" She still didn't move for a while before she nodded slightly against his chest.

"When I turned eleven I received my Hogwarts letter like every other first year and my older sister Autumn was with me. She was just as excited as I was…" Hermione started. Her eyes glazed over a bit like she was struggling not to reenter the memories that had brought her to such a state. "We…we went shopping in Diagon Alley and bought all my school things. I loved Autumn…and she was so happy for me…but then something happened…" Hermione's voice trailed off and fresh tears welled up in her eyes and she clung to Draco as if he could save her from whatever battle she was fighting with her memories. Draco nudged her to get her attention so she could go on telling her story.

"Then about three weeks before we had to go to King's Cross I came home with my mother from the super market. I heard water running and I went upstairs to go find Autumn. The bathroom door was slightly ajar and I figured she was washing her face or some other teenage thing…I knocked on the door and there was no answer so I pushed it open. And there she was in the bath. She was under the water but the water was pink and I didn't understand why. That was the last time I saw her…She had done something I didn't even know she was capable of doing". Hermione's voice trailed off and hot tears trickled down her face as she pressed herself into Draco as much as she could, lightly stroking his arm the whole while as if to reassure herself that he was there at all. "And when you saw me…" Draco started. "I couldn't bear the thought that you might have…that I had lost another…I just couldn't…" Hermione filled in feebly.

Draco held her close and rested his cheek on top of her head. "I understand now…and I'm sorry, Hermione"

The next day Draco finished his last class and once again went off in search of Hermione. As usual on a normal day she was occupying herself in the library. Quietly under the intense scrutiny of Madam Pince Draco approached Hermione. As quietly as he could he dropped his things on the table to get her attention and slid into a chair. She looked up with that irritated look in her eyes that said she was thoroughly engrossed her work before he showed up. "What?" she hissed.

"Hermione, I need your help to make a port key", he said.

Author's Note: This one is a little shorter than the others but I wanted to end it like that so that I could jump right into it in the next chapter with a minimal amount of explaining the hows…

Disclaimer: This story contains characters, locations, and other random things created and/or owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc., etc. Since no money is being made, no infringement is intended. Section 102(b) of the U.S. Copyright Act states that copyright protection does not extend to ideas, procedures, concepts, principles or discoveries, but the actual words used to express those things.