Charming
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.

Chapter Twenty One : Dive

There were times when he thought he should give up. He was only fooling himself. He wasn't getting anywhere, if he was to be honest with himself. It was depressing, and it made him wonder why he bothered to go on living. People were always talking about how things had improved ever since Potter defeated You-Know-Who, but he didn't see a change. The only thing different really was the fact that Purebloods were looked down upon as a bunch of inbred idiots. Their fall in status didn't even improve the treatment of Muggle-borns, who were still looked upon with suspicion by wizards who had even one magical parent.

And as for his own particular case, he didn't see much hope for anything at all. At first, he had thought that he would have to change along with the world. He didn't very much like the idea, and he had felt that he was betraying everything he had ever known before, but he was a Slytherin and the thing they did best of all was survive. He knew that his father, if faced with the same situation, would have made the choice that he had. His father would have sneered while doing so and railed against the necessity of such a decision in private, but in the end, he would have done what was needed to survive. Just because the last Dark Lord had died didn't mean that all his followers had to do the same.

So Draco had chosen to grin and bear it and appear not to be a sore loser. He refrained from using such words as "mudblood" and did his best to appear that he didn't care that You-Know-Who had been defeated. But no one actually gave a damn. No one was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, to think that perhaps he really wasn't plotting murder and destruction in secret. He was treated as if he were merely a Death Eater who had cheated death and had deserved a bad end, never mind the fact that he had only been a child during the whole mess. Every one of his attempts at reconciling himself with the rest of the Wizarding world had been met with failure.

Then there had been her.

His thoughts were so jumbled when it came to her.

It hadn't been easy for Draco to swallow his pride and approach Hermione first. He had always been jealous at her prowess at school. He had half been hoping that it would be discovered that she was actually a Pureblooded child, hidden away by Dumbledore and his cohorts, and so he wasn't being bested in all subjects by one such as her. That daydream had never materialized, and things only became worse when he found out that he was assigned not only to the same department as her, but to the very same office. How could he compete with her brilliance? And what did it say about him to fail to ever best her in anything? A Malfoy should be better than that. That was what he had always been told.

Yet he had done the unthinkable and offered her a truce – and she had accepted. It was incredible. No one else in any of the other Houses had taken his offers at face value, but she had. It had went so well that only a short while later, he had offered to take her out to dinner. She hadn't liked it all that much; in retrospect, he supposed he should have known better, but she had accepted a second time. She enjoyed that second evening more. And it hadn't been his imagination. She had smiled at him and laughed. Real, genuine laughter. The kind that he was brought up to look down upon for being too common. The kind that he found he enjoyed.

Almost as much as he enjoyed being with her. For a while, he wondered if this was fate. For him to fall in love with someone he had thought wasn't good enough for him, when it turned out to be that he wasn't good enough for her – but she was willing to give him a chance anyway. He had been skirting around the issue of asking maybe formally asking her out on a date, when he had learned about her birthday. That bit of knowledge had set his plans in motion, and he had wanted everything to be perfect for that day. And everything seemed to be coming together perfectly. It made him believe in things such as hope once again.

But it had been too good to be true.

Draco suspected something was going to happen when Weasley barged in and demanded to talk to Hermione. He had given them their privacy because Hermione had requested it, but he could tell that whatever the arsehole had said, it had upset Hermione. He hadn't been too surprised to receive a note from her canceling the next day. Draco had blamed Weasley for making Hermione feel guilty about not making plans around him and Potter. So he had put everything off for one day and owled her the next day to ask her to see him then.

She had never replied. He hadn't bothered to ask about it when he saw her next as he didn't want her to know how much it had meant to him. Hermione had apologized prettily enough, and that did help make him feel better to know that she was sorry for ignoring him so. Hermione had invited Draco to a weekend with her friends. He didn't want to tag along, but he had accepted. He didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she was challenging him to be better. Or maybe it was because he needed to be with her and he would take any chance he got to spend more time with her.

Even now, he couldn't erase the images from that day. When Draco had arrived, Hermione had waved him towards their table. Potter's arm was conspicuously around Hermione, telling Draco to keep his hands off in a not-so-subtle fashion. Draco had shrugged off the warning, thinking that if Hermione wanted him, then that was all that mattered.

What he found out, however, that she didn't want him. That kiss with Potter proved it. He felt betrayed and used. He couldn't help but think that she only spent time with him to make her little boyfriend jealous. Draco had since then determined that she hadn't been thinking like that. If he read her right, she thought of them as only friends. Part of him held out hope that maybe that was a good sign, that she did seem to have a habit of dating her best friends, but the rest of him knew that Potter wasn't a big enough fool to let her go like Weasley dead. It didn't help to know that she was innocent of trying to hurt him. But in her innocence, she had been more cruel to him than anyone had been before.

And that made him wonder why he bothered at all with life.

All of a sudden, the hairs on the back of his neck raised as he felt the slight buzz of magic, as if someone were Apparating into his flat. That was impossible, as Draco had set wards to prevent anyone but himself from doing so. He didn't trust his father's associates not to harm him because he didn't fight until the very end. He started to reach for his wand when a soft weight landed squarely in his lap.

Draco recognized those brown orbs staring at him. "Hermione?" he said, not believing what his eyes reported back to him. "What are you doing here? For that matter, how did you get here?"

She tumbled off of his lap, almost falling to the floor in her haste. "I don't know," she said. "One moment I was speaking with Harry, the next I was here."

"Ah. I see." That was another thing that ought to have tipped him off. Potter was always Harry to her, no matter how upset she was with him at the moment. She had never seen fit to call Draco by his first name, however. He had thought that it was merely force of habit, but now that he reconsidered it, it was probably more than that. Shaking his head clear of those thoughts, he stood up. "I had better check the wards," he said. "Just in case." In case of what, he did not know. But whatever drew Hermione here to him might have had a nasty surprise in store for the both of them, so he wanted to be prepared. To his surprise though, the wards had not been breached.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione, coming up behind him.

"The wards are intact," he replied. "So I don't see how you could have managed to break through them."

"Maybe a portkey . . ."

"No," he said. "I'm the only one who can get in or out of here by magical means. You shouldn't have been able to come in here the way you did."

"And how can you know that if you don't know how I got here?" Hermione asked. "You can't block a spell unless you know its components." She was soon settling into their newly established rhythm of debating theories at work, with each of them poking and prodding at any flaws they could find.

"True. But the transportation spells all have a similar basis. You need to know where you are coming from and where you are going. In this instance, I'll assume you knew where you were—"

"But I didn't do anything," she interrupted.

"Fine. Whoever cast the spell knew where you were, but they couldn't have had my flat's signature. It's quite well-hidden." He paused to contemplate whether he should say any more than that. Finally, he settled on saying, "My family has spent many years perfecting such techniques."

Hermione took that statement at face value. "Yes, that is true. And whoever did this would have needed to know where I was as well. Harry has so many wards on our flat, including ones to prevent Apparation."

"How about Floo and portkeys?" Draco asked.

"Floo only by certain people when we unlock our fireplace, and portkeys only if we made them ourselves. And then we have to activate the portkey for a specific person and time."

"Hmm." Draco absently rubbed at his chin. "Maybe some kind of a strange reaction? By trying to send you from one unknown to another . . . some sort of cancellation effect?" He frowned. That sounded very experimental. Too experimental to try upon any living creature, must less a fellow wizard. But there were those who wouldn't put Hermione in that category because of her heritage. On the other hand, those sorts of people would be more cautious, as Hermione was a very visible personage in the Wizarding world, despite all her protestations to the contrary. Not to mention the fact what Potter would do to any such wizards using Hermione as a test subject when he found them. Though they would be lucky if Potter got to them first instead of him.

"I don't see how that would work," Hermione said. "You would have to key in to the specific person . . . and Harry has wards to prevent targeting like that too. He's almost paranoid when it comes to shielding our flat."

Draco resisted the urge to scream out of frustration. This was not the time or the place, but the way Hermione spoke, it sounded as if she and Harry were an old, married couple. "I suppose you want to get back to him," he said, waving his hand to the door. "Go on then."

Hermione bit her lip, a trait that annoyed Draco to no end during their Hogwarts years and still did. Maybe Potter was besotted enough to find that habit endearing, but all it made Draco want to do was snog her senseless so she would stop doing that. He knew the reaction he would get if he attempted that. He would be lucky if Hermione stopped at only sending a dozen hexes his way. And she knew more spells than he did.

"I should get back to him," Hermione said. "He's probably worrying so much about me. He's not had the easiest life, you know."

Yes, Draco knew. He knew perfectly well about all the sorrows that had been heaped upon the Boy-Who-Lived. The whole damn world knew about that. Potter was the sort of person to play up to people's pity. It was getting tiring. Draco didn't want Hermione's pity, but it would be nice if she realized that other people hadn't had an easy time of it at Hogwarts. Additionally, Draco's life hadn't improve since leaving school like Potter's had. There was no way anyone could convince Draco that Potter's life hadn't got better. For he had Hermione now, that lucky bastard.

"Go ahead then. There's the door. You can just let me be," he said. "Like everyone else," he added softly to himself.

Not softly enough though as Hermione whipped her head around to regard him. "What is that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"What?" Draco floundered for a way to cover up his gaffe. "I like to spend some time alone in the evenings to think." That excuse sounded lame even to his ears.

Hermione leaned against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. "Is there something wrong, Malfoy?" she asked.

"No," he said quickly. "Well, aside from the fact that you've somehow got here when you're not supposed to be able to do that. But I can figure out what caused that on my own, thank you."

Hermione sighed audibly. "I know we're not close, Malfoy, but . . .well, I like to think that we've kind of become friends over the last few weeks . . . and if something is bothering you, you should know that I'm always willing to help out my friends."

Draco closed his eyes. He knew that. That was one of the best things about her. He wasn't used to such loyalty, where a person would ignore their own wishes and desires to help out a friend. He had been abandoned very quickly by his peers, after they realized that his father was no longer in favor with the Dark Lord. It would be so easy to take advantage of that loyalty, to confess his feelings and make her feel guilty to see . . . but no. He wouldn't do that. Draco didn't want Hermione to be with him because she felt bad for him. He wanted her to be with him simply because she enjoyed doing so and because there was no one else she'd rather be with.

"I'm fine," he repeated. "Really, I am." He willed himself to be appear so, to fool her. If he couldn't have her, if he couldn't have anything he wanted at all, then at least he could hang on to his pride. It was a poor substitute, but one that his family had made do with throughout the ages. They had survived. So would he. Somehow.

"But it doesn't seem like—"

Just as suddenly as she appeared, Hermione was gone, leaving Draco to wonder if she had really been there in the first place.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry sat on the couch, his hands covering his face, as he desperately sought out clues to where Hermione may have been taken in his memory. When Hermione had first disappeared, Harry had hoped that it was only a dream. A very bad dream, but a dream nevertheless, from which he would awaken to find Hermione at his side. Harry had pinched himself several times, trying to wake up, before he had realized – this didn't feel like a nightmare. Yes, it had all the substance of one, but it was lacking a certain quality. And Harry ought to know what was a nightmare and what wasn't. He had had enough of them to be something of an expert.

That had been when he had started panicking. He had leapt up from his seat and shot out the door, only to stop as he set foot outside. He had no idea where to start looking. There had been no specific threats that he had known about. All of Voldemort's Death Eaters were locked up, and Harry would have been the first one they called if any got out, if only to ask for his help in recapturing them. And why go after Hermione when he was a target as well. For that matter, how could anyone have broken through the wards on the flat to get to her? Harry couldn't fathom how it could be done.

Fortunately, that was when Harry had begun thinking, rather that just reacting, and had called Ron in to help. Two brains were better than one and all that rot. Hermione would have been proud, if she were here to see it. That thought had brought him to his knees. When Ron had arrived, he had only needed one glance to tell that whatever was wrong, it had to deal with Hermione for Hermione should have been comforting Harry. After he had got out of Harry the fact that she had simply disappeared, he had called in reinforcements – the twins to check to see if this was merely a malicious prank or one gone very wrong. Even now, the twins were inspecting every fathom of the flat, looking to see traces of a spell.

"Nothing?" Ron asked from his vantage point across Harry.

"Nothing. I keep thinking and thinking and – one moment we're talking about how our initials match and the next, she's gone. Like that."

"Did you give her anything?" Ron asked. "That could have been disguised as a portkey?"

"No," said Harry. "I didn't. And that shouldn't have worked either. I've warded the flat against the use of those for the most part."

"Did you feel any magic being used?"

"No. Not until she was gone. And then the touch of it lingered in the air."

"That's puzzling," said Ron. "I'd think you would have felt something." He looked up as the twins approached the two of them. "Find anything?" he asked.

"No," said Fred.

"Not a thing," finished George.

"But this isn't exactly our business," said Fred seriously. "We can tell you that this isn't the result of a simple prank—"

"Or even a complicated one at that. But that doesn't rule out . . ." George paused. "Well, all I'm trying to say is that you might want to call in the professionals. They'd be here in seconds for Harry."

Harry could not believe this was happening. He had thought that he had taken care of everyone that was out to get him. Did he make enemies that he didn't know about? Obviously, he did, as there was that one team where the owner hated him. But enough for them to take their anger out on Hermione to get to him? Harry swore that whenever he found the bastard who had done this, he would live to regret it.

"Not yet," said Ron. "I have an idea. You said that you didn't give Hermione anything. Could anyone else have done so?"

"I don't . . . how would I know?"

"Was she wearing anything new?" Ron prompted him.

"No. I suppose maybe she could have had something in her pocket or—"

"Right." Ron nodded his head decisively. "Anyone feel like giving the Ferret a call? Before we ring Moody and his crew to make a right big mess of it?"

"Is there something that you know that we don't, little brother?" asked Fred.

"Yeah. At karaoke last weekend – which by the way, you must try – Malfoy left in a snit after he saw Hermione kiss Harry. He could have easily given her something at work that she'd forgotten about and—"

"Only problem is that why would she keep it on her? She hasn't seen him since yesterday, right Harry?" asked George.

"No, she hasn't." Harry's throat was suddenly full of fear. "Not unless she saw him in the theatre. When I had left to go to the loo."

"She didn't mention seeing him?" asked Fred. When Harry shook his head no, he continued on. "Then she probably didn't. She would have told you."

"Not if she didn't want to upset him. Because of something that Malfoy might have done, might have given her." Ron stubbornly refused to give up on his potential suspect. "Besides, would it hurt if a couple of us nip over there to make sure Hermione's not locked up in there?"

At that suggestion, Harry doubled over again, his mind supplying images of what Hermione could be going through at this very moment as he sat there, unable to do a thing. He was vaguely aware of George shouting at Ron for not being more sensitive, while Fred told the both of them to shut it as they were giving him a headache. Someone offered him a glass of water, only to dump it on him when he didn't respond. Then someone else forced his head between his knees, only stopping when Ron remarked that wasn't necessary for Harry wasn't the fainting type and that they should give him some room to breathe. Everyone backed off then, for which Harry was grateful. He tried to gather his thoughts, collect them so he could be some use to Hermione, wherever she was.

All of a sudden, there was the faint tingle of magic in the air. The Weasley brothers quickly drew out their wands, ready for the worst, when Hermione fell on to the couch, in exactly the same seat that she had been in before she had disappeared.

Harry rushed to her, clutching her tightly to his chest, needing to feel her to make sure she was really there. Her arms came around him. She tried to soothe him, but he could feel that she was still shaken from her experience. He asked her if she was all right. She tried to reassure him that she was, and he clung to her as if he was never going to let go.

Somewhere between all of that, the Weasley brothers had left to return to their homes, knowing that they were not needed here at the moment.

Author's note: That's all for this week. ^_^ I hope you liked it and I'd appreciate it if you could leave me a review. Finally, thanks to Shawn Pickett, danielerin, ears91, cmt0125, riddikulus_leigh (no, it was always supposed to take her where she was needed -- she just wanted it to take her to where she belonged, but there'll be more on that later), AngelicDemon16 (what cliffhanger isn't evil?), SilverFoot (I usually update sometime on Friday), Pickels, Erik MacRorie (Ron just forgot to mentioned it as he was planning to introduce the rest of his family to the horrors of his singing), Izabel, augusam (if Ron was around, it'd be more like a three way battle for the microphone), Sheilalein (it's amazing what Hermione can do when she puts her mind to it), jennymay, piper-h-99, mikeus (thanks! I like to think this Ron is more canon than the Ron in Seasons, but then that's how it should be as this is not an AU), Bulma Queen of Saiya-jin, Sma03, FinalFantasyGoddess (am glad you understand -- it's hard for an author to resist a cliffie like that ^_^), HrryPttrFreak87, Blood57, thekidwonder*ladymistress, Leah6, Jen, Fire-bound heart, Wytil (not to mention the fact that Harry's bound to have fangirls even in the Yukon), Mariam (maybe because it is? ^_~ But then again, you never know), sally, EuphoniumGurl0, ChinoYaEejit, Amynoelle, lee74, Orlando's Gurl, telmie, xxbabysparklesxx, ExcalibursZone (oh Harry still needs her -- trust me on that one), Ferdia, ravenclaw's heir, Candy, happy2, PoTtErSPaYnE, Crinos-X, Quis, Desaix, Fatima, TheWraith1 (no, it's not wearing off, if that's any comfort), myman-harry526, Star19, rochele-88 (I don't think Harry and Draco will be friends any time soon), Lil-frankie14, chris-warren876, Kage Miko, bishtawiman, malu (there was no violence only because Ron stopped singing, otherwise the speaker would have been gone), Lucki Me (thanks! Though I don't think civility will last long between the boys, especially not after Harry learns where Hermione went), spacey-me90, hobbit, Mistress Desdemona, estonian gal (thanks -- I'm glad you like it ^_^), harryloveshermione2003, megan, Ramy, blondi gurl, juliet's rose, Bladefanatic, shaznay17 (*blinks* You think this is an example of things getting better? And would killing everyone off be the best ending of all? Am just curious. ^__^), tigrrgirl13, rat-gal2000, EgyptsStar, sunne1 (she didn't Apparate anywhere), B-Rocs, trackrunner101 (who needs her more than Harry -- well, I'll get technical in later chapters.), greenbeangiant, tOmLoVeR17, and harry&Mionefan for their reviews of the last chapter. Reading what you have to say after a cliffie like that is always fun, and I was very gratified to read that last week's cliffie wasn't a total surprise. ^_^ I didn't want it to seem like it came out of nowhere to everyone. So thanks so much!