Translation by Jessinthedungeons.
Chapter 23 - The rescue at the feast of pigs
Draco was gone three days ago. Adding to the four I spent in Brazil, there were seven. A whole week from the moment Severus was taken captive. And as for me, I barely remembered my own name. I only remembered it because the other members of the task force we set up repeated it as they went and saw it with updates on the search for Minerva, on news of the Potters, and on rebel movements.
I would stop long enough to feed my body and give it a few hours of sleep. Were it not for these basic physiological needs, I would never stop diving deep into the training of elementary magic. I would need all the strength, concentration and skill I could muster, so that when the search for him was over and I could finally pull him out of where he was. I would need every drop of control from my training to take on the dark aristocrat who had torn me apart from the inside, robbing Severus of me just as we both found each other.
And after I finished Malfoy, I would face ghosts, manticores and whatever else was in that Tomb, determined to destroy what blocked the magic. It was only for these goals that I remained focused as days passed without Draco giving me a sign.
And on each of these days, I trained legilimence and read exhaustively about mental projections. Trying to cast my soul into the wind wherever Severus was stuck. I'll find you it was my whisper released.
— I'm bringing him back. — Said Draco, from the corner where he was, near the window, as if responding to some unspoken debate.
Dean turned his gaze to the former Malfoy heir. Draco's gray eyes shone.
— Then, you will die. — Dean said.
Dean had just returned with Lupin, from a still fruitless search for Minerva. The full moon was now only five days away. Meanwhile, Draco had finally returned from where he secretly met his mother. According to him, she confirmed that the base of operations of the rebels was in the manor. I could only imagine at what price he got this information, knowing all the grudge he had for his parents. However, I would find out about it when Draco wanted to talk about.
The most important part of the information he brought is where he had assured me that we could have the chance to enter the Malfoy Manor. But, according to him, there were protections to consider, such as blood spells, that perhaps it was not possible to circumvent them, since he was disinherited. Even so, hearing him utter that he would enter there, I stood and stared at his gray eyes.
— I will go with you. — I announced.
Draco just nodded.
— You won't be able to get further into that mansion. — Observed Lupin.
— I'm going in through the front door. — I answered.
Everyone squinted when I pulled the potion bottle out of my pocket and took a sip, turning in minutes into a perfect replica of Narcissa Malfoy.
— Oh shit! We've been through that before. — Whispered Harry.
Dean stood up.
— Malfoy will know that you are not her. They're not goblins you're going to cheat this time, Hermione.
It was public knowledge of the Golden Trio's adventure on Gringotts during the war against Voldemort. Everyone knew that on that mission I had turned into Bellatrix Lestrange. And both Dean and Harry, my two best friends, knew that I had vowed never to repeat such an impudence again, but here I was, needing again to do whatever was necessary.
— Draco agreed to donate memories to replicate Narcissa's jewels. I need one of you to go to Filius, his Transfigurations are the best in Minerva's absence. — I continued as if Dean had not made the previous remark.
Lupin let out a sigh, before making a signal to Draco and extending his wand to the temple of the former Malfoy heir. The elder wizard made no further questions or observations, and set out soon after with some of my trinkets for Filius to transfigure into replicas of the family jewels Narcissa wears.
Until Lupin's return, I delved into some of Draco's memories to be able to emulate his mother's ways well. Narcissa has always been a complete stranger to me, and since there was a risk of us bumping into some of the former wizards who knew her well, I should have known how to imitate her as accurately as possible. It was a short time to train until I got a perfect imitation of her, one that Draco himself assured me looked frighteningly similar. Even so, since Narcissa did not act directly on the rebel front, our confidence was placed in the fact that no one would dare to look too closely at her. Or ask her questions.
I had just taken another dose of the Polyjuice Potion when Harry re-entered the room where Draco had left me to tidy myself up.
— If Malfoy sees me, he will know I'm an impostor. — I told Harry before he had a chance.
— Yeah, he will. — Confirmed Harry, with a hoarse voice.
But we both knew that we were out of ideas, no one could see another solution. My hands began to tremble, because I was absolutely aware of our minimal chances and because I also knew what I would face there. I personally saw the cruelty of Lucius Malfoy when he killed Draco's girlfriend days ago.
Harry covered the distance between us, held my hands and looked me in the eye, and I knew that even though he was looking at Narcissa's face, he could see my soul beneath the potion's effect.
— There are alleys around the mansion. Even with the magic gone, some of the wards of pure blood residences are too old to have been torn down. One of them is anti-apparition. You need to get in and out of there by walking. Only after the limits of the property will you be able to apparate back here.
I nodded. Harry gave a light kiss on my forehead.
— Sorry I brought you in the middle of it. — I lamented in a hoarse voice, my eyes fixed on the floorboard. — I know it is asking you a lot to leave your family alone.
Harry held the sides of my face, forcing me to look him in the eye.
— He is worth it. — Harry said in a loud voice. — Don't be distracted. And do not delay. You're a fighter, Hermione, and fighters know which fights to fight.
I nodded and allowed a single tear to flow down my cheek, before staring at Harry with a determined gaze. He smiled at me.
— They took something that's mine. And I do not allow this crime to go unpunished.
It was Harry who agreed with his head this time.
— Don't be afraid. — He whispered. — And don't hesitate. Come in, get him and leave again. Let them know that you are a Gryffindor lioness. And the most powerful there is.
Draco chose this moment to return to the bedroom, stopping at the door when he saw us together. Harry took out his invisibility cloak out of his pocket and stretched it out to the blond.
— Come in with her and go out with both of them. — Said Harry to Draco when I passed to the side of our former childhood enemy. — And unlike in the old days, we're on the same side now and I don't care how many you need to kill for that. They both leave.
Draco gave a positively firm nod.
— I swear to you, Potter.
It was not a magical oath, neither had magic in their veins for it, but they were powerfully formal words.
We went down to my living room and I held Draco's hand tightly as he gave me a slight nod. He had shown me before the point where I should apparate us. We looked one last time at Harry, Lupin and Dean, the latter slid his eyes between me and Draco, and I could see reflected there a fear that I thought I would no longer see in any of my friends' faces. The fear that war would rob us of each other. Again. As soon as Dean's mouth opened to say something I didn't need to hear now, Draco and I left.
Dawn was supposed to come in two hours, when I landed us in a dense bush high on a hill that leaned over the edge of the imposing mansion. Draco pulled a glass out of his pocket and I watched the thick, red liquid drip into the boundaries of the spells that protected the property.
— Couldn't you make a cut here? — I asked slightly amused, trying to break the gloomy mood of our expectation of what would come.
— It's not my blood. — He replied coldly. — I was disinherited.
— How did you get your mother to donate blood, besides her own hair, after all? — I asked curious as we waited for the protections to fall.
— You impress me with how much you do not live up to your fame as the smartest witch of our generation, Granger. — Draco answered me when we glimpsed the first flicker in the wards right in front of us.
— Well, you didn't give me much. Just a few hairs and now that bottle. It's not much for me to work for, even with my sharp mind. — I gave it back, slightly irredeemable.
The protections fell and Draco disappeared under the invisibility cloak just as we stepped inside the grounds of the Malfoy estate and his voice sounded from somewhere to my left.
— Narcissa didn't give me anything, Granger. That's all you need to know.
I smoothed the robe that Draco had made me transfigure into something that his mother would surely be dressed in and began to make my way down the hill, straight into the heart of the rebel movement.
Our first test would be the most dangerous, pass the guards positioned on the edge of the camp and convince them that Narcissa had gone for a walk in the early hours. I froze my features in that disgusted mask that the blonde always stamped on her face, raised her head well and tried to display the fake wedding ring that Filius had transfigured, trying to replicate exactly the aura of power that she exhibited, because even if Narcissa was nothing more than a trophy wife for Lucius, she would never stamp a defeated posture.
I could not see Draco, but I could feel the slight rustle of the cape over him. The six guards flanking the entrance to the mansion assessed me, walking out of the darkness of the grounds, with a slight tone of surprise and I prepared for the first interruption. But none of them stopped me when I walked straight past them and reached the entrance hall. Apart from the surprised expression on their faces at seeing the mistress of the house wandering around the gardens at this hour, they said nothing.
I dared not relax my shoulders, not even sigh with pure relief. Not as we followed by the hall and finally I entered the place where I was tortured by a sadist. I went straight through the main door and did not look, or even turn, in the direction of the noises that reached my ears. I had no idea what that place would do to me when I walked into it, and as soon as my feet crossed the first room, my breathing hitched and an icy fear descended down my spine.
I could almost feel the pain of the Cruciatus curse that struck me. My sciatic throbbed, almost as if carrying the memory of the place where it was ruined years earlier. My feet hung still in the middle of the first living room of the mansion and it was necessary for Draco to whisper behind me that I needed to stay focused because somewhere in that hell-hole was Severus, so that I would awaken from the torpor and force me to walk again.
Draco had drawn the plan of the mansion for me, and the dungeon did not seem as far as it now seems, as he guided me through the corridors and rooms that would lead us there. It was wonderful that we came in at dawn, apart from the guards at the entrance, we didn't run into anyone and I almost had the hope that we would go in and out without being noticed. The night time worked to our advantage. It seemed that all the rest of the staff was asleep. After the sun drove away the shadows, however... It would highlight some flaws in the Transfiguration of my clothes and jewelry.
It was difficult to analyze the environments as we passed, and harder to focus on the dark noises of the remnants of the dark magic of that mansion while pretending to be someone completely accustomed to hearing them.
I froze as we passed through one of the corridors and the sound of the celebrations reached us long before we could see the space where such people were gathered. This is how we learned that most of the soldiers were not sleeping. They were there, celebrating. Draco whispered to me that this was one of the ballrooms in the mansion, and that we would be forced to pass through it if we wanted to reach the entrance to the basement.
We turned at the entrance to the space and saw the rebels gathered, some danced, others just drank from huge oak barrels with beer that I recognized as muggle drink and some fucked over scattered sofas around the space while others just watched. But amid the laughter and singing, I could hear the screams.
An invisible hand squeezed my shoulder, reminding me not to run away or show surprise. Narcissa would have been used to the desecration of her house since World War II. My mouth dried up when another scream sounded in the air and my fist clenched tightly. I couldn't bear to let whatever was going on to continue.
Draco's Invisible hand held mine, pulling me closer and I could feel hate emanating from his invisible form as we walked through the festivities slowly. And finally, we glimpse the form become clear. A young woman, probably muggle or powerless witch and sympathizer of the current wizarding system, was tied upside down by the fireplace.
Two other people were hanging by her side, but from their lack of reaction, I could only imagine that they were no longer alive. My stomach rolled, threatening to dump the contents up my throat.
The latter should have held out for longer, but I knew that would be her fate soon. And I couldn't leave her there. But if I stayed too long, I could draw attention to myself. Harry's words "fighters know what fights to fight" echoed in my head, but how could I leave that girl there and live with this guilt afterwards? It would be like killing her if I left her there to save Severus.
A stranger. She's a stranger, choose your struggles, Hermione. I repeated it in my head and tried to force myself to walk again.
— He's looking for you. — Hummed a male voice.
Draco let go of my hand and positioned himself behind me as I turned around and saw Theodore Nott coming out of the shadows of one of the corners of the hall. The curly-haired young man pointed his head in the direction of the fireplace and, as if someone's invisible hand had taken a blindfold from my eyes, I saw him. Lucius Malfoy was thrown into a chair, his head resting on his fist and his face was a mask of amusement as he watched the celebration, torture and adulation of the audience who occasionally turned to toast or bow to him. I probably hadn't seen him before because I was too distracted by the images of the bodies and the girl suffering. I shuddered and felt Draco do the same.
I forced my voice to soften and adapted it to Narcissa's tone.
— I've been busy giving some orders to the elves.
Theodore stared at me for a long moment, turning his eyes to the transfigured ring on my finger and the pale gray robe I wore. I knew as soon as he realized who I was, when his brown eyes shone differently.
— Where is he? — That's all I said.
Nott smiled, arrogant. Not for me, but for anyone watching us.
— You've been seducing me for weeks. — He whispered. — Act like it.
The growl that came from Draco's invisible form was muffled by a new wave of screams from the hanging girl. I swallowed dry, disgusted. But still, I rested my hand on his chest, blinking as I approached. Nott scoffed.
— I find it hard to believe that this is how Severus's icy heart melted, Golden Girl. — I tried to control my features when he pulled me by the waist and slid his nose down my throat. — You were lucky that you chose the form of the only woman for whom everyone knows, I obey, or I would give you in right now.
I looked around, my eyes meeting with that of some of the soldiers who stared at us with lust shining in their gaze.
— Malfoy can see us! — I protested, when he stuck his teeth in my throat.
— If you were really Narcissa, you would know that this is no longer a concern since I joined the Malfoy couple in their bed at our last party. — Nott replied.
This time Draco's growl was more like a shred of disgust.
— Where is he? — I asked again.
— Untouched. — The knot in my stomach relieved itself with this word. — Not for long. — Warned Nott. — He handed over the formula of the magic potion, but there are drops of someone's blood that we do not know and Severus would rather die than surrender the identity of the wizard. Lucius came here to think about what to do with him and mature how he can hit you with it.
It didn't seem like a lie. But I had no way of trusting Theodore Nott.
— Why are you telling me this? — I asked, staring him in the eye.
Theo stared back at me, I managed to glimpse some humanity passing through his gaze, before he masked it all under the usual coldness that Slytherin alumni always wore. I made my last bet. I stroked his arm and then put my hand on his heart.
— Is it for her? — I blinked Narcissa's blue eyes, forcing them to water. Theo seemed to forget for a moment that it was not her under this disguise and laid his forehead against mine, taking a deep breath. — Where is he, Theo? — I whispered.
He moved his forehead away from mine and brought his mouth to my ear.
— Do you promise to take her with you?
Narcissa. I felt Draco growl again from my side. My hands closed into Theo's coat.
— Only if she agrees to go with us.
I could feel Theo nod against my ear.
— He's in Lucius's office. Chained and bound to a blood spell.
I didn't remember if there was blood left in Draco's glass, but I breathed in relief anyway. Theo held my chin with one hand.
— Come to my quarters now, Cissa. I want to try again the taste of this pussy of yours. — It was difficult not to cringe, but I let him put his hand on my lower back. — It seems to me that you already have a cock between your legs, and you do not need mine.
I felt the bump that hit Theo from behind and knocked him hard to the ground. It could only have been Draco's, but a group of enthusiastic dancers had just passed us by and Theo figured they were to blame. I reached out my hand to help him get up.
— What about the young woman tied up? — I asked.
He suddenly became serious. — There were many before, and many will come later. Supporters of the current system.
— I can't leave her here. — I spoke with clenched teeth.
Theo continued leading me towards the exit of the hall, directly to Lucius's office. — Narcissa or her, you can't go out with two.
— Bring her and I'll make it happen. — I swore.
Theo ignored me. — Say that Lucius sent her to try to convince Severus in the name of the former friendship of the two of you. — Muttered Theo.
I blinked, and realized that there were guards at the doors of what I could only assume was Lucius's office.
— Lucius asked me to come and try to convince Severus to hand over the identity of the supplier of the potion ingredient. It's no secret that we have always had a harmonious relationship. — I told Theo with a superior look.
Theo feigned irritation as if he were a dog in heat left waiting.
— Be quick. — He said, indicating with his chin the guards on either side of the doors.
The guards did not bother to hide the lustful expressions when I passed. They probably knew about my involvement with Theo and one of them arranged his belt when I entered the tent.
The dark energy of the dark magic was much stronger there, dark and cold. No fire crackled in the fireplace, no candlesticks were lit, everything was plunged into the most complete darkness. The hair on my arm crept up.
— You have five minutes to get him out of here. — Whispered Theo in my ear. — Go to the western limit of the property, it is the shortest path and the alleys end at the cliff over the river. I will find you there. If you hear screams, don't panic. — It was the likely distraction he would create. Theo smiled at the place next to me where I knew, was the invisible form of Draco. — I hope you don't mind calling me a stepfather.
Draco did not confirm that he was there and had heard the provocation. Theo turned his gaze to me again.
— If they get you alive, Lucius will... — He shook his head. — Don't let them catch you alive.
So, he's gone.
Draco stripped off his cape a second later. He pointed his chin at the bookshelf in the background and we followed it, dodging tables and furniture. As soon as Draco moved the book he opened the passage hidden in the bookshelf. I saw him.
Severus was gagged and his fists bound in powerful chains. He had his eyes closed and I could hear the murmur of an old song coming out of his lips. My heart sank when I recognized the Latin of some of the words and Draco's eyes widened when he heard it too. It was ancient magic, being evoked so as to unite the essence of things. I knelt in front of him and tried to touch him and force him to open his eyes. My fingers squeaked in contact with his scalding skin.
— Granger... — It was Draco who whispered.
— Open the window. — Fast. — I ordered to Draco and tried to access the man in front of me with my voice. — Severus. — I muttered — Severus ... let my voice reassure you. — But the heat emanating from his body seemed to increase. — Severus! — I tried again.
Draco opened the window and I ran up to it, evoking the chill of the icy December breeze to coat my hands and manage to touch him. I knelt back in front of him.
— Severus, I'm here. Please!
I tried to make him hear me over the wave of sounds that he murmured and seemed to fill him, making him feel every current that connected him to the Earth. I called once again, but when Severus finally opened his eyes, they were burning in flames, at the stage of using the fire element, where it was almost impossible to reach it.
— Severus! — I screamed, landing my now icy hands around your face. — Enough for now, my love. I am here.
Slowly, very slowly, he looked at me and I realized that he had already given himself up to the burning flames that seemed to jump out of his eyes.
— Look at me! — I required. — Look, Severus!
— Granger, he can't hear you. — Draco whispered.
Severus had told me about this stage when he taught me the lesson of the fire element. It was a feeling of being trapped inside a burning bonfire, fused to the element in a way that his mind and body did not pulsate with life, but only crackled as he swung from the flames.
— Let the fire burn by itself, Severus. Let go! — I ordered.
I could have sworn to see an effort of his will to return to the real world, but the flames rippled harder in his eyes and he could no longer react.
— Let go! — I begged, still holding his face, although the cold was all gone and my skin began to burn again. — If you don't let go, you will burn out completely, Severus. You are almost baking from the inside out.
Severus blinked, and the fire protruded from his eyes, hitting the wall to my right. Draco screamed, his hand running to reach me and get me out of him as the carpet under our feet incinerated. Severus's skin let out smoke around it.
— Draco, suck as much air as you can! — I screamed and turned to Severus. — I apologize. — I whispered, before I concentrated and made all the air disappear.
Severus tried to moan, but there was no longer any way to breathe. And there was also no more air to feed that internal combustion. I don't know how long it was until the darkness of before came back in full force, when he fell unconscious.
Draco swore as I let out the air back around us. We both coughed up trying to breathe again and crawled over to Severus's unconscious body, trying to check if he was breathing as well. I confirmed that yes, but there was still something very wrong with him. His breath was shallow and warm, very hot. He had to have crossed some limit for it to still burn alive under his skin.
— Can you handle carrying him? — I asked Draco. — I can cool his skin with the cold air outside, but we need to take him to cold water. Now.
Draco rummaged through the robes and took the vial of the blood, dripping them into Severus's chains, which immediately opened with the faint clinking noise. Draco caught him in his arms and we ran towards the window he had opened before.
— We don't have time. — Draco muttered. — They're coming. — The screaming and yelling started. Nott's distraction. — Run and don't stop!
We shot to the edge of the property to the west, to the cliff.
— If Theo is not there with the young woman in time... — said Draco.
— Then you go. I will get her. — I answered right away.
We run through the back, Draco carrying Severus still unresponsive in his arms. I cast a levitation spell so his weight wouldn't get in the way of our run. We crossed paths with two guards at the back of the property, but Draco had thrown Harry's cloak over us, although our feet were visible, hopefully no one would look down.
We ran through the grounds, our feet flying over grass and earth, while the light shone dimly in the east behind us as the day began to rise.
A piercing howl broke the dying night. And we knew that they had realized what we had done. I was sure that magic had modified the essence of werewolves when I saw some of them run after us, smelling our scent through the air.
— Faster! — Yelled Draco.
The earth trembled behind us. I didn't dare turn around to look. Draco cut to the right, dodging a stone, and I took advantage of the angulation to turn around and shoot ice arrows from my hands. One of them went through the neck of the nearest creature. The werewolf has fallen, and we continued our race to the still bleak western horizon.
I could feel soldiers running after the wolves, tracking the creatures because they still couldn't see us. But my arrows of ice informed them very well of the distance we were at. As soon as the wolves caught up with us, those rebels would emerge and capture us.
The air waved, and I lifted my face, seeing a shower of muggle arrows fired from behind us, hundreds of them, it was a blind attempt to hit any target. I cast a powerful shield spell, which nonetheless shuddered at the impact, but held on.
However, the invisibility cloak slipped from our bodies.
The werewolves approached, two strayed and cut from the side. To corner us. For there in front of us, was the edge of the cliff, it was the boundary of the property. I held Draco's hand, but the anti-apparition wards were still in place where we stepped.
— Only after we jump. — Draco muttered.
That's when I saw them, standing on the cliff of a very deep fall, and an unforgivable river below and nestled in dark cloaks, were the tortured girl and Narcissa. Theo kept his promise to leave them there and was nowhere in sight.
— Draco... I'm not going to be able to apparate five of us into free fall. — I muttered back.
Draco did not answer; his eyes were stuck on something behind us. I turned to look too and as if he had apparated in the air with magic, Lucius Malfoy filled the space next to the wolf that had chased us.
— What intrepid thieves. — He said slowly, the words everywhere and at the same time nowhere. — How should I punish them?
— Do you have any magic potion with you? — I asked Draco.
— No, something better. — He answered and I saw him draw a muggle gun and point it directly at his father while throwing Severus's lightweight on one of his shoulders.
— Draco ... forget Lucius, get Severus out of here. — I begged him, gasping. — I take your mother and the girl.
— The five of us will leave. — Draco growled.
— It's an order. You need…
My words were interrupted as I felt the impact before the searing, burning pain that erupted from my shoulder. An arrow had hit me. My feet gave under the body, blood gushed, and I fell to the rocky ground so hard that my bones complained. Draco swore, but with Severus in one arm, fighting was not an option for him. The werewolves came closer, I managed to fire another burst of ice arrows with my hands, but my shoulder screamed at the movement. One of them fell to our right.
— Torturing you would be so boring. — Lucius pondered. — I remember that it was fun last time, but now it seems to me that you have developed a certain resistance to pain. — His every step was slow, intentional. — Then I'll have to take a different approach with both of you in hand. How would Severus revolt and panic if his muggle mistress had an end on my hands? I remember seeing him in total disgrace when The Dark Lord eliminated the first one.
Lucius's ironic smile distracted me enough that I could not warn Draco to run to the cliff before two werewolves were upon me. One of them knocked me down before I could react and the two jumped on me. I raised my arm over my head to avoid the bite of one of them, until I heard a roar and several gunshots. The dead forms of the werewolves collapsed beside me and I looked at Draco but he looked in shock at the opposite direction from me.
It was Ron. He also had a gun pointed now at Lucius.
— Ron ... — I spoke, and his blue eyes semi-closed towards me. Run, they seemed to say.
Two more wolves pounced on him and Ron shot both of them. Lucius stopped, and though he remained far away, I could clearly discern the surprise that left his face blank.
I stood with difficulty, pulling out the arrow with a restrained cry. Draco next to me grabbed me by the collar, and pushed me in the direction of the two women.
— You need to apparate us. Concentrate. — He gasped, again pointing the gun at Lucius who resumed his debauched slow approach.
The two women standing on the edge of the cliff watched us with wide eyes, hair flogged by the wind on their faces. I've never been in a free fall. But I did not allow myself to consider the alternative of hurting all of us. I would apparate us.
Another arrow was fired towards me and I heard Ron's scream at the last second, and rolled away from the piece of wood flying straight towards me. I got up in a hurry and ran towards the women, Draco had already reached them. I glimpsed as much detail of all of us and prepared for the tug of apparition as soon as I got in touch with all of them.
With two steps missing to the rocky edge of the cliff, I saw the magic ripple of a shield wall rise right behind the four people I hit. The five of us hit hard on the hard air barrier and were cornered by the remaining werewolves.
The young woman screamed and Narcissa had her face bathed in tears, Draco fired the gun a dozen times to hit those closest to us, but there was no way we could escape so many.
So fast. It all happened too fast. A deafening scream came out of Ron's throat. And I looked at him, covered in blood from the attack of the werewolves.
— Grab it!
I identified the piece of black stone he threw at us when he was already a few inches away.
— Hold hands! — I ordered the people together from me, Draco's hand intertwined in mine at the same instant my fingers closed in the black stone that was a Portkey.
The Portkey was activated for the same place as before, Minerva's office. We fell into a heap of limbs and it took a few seconds for me to orient myself.
— To the room of requirements. Now! — I ordered Draco, who was in charge of taking Severus still unconscious there.
The gray morning light had already spread throughout the world as we headed to the seventh floor. I imagined the room with pool that I conjured when I wanted to relax and when the doors opened in front of us, I ordered Draco to plunge Severus into the pool. I removed all my skins and clothes and dived with him, not bothering for the women and Draco behind us.
The water around us was hot from the combustion still burning inside Severus. I invoked my power and swept the cold winds around the castle to direct their coldness over the pool around us. The water completely froze.
I don't remember when the three people left, nor do I remember the exact moment Severus finally stopped burning. But I remember lying on the bearskin rug after his combustion was over. And how I felt his thin body nest close to mine and curl up in me, still unconscious, still exuding a smell of smoke from that irreducible willpower to destroy the Malfoy manor from the inside out. I had barely realized how cold it was around us until his warmth enveloped me.
And I didn't know how long we lay there together, but, the two of us, who had never shared a bed before, held tight to each other. And we didn't let go.
Final Notes
1. The song in this chapter is Fix You by Coldplay.
2. And I hate to say that, but Ron loves her. In his crazy way, he would never let anything happen to Hermione. Even so, I still don't know if I forgive him.
Translation by Jessinthedungeons.
