Chapter 21
The familiar back door way of Grimmauld Place materialized in front of Hermione almost immediately, as she came to a halt on it's door step. Her skin felt static-y, and prickly, but she ignored it. Her heart was racing as she spun 180 degrees on the spot, searching for any signs of danger. She saw nothing worth note on her first glance, and Draco was opening the door quickly. He grabbed her hand and pulled her inside the dark hallway.
The floor was cracked in several places, and one of the front rooms walls was demolished, with pieces of wood and concrete littering the already dust covered floor. She had her wand raised, and so did Draco, and her eyes were darting from corner to corner, trying to see any sign or symptom of any one else in the house. She felt tense, and her wand hand was shaking lightly.
"Should we check upstairs?" Draco hissed at her, standing so close Hermione could feel every slight movement in his robes brush against her. How funny that even two or three years earlier Hermione would have been disgusted at his closeness, but now it was a comfort. A security, almost.
"Kitchen first," Hermione whispered back, already moving to jump over the crevice in the floor. He eyes instinctively went to the floor outside the front room, where Narcissa had landed. She wasn't there, but she could have fallen in the crevice, or been pulled into the front room somehow.
Draco was right behind her, making his way to the kitchen so quietly that Hermione envied his ability to move silently. He was graceful, like a cat, where as she felt every move she made was loud and uncoordinated.
The kitchen, thankfully, was empty. They walked the length of it, and Hermione looked down sadly at a pile of muggle playing cards that had been knocked off the scrubbed wood table.
They moved back into the hall way, and Draco motioned towards the front room with her wand. Draco's faced seemed to pale a little, but he nodded. She jumped the crevice, landing with a thud, as Draco landed gracefully next to her, the hint of a smirk ghosting his other wise solemn face.
Much to Hermione's dismay, Narcissa was not there among the broken furniture, and scorched places in the floor. A sadness filled Hermione at that. She had hoped for some closure for Draco, but, as he so plainly spelled out for her last night, life wasn't fair, and she doubted very much that that would change any time soon.
She looked up to see Draco's reaction. He had sat back in a broken arm chair and put his head in his hands. His should moved up and down lightly, as he was trying very hard not to cry, and losing. Hermione had the strongest, and strangest, urge to hug him. Human to human, and act of comfort and comradery.
She leaned forward and put her arms around him, pressing the side of her head to the top of his, and felt two hands wrap around her wrists.
"Get off me, Granger," Draco sniffed, face bright red. "I don't need your bloody pity." He spit at her, pushing her arms away.
"I was just trying to comfort you-" She started to say, so offended, but he cut her off.
"Well, don't!" He snarled at her back, rising from the broken chair. "Lets get your bloody cloak and get the fuck out of her," He told her crossly, taking long strides towards the door. Hermione was dumbfounded. I don't fucking get him! One day he's cracking jokes, being a social person and the next he's treating me like filth again. I'm so bloody over this, Hermione fumed internally as she followed Draco out the door.
She followed him up the stairs, when he stopped at the top step.
"Which room is yours?" he asked, malice gone form his voice.
Hermione pointed to the door of the room she had been using during her recent brief stay here, and Draco went in. It was dark, the curtains pulled tightly. Hermione felt tense again, and lit her wand with a soft "Lumos," and the light blooming from her wand illuminated the room. Her bag was haphazardly laying on the floor, untouched. Thank Merlin, she breathed silently, snatching it off the floor. She opened it to make sure the cloak was still in there, and nodded to Draco. They made their way quickly down the stairs, and to the back door. Hermione shuddered when Draco opened the door and bright light streamed through. she had a renewed sense of determination now, and she wanted to skip their secondary location, and head straight for the Forbidden Forest. They had the cloak now, and that point alone raised Hermione's confidence, and mood, ten-fold.
She was tired of drifting through places, no closer to a solution than she was to inner peace. She had nothing to look forward to anymore. She didn't know how any one else in the Order was doing, captured or other wise, and she felt terribly useless. Do or Die, she thought with gritted teeth.
Out side the door, she turned to tell Draco her new plan, when he grabbed her quickly, fear in his eyes. He started to pull her towards him when a second set of hands landed on her back and began pulling her backwards. Panic seized her heart.
Draco pulled one hand off her and reached for his wand quickly, shouting "Stupefy!" and pointing his wand behind Hermione's back. A hand snaked it self around her mouth, clamping it shut, and she was still being pulled backwards. Draco's spell must have missed.
She had her own wand in her hand, and since her mouth was clamped shut, did the next thing she could think of. She jammed it backwards, hoping to hit her assailants eye with it, and she felt the hand around her mouth loosen. Draco was even closer now, leaning a hand down to pull Hermione towards him. "Avada Kedavra!" Draco roared, his other hand pointing his wand to Hermione assailant. Once she was up on her feet, she yelled "Protego!" waving her wand in front of her an Draco, starting to pull him to the door.
The Death Eater that had attacked them fell to the floor, hit with Draco's curse. His hood fell away to rveal the white haired Death Eater that had been there the other day, the one Draco had identified as Waldorf Greengrass. Astoria's father. Hermione didn't have time to mull that over right now, though, they had to go. Draco pulled her through the door way, and they disappeared with a loud crack.
They re-materialized in a grassy area that Hermione recognized as Arundel, where they had been two days previously. Draco was breathing raggedly next to her, still clutching her wrist in his hands, his eyes wide. Hermione pulled her arm free and worked to control her breathing. Her heart was fluttering madly in her chest, and her shoulders hurt where she had been grabbed. This was a second time that Draco had saved her, she realized complacently.
She wanted to ask him if he was ok, but thought better of it, when his words from Grimmauld Place echoed in her ears. "I don't need your bloody pity."
she allowed her self to sit on the ground, as she worked at calming her self, and looked over when she heard a thud. Draco had fainted, and hit the ground next to her.
Hermione frowned. She imagined her reaction would be quite the same if she had to kill Molly or Aurthur Weasley. Even the thought of it made Hermione recoil, and she felt deep pity for Draco, even if he didn't want it. Would Astoria forgive Draco? She didn't know, as she couldn't remember ever meeting her, and thus couldn't draw any conclusions from her character. Could she forgive Ron, if killed one of her parents under similar circumstances? No, probably not... She shuddered.
She decided not to try and wake Draco. He didn't seem keen on her at all today, and she didn't feel like dealing with his attitude. Why did you wake me up Granger? Don't touch me! she could imagine him saying in her head. And she just didn't have the energy for that attitude right now. So she sat her back against a tree and opened her bag to take an inventory of what she still hand. Cloak, check. Pepper-up potion, check. Emergency chocolate, check. Spell-o-tape, check. A few rolls of parchment, and a quill, check. At the bottom of her back was a wrinkled photograph of Harry, Hermione, and Ron, sitting in the backyard of the Burrow, waving at the camera. Ron had dirt of his face, and was waving jubilantly at the Camera. Harry was making rabbit ears behind Hermione's head, and she sat between them laughing freely. The picture made a tear well in her eye. She stuffed it back down in her bag, banishing the memory. When the memories stop being painful, than I'll welcome them back, She thought bitterly, breathing deeply. She decided to urge Draco to agree to them departing for the forest today, after he wakes up. She couldn't wait anymore. There was nothing hear for them, in Arundel, or any where else really. Do, or die.