Disclaimer: Of course, these lovely characters do not belong to me. I do borrow them for a new idea.
Back home
May 1st 1998
Aberforth had found them just seconds before the Death Eaters had. He had hidden them and finally started a discussion, which came close to a fight with Harry over his brother. Hermione was listening, but her thoughts kept wandering off, as she was fighting a headache that tried to settle. She realized she had had those more frequently in the past.
The meal served by Aberforth seemed to help and so when he finally agreed to help them get back into Hogwarts, she was able to focus on her task. However, between Malfoy snooping around in her thoughts and her headache threatening to return she wasn't at the top of her game. When Harry had left, she was glad that Ron seemed to have a plan.
She had to admit she was a little surprised to see him being able to open the chamber, but he had been right about the Basilisk. She stood, ready to watch him destroy the cup, but then he turned to her.
"You should do it."
"Huh?" She refocused.
"You seem off. Maybe this will help and surely Malfoy will freak when he hears you did it."
She could hear the jab at the Slytherin, but Hermione simply stared at her best friend, the man who she had secretly liked for the past two years. At this very moment, he seemed so available. She gulped as he put the tooth in her hand.
"Is he in your mind again?" Again she was surprised by the clever thought but shook her head softly.
"At least he hasn't announced himself." She watched as Ron placed the cup on the ground.
"So you don't even know when he is in there?"
"Well I guess, sometimes I have a feeling, but seeing that I only lived like this for the past week and our life has been terribly wild, I don't think I always catch it." She shrugged, moving the tooth to her other hand. Was this act of destroying considered a betrayal? She was supposed to be loyal towards Malfoy and his beliefs, but again he hadn't specifically told her no for this.
"You should do it before he zaps in and stops you." Ron's gaze on her was still firm. She nodded slowly and moving the tooth back to the original hand, but then placing the other on top. She carefully kneeled down in front of the cup and breathed in. As she sat in place a terrible feeling started to creep in. Everything seemed to be in question: her loyalties, her friends, her believes. Suddenly there were her parents looking at her accusingly. She had left them, send them off, took everything that was dear to them. She had taken their memories. She could picture them standing there with disappointment. She murmured an apology and their faces changed. Now they simply seemed confused and the reality hit her, that her own parents no longer knew her.
They disappeared again and now there were Harry and Ron, glaring at her, clearly disappointed. Images from her first few months in Hogwarts as a lonely know-it-all followed. There were fights with them over the years.
"Just imagine it's him pronouncing you Mrs. Malfoy, that should do the trick." She glared at Ron, but he was right and he had snapped her out of it. The anger from last week bubbled back to its surface, replacing some of the questionings that cup seemed to cause. By the time she had taken her swing and the tooth stuck in the cup, she released her breath. She stared at the cup that seemed to wiggle for a little longer.
The redhead in turn stared at her, as the tooth fell to the ground. Just a couple of weeks ago he would have pulled her up and might have even been overcome enough to kiss her. Now he hesitated, trying to forget about his feelings for her.
"Feeling better?" She shook her head.
When she looked up he could see the tears in her eyes. When the first one escaped he settled on the ground next to her, pulling her into a hug. She returned it, burying her face into his sweater. She could smell his aftershave. It was a familiar scent, it might have even been one of the things that her love potion would now include. She sobbed, the image of her parents coming back to mind. She didn't even know if they had made it to Australia. The pressure of keeping upbeat during her time in the tent, especially after Ron had left. And finally the torture last week and the rude awakening to a marriage she would have never wanted. Another sob followed, her arms wrapping around Ron.
He remained quiet. Emotions were never his strong suit. She knew that, but she desperately wished he would say something. Something funny, something dumb, something upbeat, anything to snap her out of it. Before she could help it, her hand got a hold of her new necklace. Clinging to it as her life depended on it.
This time she felt him enter her mind.
"Leave!"
Another sob escaped her. While the touch to the necklace had given her an unreal sense of comfort, him entering her mind changed her sadness into a hot burning furry. Her hand wiped the tears away and she stared at Ron. He was still close, although his arms loosened. His expression changed from concern to confusion as he could feel her fury. She stared at his face, his lips and suddenly she was determined to break that stupid bind.
She felt Ron stiffen for the shortest moment when she closed the small distance and placed her lips on his. She was probably a bit more forceful than necessary, pushing into him, her hands now on each side of his face, making sure he didn't stop her. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to respond. His lips eagerly returning the kiss. His hands wrapping around her and pulling her close to him. The longer the kiss lasted, however, the angrier she got. She could feel that the marriage bind had changed something in her. The kiss wasn't as sweet and satisfying as it should have been. Her innocent crush on Ron seemed packed away in a dark corner and she was unable to reach it.
It was Ron, who pulled away. Eyes still on her, his hands firm on her back, one of them starting to creep under her shirt. There was a soft smile on his lips and if she wasn't completely mistaken a sense of pride.
"We need to get back to Harry."
He got up, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. They placed the cup back into her bag, just to be sure to have it if it was necessary. Her hand stayed in Ron's as they made their way back to the Room of Requirements. She could feel his thumb stroke over the back of her hand, every so often, and slowly the daunting feeling settled in that he had no idea, what her marriage truly meant. She glanced over at him, forcing a smile when he met her eyes.
She was happy to let Harry interrupt her thoughts with his own. They had told him their story and soon after found themselves in a room full of shelves. This should keep her occupied for a while. When they saw the mass of objects hidden, they split up and she rapidly worked her way through the rows. It was then that she was suddenly pulled into a corner. A hand over her mouth suppressed her scream.
When she saw who it was, she struggled free and glared at him angrily.
"He knows you are here." His whisper was almost a hiss.
"I know that."
Although it was just a few seconds of silence, they seemed to last forever. Finally, his eyes darted to her necklace, before meeting hers again.
"That thing was supposed to protect you, but breaking into Gringotts, flying a bloody dragon, invading Hogwarts, it only can do so much." His tone was hushed, but what he was saying startled her nonetheless.
"Why do you care, if I am safe?"
He bit his lip, before giving her the most honest answer he could get himself to give her. It wasn't really explaining anything though: "Because you are my wife."
She stared at him. She was at a loss of why that would change anything. She didn't know that after she had left the manor a week ago, his mother had set him down and given him the long talk of husband responsibilities. She had also told him that she expected him to make the best of it. For the shortest moment, he had thought he actually wanted her to make this marriage work, but then she had also reminded him that the Dark Lords' grace relied on him. As long as he wanted Draco married and fishing for information he needs to keep her safe.
"It pulled me out of the water." She hesitated: "And I think it blocked a few curses your friends shot at me at Gringotts."
He cringed at the word friends, but nodded, taking her in. From what Snape had mentioned Lucius had been one of the men sent to catch them in Gringotts. Draco wouldn't hear the end of it if the necklace had blocked another Malfoys spell.
He refocused on her. His stare was intense like he was looking for something specific. She had never been able to read him very well, beyond his hate of muggle-borns she had to admit she knew almost nothing about him. Then she noticed his eyes once more were on the necklace.
"What happened earlier?" She thought she heard worry, but was fast in putting it away as a figment of her imagination.
"I'm sure you already know." She was surprised when he shook his head. She hadn't expected him to actually leave her mind when she had asked him to earlier. His eyes were still questioning her, but he didn't ask the question again. Instead, he threw a glance down the row of shelves.
"I read up on this Horcrux thing in your mind." He seemed to have hit a nerve, as her eyes turned concerned.
"How many exactly have you found?" She was surprised that he didn't have the number yet, after all, she did know about all of them. However, part of her was relieved that he was back to business and even more important he usual cold snare.
"I can just count them myself if you prefer."
"Please don't." Her head was still on the verge of another headache and she was positive that his intrusion would make it worse.
He stared into her eyes, preparing to enter her thoughts once again.
"Malfoy…" He had pushed her out of sight, before she could react herself and placed himself between her and Goyle. "We've got Potter."
"Right behind you." He waited until his friend was out of sight before he turned back to Hermione.
"Remember you are a Malfoy now." He stepped away: "And now you better go and find your little pothead before we finish him."
With that, he turned and ran after Goyle to find Harry. She didn't hesitate, however, she ended up finding Harry cornered by the three Slytherins before she could find Ron. She was stunned to hear that Grabbe so openly refused Malfoys order. Apparently, his shunning had taken place at least in some families.
"Ah, the new Mrs. Malfoy. Why don't you do you hubby a favor and hand over the Chosen One?" Grabbe laughed as he took a step forward. She threw a hex at him before he knew what was happening.
"How dare you, filthy mudblood." She wasn't even phased by the term, instead, she continued to throw hexes. In a matter of seconds, all the boys did the same. Each Slytherin more or less focused on a Gryffindor. Draco and Goyle took turns on Harry and her, while Grabbe had shifted his focus to Ron, who had arrived. She was surprised that Malfoy stopped his friends from killing Harry, but then again by now it seemed pretty clear that the Dark Lord wanted that task for himself. Nearly being hit by the death curse, she dove out of the way, angrily glaring at the young want to be Death Eater. Ignoring her husband she sent spells eventually stunning Goyle.
She had seen Dracos wand fly out of his hand, and as Harry shouted instruction to her to find the diadem her eyes scanned the room for his wand. Her inside screamed at her to stop, but this seemed to be the loyalty the Malfoys were talking about. Finally, she spotted it under a raised her wand to accio it, when she was stopped by Ronald screaming bloody murder. As Harry and Malfoy did, she turned and saw the wall of fire approach them. "Accio wand." The piece of wood flew into her hand.
And then they were running, but the fire seemed to spread so rapidly, they soon came to a halt. Her eyes went wide as Harry pulled out the brooms. There was one thing she never was able to do and that was flying. Ron seemed to sense her distress and simply pulled her on behind him. As she held tight to him he started for the door, when Harry suddenly motioned down. Her heart dropped.
"We have to get them." She cried as she watched Malfoy struggle with the stunned Goyle, unable to undo the spell without a wand.
"Let them die." Ron didn't feel like turning around.
"She is right. We can't let them die. Plus who knows what that stupid bind will do to Hermione if we don't get Malfoy out."
Harry dove back into the depths of the room and on the second try, they were able to secure the two Slytherins on their brooms. Ron didn't look back from there and flew them straight out, but Hermione began to panic, as she lost sight of Harry. The smoke had gotten sicker. When they finally landed outside of the room, she stumbled back towards the room.
Her eyes were scanning the smoke for any sign of the two boys. A horrible feeling started to move through her body. Once again her hand wandered to the necklace.
"Bloody hell, Hermione. Harry's got him."
Ron had grabbed her arm, to make sure she didn't run back in. It felt like ages before they finally flew out of the room. With a fling of her wand she shut and sealed the room tightly. She felt the urge of going to check on Malfoy, but Ron's hand still on her arm stopped her. She turned instead to undo the stunning charm on Goyle.
Once Harry had recovered he showed them the diadem and they realized that it was only the snake now. For the shortest moment, the weight on her seemed to lift. Their task seemed doable now.
"We only need the snake."
They were interrupted by shouts as Percy and Fred came around the corner both taking on Death Eaters that had apparently made it into the building now. While Harry and Ron moved forward to support the two, she glanced back catching Draco's eyes. It was then that she realized she was still holding the wand he had been using. He stood and Goyle was already vanishing around a different corner. Probably hiding since he was now wandless as well.
She gulped but tossed Malfoys wand back at him before she turned just as the Death Eaters came around the corner.
