Wow this was written much faster than I thought I'd get it done - I actually found it pretty easy to write imo so maybe that'll mean updates won't be too long! Anyways, hope you enjoy it and don't forget to follow and leave a review of your thoughts - each one makes it easier to write!
-HermionesPolyjuice xo
Chapter 10
Hermione stood unmoving for a few moments. It wasn't until Draco coughed that she moved forward. She threw her rucksack onto her bed and sat down next to Draco, wrapping her hands around the comforting mug of tea.
"So."
"So?" Hermione echoed, not looking into the intense grey eyes of Draco Malfoy.
"Do you have something you need to tell me?" he asked. Hermione shook her head.
"Not that I'm aware of," she responded keeping her eyes averted from his.
"Not about where you were last night?" he questioned.
"I just went out. Couldn't sleep, that's all," she replied.
"Oh so you went out for the entire night, from just after sundown until after sunrise?"
"Yeah, pretty much," she said. Hermione knew she was digging herself into a hole, a large one at that, but she just couldn't get out of it. She couldn't bring herself to say anything. She knew he knew, and she knew that he knew that she knew but it still didn't help. She just couldn't voice it.
"Hermione, you know that you can tell me anything right?" Draco reached out and touched her arm. "Anything at all."
"There's nothing to tell, Draco," Hermione said shakily.
"OK. There might not be anything to tell per say, but you can definitely answer some questions, right?" Hermione gulped. This was it. The time when someone other than Remus was going to know she was forever a monster was upon her. She felt the tears at the back of her eyes, but she blinked them away. She wasn't going to cry about this. she had cried enough. This was her life now and there was nothing she could do about it other than carry on living. Remus did it, he still does, and many, many other werewolves carried on living, so why can't she? She gulped and then nodded.
"We'll start easy, where did you go last night?"
"I told you, I went for a walk. Although it ended up being more of a run," she added after a thought, no point making it any harder than it already was.
"Is that what you do once every month then?" Hermione nodded.
"And it just happens to occur on the night of the full moon each time?" he pressed.
"Yeah, looks like it." Draco eyed her suspiciously. It wasn't going to take long.
"And does this have any relation to that potion that exploded when I first arrived?"
"I told you, Draco. I was brewing some Wolfsbane for Remus," Hermione said, her heart hammering inside her chest. She wouldn't be surprised if he could hear it from where he sat.
"Oh, so it wasn't meant for you?" Hermione faltered. She didn't want to admit it, but she didn't want to lie. She couldn't bring herself to lie, so she just cast her eyes down to the floor and didn't say anything.
"What about your shoulder? What happened there?" Draco was relentless. He wasn't going to give up until he got Hermione to tell him. He knew that she needed to say it out loud. He knew that would help her more than anything.
"It's from the battle. It didn't heal properly – I should have seen a healer but I didn't," she admitted still looking at the floor.
"Who caused it?"
"A death eater."
"Which one?" Hermione felt the tears begin to escape now. She wanted to tell him, truly she did but at the same time she really didn't. She was quite content just living it by herself, or at least as content as she could be.
"Was it Greyback?" There was silence. A silence so loud it was deafening.
"Hermione, look at me, please," Draco said, his own voice cracking. Slowly, Hermione lifted her tear stained face, her chocolate brown eyes filled with misery as she met Draco's cool grey ones.
"It was him. He bit me. I ran. I was terrified of what would happen. Of what people would think of me. I was scared, Draco. So scared, so I left. I left everything and ran away. I'm a monster, Draco, and I can't go back. I can't let people find out what happened to me. It'll be the end of what I know. How will anyone look at me the same?" The tears were falling thicker now. Draco stood up from his chair and knelt in front of Hermione. He took her hands in his and stared right into her eyes.
"You're not a monster, Hermione. And you have every reason to be scared. What happened to you has changed your life. But you can't make it change it for the worse. You've got to make it change you for the better. You're one of the strongest people I've ever met and if there's anyone in this world that can battle this head on it's you. You can't let it affect you, Hermione. Not like this. As much as it may be difficult, embrace it. Don't let it dictate your future, dictate it yourself. Do what you want to do and don't let it stop you. Tell everyone when you're ready. They'll understand, I promise. They're already best friends with a werewolf, having a second one is hardly going to affect them. But, Hermione, please don't let it affect you. I hate to see you like this, and I know everyone else will be gutted to know this is how you feel. Overcome it. Rise above it. And beat it. Beat Greyback. Show him and every other person that did bad that this doesn't break you, this shapes you. It shapes your future and it makes you an even better person than you already are." Draco looked straight into her watery eyes as he spoke, not wavering once. Hermione hiccuped and wiped at her face with her sleeve.
"I…I guess you're right."
"Wow, Hermione Granger admitting I'm right, that must be a first," Draco exclaimed, making Hermione giggle.
"Right, so now that we've got that covered and you understand that I am never ever going to leave you. Wow that came out a lot creepier than I thought, not like that you know. Just…yeah…you know what I mean."
"I know, Draco. And…thank you. Thank you for sticking by me and thank you for beginning to talk some sense into this brain. I really appreciate it," Hermione muttered with a smile. Draco smiled back at her and not for the first time, he was happy. He was happy with how he had change his life around. He was happy being around the muggle born and he was excited for their new adventure.
"Great. Well how about you have a shower and climb back into bed. You look a bit like death if I must say. I'll wake you up in time for some lunch and then we can work out where we're going next." Hermione silently agreed and as she stood up she threw her arms around Draco, hugging him tightly. Somewhat surprised by her reaction, it take a few seconds for him to hug her back.
[-||-]
Hermione woke a few hours later to the sound of Draco humming to himself. She smiled as she snuggled deeper into the warm blankets. She felt as if a huge rock had lifted off her shoulders knowing that Draco knew what was going on with her, and it almost made her excited about what was to come. Hopefully it meant that by the time she was ready to go back to England, if she was ever ready, she would at least have one person to support her.
"Ah, I see you're awake," Draco called a few minutes later, bringing Hermione out of her daze. She didn't answer, however, as her stomach rumbled loudly in response. They both laughed.
"And right on cue by the sounds of it. I've made cheese, chicken and pesto toasties," he added with a smile – one of Hermione's favourites. Hermione practically jumped out of bed, ignoring the pounding headache and sore muscles that often accompanied a transformation, and climbed into the seat next to Draco.
"You're the best," she said after swallowing a rather large mouthful of toastie.
"I know," Draco smirked, earning a slap across the back of the head. The friends ate in companionable silence, the only sound being the howling wind down the chimney.
It wasn't until Hermione was washing up their plates that Draco asked the question, "So, where to next?"
"East. I was thinking maybe Bulgaria or Romania. What do you think?" Hermione asked turning around to look at the Slytherin sat at the table.
"Well, I'd rather not run into that Krum person, so let's go for Romania," Draco said with a smirk, that made Hermione let out a laugh.
"You do know that the chances of running into one person in that country is slim to none," she responded with a smile.
"Yeah, but in Romania it'll be none, and I don't want to risk it," Draco said in a huff.
"Right, Romania it is then. I just need to pack my bag and then I'll be good to go."
The duo packed their bags and removed any other belongings they weren't going to need; they didn't want anyone to come across their things and know they had been there.
"Hermione, before we leave, don't you think it would be a good idea to have a bit of a plan?" Draco asked as Hermione made her way towards the door.
"A plan for what?" she questioned turning around to face him.
"Well, a plan for where we're going to go. Are we going as muggles or wizards? Are we going to live in a town or find a secluded hut like this?"
"We'll apparate to Romania. I'm going as a muggle, I'm not ready to enter the wizarding community yet, and I was thinking maybe a small village or something," Hermione answered confidently.
"Right, all I wanted to know," Draco shrugged and followed his companion out of their hut they called home for three months. Hermione grasped onto Draco's hand and before he could think of anything he felt himself being squeezed away and spinning into darkness.
Draco and Hermione landed with a small thump in a deserted alleyway.
"Where are we?" Draco asked once they had got rid of their dizziness of travelling such a long distance.
"I don't know. I just thought of a deserted place in Romania," Hermione replied honestly as she strode towards the light at the end. Draco rolled his eyes but followed her anyways.
Hermione let out an audible gasp as she emerged from the alley onto a high street. It was beautiful. The buildings were made of a white brick that caught the evening sun and shone brightly. The street was cobbled and at the end stood a large church, clearly the epicentre of the small village. Hermione began to walk down the streets admiring all the small boutique shops and cafes lining the pedestrian road. It was perfect; she had no intention of leaving any time soon.
"What is this place?" Draco finally asked once they reached the church.
"Enisala," Hermione responded pointing to a sign off to the side directing them to the 'Catatea Enisala'.
"How do you know it's not Cetatea?" Draco inquired, pronouncing the word so badly Hermione had to fight a giggle.
"Because Cetatea means fortress," she explained through her muffled laugh.
"How do you know that?" Hermione just shrugged.
"I just do."
"OK. So what next?" he asked looking around. There were very few people milling around the square and they hadn't passed many open shops.
"We find somewhere to stay," Hermione said and walked off down a side road.
It took them near an hour until they finally found a small vacant flat once it got dark. For the equivalent of about 3 galleons in Romanian Leu the flat belonged to Hermione and Draco. It had surprised Draco at how well Hermione bargained for it and how she had been able to obtain it for themselves, but he couldn't deny the excitement that rose in his chest as Hermione pushed open the door.
It was a dingy little flat, but it had potential. Hermione turned on the lights and a dim yellow filled the main room. It held a battered sofa and an armchair next to an elegant fireplace that was covered in dust. Off the living room was a reasonably sized kitchen and down the corridor were two bedrooms and a bathroom. The furniture was minimal and old but nothing that a bit of magic couldn't solve. The duo spent the next half an hour redecorating and cleaning the flat and when the collapsed onto the new cream sofa they were exhausted but neither could erase the smiles that filled their faces.
"This is perfect," Hermione breathed as she looked around the living room. Draco nodded in agreement. It had surprised him how much he appreciated the light and airiness of the flat. He had always lived in cold, stone-walled rooms and few lights but this was quite the improvement.
"I'm going to go pick up some food from the bakery over there that looks like it's still open," Hermione said from the window. Draco's rumbling stomach agreed, and so Hermione hurried out of the flat leaving Draco alone to ponder about their new living situation and about what was going to happen next. Truth be told it terrified him not knowing what was going to happen and although he was relieved he had managed to probe the truth out of Hermione it did make him worry about the consequences of it all. Living with a werewolf, an old enemy of his, hiding from the wizarding world wasn't exactly something he was expecting as he had sat in the courtroom a mere three months earlier.
Hermione had barely been gone 10 minutes, much to Draco's relief before he delved too deep into his own thoughts, and just a few minutes later the unlikely friends found themselves digging to a fresh bread and charcuterie in their new flat in Eastern Romania.
[-||-]
Hermione woke the next morning to the sound of the bustling street and smiled. She was shocked at just how excited she was to finally be living in a community, albeit a small foreign muggle one, but one nonetheless. She got up and headed to the kitchen to grab some breakfast before exploring. She passed Draco's room and saw the windows already open so was surprised to find that he wasn't in either the kitchen or the living room. She searched around the small flat, but he definitely wasn't in. Muttering to herself about how she best stay around until he got back she set about making a large coffee. It wasn't until she sat down at the table and took a bite of toast that she saw the note.
I've gone out to get some supplies, shouldn't be too long. Will hopefully be back by lunch but don't wait around.
-D
Confused about the 'supplies' he had gone to collect Hermione finished her breakfast, grabbed her bag and headed into the cool autumnal air to explore the small village some more.
Half an hour later and to no one's surprise Hermione found herself pushing open the door to a small, second-hand looking bookshop. The bell dinged cheerfully above her as she stepped into the somewhat dingy shop. She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. It was much larger than the outside let out it to be with floor to ceiling shelves lining the walls and large piles of books just lying on the ground. There was a comfortable set of armchairs and a small coffee table with mints sitting in a small, silver bowl.
"Bună ziua," a voice came from behind the cashier. Hermione turned and watched as an elderly, slightly plump woman appeared in front of her. She was shorter than Hermione and reminded her a little of Professor Sprout with the wild, greying hair, the soft friendly eyes and slightly grubby fingernails.
"Bună ziua," Hermione responded with a smile, cringing at how bad her accent was.
"Ah, English I see. I'm Deana, welcome to my shop," the elderly woman responded, the English thick with a Romanian accent, as she opened her arms wide as if showing off her shop.
"Hermione, pleased to meet you Deana," Hermione replied with another smile that lit up her face.
"Is there something you look for?" the shop owner asked.
"Nothing in particular, I think I might just look if that's OK."
"Just give me call if you need anything." Deana scurried off towards the cashier and disappeared behind the door leaving Hermione alone in the middle of the shop of her dreams. She looked around and took it all in, the sight of the old well-worn books, the smell of the ageing leather and dust. She perused the shelves at her own pace, picking out a few books that interested herself. Deciding she had some time until Draco would be back she picked one of the books out and settled herself into one of the armchairs.
(A/N: hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review!)
