Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series and all the characters except the one I created belong to J. K. Rowling. The places I mention in the story with details are not advertised, they are mentioned in order to make the settings and the story more real. I don't make any profit.
Beta: Myka Ren
A/N: Thank you Guest and pgoodrichbloggs for your reviews! I really appreciated them and that was exactly my intent guest, to explain it little by little and have you guys cooking slowly (if that makes any sense). Anyway, Enjoy!
Tales In The Mist
Chapter 7
Katharine's house looked exactly the same with how it looked when he had once met her there to sign their contract. The only difference was the Aurors guarding the place. He found that stupid. Who were they guarding it from? Them? Were they so stupid as to think that if they had indeed killed Katharine they would attempt to get in her house?
Granger had managed to get them in the house with ease. Avoiding people and slipping in before they closed doors was simpler that what he had thought but they had gotten in, now all they had to do was wait for the Aurors to lock and leave. They were disillusioned after all. It wasn't like they slipped in in bright daylight trying to act all cool.
Once they had left Draco tapped his head with his wand and soon he was visible again. Granger who had moved in another room before walked in the living room and gave him a look that he knew that meant questioning about something she over thought. Living with Granger for almost a month made it really hard to think without bringing her face or how warm she is in his mind. After all he worked years to lock all the feelings he once had about her in a tiny box left abandoned in the back of his mind and then she had come one night and forced it open just with a hint of her smell.
He had never stood close enough to smell her but still when she had pointed her wand at his throat the night this circus started he had caught a whiff, exactly like back in their third years that she had punched him. If Draco didn't know himself so well he might have thought that he had a kink for women that can punch the living shit out of you but he knew that wasn't the issue. It had been and still was her. How many times had he jerked off in his private bathroom in the Manor because he had dreamed of her? How many times had he imagined what he could do to her if he got the chance? How had he wished he could take her on the desk during that potion period in sixth year when Slughorn had appointed them to work together and she was biting her lip when thinking (something she still did and it drove him crazy) and how he had gotten so hard when she had spilled some mermaid scales and a small 'fuck' had left her lips.
Draco could write a book about little things that she did that turned him on and that she never realised she did. He wasn't a creep, always watching her and such but he couldn't not notice her. She was shining. In the blurry and foggy hill that his life was, she was that ray of sunshine that you spare a moment to look and follow. She was the warmth of a nice cup of tea during a thunderstorm, she was a dream, so perfect and real that he wished he could have every night.
He wasn't a fool.
In that moment just thinking of all the things he had thought about her at school, all the things he his behind the word 'mudblood', he realised that he had never closed that box properly. If he had he would have been married by now, he wouldn't have gotten so drunk the day he read on the daily prophet that she was with Weasley, he wouldn't have been checking her out every time she walked in his office wearing a new skirt or generally every bloody time she walked in. And Merlin, oh sweet Merlin, if he really had indeed closed the box, he had just kicked it open accepting everything. He loved Astoria. She was a woman no one could hate and she was so sweet and perfect. A flower between the dirt but he didn't love her more than just a person he had to protect. Yes he had had sex with her, he found her body of his liking, how nicely wet she got, how her moans echoed when she climaxed, how amazingly tight she was, but it was all wrong. He was a man, he enjoyed sex but there were times he couldn't do it. He had thrown up a lot of times while Astoria was blissfully asleep. Breaking a betrothal always came with a price and he didn't have anything that was worth paying it. Even Astoria had told him that it was all wrong and that she couldn't she him more than a brother. Both had tried and failed, and when Astoria had left for Paris she wanted to be touched. She had asked it so nicely and she really looked like she needed that release. He was to be her husband. Even if they couldn't make it work he had to please her.
Turning his attention again to Granger he found her glaring at him with her arms folded under her breasts and her foot tapping the floor in a fast irritated pattern.
"What?" He asked folding his own hands too.
"I was asking you." She responded rolling her eyes, "How do you know so many Auror techniques?" She asked making his freeze in place.
Talking about his knowledge of Auror moves and techniques was a topic he didn't want to discuss with her but knowing that if he didn't the matter would her worse and that she would definitely try and do the same thing as payback made him rethink of it. He knew she could be a right bitch at times but he didn't want to get her bitch side now.
"I had wanted to be an Auror." He said quietly averting his eyes. He could hear her walking closer and damn he could smell her. Cinnamon and gardenias. How could she naturally smell like that was really making him wonder but her smell was home go him. They were on the run and there were high chances they got caught right at that moment but he felt safe. Like it wasn't them against the world.
"I took the test twice. Both times I had scored perfectly but they had turned down my first try. Then I took the training. I wasn't with Potters group, if you are wondering. I finished the training being one of the best but that wasn't enough. It wasn't enough that I could be one of best Aurors in there. They always thought that I would -" he said but he turned to look at Granger once she cut him.
"Turn on them." She said softly and he nodded, jaw tense.
"I'm sorry Draco." Granger continued and he relaxed once he heard his name roll off her tongue.
That woman was his salvation and damnation at the same time. She could pick him up, make him rise from the ashes like a Phoenix and she could break him down as if he was a small sand hill that she stepped on on accident on the beach.
"Its okay." He only responded trying to not meet her eyes or she would see right through him. Funny how he now realised that he was so broken and that she was the only one who had a way of glueing his pieces together (yes he knew what a glue is.).
Taking advantage of that silent moment he walked away and towards a wardrobe. Kneeling down he took off his wand and started tapping the floor listening carefully to the taps.
"What are you doing?" Granger asked kneeling down next to him.
"She has a secret door somewhere here and if you find the hollow tile then you can take it off and open the trap door." He said smirking once he levitated the tile and charming the door open.
"From here on we can touch. Katharine told no one of this secret room. I found it accidentally." He added before she could even ask.
The room was dusty and smelled of mold and old stuff. Pulling a string a weak lightbulb lit up and they both froze when they saw the walls. The walls were covered with their pictures. Pictures from work, from common meetings, the Daily Prophet. Articles about their life. ' Golden couple!', 'Draco Malfoy, ex death eater to wed?', 'War heroine and Ex death eater working together?'.
Draco looked at the photos more closely while Granger had moved towards the desk.
"Come look at this." He heard her say faintly and turning as if he had no control over his body he stood by her watching the documents.
"She was spying on us." Granger added but words had faded once he saw a picture of his mother there.
"She's working with death eaters." Draco said suddenly turning to look at Granger, his mother's photograph in hand.
"How can you be so sure?" She asked and he pointed at a paper with three names. Collins, Dooley, Wilkings.
"These three were in the Dark Lords circle. They were mostly in the dungeons guarding the prisoners and raping for fun. I hated these guys. They never managed to climb their way in His inner circle but they certainly were capable but not trust worthy. They were idiots and messed things up sometimes but I don't know how come they haven't caught them." Draco hissed.
"Seems like Katharine wanted us dead as much as they did and in the end they killed her because she knew too much. But if they can't kill us how can we know their next move?" Granger wondered looking around.
"We know what they are after and they possibly are expecting us to get caught." He continued handing her the photo.
"They are after my mother." He explained and pointed at the back, "And they are going to set a trap with her as a bait if they find her first. We need to get supplies from Renji and the potions and go. We can't risk her life." He demanded and Hermione nodded taking as many of the documents and files as she could and putting them in her bag.
"Where is your mother? Just to know if we should take a tent." She said climbing up the ladder and going in the main house area shortly followed by Draco.
"She's in a village in Norway . I'll tell you more when we'll get to Renji's." He explained closing and sealing the door before accepting her hand and aparating away with a loud pop.
Once in the apartment, Draco sat at the couch and rubbed his face with his hands thinking of how big of a mess his life had gotten. What had he done to get those bastards after him? He had never even talked to them and he doubted Granger had met them.
"Hey don't be like that. If they had found her we would have learned by now and I'm sure miss Narcissa wouldn't leave the village she's staying now that people accuse you if a murder. I think she knows that you wouldn't do it." Granger said softly taking the place next to him. He wanted to turn and wrap her in his arms and never have to deal with any of this shit. He wanted to just take in her scent and warmth and sleep his worries away but such a move would make her mind go crazy and immediately start analyzing his actions. As much as he liked her, found her annoying at times and couldn't live without her, he hated her brain.