OMG! Forget me? Good God, it has been a long, long time for this update!
"Ginny, you are amazing!" Harry said in absolute awe.
Ginny blushed.
"You have no idea what this will mean to Hermione!"
"I think I have some idea." Ginny said softly.
"I am so proud of you Ginny!" Ron smiled at his little sister.
"Thanks Ron-" Ginny cut herself off as they heard distant shouting. "Oh no, what now?"
Ginny, Ron and Harry ran out of the common room, and along the corridors until they came to the Head Dormitory. Dumbledore was just coming up behind them.
"Please, return to the common room." He said quickly.
"But- Hermione-" Ginny shouted.
"I know Miss. Weasley but please, return to the common room. I shall deal with this." Dumbledore said, pushing past them.
Harry and Ron had to practically drag Ginny back the way they had come.
"I want to know what's happening!" Ginny screamed.
"Ginny, we'll find out I promise!" Harry shouted. They dragged her into the common room, and sat her down on a stuffed chair.
Wormtail was tapping his fingers on his knee. He was starting to get extremely inpatient with this waiting. He had drained the bottle of firewiskly, and was feeling a little light headed.
Narcassia watched him carefully, absolutely disgusted with him. How dare he barge into her home, demand to see her husband, tie her up, then start drinking their liquor?
She had been telling the truth though- she had absolutely no idea where Lucius was, but she hoped that he was going to come in soon. Because she knew that when he did, her husband was not going to be pleased.
"Where the hell is he?" Wormtail shouted, hitting his knee, and throwing the bottle across the room, watching it as it shattered on the opposite wall.
"I don't know!" Narcassia screamed.
"Well then, if you don't know where Lucius is, then maybe I can tell you where your son is."
"What do you know about my son?" Narcassia spat. But her blood ran cold. Draco hadn't made contact in over a week. She was trying not to worry, but it was quickly mounting in her stomach.
"I know more than you think Narcassia." Evey sign that he may be drunk had seeped away. His calm voice had returned. Then he stood quickly. "I will return later on, Narcassia, but for the moment, I have something else that I must do."
Lucius walked casually through the white corridors, and stopped when a lady blocked his path.
"I am sorry sir, but visiting hours are over."
Lucius eyed the woman carefully. "I am looking for my son. Tell me where Draco Malfoy is."
The woman seemed to freeze. "Draco malfoy has been discharged." She said carefully. "You said you were his father?"
"That is correct."
"That would make you Lucius Malfoy?" The nurse said curiously.
"Well done, you are very smart." Lucius said sarcastically.
"I am sorry sir, but our records had indicated that your son did not want you informed that he had been here."
"What happened to him?" Lucius asked coldly.
"We are not sure. He was unconscious for nearly a week, then one day he just woke up. Like I said, he has been discharged."
"If he was unconscious, who filled out his forms?" Lucius asked, his voice colder then an iceburg.
"A young lady, who was his partner." The nurse said, looking sadly at the ground. "That poor young woman had put up with so much."
"What are you talking about?" Lucius said, slightly confused. "I thought you said that my son had woken up."
"He had, but while he was unconscious, a visitor- Aj was the name, arrived, and was found dead by Mr. Malfoy's partner. She claimed that a…a Death Eater had killed the lady."
Lucius raised an eye brow. "Really…that is most unfortunate…" he brushed it off. "Can you tell me where my son went? Or who he was with?"
"I do not know their names, but one was a girl, with firery red hair, and the other was a boy- I thought it was Harry Potter, but that's impossible, isn't it?" The nurse seemed to chuckle nervously. "But your son went with them, and the young lady who had been staying with him left after Aj's death. I don't know where they went." The nurse looked him over. "Excuse me sir, but you now have no business here. Please leave."
Lucius smirked at her. "Fine, I am going. Thankyou for your small amount of information."
Lucius spun on his heel and left. How dare his son go with the young Weaslette and Potter? He had no doubt that they were who he had gone with.
Where had they gone? Lucius could only think of one place- the despicable little rats hole that the Weasley's called home.
Lucius arrived at the burrow, and his mouth dropped. He could not believe what he saw.
Well, his son wasn't here, that's for sure. No one was here.
Lucius now could only think of one other place that they would have gone- Hogwarts.
Hermione had rolled onto her side, refusing to look at Draco any more. She had fallen into an uneasy sleep, and she was starting to shiver.
Draco slowly sat up, the biggest headache in the world was pounding in his head- like someone had tied a rubber band around his head. He looked over and saw Hermione. He pulled the blanket over her, and walked over to the window.
It was around the middle of the day, with the sun in the middle of the sky.
He scratched his head, turning around when he heard the door open. Dumbledore stood there, looking slightly grave, but when he saw Draco, standing still and alive, his face brightened instantly.
"Draco! How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked, walking quickly into the room. He quickly servayed Hermione, glad that she was finally sleeping, then looked back at Draco.
"Do I have to keep my answer PG?" Draco asked, holding his head.
Dumbledore chuckled. "I think I can guess. Do you know about Aj?"
Draco's face fell. "Yeah. Weaslette- sorry, Ginny told me." He was silent a minute, before asking "Sir, what happened to me?"
"I believe Draco, that when you were in Miss. Granger's apartment, and cursed her," he noticed that Draco's eyes fell. "The man who cursed you, put a special curse on you. They're trying to track you. But when they tried to use it, the spells around the castle prevented it from working- unfortunately, that hurt you quite a bit."
"No kidding." Draco mumbled, rubbing his head.
Hermione stirred, and slowly sat up. "Draco?"
Before anyone moved, Dumbledore smiled, and quietly left the room before Hermione saw him.
"Hey there." Draco said awkwardly.
Hermione flew to her feet and raced over to him, almost knocking him over. She was hugging him so tightly that Draco was sure that she would melt into him.
"Did you give up on me again?" Draco asked, feeling wet tears on his shoulder.
Hermione pulled back. "No, I didn't think I should." Hermione laughed, wiping her face.
Draco smirked. "Good. Never give up on me Hermione."
"I wont."
Draco was just thinking of how sapping this moment was, and was about to complete the sappiness with a kiss, when Dumbledore entered.
"Sorry to bother you two, but Draco, your father is here, and he is quite demanding. I suggest that you come and talk to him."
Draco sighed. "Alright."
He was just walking away from Hermione, when she caught his hand. "I'll come with you."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely." Hermione said, smiling at him.
Draco nodded, then they both followed Dumbledore down the stairs, through the castle until they came down the grand stair case, into the entrance hall.
Lucius walked briskly up the hill, towards the castle. He burst through the doors, and was quickly greeted by the entire Weasley family, and Potter, who came walking out of the Great hall.
"Lucius?" Arthur said, slightly shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for my son Arthur. Have you seen him?" Lucius asked silkily.
Dumbledore appeared, coming down the grand staircase, and looked at Lucius in mild surprise. "Looking for Young Mr. Malfoy, lucius?" He asked politely.
"Yes, I am." Lucius said coldly. "Is he here?"
"I will get him." Dumbledore mumbled, and turned around on his heel, starting back up the stairs.
They stood there awkwardly for a few minutes. Then Lucius remembered what he had seen at the Weasley's home. "If I were you, Arthur, I wouldn't go home until tomorrow."
"Why?" Arthur asked, his voice suddenly changing. "What's happened to it?" He quickly glanced at Molly.
"You should see for yourself." Lucius said mischievously.
"Hermione was right!" Ginny muttered to her parents.
"What was that?" Lucius asked quickly.
But at that moment, Dumbledore appeared again, Draco and Hermione in tow.
Lucius almost shouted in surprise when he saw that his son was holding Granger's hand. He knew that Draco was going out with a mudblood, but this mudblood? Oh merlin!
"Is this who you were bringing home, this holidays Draco?" Lucius asked, gesturing to Hermione, who was standing slightly behind his son.
Draco nodded. "Yes."
Lucius cringed, but noticed the Weasley family and Potter watching him with glaring eyes. "We will discuss this later." He muttered. "But for now, I want to know what the hell you have been doing the past week- your mother is beside herself."
"Oh, I am sure you know Lucius." Molly said briskly.
Lucius's eyes flicked to look at her. "Excuse me?"
"I am sure that you know all about Miss. Aj's…murder." Molly said.
"Yes, I know about it, but I learned only of it recently. But your tone suggests that I had something to do with it."
"I think that you had everything to do with it!" Molly thundered, walking towards him, her finger pointing threateningly at him.
"Molly, calm yourself!" Arthur shouted, rushing forward and grabbing his wife. He dragged the shouting woman back into the great hall.
"I think you five should go with them." Dumbledore said, nodding at Fred, George, Harry, Ginny and Ron.
They nodded, and quickly retreated.
Lucius turned to Draco. "I spoke to a nurse at the hospital-" Lucius quickly connected that the girl who had filled out Draco's forms had been Granger, "and she informed me of Miss. Aj's death. She also said that you," he pointed to Hermione, "Had seen her die."
Hermione cowered again behind Draco's shoulder. She wasn't ready for this. But she nodded.
"A Death Eater." She squeaked.
Lucius felt his blood run cold. "ah I see. So that is why she thought I had something to do with it."
"Is she wrong?" Hermione asked, her voice coming out surprisingly strong.
"As always, yes, she is." There was a small pause, before Lucius looked at his son. "Is she coming with you?"
Draco knew what he was talking about. "Yes. The last I heard."
As far as Hermione was concerned, they were speaking in another language. But Dumbledore was intrigued.
"And how is he going to feel about this?" Lucius asked coldly.
"I don't know."
Lucius raised an eye brow. "I can tell you what he would feel. He would feel interested. He would wonder why you brought her. He wouldn't hurt her, or you, but he would certainly become curious, and maybe, just maybe he might ask to dance with her, to see if she was there out of love, or spy work- he always knows these things."
Hermione shivered, as she realized who they were talking about.
"Well father, being the gentleman that I am, I would let him dance with my date." Draco said. "And I am also confident that he wouldn't hurt her. He needs her. I am not stupid."
Lucius looked at his son in surprise.
"Why would you hurt something that could lead you to your goal?" Draco continued, forgetting about the hand in his, and his old Headmaster.
Lucius raised another eye brow. "Quite right Draco, but I assure you, I don't know what you are talking about."
"Oh please, maybe you don't know father, but I know that Voldermort wants Hermione to lead him to Potter."
"That has been his plan for years stupid boy." Lucius spat, feeling slightly embarrassed.
"Pardon me, but I believe that what you are talking about will put one of my ex students in danger, and I simply cannot allow that." Dumbledore put in, glaring at Lucius with his electric blue eyes.
"This, Dumbledore has nothing to do with you. Miss Granger will come on her own accord. I suggest that you stay out of this." Lucius sneered.
Dumbledore was about to reply, when Hermione spoke up. "He is right Sir. I am going because I want to. I believe Draco wont let anything terrible happen to me…" she felt her stomach knot at the possibility. "I am not going there as a spy, but as a date. That's all."
Dumbledore nodded. "I understand that Miss. Granger." He was silent a moment, before "If you wish to go, then go."
Hermione smiled at him. "thankyou."
Lucius rolled his eyes. "Well, if you are quite done, we shall return to the manor."
"Hermione as well?" Draco asked.
"Of course- she was coming before, wasn't she?"
Draco nodded. He turned to Dumbledore. "Thankyou Sir."
"You are welcome any time." Dumbledore smiled at him, though it seemed sad.
Hermione said goodbye to him next, and almost cried at the sad expression on his face.
"Good luck Miss. Granger." Dumbledore tried to smile. "I shall inform the others of your decision."
"Thank you." Hermione sighed, and tightened her grip on Draco's hand as they followed the inpatient Lucius out the double doors.
Hey, like I said, a very long time scince I updated. I am so, very very, very sorry.