Last Chapter: Hermione gulped, not liking the way he talked about the used to be Diagon Alley, a place she just saw and found to be amazing. "Why are they scared?" She asked cautiously.
Draco looked around the room slowly, making sure the few people in there weren't paying attention them, before turning back to Hermione and allowing one word to escaped his mouth in a whisper that Hermione could barely make out. "Voldemort."
Hermione's eyes focused on a not in the wooden table. Her mind was racing as she tried to remember where she had heard that name before. A dream maybe? It was strange how that one name seemed to bring all her memories and thoughts up about the world she was in now, a world she wanted so much to exist but didn't think possible. She allowed her eyes to travel around the room now, glancing at the people inside it, all deep in a conversation, drinking tea or what looked like a tall glass of dark, non-transparent tea, or just enjoying the atmosphere in the room, an atmosphere filled with magic.
She turned back to the blonde in front of her. He was staring at her with a raised eyebrow, looking at her like he was trying to figure out what she was thinking. "I'm sorry." Hermione apologized quietly. "That name just sounds… familiar. Like I heard in a-."
"A dream." Draco said, cutting her off with a smile. "The mind is a marvelous place, Hermione. It knows the path it was supposed to take, and if steered in the wrong path, it's still set on the one it belongs in. You weren't meant to be a muggle your whole life, and your mind knows that. Knowing that, it takes the incidents you should know about and makes you see them, most of the time in a dream."
"So, who is the Voldemort character?" She asked slowly.
"It all started a long time ago. Voldemort had acquired followers, and slowly, but surely, they stared to take down what was good in the wizarding world. Some people, the brave ones, stood up to him, but they didn't live very long after Voldemort found out they were the ones trying to stop him. One of the people who did decide to stand up to him was the Potters. Lilly and James, and they had a son who they named Harry. It was a Halloween night when it happened. Betrayed by a friend, Lilly and James were killed by Voldemort, but then the most peculiar thing happened. Voldemort went to kill Harry as well, probably wanting to wipe the Potters from this world, but he didn't succeed.
"When he cast the killing spell on Harry, Voldemort vanished out of thin air, leaving Harry with nothing but a lightning bolt scar on his forehead and title of 'the boy who lived'. Voldemort wasn't seen for another ten years, not until Harry went off to Hogwarts."
"How did he survive?" Hermione asked, her full attention on the story that seemed so familiar to her.
"I don't think anybody really knows for sure, but most say it was love. You see, before she was killed, Lilly cared about nothing except her son. She gave her life for Harry because she loved him, and this in return saved Harry's life in the long run."
"And where, might I ask, do I come into play?"
"Well you see, when Harry went to Hogwarts, he obviously made friends. His best friend was a boy who went by the name of Ron Weasley, and they did everything together, including defeat Voldemort several times. In their first year, they conquered several hard, mind boggling task, just to get an elixir of life so that'll way Voldemort wouldn't be able to get it. In their second year, they went into the Chamber of Secrets and Harry defeated a basilisk, a giant snake that could kill you if you looked it directly in the eye, all to stop Voldemort from killing muggleborns.
"In their third year, they helped save Harry's godfather, who was accused of killing Harry's parents. Fourth year, Harry was entered into the Triwizard tournament by a follower of Voldemort, although they didn't know this at the time, and out flew a dragon, swam in the black lake to save his friends, made it though one of the hardest mazes of all time, that not only test your memory, but you magical knowledge as well, and was lucky enough to escape Voldemort. Fifth year, him and his friends broke into the ministry of magic and in the long run, they stopped Voldemort from hearing the prophecy about him and Harry."
"And in what would have been their seventh year of Hogwarts, Harry and Ron went and searched for horcruxes, parts of Voldemorts soul that he put into objects. Once they destroyed them all, or thought they did, they returned back to Hogwarts where Harry faced Voldemort once again, only this time, something happened. Harry attacked Voldemort and was successful, but Voldemort still went on living. You see, they forgot a horcrux, and now they don't know what to do. They are out of ideas and out of help."
"I still don't see where I come into play." Hermione said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.
"There was a reason that Harry couldn't defeat Voldemort once and for all on that night five years ago. In his first year, when he befriended Ron Weasley, he was supposed to befriend another, a girl. The girl he was supposed to befriend was going to be the brightest witch of her age. She would be the brains to his operation and the secret behind his success. This girl, however, never got her letter to Hogwarts. A follower of Voldemort intercepted the letter and stopped the girl from getting it, and in the long run… stopped the girl from ever going to Hogwarts. You stop the girl from going to Hogwarts, you stop the girl from becoming best friends with Harry Potter. You stop the girl from becoming best friends with Harry Potter, and you cause him to lose the one person who knew practically everything there was to know about the wizarding world. By intercepting that girls letter, he stopped Harry Potter from defeating Voldemort."
"W-Who was the girl?" Hermione asked, pretty sure she already knew.
Draco smiled at her before taking a sip of his drink then placing it back on the table. Licking his lips he exhaled a deep breath. "You." Hermione stared at him like he was crazy, and he just looked back at her with a smile on his face and a pleading look in his eyes. "You never got your letter to Hogwarts and because you didn't you couldn't help Harry defeat Voldemort."
"And why are you telling me this now?" Hermione demanded.
"Because we need your help." Draco said, his smile fading at the scared look in Hermione's eyes. "Without you the wizarding world will never see a time where we aren't afraid of leaving our homes, where we won't.-"
"Stop." Hermione said, standing up quickly from her seat, knocking the chair she was previously sitting on over. She held a hand out towards Draco, telling him to freeze as he went to stand up as well. Running a hand through her hair, she shook her head as she took in all the information. "This is crazy." She said biting her lip nervously. "Two hours ago I was waking up in my bed in my crappy apartment getting ready to go to a job that I thought I would have for the rest of my life, and now you're telling me that I'm a witch who has to save a world I wasn't even sure existed until about ten minutes ago!"
"Hermione, please keep your voice down." Draco said, looking around the room and smiling slightly at the people staring so they would return their glances towards what they were previously doing.
"No, I will not keep my voice down!" Hermione yelled even louder, now getting rude glances from all the people around. Draco quickly stood up and grabbed Hermione by her wrist, dragging her out of the pub and back into the alley that led to the entrance of Diagon Alley. "Will you get your hands off me?!" She yelled as he drug her towards the alley.
Reaching the privacy of the empty space behind the Leaky Cauldron, Draco released his grip from Hermione just as she yanked her hand from his. "Why did you have to get loud like that?"
"Because this is insane and you're insane if you expect me to believe this!" Hermione said, placing her hands on her hips.
"How can you not believe it? After everything I just showed you and told you, can you honestly not believe what I'm saying?" Draco asked kindly.
Hermione studied his face for a few minutes, not sure how to answer. Her whole life she had wanted this, wanted something other than the life she was living, the life she was pretending to enjoy. Now that it was here, knocking on her doorstep, she wasn't so sure she wanted it anymore. She wanted a new life, but coming into it now, coming into it at a time like this, just didn't seem right. "I'm sorry but I can't do this." Hermione said quietly. "I'm going to leave. I'm going to go and try and forget about all this." Hermione gave Draco one more apologetic look before walking past him and towards the pub exit.
"Where you going to go?" Draco asked before she could walk more than a couple feet. Hermione stopped walking, but kept her back to Draco, licking her lips. "Are you going to go back to your normal life, your normal life as a writer for the newspaper? Are you going to go back to following the same daily routine you have followed since you finished school? Can you really go back to that now? Will you really be able to live that life, especially since you know this one exists?"
Hermione turned slowly, facing the man before her, staring at her with determination in his eyes. "You're asking me to save a world I know nothing about. You said I was supposed to be the brightest witch of my age, but the fact is I'm not."
"Not yet." Draco said with a smile, approaching her slowly. "Please Hermione." Draco said once he was directly in front of her. "You belong in our world. You don't belong with all those muggles, living their lives following the same daily routine, day after day." Hermione licked her lips and glanced around the room nervously. "We need you. Without you the wizarding world will never be the same."
"This is cra-"
"I know it's crazy." Draco said, cutting her off. "It's going to be dangerous to, but I'm going to be there for you. I'm going to be at your side the entire time, helping you along and turning you into that amazing witch you were meant to be."
"How do you know all this?"
Draco looked at her nervously before speaking. "I just do, okay?" Hermione shook her head slightly, turning her attention to the brick wall that hid Diagon Alley. She heard Draco exhale and felt a set of hands grab hers. Shocked, she turned her attention to her hands and saw that Draco had his wrapped tightly in hers. Looking up into his eyes, she saw for the first time what she thought was fear. "Please. I saw that look in your eyes when you saw Diagon Alley. You belong here and you know it. I just need you trust me."
Hermione gulped. She took one look in the direction of the exit to the pub, the exit back into her normal life. She would go back to her apartment, her job, her cat, her ice cream, and the boredom she had, the fear of never getting a better life coming true. And then she turned towards the brick wall behind Draco. Inside it was her life, or what was supposed to be her life. It was filled with magic and the prospect of staring over. But it was also filled with terror and danger, and this scared Hermione more then she showed it. Exhaling a deep breath, Hermione turned towards Draco and his words hit her. Would she really be able to live the life she had, especially since she knew that the world she was currently standing in existed?
Giving the pub exit one last look, Hermione knew her answer. She nodded slowly to Draco before speaking in a slow and quiet voice. "I trust you."
Draco's smile reached his ear as he released the grip on Hermione's hand. "Thank you."
Hermione nodded. "So… where to now?"
"Now we go and get you a wand so I can start teaching you some basic magic."
"A wand?" Hermione asked, trying to hide the excitement that was suddenly bubbling inside her, an excitement she didn't even know existed until just now.
Draco nodded. "A witches or wizards most powerful and reliable source of magic. However, bad news is that almost all the wand makers are either on Voldemort's side, killed or kidnapped, or to afraid to come out of hiding and end up like all the other wand makers. The good news, however, is that I happen to know where a wand maker is, and he's the best of the best. So, if you'll just take my arm…." Draco said, holding out his arm for Hermione to wrap hers tightly around his.
"Take your arm?"
"Yes, I'm afraid we're going to have to apparate there." Hermione looked at Draco confused, having no clue what apparating was. "Oh, right." Draco said with a small laugh. "It's a mode of transportation. Basically we'll disappear here and pop up in the other place we wanted to go like that." Draco explained, snapping his fingers. "You're going to have to hold onto my air tightly though, and I should warn you, it'll feel like you're being sucked through a tube."
"And where, may I ask, are we going?" Hermione asked, now feeling unsure about using apparation to get to the place they had to go, but wrapping her arm tightly around his.
"Shell Cottage. Home of Bill and Fleur Weasley and currently the temporary home of Mr. Ollivander, England's best wand maker." And with a pop, Hermione and Draco disappeared from The Leaky Cauldron to land in the outskirts of Tinworth, Cornwall, England, by a small cottage overlooking the sea.
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