A/N: Ok, I usually don't like asking for reviews, but please do! It makes more people want to read it, and it makes me want to write more often. Even if you just put a one word review, fine by me.
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Hermione entered her office cautiously. She and Draco had worked individually since he had kissed her four days ago. Hermione had avoided him at all costs, and it appeared he did the same thing, but it was apparent that they couldn't work separately all of the time. A note was zipping around on her desk. She slammed her hand down several times before finally trapping it.
'Meet me in my office. DM'.
Hermione huffed and walked around the makeshift wall that had divided Hermione's office in two.
"You could have just come to my side and told me that instead of wasting parchment," Hermione said. Draco glared at her.
"Sit down. We have work to do. I've been back to the village a couple of times and managed to eliminate three houses," he said. Hermione stared at him dumbstruck. "We can't all sit around doing nothing Granger," he smirked. He had obviously disregarded the incident that had occurred a few days ago, so Hermione chose to as well.
"Ok then. How did you do it?" Hermione asked him.
"The houses are guarded by charms. The one you touched and flew away from was guarded by a 'Fluctra' charm, hence why you were thrown away so violently. Once I figured this out, I cast the same charm back, and the house disintegrated into a pile of ash." Hermione stared at him amazed.
"How did you find that out? That must have taken longer than a few days surely!"
"You forget something very important Granger, not that I'd expect better." Hermione glared at him. "I am a part of the family that established the barricade. I know how their minds work," he said darkly. Hermione shuddered a little.
"Then how did you find out about the others? You had me as a test subject the first time, but what about the rest?" she asked carefully, fearing the answer.
"Why, the little muggle children from that quaint little village of course," Draco sneered. Hermione gasped in shock.
"No you did not!" she whispered.
"Why wouldn't I? You of all people know how much I detest muggles. Why not start annihilating the next generation while helping our cause? That's, in your terms, killing two birds with one stone is it not?" Hermione shook her head speechless.
"Oh come off it Granger. I used bloody rats, too much evidence to clean up if I had used children," Draco said laughing it off. Hermione stood up with a nasty look on her face.
"Get your coat and meet me in the Atrium in five minutes," and with that she stormed off to her side of the office.
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Hermione walked up the familiar hill with Draco in tow. The chilling winds pulled her hair in five different directions making it difficult to find her bearings. Draco had pulled his coat tighter and tighter around himself until it was under danger of ripping.
"Very clever Granger to come out here in this weather. We'll be frozen dead before we even reach the damn village." Hermione grunted and moved faster toward the village. She stepped into the village and looked around, trying to pick the first house. She conjured a rat and threw the squealing animal at the closest house. It hit the wall and froze for a split second before a terrible squelching sound silenced the squealing. The rat dropped to the ground and lay motionless. Hermione approached it with a pair of dragon skin gloves on a picked it up. The rat was completely hollow, only the furry skin remained. Hermione gagged slightly and dropped the rodent.
"Did you think this was going to be that easy?" a voice drawled behind her. Draco was standing there with crossed arms looking unaffected by the situation. Hermione growled at him and threw a charm at the house. It glowed for a split second and then crumbled into dust. She turned to him smiling triumphantly.
"Yes, I do think it's going to be that easy. You're family obviously didn't account someone of my ability ever finding this place and its secrets which makes it that much easier." Draco glared at her. "Now, you can stand there like an incompetent git, or you can actually help me, and we can finish this much quicker." Draco growled and turned to a house near him, conjuring a rat.
The next two hours passed in near silence. Between them, seven houses had been destroyed. Hermione had destroyed five of them, much to Draco's chagrin. She moved onto the next house and after discerning the nature of the charm, aimed the same one back at it. The house glowed a different colour to the others and a shot of light flew at Hermione. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact but opened them again when she heard a voice. It hit her, but only to knock her back a few paces. She inhaled sharply and fell to the ground shaking violently.
"Shit, shit, shit," Draco muttered as he ran to her. He had thrown a shield charm at her but the spell was too strong. He reached her and put a hand on her cheek. It was much colder than the wind. She was quickly turning blue so he tried a warming charm. Nothing happened. Draco picked her up and held her close to him. She was shivering badly and was unable to respond. Just then the heavens opened and they were drenched within seconds. Draco cursed and ran toward the road. He saw a small cottage a few miles ahead and ran for it.
He banged hard on the door a few times but no one answered.
"Alohamora!" the door swung open to admit them. He slammed it behind him and looked around frantically. There was a small fireplace against the wall which he threw the fire charm at. Warm flames lightened the dwelling instantly. It looked like it had been uninhabited for a few years now. Draco rushed toward the blaze and sat down in front of it, still holding Hermione. He performed a drying charm on their clothes and then removed his shirt but kept the coat on. He then took off Hermione's shirt and coat and pulled her toward him.
He held her tightly and wrapped the coat around them both. She was still shaking, but not as badly. He ran his hand up and down her bare back willing her to warm up. Half an hour later, she stirred and opened her eyes feebly.
"What, where are we?" she croaked out groggily. Draco looked down at her in time to see comprehension enter her eyes. She attempted to pull away from him to no avail because of her weak state.
"What are you doing Malfoy? This is called sexual harassment, and I will not tolerate it," she said angrily trying feebly to get away from him.
"No, actually I believe it's called I just saved your life mudblood." Hermione started at the name. "You were hit by your own spell," Draco continued. She nodded understandingly and gave up her fight, letting her hands and head rest on his chest. Draco gently pulled away from her and handed Hermione her shirt. She put it on and then took her coat and wrapped herself up. Draco put on his own shirt and coat and walked toward the door.
"You stay here, I'm going to apparate to the town and get some food," Draco said. She nodded and held her hands out to the fire, coaxing them to warm up.
Draco returned a little while later carrying a couple of pies and large coffees. He handed one of each to Hermione and sat next to her, eating his meal.
"Thank you," Hermione muttered a few minutes later without looking at Draco. He stopped eating and looked at her. Hermione steeled herself for a nasty comment but was met with silence. He had resumed eating.
"When are we going back," she asked him quietly.
"When you're better. You won't be able to apparate back tonight, so we'll have to stay here." They finished their food and put the wrappers in a corner. They sat in silence before the fire for a few moments before Hermione began speaking again.
"Malfoy, I need to explain something to you," she said turning to face him. He raised an eyebrow and glanced at her.
"I need to explain why I killed your father. No, let me finish," she said as he opened his mouth angrily.
"I believe you only witnessed the dying moments of your father, not the battle before that. Malfoy I did not kill him out of spite, I would never do that. I killed him because he was responsible for the deaths of many, many people, which included my family. He showed no remorse for this act, in fact laughed and congratulated himself on a job well done. So I showed him no remorse, and if I had the chance to turn back time, I would do nothing different," she finished. Draco had turned his whole attention toward her in amazement. She had tears in her eyes and was looking into the fire.
"I'm not going to say everything's fine and that I forgive you for doing what you had to. You killed my family too, so you know exactly how I feel every time I look at you. I could kill you right now, but I'm not going to because that's not going to give me closure. What my family did was wrong, but I will never forgive you Granger," he said still looking at her. She turned to face him.
"Why did you kiss me?" Hermione whispered making eye contact. He didn't break it.
"I don't know," he said hoarsely back. He moved closer toward her and ran a finger down her cheek.
"You hate me though," Hermione continued. Draco leaned in closer.
"More than you can imagine," he breathed and closed the space. He kissed her softly. She tried to pull away after a few seconds, but Draco held her close. Hermione arms found their way around Draco's neck as he deepened the kiss. Their tongues battled aggressively in a war of dominance, and Draco won eventually as Hermione moaned softly and fell into his body. He laid her back on the floor and ran his hand up and down her sides, under her shirt. She continued kissing him until she felt fingers at her skirt zip. Her eyes flew open and she pushed against him.
"What now!" Draco asked exasperatedly.
"No, I can't do… that with you!" Hermione told him, straightening out her shirt.
"What, you've never had…" Draco began but Hermione interrupted angrily.
"No, that's not it! It's like opening Pandora's Box if anything ever occurred between us," Hermione reasoned.
"Do you women always bring emotion into everything?" Draco cried, running his hand through his hair. "All I wanted was to get warm and bed St Granger, the biggest shag challenge on this planet," he said smirking. Hermione opened her mouth and slapped him. He glared at her.
"Well, you did deserve that," she said smartly and lay back down, huddling to keep warm. She saw an arm in front of her and turned to look up, finding Draco above her. He held her neck soflty and kissed her roughly. She struggled against him, but he continued, his tongue entering her mouth viciously. Finally Hermione pushed him off and sat up pointing her wand at him.
"So help me Malfoy, if you ever try anything like that again, I will curse your balls so you can never have sex again!" Hermione yelled. He held his hands up in surrender and backed away. She put her wand away and lay back down, falling into an uneasy sleep.
"Oh, Granger, I will have you as my own soon," Draco muttered darkly as he softly caressed her face while she slept.
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At the same time a yell echoed throughout Azkaban. Alarm bells immediately began ringing as a dozen Auror's rushed to a cell. The cell contained a bloodied corpse, the joints all hanging at different angles. The first Auror ran a quick body scan which determined the identity of the mess.
"It's Lestrange! She's dead!" he called out. A couple of Auror's moved toward the cell and looked in. they all gagged and quickly turned away. A young Auror in Training retched and ran to the closest toilets.
A figure slipped into the shadows near the water and disappeared unnoticed among the commontion.
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