Hey folks. Only a short update for you today, but now that I've finished the story the updates should be coming quicker with any luck. Please keep reviewing to tell me what you think, criticism is always welcome as well as praise, I'm not gonna get any better unless people teach me! Merry Christmas to everyone and hopefully I'll update again by the New Year!
I hope you like this. Istalindar
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She tried. She honestly did. She was making considerable progress on all her projects in her time off active service, though in all fairness she had been neglecting them. Things like better protection potions, the kind that stopped spells from impacting. Or an improved chameleon potion, which was practically an invisibility potion in itself. Things she could do, things she was well on the way to doing. Things that could give them the advantage.
But her mind constantly returned to Malfoy. It was getting annoying, now. She had found it difficult to concentrate that night she had returned from the Manor, when Harry had come in, jubilant from a successful raid. She had expected it to fade though, the revelation fading to the back of her mind with time. She wanted it to be easily forgotten.
It wasn't.
It was just so farfetched. In another life, another time, she and Draco had been lovers. Draco, Ron and Harry had been friends. They had been so close that they all sacrificed their lives as they knew them to go back and spare Draco the consequences of their friendship.
Logically, it was simple. They were friends in an alternate future and Hermione knew all about those from third year. Draco died because he refused the Dark Mark so the remaining three came back in time, again possible with a Time-turner, and changed the future so he grew up an evil bastard to ensure he didn't refuse the Dark Mark again. He didn't, he lived, and somehow during his ongoing life he discovered what they'd all done. He told her.
Simple as that. Well, it wasn't all that simple, exactly, but it wasn't hard to get her head around.
What was more difficult was the emotional side to it. She had always hated him, as long as she'd known him, even if she did occasionally hope he wasn't as dead inside as he appeared. She'd never loved him, never even considered speaking to him unless it was to return an insult. So to go from one point of view to its polar opposite was both difficult and confusing.
And who's to say he wasn't lying for the sole purpose of getting her thusly confused? Everyone knew, and she wasn't being arrogant in saying, that she was the smartest witch of her generation and one of the smartest agents, witch or wizard, working for the Order. Draco had, intentionally or otherwise, mentally incapacitated her by shifting her focus from victory to him.
It was easier to think of it as a ploy to distract her. There was less emotional baggage involved that way. And it made it a lot easier to defeat.
She hoped.
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"Ah. Hermione." Hermione nodded and shut the door of Moody's office behind her. The Aurors sat behind his desk, both eyes, for once, fixed on one spot: her. "I wanted to speak with you."
"Apparently."
"Sit." She did so, back straight and hands in her lap, not moving, her eyes fixed on him. "I've noticed, recently, that you've been quite distracted as of late. Is there something I should know about?"
"Nothing, sir. I just have a lot going on at the moment. The war, the research…it's all very much ongoing." Hermione said as naturally as possible. Moody nodded.
"Of course. However, if your load is too heavy you should have said something."
"It's not!" Hermione exclaimed. "It's just…things on my mind, sir."
"Ah well, then perhaps you should get them off your mind." Moody replied, not unkindly. "You've got two more days to get yourself sorted by yourself. Then Aurors are going to get nosy. Understand?" Hermione nodded, grateful for the warning. Not many people were told they were going to be thoroughly investigated before it happened.
"Yes sir. Thank you." Moody nodded.
"Ah, well. You're a good girl." He said gruffly, waving a hand towards the door. "Dismissed." She nodded and left without a word, heading straight for her room.
Two days. Counting today or otherwise, it wasn't much time. And she knew what would cure her distraction might just make it worse, but it didn't appear she had a choice.
She'd have to go back to the Manor.
She went that night, at midnight, disappearing from her room in the safehouse and appearing balanced precariously on Malfoy's balcony, just as before. The wards were up and she had no idea if they'd be down any time soon so she slipped through them with a series of spells. Malfoy would know she was here, of course, but at least she'd be inside. And she came to speak with him anyway.
She stepped through the door into his bedroom and sat quietly in the chair in the shadowed corner, waiting patiently for him. She had until dawn, she figured, before she had to be back at the safehouse to be unnoticed. It wasn't a lot of time, six hours at most, but it was the best she could do.
"Hermione." Draco stepped into the room and shut the door firmly behind him. "To what do I owe this visit?"
"You're in my head, and I need to get you out." She said bluntly, rising.
"Terribly sorry for the inconvenience." He said dryly, folding his arms. "But what do you expect me to do about it?"
He had a point. The fact that he was in Hermione's head, while his fault, was her problem alone.
"I don't know." She said finally. "But I had to do something." He smiled slightly at that.
"I'm not sorry you can't stop thinking about me," He began, and she rolled her eyes. "But that's not why I told you what I did. I'm not trying to make you fall in love with me or even like me. But I knew and felt that you had a right to know too."
"Why? It wasn't me."
"Do you honestly believe that, Hermione?" Draco stepped forward, within arms reach of her. "Truly?"
"I have never liked you." She replied softly, her gaze on his. "We were never friends. Nor were we ever lovers. The woman who came back in time to save your life was not me."
"Proof that the plan worked. As your friend, I died." Draco reminded her. "She came back with the sole purpose of preventing our friendship."
There didn't seem to be anything else to say to that.
"It doesn't really matter, though, does it?" She asked finally. "We're not them. They're both dead. We aren't."
"We're not them by deliberate design." Draco took another step forward, into her space and she stepped back, her legs bumping into the chair behind her, leaving her nowhere else to go. "Who knows if we would have become them if they hadn't meddled and prevented it."
"Who knows?" She echoed weakly. "But it doesn't matter, Draco. None of it matters."
"No?" Draco stepped forward again, hands framing her face as he hesitated a second before lowering his lips gently to hers. She saw his hesitation, knew he was giving her a chance to stop him, but she didn't. Just stood there, waiting as his lips touched hers, her face tipping up to meet his mouth, eyes fluttering shut.
He pulled back, and her eyes opened.
"Tell me that wasn't us." He whispered. "Tell me that wasn't real." She couldn't, and so he kissed her again, and again, and as he laid her back onto the bed, both of them partially undressed, he pulled back once more.
"Tell me it's not real." He said again, grey eyes boring into hers. "Tell me this isn't us."
"But it is." Hermione said helplessly. "This is us."
He kissed her again.
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She woke alone, the side of the bed where he had slept cold and empty. There was a piece of parchment on the pillow though, and when she opened it she saw it was a sketch, not badly done either, of her asleep. There was a tiny D.M in the corner, barely noticeable. Strange that she hadn't woken, though, she usually slept very lightly and even if it was Harry or Ron who came in when she was asleep she woke quickly. That she had managed to sleep through Draco's scrutiny as he sketched her was surprising. And a little bit disturbing.
But enough of that. A glance out the window told her she had already overslept; dawn was nearly passed already. She rose quickly and redressed, tucking the parchment into her pocket. She glanced quickly into the mirror to make sure she looked alright and paused. Hanging from her throat was the snake pendant.
With a small sigh of regret she undid the catch and left the necklace on the dresser before quickly stepping out to the balcony and apparating away, appearing back into her bedroom. She shed her clothes quickly and climbed into bed, closing her eyes and faking sleep, her mind still reeling.
She had slept with Malfoy. And it had been utterly amazing and scarily enough, it had felt very real. Not in the not-a-dream sense, but in the oh-god-this-actually-means-something sense, though she was damned if she knew what it meant.
With that thought in mind, she fell asleep.
"Hermione, get up!" There was a rush and then the duvet was gone and Hermione groaned, curling into a ball. There was a spell, one she recognised, one that she realised was not good; right before icy cold water fell over her head. She screamed.
"Get up!" Hermione sat upright, dripping and glaring at Ginny Weasley, who put her wand away with a smile.
"I'm up you crazy bint!" Hermione snapped. Ginny continued smiling sweetly. "I doubt the water was necessary."
"Of course it was. It's nearly eleven and I am the fourth person come to get you out of bed. And I wasn't going to poke you or shout at you or whatever. I know what works so I used it."
"Fine." Hermione said grumpily, secretly glad it was Ginny who had gotten her out of bed, not one of the boys. She was dressed in last night's underwear so from a girls point of view, at least, she was semi-decent. The last thing she needed was the inevitable awkwardness that would come from Harry and Ron finding her in her underwear. You'd think after god knew how many years that they'd be used to idea of her being female, but apparently not. "What is it?"
"A heads up, apparently. Don't know what about though, its all very hush hush." Ginny rolled her eyes. "You'd better get move on. The meeting is in five minutes."
Four and a half minutes later, Hermione skidded into the meeting and into her seat, avoiding the demanding looks from Harry and Ron as they questioned both her tardiness and her prolonged sleep. Moody glanced at her and she nodded and he looked away. Cho came in last, shutting the door firmly behind her. It seemed she was to be the bearer of news.
"Thanks for getting here on such short notice." She began. "And I think you'll find this worth it. We've had a drop-off of some extensive, and if correct, invaluable information." She paused and smiled, and it almost seemed to Hermione as though the light in her eyes that had been doused with her child and her lover was back. "This morning there was a delivery by a Muggle post service of a long list of Deatheater safehouses. A very long list, as well as names, families, addresses, events…"
"A traitor?" Ron spoke up. Cho shrugged.
"We can only assume. Only a Deatheater would have this much sensitive information, and a high ranking one too. Why one defected we can't begin to imagine, so we're treating this as highly suspect. Extensive and thorough investigations will be carried out on every word of this information, and not until it is all proved sound will it be acted upon. This might give us the edge, or it might be the trap that destroys us. I'm not willing to take that chance." She paused again, and the room was so quiet Hermione could practically hear her heartbeat. "With that in mind, I'm going to divide us all into teams, with a portion of the information to investigate. Be vigilant; if you have a single doubt do not pass the information on as legitimate. We can't afford mistakes."
That was the truth, their numbers were far too few as it was.
"Right. The assignments are all here," Cho laid a hand on the stack of folders on the table in front of her. "You are all team leaders, so you all get a folder each. Inside is a list of the rest of your team members, it will be your responsibility to debrief them. This job takes first priority, folks. If this is right…I don't think I need to explain what this will mean for us." Everyone around the table shook their heads. Cho smiled again, and without another word began passing out folders. Each was two fingers high at least.
"Finally, some solid information." Ron muttered to Harry beside her. Harry nodded, glancing over at Hermione's folder.
"Who'd you get?" He asked. Hermione let the front cover fall back so he could see and he grimaced. "The Lestranges, Myra Borin, Kyle Lemons? I always thought he had an unfortunate name." Hermione grinned.
"Tell me about it. Who did you get?" Harry flipped his cover back too, so Hermione could see, but only one name glared up at her.
Draco Malfoy.
"I wanted Malfoy." Ron whined. "That's so not fair." Hermione rolled her eyes at his tone of voice.
"Tell you what. When we back him into a corner wandless, we can share." Harry grinned at Ron and they high-fived. Harry glanced at Hermione. "I think even you would finally enjoy bringing that bastard to justice." Hermione grinned, a little toothily.
"Always." She answered, even as her heart sunk like a rock.
"I can't wait to get this going." Ron said excitedly. "I wonder who brought us the info?"
Hermione could guess.
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