Chapter 2, Forbidden
"How can I trust you, what if you're leading me to a trap?" Hermione's voice croaked.
"I'm not, my parents are dead and I have nothing to look for. I don't want to be a follower of him, I'm trying to do the right thing for once, just take my bloody hand Granger!"
Edging forwards, she grasped Draco's hand and the dark, gloomy forest suddenly vanished and as quickly as it vanished, Hermione noticed that they were standing in the hall of Malfoy Manor. The walls were misty, there was no light in the house, and there seemed to be a strange creaking noise coming from all directions of the house, which made the whole atmosphere uninviting. Puzzled and scared, Hermione held out her wand, in case of a surprise attack.
"Lumos" Suddenly Hermione's wand erupted a subtle glow from the tip, the mist was coming from upstairs, though she dared not go up to see what was lurking there.
"I just need some things, stay there, don't touch anything." Draco's voice sounded harsh and cruel. Hermione stood and pitied him for a moment while he gathered his things. He was a boy wounded by his family, being taught that power and pure-bloods was the way to succeed in life. Now his parents were dead, he must have felt something die inside of him. The young blond haired boy had now grown up in the cruellest of worlds, what was left for him now?
Clatters and banging could be heard from upstairs, but Draco had only gone through into the next room. Curiosity built up in inside of Hermione, and she had the sudden urge to see what was up there. With the invisibility cloak wrapped around her, she started climbing each step cautiously. Looking around, the manor didn't look pleasant. Paintings of what could be ancestors were scattered everywhere, eerily looking straight at where she was standing and there wasn't a window in sight.
As she reached the top of the stairs, a blinding white light made her hit the wall, sinking to the ground as she tried to cover her eyes. "AGGH!"
Loud thuds could be heard as Draco ran up the stairs and grabbed Hermione firmly by her wrists, lifting her to her feet. "What are you playing at?" He hissed.
"The light from that room! It startled me!" Hermione pointed towards a closed door, where no sign of light was detectable.
"There's no time for games, I've got the stuff, let's go." Draco, pulling her down the stairs, brought her to the front room where he had gathered essential things. Food, water, clothes.
"I don't plan on going anywhere with you, I – " Hermione stuttered.
"Whether you like it or not, you're staying with me. It's not like Ron or Harry are going to come swooping in from the door and whisk you away to a perfect life. It's not like that."
With that they apparated again, this time to a forest near a lake. There was just enough light to see how beautiful the forest was. Hermione gasped, it was the Forest of Dean, the forest she used to go to with her parents, and the previous winter she had been here with Harry. It hadn't changed, except for the fact that it wasn't winter anymore, so the snow had completely vanished. Instead covered with leaves, all different shades of red and orange were scattered on the ground.
"We're camping here, just until the war dies down a bit. Scabior is still up for tracking you, he want's you all to himself - the filthy brute." Draco spat, whilst beginning to unpack a tent, and with a flick of his wand it was ready.
Hermione looked around. The forest was quiet and the night sky engulfed the horizon. I despise him. She began to walk away from the tent, to clear her mind. Everything just wasn't right, it wasn't supposed to end up like this; miles away from Ron.
Hmpf. Hermione slump to the ground just under a tree, wondering where this drastic change could take her, and she didn't like it. She wasn't with Ron, how could this possibly be safe?
It was the rain that woke her, possibly in the middle of the night. It was hard to tell what time it was with it being dark and silent. She took a moment and just lay there, under the tree she'd fallen asleep at, to let her mind drift off. Her thoughts were consumed by only one person. Ronald Weasley. It had been a day since she last saw him. The war had moved somewhere else, was he safe? She felt an overpowering sense of guilt wash over her as she was here safe, while she didn't know how Ron was doing, alongside Harry. Thinking about her two best friends only made her feel worse. Rain slowly began to dampen her hair making it frizz, but she had no intention of moving from her place. She wanted the rain to drown her, so she could forget about everything.
"Granger, come inside. There is no point of a tent if you're not going to be in it." Draco peered through the open tent door. Seeing her lying on the damp ground, he ran towards her with a blanket, covering her wet frame and hurrying her inside. "Look, I know you're upset about Weasley but you have to get him out of your thoughts for now. It won't do us good." He placed her on a nearby chair, watching her features as her eyes were transfixed onto a blue flame in the corner of the tent.
"What is that?" Hermione gasped. Ron loved the way Hermione could make tiny blue flames light up and place them in jars; it was one of the many things he admired about her. Hermione began to take cautious steps towards the little jar, afraid that the memories of Ron might overpower her. Draco, taken aback, looked at her as the blanket fell to the ground, not knowing what to do; she'd never acted like this before.
"It's a little enchantment I learned. What's wrong with you?" His voice was almost a whisper; he didn't know her to be so fragile.
"TURN IT OUT!" Hermione's figure turned to face him, tears streaming down her face, looking at him if she was ready to attack him.
"Ok, ok!" And the light went out. For a moment they both stood there in the dark, listening to the rain fall onto the trees outside.
She trudged past Draco, brushing his shoulder as she did so.
He could hear her crying all night. As much as he hated her, he felt a bit helpless and it was beyond awkward. What the fuck am I supposed to do about her? I can't comfort her, that's just out of the picture but it's not like I even want to tell her where the filthy Weasley is anyway. Slowly her crying came to a stop, and it was silent again.
"You have to go, it's best for us both." She could hear his words running through her mind; if she didn't do something about the words in her head, she was sure to be driven insane.
She lay there in her camp bed, hugging the blanket that Draco had given her. Please keep Ron alive, she prayed. Please.
Flashes of light were engulfing the tent. It was morning, the rain had stopped and a musky smell of the forest filled the space. Draco hurried to the opening of the tent and peered outside. Him. Ronald Weasley was sending light crashing out of his wand towards - Who the hell is that? Scabior. Fuck. Trying to go back unnoticed, Draco closed the door of the tent and knew that they didn't have long before one of them found them. Dashing across the tent, Draco shook Hermione to wake up. She woke confused and tired, rubbing her eyes to wake her up from the horrible dream she was living.
"What's going on?" She stared at him with a puzzled look. Her eyes were puffy from all the crying, she looked too tired to be certain of what she was saying.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!" Ron's voice echoed in her head. Shaking her head she knew it was her imagination, a simple trick of the mind. Draco's face watched with horror and Hermione began to get up and walk towards the opening.
"Stay the fuck away from the door, do you hear me?" he warned.
"I'm not yours to boss about. I'll do what the bloody hell I want to do and you cannot stop me." Carefully, she placed her hand tightly onto the fabric of the tent and opened the flap. In came a sudden flash of light, knocking Hermione straight to the floor. Stunned for a moment, Ron opened the flap of the tent and lifted Hermione's body in his arms.
"I'm so sorry, I had no idea that would be you in there," his hands slowly patting her warm face, sending goose bumps up her arms. "I got worried after you left, I didn't know how we'd keep in contact, and it all frightened me. I thought I'd never get you back."
"Ehem." Draco coughed from behind them. Oblivious to the fact that he had been standing there all along, Ron's eyes looked up, and scorned with disgust, almost dropping Hermione from his grasp.
"What is she doing with you?" His voice was firm but quaky. He couldn't believe it; the girl he loved was with his worst nightmare. It didn't make sense. Rons eyes darted from Hermione's delicate face, to Draco Malfoys suddenly smirking face.
"Oh, you know." Draco winked at Ron. This is going to be fun. He began walking towards Ron, stretching out his hand to take Hermiones, but Ron was too quick as he stood back. "She misses me already, just let me hold her hand." Dracos grin grew bigger. His eyes started to sparkle as he could see how angry Ron was getting. The red head was furious.
Ron lunged at Draco, dropping Hermione as he did so, arms stretching out to grab his throat, his face almost matching the same tint as his hair. "I'll kill you!" he screamed, jumping onto Draco and getting a firm hold of his neck.
Unaware of what was happening around her; Hermione slowly raised herself and looked around. All she could make out was a red fire, screaming at what seemed to be Malfoy. I must be dreaming, what the hell is going on? Bemused, Hermione blinked and got up. Her vision focused on him. Ron was on Draco, strangling him. Draco's yelps grew louder; it didn't help as it seemed to screech in her ears.
Running towards Ron, Hermione took a hold of his shoulders, "Stop Ronald, you're hurting him!" Her voice came out as a whisper. Jumping onto him, she took his face in her hands and turned his face to hers and said "Stop, this isn't you, please." And with that he let go.
"You could have fucking killed me, you worthless piece of -"
"Oh shut up Malfoy, as you can see, no one gives a damn." Hermione's eyes closed and turned to face Ron who was standing in front of her, holding her by the waist.
"How did you find me?" the warmth of her breath hit his face.
"I didn't. It was Scabior, he made me go with him, obviously taking away my wand, but as we got closer to the tent I punched him to the ground and got my wand. I only prayed it was you inside. Think he's still outside. No idea." Ron looked wonderingly into her eyes, trying to read what was on her mind.
Hermione's eyes looked pained, for she hadn't noticed the scar going down Ron's chest from the opening of his shirt. Placing her fingers softly to his skin, she felt the deepness of the scar. Ron winced, the feeling of her hand on his skin sent a deep warmth into his chest, but it also physically pained him. He took her hand off his chest and kissed it softly with his lips. "I've missed you."
"I think I'm going to be sick." Draco's voice trailed from behind them. He quickly got up, brushing a few stray hairs off himself and made his way to the entrance of the tent.
"SCABIOR! Come here now, I've found the filthy Granger and Weaslebe."
Before they could apparate, Scabior was in the tent, holding a wet tissue stained with blood over his nose. He was beyond angry, he had cuts everywhere and the way he was looking at Ron wasn't pleasant. Suddenly, his eyes drifted over to where Hermione was standing. Looking at her physique, he gave a little smirk as he started walking towards her.
Ron stood protectively in front of Hermione, wrapping his arms around her. Hermione stood closer to him, smelling his damp hair scented by the leaves of autumn. Never before has she loved him as much as she did at this moment. She could feel his grip tightening around her, she wasn't sure what his expression was, but she knew he was scared. She placed her hand onto his shoulders and kissed his neck. "Everything will be ok Ronald." She whispered into his ears.
Scabior walked towards them both, throwing the cloth to the corner, Draco behind him. Draco's speed won the game. He'd quickly appeared beside Hermione, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her over to the other side of the tent, Hermione resisted, throwing punches towards him, but as if made of stone, it didn't affect him. He turned her to face away from him and faced her towards Ron, wrapped his arms around her, holding her in a tight lock. Squirming, Hermione couldn't budge, all she could see was Ron's distraught face as Scabior walked towards him. "I'm sorry" Ron mouthed. Suddenly a cold rush hit them all; a breeze flew into the tent as Harry Potter apparated into the tent.
"HARRY!" Hermione screamed, as he grabbed Ron by the arm. A quick bright red light hit Scabior, making him fall to the floor, she knew he wasn't dead, but what Harry had done, she wouldn't know as Harry rushed over and apparated the four of them out of the tent.
Hermione was still in the arms of Malfoy, disgusted at the look of the two of them being so close together, Ron picked her up and stood her by him.
"Why the hell did you apparate him with us, he's only going to get us into further trouble!" Ron looked at Harry, pointing his wand towards Draco.
"Like I want to be here!" Draco spat, "You should be dead Potter, sooner or later you will be."
"How dare you," Hermione leaped from behind Ron and drew her arm to slap him, but before she could he had his hands tightly locked around her wrist.
"Bye-bye Potter, Weasley." Draco's face sneered at them as he apparated away from them, with Hermione Granger.