A/N: I hated writing this chapter. I absolutely hated it. Oh, well. It's necessary for the plot to go on. Just for reference, all the underlined sentences are Draco's thoughts. Thanks again to all those who supported me, especially my friends: Nauf, mawii, cookie, neena7, sumaya, Sarah and jeje. And a special thanks to everyone who took the trouble to review.
flashback
"Hermione, I need to talk to you." Draco beckoned to Hermione to follow him out of the noisy hubbub at the Burrow. "What's wrong Draco?" Hermione asked as she left the living room's warmth and stepped out in the cold. Draco looked deep in her hazel-brown eyes, noticing them fill with concern, quickly losing the happy twinkle they had moments ago. He frowned; maybe his voice had given him away? "Merlin knows I could get lost in her beautiful eyes for hours." thought Draco to himself. "How am I supposed to tell her? Oh, Hermione, sorry for spoiling your fun and all, but I love you. Yes, you can give up your whole life for me, and fall in my arms and stay there forever." If only it were that simple. "Pull yourself together Draco. You are a Malfoy, and Malfoys aren't afraid to tell the love of their life there feelings." That's why it took you three years to pluck up the courage about how you feel, right. "Oh, shut up, that was different."
"Draco?" Hermione asked tentatively. He took a deep breath. " Iloveyoumione." he mumbled. "Sorry?" Hermione was confused. It's either now or never. Draco took another deep breath to steady his nerves. "I…I love you."
Silence. Long, cold, chilling silence. Draco was really nervous now. Why's the I-love-you-I'll-stay-in-your-arms-forever part taking so bloody long? Something was deeply wrong. Draco could feel it in his bones. He gazed deep into her eyes; searching for a glimmer of hope, her answer, anything. For a moment he saw love in them, and then hurt, but when he looked again it was replaced by hard, cold fury.
Oh, dear.
"Now? Now you tell me? After three years, now you tell me? On the day Roger asks my hand in marriage?" She asked, anger lacing her words. Draco looked at her, hurt and confusion filling his stormy gray eyes. "Isn't it enough that I love you? We're made for each other, not like you and Roger. Honestly, that idiot is way beneath you and you deserve much better than him!"
"Don't you dare! Don't you DARE say anything about my Roger!" Draco cringed when he heard "my Roger" "At least it didn't take him three years to notice me, tell me how he feels!" Hermione glared at him. "Yeah, it took him all of two months." Draco's heart sank to his stomach. "Three years? What the hell do you mean by that?"
"You didn't even notice?!!!" she screamed, while tears threatened to flood her face. "I can't believe you! Haven't you even noticed that even while a lot of people asked me out I turned most of them down! Do you know that I was proposed to twice and I refused both times? I said no, Draco. I REFUSED! For you Draco, I refused. I could have been happily married now, with kids and a house…but, no. I waited and waited for you to say something…anything. Even if you had told me you hated me, I would have accepted that. At least I would have known what I mean to you."
"I…"
"Let me FINISH! I loved you Draco, like I've never loved anyone else, and you ignored that. You broke my heart, and when I finally patched it up, you come and break it again." Now Hermione was crying freely. Draco, on the other hand was stunned. His heart broke into pieces when he realized the pain that Hermione went through. "Why didn't I notice? Why do I have to be such a coward? I should have spoken earlier."
"God I've been stupid. I…I thought you loved Ron and I've been trying to tell you my feelings, but I couldn't." Draco wanted to go back in time, fix his mistakes.
"Ron?" Hermione gave a hysterical laugh, her face a flood of tears. It was as if for every single tear she had cried in the past, there was another one running down her cheeks.
"I have to have her. I just can't give up like this." Draco made his mind up. He would have to make Hermione see that what she was doing was wrong. Famous last words. "Look… Hermione, love, I was a fool for not making my move earlier, and I'm still a fool and the world's biggest idiot, but…" he took a breath and held her shoulders so that they were three inches apart from each other, "Hermione, you said it yourself. You love me and I… you…we need to be together." He whispered. He could see her hesitate. It gave him courage and he continued on. "I know you want me. I can see it in your eyes. How hard can it be to tell Roger that you changed your mind?" The moment Draco uttered these words, he immediately regretted them. Whatever good he had done was now lost forever. Hermione Granger (Spinelli in the future, it hurt Draco just thinking of it) was an extremely proud and independent woman, and that was the worst thing Draco could have possibly said. He watched the face of the woman he loved as it turned into a kaleidoscope of colors, ending in deep scarlet that was the sure sign of rage. She pushed his hands away, her eyes blazing.
"That's what you think. I have never, and I will never need you." She turned on her heel and ran to the Burrow, only stopping for a moment to wipe her tears. Draco stood stunned in his place as he heard Mrs. Weasley as she asked about Draco, and Hermione's state, hearing Hermione coolly answer: "Oh, Draco said he had to go to work. He just wanted to congratulate me privately."
Draco turned around and Apparated to Malfoy Manor, where he was going to drown himself in his misery.
"Miss. Tonks...Miss Tonks…Is anyone here?"
Draco was violently pulled from his reverie. A squat, fat, young man, one of the junior Aurors-in-Training, knocked the door of Tonks' office then opened it. His eyes searched the dark room for the Head Auror. Suddenly he glimpsed tousled platinum hair from the chair, and immediately knew who its famous owner was. "I…er…I was looking for Miss Tonks. So sorry for disturbing you. I'll be leaving now." The poor man stammered, visibly terrified. Draco was known for his hardness with his appointed trainees. Draco swiveled around on the chair, so he was facing him. The look on Draco's face was enough to frighten anybody out of their wits. The trainee put his hand on the knob, clearly wanting to leave. "Wait, Edwards. What is it you want?" Draco said, obviously distracted. His mind was still on a certain Gryffindor. "I…er…this is for Miss Tonks only. It's top priority."
Draco narrowed his eyes, but his voice was devoid of any emotion as he said: "I'm acting as Miss Tonks' surrogate. She is away for urgent business. And anything to be conveyed to her should be given to me immediately. Especially, if it is, as you say, top priority."
Edwards faltered. "Uhhh…if I can't report this to Miss Tonks, then I can only report it to the Auror handling the muggleborn attacks case."
The idiot. "This is why you have to report to me, Edwards. I was assigned this particular case 2 weeks ago. And if you need any more persuasion, If you do not disclose to me this very "important" report, I will see to it personally that you never become an Auror in your entire, miserable little life." Draco said, in a dry menacing tone. He was losing his patience. His mind was telling him that this was just another false lead, another wild goose chase. But his instincts where telling him something else, that this was important.
Edwards' face turned pale at the threat. No one in the entire department took Draco Malfoy's threats lightly. His hands shook slightly as he placed the file on Tonks' desk.
"A…a muggleborn was attacked near Hyde Park at 3 am this morning."
"And now you tell me. Was a dispatch team sent? What are the results from the examination of the body? Next time something like this happens, if you do not notify me immediately I will curse every single person responsible!" Draco fired off questions, his interest entirely focused on the case. This might be the lead I'm waiting for. What bloody reason do they have for telling me this late? It's 9 pm. now for Merlin's sake.
Edwards looked flustered as he tried to answer all of Draco's questions.
"That's the thing, sir. There was no body."
"There's an attack, but no body? Do mean you didn't find the body?"
"The victim was stabbed seven times to the stomach by a dagger covered with an unknown magical substance. We think it might be poison."
"Then where is the bloody body?"
"Well…sir, that's the miracle. She survived the attack. The muggleborn victim I mean."
Oh Merlin. It's Hermione. Don't be an idiot, Hermione is at the hospital with a stomach ache, remember? Yeah, right. But wait, Harry was being a little weird over a stomach ache, don't you think. Harry's not going to lie to you, you nitwit. He might. Give it a rest will you? If Harry didn't tell you the truth someone else would have. And Nymphadora would have known, wouldn't she?
"Ummm… sir?" Edwards peered at Draco curiously.
"Yes, Edwards. What do you want?" Draco responded curtly. He was still recovering from the battle he just had with his brain and the emotions he felt when his thoughts immediately flew to her. Why her?
"Answering your previous question, we weren't informed about the situation until an hour ago, seeing as the victim was in a coma and she has just awakened from it. Also the Healer in charge of her ordered that the victim should not be interrogated until she has recovered from the initial shock. She is currently at St.Mungo's and her room number, the floor, and the name of the Healer is in the file. The name of the patient has not been disclosed for safety reasons." Edwards seemed out of breath.
"Thank you Edwards." Draco nodded to him.
"Would you like anything else sir?"
"Find me the evidence report written and I want the wizard in charge of the dispatch team brought here immediately."
"There was no dispatch team at the request of Mr. Potter, sir."
"No dispatch team sent? Why would Harry do that? Very well. I want a team ready tomorrow at 8 am sharp, and I want the forensics expert at hand."
"I will see to that sir. Anything else?"
"No, you may leave." Draco pointed towards the door.
Things were definitely turning for the best. A survivor was the best evidence a inspector could wish for. He hoped the evidence at the crime scene was enough to point them in the right direction.
Draco looked at the file on the desk. He opened it and turned to the page where information about the victim was recorded. As Edwards had mentioned, there was no name for the patient. He looked at the room number. 402, Potion and Plant Poisoning, 3rd floor. Now why was she in Potion and Plant Poisoning? Oh, maybe it's because of the poison in the dagger.
What should Draco do now? He contemplated his options: waiting till tomorrow, or visit the victim now and size her up. Any witch who could survive seven stabs is a very powerful witch indeed. Just like Hermione. He opted for the second choice, as there was nothing to do back home, no one waiting for him… and besides he felt that it was going to be very interesting.
Making up his mind, he left a note for Tonks, picked up a handful of Floo powder, and threw it in the fire place. He stepped inside, clearly saying, "St.Mungo's".
A/N: I told you it's a very bad chapter. And an extremely long one, longer than I intended it to be. Oh, well. I did the best I could. I also left HUGE pointers to what's going to happen. If it were up to me, Draco & Hermione would be happily married, with a million children and living happily ever after. I'm a corny romantic. And I absolutely hate Roger. But this is the way the story must go.