Chapter Twenty Three
Draco stood in front of Number 11 Grimmauld Place and looked at Hermione. ''And your safe place is where?''
''At number 12.'' As Hermione said the words, the street elongated, pushing the doors aside so that Sirius's old house could materialise. ''Come on. And don't expect anyone to be nice to you.''
''Fine.'' Draco rolled his eyes and followed Hermione quickly up the garden path, casting one last look into the street as he shut the door.
Hermione dropped her bag loudly. ''Hello? Anyone home?''
''In the kitchen Hermione!''
Draco looked at Hermione. ''Who's that?'' he whispered.
''Tonks.'' Hermione was already pushing the door open and walking through. Tonks was sitting at the table, her hands placed carefully on the table in front of her. ''How are you?''
''She's doing a hell of a lot better than you Mudblood.'' Bellatrix stepped out from behind the kitchen door, her wand raised, an evil smirk crossing her lips. ''Drop your wand now.''
Hermione looked at her, her mind blank. Bellatrix's lips turned into a scowl. ''I said, drop it!'' she snarled, and flicked her own wand. ''Expelliarmus!''
Hermione felt her one defence, a fragile stick of wood slip from between her loose fingers and willed herself to wake up. She felt as though she was submerged in ice, unable to move or think clearly at all. Bellatrix smirked again. ''Hands on head, and I think you and dear Nymphadora can go into the drawing room with the others.''
Others? Hermione closed her eyes in horror, unable to comprehend that this was happening. Surely it was all a nightmare? The last safe place hadn't been destroyed, it wasn't being invaded. Numbly, she placed her hands on the top of her head, and followed Tonks into the other room, Bellatrix standing behind them both with her wand raised. Hermione stepped through the door, and saw Remus, Fred, George, Ginny and Mrs Weasley looking back at her. Tonks sniffed behind her, and Hermione glanced back to see silvery tears trailing quickly down her face.
Responding to the impatient jerks of Bellatrix's wand, they sat down, lowering their hands cautiously to their laps. Bellatrix's chest was heaving slightly as she smiled proudly. ''So foolish. To trust in a charm alone to save your lives.''
Hermione ignored her, her eyes staring fixedly at the door that they had just come through. Where was Draco? Was he going for help? Was he planning to do something stupid? She hated herself for even thinking it, but she was hoping that he was planning to do something stupid. The idea that they would be separated in a time like this…she shuddered slightly and then cursed herself for being so selfish. He should get out while he could. She turned her eyes back to Bellatrix and knew that there was no way that any kind of mercy or kindness would be forthcoming. She was as good as dead.
Draco stood outside the front door, under a disillusionment charm, loathing himself for putting a foot outside. How could he even have thought of leaving the house when he could hear his aunt's hysterical voice and breathing echoing through the kitchen. He knocked his head back against the wall he was leaning against and groaned softly. He could feel cold rain running through his hair and he closed his eyes against the constant drizzle.
Suddenly, he was pushed slightly off the doorstep by something invisible. Before he could help himself, his fists were clenched and he was punching the thing that had pushed him, gritting his teeth so as to avoid letting loose a torrent of abuse. The more hits that he landed he began to realise that this was a human, two of them in fact. Thinking only of Deatheaters, he began to punch even harder, groping around for a neck. Finally feeling the windpipe beneath his fingers, he clutched at it, only to have what seemed to be a silver sheet slide off in his hand.
Potter and Weasley stood in front of him, both breathing hard and bloodied. They looked straight through him, clearly unable to see through the disillusionment charm. They immediately made a move for the front door, but Draco grabbed them by the back of their necks and pulled them with him as he apparated to a near by park that he had once been to with his father.
A small child saw two beaten up boys spin out of midair, rubbed his eyes and ran straight back to his mother's side. Draco looked about, making sure that he couldn't see anyone watching and then removed his disillusionment charm.
''You!'' Harry immediately lunged at Draco, who stepped back smartly.
''Watch it Potter.'' Draco looked at him coolly, mildly impressed with the damage that he had been able to inflict. ''I didn't realise it was you, I thought it was a Deatheater.''
''Why would a Deatheater be going into number 12? And how did you know where number 12 is?'' Harry was staring coldly at Draco, his green eyes narrowed and his fists clenched.
''We do have a mutual friend Potter. I hadn't noticed that that scar affected the way your brain works.''
''What the hell have you done to her?'' Ron stood next to Harry, his eyes wide, obviously preparing himself for the worst as he spoke through gritted teeth.
''I haven't done anything. It's probably the Deatheaters that have broken into your safe place that should be your primary concern.'' Draco folded his arms, dredging a smirk back onto his face, not wanting to admit how worried he was.
''So instead of letting us go in and rescue our friend, you beat us up, pull us out and drag us to some park somewhere?''
''Well I thought you might have appreciated the fact that I stopped you walking into the middle of a trap. That and the fact that the pair of you already owe me your lives.''
''What do you want Malfoy?'' Ron was already going through his pockets, pulling his wand out.
''Put it away Weasley. I want your help.'' Draco spat the words out, hating himself for having to say it, wishing he could save Hermione on his own.
''With what?''
''Saving Hermione! What else could I possibly want your help for?'' Draco glared at him. ''You just aren't much use to me if you're stuck in the middle of the trap.''
''She's our friend Malfoy. Don't think for a minute that we're doing this for you. We're doing this for Hermione.'' Harry took a deep breath in and glanced at Ron. ''What's your idea?''
Hermione sat, her spine perfectly straight, her chin raised proudly. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, and if it were not for the fact that she occasionally blinked, she would have looked like a statue. Her cheeks were blanched, and her eyes stared straight ahead. She willed herself to remain perfectly still, refusing to give into the prickling sensation building up behind her eyes. Draco hadn't come into the room, wand blazing as he saved everyone, and she was forced to conclude that he wasn't likely to be doing so at any time. Now all she had left was her dignity, and she would hold onto that for as long as she could, not crying, not begging, not even giving her the opportunity to criticise her.
They had been sitting there for at least an hour now. Even Bellatrix was wilting slightly as she waited for her master to come. Personally, Hermione didn't think that he was going to be coming until there was news that Harry had been caught. The rest of them were entirely immaterial.
Blaise wandered into the room, looking in contempt at the various captives. His eyes lit up lasciviously as they fell on Hermione. She tensed slightly, willing herself not to shudder. ''What's she doing here?''
''Same as the rest of them.'' Bellatrix glared at him, obviously cross to have been removed from her reveries. ''And she won't be here for much longer.''
''Can I have her before she's finished off?'' Blaise looked at Bellatrix as though she was about to say whether there would be a Christmas this year or not.
''I don't see why not. If you really want to pollute yourself with that kind of scum.''
''I want to teach her a lesson. She humiliated me. And now she really is all alone, without anyone to look out for her.'' Blaise's eyes narrowed cruelly.
''Oh Mudblood, what did you do to this poor boy?'' Hermione ignored Bellatrix's malicious jibing, and raised her chin slightly higher. ''I said, what did you do to this poor boy?'' Bellatrix leapt up and stuck her wand under Hermione's chin.
''I didn't do anything that he didn't have coming to him.'' Hermione spat, not even bothering to look at her tormentor.
''You can deal with this one. She's utterly worthless anyway, nothing more than a Mudblood. Take her now.'' Bellatrix seized the back of Hermione's t-shirt and flung her forward. She was thrown off balance and ended up kneeling at Blaise's feet.
He smiled down at her. ''Exactly where you belong. Get up, and get out into the hall.''
Bellatrix smirked and then spun around with her wand trained on the others. ''Don't you dare do anything! Not even your pathetic crying!''
Blaise grabbed Hermione's wrist, pulling her up the stairs, banging doors open. She wrenched away from him, desperately trying to get out of his iron grip. ''Let me go, you freak! Get off me!'' The volume and pitch of her voice rose until Blaise turned around and silenced her with a slash of his wand.
''Now, do I have to immobilise you as well?''
Hermione pulled away again, feeling the burn of friction as he tightened his grip. He yanked her forward again, swearing under his breath. Hermione shook her head frantically, trying desperately to cling onto anything. Even Bellatrix would be better than Blaise, she thought as she scratched off wallpaper by trying to find something to hold on to. Eventually Blaise swung her around and slapped her hard across the face, flinging her one way and then back again, as he did it again. Hermione felt blood trickle from the corner of her mouth and blinked furiously as the tears that she had been trying to hold back threatened to overwhelm her. Finally, Blaise found what he had been looking for and threw her in, following after her.
''I tried to have you once, and that pathetic excuse of a boyfriend butted in. But you're alone now, aren't you?'' Blaise stared at her, his eyes mad and wide. One push was all it took to send Hermione careening back, crashing into a dusty old bed. The sheets had been stripped off long ago, and all that was left was an ancient mattress, the springs beginning to poke through. She glared back at Blaise, unable to protest, to scream, to shriek for help. She settled for scrabbling away from him, only to have him aim his wand at her again, leaving her immobilised. ''You just don't learn, do you? Stupid bitch.''
He grabbed her by the throat and flung her back, her body loose now instead of frozen. He began to arrange her limbs, humming a little, ignoring the choked motions of her throat as she tried to scream.
Draco pushed open the door to Number 12, Harry and Ron behind him. They had their plan, agreed on quickly, simply because Harry and Ron couldn't stand to be around him and vice versa. Turning to nod once at them, Draco pushed the door to the drawing room open, and yelled 'Stupefy'. It worked in much the same way as it had when he had used it at home to free Harry and Ron. His aunt, alone in guarding the prisoners, crumpled to the floor. He ran straight over her body and stared at the Weasleys and Remus and Tonks. ''Where's Hermione? What's she done with her?'' His eyes were mad.
''Blaise took her upstairs.'' Ginny was already running her hands through Bellatrix's robes, looking for the confiscated wands. ''Hang on a minute and I'll…''
She was interrupted by the door banging again. Draco was gone, and feet could be heard running up the stairs. Harry turned and ran out of the room, and headed straight for the kitchen. Ron followed him. ''What are you doing? Come on, we'll go up as well!''
''Malfoy will look out for Hermione. We need to make sure there aren't any other Deatheaters in the house.'' Harry saw Ron open his mouth to protest. ''One minute Ron, that's all it will take. Then we can go!''
Draco ran softly along the upstairs corridor, pushing doors open frantically. Finally, much as Blaise had done, he found what he was looking for. Hermione was lying on a bed, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as Blaise towered over her, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. He was completely unaware of Draco, so inflamed was he by the thought of what he was going to do to Hermione.
Draco's mouth twisted into a grimace. ''Get the hell away from her.''
Blaise's head snapped up, and he scowled. ''You just don't learn when to give up, do you Malfoy?''
''No point in giving up when you're going to win!'' Draco lunged at Blaise, his fists pounding as he took out all the frustration of the past hour. ''Why can't you leave her alone for Merlin's sake?''
''Because she's Mudblood scum! You might have forgotten it, but I haven't! And I'm going to teach her a lesson, teach you a lesson and kill the pair of you!''
Draco didn't even bother answering. Fists and curses flew around the room, dislodging dust and old furniture. Blood dripped off noses and onto the floor. Bruises blossomed under clothes and over eyes. Hermione lay helpless on the bed, unable to even twist her head to see what was happening. All she could hear was the meaty thwack of fist connecting with face, and smell scorched fabric in the air.
Finally, she heard a different sound. Wood, snapping in half. Suddenly, the looseness of her limbs stopped, and she had control of her muscles. She scrambled to her knees just as Draco pulled himself to his feet as well, holding the two halves of Blaise's wand in his pale hands.
''Have you had enough, you stupid bastard? Or do I have to carry on going?'' His nose was screwed up in contempt as he spat the words down at Blaise. Draco turned his head and looked at Hermione. ''I'm sorry, I didn't want to go, but I had to.''
''You came back. That's all I need to know.'' Hermione whispered at him, still not trusting herself not to burst into tears.
''I didn't go far.'' Draco reached out a hand to her face, shocked by how blanched her cheeks were.
''You'll be going a lot further!'' Blaise pushed himself off the floor, lunging at Draco, pushing him back onto the floor. Draco wriggled, trying to push the other boy off him but was unable to do so. Blaise's hands clamped around Draco's neck, squeezing as tightly as he could, kneeling on Draco's hands.
Hermione flew off the bed, her small hands reaching around so that she could scratch Blaise's face. He threw her off with a simple jerk of his shoulders. She ran forward again but he just knocked her away again, laughing. ''Don't worry Mudblood, I'll deal with you as soon as Malfoy's dead.''
Hermione made to go forward again but the door opened for the third time that evening, and this time Harry and Ron were framed in the door. They saw the scene and without a word, threw Hermione her wand and aimed their own.
Hermione shrieked a spell, sending Blaise flying off Draco and smashing into a wall in a cloud of dust and blood. Her two oldest friends pointed their wands at Blaise, keeping him exactly where he had landed. Hermione ran forward and raised Draco slightly, looking at his throat where bruises were already appearing in the shape of Blaise's fingers.
''I can look after you just as well as you can look after me,'' she whispered in his ear, helping him to his feet, both of them slightly shaky. Ron looked at Draco contemptuously.
''You going to kill him now?''
''I might be a lot of things, but I'm not a killer.'' Draco looked at Ron and Harry and slid his arm around Hermione's waist. ''The Order can sort out what they want to do with him. And with Bellatrix. I don't care. I'm not a Deatheater, and I'm not going to act like one by killing either of them.''
''So you aren't a Deatheater, what are you?''
''You tell me.'' Draco looked down at Hermione. ''Can we please go and sit down somewhere? Or I'll sit somewhere and you come in a minute?''
Hermione kissed his cheek, avoiding the bruises. ''Go downstairs. I'll come in a minute.''
She walked over to Harry and Ron, and hugged them both fiercely. ''Thank you.''
''For what?''
''For being here. I was worried that you wouldn't because Draco and I…''
''We told you Mione, you're our friend and that isn't going to change.''
''And Draco…''
''We don't like him. You do. End of story.''
She kissed each of them on the cheek, hugged them so tightly they had difficulty breathing and ran down the stairs. Draco was sitting back on one of the sofas, breathing deeply.
''Hey you.''
She grabbed a warm, wet cloth and wriggled into him, dabbing gently at his bleeding cuts. ''Hey you. Mr Lifesaver.''
''Miss Lifesaver.''
''We look out for each other. And we'll carry on doing that.''
''Promise?''
''Of course.'' Hermione wiped away a smear of blood and Draco caught her hand.
''Stop that for a minute.''
''Why?'' She looked up at him , her eyes puzzled.
''Because I haven't done this for at least one hour.'' Draco laughed and raised her chin, kissing her softly on the mouth. He pulled her lower lip into his mouth, nibbling gently on it, feeling her kissing his upper lip as he did so. Their tongues slipped into each other's mouths, reacquainting with tastes and feelings. They pulled apart, smiling hazily into each other's eyes. ''And that's why I like doing that.''
Hermione laughed at him. ''Right. So we just have to keep safe throughout the rest of this war?''
''Should be easy enough.'' Draco pulled her close to him, an arm around her shoulders. ''You know the drill. I look after you. You look after me. Easy.''
Hermione kissed his neck. ''Simple.''
AN: There, that was the longest chapter I've written for this story! I hope you enjoyed it, and I'd love it if you could leave me a review. Only the epilogue to write now, just to tie up those few loose ends left, so I hope everyone will stay on to see this story right to the end. Anyway, my lovely reviewers for chapter 22 were: Emerald 27, CalisOwnCaliGrown, IloveCheeseyMoments, Silent-Mousie, bananna15, iluv2dance, The Accountant's Daughter, HarryPGinnyW4eva, pApAw, DracoGirl4evr, dracoshott28, Murgy31, Chrystal Slara, breezie, Dracrashed and riotgirllina. Thank you so much my lovely, amazing people! Much love…Petitesorciere xxx