Disclaimer: In case you have been living in a cave on mars with your fingers in your ears for the last ten years or so; JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and all terms and characters associated with the fandom. I only own the story, some characterisations and an occasional OC, I try to limit them as much as possible. Song lyrics which may crop up now and then will be attributed as appropriate.

Chapter 8 - Four Winds

"And it's the sum of man

Slouching towards Bethlehem

A heart just can't contain all of that empty space

It breaks, it breaks, it breaks. …"

Bright eyes

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One Year later...

Hermione awoke in her bed in the Malfoy-Zabini Manor, glancing at the clock in her room she saw that she had awoken a full twenty minutes than she was required to, but she thought it best to get up and get ready for the days work anyway.

She pulled herself out of bed and picked up the neatly folded clothes from the chair next to it and started to dress. In the time she had been here she had grown accustomed to the habits of the two men she had been told to serve; wake Blaise then Draco, bring up the breakfast made by the house elf, Obed, wash the dirty clothes, clean up the living room, see if there is anything else to be done, if not, grab a quick break before they returned from the ministry, bring dinner made by the house elf, anymore clean up, in bed by ten. Even she had to admit, it could be a lot worse.

She'd heard rumours from visitors about other muggleborns being used for target practise, having the cruiatus curse used on them for the slightest infraction. Here, as long as she did what was expected of her, the two men generally left her alone, even allowed her to have a little time to herself if they couldn't think of anything for her to do.

The worst days came when Tracey, Blaise's fiancee and Pansy, the girl who it was expected Draco would be announcing his engagement to soon, stayed at the house, they made more demands of her than the two men put together, but even then, it could be a lot worse.

Sighing to herself a little, she went into the kitchen, seeing that house elf was cheerily humming to himself as he made breakfast, she went in, picking up an apple from the fruit bowl and starting to munch into it, at least getting up early she could have breakfast. The house elf turned and looked at her. "What will Granger do until Mister Draco and Mister Blaise come back?"

She raised her eyebrow slightly, "What do you mean Obed?" The previous night Blaise and Draco had gone to bed early and so thankfully, had she, which probably attributed to her early rising that morning.

"A man came from the ministry last night, he told Obed to wake up Mister Draco and Mister Blaise, they left with him, told Obed they would be back in the morning, but they have not come back yet." Five months prior, it was realised that there were no muggleborns left to 're-assess' and the two boys had been moved over to the Rebellion Prevention Department. More than once they had been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night to take part in an unscheduled raid, but they had always been back by morning.

"Have you checked their beds?"

"Oh, no need Granger, Obed has been waiting for them to come home, he has been awake all night, making sure that there is a hot meal waiting for them. Lady Narcissa told Obed many times, they are still growing boys and they are much too thin."

Hermione rolled her eyes slightly on impulse, a habit she did not like that she had formed, but the actions of Narcissa Malfoy often caused her to do so. A thought occurred to her and she stood up out of her chair, walking out of the kitchen door she headed out to the hallway and opened the front door. Gasping slightly she looked down at the form of Draco Malfoy laying out on the front porch, his right arm laid across his chest, his face looking out towards the garden.

"Obed! Come quickly! Help me!" Hermione could not take so much as a footstep outside of the door if neither Blaise nor Draco were inside the house, something placed in measure to prevent runaway's across homes all across Britain. Two runaway's in Dorset had tried to make their escape while their master's had gone out, when they were caught, many had taken their Muggleborn servants with them to watch the public execution, herself included.

The small house elf came scurrying from the kitchen as fast as his little legs could carry him, "Oh! Oh no! What has Obed done? He did not think to check. Is Mister Draco OK?"

"I don't know, you'll have to get him inside won't you."

Obed looked at Draco for a moment before clicking his fingers and Draco's form was lifted into the air and threw the threshold of the door. They got Draco inside and laid out on one of the settee's, Hermione turned to fetch something from the kitchen and felt Draco's hand clasp around her wrist. She looked down, for the first time seeing that he was in a fairly bad condition. "Where's Blaise?"

Hermione felt a strange pang of sympathy hit her, she knew how close they were and she could not help but feel sorry for Draco at that moment, despite how much she hated him. "I'll go see if he's outside." She looked to the house elf who looked like he was going to chew his fingers off. "Mister Draco is hurt, get him one of the painkiller potions from the kitchen cupboard while I go look for Mister Blaise."

The house elf nodded while she ran out of the front door, she took a deep sniff of the air, freedom could be within her grasp. Now was the perfect time to take it, Blaise was no where to be seen, it didn't look like he, like Draco, had returned but collapsed in the Garden, even if he had, he was taller than her by a clear foot and without magic there would be no way she could have carried him into the house. She looked back at the open door, she could have such a head start, she could have anything up to an hour, maybe more, to get as far as possible, she had money in her bank account, her muggle bank account. All she would have to do is get as far as her hidden away muggle items, her bank card, her passport, she could be in France by the end of the day if she was quick and lucky enough. She started to move towards the gates when the small voice of the house elf, calling out to her from the doorway stopped her in her tracks. "Granger. Mister Draco, I don't know what to do."

Hermione cursed herself under her breath, she'd never have another chance like this, maybe not for a long time, but if Draco died and they caught her running, things would be a lot worse. "Alright I'm coming." She turned away from the gates and came back inside the house, bending down she looked the house elf in the eyes. "Mister Blaise isn't out there, go to the Zabini Mansion and see if he went there, if he isn't, go straight to the St.Mungo's and ask them to send a doctor, then see if Mister Blaise is there, I'll look after Mister Draco till you get back. OK?"

The house elf nodded, although he was only supposed to take orders directly from his masters and not the mudblood servant, he knew that a doctor was needed and he had to find one since the servant could not travel herself. He cracked from the room and Hermione went to see if there was anything she could do for Draco. "He's not outside, what happened to you?"

She ran her hands down one of his arms, checking for broken bones, the way she vaguely remembered being taught in Brownie guides. "Someone got the wrong intel, it was chaos, we went in to raid the place and got ambushed." He coughed a little and Hermione lifted his head, shoving a pillow underneath it. "There were hexes flying left, right and centre, I think I got a couple of them but we had to retreat. Where's Blaise?"

She pursed her lips a little. "He must have aparated out to somewhere else, Obed will find him." Just then, a burst of green flames erupted from the fireplace and out of it stepped a somewhat dishevelled looking Wizard who had black scorch marks on his clothes and face.

Taking one look at Draco and Hermione knelt next to him, he stormed forward, causing Hermione to move back as fast as she could. "What do you think your doing Mudblood? Malfoy, we've been looking for you, why aren't you in St.Mungo's? We thought you were one of the missing."

Draco half sat up and turned slightly, groaning inwardly at the man who had stormed into the house, "I aparated home as soon as I got out of there, the house elf's been sent for the doctor, I think I'm alright just..." He paused, bursting into a small coughing fit. "Just sore."

"Well you look like hell." He eyed up Hermione who was scrambling to her feet, she had long since learnt that people visiting the house weren't as fussy about handing out a slap if she wasn't quick enough about getting things. "And you! Why did you tell no one that your master was injured? There could have been an inquiry about this!"

Unable to hold her back her tongue she put her hands on her hips. "He just told you that the house elf's been sent out for a doctor! Muggleborns aren't allowed to use owls, we're blocked from the floo network and we can't aparate without wands. What did you expect me to do? Leave him on his own and run to the Zabini place in Salisbury? It'd have taken hours!"

The blackened wizard stepped forward and smacked her across the right cheek with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the coffee table. Which prompted Draco to sit bolt upright. "OI! You can't do that, that's MY servant and she was only reiterating to you what I already said!"

"Ho, ho! Sticking up for Mudbloods now are you Malfoy? That'll go down well at the ministry."

Getting himself to his feet but steadying himself on the arm of the settee, Draco glared at him. "No I'm not Whisp, if you leave me without a servant because I've had to send her for healing, there'll be hell to pay. It's not like I can just go out and get another one and if I could, I wouldn't fancy having to spend ages having the damn thing trained again, so back the fuck off."

Whisp grumbled, he knew that severely injuring another Wizard's servant was classed as a major offence these days, due to the fact that the ministry had been so efficient in rounding up all the muggleborns, there weren't any left to be distributed. "Fine, since your elf has already gone to fetch a doctor, you might as well wait till they arrive. I'll tell Mulicber that I found you, he's going stark raving bonkers right now, he's at St.Mungo's counting up people who'll have to be on sick leave for a couple of days, half the department is out of action."

"Fine, but do me a favour and tell Blaise while your at it, he'll be wondering too more than likely." Whisp raised his eyebrow at Draco.

"Zabini? Zabini's not at St.Mungo's, isn't he here with you?"

"No, we got separated."

"Well I'll check at his mothers but if he's not there..."

A loud crack interrupted him and Obed appeared in the room, looking up at his master. "Mister Draco, you should be lying down! Obed has told the doctor to come quickly, Obed has looked for Mister Blaise at Lady Lucretia's house and he asked at the hostipal. The reception lady told Obed he was not there, where else should I look?"

"Well that saves me a job, I'll tell Mulicber to add his name to the missing."

Looking suddenly fairly worried, Draco attempted to move forward, only to be pushed back in his seat by the house elf. "Missing? What do you mean missing?"

"Merlin's beard Malfoy! The missing! The people who we cannot find, it's assumed they've been taken hostage by the rebels who got away last night. There's going to be an inquiry this afternoon, all those who are able to sit down have to be there, there has to be a leak in the department because somehow, someone was warned about last nights raid."

"But thats impossible, half the time we don't know theres going to be a raid until half an hour before hand."

"Exactly! So there's no way the rebels could have known unless someone warned them beforehand. Now I have to get back to Mulciber, Malfoy. Someone will owl you to let you know what time you'll have to be at the ministry since you look fit enough to get there." Whisp turned and got back into the fireplace, throwing a handful of floo powder and calling out the name of St.Mungo's, he disappeared into the green flames that swirled up around him.

Draco slumped back into the settee, cradling his head in one hand while pushing away the house elf with the other. Still sat on the floor, holding her cheek where a large welt was already forming, Hermione wasn't sure what to do. She had never seen Draco act like this, it had never occurred to her that Draco cared enough about anyone to actually worry about them, even though she knew the two friends were close, it had never entered her mind.

She stood up, venturing with a small voice. "Is there anything I can do?"

He looked up at her, shrugging his shoulders slightly, then sighing. "Cup of tea would be nice..."

"Sure."

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Draco made his way inside the large room, half filled with people from his department, most of them nursing some sort of injury, the ones who weren't still looked slightly battle worn, this was the biggest disaster in the history of the Ministry since the Dark Lord had resumed control. Taking his seat, he looked to the doors, seeing Mulciber and Whisp walk in. Whisp appeared to have cleaned off the scorch marks from his skin, although hadn't gotten round to changing his clothes.

The room quickly quietened down and all eyes looked to Mulicber. "Alright everyone, this is what we know. Even though it was an unscheduled raid, it was leaked out, the good news is, we've caught the leak." He motioned behind him and the sound of scuffling feet preceded a Muggleborn servant being dragged into the room by a brutish looking Wizard. "We sent a recovery team to check out the place a few hours ago, to see if there was anything we missed and we found this." He reached into his pocket, pulling out a scrunched up piece of paper, unfolding it, he started to read aloud. "They just came for Mclaggen, must be a raid. Peakes." In the crowd, with his arm in a sling and a very red faced Mclaggen ducked down at the shame of it being someone from his household being the leak. Mulicber shook his head slightly. "Don't worry Mclaggen, there was no way you could have known about this, although it's safe to say your going to be without a servant very soon." A murmur of agreement and several heads nodded from the crowd. Peakes would certainly be executed, more than likely after a harsh interrogation. "Now for the bad news." Mulciber pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and waved it at the crowd. "This arrived by owl to our office an hour ago, it's a list of demands." Clearing his throat, he straightened out the paper, reading aloud. "We have your people; Brooks, Jugson, Harrison, Selwyn, Tomkins and Zabini. We will not release them unless the people scheduled for execution in three days are allowed to go free." He cleared his throat and folded the paper back up, placing it in his pocket. "So as you see, we have a problem. All those of you who are injured can return to St.Mungos or your homes and spend the night recovering, but the rest of you, we're asking to stay, we're mounting a full scale search. An emergency edition of the prophet is being drawn up now, with the names and pictures of those who we think are the rebels or may be hiding them. We need this lot found. Does anyone have any questions? We can't really afford to waste time sitting round here."

A few faces looked at one another and a hand raised up from the crowd, Draco looked around, trying to see who it was, but they were blocked by other people. "Does it say what they'll do to our people if we don't release the people who are going to be executed?"

All heads snapped round again, dozens of eyes looked to Mulicber, who sighed slightly. "I think it's safe to assume that if the prisoners are executed, then they in turn, will execute our people." He looked at his watch impatiently. "Alright we all need to get back to work." He turned, followed closely behind by Whisp and the Wizard dragging Peakes with him. The crowd started to disperse, Draco looked at the floor, this could not be happening.

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Draco opened his front door, greeted by a fussing house elf who was ushering to sit down before he had chance to remove the heavy cloak around his shoulders. A flustered looking Hermione soon appeared from living room, a dust cloth tucked under her armpit, she shooed the house elf away and took Draco's cloak, helping him into the living room. "You need to be careful, the doctor said those ribs will be fragile for a few days, last thing you need is them breaking again and puncturing your lung or something."

Draco groaned and sat down on the settee, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "I already have the house elf fussing over me, I don't need you nagging me too Granger."

"I'm not nagging you for you, I'm nagging you for me. If your Mother turns up, I don't want to face her screaming at me again after the fiasco last April when you had a slight sniffle."

"It was the flu!"

"Don't exaggerate!"

Draco smirked slightly, he found the idea of Granger more worried about facing his Mother, than him actually being injured slightly amusing. He raised his eyebrow as she stood in front of him, hands out. "What? You want me to take my shows off because you just cleaned the floor? What? What. Do. You. Want?" He said slowly, enunciating each word carefully.

"Well? Is there any news? About Blaise?"

"Oh." He furrowed his brow slightly, it hadn't occurred to him that Granger would actually want to know. "He's been held hostage but theres a search on, we're hoping to find the rebel cell before it's too late."

Hermione frowned slightly. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Why do you care? Even Blaise's mother couldn't find a way for blaming you for that."

Throwing the dust cloth on the table she placed her hands on her hips. "Well excuse me for giving a shit!"

Becoming angry, Draco stood to his feet. "Look Granger, we're not Potter and Weaselby, we're not your friends. Your really out of line here."

For the second time in her life, Hermione brought her hand across Draco's face, slapping him hard, leaving him stunned and holding his cheek as she huffed and stormed out of the room.

"Granger? GRANGER!"

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Author's notes:

Oh look at me being all productive... Let me know what you guys think of this one, I was a bit worried about it.

UPDATE: Please STOP sending me messages, telling me that 'hostipal' is spelt wrong. It's supposed to be spelt that way, it's a quirk I give to my house elf's, it's from a quote from a character called Baldrick in the series Black Adder goes forth. Look it up, it's really funny...