Chapter 14: Magic's Consequences

Hermione backed away from the window and looked at Draco. He looked just as terrified as she was. She knew why the aurors had come; they had come to take Draco away. They probably had put a trace on his magic, much like the underage wizards had on their magic. The moment he had performed the levitation charm, the aurors were alerted. Hermione sank to the floor as the tears began to flow like a waterfall down her cheeks. Draco picked her up and took her over to the couch. He sat with her and pulled her into his arms.

"They've come to take you away from me! You can't go, Draco, you can't! I don't know what I'd do if it happened again." Hermione cried burying her face in his chest.

"If what happened again?" He asked her. He looked into her eyes and saw how sad she was; it broke his heart to see her like this.

"If I lost the man I love again." She replied in a whisper.

"Oh, love, that will never happen. I promise you." Draco said pressing his lips to her forehead. He pulled her closer as she continued to cry. Then someone began to bang on the door.

"Malfoy! We are aurors from the Ministry of Magic, and we have a warrant for your arrest. You are a known Death Eater, and we advise you to come quietly, or we will be forced to take proper action." A voice yelled through the door. Hermione knew who it was. It was her best friend coming to take Draco away. This caused her to cling on to Draco even tighter. Draco tried to get her up so that he could answer the door, but Hermione wouldn't budge.

"Do you want Potter to see you with me like this?" He asked.

"I don't care." She mumbled into his chest.

After Draco didn't answer the door, the Aurors had come to the conclusion that he wasn't going to 'come quietly'. About 2 minutes after they banged on the door, the door was forced open. Harry Potter, followed by half a dozen aurors stormed into the cabin, wands at the ready. They looked ready to take Draco down if he was stupid enough to try and fight back. All of the aurors were shocked into silence when they saw him wandless, with a girl curled up in his lap.

"Okay, Malfoy, your little girlfriend needs to go. Assuming she is a muggle, her memory also needs to be modified." Harry said pointing his wand at the girl, who, unknown to him, was his best friend.

"Hold on. No memory modification needed. She's a witch." He lowered his voice. "Hermione, come on. You need to get up." She took a deep breath.

"We haven't got all day Malfoy, I don't care if she's a witch, get her out of here!" Harry yelled impatiently. Hermione stood up and turned around. Many gasps were heard from behind Harry, and from Harry himself.

"I'm not going anywhere." She said defiantly.

"What the bloody hell are you doing with him, Hermione?" Harry yelled.

"I, you see…we…" she stuttered.

"He's a Death Eater for Merlin's sake!" he said to her.

"No he's not! I have proof that he's been at this camp for the past 6 years, not with Voldemort." She said matter-of-factly.

"That may be, but that doesn't change the fact that he has the Dark Mark." Harry said angrily. Hermione felt more tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. She looked at Draco to see that he looked absolutely terrified. She then looked to Harry with tears in her eyes.

"What are you going to do with him?" she asked.

"We've been ordered to take him to Azkaban." Harry replied.

"Azkaban?" Hermione repeated. She began to sob harder. Draco went to her and wrapped his arms around her as she cried. "I can't do it, Draco. I told you already I can't. I can't handle it, I can't do it again."

"What can't you do, Hermione?" Harry asked, getting very worried about his best friend.

"I can't-" Hermione couldn't finish her sentence.

"Lose the man that she loves again." Draco finished for her. Harry looked completely gob smacked by his words.

"You love him?" Harry asked in complete disbelief. "Since when?"

"I don't know. We've been spending so much time together, and he's so unbelievably sweet. There are so many things we have in common that it's scary. You can't take him away Harry; you know what it would do to me." She reminded him. Harry saw the look in her eyes, and saw how tightly she held on to Malfoy. Harry sighed.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. I have orders. I will try to keep him out of Azkaban, but I have to at least take him to the Ministry for some questioning, and most likely a trial. I'll try my best for you, I promise." Harry told her. It didn't make her feel much better, but she was comforted a little that Harry would be with him. She looked at Draco and saw that he looked pretty relieved.

"Okay, but please look out for him Harry. I can't lose him."

"I will." Harry said giving her a hug. Hermione then turned to Draco. He gave her a sad smile.

"I'll be okay. Potter is your best friend I think he can keep his promise. As for me, I'll come back to you, no matter what. You can count on it; you're stuck with me now." Draco said pulling her into a hug. "I'm leaving you in charge. I know you can handle it. Please try not to worry too much. I'll be back before you know it." He told her. He lifted her chin so she was looking into his eyes. He guided her lips to his, where they locked in a passionate kiss full of desperation and love. He broke the kiss and gazed into her eyes. "I just want you to know that I love you too." Her whispered to her.

He then turned from her and followed Harry and the other aurors out the door. When she heard the door click as it closed, she stood frozen in the living room. The words 'I love you too' did cartwheels through her mind over and over. She walked into his room where she collapsed on his bed and cried herself to sleep.

She woke up at about 6 o'clock the next morning. She walked, more like dragged herself, to the bathroom. She took a look at herself in the mirror; she looked like hell. Her lack of sleep had caused huge bags to for under her eyes. Her hair was messy and disheveled from tossing and turning all night. She got in the shower and tried hard not to think about the previous night. The harder she tried to forget about it, the more she thought about it. She finished her shower and put her clothes on. She walked into the living room and turned on the radio in hopes that she would be able to listen to the music and the music would distract her from thinking about Draco. Her mind could not focus on anything else, and she remembered things she would rather forget.

As Hermione laid in Draco's bed, she began to relive the horrible things from the past, and new ones forming in the present. Draco's arrest had caused the memories of everything that happened in the past to haunt her once again. She knew that they would continue to haunt her until she was back safe in Draco's arms. She closed her eyes and tried to think of something, anything that would take her mind off of Draco and Ron. She wanted to dream of their first kiss, his smile, his laugh, the feeling of his touch. She had no dreams that night, because sleep never came.

Hermione remembered the many nights where it wasn't Draco she cried for, but Ron she cried for. She remembered all those years she spent alone in the muggle world when she couldn't face the people she loved. All that changed when she came back to C.S.R. and found Draco. In the past few weeks, she didn't notice how much she had come to depend on him, until now. She needed him here with her, to hold her and kiss her and tell her everything was all right. He wasn't here though. He had been taken from her, just like Ron was. She could only hope that Draco would come back to her.

She sat on the couch and just stared at the wall. She nearly fell off the couch when the silence was interrupted by a knock on the door. She went over to the door and opened it. Mark and Jessie were standing at the door. Both of their faces fell at the sight of Hermione. Her hair may have looked better than it did earlier, but there were still huge bags under her eyes. They were also her best friends and they could tell when something was wrong.

"What happened? Where's Daniel?" Mark asked. Hermione motioned for them to come in. The three of them sat on the couch. Hermione then told them what had happened the previous night.

"He's where?" Jessie asked.

"The Ministry of Magic, I hope." Hermione replied.

"When is he going to be back? Who's in charge if he's gone?" Mark asked.

"I'm in charge until he comes back, but I don't know how long he's going to be gone." Hermione told them.

"Okay, you'll do a great job, Jay." Jessie said smiling at her.

"We'll see you down at the court in about half an hour." Mark told Hermione. She nodded. The three of them stood up, and Mark and Jessie both gave Hermione hugs before they left. Hermione sat down on the couch with her healer book, and planned to read until breakfast. She was interrupted when she heard a tapping sound coming from Draco's bedroom. She went into his room and saw that there was an owl at his window. She saw it wasn't just any owl. It was Hedwig. She quickly opened the window and took the letter from Hedwig. It read:

Dear Hermione.

Everything is going pretty well, now. When we first arrived at the Ministry, Malfoy caused a lot of commotion. I've been working on it all night, and they have agreed not to send him to Azkaban, yet. He's in the auror office under 24 hour surveillance at the moment. Everything should be okay, I think. I pulled some strings with Remus, and had his trial scheduled for Saturday, because Draco said you and some of your friends had the day off. I hope your doing okay!

Love,

Harry

At the bottom, there was a little note from Draco:

Hermione,

Just wanted to let you know that I'm okay. Potter's doing a good job. Did you know that the minister of magic is that werewolf that used to be our DADA teacher? Apparently Potter knows him, so that's pretty good for me. I hope you're doing all right without me. Hopefully these next three days go pretty smoothly at camp. I miss you already!

All My Love,

Draco

Hermione put the letter down and let out a breath that she didn't know that she had been holding. She leaned backwards and fell onto Draco's bed. She was so grateful for Harry and Remus and all of their influence at the Ministry. She was so relieved that everything was going well. She was also convinced that the trial would go well, because she had four witnesses saying he was at camp for the past six years. Hermione stood up and began the walk down to the basketball court. She knew deep down that everything was going to be okay.

A/N: Just want to thanks everyone who's been reading and reviewing! I know my chapters aren't very long but I hope you all are enjoying the story :D