A/N: What to say? I dont know.
«««DEDICATED TO MY GOOD FRIEND, ADAM T. SISKA.»»»
One, two, one, two. The steps, the numbers replayed in her head like a movie, like a video tape. Hearing the gasps, she didn't know whether to smile in satisfaction, frown at the attention, or cry because of her self pity. Yet she walked on like the woman she was, simply going to the supermarket to buy a green pepper.
Even these actions became harder, day by day.
She reached the sliding doors and walked in with a confident stride, making a beeline for the vegetables. Hermione knew everyone here were strangers-so she thought.
Hermione bent over the greens, inspecting each one with close scrutiny as she did every Sunday. Oblivious to the fact it was not just everyday Sunday.
"Oh..oh, Hermione." She ignored it at first before caving in moments later and looked up to see Ginny, her mouth in a perfect "o" as she stared at her, dead in her tracks. Turquoise eyes trailed over the straps of her clothing, the white tightness in her torso and finally, the torn skirt that went to her knees in a sort of ragged, yet fashionable style, still a clean white, yet torn, as if 'scarred princess' was her new look. The 'o' of Ginny's mouth narrowed before tuning into a flat line.
"Hermione." She repeated, and she gave her best friend a forced smile.
"Yes, Ginny?"
"You can't be seen in public like this," She murmured, stepping forward. She looked down at the remains of Hermione's wedding dress hung on her thin frame.
Hermione's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"
She rolled her eyes in reply, saying, "You know what. You're wearing your wedding dress." Hermione stayed firm, yet the words cut her like a razor.
"I think it's gorgeous, dont you agree?" Another forced smile, which vanished as Ginny swooped forward and grabbed Hermione arm, Disapparating. Hermione stumbled back from the flaming re-headed girl, bumping into the breakfast bar of Ginny and Harry's flat.
But what surprised her most was Ginny, in her fighting stance, eyes blazing with fury s she held Hermione at wandpoint. Her eyes because flat and dangerous. "We need to talk, Mione."
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Draco slid down the wall, perplexed at the girl. Her own jaded eyes met his, then turned into a mock sympathy. "Aw, poor little petty Blondie doesn't know the tricks of the trade? Come on, 1445692." she drawls, her lazy words sounding strange in a chipper, Irish accent. She snorted and turned her moonlight pale face from him. He still stared, eyebrows scrunched together.
"Listen up, newbie." She shuffled forward, and Draco's eyes widened at the close proximity of her face from his, her eyes shining with a peculiar light, grey flecks in her irises. "You eat your nosh, you don't screw up, you don't get your soul pulled out from your nostrils, 'kay?" Mona leaned back slowly, a small smirk on her face.
He still sat, dumbfounded, before he looked away, stricken with fear. "Hermione."
The name perked her interest. "Ermine? Who's that?" He shook his head and looked back, running a hand through ash shook hair, knowing that he must look ridiculous, covered in soot while she looked heavenly and clean as ever.
"No one." Her eyebrows shot up, yet she remained silent. Without another word, she flicked out from her wristlets a cigarette, already lit. "Er, Mona..?"
"Yes," She mutters in a dangerous voice, staring at the opposite grey bars, then flickering to the tallies on the wall. "I do smoke. Sod off..." Mona flips on her side, and her green eyes intensified. Her lips curl into a smile. "Posh Kid." She shrugs him away and turns on her side, tensing her muscles in her legs visibly before relaxing them.
"How long am I going to be here? Do you know?" A shaking of blonde curls was his reply.
"I've been here for years." She groaned, turning on her back. "Lovely, innit?"
"What for?" This sparked new curiosity into Draco. Knowing that she was defeated to answer this stranger's many questions, she sat up with another tired groan and faced him. Her eyes traveled up as she wrapped a lock of hair around her finger, causing it to get more spiraled.
"My fiancee," She murmured. "Sleeping wit' someone else. He kept saying, 'Oh, me Mona, I feel so bad, she put a spell on me, she d-BZZT!'"She shook out her hand and made a loud buzzing noise, startling the listener. "After I put a spell on him, I did, he only talks to Bongo, his stuffed rabbit up at St.Mungos." Mona chuckled darkly.
Draco stared at the mysterious woman and suddenly realized instead of the life he had planned for the past year, to spend it with Hermione, he had to spend it with her."Off your
trolley.." Draco murmured in a voice so soft, she either ignored it or didn't hear him.
"Right you are, mate.." She drawled, laying on her stomach and seconds later, a small snore came from her lips. He didn't have it in him to chuckle.
Suddenly, a breeze with no source swept through the dungeon. Draco first noticed this when Mona's hair began to move and sway. He turned towards the direction the airstrip was coming from, yet it seemed as if it were coming from all directions. And then, it happened. Draco leaned forward, holding his stomach and began to retch, a strange piercing wreaking on his stomach. He felt as if he were to throw up, but nothing came out and he dry heaved once again.
Draco glanced at Mona, still remaining motionless on the ground. He turned his head back, his temple resting on the bar when the source of the storm came, a Dementor leaning down on him. He had seen Dementors before, but these were like none other. Their cloaks billowed around them, the wind seeming to come from underneath. The cloak seemed less like a fabric and more like a skin against it's round face, the hole just dying to suck him of his soul dry...
He was slammed against the opposite wall of the Dementor by another unseen force, sending stars spinning around his eyes. Mona had suddenly gotten to her feet, and Draco was surprised;she was nearly as tall as him. A defiant look in her eyes, she spat at the Dementor, "He's fresh, I must admit, but he's not yours. Get out of here, you know I'm all out."
As if the Dementors had heard her as an authority figure, it swiveled back into the darkness. Mona's chest heaved and she collapsed back, panting and gripping her chest, over her heart.
"Deary me, Posh, near had a heart attack. Once you put up your front, they get scared away. Keep it in mind." Draco was still in shock this mysterious, yet fiery blond curled girl had saved his life. She stared at him and blinked, causing him to blush at both the proximity such a beautiful girl was in with him, and at the fact she then muttered, "Not a thank you for life saving, hm? Well, I suppose that it doesn't matter. We're both going to die soon."
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"Ginevra Weasley, put your wand down this inst-"
"Dont you act "Mum" for me! I get enough at it at home!" Ginny hissed, brandishing her wand in Hermione's face, causing her to shrink back ever so slightly. Yet she rolled her eyes and continued, "Hermione. Please, let me help."
"I dont need help!" Hermione growled, trying to push from Ginny's way to no avail.
"Dont make me stun you!" Ginny yelled. "Stupefy!" But Hermione was still skilled and whipped out her own wand, saying with a flick, "Protego!" And Hermione was not stunned.
Ginny and Hermione were both taken aback by their actions, but at the same moment, Ginny was snapped from her stupor and said with a flourish of her wand, 'Expelliarmus!"
Her wand was flown from her hand to the opposite wall, landing with a clatter. Hermione gasped and tried to spun no the spot to Disapparate to her own flat. Yet nothing happened, and Hermione cursed under her breath, not being able to Apparate without her wand.
"There..now we see who's in a position to fight.." Ginny said in a smug demeanor, before her gaze softened. "Hermione..for the past couple of days, you've been, well, off your rocker. And I know you care about Dr-"
"Dont you do it, Ginny!" Hermione had pointed at her, tears forming in her eyes. "Dont you say his name!"
"Well, someone has to! You need to get it through your head Draco's gone!"
"But he doesn't have to be! Someone made a mistake, you heard them! They say he killed me! I was right there..they saw me. At least I thought they did, and for some reason they think I'm dead. And you don't want to do a damned thing about it! Just like Ronald!" Tears ran down her flushed cheeks as she shouted. Ginny lowered her wand, but only slightly, her guard still up.
"..You're right. To the Ministry?" She asked in a chipper voice, and Hermione shot her an incredulous look. Ginny just beamed back.
"And you realize you just had me at wandpoint?" Ginny handed her Hermione's wand and grabbed her, turning on the spot before she could say another word. Once they landed in front of the phone booth, Hermione pulled away from her grasp vigorously, glaring.
"No! This isn't over! I-"
"I wasn't going to kill you, calm down..." Ginny waved it and the thought away and opened the door to the phone booth, pulling Hermione into the tight, cramped space. She punched in the numbers as she had many times before and the Welcome Witch's voice came on almost immediately, from thin air. "Names?"
"Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley." She recited in a clear,firm voice.
"Error. Name "Hermione Granger" belongs to deceased person. Try again." Hermione paled and hit her head on the back of the broken down booth.
"Er..maybe it's broken..." Ginny mumbled, horrorstruck.
"We both know it's not broken.." Hermione said, her voice hollow. She was trying her hardest not to lose it-losing Draco was enough. Her mind was the only thing she had to grasp onto, and if she didn't have that, she didn't know what she'd do.
"Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley!" Ginny blurted out.
"Ginny!" Hermione scolded. "We could get into huge trouble for that!" She rolled her eyes at this.
"State your business." The Welcome Witch said.
"We have to talk to...Arthur Weasley." Ginny said in a firm tone. Badges slid towards them from the machine and suddenly they were dropping like a lift down to the Atrium. Hermione fumbled with the badge reading Luna's name nervously, pinning it on 30 seconds later. After that, The Welcome Witch said, "Level Eight; The Atrium. The Ministry of Magic wishes you a magical day."
They stepped out from the booth doors and Ginny saw before them Jason, the same security guard who took Ginny's wand.
"Why, I'm sorry about Potter there losing his job," Jason said with as much fake sympathy he could stomach. Ginny however, couldn't, and thrust her wand into his hands roughly. She stuck her nose in the air and huffed, and Jason mimicked the same before she turned around. She was given her wand back, and she sneered, walking past him with Hermione in tow.
Except Hermione wasn't angry at him for saying such things about Harry, but in shock. She stared at Ginny with widened, frightened eyes, like a scared deer.
"What's wrong?" She asked, concerned for her best friend.
" 'What's wrong?' 'What's wrong?' I'M DAMNED NEAR INVISIBLE, THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG!" Hermione bellowed. Ginny hadn't noticed this much in her fury-people bumped right into Hermione in the Atrium, not noticing her presence whilst they spend past and around Ginny.
"Okay...Dad's probably in his office." Ginny stood on her toes and looked over the heads of the masses. "Too far to go back to the booth, Floo, shall we?" She was being pulled again, not waiting for a response from the shell shocked girl.
She, of course, knew exactly where she was going and nearly pushed a woman away from the fireplace and pulled Hermione in, holding a handful of Floo and said clearly above the suffocating noise, "Misuse Of Muggle Artifacts!"
Hermione and Ginny were used to the feeling of being pulled, and Ginny took Hermione's hand soon after they had arrived and went down a large, slightly noisy hall until they reached a door that said, "Arthur Weasley: Head of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts."
Hermione began to get nostalgic, seeing the man with horn rimmed glasses, his head bent over a small stack of papers he was filling out with ease, like it was the best thing he'd been doing all day. He glanced up and his eyes warmed at the sight of his daughter.
"Ginny, how are you?" He stood from his desk and hugged her tightly, which, even though they were there for a serious purpose, hugged bear like back.
He laughed, ruffling the girl's straight, red hair, still a little curly from Hermione's wedding. She hadn't noticed that;Hermione was against the wall, shocked, murmuring to herself at the fact he hadn't taken notice.
"Uhm, Daddy, seen 'Mione?" Giny asked stiffly, glancing back at Hermione's paled face.
Mr. Weasley blinked. "Not since the wedding, no. Poor girl, I really do wish what had happened didn't...what're you looking at, dear?" Arthur raises his head and followed her line of sight, confused. This line of sight went straight to Hermione's eyes, and she let out a choked gasp, putting a hand over her chest as if she couldn't breathe. Suddenly, she rushed forward and grabbed Mr. Weasley's cloak, pulling on it.
"Mr. Weasley, please! I'm right here!" She tugged and tugged, but he didn't react the slightest, as if she hadn't been pulling on him at all. She stopped, shuddered a sigh and stepped back.
"Well...um. Just wanted to say hello, we should get going, now. But one other thing...the last time you saw her was at the wedding, correct?"
"Yes, I thought she went missing!" He furrowed his brow and rubbing his chin with his thumb. "Well, I've got work, so I'll see you at home, dear." He turned and sat down, scribbling on the forms again. "And if you see Hermione, tell her I'm working on getting Draco out of Azkaban right now. Kingsley's gone mad.." He murmured.
"Yes..." Ginny mumbled, pulling Hermione out of the room.
"Did you see that? He can't..no one...I'm...no one can.." She mumbled, walking aimlessly to the fireplace. She was about the step in and screamed, for the green fire roared and no one else but Harry stepped out, tripping backwards and falling.
"OH! Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, incredulous and surprised. She nonchalantly bent down as if she had dropped something, but took Hermione's hand to pull her up.
"Hi." Harry's green eyes were flat and he put his hands in his coat pocket. "Seen 'Mione?" Hermione had standing beside Ginny, and all blood drained from her face.
"Harry..HARRY!" Hermione shouted, waving a hand in front of his unblinking face. "It's me, it's Hermione! I'm right here, Harry, I'm right here!" Harry stared past her and straight at Ginny, unmoving.
"Haven't you?" Ginny croaked, her face beginning to pale.
"Not yet..what's wrong...?"
"I feel sick.."Ginny muttered, not being able to believe he couldn't see Hermione. She whipped her wand out and pointed it at Harry, her eyes wide.
"No!" Ginny hissed to Harry wouldn't notice, but Hermione, in an act of desperation, yelled "Stupefy!"
Nothing happened.
"Stupefy, Stupefy, STUPEFY!" Hermione shouted. Her wand was merely a piece of wood in her hand, and she stared down at it. She pointed it at Ginny and her blue eyes widened as well as she said, "Immobulus!" Testing to see if Ginny would freeze.
"Ginny...what is it?" Harry asked in a worried tone, but Ginny didn't freeze at all. Hermione's chest began to rise and fall as she breathed heavily.
"I...I..." She turned on the spot and fled from the scene, into the fireplace, holding Floo. She murmured something and dropped it, the green flames enveloping her until she was noting more behind the one she used to call 'friend.'
A/N: I havent been writing recently. But what do you think? Eh? Eh?