Chapter 12: Released
"Get up." Draco pulled his servant away from the lifeless body.
"How could you do this? She was just a kid!" Hermione screeched at him jerked his hands off her arm.
"She's part of the resistance. It was necessary."
"Nece—it was—you call murdering a defenseless child necessary?"
"She knew what she signed up for when she started parading herself about as Hermione Granger, undesirable number one, so get over it."
"You MURDEREDa kid Malfoy! I'm not just going to get over that. I can't even describe how much I hate you right now!"
"Oh, I'm sure I can help you get over that," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"No, I'm through being your—your—your sex pet!"
"That's not what you were screaming about earlier." Draco reached out for her arm.
"Don't touch me!"
"I'll touch you when I blood well please to touch you! You're my property and I can do what I want with you!"
Hermione pulled her hand back and struck the man before her with all her might.
"No you won't. Not anymore. I've let you do far more than I ever should have let you, but it's not right and I won't let you do what you want with me anymore."
"You bloody little bit—"
"Shut up Malfoy, I wasn't through. You are evil Draco Malfoy. Your inner moral compass is lacking if you think what you're doing is right. You can't even recognize that your actions are wrong. You're caught into a vacuum where your moral idiocy kills, rapes, pillages, cheats and lies. You're ethically dense. You see no real reason to not lie or treat others as more than just a means to an end and you elevate yourself so far above everyone else that you fail to connect to society or anyone around you.
"Just look at everything you've done! You've enslaved your own kind! Muggles and witches alike! You treat them like dirt, as if they're here for nothing more than to please you. Is that all I am to you? A slave? Someone to clean your house because Merlin knows you couldn't possibly have enough enslaved houselves to do the cleaning for you, but no! You keep me locked up here as your prisoner to clean your now immaculate house and satisfy your hormonal needs. Then you act all surprised and hurt when I don't love you for it even though you've beaten and tortured and raped me for over a year now? But no, you're Draco fucking Malfoy and everyone should love you, just like in Hogwarts. Is that it Malfoy."
"If you want to bloody leave Velia then just go. I don't need you! I don't need this! You obviously don't know me at all! And how the hell would you bloody know what it was like for me at Hogwarts you halfbreed!"
"Oh! Just leave then? Ha! As if you would actually be merciful and let me go! You've made sure I can't go anywhere with this bloody bracelet on my wrist." Hermione stuck her wrist in his face and shook it at him. "The moment you feel the need to see me I'll have no bloody choice but to be summoned to you."
Malfoy roughly grabbed her arm and pulled his wand out. Hermione winced at the sight and prepared herself to be curse. Frankly, she hoped he would just kill her and be done with it. Draco muttered a spell that Hermione didn't recognize. She felt a tingly sensation wave through her body, but that was it.
"There. Go. You've finally gotten what you wanted." Draco whispered and gently let go of her wrist.
Hermione was a little confused as she looked down at her wrist. The bracelet was gone. She was free! Hermione was immediately elated with joy and wanted to run away as fast and as far as her legs would carry her, but she didn't. She suddenly felt a little empty. Just like that? He was going to let her go?
"Draco-"
"I have business to attend to. Be sure you're gone by the time I get back. Otherwise, I may change my mind and you'll be mine forever." Draco was looking deep into the girl's eyes as he whispered to her.
"How do I know you won't come looking for me?"
"I won't. I'm letting you go." Then he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, with a swish of his cloak Draco disapparated into thin air out of Hermione's life. The girl stood there only too shocked by his gentle display.
Was he really letting her go or was it another one of his tricks?
She didn't want to wait around and find out. Hermione dashed downstairs to her room and packed all of her belongings, which wasn't much. Just a few clothes and the needed food to keep her at bay for as long as she thought was necessary. Hermione had no idea what she would do this time. Just as she finished packing her last item and small cough echoed in the room. Hermione turned around and found herself face to face with Astarte, the house elf.
"Master is telling me to give you this."
Hermione gasped at the wooden stick in the little houselves hand. It was her wand.
"Thank you, Astarte. Tell Master Malfoy thank you for me." The houself nodded and handed her the wand. It felt thrilling to be able to grasp the wooden handle again. Her ten and three quarters vine wood with a dragon heartstring core sparked at her touch. "Well, good bye then." She said awkwardly.
"Good bye miss."
Hermione looked at the houself one last time and departed the room. Her first steps outside of the manor were short and quick as she was terrified that it was just another one of Malfoy's tricks, but as she made it outside of the wards Hermione couldn't find it in herself to immediately leave. She turned around one last time to look at the manor.
It truly was beautiful as a white peacock made its way across the lawn.
"Good bye, Draco." Then with a pop! she was gone.
..
Draco could hear footsteps pounding across the cold stone floor. He didn't care though. It was over. She was gone. His parents were gone. And his search to find Granger had proven impossible. Perhaps, she really had been dead this whole time.
The man looked down at his blood soaked hands. None of that mattered anymore.
The footsteps had finally made their way to the room. A gasp was heard, but Draco didn't look up. He didn't care that he was found out. It was too late, after all, the deed was done.
"Draco," the voice was familiar, belonging to his godfather. He felt a cold hand on his shoulder. "Draco, can you hear me?"
Snape bent down to his eye level, since Draco was sitting on the floor, his knees up to his chest and hands resting on his knees.
"Yes." That was all he said.
"What happened here Draco?"
"I killed him." He said simply.
Snape took in all the blood. It was everywhere. On the young man's clothes, face, hands, puddles of blood were on the floor, seeping even farther across the stone floor, but there was no body.
"Where is he?"
Draco looked over to the fire and stared. Snape followed his gaze and saw a shape of a human body, slowly being overtaken by flames.
"Let's get you washed up, son."
"Don't you want to know how I did it?" Draco asked darkly. His tone startled the older wizard. "It was easy actually. Much easier than I expected."
"I think you need to clean up and rest first."
"I made sure to keep my thoughts clear of betrayal and instead focused on something else. Hermione." Draco ignored his godfathers pushes. "I knew it would distract him. I mentioned her in my thoughts and his attention was immediately drawn.
The room was very dark with only the fireplace for lighting. It smelled musty, making Draco want to choke. Voldemort was surrounded by Deatheaters, their eyes and ears perked up with every word he spoke. When he noticed Draco's presence he smiled and welcomed him in the circle.
"I have some important news about the mudblood." Voldemort smiled even wider.
"Very good, my son, I knew you would find her for me. Leave us!" The red-eyed man hissed and the Deatheaters immediately left his side. "Tell me you found her Draco."
"I can do better than that my Lord, I have her at the manor in my dungeon. I will take you to her."
"Excellent!" The Dark Lord laughed, practically jumped off his throne and glided to Draco. His sadistic smile never left his face.
"He sent everyone away leaving me alone with the Dark Lord. I told him I found her and could take him to her to personally capture the mudblood. You should have seen his face. He looked very pleased. He didn't even notice me pull out my wand he was so excited. He practically ran to my side to apparate.
Draco kept his mind on Granger, picturing the bushy-haired girl chained to his dungeon, beaten, broken, and bleeding. He felt the Dark Lord enter his mind. The man made sure to keep the image in his head so as not to alert the Dark Lord of his plan.
"She looks absolutely horrible. Well done, son." Draco bowed his head as Voldemort finally arrived at his side.
" When he was nearly to my side I cursed him. Your favorite actually, sectumsempra.
The blond man clutched his wand tightly waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When it finally came he didn't take any chances.
"Sectumsempra!" He bellowed.
Blood spewed everywhere as if a large sword slashed from Voldemort's left should to his right hip. The Dark Lord screamed in agony and immediately fell to the floor.
"You have betrayed me Malfoy," the Dark Lord hissed as he pulled out his wand. "For that you will die."
"No, it's your turn to die Tom. And this time, you won't be coming back. Sectumsempra!" Another gash of blood spewed from the stump that was Voldemort's wrist. His wand rolled away as Tom Riddle's scream filled the room with a loud high pitched echo. "You killed my family. Now it's my turn to kill you."
"It cut him right through the torso, but it wasn't enough so I cursed him again. He screamed like a little girl wailing for help, but no one came.
Suddenly instead of screams, the room filled with laughter. It was loud and maniacal. Draco looked down at the bleeding man, giving him an incredulous look.
"After all these years you have finally become what I brought you up to be. You're just like me now, son. Evil, powerful, ruthless, but most of all, heartless."
"I'm nothing like you!" Draco screamed. Anger boiled inside him as he searched for something to end the Dark Lord's life besides his wand. He found the perfect tool. It was the sword of Goddric Gryffindor. With one quick slice through the air the laughing was gone.
Tom Riddle was dead.
"He lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood before I finally ended him. My last cut severed his head. I had to be sure he was truly dead so I tore him apart and threw him in the fire."
"Come on Draco, let's get you cleaned up."
Snape took a hold of Draco's arm and apparated them to the manor. He pushed Draco into the shower and soaked him with water. The water around their feet was a dark red for quite some time. Draco stood there fully clothed and eyes unblinking, as if he were a statue. Once the water finally ran clear, the godfather pulled the young man out and dried him with a spell. He sat him on a chair and started the fire. Draco hadn't uttered a word.
"You said you found Miss Granger?" Snape asked.
"It was a lie, a decoy to fool him."
"There's something I think you should know Draco. I thought that surely by now you would have figured it out. Miss Granger, I know where she is."
Draco's head snapped up, he looked enraged.
"You know where she is? How long have you known?"
"Almost a year."
"You've know where that mudblood has been for a year and you didn't tell anyone? You didn't tell me? After all this time I've been obsessing over her location and you didn't bother to tell me where she is!"
"I tried telling you many times, but you wouldn't hear of it. You wanted to find her for yourself, without Voldemort knowing, as I recall myself."
"Where is she?"
"She's been here, at your manor, living as a servant." Draco looked confused.
"Are you mocking me? I think I'd know if there were a mudblood in my manor Severus."
"Velia."
"What about her?"
"She disguised herself as Velia."
"No, that's not—"
"Think about it Draco, put two and two together. Her name is Velia, concealed. She's an orphan, no family or friends. Her Italian accent is English. She hated you from the moment she arrived at your place. She can use powerful wandless magic."
"How did you know all this?"
"You told me all about her on the drunken steps of my doorway. You were practically doting on her. Then, when you invited us all over for dinner and she served our food, I knew instantly she was Granger. The look she had on her face when she neared Voldemort, as if she wanted to kill him. How could you not see it? Any other servant would be terrified of his presence, anyone except Hermione Granger. The last of the Golden Trio."
"She recognized me when we first met. I thought it was just because everyone knew me. How could I not have seen it."
"You love her."
Draco was silent.
"Now that the Voldemort is dead, what will you do Draco?"
"Avenge my parent's death."
"What about the girl?"
"I let her go."
"You won't go after her? After all this time?"
"No, I promised her I wouldn't."
"Velia or Miss Granger?"
"It doesn't matter anymore. Tom Riddle is no more and I have a large menu of deatheaters that need to be taken care of."
"You're going to resume his position?"
"No. I'm going to kill the people who betrayed my parents and be done with it. All of it."
"Things won't be the same Draco. You realize that?"
"Of course I do, but it doesn't matter." Draco stood from his spot and gave one last glance to his godfather. "Good bye Severus, thanks for everything."
Draco was gone before he could even respond to the man. He shook his head. What was he going to do?
..
Hermione apparated with a loud pop! It was the first place she could think of, an old childhood memory. She took in the smell of the fresh forest and fishy lake and listened to the crickets chirp in the night air.
"Who's there?" Someone whispered. They held their wand up making Hermione squint against the brightness.
"It's me. Hermione Granger. Who're you?"
"I'm Hermione Granger." The girl lowered her wand so Hermione could see her. "You had me scared there. For a moment I thought you were a deatheater. Say, I haven't seen you around here before." The girl finally stepped close enough for Hermione to make out her features.
"Susan? Susan Bones?"
"I—no I'm Hermi—" Hermione didn't let the girl finish her sentence as she gave her a bone crushing hug.
"You don't know how good it feels to see a familiar face that doesn't want to kill you."
"Who are you?"
"It's me. The real Hermione Granger." Hermione flicked her wand at herself and felt her features change. It felt good to be back in her own body. She smiled brightly at her schoolmate
"Merlin's beard! It's really you! You're not dead! You came back!" The red head pulled her into her own bone crushing hug. "Where have you been? How did you find us? Come on we've got to tell the others!"
Susan pulled Hermione into the dark forest where they came upon several tents and small fires scattered about. People were milling around talking to one another. They looked as if they hadn't eaten or bathed in months. Her heart cringed at the sight. It was all because of her.
"Everyone! Come quick!" Susan yelled to the camp. "She's back! Hermione Granger is finally back!"
A loud buzz broke out in the camp and people gathered around Hermione and Susan. They looked both skeptical and excited. Everyone was whispered to each other quietly contemplating her return until finally someone voiced their concern
"How do we know it's really you?"
"Ya!" Another pipped in. "Prove it!"
The crowd broke out in turmoil, accusing Hermione to be an imposter. The young woman panicked momentarily. How could she prove it was really her?
"Erm, well I'm a muggle born, I went to Hogwarts. I was sorted into Gryffindor with Harry and Ron—"
"Everyone knows that! Tells us something only the real Hermione would know."
"Has anyone seen my shoes? I think the nargles have hidden them somewhere," an airy voice interrupted the commotion. Everyone turned to glare at the girl for interrupting the inquisition.
"After all this time, you still believe in all that rubbish Luna? Even when I've proved to you countless times that nargles and crumpled horncacks don't exist." Hermione smiled at the familiar face, relieved and exasperated at her appearance. She hadn't changed a bit. Hermione opened her arms and embraced her old friend.
"Oh, hello Hermione. You know, we were beginning to think you were really dead."
Whispers broke out amongst the crowd, the noise heightened until at last they all swarmed around Hermione and the blonde.
"It's really her!" "Hermione!" "You've come to save us!"