100 REVIEWS! That was my goal and there's still quite a bit left to go! Thank you guys! I am completely beside myself.
Sorry for the late update. I turned fifteen on Wednesday so the whole week was hectic. But I'm not going to complain about a lot of cake and food.
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The moment that Draco realized that we were free, he dropped to the ground. I kneeled at his side and brushed his hair out of his eyes.
"I didn't do anything," he murmured, and looked up at me. "Not this time."
"What?" I asked, not fully comprehending what he was saying.
Then I understood. He was talking about what his father had done to him. How he had tortured him.
"Normally I do something wrong, but not this time," he added.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing gives a parent the right to do that to their child. I don't care what you did, you didn't deserve it," I assured him.
Lightning flashed and thunder followed almost immediately. A storm was close. In the blinding flash I saw tears streaking their way down his cheeks.
Decide Hermione, I told myself. I could comfort him or pretend I didn't see the tears.
You must all make a choice between what is right and what is easy, I heard Dumbledore saying.
The right thing was to comfort him, the easy thing was to imagine the tears didn't exist. I was a free witch now and I didn't need Draco Malfoy to help me anymore. I didn't need him at all. But for some reason I still wanted him in my life. I still wanted us to be friends... if that's what we could be called. And there was something more I wanted but I couldn't quite place my finger on it. It would be easy to forget to that this ever happened and go back to being enemies.
But it would be hard because I... well I wasn't going to admit what I felt towards the blonde Slytherin, not even to myself, simply because I didn't know, and I hated not knowing. I was going to find out though.
Freedom was already getting to me. I had my own feelings again, and I could make my own decisions.
It was in that moment that I decided that I was going to make the last week mean something. I pulled Draco's head against my shoulder and he actually flinched a little.
"I'm not going to hurt you," I whispered and ran my fingers comfortingly through his soft hair.
He sobbed a little harder into my shoulder and I pulled him a little closer. Arms wrapped around my waist and I wrapped an arm around him. We stayed like that for several minutes until Draco was shaking a little less.
As he pulled back the clouds broke loose. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed as rain poured from the sky in relentless waves.
"Here," I said and handed him his wand.
He took it curiously.
"It worked rather well for you didn't it?" he smiled, sadly.
It had hadn't it? When someone else's wand worked well for someone else it meant a lot of things, but first and foremost it meant that the two people had a special connection. Draco and I had a special connection.
"Come on Draco, let's get you inside," I rummaged around my bag for some chocolate to help him.
I found a strengthening potion and some chocolate and made him take both of them.
"I have this odd feeling that I won't exactly be greeted warmly by by the Weasley family. I'm sure your friends filled all of them in on exactly what happened that night," Draco sighed.
I was soaked to the bone as I helped him to his feet. He insisted that he could walk on his own. I decided he had a serious pride issue, but if he wanted to walk himself he could walk himself.
While I tried not to let his words get to me they did. What if they wouldn't let Draco stay? Not that I was dependant on him but I didn't want him killed. I didn't want him to leave me. I wanted him to stay. I didn't need, I wanted.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when he stumbled and fell heavily against my shoulder. We were almost there.
"Mrs. Weasley! Mr. Weasley! Fred! George!" I yelled, as loud as I could manage.
Draco summoned strength from somewhere deep inside and stood straight up. I rolled my eyes. Lights came on in the Burrow. By now we were standing on the front porch waiting for someone to let us in.
It was Fred who finally pulled the door open. Draco was behind me, hidden in the shadows and behind relentless rain.
"Where did Hermione Granger send her parents before leaving with Harry and Ron?" He asked.
"Australia," I answered immediately.
Fred's jaw almost hit the floor. He seemed surprised that it was actually me and I felt myself being pulled into a cautious hug. Luckily he had not noticed the boy behind me yet.
"Mom," he called behind him as he ushered me into the house. "Get everyone up right now!"
Fred murmured a few spells and I could feel water evaporating from my hair and clothes. I followed him into the dining room, with a still unnoticed Draco trailing behind.
"This had better be good-," Ron stopped mid sentence and stared at me in shock.
Harry rounded the corner into the living room and ran right into Ron's back.
"Hermione?" They both asked.
"Good deduction," I beamed.
The two boys enveloped me in a crushing hug. Harry was crying and apologizing repeatedly for leaving me. I was insisting that I had made them go where me Ron was still shocked into silence. Mrs. Weasley was the next arrival, followed closely by her husband. The moment she saw me she broke down into hysterical tears and Mr. Weasley was left doing his best to console his sobbing wife.
Fred and George were whispering mischievously to each other. And my two best friends hugged me a little tighter. I let out a hiss of pain as they bumped one of my numerous bruises.
They instantly pulled back and looked me up and down for the first time.
"How did... who... what," Harry tried to ask.
"How?" Ron summed up for him.
"Well-," I started, not really sure how to explain this.
"Hold it!" George interjected. "Your clothes look familiar."
Goddamn it my clothes. Or rather, Draco's clothes. I was still wearing them.
Ron gave his brother a 'not right now' look. When he turned back to me he seemed to notice me attire for the first time.
"Hermione... are you wearing... wearing... are you. Whose clothes are those?" He stuttered.
"Um well," I sighed nervously.
Mrs. Weasley was my savior. At that exact moment she stepped forward and pulled me against her.
"I am so happy that you're safe," she whispered in my ear.
I felt myself getting teary eyed at how much my other family seemed to care for me. She stepped back all to quickly.
Harry was looking at me as if he had finally put all the pieces together.
"Whose clothes?" He insisted and I knew he didn't want to hear the answer.
I twisted up the hem of Draco's white shirt for a couple of seconds, stalling.
"For the love of god! If you won't tell them I will! They're my clothes," Draco stepped out of the shadows for the first time.
Almost immediately six wands were pointed at him. I stepped instinctively between him and the wands. Knowing they wouldn't hex me, I turned to him.
"I can take care of myself. I don't need your help Draco," I sighed.
The family was watching our exchange, completely transfixed.
"Really?" He asked. "You certainly needed my help a week ago when I saved your life. After you were-."
" Don't even go there!" I tried to yell but my voice cracked.
He looked ashamedly down at the ground which was a puddle since he'd been dripping water everywhere.
"Sorry Hermione," he sounded sad.
"After she was what?" Fred spoke for the first time.
Ron interrupted him, "Hermione? Draco? What the hell is going on here?"
"Why are you wearing his clothes!" Harry added.
"Is that a bruise on your neck?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "It looks rather nasty."
"Why is a Malfoy in my house?" Mr. Weasley roared over the chaos.
Ron lowered his wand, stepped around me and nailed Draco in the face. There was a resounding crack as he clutched at his nose.
What ensued was chaos in its purest form. Wands were forgotten. Ron hit Draco again and Harry tried to pull me away from them. I was trying to pull Ron off of Draco and Mr. Weasley was holding the twins back. Mrs. Weasley had left to make sure all the wards were intact, just in case.
I had expected it to be bad but not this bad.
"What did you do to her Malfoy!" Harry yelled.
"Draco," I warned.
"I tortured her for three weeks!" He yelled. "I tortured her and tortured her and was delusional enough to believe that I wasn't becoming my father!"
Ron and Harry were beside themselves with apoplectic rage.
"STOP!" I screamed and everyone froze. "Draco is hurt, I am fine. He seems to leave out the good parts of the story. Now if you would stop fighting and grow up we can all sit down and we will gladly tell you the whole story. Ronald get off of Draco, Harry stop reaching for your wand!"
"The whole story Hermione," Harry insisted. "Don't pretty it up. We want the whole story."
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I got a smart phone and I have been using it to do a lot of typing which means faster updates, unless I get distracted by other smart phone stuff.
Have a great day guys!