Hello Everyone!
I know it's been ages since my last update and I apologize. Computer problems, School, and a case of writers block are to blame for this being so late. I have no intentions of leaving this story unfinished so no one needs to worry about that!
I'd like to thank everyone who continues to read, review, favorite, and follow the story. The support means more than you know!
Another thank you goes out to my beta, firefly81, who took the time and energy to edit this chapter!
I own nothing.
Chapter Twenty One
Draco was relentlessly hitting the door in front of him. He didn't know where he was and it was causing him to panic. He'd tried to open the door, but it was locked, and when he attempted to do magic, nothing happened. Yelling out for help also seemed to be pointless. Given the amount of noise he was making, it was obvious that if someone was there, they would have helped him by now.
He finally was able to kick the door off of its hinges and was stunned when he walked into the office that he and Hermione shared at the Ministry. Except their office did not seem to be the same as it once was. The various pictures that littered the room were blurry and when he tried to read the titles of books Hermione had splayed across her desk, he found that he couldn't. The letters seemed to be out of order or rearranged in a way that was unrecognizable.
In an effort to escape the office, he attempted to open the door that led out into the hallway. Draco was both relieved and confused when the door opened to reveal a staircase. Hesitantly, he climbed slowly down the stairs, as if he expected them to disappear at any moment. He also wanted to be able to take a good look at his surroundings.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he frowned when he recognized the lower sectors of the Ministry. He hadn't been here since the night Hermione disappeared. Turning to leave in order to avoid the unwanted trip down memory lane, he was greeted with the sight of a stonewall where the staircase had once been. Huffing in annoyance, he pivoted back around to look at the desolate hallway. The sconces above him did a poor job of lighting the area and the orange glow did little to put his mind at ease.
His shadow followed him as he cautiously walked through the dreary corridor. He tried opening each door he came across, but those that weren't locked seemed to be ordinary broom closets. He became frustrated easily by this and it got to the point where he started running from door to door just in hopes that it led to a way out. He was on the verge of tears when he finally came to a door that opened that wasn't another ordinary broom closet.
Immediately upon entering the room, he noticed it was completely dark, except for a light above an empty glass case. However, when he reached the case, he found that it was not as empty as he once thought. A lone time-turner rested on one of the many shelves and he frowned. Hesitantly, he opened the glass case and reached out to grab it. As soon as his fingers touched the cold metal of the time-turner, he felt pain course through his entire body.
Draco woke up in shock.
Sweat rolled down his forehead as he tried to catch his breath. He was sitting upright on a leather couch in what he recognized as the library at Grimmauld Place. The fireplace across from him was lit and the flames danced happily while he sat in turmoil.
"Malfoy?" a voice asked from behind him. He slowly turned his head to see Harry Potter sitting across the room with a book in his lap and a puzzled expression gracing his face. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I must've fallen asleep," Draco grumbled as he tried to shake off the remnants of his nightmare.
"Oh, I know you fell asleep. But, it didn't sound as if you were having pleasant dreams," Harry said with a knowing look.
Draco sighed. "It definitely wasn't a good one, but I've had worse."
"I can believe that. Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asked with concern and Draco was about to when his mind suddenly caught up with him.
Why the hell was he at Grimmauld Place? He searched his mind for an answer, but he was drawing a blank. He couldn't remember how he got to be sitting on the couch or anything before that. The last thing he could remember was the nightmare and nothing else.
It didn't make any sense and he fervently searched for any clue as to how he got there. Checking his pockets, he found nothing, not even his wand or wallet, which was strange because he kept both on his person almost at all times. Looking around the room, he noticed nothing of interest minus the confused face of Harry Potter.
"Potter, how did I get here?" Draco asked warily.
Harry frowned. "You don't remember how you got here?"
"That doesn't answer my question," Draco spat angrily as his anxiety rose.
The blonde wizard put his head in his hands and closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself down. However, when he opened his eyes and caught sight of the coffee table adjacent to him, he instantly knew what was wrong. The titles of the books were jumbled and as he looked around the room he spotted a few photographs on the desk that were blurry.
He knew then that he had never woken up from his nightmare.
On the edge of total fear, he leaped off of the couch and got to his feet. He vaguely heard Harry shouting at him, but he was too focused on finding a way out to notice. His eyes scanned the room and he located a door that he was sure would lead him out of the room. He ran as fast as he could to it and silently pleaded to any deity that would listen that he would wake up when he crossed the threshold.
His pleas went unanswered when he found himself back in the Ministry. This time he was in the exact same place that had been the source for all of his misery and his fear rose to an astronomical level when he saw a figure on the floor in the distance.
He sprinted towards the figure and he felt his heart hammer in his chest when he saw Hermione lying on the ground before him. She looked like a ragdoll that had been tossed carelessly to the floor; her limbs strewn in awkward positions as her chocolate eyes stared blankly back at him. Glass was sticking out of her body and the blood that poured from each of her wounds was a sickly red color.
Draco shook his head as tears trailed down his cheeks and he sank to his knees. "This is just a dream. This has to be a dream."
Hermione didn't so much as blink as Draco tried to wake himself up. "You're dreaming. You didn't see her like this. She vanished. This is just a dream, Draco. You have to wake up."
More tears sprang from his eyes as he ran both hands through his hair and tugged at it violently. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"
Draco awoke screaming and shot straight up from the bed. He knew he was awake this time because he recognized his room and all the familiar decorations. However, that didn't stop his agony filled cries, the vision of a bloodied Hermione still fresh on his mind.
"Draco!" Lucius yelled as both he and Narcissa ran into the bedroom.
Draco was still screaming and thrashing about as Lucius climbed on the bed. The elder Malfoy had some difficulty getting Draco into his arms as Narcissa watched helplessly from the edge of the bed.
"Shh, Draco. It's okay. It's okay," Lucius said in a soft tone as he pulled Draco to his chest.
The soft and comforting tone of his father's voice caused Draco to stop screaming, but was unable stop the sobs from wracking his body.
Draco sat in his father's embrace for a long while after he stopped sobbing. He was finally shaken out of his turmoil when he noticed the morning sunlight pouring in through his windows. Carefully moving out of the arms that held him, Draco got up from the bed and walked into his bathroom to take a shower. His mind was too busy to notice that his parents had both shared a worried look.
Shutting the door behind him, he came face to face with his reflection in the mirror. He hadn't realized how much his lack of sleep had been affecting him. His hand lifted and gently swiped around his eyes. Dark circles that marred his pale face accompanied bloodshot eyes and he sighed at the image in front of him. He really did need to invest in some Dreamless Sleep.
Padding over to the shower, he flicked the taps to his liking. Shedding his pants, he walked beneath the warm fall of water. Standing with his back to the showerhead, he let the water pound into his neck and shoulders. It seemed like he was doomed to be miserable whether he was awake or asleep. The darkness followed him around like a second shadow, unwilling to leave him alone.
Memories of the previous day overcame him and he found himself lost in thought.
The burning sensation of the ring that rested on Draco's right middle finger was one of the most painful incidents that he could recall since the war had ended. He was desperately relieved when the ring went cold and grateful when the ruby stone did not disintegrate to symbolize Hermione's death. It was beyond a knee to the groin to know that she had been in danger and there was no way of saving her. He had been the one to come up with the idea of having connected rings to let each other know when they were in trouble and now he was a little ashamed that he hadn't been smart enough to add other charms to them.
He had been thankful that Harry and Kingsley were in a deep discussion about the type of time-turner Hermione had disappeared with so they didn't notice his peculiar behavior. When he was finally able to tear his gaze away from his ring, he looked up to see Kingsley handing over a large file to his former rival while shaking his hand with a somber look on his face. Kingsley quickly dismissed them both and as they walked out of the office, Harry proposed that they meet the following day to discuss what was in the file.
His internal thoughts were shattered when silvery light suddenly appeared in his shower, scaring the living daylights out of him.
He clutched at the shower shelf next to him so that he wouldn't lose his balance as his heart hammered in his chest. The silver light spiraled, and now that he'd had a moment to calm down, he recognized a Patronus forming; he already knew who it was from before it slowly formed into a stag. Draco thought to himself that they seriously needed a better way to communicate.
"Draco, please come over as soon as you can," the stag said plainly in Harry's voice. "We have a problem. I'll explain more when you get here."
Rolling his eyes, he turned around and shut off the shower. Stepping out, he wrapped the nearest clean towel around his waist and made his way to the sink. His eyes fell to the mirror again while he began to brush his teeth. He didn't need to see his reflection to know that he still looked every bit as haunted as he did before his shower.
Walking out of the bathroom, he was greeted with the sight of his empty room. Sighing, he walked into his closet and dressed quickly. He knew that his parents were probably worried about him now more than ever. He also knew that not telling them where he was going would only worry them more. Deciding to let his hair dry naturally, he walked out of his room dressed in fresh clothes and went in search of his parents.
Draco wandered through the house, but was unable to find his parents in any of their usual places. There were over a hundred rooms in the Manor and with the mood he was in, he really did not want to check all of them. He was ready to give up and go on ahead to Grimmauld Place when he heard voices coming from what used to be his grandfather's room.
"… we have to do something!" his mother's voice said harshly.
"There's nothing we can do."
"We need to tell him the truth."
"Cissa, you of all people should know that's not possible," Lucius replied tiredly.
"Surely there is someway we could let him know what's happening."
"I've already thought of everything imaginable we could do and nothing I can come up with would be a good idea. So he either figures it out on his own or not at all. We will stay out of it."
"How can you even say that after last night?"
"It's not said easily," Lucius answered darkly. "If you think that I enjoy watching our son grieve for the only real friend he's ever had then you are sadly mistaken. I take no pleasure from watching him pick at his food or finding him in the throws of a night terror. It's just as difficult for me as it is for you to have all the information he needs, but unable to help. I've spent hours trying to come up with a way to hint at what is happening and I came very close to revealing some information to him yesterday."
"What stopped you?"
"The marks on my wrist started to burn and Potter's Patronus suddenly appeared."
"So even the mere thought of saying something could get us killed…lovely. How much longer do we have to endure this?" Narcissa asked wearily.
"I don't know."
"Then let's go ask."
"Dearest, we can't just…"
"Either you come with me or I go alone," Narcissa threatened. "I'm not scared of them one bit and the least they could do is tell me how much longer I'm going to have to keep lying to my only son."
Draco felt his stomach drop. Confusion and rage washed over him like a hurricane while his mind was desperately trying to make sense of what he had just heard. Obviously the two of them knew all about where Hermione was and they probably had every answer to all the questions in his mind. What he couldn't believe was that his own parents had been lying to him since the day she had gone missing. And even worse, they probably knew in advance that this was going to happen.
The sound of two Apparitions instantly brought him out of his thoughts. He flung open the door to the room in a rush and clenched his hands at his side when he was met with the sight of an empty room.
1962
Hermione sighed at her reflection in the mirror and applied a final layer of lip balm.
The emerald-green dress seemed a bit much for a dinner with Abraxas's parents, but she would rather be overdressed than underdressed when it came to meeting the rest of the Malfoy family. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that on any other night she would feel classy and energetic, but the butterflies in her stomach would not allow her to feel anything other than nervous.
Abraxas's relaxed and considerate behavior was the only thing that kept her marginally calm. She knew that she could have easily broken her promise to meet them, but if this was something important to him than it was to her as well. However, his demeanor did nothing to stop the niggling voices in her head that warned her this was all a bad idea and she shouldn't have let her relationship with him progress this far.
She shook her head to dismiss her dark thoughts, and looked at her reflection one last time before deciding that she had stalled long enough. She headed over to the bed to grab her charmed bag and left her room, pausing on the last step of the stairs when she spotted her wizard waiting for her sitting in the living room.
Abraxas's head was bowed and his shoulders were relaxed as he flipped through a book in his lap. Seeing how handsome he looked in his black dress robes, she suddenly felt very self-conscious about her own appearance. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach and she considered dashing back up the stairs to change before he saw her, but her plans were foiled when his head snapped up and her cheeks warmed as he studied her intently.
The raven-haired wizard smiled widely as he drank her in, and once again he wondered what he had done to deserve such a beautiful witch. "You look beautiful, Hermione."
Blushing furiously, she fidgeted nervously before saying, "Thank you, but do you really think this looks okay? I mean, I could go back upstairs and change…"
Abraxas was no longer listening. Admiring her beautiful form distracted him and he was already thinking about all the possibilities of showing her just how enticing she was once dinner at his parent's was over. He wasn't interested in her worries over her looks since she appeared amazing to him no matter what she was or was not wearing.
Wanting to silence her, he reached out and pulled her to him, cutting her off mid-rant by pressing his lips to hers and slipping his tongue into her mouth. She struggled insincerely for a moment and he heard something about her lipstick before she gave in and kissed him back.
"And now you have lipstick on your lips," she scolded good-naturedly, giggling a little as she reached up to wipe it off of his lips.
He chuckled. "A small price to pay to cease your pointless ranting. You always look beautiful, Poppet. It would be prudent of you to remember that."
Taking her hand with his, he led them out the front door and Apparated with a pop.
Short chapter, but it does raise a lot of questions. Like who did Lucius and Narcissa go to see? Hehe I know I'm teasing you all mercilessly, but I promise it will be worth it.
Let me know how you feel in a review! Or maybe share a theory!