'How could she?' Were the thoughts racing through his mind as he thought about the situation. If Hermione's words were true, his baby girl, his beautiful, happy, full of life, baby girl was about to be betrayed by the woman she loved the most in the most barbaric, cruel way imaginable.
He couldn't fathom it, He had fallen in love with Abby the second she was conceived and that grew to magnificent lengths the first time he saw her. Abby was the picture of innocence, so sweet, so loving,…so trusting. How a mother could actually give birth to a child, raise it and then kill it was beyond anything that he could understand… it was just so wrong.
He remembered the day she was born, the day the pink, blond haired baby came into his life and it brought a smile to his face. He had already planned how he would handle potential boyfriends, how they would celebrate when she was sorted into Slytherin, he even imagined the day that he would take her down and get her first wand… the plans were plenty but apparently the time was not.
"Granger." He rasped out from his spot on the floor.
He glanced to the couch, waved his wand and unbound her from her restraints.
Hermione had been watching for close to twenty minutes as a father wailed in pain at the idea of losing his daughter. She felt bad for him, way worse then she felt about anything in a long time and despite her reserves, her own withdrawal, she couldn't help but have the urge to comfort him.
Abby didn't deserve this. She was only a bit over two years old, looked to be a happy child and didn't deserve to be killed by her own mother… or anyone for that matter.
But it was too late. It had been almost thirty minutes since Malfoy had made her take that potion and she knew her partner would be there in a short amount of time to kill them both. There were other ways around it… a simple obliviate would do for Malfoy, but the fact of the matter was now the Ministry would not view her as capable, but easily thwarted, a risk, thus making her expendable.
They were as good as dead, Abby was as good as dead, and there wasn't a damn thing that could be done about it.
"Granger, you better fucking answer me and answer me now. Where the hell is Alexia hiding? You've been watching her, surely you know something."
"Malfoy, I have my suspicions of where she is, but its too late… we are as good as dead."
Draco was up quickly, rushing to the couch.
"I'm not ready to die yet. My daughter is out there and I will find her. If you want to sit here and let them kill you, so be it, but you better fucking tell me everything you know before you breath your last breath."
Hermione shook her head and dug around in her pants pocket. She pulled out the syringe and a small file folder.
"Fine, here's the folder, it will have plenty for you do go through and maybe you will see something that I didn't. I do know that the majority of the group are in an Estate near the North park, but that is all I know."
Draco quickly pulled the file and enlarged it.
"Not here you idiot." She hissed, "They will be here shortly if they aren't already. Take the damned file and go."
"And what about you?" he asked, "Are you just going to sit there and let them kill you?"
Hermione smirked and held up the syringe, "I won't give them the satisfaction. I'll do it myself."
Draco looked at her with a frown, "What the hell is that?"
"Just a little something that will kill me easily and painlessly… I'll simply go to sleep and that will be the end of things."
Draco started to respond but the sounds of the alarms that he had around the manor interrupted his train of thoughts. His wards were strong, they always were, but because of Abby, he had taken a few of the more dangerous ones down to protect her. The wards that were currently in place were strong enough to hold off a normal witch or wizard for a short time, but not a wizard that knew what he was doing when it came to getting in quickly. He briefly wondered if he could set them stronger but he knew by the different alarms that the person had already made it inside. He had been too caught up in the thoughts of Abby that he failed to respond when Granger first mentioned that someone would be coming for them.
"Come on, Granger, You do not need to die in this manor, you survived it once, you can do it again."
Hermione just sat back on the couch and pulled up her sleeve.
"And what? Run? The ministry would offer a reward for me faster then Ginny Weasley can swipe a muggle credit card and I would be given up quickly by anyone who sees me." She snorted, "There would probably be an all out search just to be named the one who caught the Granger bitch."
"We don't have time for this Granger, They are getting closer."
"Just go, Malfoy. You still have a chance and a reason… I don't. This is just how it is for me."
"You're a fool!" he shouted.
"I'm no fool, Malfoy, I'm realistic. I know that it is not worth running. This job was the only reason I was able to get a place, the only reason I'm not living on the streets and now I don't even have that. I have nowhere to go or anyone to go to… this is just how my life is."
Draco didn't know what to do. Part of him was saying to leave as quickly as possible but the other part was saying to grab her and make her go with him. He knew whatever decision he made would have to made quickly.
"Have it your way, Granger." He stated and held his hand out as to shake it.
Hermione raised an eyebrow and raised her hand to shake back and tell him good luck but when his hand tightened around hers and he pulled, she knew he was planning on taking her with him.
"Don't be stupid… They will be looking for me everywhere." She yelled as she pulled back as hard as she could to get her hand away from him.
Draco shrugged, "We will deal with that when the time comes." And with a quick flick of his wrist, Hermione was bound once again and tossed over his shoulder.
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Harry had been in a deep funk since his meeting with Hermione a month earlier. The images she described for him were brutal and if he didn't know any better, he would think Voldemort was sending him nightmares again due to how real they were.
The way he saw it, he had three choices. He could forget about everything and move on. He could try again and work his ass off to get into her good graces, or he could go public with an announcement that she had been falsely accused and try to get her name restored through out the wizarding world, but the first thing was Ron.
Ron had moved on and married a woman named Susan. She looked a lot like Hermione but was dumb as they came, which made her the perfect woman for him.
They had two children and one on the way and seemed to be living in perfect bliss. Ron had everything he wanted but he still acted a bit funny whenever Hermione's name had been mentioned and Harry wanted to clear the air before he went public or tried to befriend her again because frankly, choice number one was not an option for him.
Ooooooooooooooooo
"You stupid, moronic, self absorbed ass." Hermione yelled as they landed in a small house that no one, not even the Ministry, knew about.
His father had gone through great lengths to make sure the place was available for emergency situations and the floo they had used to get there could not be accessed unless you were of Malfoy blood or escorted by a Malfoy.
"Your alive, Aren't you?"
"Not the point." She seethed and struggled with the bonds that were holding her. "You could have made this easy on yourself but now, now you've just gone and complicated things when Abby should be your first priority."
"Well, I wasn't going to just let you die. Besides, I may need you to help me get Abby back."
Hermione growled but didn't respond otherwise.
"One would think you would be grateful." He muttered as he walked over to the fireplace to get some warmth in the cold house.
"GRATEFUL? WHAT THE HELL WOULD I BE GRATEFUL FOR?" she yelled
"For saving your life."
"I didn't want to be saved, Draco. I don't have a life and frankly, death would probably be an entertaining thing for me."
"Fine." Draco stated, "Once Abby is safe, you will be free to throw yourself off the nearest bridge, tree top or whatever else you can imagine."
Hermione could feel her eyes burning as she fought the tears that threatened to spill. She was close, so fucking close to finally being put out of her misery and Draco fucking Malfoy had to go and fuck that up for her as well.
Two tears escaped and slid quietly down the sides of her face. She would not make a sound, not a single faint whimper that would alert him to anything. She refused to let him or anyone else see her cry.