Chapter 6
Hermione drew the curtains from her window to let the moonlight in. The silvery light filled her room, and it revealed a mess. The bed sheets were torn and her blankets were overflowing onto the floor. Her closet was half open, and there was a trail of different styled robes leading from the closet to the bed. Her dressing table's mirror was broken, and there were claw marks on the wood. Everything was a product of her mood swings that resulted from three weeks of imprisonment, torture, and the unfulfilled craving for Tom's blood.
It had been a week since she had silently slipped out of the manor to hand her memories to Draco Malfoy. What would he do? She didn't know whether there was anything useful in that vial. Would he come again, she wondered. She took out a vial she had taken from the kitchens, and placed her wand to her temple. During her mood swings, she approached the doors to insanity. However, seeing Draco Malfoy the previous week sparked something inside her. She hung onto her consciousness by thinking of Draco Malfoy. The man that gave her a reason to live: to be human again, to walk in the sun, and to finally stop drinking blood.
Hermione removed her wand from the side of her head, and a silver trail was slowly withdrawn. She lightly placed the substance into the vial, and pocketed it. She looked at her reflection in the mirror before exiting the room. She sadly ran her hand through her short hair, then lightly touched the teeth marks on her neck. They never had a chance to heal properly, as Tom would now come every night to feed on her. She smiled bitterly. She was food. And a slave.
She silently crept down to the kitchens, where there was a backdoor. The hour was still early, and most vampires would be sleeping, including Tom. She entered the kitchen cautiously, and when she saw that no one was there, she swiftly moved through the kitchen and out the back door.
The sun was completely gone now, and the moon was shining feebly onto the grounds. Hermione made sure to lightly tip toe on the stepping stones, as walking in the grass or soil would leave footprints. When she approached the edge of the manor, she took a deep breath and slid through the protective charms.
"Come with me now," whispered a voice. Alarmed, Hermione turned abruptly. Draco was standing there, and he grabbed her hand. Hermione instinctively withdrew her hand from Draco's and backed herself towards the protective charms. Draco sighed exasperatedly.
"Come now. You can't stay here. I can't let you stay here." He grabbed her hand again, and Hermione saw urgency in his eyes. What was happening? Did something go wrong?
"I saw… the contents, your memory." Draco looked around nervously. "I can't let you stay with that sadistic bastard. It's… not human."
Finally understanding, Hermione withdrew her hand from Draco's again. "I can't leave," she whispered. "I can't live without Tom… I can't… I need his protection… I need his blood."
Draco ran his trembling fingers through his silvery-gold hair. He looked around again making sure nobody was hiding in the wood where it was rapidly becoming darker. "It's not human," he muttered again.
"Draco…" This time, Hermione took Draco's hand in hers, and looked him in his eyes. "Draco, I'm not human."
Draco looked at her as if she had slapped him in the face. Hermione sighed, and pulled out the vial form her pocket. Draco's vision oscillated from the vial to her face. "Take it," Hermione whispered. "I have to go now. I cannot be seen roaming the grounds… especially outside the protective charms."
Hermione stretched out her hand to hand the vial to Draco. Draco stared at the vial. Hermione looked around, anxious that someone may have noticed her absence. When she was making up her mind to just place the vial in front of the motionless Draco and leave, Draco suddenly grabbed her hand and started running madly. Startled, Hermione felt her legs follow him in order not to fall and be dragged by Draco.
"Stop! What the hell are you doing!" Hermione yelled, trying to pry Draco's fingers off her hand while running to keep up with his immense speed.
"I promised you!" Draco yelled. "You can be human again, I promised you!"
Human. The word ran over and over in Hermione's head as her body was independently moving to keep up with Draco's pace. She felt leaves, twigs and branches scratching her skin as they ran, but she did not care. She could not see where they were going, but she did not care. She did not care about anything except for the one word that kept playing over and over in her head like a broken record. Human. She could be human again. Draco was going to turn her back. With this realization, she dropped her attempt to free herself and let Draco drag her through the woods, pass lakes, and over hills.
After what felt like a million years, Draco stopped abruptly. Hermione stood behind him, and although she was standing still, the ground felt like it was still moving beneath her feet. They had been running for a long time. She looked up at the moon and guessed that about seven hours has passed. Seven hours of nonstop running. Hermione dropped to the ground, finally realizing that she was exhausted beyond what her body could take. Draco looked back, saw Hermione on the ground and he lowered himself in order to grab hold of her arms.
"Get up," he said. "We're here."
Hermione looked up, but saw nothing. "But there isn't anything here," she muttered. Draco looked blank for a minute, and then he pulled out a thin necklace with a silver cross for a pendant. Hermione backed away a bit, but Draco grabbed her shoulders and placed the necklace on the neck.
"You need this to get in," he whispered. "You'll get used to it soon. Crosses are just religious superstition anyway. They can't hurt you."
Hermione looked up again, and this time, she saw a huge manor in front of her, equal to if not bigger in size than Tom's manor. The moon was high up in the sky now, and there were no clouds to shield its light. The whole manor was cast in an eerie silver light, and Hermione ran her eyes over the cross motifs that decorated and supported the manor. She pulled herself up, and with Draco's help she slowly walked towards the manor. She felt small disturbances in the air as she walked and she knew that she was walking through the protective charms of the Vampire Hunters. The charms were most probably designed to repel anything that wasn't human, but its effects were reduced thanks to the pendent on her neck. Nevertheless, she felt small electric shocks on her bare skin, and whimpered in pain against her will. Draco's hold tightened around her shoulders as though reassuring that everything would be okay. Tired, confused, and in pain, Hermione leaned on Draco and she let him lead her through the charms in into the front gardens of the manor.
"What do you think you are doing?" said a cold voice. Hermione looked up, and out of nowhere, five figures were surrounding her and Draco. Two of them had arrows loaded onto their bows and pointed directly at Hermione, and the other three had knives and whips ready in their hands. Behind the figures Hermione saw a tall man with long silver-gold hair gilding gracefully towards them. Her initial perception was that the man was beautiful, but when he got close enough for her to see into his eyes, she shuddered and looked away. His eyes were the same gray eyes that Draco possessed, but there was no warmth; only emotionless void.
"Bind her," the man said. The men holding knives and whips dashed towards Hermione, who no longer had the strength to retaliate. Draco yelled in protest but the man with the cold gray eyes approached Draco, and Draco fell silent. He merely watched as Hermione was bound tightly. She wanted to call out his name. She wanted to yell at him, to demand answers, to ask him if he had betrayed her. Then suddenly, one of the men forced some hot liquid down her throat. Hermione recognized it as a sleeping potion. It spread throughout her body rapidly, and she felt uncontrollable sleep washing over her. She struggled to keep her eyes open, but her vision was already clouded and she could only make out a blurry silhouette that she assumed was the immobile Draco. She heard the man ordering for her to be taken down to the dungeons. Defeated, Hermione finally let her eyes close, and the last thing she felt was her warm tear escaping her eyes and running down her left cheek.
(A/N: Sorry it took sooooooo damn long to update! New semester has started and I barely have time to come on the computer.. :( But I will never abandon this story, promise! This chapter is probably lower in quality than my previous chapters because I didn't have much time to sit on it and proofread everything... but I hope everyone is happy with this. :) Constructive criticism is always welcome, and reviews are my oxygen! :D)