Title:Game Without Tears
Disclaimer: I do not own, wish I did, but I don't. I only own my plot line. Full disclaimer, first chapter.
Author: ShaeLynn Teelle
All other information: See first chapter.
Polite constructive criticism welcome. FLAMES WILL BE FED TO THE DRAGON IN MY BED.
Chapter 11: Call Me What You Will
Hermione awoke the next morning to hear Ron and Harry talking quietly to Madam Pomfrey. She sat up and looked about to ensure there was no one else in the infirmary, catching the boys' attention with her movements. Poppy gave them ten minutes to visit and returned to her office.
"How are you doing, Hermione?" Harry asked, standing next to her bed while Ron took the chair beside him.
"I'm okay. Did Professor Dumbledore tell you anything?" She asked quietly and Ron nodded, fidgeting as though he wasn't sure what to do and Harry's hands clenched into fists.
"He told us what you told him, Mione," Harry paused. "I'm so sorry we weren't there to keep you safe. We never should have asked you to go by yourself because we wanted to gawk at the brooms."
"Harry, if I had just gotten my books and only that, it wouldn't have happened. It was my own fault for following her. We suspected that she was a Death Eater and I just had to see… At least I'm still alive. I'll be okay, Harry." Hermione turned and held her arms out to her boyfriend, "Ron, come here."
Gratefully he stopped fidgeting and moved to sit on the edge of Hermione's bed. He gently pulled her into his arms with a sigh, "We'll get through this, Mione. Don't worry. Harry and I will always be here for you."
"Someday we'll find out who did this and they'll get theirs," Harry said quietly, taking one of her hands in his and giving it a light squeeze.
Madam Pomfrey chose that moment to bustle back into the infirmary, "Alright, you two. Miss Granger needs to rest. You can return after all your classes are finished to see her again if you wish."
"We'll see you tonight, Mione," Ron said, giving her a light squeeze before he released her and left after Harry, easily catching up to his friend with his long strides.
\/\/\/\/\/
When they returned at the end of classes, Hermione met them with a smile. Ginny, Neville, and Luna had stopped in to see her during lunch, but other than the three, no one else had been there and she didn't have anything to do. Eventually she had coaxed Madam Pomfrey to let her read one of her books on medicine, but it wasn't very thick and Hermione had already finished it.
She opened her mouth to ask if they had brought her anything to do, but before she could speak Ron held up the bag she carried her books around in with a grin. Harry started laughing at the expression of pure gratitude on her face as she eagerly accepted it from Ron. Then, she showed Ron the book Poppy had loaned her and began to tell him all about what she had read in it.
Ron obligingly nodded his head and asked questions in the right spots, but Harry could tell he wasn't really taking very much of the information in. Harry watched the two contentedly. Over the Christmas holidays Ron had finally gotten the courage to ask Hermione out. Harry thought they made a great couple and was thankful he didn't have to interfere to get them together. He was actually surprised that he never once felt jealous of the fact that they had each other and he spent more time alone than before. He was simply happy for them and had gotten to be better friends with Neville and Ginny as he spent his free time with them, usually teasing Ginny about how Neville had finally asked her on a date.
Their peace was broken when the infirmary door opened and a drawling voice carried through the infirmary, "It certainly doesn't look like you're ill enough to be in the infirmary."
All three heads turned to see Draco lounging in the doorway, a sneer on his face as he looked at them.
"What do you want, Ferret?" Ron asked, standing next to Hermione's bed protectively.
"That's my business, Weasel," Draco said and walked into the infirmary, heading towards Madam Pomfrey's office door. He knocked and waited until she opened her door, then, he handed her a book that the other three finally noticed.
"Davis asked me to tell you, 'Thank you for the book.'"
"You may tell Miss Davis that she is quite welcome, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey said, accepting the book.
Then, she disappeared back into her office with the book and Draco turned back to the doors of the infirmary. Just before he left he turned around and sneered at the Golden Trio.
"What really happened, Mudblood? Not satisfied without more attention than Potter?" he turned and left the infirmary before any of them could properly respond.
"Bloody git!" but the words only echoed about the infirmary, not reaching past the closed doors.
\/\/\/\/\/
The next morning Hermione was released from the infirmary in time to accompany Harry and Ron to the Great Hall for breakfast. The two were still upset about what Draco had said the night before. Hermione sighed quietly, but didn't reprimand them. She was still distracted wondering whether or not Draco knew what had really happened, but she supposed that he was being his usual arrogant self. Ron held her hand both reassuringly and protectively as they entered the Great Hall.
The trio took their usual places at the Gryffindor table and Neville sat down next to Harry with Ginny at his side, all three discretely watching the Slytherin table. The meal progressed normally with Ron filling his mouth as fast and as often as he could. Harry followed his example, but at a slower pace knowing he could eat more if he let it settle a bit through the meal. Hermione sighed and shook her head good-naturedly at her boyfriend, but she frowned when she watched Harry.
That past summer, about a week before Harry's birthday and only a few days after he had informed Dumbledore of the whereabouts of Professor Snape when he was discovered as a spy, he had finally told Remus in one of his mandatory three day letters how he was really treated; the rules, the punishments, and the lack of decent meals. Remus had asked him to wait a week until it was his birthday and Remus would be there to take him back to 12 Grimmauld Place, which Sirius had left to Remus, leaving his vault for Harry. Harry had spent the rest of the summer there and told everyone what he had never told anyone about the Dursleys.
Hermione was broken out of her thoughts by a loud 'bang' that echoed throughout the suddenly silent hall. All heads, including the Professors', turned towards the Slytherin table where the source of the noise was currently standing, glaring down at his two thugs.
"Shut up," Draco didn't yell, but his voice carried above the quiet hall. "You two barely talk unless you're forced to and now you won't stop. Just shut up already." Then, he turned and walked out of the Great Hall.
As soon as he was gone a buzz of hushed voices began at every table except for a group of five Gryffindors that seemed to have been the only ones to see the glance Draco had thrown at them just before he left the Slytherin table. Neville, Ginny, and Ron looked at Harry and Hermione, not sure what had just happened. They were all surprised when a moment later Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass, both members of the DA left the Slytherin table and followed the path Draco had taken.
\/\/\/\/\/
"Dragon?"
Tracey and Daphne had followed Draco down to the Slytherin dorms before they caught up to him, pacing in front of the common room fire. Draco glanced up at the two girls, but continued his pacing, not saying anything. Tracey motioned for Daphne to wait and reached for her wand. Before she could do more than grasp the handle, Draco's wand was in front of her, pointed right between her eyes. At the other end was a stone-faced Draco that a moment later finally seemed to register who he was threatening. His expression changed to one of shock and he quickly put his wand away.
"Sorry, Trace."
"Don't worry, Dragon, but I think I know what's wrong and how to fix it. There's no Quidditch practice tonight, right?" At Draco's nod Tracey continued, "There's no DA meeting tonight either so tell everyone to meet in the Room of Requirement. I think the stress is starting to get to us all and we need to get rid of the energy from it. I think a little physical work might help with that."
"Alright. We'll meet there at the usual time," Draco agreed quietly.
Several minutes later when the group reached their first class, no one would have known that anything was out of the ordinary.
\/\/\/\/\/
Later that night, if the door to the Room of Requirement had been open, the halls would have rang with laughter. Inside the Room was a scene from what one might expect to happen in a Muggle children's schoolyard.
The first thing Tracey had made them do was put aside their wands and robes and make themselves comfortable in whatever way they wanted. So saying she had taken off her uniform shirt to reveal a plain black sleeveless top underneath. Blaise had followed her example by pulling off his shoes while Daphne did one better and took off both her shoes and socks. Pansy had taken to the idea and pulled off her jumper, untucking the white shirt underneath, and let her hair down so it hung its full length to her lower back. Gregory and Vincent had simply taken off their jumpers while Draco took off his shoes and socks and let his hair down so it hung loose about his face.
Tracey had smiled at them all as she knew that even that little bit had helped them all to relax already. Then, she announced and explained the first activity; a game of 'Captain, may I' that for wizarding benefit she renamed 'Muggle, may I'. The game was well-accepted, but it proved to be more difficult playing with Slytherins than it had when the DA had played it the previous year to reduce tension. No one ever forgot to ask 'Muggle, may I' before they performed an action.
Then, Daphne suggested 'Red light, green light', one of the other Muggle activities Hermione had told them about. It was approved of even more because it encouraged being sneaky and silent and it quickly got out of hand. Then, Blaise had suddenly cried out, 'Tag, you're it!' in the middle of one of the games after tapping Tracey on the shoulder and took off running to the other end of the room. Tracey had immediately pursued and Daphne found herself quickly explaining the game to her eager audience.
That had been nearly two hours prior and as they were still laughing where they had finally collapsed on the floor in exhaustion, Draco wondered why no one had ever suggested the activity before. The physical exercise and laughter had bled the tension away from all of them. As they were relaxing Daphne began to hum quietly to herself, an event the others had gotten used to when the girl was happy. Then, she began singing some Muggle song about a story between a boy and girl and their love for each other. At the end they were all calm and Tracey begged Daphne for another song.
It was nearly midnight by the time they all managed to drag themselves to their feet and replaced shoes and wands and picked up robes from the pile on the floor, though jumpers were merely draped over an arm or two and socks were stuffed into pockets while Draco and Pansy left their hair down. Then, they all attempted to make their way silently back down to the Slytherin common room, not being very successful as snickers and giggles kept escaping behind muffling hands, but thankfully it appeared that Filch and Mrs. Norris were both occupied elsewhere on their return. No one noticed the invisible shadow that had watched them since they left the Room of Requirement.
\/\/\/\/\/
All through the next week Draco, Daphne, and the others that had met that night felt eyes watching them. It wasn't the usual stares from the Slytherins, but it wasn't the hostile stares from the Gryffindors either. These were observant, calculating stares, but every time one of them discreetly turned to find the source, there was no one near them or they were in the middle of a crowded hallway, unable to tell who was looking or how.
That Saturday night another meeting was called. Vincent and Gregory weren't called, but Draco and the girls were. For Draco, the meeting was brief. It was only a general meeting of the inner circle with Draco receiving another list of potions that Voldemort wanted made in the following month. Lucius and Wormtail both received five-minute Cruciatus spells for being too slow and too quick to show obeisance to Voldemort, who was in a horrible mood, and Draco feared for Daphne and Pansy though it never showed.
The girls were not so lucky as to escape without consequences. Millicent was the first to return as usual, stumbling slightly across the common room on her way to the girl's bathing room and no one moved to help her. From his outward appearance of lazy indifference on the couch he had claimed in from of the fireplace, Draco motioned slightly to the two that sat across from him and they left the common room, instantly discussing something completely inane and trivial. After a few more minutes Draco rose from his position and strolled negligently to his room. Once there he slipped through the only covered portrait in the room and down a narrow hall until he came out of another covered portrait in the room they always met in the night after meetings.
The usual length of time it took for Vincent and Gregory to bring the girls back to the room came… and went… and Draco began to worry. The four were almost twenty minutes later than normal when they entered the room and one look at Pansy told Draco why.
She was lying unconscious in Vincent's arms. There were scratches on her face and her lip was bleeding heavily from where she had bitten through it at some point. Her cloak was taken off before Vincent laid her on the bed and they could se that the robe underneath had numerous spots where blood was seeping through. Draco magicked away the robe into a heap on the floor and had to swallow hard against the sight that met his eyes.
Beyond more bleeding scratches covering her body there were bite marks that were also bleeding alarmingly. There were bruises already forming on her hips and stomach. When he looked further down Draco saw more bite marks on her inner thighs and he didn't want to imagine where else. He knew he was the only one that knew enough to heal her besides Daphne and Tracey, though Pansy was always leery on anyone else seeing her in such a state.
"Do any of you know what happened?" Draco asked as he quickly started casting spells to stop the bleeding and clean the wounds.
"I tried to ask her when she first came back," Daphne said wearily, speaking for the first time since they had come back and drawing Draco's attention to her own battered form. "All that I could understand was 'angry, so angry' but I did see the Snake's pet and his rat going towards her when Voldemort had finished before… before Crabbe blocked my sight."
"I'm sorry, Daph," Vincent said quietly from where he stood at the side of the bed, watching Pansy with worry in his eyes and apology.
"Don't be sorry because of him, Vin. None of us have the luxury of being able to choose our parents."
"How badly are you hurt, Daph?" Draco asked quietly when Pansy's wounds stopped bleeding.
"It's not as bad as usual. We were sent back before the Snake's pet could make use of me when he was done with Pans. I can wait and have Trace fix me up before we sleep. You concentrate on Pansy so she's okay. I'll be fine, Dragon."
Draco just nodded as he continued to cast spell after spell on Pansy. He had already given her as many potions as he could to help her, but each scratch or bite had to be healed individually or risk scarring. Starting with the worst scratches and the bites proved to be the best choice as Draco felt himself getting weaker with each spell cast after about twenty minutes.
Even when dueling he didn't think he had ever cast as many spells in such a short time. He knew that he wouldn't last much longer casting a spell for every wound, but he didn't' want to wait and leave Pansy with wounds that could begin bleeding again, or leave scars.
"Dragon, that's enough," Pansy said quietly, still without opening her eyes. "You can heal the rest at once, don't worry about scars. It's not the first time I'll have some from them and it won't be the last."
Draco nodded; though he knew Pansy couldn't see him with her eyes closed and cast one final spell, closing all the scratches that were left. Pansy sighed, but still kept her eyes closed. When Vincent took her hand in his she flinched but gripped the hand tightly and Vincent took no offence as he had expected the unconscious reaction.
"Thank you, Vin," Pansy whispered.
"For what?" Vincent asked quietly.
"For being here and not turning away," she answered, opening eyes that were swimming with tears and focusing on Vincent's face above her.
"I wouldn't care to be anywhere else, Pansy… Love," Vincent answered as he bent down and gently kissed her forehead above her right eye.
There was silence in the room for several moments at the word that had never been openly spoken between any of them. Then Pansy spoke again, the words breathed so quietly only Vincent could hear them where he stood right next to her, "Do you… Do you really love me?"
"Yes. I think I have for a long time now. Pansy, when this business is all over… When we're free from the Snake… Will you bond with me? I don't just want to be your husband, I want to be with you always… and beyond."
"Yes, Vincent. Please… Always."
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