Kupo got Big Boy shoes and sandals. He loves them soooo much and constantly wants to go for walks. Not fair that at 18 months he's hardly even a baby any more. :(
I am really busy fic-wise. The fic that I never finished for Draco Big Bang still isn't finished, but I have enough (65,000 words so far) to at least post the first chapter on Draco's 30th birthday (this Saturday). I will post it on Hawthorn & Vine. It will not affect Bracelet posting. I won't put my other fic on a posting schedule, but H&V has a tracking feature if you want to be alerted about updates.
"She really wants you to go out there, you know," Theo's lazy drawl was saying from the pristine white hospital bed.
"I liked you better when you were dying," Draco absent-mindedly muttered.
Theo smirked. "Sorry. Not today."
"More's the pity."
"Yeah, I heard you say that." Theo was as unfazed by this whole thing as he possibly could be.
"Why don't you just go back to sleep?"
"She wants a hero. A champion. Think Weasley will get the chance to impress her?" Theo smirked again, but the fatigue was showing in the lines around his eyes.
Draco groaned and rubbed his forehead. Theo really enjoyed goading him above all else, it seemed. "She said she wouldn't forgive me if I did go out there. She'll be here any second and then she'll see that I did as she asked."
"Yes, good boy!"
Draco scowled. "And if there's danger out there, I'm sure Potter wouldn't mind making me collateral damage, so I see her point."
"Isn't it lovely to have so many friends?"
"I find it heart-warming."
"You really think this is the way to keep her respect?"
Draco barked a laugh. "Respect? I don't know if she even does respect me. So far I'm just the miserable, lovesick bloke she can turn to whenever she needs her ego fixed."
"Why would you even want her if that's the truth?"
"I just do," Draco said with a sigh. "And, you know what? Let her look down on me for being a coward. She said I would be distracting her if I went out there, and I can't have that happen. I won't risk anything ever happening to her just so that I might look more like a romantic, reckless fool. It's… not that important what she thinks of me as long as she's ok."
Theo looked at him quietly for a minute and then said, "What if you could save her by going out there?"
Draco closed his eyes, trying to block the thought of Hermione alone and defenseless. "She's got people much more qualified than me," he quietly said. "Potter and Weasley have her back. She doesn't need me. Not for this—not for anything, really, but certainly not for this."
Theo didn't reply for a few minutes, but then he said, "I wouldn't take that chance."
Draco squeezed his eyes shut. He had to take that chance. He had to. She was fine. Theo was just messing with him as usual. If Draco went out there, Hermione would be mad at him, and that was exactly what Theo would want. The git.
Hermione peeked around the corner. No one there. Of course not. So far there hadn't been anyone anywhere. If they were coming, it seemed like there still was some time. She still chose to carefully sneak around the corner and down the hall, though. You couldn't be too cautious.
Dumbledore had taken the threat extremely seriously and had immediately arranged for the Ministry to be notified before the Owlery could potentially be cut off. Aurors would probably be dispatched right away. If the Death Eaters were here, they wouldn't just be here for whatever Dumbledore had agreed to guard some time ago; they would be here to kill the Headmaster and most likely Harry too and whoever else was a thorn in their side.
Hermione was definitely a thorn.
"Hermione!"
She jumped, her heart almost stopping as she whirled around, prepared to hex whoever it was.
"Easy, Hermione," Ron said. "It's me." He looked around them and dragged her into a classroom but didn't close the door.
"Have you seen Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yes…. He's down in the Great Hall, organizing things."
Hermione nodded. "I figured. What are you doing up here?"
Ron hesitated. "I was looking for you, actually."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You knew I'd find you."
Ron scowled. "I was looking for you. And, also… I was… I hadn't seen her down there, ok? I was worried. Harry told me to go find her, because I was useless to him right now. I can't help it. She's not going to be as competent as you if anything happens."
It didn't take a lot to figure out that she was Pansy Parkinson. Why Ron still cared so much about Parkinson was a mystery, though. "She might just be down in the dungeons."
"No… I checked. The Slytherin dormitories are wide open and very empty. Most of the buggers already chose to leave."
It was Hermione's turn to hesitate. "You do realize that… if this is really true, she may not be on our side, right?"
Ron looked away. "I'm not a fool. I just want her out of here."
Hermione curtly nodded. "I'll go help Harry, then; you join up when you're ready."
Ron looked slightly puzzled. "That's it?"
"We don't have time for anything else right now. I understand." Hermione briskly began walking towards the door, but before she made it through, it was blocked by the petite blonde form of Pansy Parkinson.
Ew, Hermione thought, but then she decided to grab a firm hold of her wand—just in case. This was just a tad too convenient. Had Pansy followed them here?
"Granger!" Pansy said as if relieved. "I heard voices, is it—oh. It's you." There was an unmistakable flatness to her voice as she identified Ron.
Hermione noticed how the relieved look on his face faded and his back stiffened just a tad. "Parkinson…" he said as if indifferent to her.
Hermione's heart bleed a little for her friend. It was hard to be in love with someone who treated you as if you were worth less than dirt.
"Granger," Pansy repeated, "have you seen Draco? I looked all over and—" Pansy's eyes filled with tears and her lower lip trembled a little. "He has to be all right! But they're all out to kill him and that Potter certainly doesn't care to protect him and… do you know where he is?"
Ron's back stiffened a little more and Hermione felt herself go rigid as well. Then she scolded herself. Pansy was right to worry about someone she cared about when he might be in legitimate danger.
"He's fine," Hermione said as gently as she possibly could to someone she loathed. "He's at the hospital wing—"
Pansy gasped.
"I said, he's fine," Hermione repeated, unable to keep the note of irritation from her voice. "Theo was the one who got hurt. Draco took him to the hospital wing and they should be waiting it out there. Soon Aurors will arrive and some of them will stand guard up there, both to protect any wounded and to protect him. But even without the Aurors, there are some truly spectacular traps around that place that I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will activate if there's any danger."
The relief flooding Pansy's features was almost palpable. "I'll go to him!" she announced and immediately turned on her heel and almost ran.
Hermione didn't know what to say to Ron and was almost afraid to even look at him. "Well…" she slowly said, casting about for anything to say, "at least you found her."
"Yes," he replied, slightly hoarse, "and she'll be safe from harm there. Safer than almost anywhere else."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Ron squared his jaw and raised his chin. "I don't have to worry anymore. She's safe. With someone she loves. I can help Harry without being distracted now."
Hermione felt a slight pang at 'with someone she loves'. Wouldn't it be nice to just sit back with those you cared about and let someone else handle the danger?
Well, that was why she did it. So others could sit back. So others wouldn't have to fight.
She smiled at Ron, feeling the smile strain her lips in an almost unnatural way. "Ready, then?"
He nodded. "Just… give me a minute. I promised to check for stragglers and I almost have this floor covered. You can go ahead, but be careful. I'll catch up."
She scoffed at him. Since when was she not careful? She cautiously stuck her head out the door and then worked her way down the hall.
Pansy had been so worried for Draco's safety. It would probably be quite the reunion with tears and hugs and maybe even kisses. There had been kissing between those two before. True, Draco hadn't been that fond of public displays of affection then, but he'd loosened up some and this was a rather dire situation. It was exactly the kind of situation where one's emotions would be very strong and poorly hidden.
Yes, they would almost definitely kiss with the relief of seeing each other unharmed.
Hermione tried to ignore the stronger pang she felt at the thought of Draco kissing Pansy. It didn't matter! It was the Big Picture that mattered, and in the Big Picture, people's love lives had no place. In the Big Picture, there would be a battle, if not tonight, then very, very soon. Harry had revealed to her that he'd been working far more intensively on neutralizing Horcruxes with Dumbledore than she'd ever suspected. Hermione would never forgive herself for not noticing this sooner. In the Big Picture, Hermione had to be prepared to fight. In the Big Picture, nobody cared who Draco Malfoy was kissing.
Except she did whenever she let the Big Picture slip from her mind.
Frankly, she was sick and tired of Draco kissing other girls and sending extremely mixed signals about what he wanted. There, she'd allowed herself to think it. Thoughts weren't going to hurt anyone and if someone was going to stab or curse her tonight, she might as well get it out of the way. She might as well admit it. Irrational as it was, she supposed she must somehow have enjoyed the attention, because she was feeling something that must be jealousy. It certainly wasn't pleasant.
Damn it. She'd worked so hard not to get here and now, in the space of one lethal threat and one really worried ex-girlfriend, she had ended up here anyway. It would have been so much better to remain convinced that she wanted nothing to do with that stupid git.
Only, now it scared her to think that he might disobey her and he might get his sorry arse in the way of a spell, and she'd never get to tell him again that she didn't want anything to do with him.
He'd never know, though. If they both made it through the night all right, she would just grit her teeth and get through this silly, illogical infatuation too. He never needed to find out.
She simply didn't trust him not to repeatedly stab her in the heart, reach into her chest, grab the shreds and squish them to a pulp, before yanking whatever was left out, throwing it to the floor, and stomping it into the carpet.
She wished she did trust him. She wished he was worth trusting.
But he wasn't interested in having a really good relationship with her. At most, he would spend a limited amount of time with her until he found the—pureblood—witch he wanted to be with. That was what he'd said. He had made it very clear that he needed to be with another pureblood because the overall cost of neglecting that duty was too high. And she had too much pride and self-respect to go for the kind of fling that was left.
Even if the sex was really great. And the cuddling, when available, was almost even better.
Even if he kissed her as if he cared about her.
Even if….
She rounded a corner and gasped as a human form was in her path. Belatedly, she realized that it was just a suit of armor. Caught up in stupid teenage romance drama, she had been careless, she had forgotten to check for a clear path, her wand hung limply in her hand, and she could have been in deep trouble.
So not worth it.
It was all his fault.
And, worse—she had been dawdling. She had to do better than this or she could die. Her friends could die. Draco could die. Innocent people could die. She gripped her wand more tightly, narrowing her eyes.
Time to be more focused.
Draco tried not to look at the door anymore. Just… not look at it. If he didn't look at it, then it didn't exist, right? Ok, maybe it was childish, but as long as he didn't look at the door, his own existence was tolerable.
I hope she's all right!
His existence was barely tolerable. It had been much too long. She should have been back from talking to the headmaster by now. He refused to leave the premises before he saw her again, even though Pansy had tried to get him to come down and evacuate.
Draco glanced over at Pansy. She was sitting on the edge of Theo's bed, arms crossed, looking at Draco. He supposed he should be glad to hear what else she had told him. Blaise and Tracey had already left. It was kind of strange to know that they were just gone, but of course they wouldn't have wasted any time. Hermione was with a friend. A really good friend. Weasley. He had her back. They had been all cozy.
He wanted to punch Weasley's face.
"He's really tense, isn't he?" Pansy lazily commented. She had been visibly out of it when she'd arrived here, but after making sure that Draco was ok, she had calmed considerably.
Theo grinned. "You have no idea."
"Don't tease him," Pansy scolded. "The poor boy will have an apoplexy."
"I will not have an 'apoplexy'," Draco ground out. "That's something old wizards have."
"You look like you're about to have fits."
"I'm about to have a fit, if that's what you mean!" Draco snapped, ignoring the way Pansy immediately looked wounded. She always looked wounded when it suited her.
There was a tap on Draco's shoulder and when he turned around, more than a little confused, Madam Pomfrey thrust a washbasin and some bandage at him. "I've seen the Aurors approaching," she informed him, "and I'm going to prepare now and make sure I'm stocked. You tend to your friend's wounds. Fresh bandages will be just the thing, I think."
Draco's jaw dropped open. "Me?"
"Yes, you."
"Why me?"
"Because you saw me take care of the wounds the first time."
He had seen it. Madam Pomfrey had been unable to close the hand wound entirely due to the magical properties of the poison, but the wounds were no longer potentially fatal. "But I'm not trained in healing," he objected. "I'll kill him!"
The elderly nurse shot Draco an exasperated look. "You remove the bindings, wash the wounds gently and reapply new bindings. It's mostly the hand wound you need to be wary of—he'll want full mobility—but some badly wrapped bandages will hardly make any difference. Just don't attempt any magic. You!" She pointed at Pansy, who obediently got to her feet. "You'll help me stay stocked from the supply room. Come with me now and I'll show you."
Pansy shot Draco a helpless look but obediently followed Madam Pomfrey.
Draco stared down at the things in his hands with very real horror. "What was that about?"
"My bandages don't really need changing. They're quite fresh."
"No, but she'll kill me if I don't. Why?"
Theo shrugged. "Maybe she got sick of you sitting around, staring, and wanted you to get busy. But you'd better wrap those things right; I don't fancy being uncomfortable."
Draco scowled. This was nuts. Everyone was nuts. And now he was the school nurse's helper? Ugh. That was a witch's job!
Theo grinned. "Yeah, I know," he said in response to Draco's horrified look. "It's almost worse than being stabbed by a fifth-year Hufflepuff girl, isn't it?"
Sometimes Draco really hated Theo.
Next chapter...
"Oh, they won't find out," Theo very calmly said. "Because if you tell anyone, I will tell Hermione what keeps screaming at me from your head."
"What? That I'm in love with her? I've been trying to let her know, you know."
"No, that you try to tell yourself that you're sure about wanting this, but you're not. You write your mother for her blessing, but you're unwilling to mention the possibility of marriage. You get Hermione alone, and rather than telling her how you feel, you stall and try to get her to admit to any scrap of feeling. She could come barging in here and declare her undying devotion, but you'd still want to keep your distance. You're still scared of truly acknowledging your feelings and committing to her."
