Chapter 41
It had been a few days since Ron had returned, and since then the camp had been slightly tense. Harry had been ecstatic to have his best friend back, but Hermione had been unsure of how to proceed. Draco had sensed that something had happened between the two of them, but trusted her enough to tell him if anything were wrong. She hadn't had the chance to tell him about the incident, but knew that he would be furious if he found out that Ron still cared for her. Well, he'd be more than furious. If Ron ever tried anything physical, Draco would probably cast every single spell he knew at the boy. But she knew that she should be honest with Draco, so whenever an opportunity presented itself, she would be sure to tell him.
Hermione listened to the broadcast of Potterwatch, a radio channel which Ron had introduced them to. Apparently, Ginny and the rest of the Order had found a way to get information to the world; real information which the Voldemort wasn't censoring for his convenience. It was complete brilliance to create the channel as a means to let others know where Death Eaters were currently attacking, or who had been killed.
She had gasped when she had heard news of the Ted Tonk's death, and she knew that it had affected Draco. He hadn't said anything, but the expression on his face spoke for him. He squeezed his eyes shut, and she took his hand in hers and held on tightly.
Draco never talked much about it, but she knew that his father had not been there for him as Draco had grown up. The one time he had opened up, he had told her how his father used to spend hours upon hours preaching the worthlessness of muggles and teaching Draco dark curses should he ever come across one. Draco had assured her that he never had any intentions of doing so, despite his beliefs of muggle inferiority at the time. Lucius Malfoy had also cast dark curses upon Draco when he failed to meet his father's standards, and his mother had been powerless to stop him. Hermione could not fathom how a father could ever hurt their own child, but she knew that the world Draco had grown up was very much different from hers. So to Draco, the boy who basically grew up without a father, Ted Tonks had meant a lot to him. He had shown Draco that people could care for him, and that Draco deserved familial love.
Draco was still, but his grip on her hand tightened. Harry look stricken at the news, and Ron had paled significantly. While they had not known the other victims, it did not go unnoticed by Hermione that Theodore or Dean's name was not amongst the casualties. She silently prayed for them both. While she did not know Theo Nott, he had been a good friend to Draco, so she wished for his wellbeing.
She knew Ron's eyes were watching the contact between her and Draco. He had not said anything since that night about wanting to be with her, and she had nearly forgotten about it. But every now and then, he would go and do something, like place his arm around her for slightly too long, or touch her hair intimately, and she knew his feelings still lingered. She wanted nothing more for him to get over her. It had even seemed that he did not like her anymore for a long time, but then he had to go and say that he still cared for her. She shook her head at the thought. Ron didn't love her; he couldn't. Love meant accepting the other person's faults, and not judging them for their actions. Love meant unconditional love, and not only when it was convenient. Ron Weasley was stubborn and would never let go of anything, and like so, he refused to let go of her, and would not see past his crush to all the reasons why the two of them were not well suited for each other,
She leaned into Draco's chest, wrapping an arm around him, and he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. She loved Draco, and she knew that nothing could change that. He suited her, better than anyone ever had or ever could. He comforted her when she was upset, and showed her that he loved her daily. If only Ron could find someone who could love him like she loved Draco.
The broadcast was currently making a joke about numerous You-Know-Whos, to which Hermione grimaced at the irony. There may not be multiple Voldemorts, but unfortunately he had multiple soul fragments.
"Keep each other safe. Keep faith. Goodnight," the voice on the Deluminator said, signing the radio broadcast off for the night.
"Did you hear what Fred said?" Harry said excitedly. "He's abroad! He's looking for the wand!"
A few weeks ago, Harry had come up with this theory that Voldemort was after the Elder wand. She had tried to persuade him that Voldemort wouldn't go after such a thing, as he knew it couldn't exist. But she had to admit, some points Harry stated, made sense. It was only logical that Voldemort would try to seek a wand that didn't interfere with Harry's. It also fit with why Harry had seen a few visions of Voldemort tracking families himself, and why he seemed to be searching for something. But she didn't want to believe it. It wasn't that she wasn't open to believing in things that were myths, after all she had discovered a whole new world which she never would have imagined could have existed. But she didn't want anything to distract Harry. The number one priority had to be to find all the Horcruxes before Voldemort found out what they were up to.
"Harry," she started to say. She was going to tell him that she thought that he may have a point with where he was going, but then he cut her off.
"No Hermione, you have to listen to me! Vold-" Harry argued, before Ron had cut him off.
"Harry, don't say the name!" Ron urged with more force than usual, and all of a sudden something clicked in her mind. She realised how it was that the Death Eaters had found them in that diner the night of Bill's wedding, and how Snatchers were able to find people so easily. Ted and the rest of his camp seemed so resourceful, so it was unlikely that some Death Eater had randomly stumbled upon their camp. The only way they could have been found was if the Death Eaters knew their exact location. She in took a sharp breath, as her eye's widened with shock.
But the entire thing happened so fast, and before Hermione could say anything, Harry had finished the name.
"demort wants the Elder wand!"
"THE NAME IS TABOO!" Ron shouted out. "We need to strengthen the protection charms around the tent immediately! We need to add as many more layers as possi-"
But she knew it was too late to do anything. She knew it from the second the name had been uttered. She heard voices from outside the tent, and knew before anything had been said that they were surrounded.
"Come out of there with your hands up! We know you're in there! You've got half a dozen wands pointing at you and we don't care who we curse!"
It was all over. The minute the Death Eaters realised who he was he was screwed. But before he could leave the tent, he felt two spells hit him. What the Hell? He looked up in confusion to see Harry's face bruised and swollen. The change to him was not significant, but to someone who did not know him, it was monumental. The first spell he did not recognise, but from the reflection on the sword lying on the ground, he could tell that his appearance now resembled that of Scorpius White, which he used when the Minister had visited him. The second spell was easier to recognise, as he could feel a voice in his head commanding him; the Imperious Curse.
"As a precaution," Hermione whispered softly, as they made their way out of the tent.
He let out a slight air of breath. If anyone had been able to get off the appearance transfiguration, then they would be met with the Imperious Curse, which could serve as an alibi should Draco be questioned about his defection. Hopefully, it would not have to be tested.
"Get up, Vermin," the raspy voice Draco recognised all too well, said to Harry. Fenrir Greyback was just as horrid as he had been during their last meeting. Harry struggled to get up, and Draco could honestly say that he pitied the boy. While he got off slightly easier, he knew that Harry must have been in a bit of pain from Hermione's spell.
The werewolf dragged Harry to his feet and threw him out of the tent. Draco quickly exited the tent, and helped a disoriented Harry up. The boy's eyes were swollen, and Draco guessed that it made it difficult for the boy to see, especially without his glasses.
"Search the tent," Greyback ordered his companions, and two of them men immediately went to work. "Now, let's start with you, Ugly, shall we? What's your name?" Greyback demanded, as the fourth man held out a list of what appeared to be names.
"Vernon Dursley," Harry said immediately as he held his head up high. As a Gryffindor would, Harry did not show any fear upon his face. Draco was curious about why the boy would pick the name of his uncle, but chalked it up to be spontaneous thinking.
"Check the list, Scabior," Greyback told his partner gruffly.
The other man, Scabior, scanned through the list, apparently trying to find whether Harry's fake name was on there. Draco held his breath, knowing full well that the name wouldn't appear on the list. He watched in silence as Greyback went on to interrogate Ron, who had given the name Bardy Weasley, the same name Harry used at Bill's wedding.
While he hadn't completely forgiven Ron's words to Hermione, he knew that the right thing would be to overlook it. The boy clearly had some sort of unresolved feelings for Hermione, and had let his infamous temper get in the way. But for the sake of their mission, he knew that they needed every one of the four to help, so he didn't do anything to Ron. And now that Hermione had forgiven him, he knew that murdering her best friend wouldn't win him any points. However if Ron kept up his antics after the war was done, Draco wouldn't hesitate to take action.
"And what about you, girly?" Greyback breathed, as his face came close to Hermione's.
"P-Penelope Clearwater," Hermione said nervously.
"Blood status?"Greyback asked as he ran his finger down her face, causing her to turn her head to the side.
"Don't touch her!" Draco said sharply, before he could catch himself. He wanted to punch the bastard for being so close to Hermione, especially seeing how uncomfortable it made her.
His outburst had turned Greyback's attention to him. "And who may you be?" Greyback asked him harshly. As the Death Eater approached him, Draco was terrified that he would recognise him, despite the change in his appearance.
"Scorpius White," Draco replied coldly. "Half-blood."
"Well White, I don't like your attitude. I don't think any of you seem to understand the situation you're in. You see, you all are here wandless, standing in front of us. So pissing us off wouldn't be in your best interests. And on top of that, you've got a known blood-traitor in your midst, so that doesn't win you any favour points. And lastly, one of you clearly has said the Dark Lord's name, showing him the utmost disrespect. So with all of that, maybe you should rethink your position."
His statement caused Draco to scoff.
"You know who says His name so casually? The Order. That's why the Dark Lord placed a Taboo on his name. It's been so helpful, and also allowed us to catch several members and other scum," Greyback said viciously. "Oi, Scabior! Who was the name of those idiots who said his name a few days ago?"
Scabior looked up from his lists. "The ones with the goblins?" he asked. Once he got a confirmation, he shrugged. "Dunno. Never cared enough to learn their names after finding out that some of them were on the list. Stupid lot though; though they could actually fight us! Well now several of them are dead, and you know what I say? It's a good thing they're gone. Few less scum in the world."
Draco knew immediately who they were talking about, and something in him just snapped. He had been holding in all the anger over his uncle's death to the point where he finally needed to release it all.
"Shut up!" Draco yelled at Scabior. "You don't know anything about what true scum is. Look in a bloody mirror; do you honestly think that you are any better than they were? You should have been the ones who died, not them. They did nothing to deserve this! They were good people, and you took innocent lives! How do you live with yourselves, you bastards?"
Hermione looked like she wanted to say something to calm him down, but before she could, Greyback angrily held his wand up at him.
"And I suppose yeh think you're better than us, do yeh?" Greyaback said, as his wand dug into Draco's skin.
"I know I am," Draco said, deciding it was too late to back down, and that he didn't want to anyway.
"Greyback, you should see what we found!" A voice from inside the tent called out.
"Stupid kids," Greyback muttered under his breath. "I'll deal with you later, but for now, Stupefy."
Draco tried to dodge the curse, but something was forcing him to stay in his spot. His eyes widened as he looked at Hermione. He remembered seeing her eyes were apologetic before losing consciousness.
She let out a breath. Obviously a sword in tent would raise some questions, but Harry had fended off the accusations rather easily.
She held Draco's limp hand gently as she kept her eyes on their captors. She hated that she had toforce him to stay in the path of the spell, but she was terrified that he would anger them further. She had been right when she guessed Draco would try to take out his anger, with good reason, on Greyback. And while she wished to let him continue, they were armed, and he was not. There was no telling what sort of spells they would use on him, and he had gotten off easily with a simple stunning spell.
"'Ang on a minute, Greyback. Look at this!" One of the men who had been inside the tent said excitedly as he waved around the Daily Prophet.
Hermione tensed slightly. She had long stopped her subscription to the paper, but she had a very good idea of what it said.
"'Ermione Granger, the mudblood who is known to be travelling with 'Arry Potter. Doesn't that girl in the picture look like 'er?"
Greyback examined the picture silently before the corners of his lips curled up into a twisted smile. "You know what, girly? This picture looks a lot like you, Clearwater."
Hermione's breath staggered. No! They were so close to being let off. The last thing she needed was for them to all be recognised.
"It's not me! I swear, it isn't me," she cried out, desperate for them to believe her, but she knew that it was too late. They already figured out who she was, and it was only a matter of moments before they figured out about Harry.
"…known to be travelling with Harry Potter," Greyback mused over the last part of the paper. His eyes immediately flickered to Harry's swollen face. He approached her friend and touched the part of Harry;s forehead where his scar was.
"Don't touch it!" Harry said harshly, as if he were in pain from the touch. And while Greyback could not cause such a feeling, she knew who could.
"I thought you wore glasses, Potter?" Greyback said, smirking over the fact that Harry had confirmed his identity.
"I found them! I found the glasses," a snatcher in the background said in a desperate voice. "They were in the tent, Greyback…" the snatcher was saying eagerly as the glasses were snatched out of his hands and rammed onto Harry's face.
"Well, well, will you look at that? We caught Harry Potter. You know what this means, boys? We'll be rewarded so handsomely for this."
"Are we taking them to the Ministry?" Scabior asked him.
Greyback shook his head. "No, they'll take all the credit. We should take him straight to the Dark Lord. I hear he's been using the Malfoy house as a base. We'll take them there," Greyback said, gesturing to her, Ron, and Harry.
"But what about him?" Scabior asked, motioning to an unconscious Draco Malfoy.
Greyback shrugged casually. "Does it matter? The reward's on the three of them. We'll bring the boy when we turn Potter over to the Dark Lord, and if we're lucky, he may decide to give the girl to me as well as the money," Greyback said, as he licked his lips. "Who cares what he does with the extras?"
Hermione looked at him with disgust. There was no way in Hell she would ever let herself be given away like some sort of slave. She may be a muggleborn, but contrary to Voldemort's beliefs, she was still a person! However, before she could object, she found herself bound by chains.
"What are you doing!?" She yelled out as she felt the chains dig into her wrists. The others were also bound up in a similar fashion.
Greyback shot her a sinister smile. "We're taking a little trip," he said with a growl, however before Hermione could ask him to elaborate, they had apparated.
When she had found her bearings once more, she looked up and saw and enormous mansion in front of her. However the only thought running through her head was that this was not how she planned on meeting her boyfriend's parents.