Chapter 14:
Draco tossed and turned all night, the same dream repeating in his head:
"Draco, dear, wake up," his mother whispered, nudging him in the side.
"Mother...what is it?" he said groggily.
"The Dark lord has finally summoned you, he has a mission for you. He immediately got up, fear in his eyes.
"Now, now dear, this is a simple task. Now get washed up and look presentable, we've been waiting a long time for this." It did not take him long to clean up and comb his hair back. He followed his mother into the study, to find Voldemort standing behind the desk.
"Ahhh, Draco...my dear boy, I have a task for you." His voice was soft yet menacing and he seemed to glide instead of walk.
"I'm ready, my lord."
"Good," he whispered as he tapped his wand onto the desk, flipping it over, revealing a trap door.
"Follow me..." he whispered again. The trapdoor led to a dungeon. Voldemort tapped his wand again and opened the iron door. Inside, tightly bounded to the wall, was a form of a person, barely alive. The person lifted its head and revealed those chocolate brown eyes.
Hermione.
"Ahhh, so you two have met? Draco, I need you to take care of the girl," he leaned in and whispered in his ear, "make sure she never sees the light of day."
He walked up to her broken form, and pointed his wand to her head. The Dark Lord laughed in anticipation, and he failed to notice how Draco quickly turned around, pointed his wand at him, and yelled, "STUPEFY!" The Dark Lord fell to the floor. He then spun back around and free her from her chains. He held her in his arms and stayed this way, until he no longer felt her presence.
"Hermione?" he said, before Voldemort got up and pointed his own wand back at him.
"I knew you had feelings for that, mudblood. And now you'll die. AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort boomed.
Draco awoke, half-sobbing and half-breathing. Just then his mother came into the room, hearing his screams from the room next door. She held her son while he sobbed. He kept choking out, "Hermione," and the pain would not stop. She cried silently, wanting nothing more than to end his sufferings. She's safe, she thought, as long as she's not with you.
Hermione walked towards the Great hall, now packed with students coming home from the holidays. Her eyes grazed upon the room and landed on her three friends. She skipped to them with a newfound confidence. Ron was the first to notice her presence, but did not smile his usual goofy smile.
"What do you want?" he asked sharply.
"I came to speak with you, Ronald. I would like to make amends, will you please join me in the hall?"
Hesitantly, Ron followed her out. As they walked, she began her rehearsed speech,
"Ron, I understand that things may be a bit awkward between us now. But believe me when I say, you are my best friend in the whole world, and I would never do anything to hurt you. What happened before break was a mistake, and I should not have done it. I'm sorry if I have hurt your feelings in anyway. I had just gotten out of a previous relationship and, well I'm not completely out of it yet. Could you ever forgive me?"
"I don't know, Hermione. You are my best friend and I guess I don't want to ruin that..."
"Exactly! Why ruin a perfectly good relationship?"
"Right,"
They continued to walk in comfortable silence, before he decided to break it,
"Hermione?"
"Yes?"
"Who is he?"
"Who's he?"
"Voldemort, who do you think?" he said sarcastically.
"Well, it's probably irrelevant."
"Do I know him?"
"What? Oh no, I don't think you would know him...he's a muggle after all."
"Ahhh," was all he said before his stomach began to grumble.
"Maybe we should go back to dinner," he said.
"There's the Ron I know," she said jokingly.