Author's Note:
I would love reviews! I am trying to take into account where the readers want the story to go so please make suggestions! You can also check my original pieces on u/967214/p-m-e-black. My tumblr is .com. Feel free to message me. Thanks.
Special Thanks:
u/4315530/dorothymalfoy
u/5627608/bryrickard
Chapter 19-
Hermione had managed to apparate herself to the Burrow. She was so confused and disoriented. She wracked her brain as to how she had gotten to Malfoy manor. Had he kidnapped her? Why couldn't she remember? She had stunned plenty of deatheaters before and they never seemed forgetful afterward.
As she made her way up to the front door, a feeling of foreboding enveloped her. This was her second home, she shouldn't feel uncomfortable there. She shook off the feeling and opened the door. When she entered, no sound emanated from inside. Were any of them there? Normally she would hear Ron arguing with one of his siblings or the clanging of Mrs. Weasley's pots and pans.
"Hermione?" It was Ginny's calm voice that floated from above her.
"Ginny! I'm so happy to see you." Hermione smiled and made her way to the landing of the steps. The red headed girl looked at her suspiciously.
"Ginny?" Hermione narrowed her eyes. Why was her friend looking at her that way.
"Why are you here Hermione?" Ginny asked as she shifted her eyes around the Weasley home anxiously.
"What? Why...Why wouldn't I be here? I have to tell you something…" Hermione began to say, placing her hand on the banister next to Ginny. Ginny retracted her hand as if she were burnt.
"I already know. Ron is a wreck about it." Ginny's eyes narrowed dangerously. Hermione was so confused.
"You really shouldn't be here Hermione." Ginny began to turn on her heel to go back up the stairs.
"Wh...What?" Hermione didn't understand why the redhead was being hostile. What had she done to upset her so?
"Hermione?"Harry's calm voice came filtering into the room stopping Ginny dead in her tracks. Hermione wasn't sure exactly what part of the house he had appeared from.
"Harry!" Hermione squealed, launching herself into the bespeckled boys arms. Harry almost fell backward from the impact.
"Hermione...what...what are you doing?" Harry pulled her away from him, holding her at arms length.
"I...I woke up in Malfoy manor. I...I think that Malfoy kidnapped me...he was acting so strange…" Hermione managed to sputter out. Harry's green eyes widened, questions evident in his features.
"What? Kidnapped you? But Hermione...you and he…" Harry began to say.
"YOU! What are YOU doing here?!" It was Ron. Hermione whipped around to see her boyfriend standing on the stairwell, Ginny's eyes large and wide as she watched her brother descend.
"RON!" Hermione yelled and wrapped her body around his rigid frame. Ron's eyes rounded in shock as he looked at Harry in disbelief. Hermione buried her head in his neck as tears began to spill out onto her cheeks.
"Ron...I...I woke up at Malfoy manor...I don't understand what happened." Hermione muttered between sobs as she held tight to him. Ron continue to shift his stunned expression between his sister and his best friend. He slowly put his hands on her back.
"I...I don't remember what happened." She added, sniffing back tears.
"You...you don't remember anything?" Harry asked as he approached the embracing couple. Ron shot him a glance, hoping that Harry wouldn't somehow break the enchantment.
"I...I remember right after the battle...I remember standing in my room at Hogwarts...then...then nothing. I woke up at the manor and Malfoy was there with a small elf. He looked...he looked so strange." She placed her hand on her forehead as if the pressure from her fingers could possible summon the lost memories. Ron, Harry and Ginny exchanged looks.
"He freed the elf...and he...he apologized to me." Hermione looked off, her amber gaze distant. For some reason she decided not to mention the way he had touched her face and gazed in her eyes. His eyes had seemed to burn into her, reading her soul like an ancient rune book no one else could decipher.
"You don't remember…" Harry began to say. Ron looked at his friend fiercely, his eyes telling him to keep his mouth shut.
"You don't remember anything?" Harry corrected himself.
"No. Should I? Did something happen? How did I end up there?" Hermione asked as she shook herself out of her thought and removed herself from Ron's embrace.
"Um...well...we aren't sure. We were searching for you for awhile. We thought that maybe deatheaters had gotten you. Apparently Malfoy did." Ron answered, bitterness very evident in his voice. Harry stared at his redheaded friend. He wanted desperately to tell Hermione what he had witnessed but the hurt on Ron's face seemed to deter him.
"I'm so relieved that he let me go. Do...do you think he has grown a conscience?" Hermione asked as she looked at her friends. Ginny looked at the three and took a deep breath. It was not her place to say anything but the fact that her brother didn't want to be honest with Hermione unnerved her.
"I have some laundry to put away." Ginny mumbled and trudged up the stairs giving her brother a dirty look as she ascended.
"Malfoy...doubtful." Ron scoffed and reached for Hermione's hand. Hermione was so lost in thought that she walked away from him before he could even graze her fingers. Harry noticed the lack of interest on her part and side glanced Ron.
"Not a word Harry. I don't want her taken away from me again." Ron whispered as he watched her sunkissed curls bouncing toward the kitchen. Harry sighed and placed his hand gently on Ron's shoulder.
"I don't think it's your choice Ron." Harry answered and patted the taller boy's arm.
That night Hermione struggled to sleep. She tossed and turned fitfully, the white sheets winding around her like a serpent. When she finally did pass out from exhaustion, Draco's eyes seemed to be burned to the inside of her eyelids. She couldn't escape them, the gray pools full of an unspoken emotion. She couldn't read them. Was it regret, fear? Perhaps it was something she couldn't pinpoint but the look was undeniably etched into her psyche. Why had he apologized to her? Malfoy's never apologized...certainly not to 'mudbloods'. And the way he had touched her...the feeling of his pale fingers so gently placed on her cheek. The pads burned her...just like his mercury colored eyes.
Hermione woke with a start. It was still dark outside and there was no way that she would be able to go back to sleep. Every time her eyes shot, Draco's face would float passed her irises.
She unwound herself from the rope like sheets and made her way downstairs toward the kitchen. Perhaps Mrs. Weasley had left a snack somewhere hidden in the cupboards. Just as she made her way to the landing of the stairs, she could hear Ron and Harry speaking in hushed whispers.
"I don't get it, one minute she is pointing her wand at us, the next it's like nothing ever happened." Ron scoffed, his bare feet creaking the floor boards. Hermione leaned close to the wall to hear her friend's voices better.
"Ron, you can't expect all of us to keep it from her. Just because you and her…" Harry began to say.
"No...I don't want to hear it Harry. If Hermione doesn't remember anything, it's just as well. She belongs here, with me." The same familiar aggression slid into Ron's voice as when he was searching for horcruxes those weeks ago. Hermione bit her lip and shoved a stray curl out of her face.
"You can't lie to her Ron. She's going to find out." Harry was pacing along with Ron, his feet not so heavy.
"I don't care! You understand me! Let...let me have this Harry...please!" Ron sounded desperate, his voice gaining volume.
"Shh...you'll wake everyone. Listen mate, I won't go out of my way to tell her...but you have to. It isn't fair to her. She's our friend." Harry pleaded. Hermione couldn't quite figure out what the specifics of the conversation were but she was going to do everything to find out.
"She's my girlfriend." Ron said matter of factly. The two were caught off guard when Hermione boldly stepped into the low lit room. She stood with her hands on her hips as she eyed the two boys. Harry began to cough and put his hand to the back of his head as if nothing was going on. Ron stood there visibly swallowing the lump that had grown in his throat.
"What are you hiding from me Ronald Weasley?!" Hermione demanded as she took a step toward the tall redhead. Ron side glanced Harry silently asking for help. Harry nervously rang his hands as he watched her approach.
"N-nothing Hermione." Ron announced, his mouth set in a hard line.
"You are lying to me. I heard you two talking."
"It's...it's not important. You've had a long day...why don't you get some rest." Ron said as he anxiously tried to usher her out of the room toward the stairs. Hermione turned on her heel, sticking a finger in her friend's chest. Ron halted as he looked down at her, his eyes wide with alarm.
"You are going to tell me Ronald or so help me…" She spat as she stood rigidly.
"What's all this racket?!" It was Molly Weasley. She stepped around the corner, a pink fluffy bathrobe cinched at her waist.
"Mrs. Weasley…" Hermione began to say in shock.
"Off to bed with you! SHOO!" She said as she ushered the three toward the stairs.
"But…" Hermione began to interject as she tried to remain standing.
"Not another word young lady!" Molly sputtered, leaving Hermione to do as she was told.
The three trudged back up the stairs to their respective bedrooms, not another utterance between them.
After a few days in which Ron had avoided Hermione like the black plague, an owl had made it's way to the Burrow. It wasn't the family's owl nor did it come from Hogwarts. It was a ministry owl. Hermione was slightly perplexed as it flew in through an open window as she was sitting at the family's dining table. An official looking envelope floated down into her outstretched hands as the owl flew by, not stopping for a treat.
Hermione looked around cautiously to see if anyone was nearby. Thankfully she was alone. With trembling hands she slowly pulled apart the red wax seal and pulled out a formal letter.
"Dear Ms. Granger,
It has come to our attention that prior to assault on Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you had performed a memory altering charm on your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Granger for their protection. Due to this practice of magic we are requesting your presence at a hearing before the Wizengamot tomorrow at noon.
-The Ministry of Magic"
Hermione closed her eyes wondering if she was somehow in trouble for breaking some unknown magical law. She would have assumed that performing the underage magic that saved her parent's lives would be disregarded due to it being executed during a time of war. With the ministry though, she wasn't sure anymore. She could be in a lot of trouble.