Chapter Seven.
Blaise and Theo stood in the kitchen of Draco's villa, watching their friend in the front room. Draco was sitting on the sofa staring into space, which was what he'd been doing all morning. The previous day had been Hermione's wedding day and it was obvious to Draco's friends that he was struggling to come to terms with what had happened.
The previous morning he'd been on the verge of returning home and stopping the wedding. Blaise and Theo had talked him out of leaving the villa, but they had confiscated his wand just in case. All that morning Draco had stalked around the villa, complaining about having to let Hermione marry Weasley, but as the day wore on he got quieter and quieter. Eventually he had settled in his bedroom where he had been until early that morning. Blaise and Theo suspected that Draco hadn't slept the previous night, but they didn't know for sure as the only response they could get from Draco was the odd grunt. He'd been unresponsive all morning and the pair were at a loss as to what they should do with the blond.
"Should I ask him if he wants some lunch?" Theo asked.
"You can try, but I doubt you'll get a response." Blaise sighed.
"This is just awful." Theo tutted, turning away from Draco and leaning against the kitchen counter. "I've never seen him so despondent before."
"Neither have I." Blaise admitted quietly. "I just hope Weasley slips up quickly and Hermione can catch him out. The longer she's married to that scumbag the harder Draco is going to find it."
"You think he's going to get worse?" Theo asked, turning his head to look at Blaise.
Blaise nodded sombrely as he turned to face Theo. "I think he's going to get a lot worse. He'll be blaming himself for what Hermione is going through and the longer she's stuck with Weasley the worse he'll feel."
"Something tells me Weasley won't slip up that easily." Theo muttered.
"Hermione seems to think he will." Blaise replied. "And she knows him better than us."
"The person she knows wouldn't have done this." Theo pointed out. "Weasley's clearly a very different person to the one she thinks she knows, and I don't think she can read him as well as she thinks."
"What makes you think he won't slip up?" Blaise questioned his friend, interested on hearing his opinions on a man he barely knew.
"Hermione is clearly the thing he most desires and after everything he's done to get her, he won't risk losing her so easily." Theo explained. "It's just my opinion, but I don't think he'll be that easy to catch out. He's kept this charade up for six months and now he actually has Hermione, I'm betting he'll do anything to keep her."
"You could be right." Blaise conceded his friend had a point. After everything he'd done so far, they'd be stupid to underestimate him now.
"I hope I'm not right." Theo said. "But I just think we need to acknowledge that it could take a while to catch Weasley out."
Blaise nodded in agreement, but before he had chance to respond he caught sight of a movement in the front room out of the corner of his eye. Turning his attention to the front room he spotted Draco rising purposefully from the sofa.
"Draco, are you alright?" Blaise called.
"Someone's breached the wards." Draco replied.
"Who?" Theo asked as him and Blaise entered the front room.
"I don't know Theo, I'm not psychic." Draco retorted. "But it has to be someone with magic, muggles can't cross the property line."
"Are they heading for the villa or have they just accidentally wandered across the wards?" Blaise inquired. He knew the property was fairly sizable and there was a possibility someone had just wandered over a distant part of the property by accident.
"I don't know." Draco shrugged. "But it's better to be ready. Give me my wand, Blaise."
Blaise reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out both his and Draco's wands. Handing the blond his wand he kept his own in his hand, ready to face any danger they might be in. Theo had also drawn his wand and the three men stood waiting to see if anyone approached the villa.
A few minutes later there was a hammering at the front door. While Draco went to answer the door Blaise and Theo stayed back, although they made sure they had their friends back if it was needed. Draco checked his friends were ready before he swung the door open, gasping when he found Hermione standing on the doorstep.
Draco didn't even get a chance to open his mouth before Hermione hurled herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him as she cried into his chest. Draco's arms automatically wrapped around Hermione as he tried to soothe her. His heart was hammering in his chest as he tried to work out what could have gotten Hermione in such a state, but he was doing his best to stay calm.
"What's wrong?" He whispered to his shaking girlfriend.
Instead of replying Hermione sobbed even louder and clung onto him some more. Draco shared a concerned look with Blaise and Theo as he manoeuvred Hermione over to the sofa and sat down with her still in his arms. Blaise grabbed the bag Hermione had left on the doorstep before he and Theo joined the couple in the front room.
"Hermione sweetheart, you need to tell me what's wrong." Draco said softly, brushing his hand over her hair.
"Ron's dead." Hermione mumbled, so quiet that only Draco heard what she had said.
Draco's eyes widened in shock and he gently lifted Hermione's head. "Did you just say Weasley was dead?"
Hermione nodded before dropping her head back down and continuing to cry. As he continued to soothe his upset girlfriend, Draco looked over to his equally shocked friends. Blaise and Theo looked just as baffled as he felt at the news. Draco had plenty of questions for Hermione, but he knew until she calmed down a bit she wouldn't be able to tell them anything.
"I'll go and make some tea." Theo suggested. Like Draco he recognised the fact they would have to calm Hermione down before they got the details of what had happened.
While Theo made the tea Draco concentrated on Hermione and by the time Theo returned to the room she was sitting up straighter, although she was still huddled into Draco's side. Theo placed the tray on the coffee table and handed a cup straight over to Hermione.
"There you go, you look as though you need it."
"Thanks." Hermione whispered, taking the warm cup off Theo and cradling it in her hands.
Draco waited until everyone else had their tea and were settled down before he turned to Hermione. "Are you ready to tell us what happened?"
"That's the thing, I don't know what happened." Hermione said quietly. "But I think I may have killed Ron."
Draco looked at his girlfriend in shock for a minute, before forcefully shaking his head. "That's just not possible. I don't know what's gone on but I do know you're not a killer. You did not kill Weasley."
"How can you be so sure?" Hermione questioned, looking at Draco and seeing there wasn't a trace of doubt in his eyes. He genuinely didn't believe she was guilty.
"Because I know you." Draco said, placing his cup of tea on the table and cupping Hermione's face in his hand. "And you're not a killer. There's not a bad bone in your body."
"I'm with Draco on this." Blaise piped up. "You just don't have it in you to kill someone."
"But you don't know what happened yet." Hermione argued. "Once I've finished telling you everything you might think I'm guilty."
"I'm sure we won't." Theo said, smiling softly at Hermione. "But I do think we need to know what happened."
"Theo's right, Hermione. You need to tell us what happened." Draco said softly to his girlfriend. "But there's no rush, tell us in your own time."
Hermione nodded and took a deep breath before speaking. "When I woke up this morning I found Ron lying dead beside me. His face had been beaten with a bat and he'd been killed with the killing curse. I was covered in blood and my wand had been used to kill him."
"What did you do?" Blaise asked.
"I ran." Hermione replied. "I took in the scene and realised I would be the prime suspect. I was the only person with Ron, I have no memories of last night and I'd publically slapped him earlier in the day. I know if I hadn't run, I would have been arrested."
"What do you mean you have no memories of last night?" Draco frowned, not liking what Hermione had just described. To him it sounded an awful lot like she'd been set up.
"Exactly what I said, I have no memories of last night. I can remember being in the suite and drinking, but I don't know what happened after that." Hermione said.
"What about the fight with Weasley you mentioned?" Blaise asked. "Why did you slap him?"
"At the reception we had this dodgy little argument. He approached me and told me to end my affair with Draco." Hermione explained. "It made no sense to me so I chased after him and finally got him alone. We then argued some more and I hit him. Not to mention I told him marrying him was the worst moment of my life and I wished he was dead."
"Ouch, talk about dropping yourself in it." Theo remarked. "That argument would make you a prime suspect in his death."
"Exactly." Hermione nodded.
"What exactly did he say to you?" Draco asked. He knew for Hermione to have slapped Ron and told him what she thought of him he would have provoked her somehow.
Hermione sighed and looked away from Draco before answering. "He said he was sleeping with me whether I wanted it or not. He then made a crack about me being with you first, and he would have to make do with sloppy seconds."
"Bloody bastard, if he wasn't already dead I would kill him myself." Draco seethed, before a thought struck him. Turning to Hermione, he made her look at him before asking his next question. "Did he touch you? Did he force himself on you?"
"I don't know." Hermione whispered. "He came to the bedroom and told me he'd be back later. He made it clear we would be having sex, but I don't know if he actually did anything. I started drinking in the hopes of getting drunk and I don't remember anything else. However this morning I was wearing a negligée I didn't recognise."
Draco growled, anger for the redhead threatening to overwhelm him. The only thing's keeping him where he was, were the fact that Weasley was dead and Hermione was upset and clearly needed his support.
"So do you still think I'm innocent?" Hermione questioned the three men. She knew just how guilty she sounded and while she suspected Draco would believe she wasn't guilty she reckoned that Blaise and Theo would have their doubts.
"Yes." Blaise responded with a nod of the head. "I think you're innocent."
"So do I." Theo agreed.
"We've told you, you're not a killer." Draco told Hermione, letting his anger go as he concentrated on his girlfriend. "Either you're being set up, or someone took advantage of your muddled state and framed you."
"Why would anyone do either of those things?" Hermione questioned.
"I don't know, but I intend to find out." Draco replied.
"How?" Hermione asked.
"First of all we need a good look at what happened yesterday and this morning. Can you give us your memories so we can look at them properly? Maybe there's a detail hidden there that you overlooked." Draco said to Hermione, who nodded and agreed to hand over her memories.
"I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think that's the first thing we should be doing." Blaise interrupted the couple. "From what Hermione's told us she'll be the prime suspect when Weasley is found. They're going to come looking for her and eventually they're going to turn up here. Your relationship might not be public knowledge, but with some digging the Aurors can discover it."
"Blaise is right." Draco nodded. "How did you get here?" He asked Hermione.
"I flew the muggle way, but I know they'll trace me eventually." Hermione admitted.
"Then we need to get you two out of the country under the radar." Blaise said. "I'll help sort that."
"I'll also help however I can." Theo volunteered.
"Thanks Theo, we appreciate it." Draco smiled at his friend. "I think you can help us best by going home and finding out what's happening. We need to keep up to date with what's going on."
"Are we leaving straight away?" Hermione asked.
"I think the sooner the better." Blaise replied. "Once we're out of here we can look at your memories and try and discover what we're dealing with."
"That sounds like a plan." Draco nodded. "It'll only take me a few minutes to pack."
"How are we going to leave the country without anyone knowing?" Hermione asked Blaise as Draco and Theo went off to pack. "Travelling magically we'll leave a trail the Aurors can easily follow and even travelling the muggle way leaves a trail."
"Leave that to me." Blaise grinned. "First things first we're going to move to my mother's place on the French border. We can then work on getting us over the border without suspicion."
"Us? You're coming with us?"
Blaise nodded and gave Hermione a reassuring smile. "Yes, I'm coming to help. I think the Aurors will identify you as the killer, meaning we'll have to search for whoever did this ourselves."
"What if it turns out I did do it?" Hermione whispered.
"If the worst did happen and you did kill Weasley in a fit of rage, we'll protect you." Blaise said. "Don't worry Hermione, Draco will never let anything happen to you, he'll make sure you're safe."