The Search Begins

23 September

Her world was crumbling. He couldn't be dead. She was in a senseless present, her lungs rejected air, her vision blurred. Somewhere in the distance she heard someone shout unintelligible words at her and then they were gone. Even though they were being squeezed through a vacuum she never let go of his hand.

She felt his strong albeit sweaty hand squeeze hers back and just like that she slammed back to reality and life returned to her body. When they landed on hard earth she opened her eyes and found his blue ones staring back. He was in pain and there were still shouts, curses, the wind was strong but she held onto Ron with all the life she had in her.

"You're alive," she whispered urgently, "you're not dead..."

"If I am then heaven is wonderful, you're in it." Ron smiled and then grimaced. They were both coming back and they realized that the shouts and curses were coming from Harry and Draco.

She looked around her for the first time. Her dress was a bleak reminder of the beauty it had been minutes before. There was a small gash on her arm which surprisingly didn't hurt. She was missing a shoe and her hair was uneven. There was an actual chunk missing from her ends.

"I'm missing hair," she said picking up a frayed end. She looked back at Ron and found him staring up at the dark sky in a daze.

She looked him over and her world spun again. She searched around for her bag and accioed the dittany with such urgency her wand shook itself out of her grasp. She scooted around Ron and prepared to tilt the bottle over so three drops landed on his arm or at least what used to look like an arm. He looked like he'd been flayed and sliced but nothing a lot of rest and dittany wouldn't fix. At least that's what she kept repeating to herself.

She was crying, the tears blurring out the missing parts of Ron's arm. He didn't even stir, he just continued to gaze upwards. The air had stilled around them again. A fear almost equivalent to that which she had felt moments before had come back.

"Ron?" She asked nervously, "Ron what do you feel?"

Something about the way he looked at her and frowned startled her, "he saved my life. I kinda owe him don't I? I don't know how I feel about owing a Malfoy anything."

"Consider us even Weasley," came a hauntingly calm voice above them. She turned to face Draco who looked worse for wear. It wasn't the torn tux or the gash over his cheek that made her look twice, it was the completely detached way he himself stared. She wondered if they all looked the same.

"Did you get him?" Harry asked and Hermione didn't want to look at Harry, afraid she'd see the same eyes. "It all got crazy in the end, I saw the green flash and Ron yelled in my ear, I thought he might have got him..."

"He's dead," Draco whispered, "I hit him in the chest."

There was a moment when only the wind around them moved and the only sounds were the leafs blowing across the cold September dirt. "You got us out," Harry said sighing in a way Hermione had never heard. It made her take a glance at him. Compared to the others he looked relatively well. Drained, pale, and shocked but otherwise not harmed. "Why? How?"

"I made a vow before I came to you and that's the one that matters to me. The how is unimportant. We're here, alive...well barely." He chose that moment to look down at Ron who was finally reacting to his injuries. He was biting his lip in pain and squeezing his eyes shut. "Give him some sleeping draught. There's no point in him being awake for that kind of pain."

Hermione nodded as she did what she was told. Normally she would roll her eyes at Draco and fight his demands but Ron was in pain and a certain sense of protectiveness overcame her. She'd do anything for him not to feel pain right now.

She helped him take half of the potion before putting it back in her bag and when she returned to him he was out. Harry and Draco set up the tent and when they were done they removed Ron from her grasp and moved him inside. She remained outside unable to move, unable to think about anything except the way Ron's sharp cry, the way he'd been blasted into her side and the way her heart had stopped for those long seconds.

Draco came back outside to find her where they had left her. He didn't come over to her, he didn't even try to speak to her. They just looked at one another for what felt like a lifetime. Brown lifeless eyes met detached soulless eyes.

"How did it feel?" She asked. She wondered what had transpired in the months between Dumbledore's death and now that had made Draco Malfoy of all people point his wand at another living being and scream 'Avada Kadavra' and take the one thing a person truly had. His hand didn't even shake.

Draco looked away for a minute and then approached her. There was nothing menacing about the steps he took and there was nothing but concern written on his face. He extended his arm towards her and she took it almost without hesitation.

When they were face to face he looked down at her figure and then proceeded to take off his jacket, what was left of it. He draped it over her arms and that's when she realized she was shaking.

"You're in shock Granger. You almost witnessed your best friend, or whatever you two are, almost die. You probably just saw your first death. And we just ran for our dear lives. I'm sure you're curious but tomorrow you'll go back to hating me and thinking whatever it is you think about me. I shouldn't be filling your head with anything else."

"When I'm not in shock anymore, I'm going to ask you again. Will you answer me then?"

"No," he said firmly. He looked down briefly and then back at her eyes. "I know I didn't say this before we left but you looked nice tonight." He bit his lip in a way that let her know he meant it but it had cost him a lot to say it.

She tried to smile but couldn't bring herself to. The world was still a blur around the edges, her ears still rang, and she still felt cold. Draco placed a hand on her arm and in the next moment she found herself inside the tent on a bed next to Ron's. She turned on her side and closed her eyes.

She tried to think back to all the hours of planning, all the sleepless nights, all the trips to London to do research and spy. How did it all go so wrong after so much attention to detail?

Authors note: I know this is disgustingly short but it had been months since I've updated and this part had always been finished but I wanted to make it longer but every time I tried I hated what I had written and I think I finally know what to write so I figured I'd give you this. My life has been hectic with work but finally after months and months of not knowing how my mother's health was going to turn out we finally have the clear. She's been in remission since August of last year and radiologist gave us the good news that he doesn't see any cancer left. So I can finally breathe a sigh of relief and get back to writing.

The next chapter will be up soon and it will be a sort of flash back chapter.

Crazy how this whole story reminds me some what of Arrow (for any CW fans out there.) I'm not copying it, I'm just incorporating the angst I get from watching that show.

Also considering posting this on Hawthorn & Vine since a lot of people are moving to other sites for their fiction and I'm sorry but I can't get with that new site (you all know which one). It looks like a college freshmen designed the site and the tags are so confusing. I like Hawthorn & Vine for all of my Draco Hermione needs.