Chapter 3: Saviors, Secrets, and Sadness
"I want you to beg me mudblood." Nott moved closer to her and leaned down to where she was crumbled on the floor. "Beg me to stop."
"Go to hell." Hermione mumbled with the last bit of energy she could muster. She felt a thin trail of hot blood stream down her face from her head wound.
"We're already in hell Granger." Zabini replied, glaring down at her preparing to cast another spell. Crabbe cracked his knuckles, a sick look of excitement on his face.
Suddenly the door she came in through slammed open, and the sound echoed through the dark windowless corridor. The three boys leaped back from her, but then visibly relaxed when they saw who it was. The mark on Hermione's arm stopped searing in pain, and she knew he was here.
She tried to say Draco's name out loud, but she couldn't speak and only her lips moved in painful silence.
Draco kept walking as he burst through the door, and made a small bit of eye contact with Hermione who was crumpled on the floor.
The look in his eyes chilled her to the bone. She had never seen eyes so furious.
"Ah, good Draco." Nott said excitedly, rubbing his hands together. "Now you can join in the-"
His words were cut off by Draco's fist slamming into his face. Hermione heard a sickening crunch.
"Draco what are you doing!" Zabini back pedaled, clearly alarmed.
Draco threw his entire weight into the next few punches and then Nott was out like a light.
"Malfoy…" Crabbe began slowly, clearly confused at the situation.
Hermione saw a flash of red light fly from Draco's wand, and land itself right in Crabbe's chest as he fell over motionless.
Zabini was slowly getting the message, and he pointed his own wand at Draco's chest.
"No closer Draco."
"Fuck you." Draco snarled at him, and the two began to duel.
Hermione wasn't sure how long they fought. She was fading in and out, and wasn't entirely aware of how time was working. Finally, she heard Draco disarm Zabini, and then began the hand to hand contact. She couldn't see them, but she saw Draco's discarded wand and the sound of his fist making contact with Zabini's face over and over.
He was going to kill him.
Hermione took all the energy she had left in her and let out a few words.
"Draco." She managed, and heard two more punches in the silence that followed his name. "Stop."
Then there was nothing. She could only hear heavy male breathing.
Hermione tried to move, but there was a sharp pain in her side, and instead she let out an involuntary hiss.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked in the near darkness. A bit of candle light flicked on his face, and Hermione could see he was covered in sweat…and maybe even blood.
"Sure." Hermione replied as best she could. She was more concerned with Draco's state. She didn't expect him to fly off the handle like that. Honestly, she was hoping he'd come in and defuse the situation. Maybe play along with them, and convince the boys she wasn't worth it. Just leave her. That's all she wanted. She never expected him to defend her.
He moved away from her field of vision, and she saw the outline of his shadow stand up over his three friends and point his wand at each of them in turn.
"Obliviate…" His voice shook slightly as he erased Zabini's memory. Then he walked over to Crabbe and Nott's crumpled forms. "Obliviate…..Obliviate."
The shadow of Draco Malfoy came closer, and then he was standing before her shaking slightly.
"I'm sorry." He said finally. "That was…I'm sorry."
Hermione took a deep breath, and managed to push herself up into a sitting position.
"Jesus Granger. Your face…your…your legs." He came down beside her and looked at her closely. His hands hesitantly reached out and ran themselves along the cuts on her thighs, then moved up to her face. "Do you need Madame Pomfrey?"
"Is dinner over?" She asked back, not wanting him to know how badly it hurt.
"Yeah Granger. It's nearly midnight." He replied worried. "I've been looking for you for goddamn hours."
Had time passed that quickly? Her mind raced trying to keep up with her actions.
"Room Of Requirement." She said slurring her words slightly, black spots in her vision.
The last thing she needed was for anyone to see her like this. Hermione was fixing herself to stand when Draco promptly knelt down and scooped her up. She opened her mouth to argue, but before she could speak he interrupted.
"Don't get used to this Granger." He said with a trace of humor.
She managed a grateful smile, and he led her up the empty stairs, though the castle and to the Room of Requirement. Luckily they met no one on their way. Draco set her on a bench as he walked past the door three times in concentration.
Hermione faintly wondered what he was asking for, but her question was answered when he carried her through the door and closed it behind them.
First thing she noticed was the giant bed he laid her down on, it was the most luxurious thing she'd ever felt. When he finally released her he went straight over to one of the many cabinets lining the walls, which were full of small different shaped vials containing all sorts of liquids in many diverse colors.
"The small pink one." Hermione croaked from the bed.
Draco turned and rolled his eyes at her.
"Of course you know exactly which one you need. You're such a know it all Granger."
Hermione started to laugh, but was overcome by coughing. Draco grabbed the small pink vial for pain, and also the larger red one for blood replenishing. He returned to her side and sat down next to her on the only bed.
"I asked for two beds…when I was, uh asking for things." Draco said awkwardly, handing her the pink vial which she took gratefully.
"That is seriously the last thing on my mind." Hermione said downing the pink vial and following it quickly with the red drinking half and handing the rest to Draco. "You need some of this too."
"Actually this is Notts blood…not mine."
"Oh." She said quietly, at loss for what to say. The potions worked through her system quickly, and she was no longer in any pain as the cuts and bruises began to visibly diminish. Should she thank him? Reprimand him? Luckily he saved her from having to say anything.
"I'm sorry." He said grimly. "I didn't mean to lose it like that, but seeing you lying there covered in blood…I didn't know what to expect when you called, but I didn't expect that. It reminded me of the night I found you this summer. I didn't want to ever find another human being in that condition again. I just sort of lost it…"
They sat in silence a moment longer, Hermione's eyes gazed around the room and landed on a mirror a few feet away. She looked awful. Dried blood matted into her hair, her face was tear streaked, but it wasn't the physical damage the boys had done that scared her. It was the look in her own eyes. Pupils dilated, no doubt from the pills, and her figure was thinner than usual, her large eyes looked haunted staring back at her.
"Grange?" Draco asked from beside her. She could see him staring at her in the mirror.
"Yes." She whispered, tearing her eyes away from her reflection.
"I am so fucking mad at you."
"Excuse me?" She said turning to him indignantly.
"What the hell were you thinking?" He asked running his hands through his blonde hair.
"Well I wasn't thinking about getting mugged!" She replied outraged. "It's not like I was just sitting there hoping it would happen."
"No the pills!" He said standing up and beginning to pace. "You can't just…take pills that a stranger gives you! You don't even know what they do!"
"How do you know a stranger gave them to me?" She asked, accusingly.
"I-" He stopped his pacing and turned, unprepared for her question. Finally he let out a long sigh. "I waited for you. After Snape left me at the castle I walked back down and was hoping to meet you half way, but I never came across you. So I went into Hogsmead and found you, okay?"
"You were spying on me." Hermione was dumbfounded.
"Yes! Okay, I was spying on you! Happy?" He threw himself down beside her on the bed once more. "And it's a good fucking thing I was too because you never would have made it back to the castle without me."
"You brought me back to the castle?" Hermione whispered, ashamed.
"Yeah. Didn't you wonder how you got back? When I found you in The Hogs Head you could barely keep your head up. Three disgusting men were fighting over which one should take you home. If I hadn't been there I don't even know where you would have ended up the next morning…"
Hermione wanted to cry. She wanted to scream, and rage, and break things. She didn't think her magnitude of self loathing could accumulate any more than it already had, until just now.
"So yes, I'm pretty fucking mad at you. Especially since I see you taking them again only twelve hours later just because Pansy Parkinson said something mean to you. It's just so unlike you! You need to get your shit together."
He stood up to leave, but Hermione's words stopped him.
"Where are Harry and Ron, Draco?" She asked sadly. His words had moved her, but her friends were more pressing in her mind. "You keep saying they're being held captive, but when I try to bring up a plan to get them out, or try to get any more information from you, you don't give me anything"
"Hermione, not tonight." Draco replied tiredly.
"Yes, tonight." She said sadly. "Because I'm starting to not believe you. And as much as you might not want to admit it, I'm smart Draco. I saw how you reacted when I told you the house was under Harry's protection because he owned it."
"I just wanted to get out of there." He said turning towards her, desperate to stop the direction of the conversation.
"Harry ordered Kreacher to work at Hogwarts." She said finally, wiping tears off her cheeks. Draco's face was getting even paler. "I went down when I left class to see if I could talk to him, and ask about the locket."
"Hermione…" Draco came back over and reached out a hand to her arm. She pulled herself away from him.
"And Dobby said that Kreatcher had left, around the time that Harry died. But you told me Harry was alive. You said they both were. How could Kreatcher leave unless his bond to Harry died with him?"
Draco hung his head now, not attempting to look at her or make excuses, and this was all the confirmation Hermione needed to lose what little hope she had.
"You lied." She gasped, on breaths that were hard to breathe. "You wanted to leave Grimmauld Place once you realized the magic of Harry's protection wasn't keeping us safe. Kreacher left because he no longer is Harry's to own. And the night my parents died you knew I wanted to die too, because without Harry and Ron or them I didn't want to keep living."
"Is that such a bad thing?" Draco whispered, looking up at her with a pleading look in his eyes. "To want to keep you alive?"
"You didn't want to though, you needed to." She said tears streaming freely down her face. "You wanted my help to destroy Voldemort. You would know nothing of Horcruxes if it wasn't for me, or anything about where they might be, or how to destroy them. You needed me alive."
"I did…" Draco didn't try to deny it, and it stung a little to hear him admit it. "But, I saved you last night, and again just now because maybe you're all I have left Hermione. Once my parents find out what I'm doing they'll disown me or kill me, so will my friends. But I'm not a disillusioned little boy anymore. I know what Voldemort is capable of, I know his missions, and his plans, and I just can't live in a world like that Hermione. You're the best hope we have. The best hope I have."
"You lied." She accused him weakly.
"I lied to keep you alive, so that I could stay alive, so that the wizarding world might stay alive as we know it." Draco ran his hands through his hair, a nervous habit. "You wouldn't have let me help you, or keep you alive if you knew they were dead. I did what I had to do. So we need to get your shit together so that we can stop Voldemort once and for all."
His passionate speech left her without words for a moment, and they sat in the quiet.
"Maybe I don't have anyone to get my shit together for." Hermione finally admitted.
"You have me." Draco said defiantly. Meet me in Hogsmead tomorrow night at nine. I've got a lead on a horcrux."
With that he stood up walking towards the door.
"I am sorry Granger. I'm sorry for all of it." He walked out, and the door slammed behind him.
"Now what do I do?" Hermione spoke aloud to the room.
"Get your shit together, and save the world." A portrait on the wall behind her said brusquely. "And save it quickly."