A/N: Here's a shoutout to my consistent reviewer Colubrina. *hugs, cookies and fluffy stuff*
Draco watched Hermione's poorly executed pretense in amusement. His ego was so tempted to believe that she was jealous, but the idea sounded too absurd in his head. He decided to push her further.
"I mean, even under the effect of Polyjuice potion, the Dark Lord's followers can't be that nice." Draco remarked innocently.
"Smitten already, Malfoy?" Hermione lifted her eyebrow at him sarcastically.
"Smitten is such a strong word." Draco replied thoughtfully.
"Well she obviously lives around." Hermione deduced, "So if we survive the battle tonight, I promise to help you pull her." she smiled sweetly at him.
"Your sincere interest in improving my love life is heart-warming." Draco drawled, "But I hardly need a wingman to pull a girl, specially that girl." he added with a smirk.
"A wingman?" Hermione asked in confusion.
"Yes..you know, a friend who assists you when you're pulling." Draco explained, "You spend most of your time with boys you should know what a wingman is!" he added, unable to believe that she couldn't understand the term.
"You think I'm a wingman...a wing..man!" Hermione exclaimed indignantly.
"Oh.." Draco's mouth fell slightly open. "It's a term used regardless of the gender." he grinned at her.
Hermione scoffed, Draco saw her as somebody who spent so much time with boys that she had turned into one!
"Giving up your prejudices against Muggles finally?" Hermione asked, trying to stir the conversation into safer waters.
"I think we've covered that part already, blood status makes no difference to me now." Draco replied seriously, "Plus, she looks beautiful enough to disregard her status, don't you think?" he asked, fighting to maintain a serious look.
"Yes, very beautiful indeed." Hermione replied dryly before deciding to let the conversation die there. Draco Malfoy's love life was her last interest.
Draco contemplated whether or not he should pursue the matter further. He wanted to push Hermione to a point where she dropped her indifferent act. But he couldn't do that without risking being too obvious. They continued walking back to the house silently. Draco couldn't hold back a small triumphant laugh that escaped through his lips.
"Are you actually that happy!" Hermione asked incredulously. Draco shrugged in response, still smiling at Hermione. "We're on the verge of a battle for crying out loud!" she cried.
"I'm trying not to think a lot about that" Draco admitted.
Yes because you're so busy thinking about a certain blonde, Hermione thought. She couldn't believe he was so excited about the girl they met at the supermarket that he couldn't stop grinning like an idiot all the way back to the house.
"Does shopping usually take so long?" Narcissa Malfoy demanded as Hermione and Draco walked through the door.
"Usually no. But Draco was busy showing off his chivalry." Hermione replied simply as she busied herself with stacking some items in a cupboard.
"I beg your pardon?" Narcissa's shrill voice sounded confused.
"Never mind." Hermione dismissed, "I want to explain to you how Muggle money works." she said.
Narcissa sat at one of the chairs surrounding the small dinning table as Hermione displayed different notes and coins, explaining the value of each one of them. Eventually, Narcissa understood what Hermione spent about an hour trying to explain. Draco left them in the dinning room and started roaming around the house, enjoying the tiny glimpses he got to take at Hermione's life.
When it was time for them to leave, Hermione stood by the door silently, trying not to intrude on what seemed like a private moment between Draco and his mother. She couldn't hear what they were saying but their body language was so intimate. She found herself craving a similar moment with her mother. Tears threatened to escape from her eyes as she considered the possibility of never seeing her parents again.
"What's wrong?" Draco asked a distracted Hermione.
"Nothing, let's go." Hermione mumbled as she walked out of the door.
"If that's how you look when nothing's wrong then I don't want to know how you look when something is." Draco said with a frown.
"Thanks, that's very sweet of you." Hermione said sardonically.
"I didn't mean it that way." Draco huffed, "So what's wrong? Is it something my mother said?" he asked.
"No_" Hermione shook her head "_I should go back now."
"Is it something I said, then?" Draco continued, ignoring her attempts at changing the subject. He started to think pursuing Olivia's matter was a childish move.
"No!" Hermione clipped exasperatedly.
"Spit it out, Granger." Draco ordered impatiently.
"I thought you were going to start using my first name." Hermione said.
"No, I asked you if you preferred it if I did." Draco corrected her. "I tried using it but I wasn't comfortable with it." he admitted.
"You tried using it when?" Hermione asked, trying to remember a time when he used her first name.
"In my head." Draco replied simply as if he was just asked a stupid question.
A smile curved Hermione's mouth and it soon developed into an unstoppable laugh as Hermione imagined Draco experimenting with her name and failing miserably at using it.
"What's so funny?" he asked defensively.
"Never mind, let's go; we're going to be late." she urged him.
"Alright_" Draco shrugged "_I'll see you in a couple of hours." he said nonchalantly.
Hermione didn't know if she should say something, good luck..take care..try not to die. Anything was better than just a silent departure.
"Goodbye" she mumbled, extending her hand to Draco who hesitated for a second before taking it. After a brief shake, she pulled her hand back, the sense of foreboding rising to a great level inside her.
The house was broodingly silent. Everybody was worrying about the battle inwardly, trying to look as calm as possible on the outside. When the night was dark enough, Lupin announced that it was time for them to move. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Bill, Tonks and Lupin each held a wand in one hand and a broomstick in the other while the others only held their wands.
They divided themselves into two groups. Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fleur and Tonks went with the first house elf. The rest of them followed with the other elf.
"Lumos" several voices whispered, bringing light to the dim dungeons of the Malfoy Manor. Harry and Ron made their way to the door with ease. Harry pointed his wand at the door, opening it.
"There's a small room at the end of the hall, opposite to the drawing room. Wait for us there." Hermione ordered the house elves who nodded eagerly and vanished into thin air.
Draco watched the man who sat calmly on the chair opposite to him. He heard a loud noise coming from downstairs, followed by the sound of broken glass and realized the battle had already started.
"Drink this." he ordered, pushing a bottle filled with Polyjuice potion into the man's hand. He watched with a disgusted grimace as the man gradually took his mother's form.
"Go to the bathroom and put this on quickly." he ordered once more, pointing at a black dress that lay on the bed. The man obeyed, emerging out of the bathroom after a short while.
"Follow me." Draco muttered as he held his wand in front of him and placed his mother's wand in the man's hand.
Hermione ran away from the range of a spell cast at her by Rookwood. Bellatrix and him were the most vicious ones, while the others seemed to be aiming their wands randomly everywhere, Rookwood and Bellatrix were a lot more accurate.
She saw Draco running down the stairs, followed by the fake Narcissa. He whispered something to the older witch and she held her wand up and started aiming curses at the first person in front of her, who happened to be Ron.
Bill and Fleur climbed the stairs two steps as a time, passing by Draco and Narcissa. They started bursting open one door after the other, pretending to be in search of something.
Harry and Lupin had Macnair with his back against a wall. Lupin poked his wand into his throat.
"The sword, Gryffindor's sword, where is it?" Harry demanded.
Before Macnair could answer, a stunning spell hit Lupin and he collapsed to the floor. Harry looked back to see Bellatrix, ignoring him and pointing her wand at Lupin. He raised his wand to shield Lupin from her but Tonks was faster. She pointed her wand at Bellatrix's hand and the latter instantly threw the wand away as if she was burnt. She turned around and her eyes gleamed dangerously when she saw Tonks.
Narcissa was sending one curse after the other at Ron and Ginny while Rookwood seemed to follow Hermione persistently wherever she went. Travers and Macnair followed Bill and Fleur around the house until they forced them down the stairs once more. Bill pointed his wand at Travers and sent him flying down the stairs, he hit his head against the wall before falling unconscious.
Molly and Arthur were absorbed in dueling Lucius Malfoy and Draco who stuck to his father's side all the time. Bellatrix seemed to only see Tonks. She forgot about having Harry Potter inside the Malfoy Manor, she even forgot about protecting the cup and focused on pursuing Tonks who was equally focused on pursuing her. Even though her arm was injured, Tonks was fighting ferociously.
Travers regained his consciousness after a while and stood up, trying to regain his balance. He saw Bill and Fleur heading towards the room that held the cup.
"The cup, protect the cup!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
"TRAVERS YOU IDIOT!" Bellatrix roared at him. With a furious wave of her wand, the man flew in the air screaming in pain before falling to the floor.
Draco moved to Narcissa's side and together they headed towards the charmed room. Hermione, Harry and Lupin followed them. What seemed to everybody as three Order members dueling two Death Eaters, was actually Draco providing cover for them as they sent one spell after the other over his shoulder, trying to open the door.
Bellatrix finally gave up on chasing Tonks and headed towards the small room. But Tonks had another plan. She ran after her, passing by the Weasly's as they tried to keep the other Death Eaters away from the room. Tonks pointed her wand at one of the huge paintings on the wall and it flew in Bellatrix's direction. She grovelled on the floor and just as the painting flew over her head, she stood up, pointing her wand at Tonks.
"Immobulus." she barked and Tonks stood fixed in her place.
"Avada Ked..." Bellatrix started to say.
"Expelliarmus!" Hermione yelled, Bellatrix's wand flew from her hand and into Hermione's. Without thinking twice, Hermione bent the wand forcefully, breaking it in half and throwing it away. Bellatrix froze in her place with a look of horror on her face as she watched her precious wand being broken by a Mudblood. She let out an animalistic groan, looking around her for a back up wand as she suddenly felt vulnerable without hers. She spotted Travers still lying on the floor, unable to move and headed towards him to take his wand.
Hermione heard a short triumphant laugh next to her. She looked at Harry then at the door and saw it slightly opened.
"Everte Statum" Harry and Lupin said, pointing their wands at Draco and Narcissa who flew into the room. Hermione, Harry, Lupin and Ron who was standing near them, entered the room. Bellatrix's head snapped in the room's direction, when she saw the door opened, she scurried towards it.
"Colloshoo" Tonks muttered with her wand pointed at Bellatrix who stopped in her tracks, trying to move her legs but unable to.
Hermione slammed the room's door behind them. She instantly started moving one piece of furniture after the other in front of the door as a desperate attempt to stall Bellatrix.
"Ron, no!" Hermione warned, but she was too late.
Ron had extended his hand, trying to take the box. He pulled it back instantly with a pained howl, his palm was burnt and covered in blood. He fell to the floor holding his hand and Hermione crouched next to him, trying to heal his hand and failing with every spell she tried. Nothing seemed to work on the severe burn.
Hermione looked around her frantically before spotting the curtains. She pointed her wand at one of them and they started shredding. Cutting off a couple of shreds, she started bandaging Ron's hand. Draco who was watching Hermione closely, ducked down to evade a spell that bounced off the box. It forced his attention back to the box.
Harry and Lupin kept trying to break the charms that protected the box. A loud thud came through the door and everybody realized they didn't have much time. Hermione used every protective spell she could think of at the door in order to buy them more time.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Draco hissed in frustration, "Deletrius" he muttered at the box and nothing happened.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to find a spell that would work on the box. "Expulso" he said desperately, almost positive that such a spell would hardly work on a highly protected box. To his surprise, the box started shaking before it burst into pieces. The cup flew out of the box and fell in one of the corners of the room. Harry rushed towards the cup and Hermione followed him. She snatched the cup from his hand and put it in her bag.
Lupin called one of the house elves who were hiding behind the curtains fearfully. He ordered him to tell the others to leave as soon as possible and the elf left the room.
"Granger, do it." Draco ordered through gritted teeth. He pointed his wand at Narcissa who was standing motionless in one corner of the room and she started fighting again, aiming her spells at everybody in the room.
"I don't think it's necessary." Hermione insisted.
"Of course it is! I'm outnumbered by you, how suspicious would it look if I come out of this without a scratch?" Draco tried to reason with her.
"Alright...just...let me think." Hermione stammered.
She squeezed the bridge of her nose, every spell she had ever learned seemed to escape her mind. She usually had to stop herself from attacking Draco, not force herself to.
She looked up at him and tried to think of a suitable spell. Narcissa's curses were flying over her head, the loud thuds at the door were increasing while Draco and Harry's voice kept urging her. Pressure was surrounding her. Harry pointed his wand at one of the windows, forming a hole in the wall.
"Accio broomstick" he said and a broomstick came flying through the hole he just made.
"Hermione, do you want me to do it instead?" Harry asked, secretly hoping that she'd say yes.
"Don't even think about it, Potter." Draco warned sternly.
"You need to be fast about this." Lupin yelled, getting tired of having to fight off Narcissa.
"Oh bugger!" Ron huffed impatiently. "Diffindo" he barked furiously at Draco's back.
Draco let out a loud agonized groan as he fell to the floor, face down. Hermione gasped in horror as she saw a deep cut, slashing Draco's back diagonally. A loud explosion forced her to look away from him. Bellatrix, unable to open the door with her new useless wand, was finally able to explode the whole wall with the assistance of Rookwood.
Everybody's eyes flew to the direction of the explosion and Hermione knew this was the right time for her to proceed with the rest of their plan. She glanced at Narcissa who was still dueling Lupin.
"Fio Glacialis" Hermione cried loudly, pointing her wand at Narcissa. A blast of ice came out of her wand, engulfing the older witch, leaving what looked like an ice statue of her.
"Bombarda Maxima" Tonks yelled from across the hall and Narcissa's statue exploded into tiny pieces, flying everywhere. Everybody seemed to be rendered motionless at the sight of Narcissa's death. Hermione, however, had her eyes fixed on the increasing pool of blood that surrounded Draco's twitching body. The sense of foreboding that haunted her all day long was now justified.
A/N (2): Yes another one! I'm sorry -again- for posting this chapter later than usual. Writing battle scenes takes a lot of time and planning so I had to write this chapter a couple of times. I hope you like it so far. :)