Chapter 39
Draco felt his heart shatter as he heard Hermione scream with pain. It was all his fault that she was the one in this position now. If he had worked harder to keep her safe, fought harder to make sure she wasn't taken, then he could have prevented all of this from happening. He was a bloody Auror. It was his job to make sure nothing happened to Hermione, and he had failed her. And now she was in that monster's hands, and who knew what she was enduring.
What he did know was that he was going to get her out no matter what. He held his wand forward, and with the wards down, he took a step into the Flint property. He waited a few moments to make sure there were no late charms or wards that he had missed ready to take him down. Satisfied, he started to run towards Hermione; well at least he tried to.
As he made a move to run, he felt Harry's arm on his shoulder, preventing him from moving.
"Draco, we should wait for back up," Harry told him, "It's not safe for us to go in there alone with no way of knowing what to expect. We need help."
Draco stared at his partner incredulously, "Hermione's in there! She's being tortured and hurt and you want to wait for backup? That's my girlfriend in there! Your friend! Your sister. And you want to leave her in that villain's hands while we sit around on our arses waiting for help? You're Harry Bloody Potter; you took on Voldemort by yourself, and now you want to just wait around?"
Harry looked troubled at that, but he nodded quickly, "Screw protocol," his friend said softly, "Let's go get Hermione out of that monster's hands. You're right. The longer she's alone with him, the worse it is. Ron knows where we are anyways, and he's bringing the others with him."
Draco nodded as the two of them took off running toward the house.
The property was different from what he remembered. There were no longer tall marble columns, or statues that moved around. There were no large hedges shaped into various designs or a nice landscaping which was highly influenced by his own property. That was the way the Flint Manor once was like. That was how it used to be before the war, when his family was competing with all the other pureblood aristocracies for having one of the nicer homes. That was before Flint's family lost everything; their money, their titles, and their standing. Their once glorious property was now nothing but ruins and overgrown plants.
From a political point of view, Draco could see exactly why Marcus Flint was less than pleased with how he had made it out of the war. The only difference between the two of them was the reason they both joined up with the Death Eaters. Despite his good intentions, Draco still had done things he wasn't proud of, and he carried that with him every day. But he tried to be a better person. He tried to make up for the actions of his past. Marcus, on the other hand, wanted everything handed to him on a silver platter. He was spoiled and selfish and couldn't work a day in his life even if he tried.
And more importantly, he was the one currently causing Hermione pain.
Harry was right by him the entire time as they made it down one of the halls that Draco had often played with Marcus and the other boys as children, chasing each other, as they played with their magical toys while their parents discussed politics and gossiped in the parlour. Less than twenty years later, Draco couldn't help but laugh at the irony of why he was running down the halls now.
If he had been told any of this fifteen years ago, hell even six years ago, he would have laughed. He probably would have insisted that he was running to save Marcus from marrying Hermione. But he knew better now. Despite the tough charade he had put on as a kid, he often had wondered about all his ideals while at Hogwarts. Because Hermione Granger was the exception to all the rules he had been taught; brilliant, fierce, brave, and strong, but also compassionate and forgiving. He didn't deserve her, but he would be damned if he let anything happen to her.
He heard Hermione let out another scream of pain, but this time he could tell Hermione was barely yards away. The only thing separating them was a mere wooden door.
He raised his wand and blasted the doors open, trying to get through to the other side. Once he did so, he could see Hermione on the ground. Her hair was in a right state, and she had a wound on her head in which she was bleeding from. Her face was filled with exhaustion and he could all but see the anguish in her by the way she slouched on the ground.
"Hermione!" Harry cried out, as he tried to rush toward her, only to be sent hurling backwards by Marcus.
"You came," Marcus said, disappointed. He could see Hermione raise her head weakly to look at Draco with hope in her eyes. "She said you would, but I didn't quite believe her. Seems like you have changed since Hogwarts, Malfoy."
"Of course I came for her!" Draco said, with anger cutting through his words. "You didn't honestly think that you could kidnap my girlfriend and expect me to just sit back and let you do it. You're out of your league, Marcus. There are an army of Aurors on their way over here. So even if I lose against you, you will not win this. Just surrender and hand Hermione over."
Marcus looked visibly furious at that, "Of course you would want that, wouldn't you, Malfoy. Little spoiled Malfoy always gets everything he wants and more. And he expects everyone else to bow down to him just because his father has so much political power. Well we're not in school anymore, Malfoy, and your family has no influence now. You can't buy your way out of this one."
"I don't need to buy my way out of this," Draco spat out, "I could make a comment about how I'm still financially and politically better off than you, even without my father's help, but I won't do that. Not all of us desperately cling on to the people we once were in school. Some of us grew the hell up and changed. Some of us became who we truly wanted to be. Maybe it's time you gave it a shot."
Marcus ignored him, "None of us ever liked you anyway, Malfoy. You know that right. All your so called friends couldn't care less about you. And just because you came out on top of the war doesn't mean that any of us forgot who you truly are inside; a weak boy who wasn't even capable of holding onto his morals when push came to shove."
"Those aren't morals," Draco shouted out, as he saw Harry stand up from the corner of his eyes, "Those are a weak attempt for us purebloods to feel superior. The so called Lord Voldemort whom you respect so much? He was a half-blood. Just give it up, Flint. It's not worth holding on to all of your grudges. It's only keeping you trapped in the past with anger, and it isn't helping you move forward."
"Says you!" Marcus said bitingly, "You came out on top of this war. You let in Death Eaters to Hogwarts and you were forgiven. You became a bloody hero. And you apparently marry Hermione Granger and have a child with her. Of course it's easy for you to say move on because things are wonderful for you. All because that mudblood bitch helped clean up your name. And if she could do that for you, just think of the wonders she could do when married to me."
"No one is going to believe that," Draco said desperately, "We all but just told the press we love each other, and you think if Hermione married you less than a week later, no one is going to suspect foul play? Be serious, Marcus, and get real. Just let her go, and they might be lenient in your sentencing."
Marcus laughed, "You think I'm going to go to Azkaban now? I went through all the trouble to avoid it, why would I give in and go now? Screw you Malfoy. No, I will walk out of this with everything I wanted and more. And at the end of this, you'll be on the bottom, Malfoy, where you belong."
Draco all but rolled his eyes, "You're delusional, Flint."
"Am I?" Marcus asked sharply, before casting a silent stinging charm at him. Draco winced in pain as he moved forward. "Look around you, Malfoy. Harry Bloody Potter is on the ground, unable to get up, and the brightest witch of our age is on her knees in front of me. I don't see anyone else coming to help you. It's just you and me. You may talk a good game, but when it comes down to it, I am more powerful and stronger than you could ever be. The sooner you accept defeat the better.
"No," Draco said firmly. From the corner of his eye he could see Harry moving towards Hermione, trying to make sure she was okay. She looked slightly stronger now that Marcus' full attention was no longer dedicated purely to her, and he knew in a few more moments she would be strong enough to take Marcus on if need be.
Draco raised his wand and casted a disarming spell towards Marcus, but his former housemate easily deflected it.
"It's going to take far more than that to bring me down," Marcus laughed, "That disarming charm might have defeated the Dark Lord, but it is no match for me. If that's all they teach you at the academy, then perhaps you should resign. It's a wonder they manage to get anything done at all."
Harry took his wand in his hand and shot a spell at Marcus, causing the man to nearly drop his wand. Enraged, Marcus turned towards Harry and sent a hex his way.
Draco took the opportunity to his advantage and ran towards Hermione, "How are you?" he asked her, as she nodded slightly.
"I'm okay, Draco," she told him honestly, "Is Scorpius fine?"
"He's at home with Ginny," Draco told her quickly, as he cast a few healing charms over her to help fix her up. She smiled gratefully at that.
He wanted to yell at her, scold her for going with Marcus in the first place. She didn't have to go with him, and because she did, she had been put through so much. But now wasn't the time for such things. Now was the time to get her our safely.
"Get away from her!" Marcus yelled angrily. "She's mine! You can't have her, Draco. She belongs to me." Draco turned to see Harry back on the ground, knocked out.
Hermione shook her head, "That's not how it works, Marcus. You can't just belong to a person. And even if you did succeed in casting a charm over me so that I ended up falling for you, it would never be me truly in love with you. You can't force things like that. It would always be the effects of the spell."
"Who cares about love?" Marcus asked with a laugh, "Love is overrated and for souls who don't know any better. Love hurts and is an emotion that is meaningless and has no value. I could care less if you love me, Granger. That's not what I'm after. You know what I want from you; when did I ever indicate that I wanted your love as well?"
"Then I feel bad for you," Hermione said simply, "Because you're missing out on something great. You're right, love is senseless. There is no reason or logic behind it. I tried for years to apply rules and principles to love but you just can't. You can't help who you fall for. And if you really want a loveless marriage, then sure, you may get everything you want, but you'll always find yourself missing something. And no amount of affairs or other ventures could even come close to helping you make up for that loss. You're not going to get me to marry you, Flint. I threw off your imperious curse when you tried. And if you try again, I'll just do the same thing. For the marriage bond to work both parties need a form of consent, and no amount of pain and torture will ever get me to agree to that. There's no way you're going to walk out of all of this with anything you wanted. So just give up, Marcus. It's been a long few weeks fighting Zacharias Smith, and we're all tired. Just give up; I'll testify for you and everything so you can get a lenient sentence."
"What part of 'I don't plan on ever going to Azkaban' do none of you seem to understand?" Marcus asked incredulously. "I'm going to walk out of this with you as my wife, and neither Malfoy nor Potter will be able to do anything, especially once I wipe their memories. As for your relationship with him, I'll just get you to release a statement saying he gave you a love potion. Most people still hate him anyways; it's not as if they would not believe the tale. We can spin it and make it tragic, saying he plotted this for years, winning the trust of your friends first so they would let their guard down around him, then slipping the potion in one of your drinks to help make the world believe he's changed."
"The irony is that you're doing the same thing," Hermione said drily. "You know people are saying we're a couple meant to be together by the fates? Do you really think people are going to believe him over you? No one will."
"I don't care if they believe me," Marcus spat out, "Once you're my wife, there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop it. You'll be mine and that's all that will matter. I don't care if you're half dead when it happens. I will perform the ceremony before the night is through."
Hermione shook her head, and Draco could tell that she was using the opportunity to buy them time. While Marcus was still distracted, he stood back up and cast several spells in Marcus' direction.
His former housemate turned to him, after deflecting the spells, "Did you think it was that easy to win, Malfoy? Use your little bitch to distract me and then get away? Well I'll be damned before I let that happen. Crucio."
Draco fell to the ground as indescribable pain shot through his body, paralyzing him. He could see Hermione's face contour, and watched in amazement as she summoned her wand back form Marcus' body. Thankfully for her, he was too busy taking pleasure in torturing Draco to notice that she had her wand back. 'Good,' Draco thought to himself.
"Stupefy!" Hermione shouted out, anger laced deeply in her voice. Unfortunately for Marcus, despite the verbal warning, he wasn't quick enough to deflect the charm, as his back was still turned away from her.
Marcus collapsed onto the ground and Hermione summoned his wand away from him. She then cast a binding charm over the man to prevent him from moving any time soon. Satisfied, his girlfriend ran towards him.
"Are you okay?" she asked, extremely concerned.
"I should be asking you that," Draco said softly as he sat up and cupped her cheek. "I'm so sorry, Hermione. I should have protected you better. I shouldn't have let our wands be taken from us so easily, and I should have protested you going with him more. I should have kept you safe, and I failed you."
She kissed his forehead softly, and spoke, "You did, Draco. I didn't give you much of a choice. I know you would never do anything to harm me. It's not your fault, okay. You didn't do this, and you aren't responsible. I love you; nothing will ever change that."
"I love you too," he said, before the doors were burst open.
Aurors poured through with Ron leading the way, ready to charge into a fight, yet they stopped short when met with the scene in front of them.
"I guess you don't exactly need us any more, do you?" Ron asked sheepishly.
Harry, stirring slightly, shook his head.
Draco stood up, and though still weak, he held Hermione close to him. Despite knowing she was safe, he didn't want to let her go just yet, and she seemed to sense that as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest.
The next few hours were spend being asked question after question about what happened, filling out paperwork, getting checked up by Healers, and being poked and prodded. A large part of him wanted to protest, and just go home and sleep, but he didn't say a thing. He waited with Hermione as a more in depth examination was performed on her, making sure she as safe before they were both finally released, and allowed to go home.
"I'm glad you're okay," he told her softly as she snuggled into him in their bed. Scorpius was still at Harry's place as it was late and they didn't want to disturb his sleep, so it was just the two of them at the moment.
"Me too," she said softly, "I was scared for a bit that it would be too late before you came, but I knew you would never let anything happen to me."
"As it will always be," Draco kissed her head. "Get some sleep, Granger. You deserve it."
She closed her eyes, and he could tell from the change in her breathing that she had drifted off to sleep. He closed his own eyes, and within moments he was lulled into a dreamless state.