A/N : We are so sorry! We've had a bit of a Veela duty to attend to, and we've also been intrigued with a couple absolutely AMAZING stories by ShayaLonnie! 'Safe Word is Devil Snare' and 'Debt of Time' - Both really awesome!
"And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?"
The night had been a long one, but it was only just beginning. Hermione, Fred, and George, along with Fleur, Ron, and Mundungus Fletcher, had just taken Polyjuice Potion to turn themselves into Harry Potter. The plan to move Harry safely to The Burrow had been set for weeks, but now that it was finally among them, Hermione ached with nerves at the thought of what might happen along the way.
"We're identical!" Fred and George said in unison.
"Don't look at me, I'm hideous!" Fleur cried.
"Harry, your eyesight really is awful." Hermione stated matter-of-factly.
As she looked around at the small crowd that surrounded her, she saw she was in a room full of Harry Potters. This was like some bizarre nightmare. But whatever kept Harry safe, right? At least she wasn't a feline this go round.
Once everyone was outside and in place on their brooms, Bill and Fleur, and Hermione and Kingsley had climbed atop their respective thestrals, and Hagrid had mounted Sirius' old bewitched muggle motorbike. The real Harry nestled in its sidecar, they took off swiftly into the night.
As soon as they reached the clouds, it was evident that they were going to have a difficult time making it to their destination unscathed. The air was filled with the cracking of curses, shouts, and growls.
Only hours ago, Draco had jumped at the chance to go on this mission at the last minute. Since failing to be the one to kill Dumbledore, he had been pushing to prove himself to The Dark Lord. Just in case, of course. No one could doubt his allegiance. He had to play the part.
Now Draco hovered in the sky on his broomstick, looking about for a sign of the person he wanted to see more than anyone. There was no sign of her. He instead counted seven Potters. Of course there would be an influx in the amount of the person he despised the most. There was no way Hermione was not present so one of them had to be her. The question was, which one?
He turned his head more fervently, realizing his time was running out before everyone would break off into too many directions. He shot only green sparks from his wand, hoping in the bustle, his peers would not realize that he wasn't actually trying to kill anyone. Attempting to practice hasty deduction, he racked his brain.
There were many people on brooms, two thestrals, and that oaf of a teacher, Hagrid, on a motorbike. Everyone knew Hermione Granger hated flying. He thought she had even made a joke about how awful she was at the witching cliché at the quidditch match they had attended together. He concluded that, no, she couldn't safely be on a broom. With that set as fact in his mind, he considered that Potter was always strangely chummy with Hagrid. Draco was willing to bet half his Galleons that the sentimental Gryffindors would have placed him in that sidecar. That left the two thestrals. One with a Weasley, one with an auror.
It was then that his question was answered, as one of the thestral-bound Harrys passed by him, looking curiously into his masked face, holding a wand but hesitating over using it against him. A familiar wand. As if he needed more evidence that this was his Harry, some of his green sparks caused something to gleam. An empty phial on a chain, billowing in the wind with her coat.
He hoped against hope she didn't recognize him in any way. Hermione, after all was clueless as far as he knew, to his Death Eater status. Still he flew after her. Death Eater or not, he would protect her. And the first chance he got he would definitely be sharing some strongly worded thoughts with her about her hesitating toward Death Eaters whilst hundreds of feet in the air.
XXX
"Do you think he would have done it? Draco." Hermione asked later that night, lowering herself down onto the Weasley's sofa. She hadn't had a proper opportunity to chat with Harry about that night in the Astronomy Tower till now.
"No, he was lowering his wand. It was Snape. It was always Snape."
Hermione sighed and closed her eyes, shaking her head, "I just can't believe it. But...all in all...I'm relieved that Draco didn't do it."
Harry nodded, and glanced at the way Hermione's lips curved into a half-hidden contented smile.
"At least there was that." she thought. "Some hope for him yet."
"You know, Harry. Earlier…one of the Death Eaters was only shooting green sparks. I went right past them and they didn't do anything, then followed us till we had lost the others."
"Well, they had deducted which one I was…"
"This was different. It's like whoever it was, they were protecting Kingsley and I." she paused pensively, "You don't think maybe one of them is secretly on our side, do you?"
"I don't know." he said slowly, "Constant vigilance though, remember?" They each cracked a wan smile at the thought of Mad-Eye.
"Night, Harry."
Hermione stood, walking slowly away from the sofa and journeyed onward to Ginny's room. Harry watched her as she had walked away, completely dumbfounded.
He knew the way Malfoy had looked at her, but it had just then been confirmed that she seemed to reciprocate those feelings, whatever they were. He then considered what she said of this mysterious Death Eater. No, it couldn't be…
"What's going on?" Ron appeared, chewing sloppily on a biscuit.
"It's complicated."
Ron hadn't noticed the menacing expression on Harrys face and began to nibble at another biscuit.
XXX
Hermione sat down on her bed that was set up in Ginny's room. She pulled her phial out from her shirt and off of her neck, allowing it to roll from the palm of her hand to the tips of her fingers.
She hadn't placed any memories of her own within it yet, so there it sat, empty and free of anything worth remembering.
She wanted to send Draco a message. But what could she send? What would she say?
They hadn't really been on any terms, let alone good ones, since...everything.
Her heart sunk yet again, for the thousandth time this month. It couldn't have been Draco that let the Death Eaters in. He couldn't have been the one to try and kill Dumbledore. He was so different. Had she been wrong?
She then thought of Theo.
"Ugh," she groaned aloud, falling back onto her pillow haphazardly. If she only had been able to bring him along. Maybe if she had forgiven Draco this wouldn't be happening. She could have been there. Maybe she could have talked him out of it. Dumbledore could have helped.
Her thoughts then drifted to her parents, as they often did these days. The tears began to draw a slow, familiar trail down her cheeks.
This was her life every night for the past month; lying in her bed thinking, wondering what had happened, what went wrong in the span of things. Why was life so difficult? She tried to mute the gnawing thoughts with books, but it only silenced them so long as her eyes met the pages.
She took her wand to the temple of her head, and out she drew a series of memories that were worth keeping. Holidays with her parents, singing with her mother, receiving her Hogwarts letter, laughs with Harry and Ron. Finally drawing her wand away from her temple, she shuddered at the last memory of herself, Draco, and their spontaneous evening by the lake.
If only she could have one more night like that, maybe then she could stop fixating, and simply worry about the big problems in life, like maybe…Voldemort.
XXX
Draco sprawled across his bed in his room at Malfoy Manor, holding onto the phial that laid against his chest beneath his shirt. He tugged it out and began to slip the moonstone ring methodically on and off of his pinky finger. He wished that Hermione would send him some sort of sign. He wished he could feel some sort of strand of connection to her, even if only for a moment, through a charmed bit of glass.
In a perfect world, he would apologize, tell her he loved her…tell her how it was even possible. She only knew a Draco who barely knew her. He would beg for her forgiveness.
Unfortunately, it was quite obviously not a perfect world.
He stared bitterly at the ceiling, and charmed it with the night sky like his mum used to when he was a boy and couldn't find sleep.
He just could not shake her. Tomorrow was the first day of August and all that was on his mind and had been on his mind for the past seven bloody months had been her. Hermione. Hermione Granger.
XXX
The next morning, Hermione sat at the Weasley's dining table and poked at her eggs, turning the bacon smile strewn across her plate into a frown.
Harry watched subtly as she did this. He wanted so badly to tell her it would all be okay. Her parents would be okay, that it was okay for her to forgive Draco. But he didn't know this and at the same time, he wanted to be selfish and not dare allow Hermione to go near Malfoy again. He was dangerous, and vile, not to mention, on the other side of this war. The way Hermione was acting, however, made his feelings sit perched atop a very high fence.
George was sipping on a mug of coffee, his ear bandaged from the Sectumsempra that grazed him the night before.
"Zip me up, will you?" Ginny demanded playfully at Harry. She hadn't noticed her elder brother standing at the counter.
Once Harry had finished, Ginny turned to say thank you but caught the eye of George instead.
"Morning." he said in a sing-song voice.
Hermione smirked at the scene.
"It's kind of silly isn't it? Having a wedding during this time." Ginny pointed out.
"It's kind of nice, in my opinion. Helps take your mind off all the darkness." Hermione pushed her plate away, feeling terrible that she had wasted so much food.
Just as she was feeling guilty, Ron marched in, "Ah! Someone made me a plate?" He plopped down in a chair and began eating.
Hermione groaned, "Excuse me, I'm going to go get ready for the big day."
XXX
After the ceremony, parties were gathered around tables, some eating, some talking, others dancing. Hermione sat with Ron and grimaced at the way he was eating. "Do you ever stop eating?"
Mid-bite, he shook his head. "Why would I do that? There's food. I'm hungry." he shrugged.
As she was turning to watch Harry and Ginny gather themselves on the dance floor she felt a tapping on her shoulder. Hoping and wishing for it to be a pair of steel grey eyes to meet hers, she found coffee ones instead.
"Viktor! How lovely to see you!" She jumped up excitedly, throwing her arms around his neck. Who was she these days?! Ron groaned. Hermione suddenly felt nauseous as she breathed in a familiar musky aftershave. Draco. She pulled away.
"How are you, Viktor?" she asked, trying to shake the thought.
"I am vell, 'ow are you?" he said, as he squared his broad shoulders. So charming.
"I'm alright."
He smirked, and held out his hand, "Vould you like to dance vith me?"
"Of course." She nodded, took his hand and he lead her to the dance floor. The entire time she couldn't shake the thought of Draco. She grew angered by it so in an effort to resolve the problem at hand, she made a choice that would probably make her even more angry later. It was worth a shot.
After a few songs worth of arguing back and forth with herself, Hermione whispered only halfheartedly into Viktor's ear, "What do you say, we get out of here?"
"To vhere?"
"I think I have an idea."
They soon arrived at Mister Weasley's garage.
She unlocked the door with a flick of her wand and opened it to reveal a mass mess of muggle artifacts.
Once inside, Hermione strolled over to Hagrid's motorbike and cringed inwardly before leaning over the handle bars. "So tell me, Mister Krum, have you missed me?" She bit her lip, trying to act seductive, but she knew she was failing miserably.
"I 'ave missed you ever since you stopped vrighting me." he replied honestly.
"I've missed you too." she lied weakly.
At this, Viktor moved toward her, and in one swift movement pushed his lips into hers. He snaked his arm around her waist, and with one swift pull, he picked her up and took her to a nearby shelf.
Hermione wandlessly cast aside the muggle things that were sitting on the shelf, to make way for her to be set upon it.
Viktor moved his tongue inside of her mouth, and she noticed that it wasn't soft like Draco's. It was rough, almost as if she was filling her mouth with sand. His hands didn't fit the curves of her waist like Draco's had. She sighed sadly into his lips.
He started to kiss down her neck and move his fingers up her thighs. Just as he was about to meet her apex, she pushed his hand away.
"Is there something vrong? If you're uncomfortable, I can transfigure a bed or -"
"No, no, it's not you. It's..." Draco. "You just don't deserve this Viktor." she winced.
"I don't understand."
"My heart belongs with someone else, and as much as I want to want you, I can't. I...I just can't." She was growing flustered, but as she felt the familiar stinging at her eyes, she stifled any overwhelmed tears that thought to make an appearance.
Viktor cupped Hermione's cheek, "If you're feeling this vay over someone, he's not the von for you, Herm-own-ninny."
Hermione involuntarily smiled, he always got her with the way he pronounced her name. He kissed her forehead, and lingered for a few moments, "Vhen you're ready to vant me, you know vhere to find me."
He helped her down from the shelf. "Thank you." He smiled and kissed her once more on the top of her head and they both left the garage. He lingered outside and she made her way back into the wedding tent. It was full of happily-dancing wedding guests. The bride and groom were in complete bliss.
"One day." Hermione thought to herself, before frowning at the second thought that surfaced of all the things she would have to do before she could have this. The frown was quickly turned upright when she caught sight of Fred and George trying to 'help' some of Fleur's Veela cousins to better understand their English customs.
"Permettez-moi to assister vous." she heard Fred say to a pair of pretty French girls. Hermione rolled her eyes in amusement.
She quickly found Ron, still sitting at the same table as before, eating. She pulled out the chair beside him and took a seat. Ron looked up at her from his plate with accusatory eyes.
"Where did you and that git go off to?"
"I had to…er, talk to him."
"Right." he said bitterly.
"It's honestly none of your business, but if you must know, Ronald, nothing will ever be happening between Viktor and I."
"Oh." he said, his face warming to her once more.
Viktor had suddenly reappeared into the tent, and was then met by Harry. Hermione watched silently and sighed into her hands. Merlin, why was life such a mess?
After a few moments, Harry made his way to Hermione and Ron's table, looking a bit distraught.
"Harry, are you okay?" she asked, dropping her voice as she stared searchingly into his eyes.
He didn't answer. He didn't even know where to begin.
At that moment, something silvery landed, falling through the canopy over the dance floor. It was a gleaming and graceful lynx. A harbinger. Surrounded by astonished dancers, heads turned and people began to freeze in place. The patronus' mouth opened and spoke loudly and deep; the slow, commanding voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming… They are coming."
The world stumbled into slow motion as people began panicking. Hermione jumped to her feet. She, Harry, and Ron withdrew their wands. Uninvited cloaked and masked figures began appearing in the crowd.
"The wards have been broken!" Harry yelled.
Many people around them were now disapparating from the party as others were brandishing their wands, ready to fight. Tonks and Remus were standing in the middle, wands slicing the air, calling out "Protego!" in every direction.
"Ron! Ron!" Hermione bellowed, "Take my hand!" as she grabbed on to Harry, who was closest to her. Ron reached for her outstretched fingers. At the contact, they turned on the spot; the sounds and sights around them were now replaced with darkness and the pressure of their squeezed hands.
They were now away from the Burrow, away from the Death Eaters, away from perhaps even Voldemort himself.
"Where are we?" Harry asked through elevated breaths.
"Tottenham Court Road." Hermione panted. "Come on. Walk. Just walk. We need to find somewhere for us to change."
The trio half jogged, half walked up the wide and busy street.
"Herm-Hermione!" Ron gasped, trying to catch his breath. "We haven't anything to change into."
Hermione surprised herself with the giggle that escaped next. "I have things for the both of you." She gestured to the delicately beaded bag dangling from her shoulder.
"How the ruddy hell?" Ron asked, pointing at it as they ducked into an alley.
"Undetectable Extension Charm." Hermione answered simply as she spun toward them and began fishing through her bag.
XXX
Draco had watched as Hermione, Ron, and Harry had fled the scene at the wedding. While he was glad to see her leave safely, his heart cracked jealously into a thousand tiny fragments. He was pissed off that she was holding hands with the Weasel. Pissed off at the way the redheaded bloke looked at her. Pissed off over how beautiful she had looked, and he wasn't there beside her to admire her.
He savoured her beauty for the thought of not knowing when he'd be seeing her next.
"He's not here!" Yaxley called out to his crew, and with a nod, the Death Eaters disapparated.