Christmas was heartbreaking and filled with such pain that Hermione dimly worried she wouldn't recover from it.
There had been no warning when she walked in to her childhood home to find it stripped bare.
The walls were empty, the furniture gone, and so were her parents. She panicked, gathering up Crookshanks and fled, calling the night bus back.
Once it dropped her off, the new driver grumbling impatiently, she hurried to Uncle Hector's house to find only more devastation and a gut wrenching task awaiting her.
She'd promised Hector she wouldn't tell anyone about the house and she didn't do so now, other than contacting Kingsley Shacklebolt to report Hector Dagworth-Granger's death.
Hermione levitated her uncle's body out of the wards and gently placed him near the wooded grove they used to stroll through. Kingsley came and did the report, offering his deepest condolences and taking the body.
The deep-voiced man asked if she needed him to take her anywhere and she shook her head, lying to him about meeting up with her parents soon. It wasn't like she could go to the Burrow, after all.
She felt numb, sitting beside the woods for hours until finally, Crookshanks came to find her. She picked up her cat, not realizing how cold she was until his warm body was pressed against her and went inside.
On Hector's desk, where she'd originally found him slumped over, was a letter he'd started and never finished.
My beloved Hermione,
I fear my time is very close to an end. You must know that I tried to persuade them in every manner possible before I had to fall back on our plan.
My brave girl, you will survive this. You are the brightest witch of the age and I will be watching over your shining future with pride.
I know I am just a great uncle to you, but you've been everything I could ever wish for in a daughter of my own.
Make sure Draco looks after you and tell Narcissa that
It ended there with a large blot of ink. He'd been gone before he could continue the thought.
Hermione didn't know what to do. She couldn't owl Draco or Narcissa. She'd promised not to tell anyone besides Draco of this place, so Harry and Pansy weren't an option either.
Hermione always kept her promises.
She opened Hector's bedroom door and walked over to the bed, climbing into it and smelling the achingly familiar scent of sandalwood and pipe smoke. She finally let herself cry, sobbing into the pillow that smelled like the last of her family.
Her parents were gone, never knowing they had a daughter. Obliviate was permanent, so they would never recover their memories of being Richard and Jean Granger.
The Malfoys were trapped under the eye of a madman. Narcissa would have been fussing over her by now. The blonde woman would have taken care of the body and arrangements, so Hermione could have just let Draco held her.
Her best friends were beyond her reach because of her own promise. Harry would have been useless, but at least he would have been with her, steadfast and loyal as always. Pansy would have been much like Narcissa, fussing over Hermione and taking everything in hand.
Hermione didn't have any of that now. She was alone.
Draco was panicking. The Prophet had reported on Hector Dagworth-Granger's death this morning, but Draco's witch was nowhere to be found.
His mother had apparated him to her house and then left, needing to get back to not arouse suspicions if both of them were found to have left. She ordered Plippin to assist Draco as needed in her absence.
Hermione was alive, he knew that by the pulsing from their rings, but he didn't know where she had disappeared to.
The Granger house was empty as if no one had ever been there and Draco didn't quite know where Hector's house was. He had Plippin take him to the area he vaguely recalled, but there was nothing there.
Draco finally thought to cast a patronus, but all it did was lead him to an empty field beside a small wood.
He screamed in frustration, ready to go to bloody Potter at this point when a familiar squash-faced feline appeared from the woods. Draco had never been so happy to see the ugly creature in his life.
"Crookshanks, where is your mummy?" He asked the cat, who meowed at him pitifully.
"Can you take me to her?" A squish of a tail.
"Alright. Could you go get her and bring her to me?" A purr.
He watched the cat bound away and disappear into seemingly thin air.
A fidelus charm.
A few moments later Hermione appeared from nothing, running his way, barefoot and clad only in threadbare pajama bottoms and a jumper she'd stolen from him the year prior.
Draco caught her to him as she slammed into his chest, whispering an address. The cottage shimmered into view and he immediately carried her inside.
He tried to pull her back to look at her, but Hermione clung to him tightly, refusing to let go. Draco walked her towards the bed he saw through an open door, sitting down so she was in his lap.
"I'm here, Granger. I've got you." He told her, holding her to him as she started crying. He rocked her gently until the tears finally ran dry over an hour later.
"Mum and dad are gone. Hector obliviated them. They don't know I exist, but they're far away and safe." She whispered, "I didn't know he'd done it. He was writing to me when he…I found him at his desk."
"I'm going to make it to where I can find you. I'll find a way to enchant the rings, mother will know how." He promised, "So you'll never be alone again."
"Thank you for finding me. I needed you." She finally pulled back to look at him and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"I came as soon as I saw the headline. Why didn't you owl Pansy? Or even Potter? You shouldn't have been alone, Granger."
"I promised Hector. I promised him I wouldn't tell them about this place." She murmured, "He wanted it to be my safe place, from everything. Not a place for Harry or the war. He wanted…"
"He wanted you to be selfish." Draco finished for her. "I'm grateful to him for that foresight."
Hermione just wiped her face with the sleeve of his jumper, "I know you can't stay."
"Mother will tell them something they'll believe. I'm yours as long as you want me, even if that means until we get on the train."
"Stay with me then. Please." She pleaded as if he might disappear.
"I'll stay, but first we need to get you cleaned up. I know you haven't ate either. Then we can change the bedding and you'll get some sleep." He told her in a firm voice, knowing she needed someone to take charge for her. He helped her off his lap.
Hermione nodded obediently at his orders, and then hesitated for a moment, picking up a well used pillow and moving it to sit on the dresser.
"Not this one."
"Not that one." He agreed.
"Crooks needs cat food. And the cupboards are pretty much bare." Hermione admitted, biting her lip.
"I'll handle food while you shower. Go on Granger, I'll be here when you get out." Draco nudged her towards the bathroom, which she left ajar.
He stepped outside the wards to call for Plippin, who brought supplies and cat food, leaving it in the empty field without question.
Hermione was loathe to go back to Hogwarts, dreading the pop of the comforting bubble she'd created with Draco at her cottage. Their cottage, she supposed.
She'd seen him off that morning, promising him she'd make it to the train on her own just fine.
She stepped into an empty compartment and settled against the window to wait for her friends.
Harry, Ron, and Ginny arrived first, all of them had seen the newspaper and swarmed her with affectionate hugs and condolences.
Neville and Luna came next, Luna with a poem she'd heard when she lost her mother and Neville with a box of treats he shared with only Hermione.
The biggest surprise was Pansy Parkinson slamming open the door and glaring at the group, specifically Harry, as she hissed, "You will sit nicely. You will be kind. If you cannot do those things, you will shut the bloody hell up because it's not about you today."
She walked over to hug Hermione tightly, as Blaise, Theo, and Draco Malfoy walked in and sat down.
Blaise was the most relaxed, going to pick Luna up to sit her on his lap as he settled into her vacated seat.
Theo was stiff, but took Hermione's hand gently and told her he was sorry for her loss.
Draco ignored everyone else as he and Pansy shifted Hermione around until they were both able to sit with Hermione squished between them.
"Pansy knows all of it." Draco whispered in Hermione's ear as he leaned back against the seat.
"You're only not in trouble with me because he explained things." Pansy poked her in the cheek hard, then cuddled close. "You're not alone, so don't try to carry it alone."
Hermione's bottom lip wobbled, "Thank you all. It's been a rough holiday without my family."
She'd slipped up, but only Harry seemed to notice as the others were too busy shuffling awkwardly. Neville and Theo were particularly painful to watch.
Harry cocked his head and narrowed his green eyes at her. She tilted her head at him innocently, making him scowl.
The conversations finally picked up and it was almost like old times the entire ride back to the castle.
As they all got up to file out, Harry asked to speak to Draco privately. Hermione and Pansy both glared at the boy, but Draco waved them on.
"I'll be along shortly." He told her, "Stay with Pansy."
"Why wasn't she with her family?" Harry asked the stoic Slytherin.
"That's for her to tell you Potter, not me. I keep my intended's confidences." Draco replied evenly.
"She keeps yours. Even if she shouldn't." Harry snapped, irritated already with this conversation. Malfoy had a habit of being insufferable lately.
"She knows nothing that would harm her relationship with you. I wouldn't put her in that position."
Harry didn't know how to snark back at such a statement, but did manage to ask, "You're still loyal to her then? Not your master?"
"Hermione is my only priority Potter. If you haven't realized that by now, you're more of an imbecile than I thought." The Slytherin boy drawled in a haughty tone. Harry wished Malfoy would throw away the airs and just be direct.
"We can help you and your mother if you'd only let us." Harry told him quietly, "You can still turn back. She loves you and I don't want to see her broken by your choices."
Draco's gray eyes flared at this and he stormed to the door opening it, but turned around before he left, "I'd rather see her broken than see her dead on your account, Potter. She loves me, yes. However, there's a difference between Hermione's love and mine. She loves me enough to fight the world. I love her enough to burn it down."
"I can't let you do that, Malfoy. She's a good person. She wouldn't want the world to suffer because you view it as some form of protecting her."
"Try to stop me." The boy sneered and disappeared from view.
After the chat on the train, the animosity between Malfoy and Harry kept getting worse and worse.
Finally it boiled over in the bathroom where they'd once been kind-of-friends brewing polyjuice potion together.
Harry had found Draco crying and when he was caught staring, Draco had whirled around with an angry wave of a wand, thus starting the duel.
Draco flung a jinx, while Harry tried a new spell from his potions book with devastating consequences. He stared in horror as it lacerated the Slytherin boy in multiple deep slashes across his body, blood spurting out in sprays of red.
"No! No!" Harry cried in panic, rushing over in an attempt to help, and feeling a wave of vomit when the blood kept gushing.
It wasn't meant to be lethal, only a duel of anger that resulted in maybe a broken nose or an arm. Not Harry killing his best friend's fiancé.
Moaning Myrtle was screaming about murder while Harry pressed his hands to Draco's chest, trying to apply pressure, but there were too many wounds.
"Out of the way Potter!" A voice hissed, a hand shoving him away as Draco hemorrhaged on the floor.
The man began waving his wand in intricate patterns and muttering spells Harry had never heard of.
"What have you done?" A shrill voice screamed from the doorway and Harry wanted to die. He wished it was him laying on the floor convulsing. Anything to stop Hermione Granger staring at Harry as if he were a monster.
It only got worse when Pansy arrived on the scene, probably having heard Hermione's screams. The girl was holding Hermione tightly, keeping her away from the bloody scene as the witch sobbed.
"Draco!" Hermione cried raggedly, "Draco!"
"Come on, Potter." McGonagall's voice as she dragged him up from where he still kneeled in the blood.
He looked back, intending to check and see if Malfoy was alright, but instead found Pansy staring at him, her eyes wide and her face pale.
Hermione didn't look away from the bleeding form on the floor.
Hermione hadn't spoken to anyone except Pansy since Draco's attack three days ago.
She couldn't look at Harry, even when he tried to speak to her. It was as if he was talking through water and she couldn't make out what he was attempting to say.
Pansy hadn't spoken to him either.
"I can…I can certainly appreciate a good murderous hex, but..." Pansy whispered as they sat in the library together, "I can't look at Harry right now without seeing Draco on the ground, dying."
"Yes." Hermione agreed softly. "I don't know what to do here, Pansy."
"I don't have an answer for you." Pansy said sadly, "I wish I did, but usually knowing things is your forte."
Hermione's lips quirked, but until Draco woke up, she wouldn't make any decisions. She couldn't forgive Harry or talk to him until she saw that Draco was alive and well.
Draco woke up after five days, Madam Pomfrey explaining that she'd put him into a healing coma to ensure that he recovered properly.
She left shortly after checking his bandages and he was alone with a distraught Hermione.
When she stepped forward, she touched his face and his chest gently, too gently with just the slightest brush of her fingers, as if she were afraid he'd break.
"Come here, Granger. I'm not going to die if you get in bed with me." He insisted, lifting the blanket and she eased under it carefully, but held her body away from his stiffly.
He pulled her close, ignoring her sounds of protest and sighed happily, "I missed you."
She scoffed, "You've been asleep. You didn't even know that you should miss me."
"No. I could tell." He insisted, making her smile slightly and he felt like he'd truly accomplished something. Her eyes were bloodshot with dark circles and he knew she'd been crying instead of sleeping.
"If you say so."
"Well, how much detention did Potter get? Is he crying with remorse? Has Pansy punched him in the face?" Draco joked, knowing his friend would be furious over this.
"Draco, you almost died." Hermione whispered, "I haven't…we haven't spoken to Harry, we've just been waiting for you to wake up. I don't know what to even say to him. I'm so angry."
Draco paused at this, considering.
On one hand, Draco was thrilled that neither Hermione nor Pansy were letting Potter off easily. Potter suffering through both girls' icing him out was a wonderful present to wake up to.
On the other, even though he hated that it was so, Draco knew that Hermione Granger needed Harry Potter. She'd lost her whole family in one swift blow only a few weeks ago and the idiot boy was the closest thing she had to a brother.
With a begrudging sigh, Draco decided to fix this. Not for Potter's sake, but for Hermione's.
"I don't remember much, but he was screaming after he cast whatever spell that was. I don't think he knew what it would do, Granger."
Draco knew she was listening, could almost see the gears turning in her pretty head.
"That blasted book." She hissed angrily sitting up slightly, "I told him that Prince character was no good and he used a spell he didn't even look into? I could strangle him."
"Go ahead. I won't mourn the loss." Draco quipped, then stroked her cheek and grew serious, "But you would."
Hermione bit her lip and settled back down and in a trembling voice she murmured, "I don't know if it's that simple, Draco. I don't know what I would have done you had died."
"I didn't though." He assured her, "You don't hold grudges, Granger. You knock some sense into us, usually literally, while you rant and rave. Festering resentment is more my style."
Hermione didn't respond, but Draco knew that when she left, she'd go pummel Potter and things would be alright again.
Pansy would be a different story, but that one was up to Potter. Draco's generosity of spirit had its limits.
Harry was walking through the sixth floor main hall when Hermione Granger descended upon him.
Quite literally as she pounced on him and knocked them both to the floor, her on top of him as she started swinging.
"Hermione? What the hell?" Harry snapped, grappling with the witch, attempting to block bony-knuckled punches from connecting with his nose.
"You stupid, daft, moronic, imbecilic bastard!" She snarled, a punch punctuating each insult.
When his glasses broke after a particularly well landed hit, she pulled back and grabbed her wand, jamming it into his face.
He flinched back but all she did was wave it in a familiar pattern he'd once saw years ago.
"Repairo."
Harry slowly sat up, wiping the blood dripping from his nose and stared at the angry witch. He wondered what someone would think coming across the two just sitting in the middle of the hall, staring at each other with bloody knuckles and a busted nose.
"You used a spell from that book. Didn't you?" She demanded, "Draco said you seemed shocked by what happened as much as he was."
"He's awake? He's alright then?" Harry ignored her question to ask his own. He hadn't killed Draco Malfoy and what a surprise that he was so happy about that.
"Yes. Now admit it. Did you use an unknown spell from that bloody book?" She hissed, smacking him in the chest.
"I did. I'm so sorry, Hermione. I never would have used it if I'd known it would seriously hurt him." Harry swore, looking earnestly at his best friend, "You have to believe me."
She was quiet for a bit, but finally nodded, "I do believe you."
Harry slumped in relief then asked in a tentative voice, "Does the busted nose make us even?"
"No. There's two other conditions." Hermione told him haughtily, "First, you will get rid of the book and second, you will apologize to Draco for almost killing him."
Harry winced, "Suppose just the first one is enough?"
Brown eyes glittered with rage and he put up his hands in surrender, "Alright, I give."
Harry stood up with a groan, his body already aching from where he'd hit the ground and from Hermione's beating.
He reached out a hand to help her up and could have cried with joy when she hugged him.
"Don't put me in this position again, Harry Potter." She told him sharply. "Come on, let's get this over with and then we can go hide the book."
They started walking along, a quiet falling over them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. After two flights of stairs Harry finally spoke up.
"I don't suppose Pansy is going to jump on me and offer forgiveness after some pummeling?" He joked quietly.
"I don't know, Harry. You might have truly bollocksed that up. Pansy isn't like me, she holds grudges." Hermione said, a bit of sympathy in her voice.
Harry figured it wouldn't be that easy, but he'd wait as long as Pansy needed to decide whether she wanted to hex him or forgive him.
Pansy hadn't spoke a word to Harry Potter in over two weeks.
The boy continued to try of course, insisting it had been an accident and that he was terribly remorseful about it. Pansy had just breezed by, not even looking at him.
She threw herself into schoolwork, spending time with Theo and Hermione, and focused her free time on telling herself that she did not miss the wanker known formerly known as her boyfriend.
So imagine her surprise when she'd been getting some fresh air, only for Harry to kiss her as he walked up to the castle from Hagrid's house.
Pansy was frozen for a moment, but then came to her senses and she most certainly did not kiss him back. She pushed him away and put her hands on her hips in indignation.
"What the bloody fuck was that, Potter?" She snapped at the boy who seemed oddly peppy.
"I've missed you." He shrugged, "You look fit today and I've missed you."
"Yes I think we've established you've missed me, however I don't recall saying I missed you." She jabbed her finger into his chest, making sure her nail dug in hard.
"I'm sure you haven't." Harry agreed easily, "I'll see you around, Pansy."
Her jaw dropped when he went to step around her. She snagged ahold of his shirt in fury, "You don't get to kiss me and then walk away like it's nothing, you prat!"
"Careful Pansy. It sounds like you care." Harry grinned and she rolled her eyes.
"I don't. I'm just saying it's quite rude to kiss your ex-girlfriend and then just toddle off."
"You're not my ex." Harry argued, his shirt still fisted in her hand, "You never broke things off."
"I thought it was rather clearly implied." She sneered.
"No. I told you, if you wanted to end things, you had be the one to do it." He shrugged again and she was growing more irritated by the minute.
"So you need me to be clear about it then?" She hissed, releasing him. She opened her mouth to tell him it was over, but he spoke first.
"I am sorry for how things turned out. I didn't know what the spell would do or that it would be so dark." He sighed, then smiled at her, "I'll have to let Hermione know her lecturing against dark magic and morals have rubbed off on you. She'll be thrilled."
Pansy spluttered, insulted beyond belief, "They certainly have not!"
Harry cocked his head, green eyes clearly amused, "So it's just because I dueled Draco then?"
"Please. You two were going to have it out eventually. I had bets placed." She scoffed, not seeing where he was going with this.
"So it's not the use of dark magic and it's not that I dueled Draco. It's not because he's dead, since I saw him walking to the library with Hermione earlier very much alive." Harry pondered, then he laughed, "So maybe you're angry because you lost money betting on Draco?"
Pansy smacked him in the shoulder, "A bit of lost money is no concern of mine, Potter. I have plenty."
"I'm aware." He nodded agreeably. "I'm a bit confused what all the fuss is about then."
"It's because he almost died!" Pansy snapped, wondering if he was drunk or just purposely being obtuse. She felt it was the latter.
"Does almost count? I've almost died loads of times." Harry chortled and Pansy had the urge to throttle him.
"I'm aware." She mimicked his early words. He smiled at her fondly and she hated him for it.
"Well go ahead then."
"Go ahead and what Potter?" Pansy snarled, tired of all this talking in circles. He was making her head hurt.
"You said you were ending things." Harry reminded her, a sadness to his voice now. She stared at him, letting her mind ponder over everything for a few moments.
Pansy really did miss him if she was being honest. Besides, Draco was alive and well, no lasting damage besides some scars.
"I think we've established I have no reason to end things, Potter." She finally told him, forcing herself not to smile at his brilliant grin, "On the condition you stop trying to kill my friends."
"Cross my heart." He vowed, then leaned in to kiss her again, sweetly this time. "Come on, I have to take something to Professor Dumbledore and then see who won the quidditch match."
"You all did. Ginny caught the snitch." Pansy told him, allowing him to lace their fingers together and tug her back inside the castle.
"Brilliant. Soon as we are done with Professor Dumbledore we can go celebrate." He told her, extraordinarily chipper once more.
When Pansy asked how he intended to celebrate, he pulled her behind a large statue to give her a hint.
Harry watched as Draco disarmed Albus Dumbledore, pulling out his wand even as he'd promised he wouldn't intervene. He wanted to hex Draco all over again when the boy admitted to allowing death eaters into the castle through the vanishing cabinet.
"Draco, years ago, I knew a boy who made all the wrong choices. Don't do this, let me help you."
Draco was manic, his hand trembling as he pointed his wand at the headmaster.
"I have to do this. He will kill her." Draco whispered, "I have to keep her safe."
"We can get your mother out, Draco. We can help you both." Dumbledore implored, but Harry knew that wasn't who Draco was referring to.
"My mother can handle herself." Draco snapped, seeming to shake himself from his panicking, "But he won't touch Hermione so long as I do this. Even if she gets in the way, he promised she'd be safe if I kill you."
"Hermione Granger wouldn't want you to become a murderer on her account, Draco." The headmaster chided, "You know this."
"She can hate me for it, but she will be alive." Draco insisted, even though his wand lowered slightly, clearly faltering in his resolve.
The sound of footsteps and several death eaters were walking to stand behind Draco who stiffened, fear flickering across his face.
Harry stepped forward, wand at the ready, but Professor Snape approached from the shadows and put his finger to his lips.
Harry watched as the man left, then approached the death eaters, his wand held aloft as he pushed Draco's arm down the rest of the way.
"Please, Severus." Dumbledore said imploringly.
Harry stood frozen as Snape cast a killing curse and Albus Dumbledore went tumbling over the rail of the Astronomy tower.
He might have screamed, he wasn't sure. All Harry knew as he gave chase to the group, was that he was going to kill Severus Snape.
Hermione listened silently at the top of the Astronomy tower as Harry told her and Ron about what had occurred at this very spot last night.
Draco, she thought miserably. What have you done?
In her hands she held the locket Harry had angrily tossed to her, the little note scrawled in delicate script.
"Who is R.A.B?" She mused aloud, feeling like she'd seen those initials somewhere. The memory was just past her reach though.
"I don't know." Harry sighed, coming to stand beside her at the railing, "It was all for nothing. Maybe if Dumbledore hadn't been so weakened by the cave, things would have been different."
"It's a clue at the very least. I'll do some reading. See what I can find." Hermione promised her friend. The least she could do as this mess seemed as much her fault as Draco's.
"I don't think he was going to go through with it." Harry murmured softly as he wrapped an arm around her, "He was lowering his wand when the death eaters came up."
Hermione nodded even as tears filled her eyes, "I'm so sorry, Harry."
"It's not your fault, Hermione. I hope you know that." Ron told her comfortingly, putting a hand on her other shoulder. "You sure know how to pick them though."
She scoffed, appreciating her boys standing by her even through something like this.
"I have to hunt all of them down." Harry announced, stepping towards the railing to grip it tightly. "It's the only way to end it."
"We are with you Harry." Hermione promised, going to his side to hug him.
"All the way." Ron agreed, going to Harry's other side, his long arms made it to where he could squeeze them both tightly.
They stood all stood embracing each other as they stared out over the lake, no one wanting to move. To move would be to burst this bubble of calm.
They weren't ready to cast off this blanket of peace found within all the sorrow. So instead they just stood there, watching the sun set slowly.
"No."
"Pansy, please try to see it from my side."
"No." Pansy said once more.
Harry hissed in frustration at the girl. They sat beside the lake, the train coming tomorrow to take them all home.
Pansy had been both Harry and Hermione's lifeline these last few months of term. She'd taken care of them, fussed over them, made them laugh, and ensured they took care of themselves.
Harry knew it had to end though. For her safety.
"Pansy, he will target you for being with me. I need you to be selfish here!" Harry tried once more.
"I said no, Potter. You told me I was the only one with the power to end it. So you can piss right off." She told him stubbornly.
Harry had once admired her ability to throw people's words back in their faces during an argument. Not so much now.
"Pansy. It's done."
"No, it's not." She taunted back. "We've been photographed together for two years. Do you really think the Dark Lord will care that you decided to nobly end it? He's still going to know I'm something important to you."
Harry admittedly hadn't thought about that, but tried once more, "We can stage a big row. It'll work if it's angry enough."
Pansy looked at him with pity, "It's not about whether we fight or not. He'd take the opportunity to hurt you either way."
"What do you suggest to keep yourself safe then?" Harry demanded to know, waiting to hear her genius idea.
"I'm a Parkinson. My mother is a Greengrass. Narcissa Malfoy is my godmother. I'll be fine, Potter." She waved him off, "He can't go around killing his support base."
Harry hoped she was right, but worried that it wasn't that simple.
Notes:
See you next chapter 3
Chapter 17: Only Your Side
Summary:
The summer of and the beginning of year seven
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Hermione knew he was there when she walked in.
He was on the little couch in the sitting area, his hands gripping his head, messing his hair.
She closed the door and Draco's head shot up, gray eyes landing on where she stood with her trunk and cat carrier.
He watched her as she bent to let Crookshanks out, the feline rubbing against her legs affectionately before prowling out the little cat door Draco had installed for him over the winter holidays.
Draco didn't say anything as she removed her traveling cloak, draping it over one of the dining chairs before she walked over to stand in front of him.
He braced himself, as if expecting the worst from her and Hermione sighed. She pushed against his chest so she could climb into his lap.
Hesitant arms wrapped around her and she finally spoke, "Harry said you were lowering your wand when Snape came."
A hitched breath, his elegant voice replying slowly, "I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't taken over. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to keep you safe."
In other words, he would have probably went through with it.
"You didn't do it though. That's all that matters to me." She whispered. His arms tightened around her.
"If I had, would you still be here? Like this?" His tone was flat, as if he was prepared for a negative answer.
"It would probably be more violent of a greeting, but yes. I think even if you had done it, I'd forgive you." She admitted, wondering for the umpteenth time if she was a bad person for loving Draco the way she did.
He threaded his hand through her curls and pulled her head back gently to press his mouth over hers.
Hermione kissed him back, even with tears trickling down her face. She sat up, straddling him and deepened the kiss, feeling his free hand press against her lower back.
When they pulled back, she begged him quietly, "Don't go too far down a path I can't follow Draco. There has to be something left for us at the end of all this."
Gray eyes stared into her own and he pressed his forehead to her, "Your safety is the most important thing to me, Hermione. I'm sorry."
Fresh tears flowed, but she accepted that answer just as she accepted him, ruthless devotion and all.
"Love me?" She asked him, standing up to tug him towards their room.
"Always."
Fleur sat down at the table with Hermione, glad the girl had come over even though she'd first protested over safety reasons.
"How's Bill and the Weasleys?" Hermione asked, looking around curiously at the little cottage by the sea.
"He iz recovering wonderfully." Fleur told her with a smile, "The truce with Molly iz still strained at best, but we can at least be in the room together without flinging hexez."
Hermione snorted and Fleur just giggled. Molly had offered the tiara for her to wear at the wedding. Fleur had stiffly agreed that it would be nice and then the two woman had fallen back into silence. It had continued that way ever since.
"She'll come around eventually I'm sure." Hermione told her comfortingly, patting her hand.
"We shall see. How iz Draco?" Fleur asked as she sipped her tea, smiling at Hermione's startled look.
The curly haired witch sighed when Fleur didn't say anything else, "You know you're the first person to ask me that."
"'e iz my friend too." Fleur shrugged.
"He's…holding it together. I think he regrets the things he's done, but he can't take them back." Hermione whispered.
"Non. 'e cannot." Fleur agreed, letting the silence coax the little witch into talking more.
"He has it in his head that he's protecting me. He could have done that from this side, but this is the path he chose." Hermione finally spilled, anger and sadness mingling on her face.
Fleur gave her a measuring look before she spoke, "I would do anything for my Bill. Steal. Lie. Cheat. Kill. Even in cold blood if I thought it would keep him safe."
Hermione stared at her, "But…that's not what our side is for."
"Non. It iz not." Fleur nodded sagely, "But we are more than just soldierz in a war 'ermione. We are human. It iz normal and more than alright if you love a person more than you love ze cauze."
Hermione circled her fingertip around her teacup, clearly thinking over Fleur's words.
"Draco loves me that way." Hermione murmured.
"I think you love him that way too. That iz why you 'ave forgiven him already."
Draco had known she was part of the group designated to moving Potter, even if she didn't say anything.
She told him she had something to do, something she couldn't tell him about, and left shortly after.
She took that beaded bag she'd been stocking up for the past month. He'd watched her put in a tent, stores of food, countless books, and several potions including vials of blood replenisher and dittany.
When she wasn't looking, he added more food, more supplies, and several of his jumpers.
They were on different paths during this war, but he'd take care of her as best he knew how.
He also managed to cast the tracking spell on their linked rings while she slept, his mother having found the intricate charm for him in one of the family spell books.
He could always find her now. If she needed him, he'd be there. If she was close by, he would know.
After she left, he went to the manor and asked to join the group planning to attack Potter during transport. Narcissa looked at him sharply, but kept her silence.
Bellatrix cocked her head at him, but the Dark Lord agreed, "Young Draco seeks to prove himself even more I think. You may join us, as a reward for the success with the vanishing cabinet."
He bowed his head as he backed away, "Thank you, my lord."
On his bed an hour later he found a silver mask, small dragons looped along the intricate flourishes, designed especially for Draco.
Percival Parkinson was a calm man by nature. Very few things rattled his patient demeanor, but his beloved Pansy had always been one of the things that managed to shake him up.
Whether it be climbing trees in her pretty dress robes and refusing to come down to rejoin the ball or her smart mouth getting her into terrible messes, his little girl had always done exactly as she wanted and damned the consequences.
Dating Harry Potter, the archenemy of the greatest dark wizard Britain had ever known, was definitely the worst thing she could have done in the current climate.
"You will publicly denounce Potter and renew our neutral stance in this war, young lady." Percival ordered his daughter, who stood across from his desk with a stubborn set to her jaw.
"No."
"Pansy, this is serious! You will be targeted and potentially killed!" He thundered, slamming his fist against the oak. His wife stood behind him, her green eyes filled with tears at their child's refusal to listen to reason.
"It won't matter. The Dark Lord will use me to harm Harry regardless of the Parkinson family's public stance." Pansy told him flatly, her blue eyes, a copy of his own, sparking with anger.
"We can try to get ahead of it, say you ended things on a harsh note." Percival insisted, but Pansy shook her head once more.
"I won't do it. Harry already tried this." She replied simply. Percival cursed the stubbornness of Slytherins, sending her away so he wouldn't succumb to the urge to shake some sense into the girl.
"What do we do Percival?" Gwendolyn whispered, terrified. She'd always been soft, gentle in a way that most women of pureblood society weren't.
He sometimes wished Pansy had taken after her mother more.
"We protect her as best we can, we can put out a statement with or without her cooperation."
However when they approached Rita Skeeter with their statement, she refused to publish the section about Pansy.
"I beg your pardon?" He demanded. The blonde woman just looked at him over red horn-rimmed glasses.
"Unless I see her for a direct quote, I won't be publishing the part about her. Credibility is important in these trying times, Mr. Parkinson." She smiled politely, taking the statement and scratching out any mention of Pansy.
A small third page news clip the next day stated that Percival and Gwendolyn Parkinson threw their support to the ministry during this time, but they would not support some mere boy, no matter how famous he was.
She'd added that their daughter, the Parkinson heiress, was not available for comment.
Draco searched the skies for her, but there were seven blasted Harry Potters. He had followed one, only to feel no twinge from his ring.
He angrily slashed a wayward hex at the broom, missing the werewolf known as Remus Lupin by a hair. He noticed Snape shooting past and watched in horror as a spell connected with the Harry Potter's ear, a scream echoing through the air as Lupin dove to grab the falling Potter impersonator.
Draco quickly turned to follow another Potter, but the ring yielded nothing other than an erratic pulse that only told him she was scared.
He thought he spotted the true Harry Potter when the idiot shot off an Expelliarmus at an imperio'd Stan Shunpike, but then his ring started buzzing as a Harry passed by on a thestral.
This Harry whirled around to cast a hex at him and then froze when Draco's hood flew back revealing his hair.
This one was Hermione. Her eyes were an unfamiliar green set in a face he immensely detested, but the expression was all Granger.
From the corner of his eye he noted Yaxley racing towards them, his wand casting a spell. Draco raised his own wand and timed it perfectly for his hex to collide with Yaxley's just over Hermione's head, cancelling out both spells.
Hermione screamed as the Thestral reared, back, panicking at the chaos, and started losing her grip on the black man she was with.
This one, a hissing voice slithered inside Draco's head, to me!
Yaxley and the others fell back instantly, Draco angling his broom to follow, but not before he cast a sticking charm her way, allowing her to right herself.
She turned to look at him once more, before Draco rushed to join the others.
"Hermione, are you sure you won't stay?" Ron asked when she stood to leave with the others.
Fleur had hugged her tightly upon their return to the Burrow and asked if she had a safe place to hide out.
Hermione had assured her she did and the woman had left it at that, leaving with Bill and the Lupins in a second attempt to find Mad-Eye Moody's body.
Ron and Harry weren't so easy to let go.
She smiled tiredly, "I'll be fine, Ron. I'll see you before the wedding."
She started to walk to the door, ignoring Molly Weasley's stare when someone caught her hand. Hermione turned to look at Harry.
"Stay Hermione. It's not safe out there." Harry insisted, tugging her hand imploringly.
"I'm only here because of the Order, Harry. I'm not welcome and I don't want to be." She whispered, Molly's flinch showing that she hadn't been quiet enough.
Harry swallowed, but nodded, "You'll be safe?"
"I promise." She kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair making him swat at her hand.
She stepped outside and began walking to the apparition point, turning on the spot to just outside her cottage's wards.
She stepped through and was immediately accosted. Hands coming to rest on her shoulders, shaking her roughly.
"What the fuck were you doing up there?" Draco's harsh voice, giving her another shake before he pulled her to him. She realized he was trembling.
"It was part of the plan to get Harry to safety. I couldn't tell you just like you didn't tell me they were planning an ambush." She retorted, the accusation slipping out even as she tried to hold it back.
"I didn't think that you'd be disguised as the primary target himself!" Draco gestured at her clothes, making her aware that she was still wearing Harry's.
"It worked, didn't it? He's safe." Hermione snapped back, "Were you in on it from the beginning?"
"No. I knew they were planning something and when you left on the same night as they were discussing, I went and asked to be added to the team." He told her, no hint of deception on his face.
"Draco, you could have been killed. Our side was shooting to kill just like your side."
"There is no my side." He spat, rage making his eyes icy, "My side is you, which is why I was up in the blasted air searching for you! And bloody good I was since Yaxley almost took your head off!"
He was breathing heavily, his hands clenched in fists and Hermione's anger swiftly disappeared.
As she went to hug him, peppering kisses along his jaw and whispering reassurances, Hermione realized Fleur was right.
She did love him more than she loved the cause and she would always forgive Draco Malfoy for his sins.
Draco handed her the beaded bag, fully stocked with supplies, as she got ready to go to the Delacour-Weasley wedding.
Her brown eyes stared at him questioningly and he kissed her hard, knowing he wouldn't see her again today or any day soon.
"I love you, Hermione Granger. More than anything else. You come back to me at the end of all this." He told her when he pulled away, staring at her face as if to catalogue every inch of it.
"Something's happening, isn't it?" She whispered, "Draco, tell me."
"I can't. It shouldn't be until after the wedding, but don't come back here after. Leave with your two imbeciles and stay safe." He kissed her again because he had to, and then with the mark burning on his arm, he walked out.
Just before he left the wards, he looked over his shoulder at her standing forlornly in the open doorway of their cottage.
"I'll make sure Crookshanks is cared for. I love you."
He heard her whisper faintly before he stepped out of the barrier, "I love you too Draco."
Then he twisted and was gone.
"Draco, your little mudblood is causing quite the stir." Narcissa's sister cackled at the dinner table. "Breaking into the ministry. Positively criminal."
Narcissa watched Draco just stare at this woman with a bored expression on his face.
He was home for the weekend, leaving Hogsmeade with special permissions. She'd urged him to stay away, but he insisted on seeing his parents.
Beneath the table, his hand was gripping her own painfully.
"Now, now Bella. Draco has been assured his pet would be safe, even if she is causing…problems for us." Lord Voldemort chided the insane woman, his red eyes sliding towards where Narcissa and Draco sat.
Bellatrix preened before the Dark Lord, pleased at the attention, while her husband just stared blankly at his salad spoon.
Narcissa could remember a time when Bellatrix had at least pretended to hide her more romantic inclinations towards the Lord, out of respect and genuine care for Rodolphus.
With her mind being chiseled at for over a decade, Bellatrix was unable to conceal nor control any of her baser emotions.
Narcissa didn't think Rodolphus even noticed as he giggled suddenly still looking at the silverware, the sound cutting off as abruptly as it started when he went blank once more.
A blank stare that was familiar, as Lucius was now prone to the same flat expression every now and then.
Her husband was luckily mostly intact from his time in Azkaban, but he was still faded, still weak.
She would be strong for him and Draco. She would ensure her husband and her baby made it through the end of this.
Bellatrix cackled again as she looked at the picture of Hermione, Narcissa watching as her demented sister took a claw-like nail and began to slice through the printed image.
Narcissa watched Hermione's curls bounce around the image as she ran from the nail, and Narcissa hardened her resolve.
All of Narcissa's babies would make it through. No matter what she had to do or who she had to kill.
She flicked her eyes back up to find Bellatrix's dark gaze on her, a smile plastered across her lips as she tore through photograph Hermione's face.
Ron was gone.
He and Harry had a row about the horcruxes. About the Weasleys. About her.
She remembered the vitriol Ron had spit at her, calling her a death eater's whore and a traitor.
She hadn't argued back, simply begged for him to take off the locket because those hateful words didn't belong to their Ron.
Their Ron was the boy who'd stared down Dumbledore for implying she was a traitor. The boy who defended her from his mum's hatred. The boy who'd sacrificed himself for his two friends on a giant chessboard. The boy who'd stood on a broken leg to tell the man he believed to be a murderer to go to hell.
The foreign Ron had stormed out of the tent, Hermione running after him while Harry stayed behind.
She'd watched Ron sling the horcrux so forcefully, it had chipped away a hunk of bark from a nearby tree.
She had tried to stop him from crossing the wards, but he wouldn't listen, so she quickly dispelled the burning hex before he passed through.
The ginger boy had disappeared with a crack, leaving Hermione to readjust the barrier spells as tears flowed down her face.
Just like that three became two.
Pansy screamed when Blaise was blasted backwards, slamming into the wall and falling to the floor. He didn't get back up.
She whipped out her wand and stepped forward, snarling at Theo when he tried to pull her back.
Luna was being dragged by her long blonde hair off the Hogwarts Express, her hands attempting to alleviate the pain even as she screamed and struggled against the man who pulled her along.
Blaise had defended her gallantly when they came to no avail. Pansy prayed the boy wasn't dead.
A beastly man stepped between Pansy and Luna, and she realized exactly who stood before her. Her fingers were tingling she was gripping her wand tightly from fear.
"Good. You're here too. We have orders to bring Potter's little bitch along." Fenrir Greyback snarled, lunging towards her.
Pansy managed to get three hexes off before the beast had his hand around her neck and lifted her off her feet.
She dropped her wand in the struggle, gasping for air as the man squeezed her neck. She pried at his hands as her toes pointed to try to find purchase.
"Greyback. She's ordered to be taken alive and unharmed." Another man told him as black spots dotted Pansy's sight.
The werewolf snarled and dropped her, Pansy gripping her neck even as she fumbled for her wand.
The next thing she knew was darkness as she was hexed into unconsciousness.