Chapter 20
Hermione woke up in stages. She was so warm, so comfortable. A strong set of arms were wrapped around her stomach, pulling her back into the owner's chest. In this moment, she was just a woman, asleep in someone's arms, content and safe. It took her a few long seconds to realize it was Draco's arms she was in, with his nose pressed into her hair, and his leg hitched over her hip. She was so securely cradled into him, her first attempt to untangle herself didn't work. Her second attempt had him stirring awake, and as he did, reality seemed to suspend. Draco took a whiff of Hermione's hair, smelling it deeply, and made a small noise in his throat, something akin to contentedness. His grip on her tightened and he pulled her in closer. It felt good to Hermione, and that scared her very much.
"Draco," Hermione said softly.
"Hmmm," he answered, stuck in the hallway between being asleep and being awake.
"Wake up, and let me go," She responded, just as softly as she had said his name.
Instantaneously, Draco pulled his arms away from her and unwound his leg off her.
"Bloody hell, why are you on top of me?" he asked indignantly, as he tried to put as much space between the two of them as he could.
"You were holding me," She answered, trying to move herself away from him.
Guilt seeped into her mind. She would not be happy about Ron lying with another witch like that. Astoria probably would not be happy with Draco either.
"We were both drinking, both having nightmares. No big deal, won't happen again." Draco said, blushing and not meeting Hermione's eyes.
Hermione nodded. They would forget about this slight awkwardness, and it wouldn't happen again. Two lonely, beat down people gravitated towards each other in sleep. Stranger things could happen.
The room started to lighten around her as the sun rose, and she heard the muffled sounds of movement in the house. Do doubt Seamus and Susan's waking up to start their day. Hermione refused to let the jealousy resurface. She wished she'd had a home and job and some sense of normality. She let it go. She was home, running from death and towards death was her home now, and she carried it with her everywhere on her back like a turtle.
Suddenly Hermione heard a pounding of footsteps running up the staircase. The door to the bedroom flung open and Susan jumped in, closing the door behind her. Her face looked flushed, and her hair was wild around her face.
"Hannah Abott is here, with another woman from the Ministry who regularly keeps tabs on me and checks in on me. You must be as silent as possible, please," Susan whispered pleadingly. Draco had sat straight up in the cramped bed when the door had opened, and he was looking at Susan with fear in his tired eyes. She spun on her heel and disappeared through the door, closing it with a snap behind her.
Draco looked at her across the bed, and Hermione saw that he had bags under his eyes, and his eye lids were a bit red and swollen, as if he had been crying late into the night while she had been sleeping.
He inclined his head towards the window to the left of them and Hermione nodded. Should they be found out, they could escape through there. Please don't let us be found out. Hermione wished silently, hoping something in the universe was listening to her.
Draco lay a warm hand on Hermione's thin ankle, as they heard footsteps climbing the stairs again. The small gesture sent a little wave of nervousness through her. Just because we are in danger, that's all. She assured herself. Hermione's heart thudded wildly in her chest, and Draco was squeezing her ankle so hard her foot was starting to tingle.
With a creak, the door opened. Seamus popped his head in through the doorway and said, "Ay, they've all gone off to work, yea. Coast's clear an' all that," He told them with a smile. Draco released the grip he had on Hermione ankles, and she felt her shoulders relax.
"Come on down to grab some breakfast and we can get to talkin," He finished, disappearing from the doorway. Draco followed Seamus while Hermione slipped her socks on.
Draco and Seamus were already sitting at the table, serving themselves eggs and bacon off a platter. The smell stopped Hermione in her tracks, and her mood evened out. She watched as Draco lifted a coffee mug up to his lips and remembered how his hands had felt holding her to him. Shame rose in her like a wave, mixed with something else she had trouble digesting. The oddest sensation to ask him to hold her again…
They ate in silence for a few minutes. Hermione savored every bit, knowing this would probably be the last hot, home cooked meal they would be having for a while. The grease seemed to be helping her hangover, and her throbbing headache started to lighten.
"Seamus, I need to know as much as I can about how to Ministry and the Death Eaters are watching people." Hermione finally said, having eaten almost everything she had put on her plate.
"Well, all floo netwroks are being monitored almost constantly. There is a registration for broom flying in place, and they can only be flown in designated air space, like parks and quidditch fields. I think they're workin' on a way to track apparating, too but I dunno if it's in affect yet." Seamus answered thoughtfully.
"Do you know anything about the security measures taken around Hogwarts?" She asked.
Seamus seemed to chew the question over before answering. "Dementors swarm the grounds. They have sentries posted around the school, too, at check points. I don't know much else than that. If it anything like security measures at the ministry, they have witches and wizards doing scans on every person that enters to check for Polyjuice potion, or magic that would hide your identity." Seamus answered apologetically. Hermione met Draco's gaze, who had pushed his plate away and seemed to be mulling over what Seamus was saying. Hermione realized she wasn't angry at him anymore.
Seamus spent the next hour answering all the mundane questions Hermione had regarding security at the ministry, news on who had died, people who had been promoted in the Ministry. Anything that might be even slightly useful.
"I've got to go to work soon. I don't expect either of you will be here when I get back. I just want to wish you both good luck. We routinely get looked into by the Ministry and it isn't safe for you two to stay here, and I'm sorry..." Seamus trailed off, face red from regret.
"Please, don't feel bad. Showing us as much compassion and kindness as you have been more than enough. Was more than I hoped for and I'm thankful.' Hermione beamed back, meaning every word.
"Yes, thank you." Draco said, extending his hand to shake Seamus's.
"Is there anything I can maybe get you before I go? To help?" he asked, holding his hands out.
Hermione shook her head. The things she needed couldn't be accessed by Seamus or his wife.
She hugged him, tightly. There was no way for her to repay his and Susan's kindness, but she would carry it with her.
After Seamus left the house, she and Draco sat down to plan.
"I want to go back to Grimmauld Place. What are our chances of being able to do that without being seen?" She asked him, thinking about Harry's invisibility cloak.
"Not good. I'm sure they're keeping an eye on the place, hoping more Order members will turn up there." He responded, frowning. "I would like to go back, too, though. I would like to be able to...to bury my mother..."
Hermione didn't know how to respond to that. She wanted to just sneak in, as quick as possible, to recover the cloak. Draco was talking about staging a burial, and that would be time consuming and extremely dangerous. But wouldn't she want to do the same if she were in his shoes? Could she leave her mother to rot in some lonely place, filled with bad energy and loneliness? No, she didn't think she could.
"If we apparate over there, and there are Death Eaters, what will we do? The stakes are high." she said, shrugging her shoulders up.
"We wouldn't stay, we would just apparate to Arundel. We wouldn't have to stay long to bury her, either I could apparate to Arundel with her and bury her some where there. She...she deserves to be buried." Draco countered.
"And what If we go there and she's gone?" Hermione asked, trying to lay everything out.
"We get the cloak, and we go. There is another area that we left a care package at, we could go there and plan our next move. Why would they take her body, though?" He asked suspiciously.
"I dunno. Some dark magic works well with certain types of death. Who could say, really." Hermione responded.
"Alright. Let's try, then. If there are Death Eaters there, or ministry members, or anyone, we go to Arundel. If not, we will go in and be as quick as possible. Before we leave, is there anything else you think would be useful we could get?" he asked, rising from his seat.
"No, not really. Nothing useful we could carry with us, anyways," Hermione sighed, getting out of her own seat. The two of them walked through the kitchen door into the back courtyard and she locked the door magically behind her. She was a little sad to go. The short stay had been so nice, so comforting.
Merlin, please let my streak of good luck continue, Hermione silently pleaded, reaching out to grab Draco's hand so they could apparate together. His hand, which had felt so cold and foreign when she had first touched it, was starting to feel familiar to her.