A Piece of Forever

Disclaimer: Ok, you know the drill. Nothing belongs to me. Period. (except my OC and the plot which, of course, seeing that i'm no one important, is not copyrighted)

A/N: sorry for the long wait but i've been really busy these few weeks and i know this chapter isn't as good as the previous ones but i really needed to write this chapter becasue it reflects a lot on Hermione's feelings and also, i thought that it would be nice if i could fill you guys in how the war was like in my head.

i hope it isn't that bad because it was one of the hardest chapters to wirte becasue somehow, it just took a long time to find the right words to try and express Hermione's feelings and the mixed feelings between the two of them.

enjoy and please review and tell me how you felt.


Chapter Eleven:

Seventh Year

Hogwarts was in ruins.

The air was heavy with the smell of smoke and rotting flesh. It made Draco feel like gagging every time he breathed. He shook his hair- now a dirty yellow, sticking together in dirty clumps, damp with sweat and streaked with blood and dirt- out of his eyes and when it continued to fall across his eyes, he shoved it back in irritation with bruised hands.

He rounded a corner and nearly stepped on a corpse, sprawled across the floor in a tangle of distorted limbs. Under his feet, blood was pooled on the floor like a dark red blossom. He had no idea who it was- it was distorted beyond recognization- but the sight of blood smeared on the floor and walls, in addition to the bloody footprints he left as he took a step backwards, sent Draco’s stomach over the edge. He turned around and threw up as quietly as he could.

When he was done, he unbuckled the bottle of water that hung from his belt and washed his mouth, spitting it out and taking a long drink.

He heard the sound of footsteps behind him and froze.

He wiped his mouth slowly and turned around, wand out. He saw who it was and lowered his wand.

Hermione’s robes were in a state- tattered and splattered with blood. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail that was already coming loose and her face was covered with dirt and scratches. There was a nasty bruise spreading over her cheekbone to her temple and the cut on her lip was fresh and bleeding. His eyes wandered downwards and he winced. There was a long gash down her left leg, it looked new and blood was trickling down, making a blood red stain on her socks and shoes.

Hermione followed his gaze to her leg and grimaced as well. “Ugh,” she said, waving her wand and casting a few simple healing spells to stop the bleeding and disinfect the wound.

“What’s going on outside?” Draco whispered.

Hermione looked away. “Harry and Voldemort are facing off,” she whispered back in a choked voice.

“So soon?” Draco blanched. He had expected it to last longer than this- not that he wanted it to last longer. The sooner it ended, the better. It didn’t matter who won to Draco now, all he wanted was all this to stop. He just wanted the people he cared about safe.

Hermione brought a weary smile to her lips, “You’re on the losing side, you know. You’ve lost twice the number of people we have.” She pushed back a lock of curly hair from her face and licked her dry lips that were cracked and bleeding.

“I know,” Draco said tightly and he handed the bottle of water he had to her, watching as she drank hungrily. “That’s why I’m in here and not out there. Most of us are hiding. My parents are already well hidden. I’m out here to find Pansy, she’s missing and Blaise is going out of his mind in worry.”

“Pansy?” Hermione frowned. “I thought she was with Blaise all along.”

“They got split up by the fire in the Great Hall, I found Blaise about an hour ago,” Draco said.

“That’s about when I saw Pansy. I must have seen them before they got separated,” Hermione realized, doing some quick backtracking.

“I have to find her,” Draco said, anxiety carving a deep frown into his face. “What are you doing in here anyway? Shouldn’t you be outside watching the show?”

“Shouldn’t you be out there with Voldemort, helping him win this?” she retorted and Draco scowled, crossing his arms across his chest and glowering at her.

She tried painfully not to notice how his shirt stretched across his muscles and the delicious view he offered. She blinked twice, hard, to pull herself back into reality and not far off in some fantasy.

He was still waiting for her answer.

“Ron didn’t want me to get involved,” she admitted grudgingly. “I told him I could take on more people than he could, and he was telling me not get involved?” she snorted.

“He cares about you, you know. It would be what I would have done to. There’s too much risk being out here,” Draco said. “We don’t give a damn who wins this war. All we want is to get out of here while we still have breath.”

“Don’t we all?” she said. “I know he cares about me but I cannot hide while I know so many people are putting their necks on the line for us.”

There was a far off scream that bounced off the walls, spiraling upwards into the night sky until the echoes faded away. Draco narrowed his eyes, trying to locate the direction where the familiar scream came from, located it and broke into a run.

“Wait!” Hermione shouted and caught up with him with difficulty, running alongside him, their strides in time with each other.

“It’s Pansy,” He said, his face drawn tight with worry.

Hermione knew who it was but she sure as hell wasn’t going to tease him about stating the obvious at a time like this. Besides, she didn’t have breath left to answer as they ran faster.

They cut a corner, nearly crashing into each other and stumbled upon the sight of Pansy being held at wand point by Ginny and Luna.

Pansy was cowering in fear, her robes frayed and in burnt patches. There was a terrible burn on the side of her face that was mottled and charred, her hands were covered with blisters from the burns and she was giving off a foul stench of smoke.

“Let her go,” Hermione shouted and the other two girls immediately lowered their wands.

“She came up behind us and we thought we were going to be attack but then we realized she lost her wand,” Luna explained. “We were wondering what to do with her. I’m so glad you came along.”

“Pans,” Draco’s voice was urgent and lathered thick with genuine concern. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m just peachy,” Pansy muttered sarcastically under her breath and glared at Draco through a curtain of tears, a glassy, quivering barrier between the both of them, threatening to shatter and fall any second. “I’m disfigured for life! Are you happy with this answer now?” she shouted.

Hermione felt her throat swell shut as the severity of Pansy’s remark hit her full in the face.

Luna and Ginny backed away, obviously not wanting to be drawn into this. Hermione gave them a small stiff nod and the two girls left, running in the direction where they knew Harry was fighting the Dark Lord.

“I’ll find a way to fix you, I promise,” Draco swore, pulling the hysterical girl into his arms.

“It can’t be fixed!” she screamed. “I’m going to be ugly forever!”

“Sweetie, you will be as beautiful as ever, I swear, and even if it doesn’t everyone will still love you,” Draco patted her head.

“I don’t care whether everyone else still loves me or not, I want to be Blaise’s bride!” she shrieked.

Hermione understood Pansy’s pain. She could feel it, like poisonous fumes from Pansy, eating through her own skin and flesh right into her bones and it seemed to bite her, sharp and stinging.

“Pansy, if he loves you, he is not going to leave you because of this,” Hermione said quietly.

“What if I’m not pretty enough to be his wife? I’m already not pretty enough and I know that’s why he hasn’t asked me to marry him and now, he’s going to hate me!” Pansy wailed.

“Pansy, Blaise doesn’t want a pretty wife,” Draco murmured. “He wants you.”

Pansy was crying so hard she had gone completely limp in Draco’s arms.

Hermione watched as Draco rest his forehead against Pansy’s head and a single tear slide down his cheek, drawing a clear line among all the dirt.

The scene unfurled before her eyes and she tucked it safely away in her memory and Hermione thought, that if it was even remotely possible, she fell in love with him a little more.

~

The muggle plastic surgeons, together with a series of top medi-witches from St. Mungos had fixed Pansy. Of course, the details were terribly complicated and there were hundreds of things to sort out, involving several difficult memory altering charms and lots of money, although to the wealthy Parkinsons and Zabinis were peanuts probably, but the pain that the couple had been put through was beyond what Hermione had ever expected.

When the bandages were peeled off her face, unwinding around her and falling at her feet, unwanted and discarded, like the past she so wanted to leave behind, Pansy cupped her cheeks, her eyes transfixed to the mirror before her and burst into tears.

Pansy had been no beauty and the burns had left some scars that would only fade with time but Hermione knew that no other sight would be worth that much to Blaise who was looking at her as though there was nothing better in this world.

Hermione watched silently as she leapt into Blaise’s arms and as he covered her face in kisses, whispering sweet nothings into her ears about how beautiful she was.

Feeling like a third wheel, she snuck out of the room, and Ron, who was waiting for her, put his arm around her.

He pressed a kiss to her cheek and smiled.

Hermione turned around and stared at the closed door behind her, recalling the joyous scene she had witnessed and turned back around.

“Hermione? Are you feeling alright?” Ron frowned.

Hermione watched as a heavily pregnant woman smiled from ear to ear as her husband caressed her belly, a look of pure wonder on his face.

The scene rearranged itself so that the pregnant woman looked like Hermione and the man rubbing her belly had blond hair and endless gray eyes.

She slowly spun around and faced Ron.

“Ron, let’s break up,” she whispered and pushed him away gently, then walked away, her heart beating hard against her chest. He did not come after her and in some way or the other; Hermione thought that he knew this would happen all along. Ever since mid seventh year, Hermione was painfully aware that the attraction between them was fading fast. She knew that Ron was aware as well and he did start to pay attention to other girls.

When she stepped out of the hospital, she wondered if she had made a right choice but then a flash of blond hair caught her eye and she noticed him standing by a large tree and all other thoughts fled her mind.


~*~

Thanks for reading.

Once again, review review review! pleeease?