Deepest Desire

The Reunion

Hermione Granger had never been to Malfoy Manor in her life. She never thought she'd have any reason to either. She'd always heard that it was a magnificent piece of architecture, but standing before it now, she thought the Malfoy family may as well have been royalty. They practically were, at least among the other pure-blood wizards.

It was practically a castle. There had to be well over 100 rooms in the Manor, and the decor of the building was exquisite. Hermione didn't like the feeling of being there, especially knowing that this had, at one time, been the place where Voldemort and the Death Eaters called home. She knew that that Draco had been on their side, and she knew that he'd killed Lucius earlier in the battle, she saw it with her own eyes. She assumed that Narcissa would still be here though.

As she walked up the steps to the front door, she turned around once more, just to know that she didn't have to stay here. But where else would she stay? She could go to her parent's house, but she would just be left all alone, they had lives, and jobs, and she would just be a burden. She could go to the Burrow, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were mourning the loss of their children, and she didn't want to be a bother.

She started to raise a hand to the door to knock, but was surprised when it opened by itself. Startled, she stepped back, but peered in. She saw somebody staring back at her from a distance. It was Narcissa Malfoy.

"Hermione Granger, what a pleasant surprise."

Hermione started to get nervous, just by hearing the tone in her voice. Was this a trap? She started to back away. She was stopped when Narcissa gently grabbed her hand.

"Come in, child, Mr. Potter is expecting you. Draco will be back soon. Come in, come in!" She smiled, but once Hermione was in the house, she looked around outside nervously, slamming the door behind her.

Stepping into the foyer of the large house, she discovered that even if she hadn’t been told this was Malfoy Manor, she would have known. The enormous carpet covering the floor was a deep emerald green, and held the Malfoy family crest on it, something she was sure they were very proud of. Everything in the mansion screamed Malfoy, or at least Slytherin, with the green and silver colours of the prominent house.

Narcissa started leading the way to a large oak door situated at the end of a long, dark hall. It was opened slightly, enough to hear the familiar voices of friends, and one time enemies. Looking back at Hermione, Narcissa gave her a soft look.

“Right this way dear, as I’ve said before, everyone is expecting you. Remember, everyone here is on your side, there’s no need to worry.”

This did nothing to help Hermione’s nerves. Walking into the room, she knew she’d find Harry, and probably a few more members of Dumbledore’s Army, but she never expected to find Severus Snape standing there. She hated this man more than anything, probably more than she ever hated Voldemort himself. She knew this had to be a trap. She reached for her wand, but Narcissa quickly put her hand on her shoulder, reassuring her.

“He’s on your side, Ms. Granger.”

She nodded, and walked into the room the rest of the way. She first glanced at Snape, giving him a look of warning, but quickly found Harry sprawled out on a green leather sofa. She never thought that even though he survived, he may be injured. She ran to his side, taking his bruised hand in her own.

“Harry, are you alright? I thought you were dead! And then when I saw Malfoy, I assumed he was the one to blame, but then he told me you were here...”

Sitting up, Harry looked both excited, and annoyed, at the fact that Hermione was there. When she got like this, she couldn’t be shut up. But it was nice that his best friend, one of them anyway, was still alive.

“Hermione, I’m okay. I hate to admit it, but Dra–, Malfoy, saved my life. I was captured by Death Eaters, and as far as they know he’s still on their side. He was able to assure them that he would get rid of me, but instead he brought me here. He’s on our side ‘Mione, there’s no need to worry about me. I’m so glad you’re alright. I was starting to worry about you.”

“Harry, Ron is...Ron is dead.”

“I know Hermione, I was still conscious at the time.”

Hermione looked up at Harry, a pleading look in her eye. She hoped Ron hadn’t suffered. She hadn’t seen what happened to her lover.

“You were there? Do you know what happened?”:

She knew she should calm down, and so did everyone else in the room. She hadn’t even taken the time to look around and see who else was there. She was right, members of the DA were there with her, Neville Longbottom, who was standing next to his girlfriend, Luna Lovegood, who was crying. The Patil twins were there, both grieving over the loss of Parvati’s boyfriend, Fred Weasley. Michael Corner was there, standing with Dean Thomas, who had lost his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. Snape was, of course, there, in the corner with Hagrid, discussing what was to be done now that Minerva McGonagall was gone as well. Hermione didn’t know that everyone else in the room had lost somebody as well.

Luna Lovegood walked across the room to Hermione, tears streaked across her face.

“You know Hermione, sometimes its best if we don’t think about the loss of our loved ones. Just remember that Ronald died a hero. He helped to kill the Dark Lord. That is a very noble deed.”

Hermione shot up and yelled in Luna’s face.

“Well if you had lost your boyfriend too, you would understand! You can’t possibly know how it feels to lose somebody you love!”

Luna stepped back with a look of pity. Harry sat up a little more in his seat.

“Hermione, that's not fair. Just because she didn’t lose Neville doesn’t mean she doesn’t know what it feels like. Everyone in this room knows how it feels to lose somebody close to them.”

Hermione thought about this for a moment. He was right. They’d all lost their friends, or family, in the battle.

“I’m sorry Luna, I didn’t mean it.”

Luna stood there and stared at her for a few moments, before stepping toward her and throwing her arms around her in a comforting hug. At that moment, everyone in the room, aside from Harry, who was in too much pain to move that quickly, and Snape, who stood in the corner, with a smug look on his face, gathered around Hermione and Luna and joined in on the embrace.

After everyone was done, and the comforting stopped, everyone was asked to leave the room. It was getting late, so they all decided to go to their rooms that were provided for them.

Hermione stood to leave, but Harry called out.

“Hermione, wait.”

She sat down next to him on the sofa. They looked at each other for a brief moment, before they both lunged at each other and hugged.

“I can’t believe he’s gone, Harry. What happened?”

“The details are a little hazy, but I do remember that he died trying to save me. It worked. If it weren’t for him, I’d be dead.”

“I loved him so much, we were going to get married.” She held up her hand, indicating the engagement ring.

“I know, he was my best friend. But we’ll get through this. Look at everyone who is here for us. The Malfoy’s have graciously lent us their home. Nobody would have had anywhere to stay if it weren’t for them.”

“How do we know we can trust them though, Harry?”

“I know we can trust them. I trust Draco. They’re on our side. Believe me.”

Hermione nodded, and with that, stood up to leave the room. She had no idea which room was hers, and she really wasn’t too keen on finding out what all of the secrets hidden in the dark hallways of Malfoy Manor were.

When she left the room, she was surprised to find Severus Snape waiting outside for her.

“I suppose you need an escort to your sleeping quarters, Ms. Granger?”

“Yes, please, that would be wonderful.”

Hermione was a little thrown off by the softness of his voice. She wondered if he’d lost anyone in the war. She hadn’t seen him since their seventh year at Hogwarts, and she hadn’t planned on ever seeing him alive again.

They started toward a dark corridor up the stairs. They finally reached a door that was second to the end of the hallway.

“This is where you’ll be sleeping while you’re here. If you need anything, I suspect you can make your way to where Mr. Potter is staying.”

“We were just there, right?”

“Yes, those are his quarters. If you need immediate attention, my room is there,” he pointed to the last room in the hall.

“Thank you. Goodnight.”

He turned away from her, but paused briefly, turned back to her, and wished her goodnight.