On All Hallows Eve......

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and all the characters there in are the property of J.K. Rowling. I am earning nothing from this story. I remain penniless.





This is my first published fanfiction. Be gentle, please?





***



Hermione was standing there among the small group with her arms crossed, looking like she would have much rather have been at the library than standing in line to go into the school’s haunted dungeon. Since the war had ended, the school had been slowly rebuilt. They had fundraisers every chance they could get. Each house came up with different ideas. The haunted dungeons had been straight from the Slytherins. She hadn’t wanted to go at all, but Ginny had all but dragged her there.





“This is your obligation as one of the schools interns,” her friend had told her. “Besides this is supposed to be fun!”





She looked to her friend flatly and said, “Being scared out of my wits is supposed to be fun? In that case I must have had a smashing good time of it this last year.”





Ginny let out a withered sigh. She couldn’t help but to feel a little sad that her friend could no longer feel the innocent fun of going into safe place to just be startled. True, it had been difficult for everyone. War took its toll, but more than a few were able to scrape by where others it would seem were torn apart. Hermione had tried to get by a day at a time. But even so she didn’t want to socialize with many people at all, did little more than read, and ate only when she was reminded. Ron had given up on her, saying that he needed more than he had to give.





Harry stuck by her, listening to what she had to say just as she did the same for him. George came to visit her as well and he would make her go on walks. The one person that startled Ginny the most with his protectiveness of her was Draco Malfoy.





Ron had come over to the school to see Harry and was being an absolute prat. Between gloating that he was now with a real woman and his taunting her, Hermione was sitting crying silently as she tried as she might to ignore him.





“Hey Hermione, don’t you think you better speak to other people? Blokes might get the wrong idea…” Ron’s voice cut off in a strangled choke as Draco’s hand squeezed on the back of his neck.





“Don’t you have something better to do?” Draco asked in a growl. “Or do you like showing what an idiot you are by making the people you supposedly care for cry?” He pushed Ron away and went over to Hermione, who was briskly wiping away her tears. “Ready for lunch?”





She blinked at him confused. “It’s lunch time?” Looking at her watch, she stood up. “I suppose it is. The time got away from me.”





“It usually does,” he murmured. “Come on, Granger, I’ll tell you all about how three Hufflepuffs managed to turn several of their fellow students into slugs today in transfigurations.” With one last glare from Draco, he walked her away telling her the story.





Harry had been the one to tell her this along with the fact that he thought the Slytherin prince had feelings for her.





“You should have seen the look he gave Ron,” he told her. “If looks could have killed, your brother would have been a pile of ash.”





Ginny was jolted from her memories when she and Hermione were bumped from behind, making them turn to see Lavender and Ron snogging next to her. Rolling her eyes, Hermione looked away from the two over to Ginny. The youngest Weasley was turning a bright red and looking ready to blast him with a hex when it was their turn to go into the dungeon.





“Welcome to our haunted dungeon,” the masked student said with what he hoped to be a scary voice. “Keep to the path and remember—don’t feed our special guests. They might take more than you want to give, your very life!” And ended the speech with a loud cackling laugh that would have been scary if it didn’t sound so much like a little girl’s giggle.





“Let’s get this over with,” Hermione muttered, and walked down the stairs into the stygian darkness.





Ginny was right on her heels up until an arm shot out, pulling her into a secret doorway. She was about to scream when she saw who had grabbed her.





“Harry?” she asked, seeing his laughing face close to hers. “What are you about?”





“Draco asked me for a favor,” he said. “He said please with gritted teeth. It was a sight to behold.”





“I imagine so,” she murmured. “But it still doesn’t explain why you pulled me in here.”





“First of all because he wants some time alone with Hermione,” he said, pinning the redheaded witch to the wall with his body. “And secondly, because I have been thinking about being alone with you all day today.”





Smiling she slipped her arms around his neck, breathing, “Funny, I’ve been thinking about being with you alone all day today as well. Are you a mind reader?”





“No,” he sighed with false disappointment. “But before this life of mine is over, I plan on being a Ginerva Weasley reader.”





Ginny let out a bark of laughter as he began tickling her.





***





Hermione stopped in the middle of the dungeons, waiting for a moment for Ginny to catch up. But when she didn’t, a jumpy energy danced over her nerves. She looked around, but still no Ginny. Hermione thought to call out for her, but no, she didn’t want to panic for no reason. She turned and began to walk down the hallway of the dungeons when she heard it. It was Bellatrix LeStrange’s manic laughter. Terror had her wanting to run, even as she was trying desperately to reason with herself. She’s dead! She can’t hurt you again! Calm…





She heard the laughter again and she ran in a blind panic.





Hermione ran straight into a hard body, two strong arms going tightly around her. She was sobbing hysterically and babbling on about Bellatrix and hearing her mad laughter.





“Shh, poppet,” Draco breathed, rocking her back and forth. “She’s dead.”





“I-I heard her…that same laugh…when she was cursing me…it hurt so much!”





“I know,” he told her, looking around for a place for them to be alone. “Come on, poppet.” He took her over to one of the dungeon rooms, pulling her into it.





He went over to a bed that had seen better days, cleaning and putting his jacket over it before sitting down and pulling her into his lap. Draco pulled out his handkerchief and cleaned up her tear ravaged face as best as he could. She sat shaking in his arms, wanting nothing better than to go to her rooms and hide. Where was her Gryffindor courage when she needed it?





“You need to calm down,” he told her, rubbing her back. “You’ll make herself sick at this rate.”





“I know what I heard,” she muttered.





“The dungeon is charmed to make the people hear what they fear the most,” he explained. “I was against it. Too many of the students have gone through hell. They didn’t need to hear…” He sighed. “I was overruled. They still put it in, but it was supposed to be a very mild charm. I am going to have to have a talk with Pansy about this.”





Taking a deep breath, she relaxed against his chest with her head resting on his shoulder. “What did you hear?”





“Since I knew it was going to be my father I was going to hear, I put a selective hearing spell on myself,” he said, feeling her chuckle softly. “Funny is that?”





“I guess I was tickled by what you said,” she replied, lifting her head up to look into his silver eyes. “For all his faults, he does love you. I saw as much when he went running to you with your mother after the battle.” She swallowed thickly. “I need to get my parents.”





“What?”





Blinking back tears, she told him how she had obliviated her parents and how they moved to Australia.





“It-it was the only thing I could think of to do to protect them.” He pressed a kiss to her temple, holding her all the tighter. “I’ve been so scared to go there and reinstate their memories. What if they hate me? What if they want nothing more to do with me? I’d be alone!”





“No, you wouldn’t,” he cooed and went on to say the one thing he never thought he would want to, “You have Harry Potter.”





“He’s like a brother to me,” and then added weakly, “I need more.”





“Like?” he breathed.





“Love, respect, hope…”





“I love you!” His blurted out admission had her blinking at him owlishly and him blushing darkly. “I love you, I respect you, and I hope to Merlin I’m not making an ass…”





She mouth covered his in a tentative kiss that soon he was returning. Hermione pulled back just so, whispering, “Will you come with me to Australia?”





He was silent a moment. “You believe me?”





She smiled sweetly. “You called me poppet.”





Sitting up straighter, he muttered, “You’re my poppet.”





“And you said that I had Harry Potter,” kissing his tightened jaw as she went on, “True, it was forced through your teeth, but you did say it with good intentions.”





He cleared his throat. “And you feel what for…” Her finger stopped him from speaking.





“If I told you that I have loved you since that first train trip back to school when you didn’t leave my side because I was so anxious, it would go straight to your head and I wouldn’t be able to walk for a week,” she said saucily. “Your ego would crush me.”





“You’re playing with fire, poppet,” he growled playfully, nipping at her finger.





Swallowing nervously she told him, “I have scars.”





“So do I,” he murmured. “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.”





Smiling broadly for the first time in what felt like forever, Hermione did just that.





***





The ghosts of Fred Weasley and Albus Dumbledore smiled with pride that their plan worked. The two watched as the couple walked hand in hand out of the haunted dungeons and over to the apartments that the school had built for the interns in the school.





“I think we did a good job,” Fred said to the former headmaster. “She was too much by half for my brother.”





Reluctantly Albus agreed adding, “I do believe that he is better off with Miss Brown.” Just then Ron went running out of the dungeons screaming that he was too young to be the father of twelve!





Albus looked over to Fred who smiled wickedly. “I couldn’t help myself.”





Sighing with a contented smile, he said, “Alls well and all that.” But then he frowned and asked, “Just how were you able to get that laughter that sounded like Bellatrix?”





Fred’s face went blank. “I thought you did that!”





Just then they heard Bellatrix’s manic laughter floated all around them. They looked to each other wide eyed and in an instant popped away.





Severus Snape popped in where they had been, laughing heartily. “Serves him right. The old interfering goat.” He faded away smiling, already thinking of next Halloween.