Stylistic Harmony

Chapter Thirty One
They hadn't travelled very far, merely to the outskirts of the village, finding a safe spot to apparate out from. They appeared seconds later in the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor, deciding it best they hide out here until those twits from the Order figured out how to bypass the wards Draco had set up. Almost as soon as they arrived, Draco stormed off and locked himself in his Father's old study. Blaise thought it best to leave him to stew and so left him for the rest of the day. Snapping his fingers for the house elf to take his bags to the guest room, then wandered off in search of some form of nourishment. He had made it all but three feet when Draco's personal house elf popped up in front of him and said,
"Mr. Blaise, Sir. Is there anything that I can get you, Sir. Mr. Draco tells me to give you anything you need!" Blaise looked down at the shriveled creature with disdain, waved his hand and said,
"No. Bugger off," the elf began to scurry down the passage when Blaise turned around, "Wait! On second thoughts, you can tell 'Mr. Draco' that I want to see him. I'll be in the library. Now!" The elf ran off. Blaise continued his journey, however he decided against the kitchens and went instead to the Malfoy's vast wine cellar. Picking out an Italian red, he went to the Manor's library and settled himself in front of the fire to await Draco. The evenings events weighed heavy on his mind, Potter had finally succeeded in driving them away. Hermione was trapped by those two morons until they could figure out a way to get her back. Draco's promise to her echoed in his head, midnight on the last day of the Final Battle, when Voldemort was dead, they'd be together again. Blaise hoped they'd see her before then, he didn't think Draco would cope without her. The stress of what had happened lulled him into a deep sleep. An hour later he was woken by the doors to the library being slammed open. In came a rather intoxicated Draco, a half full decanter in his hand. He walked or rather stumbled in and sat across from him,
"Whaddya want?" He slurred out, Blaise grimaced in slight disgust. He'd seen Draco drunk before but this was something else,
"You look awful. I don't really think getting blind drunk is going to help this situation. Do you?" The blond shrugged, raised the decanter and smirked, taking a swig he said,
"Works for me." Blaise got up and took the bottle from his friend, then hauled him to his feet by his collar,
"Snap out of it Malfoy! This isn't going to help us get her back! Nor is it going to help end this war any faster! Go sober up then come back here when you feel like being useful. Get out of my sight, you're making me nauseous." He let go of Malfoy's shirt, then walked off into the stacks before Draco could compose himself enough to have some form of drunken retaliation. Leaning against the shelves, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. Taking a long drag he looked around him, he wasn't about to just let go, sit around and do nothing until the day of the Final Battle arrived. The Malfoy library was vast, far surpassing Hogwarts library in its variety, frankly he'd be surprised if there wasn't anything that would help them find the last Horcruxes. He knew that the seventh and final one was Voldemorts disgusting snake, Nagini, destroying her would be a much harder considering the Dark Lord kept such a watchful eye on her. However they still had the bigger problem of discovering the identity and whereabouts of the item of Gryffindors. No clues as of yet had surfaced, it could be anything that belonged to the founder. The locket was a different story, Draco had told him that it had last been known to be in the possession of the Black family, after that it disappeared. Blaise assumed it was still circulating somewhere in one of the properties owned by Draco's relatives. Unfortunately for them there was no-one they could ask without arousing suspicion, so Blaise was set to spend the next however long researching until they could find a solution, until they could find a way back to her. He went back and settled in the armchair, once again succumbing to sleep. Waking the next afternoon to a tapping at the window. His owl, with a letter from Hermione.

"For FUCK's sake Hermione, look at what he's done to you!" She stood in the doorway of her room, Harry, Ron and McGonagall standing in front of her. McGonagall had given up trying to stop the row that had begun. Harry was blazing at her, and she was just as angry. Her eyes were black with rage, and the air around them crackled with power, Ron was nursing cut on his forehead where she had smacked him straight into the stone wall. Smiling, almost coyly, she said back with venom,
"What he's done to me? What hasn't he done to me?! He's given me everything you and Mr. Pathetic over there couldn't! He allowed me free reign over what I have, and its delicious. So fuck you if you think I'm going to come back with you and play happy families, you're more stupid then I already thought." Ron was blind with rage,
"So what darling, you open your legs for a Death Eater and suddenly the world makes sense? You're fucked in the head Sweetheart! Get over it and move on, cos you're coming with us whether you want to or not." Harry nodded agreement, then said maliciously,
"Always the coward is Malfoy, didn't even stay and fight us. Quite the man. You're an idiot to think that he could ever want you," the expression on his face softened, twisted into some kind of grim smile, "You're lucky you know? You've got friends who actually want you back after you've betrayed them, you've got a family who loves you and Ron, even he is willing to put this behind him and move on with you. All you have to do is say sorry and promise to try. We need you Hermione, we need your help. Voldemort is going to take over this fucking world if we don't stop it! I know that we've crowded you before, I know that you felt smothered by us. What you did..." he paused, looked over at Ron, his expression was unreadable, but he was looking at Hermione like he was seeing her for the first time, Harry continued, "What you did with him, it was stupid and dangerous, you knew the consequences and to be honest I'm surprised he didn't kill you. To him you're disgusting, dirty, he was using you to get what he wanted. That's why he ran so easily. Forget about him Hermione, forget about him and come home with us. Please?" Hermione was slightly shocked, the supposed saviour of the wizarding world was practically begging her to come back with them, be a part of the team again. The weakness in his voice made her feel ill, he was so utterly desolate without her, it was almost funny. She looked up at her former best friend, there were tears in his eyes, she held back the urge to laugh. She was about to retaliate, violently if necessary, when Ron came over and stood himself in front of her. She looked in his blue eyes, such a horrible dull colour compared to Draco's, he was staring at her with a look in his eye that she had never seen there before, it was something between disgust and forgiveness, he reached out and caressed her cheek,
"Look at me Hermione, if you tell me, here and now that what you truly want is Malfoy, then we can't do a damn thing about it. But if there is some part of you, some remote part that knows what you did was wrong, that he was manipulating you, controlling you in some way, then please come with us. We can work together to bring Voldemort down, make this world safe again. Isn't that what you want? Isn't that why you're still here?" Inwardly she was smirking, Draco would love this, she was the one who had done them the injustice and they were groveling at her feet, human weakness, it made her sick. She decided then that she would trick them, make them think that out of Draco's influence, she was the old Hermione again. Then when she was reunited with her lover it would make it all the sweeter to see their belief in her crumble and fall. Then Draco would destroy them, and she would watch in adulation. Ron shook her out of her reverie, "Are you listening?" She nodded, squeezed out a few fake tears for effect then said in a small pathetic tone,
"I'm sorry. To both you of you. I'm sorry for all this trouble I've caused. I want to come back with you, I want to help destroy Voldemort." Harry and Ron smiled in triumph, then hugged her. Harry pulled back and said sternly,
"However, you have to promise us that even if such occasion arises, you will stay away from Malfoy. Zabini to." She nodded eagerly then said sweetly,
"I swear to you." Harry beamed,
"Good, now have you got everything packed?" She nodded, then suddenly frowned,
"Wait, what about school? I can't just forget about my N.E.W.T.S! I have to study for them!" From her position as an onlooker McGonagall stepped forward, and said,
"Ah, well, I have devised a way for you to do that from Grimmauld Place Hermione. I shall bring you the work you need everyday, and you be shall be tutored by Order members who have time to spare. Miss. Weasley shall also be joining you in these sessions." Sounded fair enough to Hermione, if she was going to be without Draco and Blaise, she needed something normal to focus on.
"Thank you, Headmistress," McGonagall smiled at her wearily, then left the reunited Golden Trio. Hermione turned to Harry and said, "Do you mind if I write a quick letter to my parents? I need to tell them what's going on, they'll be worried if they can't reach me at school." Harry flashed a suspicious look, hid it quickly then said,
"Of course. We'll drop it in at the Owlery on our way through. We'll meet you outside." She smiled then went back into her room, found two pieces of parchment and a pen, she hadn't time for quill and ink at the moment. Once she was sure Harry and Ron were out of the vicinity, she ran through into Blaise's room, where his owl was sat sleeping on a perch in the corner of the room. She sat at his desk and scribbled a note to her lovers. Tying it to the leg of the owl, she whispered to it,
"Find them, wherever they are." The owl hooted dolefully and flew off. She sat back at the desk and wrote a less lengthy note to her parents,

Mum, Dad,
The situations changed, I'm leaving school for Headquarters. Don't worry, I'll be fine. If you need me, send any mail to McGonagall, she'll forward it onward. Be careful, the worlds dangerous, if you can up and leave, go somewhere else.
Be safe,
Hermione

She bewitched the page so no one but her parents could read it. She stood up, hastily shoving the letter in an envelope, went back to her room and collected her things to meet Harry and Ron.

No-one, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Lupin and McGonagall knew what had transpired at Hogwarts, however no-one questioned the decision to pull Hermione and Ginny out of school, the rest thinking that it was better for Ron and Harry to have their girlfriends around, plus the more hands on deck the better. Ron had even told her in private that he still loved her and wanted to be with her. She had of course smiled sweetly and lied through her teeth, in an attempt to make this as easy on herself as she could,
"I still want to be with you to. I don't know what came over me, it was like I don't know. When he was with me, I felt like I had no control. Maybe I was to blind to see, maybe he did do something to me." Ron had hugged her and said cryptically,
"Well, we'll know soon enough." To this she had given him a puzzled look, he had chuckled, taken her in his arms and kissed her. He had made love to her for the first time that night, she had just lain there, trying to block out his touches, closing her eyes and thinking of Draco. He had left her after, unsatisfied, she hadn't expected anything else of him. Nothing could compare to Draco, he was her everything, her world, and if Harry and Ron were stupid enough to believe that she had come back to them, then earth be damned, Voldemort deserved to win. Unfortunately, that reality was looking more and more possible each day, she knew that Harry had hit a block with the Horcrux hunt, and his and Ron's inability to research properly wasn't exactly helping progress. She had to laugh to herself, how two inept cretins had gotten as far as they had was beyond her, but then she had been there to help them, not to mention the help they had received from Draco. Yet they still hadn't managed to further their knowledge, and that was why they needed her.
Now here she was three days later, cooped up in the musty bedroom she had inhabited over summer. Endless volumes procured from the Black family library strewn across the floor. She hadn't found anything else that was useful, apart from a possible description of the item of Gryffindor's. It was something Slytherin had stolen from him when he fled the school all those centuries ago. The description indicated that it was a priceless antiquity, a clasp in the shape of a Phoenix, made from gold. She figured Voldemort used it for a Horcrux, probably seeing it as some kind of triumph over the Order. Everyday that passed was one day closer to the Final showdown between dark and light. Voldemort had made the first move by destroying the Ministry, and the Order hadn't lifted a finger to retaliate. She felt as though she was surrounded by retards. She missed Draco and Blaise, she missed the fire she felt when she was with them. Her dependency on what they gave to her, both physically and mentally, was like a drug, and without them she was going into withdrawal. Some days she didn't even feel like getting up. But then something happened that changed all that. Something that swung the fortunes of one side dramatically, and brought them all one step closer to inevitability.

Blaise bolted to the window and tore the letter from the black owls leg. He legged it from the library to Draco's room, he burst through the doors, only to find Draco still passed out on his bed. Smiling slightly, he went over and lightly ran his finger down Draco's back, before nudging him in the shoulder with his elbow,
"Oi, sleeping beauty, wake up. Hermione's sent us a letter." His blonde lover bolted awake in an instant,
"What! What did she say?!" Blaise chuckled,
"Calm down lover. I haven't read it yet, I came straight here," the look on Draco's face was like an excited child on Christmas Day, Blaise opened the letter and began to read,

To my sexy Slytherin men,
I hope you made it safely, I assume that you have returned to Malfoy Manor. Be careful, the Aurors have a team working on cracking the wards. I miss you already. Those two idiots have made for a reconciliation. It was pathetic, I wish you both could have been there to see my power over them. They are dragging me away from school to Order HQ. I relish the day when we can be together again. Don't go having to much fun without me. I'll think of you both, what you do to me. I can still feel you inside me. I won't ever forget.
Stay Safe,
All my love,
Hermione

Draco smiled, she was playing the wonder twits to her advantage. Clever girl, he'd taught her well. He looked over at Blaise, who was smiling at him. Draco could still feel them both, the power that they created when they joined, it was addictive. He needed it, like a junkie. His eyes darkened with lust, and he looked at Blaise with a predatory stare. Blaise flashed an answering look, then pounced, pinning the blond to the bed, whispering huskily in his ear,
"Tell me lover, tell me what you're going to do to her when we're together again." He pushed his hips forward, then licked the side of Draco's face, before catching his lips quickly in a lust fueled haze. Draco grinned, then proceeded to tell Blaise exactly what he would do.