Shattered Glass

Chapter Five: Coming Undone
(Author's note I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters.)


It was a few hours before Hermione's sobs had slowed to a slight sniffle. Her hands were clenched with hand fulls of Draco's shirt, and the front half of that shirt was wet. Though she was done crying she did not want to let go... and neither did Draco. He thought about that for a second. This moment for him, felt like heaven, it was warm, calm, and felt right, and at the same time felt very wrong. Draco had tried time and time again to get rid of his pride and return to the way he felt in his solitude, but it was hard. With Lupin a werewolf, Tonks the daughter of a muggle-born, and Hermione one herself, it took his entire being to not hate them. It was exhausting really to constantly try and go against what you had been taught your whole entire life. Though right now, it that moment, the feeling of “this is wrong” was almost a gentle whisper. It felt right he tried to convince himself, and it was very nice to be able to hold someone. In a weird way it felt like they had melted into each other, it was ridiculously hard to explain.

Listening to his instincts he rubbed her back and softly whispered reassurances and gently shushed her. He hardly knew how to comfort someone. At about an hour Tonks and Lupin peeked in the room, only to be utterly baffled at the sight. Draco Malfoy, holding Hermione Granger. Lupin left without explanation the sight too much for him to bear, and Tonks had reluctantly left after asking Hermione if she was okay, to which she responded with a sharp nod. They had not opened the door since, though Draco could hear pacing outside the door which would stop every now at then, which he assumed was one of them listening at the door. That didn't bother him, much. He had done nothing wrong, and was doing something right, and he continued to tell himself that.

Hermione was just as shocked as Tonks and Lupin were. Though she did not remember a whole lot about her life at the mysterious school Hogwarts, she did remember pieces of Draco Malfoy. He had called her rude names, and hexed her. He was stuck up and completely absorbed with himself. This was a brand new Draco Malfoy. It was odd, but she was drawn to him. Tonks had explained to her that outside the safe haven of the house there was a war; a war that would determine the fate of the wizarding world, and later on the muggle one. She also explained her theory that Malfoy was running from The Dark Lord, and that over his journey he had begun to change. This Hermione knew to be true. She had seen it herself whenever Draco had insulted her he always had on an expression of confused guilt that he tried to force into a smirk that she had seen before on Lucius Malfoy. Today she had seen the other side of Draco a side that she wasn't sure existed. Today was monumental. He usually avoided any physical contact with her, or anyone else, though that didn't appear to be true anymore, at least for now.

Between remembering and crying uncontrollably she was exhausted; Hermione inhaled sharply. She had no idea that crying could take so much out of a person. She wiped her nose on what must have been the billionth tissue, and yawned. Hermione did not want to fall asleep mentally, but physically she could feel the pull, she had slept a lot today. “Thank you.” she said softly her voice still thick, still grasping onto his shirt. It felt like there were weights tied to her every action, thought and word.

“For what?” Draco was brought out of his world of thought. He looked down at her.

“Everything.” She stated simply her voice groggy.

Draco looked back up at the wall that he had been staring at prior. He thought about that momentarily Did he deserve thanks? Perhaps. Did he deserve her gratitude? No. What did he say to her? “It was nothing.” he said blinking not looking down at her. She nodded taking in another sharp breath.

Her body began to relax muscle by muscle against him. She was very tired, and was growing more tired by the second. He could tell she was about to pass out and moved one arm to let her go. “Don't.” she pleaded softly. Draco thought about that for a moment consulting his inner self. He placed his arm around her again. He would stay until she fell asleep. He nodded letting her know he would stay. Today was strange indeed. Her breathing began to even out. He looked down at her. The girl in his arms somehow looked different than she did a week ago. Hermione, she looked... she was ugly to him before, though he couldn't describe her as such anymore.

He noticed things about her, her hair was not as frizzy and tangled as he once thought it to be, her eyes were deep brown, her jaw was angled, strong, but feminine, she looked frail, thin, vulnerable, he now could see the freckles across her nose and cheek bones and the three right above her lip. It was strange. He was not used to seeing people as people. They were always object’s to be used, so who cared about what individual things he liked about them? He brushed a lock of hair out of her face. At last her breathing slowed, and her grip on his clothes gave way. Without waking her he laid her down in her bed tucked her in, and stood to leave her room. He looked back. Hermione looked incredibly child like in that moment. He though of his mother suddenly and what she would do.

Hermione was barely aware, she was quickly falling into a heavy slumber, the last thing she remembered was a light kiss on her forehead and a soft whisper in Draco's voice. “Sleep well.” She felt warmth spread through her like wild fire, it felt nice; a smile crossed her lips, and then she fell into sleep where she dreamed of running, running through an autumn forest toward someone.

Draco closed the door behind him, he took in a deep breath. He could feel the pull of his old self, it was hissing, demanding that he return to the way he used to be. Normally Draco would agree without question, but today he asked that old part of himself 'why?', and for once the hissing was silent. He looked down at his shirt, it was wrinkled and wet, He sighed and then pulled out his wand muttering a spell to return his dark gray shirt to the way it was. He stood there for a while. Confusion inhabited his mind, it felt so wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right, but three? He pondered. Besides that, he wondered when he started to see Hermione in this new light, he had never acknowledged noticing specific things about her that he liked. It was down right out of the ordinary... He did like those three freckles above her lip. He shook his head of those thoughts. Draco felt weird. Almost happy. A strange look crossed his face. Was it a smile?

Someone cleared their throat down the hall, he turned to see Tonks grinning at him in an odd way. “You look kind of... giddy, oh cousin of mine.” Draco quickly dropped the weird expression his face took, returning instead to the smug smirk that usually made its home on his pointed features. The hiss inside him was pleased.

“Shove off.” he stated in his normal tone of voice. He turned down the hall and left for his bedroom. As he walked there he began to feel very surprised by his actions. Had he really done that? Why did he do it. She was below him. She did not deserve his concern. His brow furrowed. Stupid girl, stupid war, stupid everything. When he got into his room he punched his wall. He couldn't even begin to understand all of what he was thinking. His knuckels hurt, he gazed down at them, they were bloody. He shrugged it off and stared hard at the mirror on wall. He had acted very strange; but it was only out of desperation. He made a point to himself then, no more. He couldn't help her anymore, it only made things worse for him.

Tonks giggled, she was surprised and shocked at first when she had opened the door and observed the soft moment that was taking place under her parents roof. She had been too shocked to let them be until she asked Hermione if she was okay. It was cute in a weird way. Draco was inadvertently been helping Hermione to remember, and in turn Hermione was helping Draco more than, Tonks was sure, he realized. Tonks had wanted to get rid of Draco, and so did Lupin, but her feelings were different now. There was something happening.

The weeks passed, and overall they were okay. Draco tried to be the proud pure blood he used to be, but deep down he felt dirty. He understood less and less why it was okay, and the logic behind hating muggle-borns. Needless to say, slowly Draco was changing. He didn't necessarily hate it. He just ingnored it, acted like it wasn't happeing. Hermione remembered more and more, though still nothing of her family or friends, only faces. The tension was growing between Lupin and Tonks. Tonks had given birth to a boy which they named called Teddy. She wanted desperately to be both a mother and a fighter. Lupin, ever protective, wanted Tonks, and Teddy to go to the Safe house the Tonks parents were at, it would be safer there for the both of them. Tonks agreed that Teddy should go, but would hear nothing about leaving herself. She was at a cross roads, she wanted to be with Lupin and Teddy. The house was gathering more suspicion. Just outside there was a gathering crowd of one to four death eaters a day. The had no idea who inhabited the house just that there were Order members inside. Had they known Draco was there as well as Hermione, he was sure that there would have been more.

“Run...” Hermione herd someone scream, this was all to real. A large portion of the house was missing, and laying in a heap on the floor was Lupin, covered in blood staring almost blankly at her. She didn't respond or even move. “RUN!” he screamed at her standing very slowly. There were flashes of light surrounding them and screams of what could only be curses around them. Water from the rain was dripping in through the missing section of the house. Outside the wind was howling. Still Hermione did not move, frozen in terror. Her face contorted. “RUN GOD DAMN IT!” Lupin screamed grabbing her shoulders and shaking. Hermione snapped out of it.

“What about you?” her voice hysterical.

“It dose not matter, NOW GO!” his voice was harsh. She ran not looking back at Lupin, though she herd him cry out in pain. She had no idea where Tonks or Teddy were.

She ran toward the back of the house so she could try to make her escape. Without a wand she was as good as a Muggle. As she ran she was seized around the waist and pulled into a closet. She tried to scream but a firm hand clasped over her mouth. “Shhh, Hermione its me Draco.” He said in a frantic whisper. She relaxed, Draco had a wand, Draco could protect her. She relaxed but only minutely. He took his hand off her mouth, and she turned to look at him. Her body shook. “I need you to do as I say.” She nodded curtly.

He placed a hand on her cheek, a fierce look in his eyes. She could not look away, under his gaze her heart began to quicken but not out of fear. He ran his thumb over her lips. A shudder went down her spine. He placed his other hand on her waist and pulled her closer, his grasp firm. Their noses bumped. She inhaled deeply, before she could say anything Draco's lips brushed against hers. She felt herself blush. Then his mouth was on hers. She, as far as she knew, had never been kissed before. It was frantic and passionate, she responded to his every movement. One last kiss before they die? His other hand moved to the small of her back, pulling her closer. They only broke to breath. Her hands were in his hair begging for more.

Hermione woke with a start. She had never had a dream like that before. Sure she had dreams with Draco in them surrounded by chaos, but never that. She couldn't help but smile at her dream. She was sure Draco would never do that, especially with her. He was so standoffish, especially lately, and proud. She licked her lips, in her half asleep state she could almost taste him. Sitting up she shook away those thoughts. That was an odd, and impossible dream, the part about Draco anyway. Pushing those thoughts about Draco, and kissing his very kissable lips, she stood and changed her clothing. Brushed her hair and walked out into the kitchen for breakfast.

It was a normal Sunday morning, or as normal as it could get in a wizarding home. Draco was reading over the daily profit in the kitchen, Hermione sitting across from him reading another book about magic. Lupin staring through the blinds on the window at the street where there were darkly clothed death eaters watching, waiting like a predator to strike. Tonks fussing over her crying newborn trying to entertain and stop his cries with puffs of colorful smoke out of her wand, or changing her hair color or nose.

Hermione felt weird sitting across from Draco. He barely acknowledged her presence but every time he glanced at her she felt her face get hot, and she sunk in her chair. Though she could only expect that after the dream she had just had. She wondered why she had it. But before she got to far on that thought she felt her face flush, so she abandoned that line of thinking for a different time. Instead she focused on the other half of the dream. She looked over her book, it held little interest for her at that moment. She couldn't stop fiddling with her hands and in the pit of her stomach there was a feeling of foreboding. She accredited it to her dream that was more vivid than it usual. She herd a small pop from the direction of the window. Lupin was gone. She was sure that he had gone to another secret Order of the Phoenix meeting. Tonks huffed in frustration in the background.

Hermione picked at her breakfast and skimmed through her book. There was something off about today, besides, her dream. She looked around. Everything was as it should be, Draco was eating and glaring at the Daily profit, Lupin was gone, and Tonks was with Teddy she noticed after looking over a second time. “Draco?” She said timidly looking over at him.

“Himn?” he responded not looking up from his paper.

“Is it just me or does something feel off?”

He looked up at her, then looked around. “A little.” he agreed. “Though its probably because of the gathering group of death eaters outside.” he added, his tone harsh. Hermione nodded then tried to go back to her book. She didn't want to press him more considering she was still blushing. She ate the rest of her breakfast quickly and shut her book taking it with her to her room. Draco watched as she walked away. He knew what she was feeling. Ever since the house had started to be watched to this extent he knew that something was going to happen to disrupt the delicate balance of peace in the house. Not bothering to finish the rest of his breakfast he went up the stairs to his room. The day passed by without much of anything happening Lupin came back soaking wet because of the rain, then had a row with Tonks.

The fallowing day passed without much event.

And the next.

And the next.

Hermione continued to have dreams about the house going under attack, none about Draco, which she was grateful for. It made talking to him easier, the little that he did talk to her anyway. Though each time the dreams happened it became more and more real. It was starting to mess with her sleeping schedule, and with her head. She looked constantly tired, bags under her eyes forming. It even affected her apatite. It was on the fifth day when the feeling in Hermione's stomach had grown too large, she packed all of her clothes into a bag and kept them by her bedroom door. She didn't know it but Draco was doing the same thing. By the seventh day of her vivid horrific dreams she started bringing the bag around with her, and wearing the long black warm trench coat that was longer in the back than in the front, that Tonks had given to her. She even started to wear her her boots. She was surprised that no one had said anything to her about it yet. It was probably because everyone was on edge.

On the eighth day, it felt like there was something very, very wrong. It had been raining heavily for the past week or so. Hermione only ate a fast breakfast and the rest of the time she spent pacing up and down the living room brushing her hair out of her face constantly. Looking over what she could see of the house every now and then. Chewing on her fingernails. The house stayed still until around seven thirty just for dinner, which Hermione only picked at. There was something odd about today, though it was only minor as it happened every now and then. Lupin was not home yet. Tonks was worried that was clear, so dinner passed as a silent affair only interrupted by Teddy's babble. After Hermione was done eating she excused herself from the table and continued to pace. The hours ticked by. Eight o'clock. Nine o'clock. Ten o'clock. Eleven O'clock. Where was Lupin?

There was a commotion at the front door.“RUN!” came a voice, Hermione immediately recognized it as Lupin's. The seriousness and the horror of the matter were clear in his voice. Her heart rate quickened. This was it.

Hermione ran into the hallway. “Whats going-” Before she could finish her sentence, there was a loud bang. She was aware that she was in the air and around her floor boards and pieces of the walls. She hit the ground hard sliding into something soft. She sat up. Her ears ringing. She blinked a few times, her vision blurred. She saw someone stand in front of her, a haze of brown robes, Lupin was grasping at a shadow that she knew was his arm. When her vision finally cleared she understood why. Sticking through his arm was the shrapnel of a large pipe. She gasped. Her ears still ringing. She looked around, there was water, rain dripping in from the hole that used to be half of the house. She wondered where Draco was. Lupin turned to her, his mouth moving. What ever he was saying sounded fuzzy, distorted distant. She felt a sharp pain go across her face and her head flung sideways. Lupin had slapped her. Her ears started ringing louder and then stopped the true horror of the situation coming to. Panicked Hermione stood, backing into the corner by the front door.

“RUN!” he screamed. His arm with the shrapnel hung in a weird almost dead way. She felt her stomach churn blood was pouring from the wound. There was a gash down his good arm, his clothes were ripped, and there was an unseen wound producing copious amounts of blood on his abdomen. Her eyes were wide and she looked up and then down then up back into his eyes she couldn't understand what he was saying. There was wood strewn across the floor as well as scorched picture frames and large hunks of the roof cealing and walls.

There was a green light, somewhere someone had screamed. Lupin went rigid, eyes wide mouth agape. Then he fell a dead heap in front of Hermione, the light gone from his eyes. She screamed, and looked in the direction from where the light came from. There was the crazed woman she recognized from her memory of Lucius Malfoy. She forced herself to move. She snatched the wand out of Lupin's still warm dead hand then ran. Up, up, up the stairs. There was another loud bang and she was knocked off her feet. She stood as fast as she could. There was a sharp sensation in her back but she kept running up the stairs. Somewhere in the chaos she wondered where Tonks and Teddy were and if they had gotten away safely. She didn't have enough time to think about that now. The one person whom she knew had saved her before, she had to find him. She ran through the halls. Not daring to scream. Something warm was dripping down her back. She didn't think about that.

Draco was standing in the hallway. He had enough time to look over the banister to see at least a dozen death eaters. He had rushed to his room, they didn't know he was there did they? He grabbed his bags and moved into the hallway. Despite the situation he stopped dead in his tracks. There was a part of him that wanted to stay and help fight. He herd a scream down stairs. As he stood deciding another throught crossed his mind, Hermione. He stood there for what must have been a minute when it literally hit him. As Hermione ran she hit something solid falling back she hit the floor. “Ouch.” She said softly. He looked down at her. He reached down grabbing her by her wrists pulling her up on to her feet. There was a clear panic in her eyes. The girl had not a clue how to defend herself. This was the second time that he had been forced to choose between himself and her. He grimanced. Draco had to help her. He grasped her by her waist pulling her close to him then apperated.

They landed in a forest, the first one he had stayed in. He let go of Hermione. She looked pale. He looked her over wondering until he saw why there was a gash a cross her face but that wasn't bleeding nearly enough. He mutter a spell to close the wound. Just as the wound on her cheek closed he saw the true reason. Sticking all the way through her shoulder was a piece of the house. She fell to her side. She could feel it now the pulsating pain in her shoulder, the adrenaline was wearing off, searing hot pain. And blood as it dripped down her side, it was warm, wet, sticky even. Hermione's eyes closed. She couldn't move her arm. This somehow seemed similar to something that had happened before... Draco sat her up in his arms, just as her eyes closed. It was a piece of metal. Moving quickly he gently placed his hand on the jagged piece it moved slightly; he had to remove it before he could heal it. Her eyes flew open pain in her eyes. “No” She pleaded her voice hysterical. “Pleas don't.” she begged him placing her hand that could move on his shirt collar bunching it up and pulling him closer so he could hear her better. Ignoring her, his grasp tightened. He looked her fiercely in the eye. There was fear there, he tired to look sincere.

“I need to Take it out before I can fix it.” he said firmly.

“No, Draco don't!” Hermione begged.

“One.”

“No! Please!”

“Two.”

“Draco stop please!”

“Three.” He was barely aware of how wet they were getting as the rain poured.

“NO NO NO NO!”

He pulled hard the sound it made was almost as bad as Hermione's scream of agony. He had herd her scream like that before when his father and aunt went after her, but he never though that he would be the reason why she made such a sound. He cringed. She was crying like a child now trying to grasp onto her shoulder and move away from him. He moved her hand looking at the wound. He could see through her shoulder. Draco had never tried to heal a wound this deep before. His brow furrowed in concentration, he would have to be very careful, otherwise he'd likely harm her and in turn kill her. He didn't want her death on his hands. He looked her over, Hermione was going into shock. Without another moment he took in a deep breath and concentrated. He said the spell firmly, and gripped his wand harder than he ever had before. The wound was mending itself. He was pleased with himself. It healed until the was a thick red line, too much movement and the wound would open again at start to bleed. He laid Hermione down gently the rain falling heavily around them.

He waved his wand after he threw the tent from one of his two bags in a heap on the ground. Instantly the tent sprung up around them. He knelt beside her, just now realizing they were soaked he muttered another spell drying them off. Hermione was barely conscious when he picked her up and placed her in the only bed he had. He noticed she had a wand in her grasp. He took it and placed it on the bedside table beside her head. He was okay with sleeping on a couch, which was odd. He walked outside and put up a barrier around them, he was an expert at this now. He walked into the other part of the tent and laid down on the couch. Where the hiss of his old self crept up on him.

He contemplated leaving Hermione out in the rain, since she had a wand now. Or turning her into the death eaters he had just run from. That would certainly clear his name, and allow him back into their ranks. He shook his head, that wasn't who he was anymore. At least not all of it. He took a deep breath. As he winded down from the situation that had just occurred he felt a pang of anger. Twice now his peace had been interrupted by Voldemort's attack dogs; and twice now he ended up with Hermione. Was peace so much to ask for? Then he felt naïve for wondering such a question. Of course it was. It was too much for anyone to ask for in times of war. Angrily he rolled over on to his side and closed his eyes. As much as he tried, Draco couldn't feel contempt for Hermione, and he found that he didn't want to.