Hermione and Draco

Disclaimer: These characters are not of my creation (I wish!). Everything belongs to JK Rowling, I\'m just delving into the Pensieve and playing around with the memories a little!

A/N: Latricia: All will be revealed in the fullness of time. If I answered all your questions, you\'d know what was going to happen in the next 2 or 3 chapters.
This chapter will make you all very angry at me. I hope you don\'t end up hating me too much and quit reading my story, because it\'s not going to bad for the rest of the story. So, without further ado, here\'s Chapter 6. Enjoy! UPDATED: See if you can spot differences!!!

Chapter 6: How Did That Cat Get Out Of Its Bag?

Hermione was incredibly dizzy when she finally landed in the Weasley’s grate at the Burrow. She stepped out doing a quick cleaning charm before setting off to find everyone.

She heard the babble of voices in the kitchen and as she drew nearer, she could make out who was there and what they were saying.

“…left her with Draco, I don’t know what you two were thinking!” Molly Weasley sounded very worried.

“Mum, she’s okay! We can’t tell you everything right now, but trust us, Draco would never hurt Hermione!” Ginny’s eyes pleaded with her mother to understand.

“It’s true Mum,” chimed in Harry. “Draco would never hurt her, and if she thought for one moment that he would, she would have never… ouch!” it sounded like Ginny had stomped on her husbands foot to keep him from giving away exactly what had happened between her and Draco last night.

Good, thought Hermione. That way when I tell Mum about it she won’t have had time to put together a speech!

Molly ranted at Harry and Ginny for a few more moments and Hermione decided she’d allowed it to go on too long; She took a deep breath, steeled herself for the tirade she was about to allow to descend on her and walked into the kitchen.

She had thought it was only Molly, Harry, and Ginny in the kitchen, at least they were the only ones doing any talking. When she stepped through the door, though, she realized everyone else, including the twins, were there, their heads swiveling first left and right, like the confrontation between Molly and the Potters was a tennis match.

They swiveled left:

“…if she gets hurt by Draco, I’m holding the two of you responsible!”

Then right:

“Mum... I swear, Draco would never…”

“…hurt me.” finished Hermione quietly.

Everyone in the kitchen jumped at the sound of her voice and looked quickly in her direction. They all waved and smiled at her, the twins winking cheekily at her. Harry and Ginny looked relieved that she was finally there, but it was evident that Molly was on the verge of tears, she was so happy to see Hermione. She ran over to her, threw her arms around her shoulders and hugged her tight.

“Oh, Mya,” Molly cried. “I’m so glad to see you! Are you okay? Did Draco take good care of you? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Mum, please,” Hermione hugged her back. “He took excellent care of me, he didn’t hurt me. I’m fine! I’m great! I’m wonderful!”

Everyone looked at her, startled. Molly not only stared at her, it felt like she was staring through her. Hermione thought that she must have been reading her mind. At that thought, and the memories of last night and this morning, Hermione blushed a bright crimson.

At her blush, Bill, Charlie, the twins, Harry and Ginny, and Arthur all looked at the expression on her face and laughed.

Molly took in her blush, her glowing eyes, and the smile that played around her lips, and suddenly understood. “Oh, my,” was all she said.

Hermione gave her a startled look and her blush deepened. Fred and George were howling with laughter now, but the rest of the Weasleys, excepting Harry and Ginny, were looking at her as if she’d grown a second head.

“Oh, dear, Mya,” Arthur grinned as he got up from the table and went over to hug her. “Made a night of it with Draco, did you? And it’s a match?”

Hermione first looked Arthur, then Molly, in the eyes and nodded. “It’s a match, Mum and Dad. If it had been up to Draco, we would have gone to the Ministry today and gotten married. As it is, there were too many things that needed to be done. I need a few days to myself, away from him and Ron, to sort everything out in my head. And he wants to come meet with you, to see if he can possible apologize for the way he’s always treated you all and see if he can call a truce with everyone. Of course, if Ron ever found out…”

“’If Ron ever found out’ what?”

Everyone turned around and saw that Ron Weasley had come to the Burrow.

*************
Draco arrived at the wizarding prison of Azkaban right after Hermione arrived at the Burrow. He walked to the Wardens office and told his secretary that the Warden was expecting him and to please let him know he was here.

The secretary got up and went in to the Wardens office after asking Draco to please have a seat in the waiting lounge. After a few moments wait the secretary came back in and said, “The Warden will see you now.”

“Thank you, Lydia,” was all he said as he walked into the office.

Draco was met by a strange sight. Sitting behind his desk was Warden Johnson, but sitting in a dark corner at the far end of the room, sitting in a chair bound by chains and manacles, was Lucius Malfoy.

“Ah, Draco,” The Warden greeted him with a smile and handshake. “So nice of you to come on such short notice.”

“Hello, Warden,” greeted Draco. “I received your owl a little while ago, but was at the time otherwise occupied.” He nodded his head in his fathers direction. “So, what’s he done now?”

“Done, Draco? He’s done nothing but request to speak with you.” Warden Johnson frowned. “I figured since he hadn’t wanted to see you until now that I’d grant his request and let you know. He’s in a silence bubble, so he can’t hear what we’re saying and once you’re in there with him, I won’t be able to hear you either. The chains are power nullifiers, so he won’t be able to do anything by talk. Are you up for it?”

“Well, I suppose I’ll have to be,” sighed Draco. “Since he hasn’t wanted to talk to me for three years, I guess it won’t hurt to listen to what he has to say now.”

“Alright, then,” smiled the Warden. “All you have to do is walk through the bubble and sit down. I’ll be out here in case you need anything. Good luck.”

Draco nodded at the Warden and walked toward his father, wondering what he wanted after all this time. As he sat down in the seat opposite his father, he said. “Hello Father. What can I do for you?”

Lucius looked at his son with a mad gleam in his eye as he said, “You can stay away from your little mudblood whore, unless you want her dead, of course.”

*************

Hermione looked over at Ron and rolled her eyes. She could smell the fire-whiskey on him from the other side of the kitchen, and knew from the way that he was swaying slightly that he was drunk, probably from the night before.

“Ronald, we told you not to come here for a while,” Arthur said dangerously. “You need to leave now.”

“No, Dad – I want to know what Hermione was talking about,” he looked at each member of his family, glaring, before turning to Hermione again. “Now, please continue; ‘If Ron ever found out’ what?”

Harry and Ginny exchanged a look with Hermione and shrugged. “If he wants to know so bad, tell him.” Ginny suggested.

Hermione regarded her with a raised eyebrow, thinking; Well, why not? He’s going to find out eventually anyway, and I’d rather he found out from me, in a controlled environment, than hearing it on the street via the rumor mill.

She turned to Ron. “Okay. You really want to know what I was talking about, Ronald?”

“Yes,” Ron pouted. Hermione rolled her eyes at him again, and then shrugged.

“I was talking about Draco and I. I spent the night with him, and we’ve discovered we’re in love. Have been for a while. He even said he wanted to marry me. I didn’t really want to tell you right now, but this way, at least, you know that there is no hope for you and me. I love Draco, and I’m going to be with him for the rest of my life.”

Ron turned purple with rage. Harry sidled up behind him in case he needed to hold him back, bit instead Ron just stood there. Finally he managed to splutter, “Don’t know what you were thinking… hates you… called you filthy names… using you… get back at Harry and me… break your heart…”


Hermione had a hard time understanding him, but she got the gist of what he was saying. “You’re wrong, Ron! He loves me, and he wants me in his…”

Just then a beautiful horned owl swooped into the Weasley kitchen and lighted in front of Hermione with its leg stuck out. She looked at it curiously and took the parchment off its leg. She unrolled the note, smoothed it out and read it. As she read, all the color drained from her face and she looked as if she were about to faint. Ginny went over and took the note away from her as she turned away from everyone and started crying.

Ginny stared at the note, her eyes widening, before reading it aloud:





Dearest Hermione,
Thank you so much for the most wonderful time I’ve ever had last night, you will never know how much it will mean to me for the rest of my life. Due to circumstances I cannot divulge, I think it would be best if we didn’t see each other anymore. I will not be returning home, so go ahead and stay at the cottage for as long as you like. I’ll let Mother know, so she won’t think you’re a burglar. I love you.

Draco

“I told you!” crowed Ron. “I told you he’d break your heart!”

Hermione spun on Ron, with tears on her cheeks and hatred in her eyes. She took out her wand and did some complicated bit of swishing before pointing it at Ron’s groin and shouting “Evanesco!”

Immediately, Ron felt his bits start to shrivel up. He screamed, ending it with a gurgle, dropped to the floor and curled up into the fetal position.

All the other males in the room, while they didn’t feel bad for Ron, they did wince at the thought of having the same thing happen to them, and wisely stayed out of Hermione’s line of sight.

*************

Draco stared at his father, getting very pink in the face. “Don’t you dare call her that! I love Hermione, Father, whether you like it or not! We’re going to get married as soon as I can convince her that it’s what I really want. And don’t make empty threats on her life, you’re in here until you die, Lucius, and I know you don’t have access to anything to be able to carry out a death threat.”

“Oh, Draco, my stupid mudblood-loving son,” sneered Lucius. “I may be in here until my dying breath, by I still have contacts on the outside. As a matter of fact, I have one contact that is already watching her every move. If you don’t break it off with the filthy little mudblood, she dies. If anything should happen to me, she dies. It’s your choice, though, son, you can spend a few more days with her hoping that the memories you make in the next week will be enough for life until my man kills her, or you can walk away, content in the knowledge that she’ll be safe. So choose, Draco! Her life… or her death!” By the end of Lucius’ speech his eyes were wild, there was foam flecked on his lips, and he was cackling. He had gone totally insane.

Draco, know, however, that sane or mad, if Lucius had outside help, he could carry out the death threats on Hermione if he didn’t break it off with her.

“I hate you, Lucius,” grated Draco. “And when I find away to save her and be with her again, I will. And I’ll make sure that I get the privilege of killing you – slowly. Until that time, I’ll break it off with her and promise to not have anything more to do with her. For now. Who’s your outside contact?” Draco threw in this last question hoping to surprise his father and get the answer.

He should have known better.

“Ah, Draco, I think I’ll let that be a surprise,” smirked Lucius. “It’s not anyone that you would suspect, though.”

“Fine, Lucius. I’ll get parchment and a quill and send her an owl right away.” He paused as he was thinking. “Italy, I think.”

“Italy what?” Lucius said sharply.

He smirked at Lucius. “I’m going to go stay at the summer house in Venice. You can explain to Mother what happened.”

Lucius’ eyes went round at Draco’s barely concealed contempt and then he glared at Draco as the boy got up to fetch parchment and quill for his note to the mudblood. Fine, I’ll tell Narcissa – she’ll probably be happy that I nipped this little wallow of his in the bud.

He watched as Draco penned the note with tears in his eyes. Weak boy! He’s a Malfoy, he shouldn’t be showing his emotions! Must be his exposure to that mudblood and The-Boy-Who-Wouldn’t-Die. Lucius thought sourly. Then he smiled to himself in insane glee. He’ll never guess that my contact is someone that is very close to her. He’ll never see it… unless the git gives himself up – which he won’t. He may be stupid, but he’s not an idiot!

Draco hastily wrote out the beak-up note to Hermione and showed it to his father. Lucius read it and sneered at it, giving his son another look on pure venom. Draco snatched the note back from his father, borrowed the Wardens owl, and sent it on its way. He thanked the Warden for all he’d done, petted the dog, and turned his back on this father, without a look back. He’d get Lucius back for this if it was the last thing he did.

***********

Everyone stared first at Hermione, who had slid down the wall to sit on the floor, knees tucked up under her chin, then at Ron, who was laying on the floor in the fetal position. Every few minutes he’s grope at his groin area, groan and more tears would leak out.

Ginny and Harry picked Hermione up and carried her to their rooms. Since everyone had moved out of the Burrow, Molly and Arthur had gotten lonely. The older couple had asked the Potters if they would move back in. When Harry and Ginny agreed, Molly had redesigned part of the upstairs to be a set of room for them, complete with their own bathroom and a spare bedroom. They took Hermione there now.

No one saw fit to help Ron off the kitchen floor. They didn’t really care what had happened to him. After a few hours, he picked himself up off the floor and left without a word.

Hermione sat there and cried off and on for the next three days. She wouldn’t eat. She got up to go to the bathroom, then would go back to the bed, curl up into a ball and cry herself to sleep. She’d wake a few hours later, and when Harry or Ginny checked on her she’d either be staring at her ceiling with a vacant expression on her face, or she’d be lying on her side, crying softly, whispering Draco’s name over and over like it was an incantation that could conjure him to her side.

On the fourth day she woke in the early morning, got out of bed, went to that bathroom, took a shower, brushed her teeth, and did her hair up into a ponytail. She washed and dried the only clothes she had with her with a few waves of her wand. She went downstairs with a determined look in her eyes, and went to go talk to Arthur Weasley.

“Hermione, dear,” smiled Molly. “I’m so glad to see you’re up. Would like a hot cuppa and something to eat?”

Yes, thank you,” replied Hermione, with a smile that looked painted on. “I’d also like to talk with Dad. Where is he?”

“Well, dear, he’s at work today,” answered Molly.

“He’s working? On a Sunday?” Hermione raised an eyebrow.

It’s not Sunday, Mya,” Molly pointed out gently. “It’s Wednesday.”

“Wednesday?” Hermione asked incredulously. “How can it be Wednesday? Where did the other three days go?”

“Well, Mya,” said Harry from behind her. “You kind of laid in bed for three days not doing much but crying, sleeping and staring off into space.”

“What?” Hermione was perplexed. How could she not remember that?

“After the letter from Draco, and cursing Ron’s bits off, you kind of curled up on the kitchen floor,” Ginny came over to Hermione and put an arm around her. “Harry and I carried you up to our spare room and put you to bed. You wouldn’t talk, you wouldn’t eat. All you did is stare off into space, cry, sleep, and cry some more. There were a few times when you even just laid there with tears streaming down your face and saying Draco’s name over and over.”

“I didn’t curse Ron’s bits off… I just made them vanish for a while. They’ll be back by the end of the week.” Hermione was thinking hard. She remembered the letter from Draco; the sad words were inscribed indelibly on her heart and soul. What she didn’t remember was the collapse and the three lost days. Had she had some sort of mental break down?

“Come sit down, Hermione,” Molly Weasley ordered gently. “Breakfast is ready and you need to eat. You’re looking a little pale.”

They all sat at the kitchen table and tucked into breakfast. Molly tried to get Hermione to eat thirds and fourths of everything.

“So, Mya, do you have any plans today?” asked Harry as he was helping himself to thirds of the eggs and bacon.

“Well, I need to go talk to Dad, so I guess I’m going to the Ministry.”

“I was going to pop in and speak with Kingsley Shacklebolt today. Mind if I come with you?” Harry queried as he pushed his plate away.

“Not at all.” Hermione stood up from the table when she was done eating. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

Harry leaned over to his wife and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll see you in a little while.” He turned to Hermione. “Let’s go.”

They walked out to the patio off the kitchen and apparated to the British Ministry of Magic.