Shattered Glass

Chapter Seven: Silver Lining Part One

(Author's note I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters.)

For once Harry was dreaming of something pleasant, Voldemort was not on his mind and blissfully he was dreaming of Ginny. Her soft beautiful red hair, her warm tender eyes, the way her mouth curved when she smiled, the beautiful sound of her laugh. It was a glorious dream. He was disappointed when it all started to fade away. "So that's how it is then?" Harry opened his eyes to the sound of Ron's angry voice and a slight kick to the back. He couldn't understand why he sounded so upset, and especially why he kicked him. He was grabbing for his glasses when he realized there was something warm and delicious smelling in his arms. He put on his glasses and looked to the source of the warmth, Ginny's slightly moving form was beside him. She was curled up her head in his chest. They must have fallen asleep with one another while watching outside. Ginny groaned not wanting to be woken up just yet and burrowed deeper into Harry's chest. He couldn't help but smile, Ron however scowled more.

"Shu-up Ron." Came her sleepy voice.

"No I will not shut up Ginny." Ron spat back at her.

Ginny turned to look at him then sat up fire in her eyes. "Whats your problem?" She demanded folding her arms across her chest. Harry fully woken up also sat up behind her. He knew that they shouldn't have been caught like that. It was hard enough on Ron losing Hermione, he didn't have to make it worse by sneaking around with Ginny. Harry stared guiltily at the ground.

Ron was furious now. Had she really had the nerve to ask him what was wrong? She knew bloody well what was wrong with him. "Ginny, you sure as hell know what it wrong, don't act like I don't know, I see you two, hear you two sneaking around behind my back." He hissed.

Ginny hardly looked phased. She stood her full height and looked angrily into the eyes of her brother. "Oh yeah? Do you?" She asked him, there was a dangerous Molly Weasley-like edge to her tone. She narrowed her eyes scrutinizing him, his every move, every breath.

Ron for a moment was at a loss for words, like he always was when Ginny took this tone with him, it usually meant a very powerful emotion evoking storm was coming. Then she narrowed her eyes, he gulped but continued the argument. "Yeah, I'm not bloody slow." his voice was notably softer than before.

"Well congratulations on noticing Ronald. You deserve a bloody prize. Yes, brother, I am secretly sneaking kisses and hugs from Harry behind your back. Its not like I'm shagging him you idiot. So Ron, may I ask you why that is wrong?" Harry by now was standing a short distance from the two as Ginny walked the few steps between Ron and herself so that there was mere inches between them. "Himn?" she gently shoved against his chest looking him in the eye.

Ron looked away from her burning brown eyes, as she gave him the same piercing look that their mother did when angry. Truthfully he didn't really have a reason, at least one that wasn't selfish. Hermione was gone, there was nothing he could do about that. Harry hadn't tried to stop him and Hermione while she was still here, it wasn't fair for him to ask Harry to stop and he knew it. "Its..." he began.

"Its what Ron?" Ginny demanded her voice softer, knowing that she had hit what she wanted to.

"Its not fair." He rose his voice this time looking her dead in the eye.

"Oh, I see." Ginny said fully angry now. "All I bloody want it to be able to be hugged by Harry, and yes Ronald kiss him every now and then. I realize it is hard for you, really I do which is why we never act like we like each other around you, but god damn it, I love him." Harry rose he head up and smiled, he was afraid to tell Ginny, but now he was surprised, pleasantly so, was that she felt the same way. "Hermione wouldn't want you to be so sad all the time, she would want you to be helping Harry as much as you could." Her voice was softer now. "This isn't about me and Harry is it? You miss her."

"Well." Ron looked uncomfortable, he hated how she was always right, he honestly was happy that they were happy. He went silent and looked down at the ground, he blinked away the tears that he refused to let fall.

"Ron?" Ginny asked.

"Never mind." He looked down at the ground defeated. She was right, they were doing their best to not make him feel awkward, and he never did, he just missed Hermione. He had once upon a time told Harry that he was okay with him and Ginny being together, he couldn't go back on it now. "Just don't get all mushy around me."

Ginny smiled weakly at him. "I wasn't planning on it." She wrapped her arms around Ron's neck and pulled him into a comforting hug, she desperately wanted him to get over Hermione; though there was a larger part of her that she couldn't control that wanted simply to be able to be close to Harry. That was all she wanted from Ron, she didn't want him to hurt, she just wanted to be able to be held. She released her brother and looked over at Harry. Now was not the time to be close, now was the time to send word to Tonks. "We should contact Tonks." Both of the boys nodded eager to gain the news of the outside world. Ginny thought of her happiest memory and concentrated hard. "Expecto Patronum." She said firmly and a silvery wispy horse came slowly from her wand tip. "What should I say?" Ginny asked holding her concentration.

"Tell Tonks that we are well, that you are with us." Harry hesitated for a moment, "And tell her Hermione is gone. Ask her how Lupin is, and whats going on, you know? Something like that."

Ginny nodded then began to speak to her patronus. "Hey Tonks, its me Ginny. We're fine, well most of us are. We lost Hermione to an attack weeks ago..." Ginny paused looking over to Ron who was attempting to look stone faced. "How are Lupin and you? And generally how is the outside? Also If you can tell Mum that we're okay." Ginny added on the last part as her face turned up in the papers just days ago. Her patronus nodded as if in acknowledgment then galloped off into the woods. Ginny walked into the tent and began to prepare breakfast while they waited for a response. Harry and Ron stayed outside, she presumed to talk about the events of this morning. Ginny felt for her brother but he was not helping their mission at all by moping over Hermione, he needed to get his head back in the game, and all of them, including Ron knew it. War was not the time to become sentimental. It was a little while after that the soft footfalls of the boys announced their entrance into the tent for breakfast. Ron stayed just outside the tent entrance.

Harry smiled fully at her. He walked up to her and wrapped his right arm around her waist pulling her so that their faces were very close. "What did you say about me earlier?"

Ginny felt herself blush she knew exact;y what he meant. "I said." Her voice was soft. She placed her arms loosely around Harry's neck. "That, I love you." she gazed happily into his green eyes. His lips were on hers. He kissed her passionately, she felt her heart skip a beat, he had kissed her before, but never ever like this. When he pulled away she felt light headed, her face was flushed. "I guess that means you love me too." Ginny laughed and so did Harry.

"Yes I do." he responded. They looked happily at each other for a few moments.

"Oh get a room." Ron grumbled sarcastically and offered them a small and reluctant grin.

An hour passed before they herd any voice from outside. "Ginny?" Came Tonks whispered voice. The three of them walked quickly outside. There hunched over in front of them was the wispy werewolf. Sensing their presence it spoke hurriedly. "That's where you went off to Ginny, your mother's worried sick about you. She wants me to tell you to go back home. I know you wont but I'm just passing the message along. We were attacked five days ago." There was a very long pause before the wolf spoke again. "Remus died." The three looked at each other shocked, he couldn't be dead, could he? Their attention was again drawn back to the wolf by a familiar name. "As for Hermione, I saw her, five days ago. She was with us, she had lost her memory, though from what I could gather Draco, he saved her from an attack. He was with us too. Until five days ago." Harry and Ginny looked to Ron, who was smiling like a fool. "There's one more thing. Harry, Remus and I, we had a baby, his name is Teddy, we wanted you to be the Godfather. OH! I have to go. Bye Harry, Ron, Ginny. Stay safe."

Before anyone spoke they all shared several minutes of silence, taking in the news. Remus was dead, and Hermione, she was alive? Ron was the first to speak."Congrats mate." Ron smiled patting Harry firmly on the back. Though Lupin was dead, they all knew that their time could not be wasted dwelling on it. There were more important things to worry about, Horcruxs to be exact.

"Thanks." Harry smiled, godfather to one of his most respected mentor's child. For the moment the joy of the situation overshadowed the loss of Remus.

"That's great Harry." Ginny smiled at him.

Then it Hit Harry."Wait, does that mean Hermione is somewhere out there with, iMalfoy/i?" Harry was the first to deduce. Ron's smile dropped fully off his face. If she was somewhere out there with him, that couldn't be very good. There was no telling what he might do to her. All of them were thinking about their friend whom they were hoping, was okay, least of all alive.

"I hope not." Ginny added.

"Still," Ron began trying desperately to see the brighter side of things. "there is a chance Hermione's alive." Ron stated and once again smiled like a fool. A chance all of them knew, in hell.

***


Draco arose slowly that morning to silence. After five days, Hermione's screaming had finally gone as far as to require a silencing charm around her while she slept. He had been dreading what he had finally decided what to do. Draco never had many people skills, skills on how to act above everyone else yes, but when it came down to a human level, no, he didn't have those skills. He wasn't quite sure what to say to Hermione or what she needed. He would have comforted her the same way that he did at the safe house, though, he didn't much care for touching people; his life never required much of it before. True that he had girlfriends and such, but even then touching was at a minimum for him. In the past few days Draco had managed to squelch some of his pride and return, but only slightly to the way he was when it was just him and his disruptive bird staying in the tent.

He felt sorry for the girl, what ever she was going through was harsher than anyone would have to put up with. He stood walking quietly into the kitchen, not that he needed to be quiet, no amount of shaking or screaming ever managed to wake the girl, he knew, he tried. Draco yawned closing his eyes when he flipped on the light switch to his right. "Oi! Granger!" he screamed as he opened them. He was horrified at the sight before him. Hermione sat cross legged on the floor, crying softly, small pools of blood around her, two large gashes down both of her arms, in her right hand she had a knife. She looked up at him, the countless hours of sleep she had lost evident on her face, dark circles surrounded her eyes. She backed away from him until she hit the white cabinet behind her, the blood that had collected on the tarp floor smearing behind her as she went.

A sudden surge of guilt swept over him. If he had helped her sooner, this, may not have happened. His expression softened, as he walked slowly toward her. When he was less than half a foot from her he lowered himself next to her until he sat down in front of her. "Merlin..." he tried to hide the eminent shock from his voice. She cried harder. He reached very slowly toward the knife she clutched tightly in her small bloody hand. "I need you to give me that." he said softly not taking his eyes off her face. She dropped it, the blade making a dull thud as it hit the greenish tarp, just before his hand had reached it. For a moment they sat in silence staring at each other. He looked down, and gently tossed the bloody knife away from them until it hit the other side of the cabinets. Her cries rose to a gentle sob.

Draco reached out once more and grasped her right wrist in his hand, he ignored the red warm liquid as it dripped onto his fingers as well as the smell, with his other hand he reached into his pocket to retrieve his wand. "Merlin Granger..." he whispered as he ran the tip of his wand just above her arm healing the semi deep wound until there was a barely visible scar running down the length of her forearm, then he did the same to her left. He looked to the white floor of the kitchen, she had lost a lot of blood. She slumped against the cabinet behind her her face falling into her hands. Gently he pulled her forward and cradled her small form against him. Draco stood with the crying girl in his arms and walked with her into the living room where he placed her on the couch gently then threw the blanket that he had been using over her. He turned away and without a word started a fire in the fire pit with the wave of his wand. "I'll be right back, don't do anything else stupid." he commanded softly. Through her somewhat decreased cries she nodded.

Draco hesitated for a moment not wanting to leave her alone before he turned and walked fast into the kitchen. Draco rummaged through the cabinets above the sink for a cauldron, he needed to make her a potion that would aid in her body's replenishing of blood. Once he had all of the ingredients he needed laid out on the counter he set to work. While the gelatinous liquid brewed he muttered a cleaning spell to rid the kitchen of blood then picked up the still bloody knife and dropped it into the sink. He took a moment between stirs to look into the living room to make sure Hermione had not moved, she hadn't. When the potion was done he conjured himself a cup of tea then poured the darkly colored thick potion into a glass for Hermione. He walked into the living room; Hermione had stopped crying for the most part, head rested against the back of the couch hands laid out in front of her, specks of dried or drying blood on her fingers. He sighed and walked toward her.

Her eyes wandered up to him almost lazily. "You need to drink this." He stated holding out the glass for her. She looked at the glass suspiciously for a moment. "Oh come on Granger." he said rolling his eyes at her. She took the cup shakily in her hand and tipped the glass into her mouth. This was the second time within the past week he had to make her drink the nasty tasting potion, and she didn't seem to like it any better. Draco sat across from her in the arm chair that was close to the fire. "Talk, I'm listening." he stated leaning back into the comfortable chair. She looked over at him uncertainly, her expression almost scared. Draco saw this and tried very hard to keep his expression soft. "I promise, I won't judge you..." his voice trailed off as he looked down at his forearm where he knew the dark mark to be, he had done more than enough bad to last him his lifetime, he couldn't begin to judge what she apparently had done. He looked back up at Hermione, she was downing the rest of the potion in her glass. She leaned forward and placed the cup on the coffee table. She fiddle nervously with her hands. She didn't know what to say, what not to say.

She sat up straighter though did not turn her body toward Draco. Hermione didn't want to look him in the eye, especially of he was judging her. She took in a sharp breath before she began. Draco leaned forward a few inches but remained patient, he couldn't push her on this. "Lupin..." she croaked. "He's dead." Draco watched as she risked a glance at him, he made a point to keep his expression passive. "It's my fault."

He pondered for a moment in the silence that fallowed her six worded statement. "How?" he asked curiously, she was probably overacting on her part in the werewolf's death. She seemed to over react a lot.

"I-" she looked down at her lap, the guilt creeping up on her again like a dark shadow. "I, didn't-" her voice broke. Hermione took in several breath's before she decided to speak again. "I didn't move, and, his arm, the explosion, Bellatrix, oh god!" she spat entirely too fast. She tilted her head down, the light of the fire highlighting the angles of her face. Her breathing was shaky now.

Draco inhaled deeply, she was once again silent, and this time she was staring shocked in the direction of the arm rest. "Granger?" He asked slowly, she didn't move. " Say it again but slowly." he suggested.

"Lupin, he was trying to get me to move. I- I couldn't. My legs, they, they just wouldn't move." She hugged her knees to her chest. "He kept screaming at me to run." She tilted her head so she was looking at blankly at Draco. He listened his attention never faltering. " He shook me, and even slapped me. I couldn't think, or even really see. Then, Bellatrix came up behind him, I saw a green light, then, he fell..." Hermione inhaled sharply. "That's when I finally ran... If I had moved a few seconds earlier maybe he could have... or I would have..." she paused the silence substantially more tense.

"Surely-" Draco began but was cut off by Hermione.

"He's dead now." Draco readjusted slightly though he did not draw his gaze away from her. "What about Teddy? And Tonks? I've robbed him of his life with them, he will never see his son smile up at him on his eleventh birthday, or when he receives his letter from Hogwarts. He'll never get to see Tonks on their anniversary, he'll never know of his grand children... And Tonks and Teddy? I've robbed them of just as much. Teddy will never know his father. Tonks lost Her husband, her soul mate... I just can't believe he's gone. I can't believe that he's... its all my fault... It should have been me. I should be the one who's dead." She looked down at her hands. "I just, I was looking for a glass for water. Then I saw it, I don't even know how I opened the... then I saw the knife. I thought... then there was blood. I don't know why I did it, it was impulse. It felt good, at the time... I don't know what came over me." she turned her head toward him but her eyes lingered heavily on her hands. "It was my fault."

Draco looked away from her and thought for a moment very carefully about his words to her. If he said the wrong thing, he would have more incidents like this to look forward to. That was something he knew, neither of them could handle for long, eventually she would harm herself to the point where he couldn't save her from death. He did not much lament the loss of Lupin from this world, and he didn't know much about the werewolf, and he had no idea what he was doing now. He looked down at his tea, he rose the glass to his lips and practically chugged the rest of the hot liquid down his throat. He placed the cup down on the coffee table then looked back to Hermione. She was watching him. That startled him slightly, but he didn't let it show. "Look Granger,"

"Hermione." She corrected.

"What?" He looked at her puzzled.

"My name is Hermione." Her facial expression did not change.

He looked confused at her for a moment, she had never protested him calling her by her last name before, but this was a delicate situation. "Hermione." he agreed. "I honestly didn't know much about Lupin." he began, she looked down blinking her eyes a few times, they looked glassy, he assumed blinking away tears. He wasn't doing this right. He thought harder about his words. Draco stood and walked the small distance between the chair he was sitting in, to the couch, he sat down on the opposite end of the couch where Hermione was and looked back at her. She was still watching him, waiting for the words Draco didn't know if he had but knew he had to produce. "Lupin, was a very brave man. He was a great teacher, and friend." Her expression lightened minutely.

He paused, though he was admitting these things he didn't know if he believed himself, completely, however, that was not important right now. "The little that I know of Lupin was, that to his friends and family, those who he loved, he was a great man." Hermione's lips turned up in the slightest of smiles. "The fact that he stayed with you as long as he could tells me that he cared about you Hermione, as great a man as Lupin was I know, I know," Draco paused to emphasize the meaning. "he wouldn't have blamed you." Hermione chewed momentarily on her bottom lip and looked away from Draco. "He was doing what he knew best, being there for someone who needed him. He wouldn't have had it any other way. He wanted one thing in that moment that night Hermione." She looked back at him meeting his gaze. "He wanted you to live."

Draco let his words hang in the air for a moment, their eyes still connected. He couldn't actually believe all of what came out of his mouth, it sounded so good, and what was weird, it was that most of what he said was what he knew to be true. He looked away standing and walking toward the kitchen. "Draco, wait." came Hermione's voice.

He stopped and turned toward her. "Yes, Hermione?"

"Th-thank you." She smiled up at him for the first time in a long while. "Again."

"Anytime." it was odd but he found that her smile lit up her entire face, it was nice to see the old Hermione again. For the fist time Draco felt the corners of his mouth turn up not it a smirk but a genuine smile, and, he was offering it to Hermione Granger.