Mistaken
Title: Mistaken
Author: Raven jaded_icy_rose
Rating: R
Warnings: Language, Violence
Summary: After one night of pure passion, they wake up together. Chapter Twenty-One: There’s problems for everyone as Hermione works with Harry and Ginny to look for Draco.
Disclaimer: *sighs* Honestly, who thinks I own them? If you do - You’re my new friend. lol And hey! If I did, nifty!!
A/N: I owe every single reader of mine a HUGE apology. I’m SOOO sorry that this took me so long but Finals began to kick my ass and it was just getting hard for me. Good news? I have one week and then it’s summer vacation! Hehe, more updates!
But, moving on…
Here's the Previous Chapters:
Mistaken, Prologue
Mistaken, Chapter One
Mistaken, Chapter Two
Mistaken, Chapter Three
Mistaken, Chapter Four
Mistaken, Chapter Five
Mistaken, Chapter Six
Mistaken, Chapter Seven
Mistaken, Chapter Eight
Mistaken, Chapter Nine
Mistaken, Chapter Ten
Mistaken, Chapter Eleven
Mistaken, Chapter Twelve
Mistaken, Chapter Thirteen
Mistaken, Chapter Fourteen
Mistaken, Chapter Fifteen
Mistaken, Chapter Sixteen
Mistaken, Chapter Seventeen
Mistaken, Chapter Eighteen
Mistaken, Chapter Nineteen
Mistaken, Chapter Twenty
His head was pounding and he was pretty sure that there was a cut on his head that was now covered in dried blood. Draco ran his tongue along his cracked lips and winced, as he tasted blood and pain seared through his lips. Raising his hand to the bump he knew was on his head, he felt the deep gash that was crusted over. Moving his arm made his entire body shiver with pain. Draco wasn’t sure what was going on but he knew that it wasn’t good. He tried to go through what he remembered.
The only thing he remembered was the green light heading toward him at his apartment. Obviously, he had dodged the killing curse.
He tried to sit up and allowed a loud hiss to escape his cracked lips. His body was bruised, and though he couldn’t see anything under the faded yellow light, he knew it was bad. How he had gotten into this condition, Draco couldn’t remember. He sighed, dammit, it’s not like he wanted to forget. He wanted to know who the hell had the nerve to attack him, blindly at that.
What were they planning? What did they want? He couldn’t even answer the first question because the pounding in his head was making him dizzy. It was like he felt his heartbeat throughout his entire body and all he wanted to do was sleep. Maybe sleeping would take the nightmares away and he wouldn’t have to fight anymore.
Maybe he’d wake up in bed with Hermione next to him.
This nightmare would be over.
Maybe if he could dream about her then things wouldn’t really be as shitty as he thought they were. If he could be with her then he wouldn’t have to deal with this pain, because it wouldn’t exist. Slowly, Draco felt his eyes shut as he tried to take shallow breaths. It was hard, because every time he took a breath in, his ribs shot pain through his body. He didn’t know what to do.
He was helpless.
The jarring of the door and the sudden blinding light caught Draco off guard.
The light stung his eyes. And the voices that he heard were muffled. Or maybe they were just mumbling so that Draco couldn’t understand them. Either way, he was sure that the pounding he heard wasn’t from them. It was inside his head. All he wanted to do now, was sleep. He didn’t want to feel the pain, or taste the blood.
Every time they moved, Draco felt sick. The light made movements over his half-closed eyes. All he could hear was mumbling, there wasn’t anything he could understand. Their footsteps grew closer and as his eyes focused in on the people, Draco recognized the face.
“How are you feeling, Draco?” Pansy murmured. He felt a cool, damp cloth on his forehead. Draco tried to push her off, “You need to eat something, love.” Draco frowned.
“Off,” he growled, pushing her arms away. When she kept poking at him, Draco reached out, grabbing her wrist, “Get off me,” he said.
“I don’t think you’re in any position to be demanding anything,” Pansy spat, standing up she stared down at him. Draco chuckled, shaking his head as he leaned back.
“Oh, would you like me to beg for your attentions? Beg for you to pay just a little bit of attention to me,” Draco laughed, “Do you actually think I’ve missed you?” Pansy raised a brow, kneeling down beside him.
“Have you, Draco?” she asked, her hands touching his face gently. Draco’s hateful gaze met hers.
“No,” he growled, “Get away from me, you slut.” Draco demanded, pushing Pansy off of him, causing her to fall back.
As Pansy fell back, she reached out, clawing at him, “You good for nothing, blood traitor,” she screamed, “How dare you treat me like that, I’ll have you know I’m the Dark Lord’s favorite companion.” She got to her feet, gathering her clothes and brushing the dust off of them. She fixed her hair, glaring down at him.
“A favorite?” Draco asked, “Oh, that’s rich,” he started to laugh, “Only because you let him slam you however he wants. Did you take it on your knees again?” Her nails scraped across his face. Draco felt the stinging from the marks that were now bleeding.
“It’s none of your business what I do anymore.” Pansy huffed, trying to keep from allowing Draco to anger her even more.
Draco wanted to respond, to say something that would enrage her, possibly make her kill him. Anything was better than sitting on the dungeon floor being tortured. Hermione probably thought him dead, besides that it really didn’t matter anymore. All he wanted was for the pain to stop. At the same time, he only wanted to get out. Maybe then he could at least tell Hermione that he loved her.
He really didn’t believe that he’d ever get back with Hermione because he imagined that she hated him. But then again, he couldn’t blame her. It didn’t matter, all he wanted to do was see her for one last time.
“Am I plaguing your thoughts, Draco?” Pansy murmured, walking toward the door, “Anything to distract you from the pain, lover? I’m sure I could think of a few things that the Dark Lord would allow, as long as it’s for my pleasure and not for yours.” She giggled softly as she glanced out the small window in the door, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger.
Draco watched her carefully, Pansy seemed like she was going insane, and that she was enjoying it at the same time. She reminded him of Bellatrix, which scared the hell out of him because his Aunt had been sadistically psycho, taking pleasure from everyone’s pain. “Say hello to an old friend, Draco.”
Pansy pulled the door open, leaning forward she placed a kiss on the stranger’s lips. Draco almost wanted to throw up from the display of sick affection, did she knew who that was? Probably. Did he? Hell no. He tried to figure out who it was as they walked into the room, but they were too far away, his vision was blurry.
The figure walked slowly towards him. As they got closer, Draco could tell that it was a man by the sheer size of them, of course Pansy had been known to hook up with another woman on the occasion that Draco demanded it. He rolled his eyes, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to see much else besides the size of the person, the Death Eater robe cloaked the figure of the man.
“Are you going to say hello, Draco? Whatever happened to your manners?” he asked, clucking his disapproval with his tongue as he tilted his head. The Death Eater mask kept his face hidden well enough and Draco couldn’t even tell by the voice, “What would your mother say?”
“Funny you should ask,” Draco replied, his throat dry, “Maybe if you hadn’t killed her, I’d know. You should probably kill me so I can ask for her opinion seeing as how she’s been in the ground for a few years now.” He leaned against the wall, shutting his eyes.
“Such disrespect,” the man replied, kneeling besides Draco, “Honestly, it was because your Mother was such a whore that we had to kill her. Did you know that she bedded a traitor? A man that wished to side with that vulgar Harry Potter instead of our Dark Lord.” Draco turned towards the man, his eyes meeting that of his captor as he leaned in. Draco spit at him, smirking as blood and spit trailed down the Death Eater mask.
“Maybe she had the right idea,” Draco laughed as he was slammed in the stomach by the man’s fist. As he curled into a ball, lying on the ground, Draco continued to stare up at him, “If…” he was gasping for breath, “You think…that I’m going…to kiss your feet…you can…kiss my ass.” He took shallow breaths as he shut his eyes, trying to make the world disappear. But the last thing he would do was admit that to anyone.
~*~
Hermione was frantic and she was worried, or maybe it was that she was frantically worried. She really couldn’t tell at the moment because it was driving her insane to actually be sitting here not doing anything. They had tried everything that Hermione could really think of, and she had even read other books beyond Hogwarts: A History that told of spells that could find anyone, but they hadn’t been able to find Ron. At all.
And what made things even worse was that she couldn’t find Draco either.
She was sure that it was all just a ploy and that she was going to be able to find Draco sitting in his apartment, ready to tell her that it was all just a joke. But deep down, she knew it wasn’t going to happen because in reality, her best friend Ron was gone somewhere probably in danger and no one had heard from Draco.
Standing up, she ran her hands along her pants, a sign of her nervousness. Glancing around, she noticed that Harry and Ginny were going over the list she had written and Susan and Seamus were in the middle of trying to cast a spell on a map in order to try and find either of them.
“Where else could they possibly be?” she heard Susan asked Seamus. Both shook their heads, unsure of where else they could look on a map.
“I dun know,” Seamus started, “Maybe we have the wrong maps. I mean, we’re both not even thinking about the Muggle world, this is just the Wizarding part. I ‘onestly have no clue when it comes to looking at a Muggle map where anything is. They’re so confusing.” Hermione met their gaze when she glanced up.
“What do you need?” Hermione murmured.
“Well, we need to know about a Muggle map, what does everything mean?” Susan asked quietly, her gaze never quite meeting Hermione’s dead on. Both of them felt the tension between them, and neither of them wanted to even mention it because that wasn’t the issue at the time.
“Did you pick any up at the store that you went to?” Hermione made her way to the table, glancing at all the maps that they had skewed all over the table. If anyone wanted to plan a war, they would never give the task to Susan or Seamus for plotting out the plan of attack. They were completely unorganized and it was driving Hermione a bit crazier, and making the pounding in her head increase.
She took the time and showed them what a legend on a Muggle map was and from there, they began to work on the Muggle map. Trying to locate any of them was proving to be the most difficult of anything that anyone was doing at the moment.
Rubbing her arms, trying to fight off the chill she felt growing within her body, Hermione sighed and glanced around the room, wondering what else she could do. What could possibly help them in any way to help locate, or to even tell them if either Draco or Ron was alive. She felt a knot form in her stomach, she almost felt sick again but fought off the urge as she walked into the kitchen with Harry and Ginny. Both were huddled over the counter as they began to go through books.
“What are you doing?” she wondered aloud, tilting her head as she noticed the books that Harry and Ginny were using.
“We figured that there just might be somewhere on Hogwarts grounds that Draco might’ve run to. He knows that no one can apparate onto the grounds so it’s unlikely that Voldemort would just go there on a whim,” Ginny informed her, “We also wanted to see if any passageways that the Marauder’s Map mentions might lead to places other than Hogsmeade. You know, because the Map only shows to Hogsmeade.” Hermione nodded as she let her hands drop to her side. She felt useless and not of much help at all. All she’d done that night was provide a list and provide the idea to use maps.
But now she was just standing there.
“I’m going,” she murmured. None of them glanced her way, all of them were mostly focused on the task at hand and they were trying to find either Ron or Draco, whichever one they could find first. When none of them responded, she sighed and quietly made her way to the door, shutting it behind her.
Hermione walked down the streets as she crossed her arms over her chest as she glanced around the town. She wanted to get her head clear, and more importantly she wanted to sort out her feelings for Draco. Did she really love him? Of course she did, but that just lead to another question which kept appearing in her thoughts.
Did she want to be with Draco Malfoy in a serious relationship…for the rest of her life?
She wasn’t sure she could answer that, and she told herself that she wouldn’t. Not until she knew how he felt about her. But at the same time she knew that if she wasn’t the one going after him that it more than likely would never happen. She’d never be able to have that time with him, she wouldn’t be able to marry him or have any of his kids.
Hermione stopped.
Kids? Marriage? When had that part come into play?
She really had no idea what to think or even do anymore. All she knew was that she was going to have to find Ron and kick his ass for being a selfish git. She was also going to have to find Draco, kick his ass for being an idiot and dumping her. From there, she could think about other things. Glancing around, Hermione bit her lip, she wasn’t sure where she was anymore.
Scolding herself she knew that she really shouldn’t have let her thoughts control her wanderings. The last time that happened had been at Hogwarts, and she had been lost in a corridor that she’d never been in before for at least an hour. Thankfully, because of the Marauder’s Map, Harry and Ron were able to find her. As the wind began to pick up, Hermione shivered. Not taking a jacket hadn’t been the smartest idea either. She hadn’t been thinking when she left and that much was obvious when she felt backed into a corner.
Standing there, alone in an alleyway was not a good thing.
She felt a bit uneasy and slowly she reached down to grab her wand as she looked around, trying to take in all of her surroundings. Licking her lips, Hermione could hear her heartbeat as it began to quicken. Getting nervous was never a good thing. Running through her teachings at Hogwarts seemed to be what could calm her down.
“Just calm down,” she murmured to herself, “There’s nothing to be worried about, honestly, what could possibly happen that could make your night even worse?” Hermione rolled her eyes at her stupidity. There was no reason for her heart to be racing, it was as if the pounding in her head matched the pounding from her heart, or maybe they were one in the same. If anyone had seen her right now they’d be blinking their eyes or doing something, trying to figure out who was impersonating her, because this was not the way that Hermione Granger acted.
“You were the best in your class you ninny,” Hermione murmured, “The only one that even came close to you was Draco, and that was only when he tried.” Of course, if Draco were standing beside her right now he’d be mocking her for her silly reasons for being on edge.
The clicking of heels sent needles along Hermione’s arms as she heard them coming up behind her, her pace quickened as she tried to keep her calm. When the clicking stopped, she didn’t, Hermione tried to keep herself from starting on a run back towards Harry’s apartment, where ever that was.
It only took her a moment to hear the soft whisper before she closed her eyes and held her wand out, whispering, “Protego,”
She almost winced as the red light came towards her and the scream of frustration came from the caster, she heard them yell again, “Crucio,”
Hermione wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to run like mad but at the same time she knew that this person had a reason for attacking her, and she’d never back down from a fight. Quickly, she ducked behind a wall into another alley, waiting for whoever was trying to attack her. With each footstep and clicking of heels, Hermione felt her heartbeat in her throat.
“Come out little mudblood,” a woman murmured in a singsong voice. Hermione felt her stomach drop as she recognized the voice and as she glanced around the corner, she felt her hand shake a little. A slender woman was strolling down towards her, clad in all black, including her robe. Her hair would’ve blended with the robe had it been down, but she had it pulled back into an elegant twist. As she held her wand out, she tilted her head, “Do you really think that you can hide from me Mudblood?”
Hermione wasn’t sure how long it was going to take before she could really send a counter attack but she had to think of something to protect here, there was only so far the simple protection spell would get her. And the last thing she wanted to was lead this woman to her family - to Harry and Ginny. Hermione’s eyes widened. Ginny.
The distraction in her mind was all that the woman needed, “Crucio,”
Hermione fell to the ground, a burning feeling spread over her body as she felt like millions of daggers stabbed her body. She wanted to go numb but along with the daggers she felt as if parts of her body were on fire, she doubled over in pain as the woman walked closer, her heels clicking.
“Ooh, I’ve gotten a present for the Dark Lord,” she murmured, kneeling down as she moved her wand away for a brief second and Hermione’s vision cleared enough for her to see her attacker’s face.
It was Bellatrix Lestrange.
Author: Raven jaded_icy_rose
Rating: R
Warnings: Language, Violence
Summary: After one night of pure passion, they wake up together. Chapter Twenty-One: There’s problems for everyone as Hermione works with Harry and Ginny to look for Draco.
Disclaimer: *sighs* Honestly, who thinks I own them? If you do - You’re my new friend. lol And hey! If I did, nifty!!
A/N: I owe every single reader of mine a HUGE apology. I’m SOOO sorry that this took me so long but Finals began to kick my ass and it was just getting hard for me. Good news? I have one week and then it’s summer vacation! Hehe, more updates!
But, moving on…
Here's the Previous Chapters:
Mistaken, Prologue
Mistaken, Chapter One
Mistaken, Chapter Two
Mistaken, Chapter Three
Mistaken, Chapter Four
Mistaken, Chapter Five
Mistaken, Chapter Six
Mistaken, Chapter Seven
Mistaken, Chapter Eight
Mistaken, Chapter Nine
Mistaken, Chapter Ten
Mistaken, Chapter Eleven
Mistaken, Chapter Twelve
Mistaken, Chapter Thirteen
Mistaken, Chapter Fourteen
Mistaken, Chapter Fifteen
Mistaken, Chapter Sixteen
Mistaken, Chapter Seventeen
Mistaken, Chapter Eighteen
Mistaken, Chapter Nineteen
Mistaken, Chapter Twenty
His head was pounding and he was pretty sure that there was a cut on his head that was now covered in dried blood. Draco ran his tongue along his cracked lips and winced, as he tasted blood and pain seared through his lips. Raising his hand to the bump he knew was on his head, he felt the deep gash that was crusted over. Moving his arm made his entire body shiver with pain. Draco wasn’t sure what was going on but he knew that it wasn’t good. He tried to go through what he remembered.
The only thing he remembered was the green light heading toward him at his apartment. Obviously, he had dodged the killing curse.
He tried to sit up and allowed a loud hiss to escape his cracked lips. His body was bruised, and though he couldn’t see anything under the faded yellow light, he knew it was bad. How he had gotten into this condition, Draco couldn’t remember. He sighed, dammit, it’s not like he wanted to forget. He wanted to know who the hell had the nerve to attack him, blindly at that.
What were they planning? What did they want? He couldn’t even answer the first question because the pounding in his head was making him dizzy. It was like he felt his heartbeat throughout his entire body and all he wanted to do was sleep. Maybe sleeping would take the nightmares away and he wouldn’t have to fight anymore.
Maybe he’d wake up in bed with Hermione next to him.
This nightmare would be over.
Maybe if he could dream about her then things wouldn’t really be as shitty as he thought they were. If he could be with her then he wouldn’t have to deal with this pain, because it wouldn’t exist. Slowly, Draco felt his eyes shut as he tried to take shallow breaths. It was hard, because every time he took a breath in, his ribs shot pain through his body. He didn’t know what to do.
He was helpless.
The jarring of the door and the sudden blinding light caught Draco off guard.
The light stung his eyes. And the voices that he heard were muffled. Or maybe they were just mumbling so that Draco couldn’t understand them. Either way, he was sure that the pounding he heard wasn’t from them. It was inside his head. All he wanted to do now, was sleep. He didn’t want to feel the pain, or taste the blood.
Every time they moved, Draco felt sick. The light made movements over his half-closed eyes. All he could hear was mumbling, there wasn’t anything he could understand. Their footsteps grew closer and as his eyes focused in on the people, Draco recognized the face.
“How are you feeling, Draco?” Pansy murmured. He felt a cool, damp cloth on his forehead. Draco tried to push her off, “You need to eat something, love.” Draco frowned.
“Off,” he growled, pushing her arms away. When she kept poking at him, Draco reached out, grabbing her wrist, “Get off me,” he said.
“I don’t think you’re in any position to be demanding anything,” Pansy spat, standing up she stared down at him. Draco chuckled, shaking his head as he leaned back.
“Oh, would you like me to beg for your attentions? Beg for you to pay just a little bit of attention to me,” Draco laughed, “Do you actually think I’ve missed you?” Pansy raised a brow, kneeling down beside him.
“Have you, Draco?” she asked, her hands touching his face gently. Draco’s hateful gaze met hers.
“No,” he growled, “Get away from me, you slut.” Draco demanded, pushing Pansy off of him, causing her to fall back.
As Pansy fell back, she reached out, clawing at him, “You good for nothing, blood traitor,” she screamed, “How dare you treat me like that, I’ll have you know I’m the Dark Lord’s favorite companion.” She got to her feet, gathering her clothes and brushing the dust off of them. She fixed her hair, glaring down at him.
“A favorite?” Draco asked, “Oh, that’s rich,” he started to laugh, “Only because you let him slam you however he wants. Did you take it on your knees again?” Her nails scraped across his face. Draco felt the stinging from the marks that were now bleeding.
“It’s none of your business what I do anymore.” Pansy huffed, trying to keep from allowing Draco to anger her even more.
Draco wanted to respond, to say something that would enrage her, possibly make her kill him. Anything was better than sitting on the dungeon floor being tortured. Hermione probably thought him dead, besides that it really didn’t matter anymore. All he wanted was for the pain to stop. At the same time, he only wanted to get out. Maybe then he could at least tell Hermione that he loved her.
He really didn’t believe that he’d ever get back with Hermione because he imagined that she hated him. But then again, he couldn’t blame her. It didn’t matter, all he wanted to do was see her for one last time.
“Am I plaguing your thoughts, Draco?” Pansy murmured, walking toward the door, “Anything to distract you from the pain, lover? I’m sure I could think of a few things that the Dark Lord would allow, as long as it’s for my pleasure and not for yours.” She giggled softly as she glanced out the small window in the door, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger.
Draco watched her carefully, Pansy seemed like she was going insane, and that she was enjoying it at the same time. She reminded him of Bellatrix, which scared the hell out of him because his Aunt had been sadistically psycho, taking pleasure from everyone’s pain. “Say hello to an old friend, Draco.”
Pansy pulled the door open, leaning forward she placed a kiss on the stranger’s lips. Draco almost wanted to throw up from the display of sick affection, did she knew who that was? Probably. Did he? Hell no. He tried to figure out who it was as they walked into the room, but they were too far away, his vision was blurry.
The figure walked slowly towards him. As they got closer, Draco could tell that it was a man by the sheer size of them, of course Pansy had been known to hook up with another woman on the occasion that Draco demanded it. He rolled his eyes, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to see much else besides the size of the person, the Death Eater robe cloaked the figure of the man.
“Are you going to say hello, Draco? Whatever happened to your manners?” he asked, clucking his disapproval with his tongue as he tilted his head. The Death Eater mask kept his face hidden well enough and Draco couldn’t even tell by the voice, “What would your mother say?”
“Funny you should ask,” Draco replied, his throat dry, “Maybe if you hadn’t killed her, I’d know. You should probably kill me so I can ask for her opinion seeing as how she’s been in the ground for a few years now.” He leaned against the wall, shutting his eyes.
“Such disrespect,” the man replied, kneeling besides Draco, “Honestly, it was because your Mother was such a whore that we had to kill her. Did you know that she bedded a traitor? A man that wished to side with that vulgar Harry Potter instead of our Dark Lord.” Draco turned towards the man, his eyes meeting that of his captor as he leaned in. Draco spit at him, smirking as blood and spit trailed down the Death Eater mask.
“Maybe she had the right idea,” Draco laughed as he was slammed in the stomach by the man’s fist. As he curled into a ball, lying on the ground, Draco continued to stare up at him, “If…” he was gasping for breath, “You think…that I’m going…to kiss your feet…you can…kiss my ass.” He took shallow breaths as he shut his eyes, trying to make the world disappear. But the last thing he would do was admit that to anyone.
~*~
Hermione was frantic and she was worried, or maybe it was that she was frantically worried. She really couldn’t tell at the moment because it was driving her insane to actually be sitting here not doing anything. They had tried everything that Hermione could really think of, and she had even read other books beyond Hogwarts: A History that told of spells that could find anyone, but they hadn’t been able to find Ron. At all.
And what made things even worse was that she couldn’t find Draco either.
She was sure that it was all just a ploy and that she was going to be able to find Draco sitting in his apartment, ready to tell her that it was all just a joke. But deep down, she knew it wasn’t going to happen because in reality, her best friend Ron was gone somewhere probably in danger and no one had heard from Draco.
Standing up, she ran her hands along her pants, a sign of her nervousness. Glancing around, she noticed that Harry and Ginny were going over the list she had written and Susan and Seamus were in the middle of trying to cast a spell on a map in order to try and find either of them.
“Where else could they possibly be?” she heard Susan asked Seamus. Both shook their heads, unsure of where else they could look on a map.
“I dun know,” Seamus started, “Maybe we have the wrong maps. I mean, we’re both not even thinking about the Muggle world, this is just the Wizarding part. I ‘onestly have no clue when it comes to looking at a Muggle map where anything is. They’re so confusing.” Hermione met their gaze when she glanced up.
“What do you need?” Hermione murmured.
“Well, we need to know about a Muggle map, what does everything mean?” Susan asked quietly, her gaze never quite meeting Hermione’s dead on. Both of them felt the tension between them, and neither of them wanted to even mention it because that wasn’t the issue at the time.
“Did you pick any up at the store that you went to?” Hermione made her way to the table, glancing at all the maps that they had skewed all over the table. If anyone wanted to plan a war, they would never give the task to Susan or Seamus for plotting out the plan of attack. They were completely unorganized and it was driving Hermione a bit crazier, and making the pounding in her head increase.
She took the time and showed them what a legend on a Muggle map was and from there, they began to work on the Muggle map. Trying to locate any of them was proving to be the most difficult of anything that anyone was doing at the moment.
Rubbing her arms, trying to fight off the chill she felt growing within her body, Hermione sighed and glanced around the room, wondering what else she could do. What could possibly help them in any way to help locate, or to even tell them if either Draco or Ron was alive. She felt a knot form in her stomach, she almost felt sick again but fought off the urge as she walked into the kitchen with Harry and Ginny. Both were huddled over the counter as they began to go through books.
“What are you doing?” she wondered aloud, tilting her head as she noticed the books that Harry and Ginny were using.
“We figured that there just might be somewhere on Hogwarts grounds that Draco might’ve run to. He knows that no one can apparate onto the grounds so it’s unlikely that Voldemort would just go there on a whim,” Ginny informed her, “We also wanted to see if any passageways that the Marauder’s Map mentions might lead to places other than Hogsmeade. You know, because the Map only shows to Hogsmeade.” Hermione nodded as she let her hands drop to her side. She felt useless and not of much help at all. All she’d done that night was provide a list and provide the idea to use maps.
But now she was just standing there.
“I’m going,” she murmured. None of them glanced her way, all of them were mostly focused on the task at hand and they were trying to find either Ron or Draco, whichever one they could find first. When none of them responded, she sighed and quietly made her way to the door, shutting it behind her.
Hermione walked down the streets as she crossed her arms over her chest as she glanced around the town. She wanted to get her head clear, and more importantly she wanted to sort out her feelings for Draco. Did she really love him? Of course she did, but that just lead to another question which kept appearing in her thoughts.
Did she want to be with Draco Malfoy in a serious relationship…for the rest of her life?
She wasn’t sure she could answer that, and she told herself that she wouldn’t. Not until she knew how he felt about her. But at the same time she knew that if she wasn’t the one going after him that it more than likely would never happen. She’d never be able to have that time with him, she wouldn’t be able to marry him or have any of his kids.
Hermione stopped.
Kids? Marriage? When had that part come into play?
She really had no idea what to think or even do anymore. All she knew was that she was going to have to find Ron and kick his ass for being a selfish git. She was also going to have to find Draco, kick his ass for being an idiot and dumping her. From there, she could think about other things. Glancing around, Hermione bit her lip, she wasn’t sure where she was anymore.
Scolding herself she knew that she really shouldn’t have let her thoughts control her wanderings. The last time that happened had been at Hogwarts, and she had been lost in a corridor that she’d never been in before for at least an hour. Thankfully, because of the Marauder’s Map, Harry and Ron were able to find her. As the wind began to pick up, Hermione shivered. Not taking a jacket hadn’t been the smartest idea either. She hadn’t been thinking when she left and that much was obvious when she felt backed into a corner.
Standing there, alone in an alleyway was not a good thing.
She felt a bit uneasy and slowly she reached down to grab her wand as she looked around, trying to take in all of her surroundings. Licking her lips, Hermione could hear her heartbeat as it began to quicken. Getting nervous was never a good thing. Running through her teachings at Hogwarts seemed to be what could calm her down.
“Just calm down,” she murmured to herself, “There’s nothing to be worried about, honestly, what could possibly happen that could make your night even worse?” Hermione rolled her eyes at her stupidity. There was no reason for her heart to be racing, it was as if the pounding in her head matched the pounding from her heart, or maybe they were one in the same. If anyone had seen her right now they’d be blinking their eyes or doing something, trying to figure out who was impersonating her, because this was not the way that Hermione Granger acted.
“You were the best in your class you ninny,” Hermione murmured, “The only one that even came close to you was Draco, and that was only when he tried.” Of course, if Draco were standing beside her right now he’d be mocking her for her silly reasons for being on edge.
The clicking of heels sent needles along Hermione’s arms as she heard them coming up behind her, her pace quickened as she tried to keep her calm. When the clicking stopped, she didn’t, Hermione tried to keep herself from starting on a run back towards Harry’s apartment, where ever that was.
It only took her a moment to hear the soft whisper before she closed her eyes and held her wand out, whispering, “Protego,”
She almost winced as the red light came towards her and the scream of frustration came from the caster, she heard them yell again, “Crucio,”
Hermione wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to run like mad but at the same time she knew that this person had a reason for attacking her, and she’d never back down from a fight. Quickly, she ducked behind a wall into another alley, waiting for whoever was trying to attack her. With each footstep and clicking of heels, Hermione felt her heartbeat in her throat.
“Come out little mudblood,” a woman murmured in a singsong voice. Hermione felt her stomach drop as she recognized the voice and as she glanced around the corner, she felt her hand shake a little. A slender woman was strolling down towards her, clad in all black, including her robe. Her hair would’ve blended with the robe had it been down, but she had it pulled back into an elegant twist. As she held her wand out, she tilted her head, “Do you really think that you can hide from me Mudblood?”
Hermione wasn’t sure how long it was going to take before she could really send a counter attack but she had to think of something to protect here, there was only so far the simple protection spell would get her. And the last thing she wanted to was lead this woman to her family - to Harry and Ginny. Hermione’s eyes widened. Ginny.
The distraction in her mind was all that the woman needed, “Crucio,”
Hermione fell to the ground, a burning feeling spread over her body as she felt like millions of daggers stabbed her body. She wanted to go numb but along with the daggers she felt as if parts of her body were on fire, she doubled over in pain as the woman walked closer, her heels clicking.
“Ooh, I’ve gotten a present for the Dark Lord,” she murmured, kneeling down as she moved her wand away for a brief second and Hermione’s vision cleared enough for her to see her attacker’s face.
It was Bellatrix Lestrange.