PROMISES Chapter 11
Chapter 11 : Powerless
They walked along the beach for a while, until they reached a little village. Its name was Canaan and the ruins surrounding it left quite an impression. There, they met Hassan, a forty-year-old and paunchy muggle who was very welcoming and who offered to Draco to drive him where ever he wanted. Not trusting muggles and their engines, the latter was quite reluctant. Above all, he distrusted people who were kind for no reason.
The first hour on the road had been quite difficult for the wizard. Hassan had to stop two times, so that Draco wouldn't throw up inside his car.
'Hermione was going to pay for this' he thought. She would pay because she knew how evil muggle machines were, and because she'd insisted on him getting into the car.
After vomiting up everything he had in his stomach, something started to nag at him. The drive was taking too long; the wizard city, Wizarzat, hadn't seemed that far away from the village on his map. Maybe the car wasn't going as fast as he'd thought it was going.
"Are we nearly there?"
The man didn't respond.
"How long is it to get to Wizarzat?" he asked again, trying to articulate every words.
Hassan peered at him out of the corner of his eyes, but kept his mouth shut.
Draco got the bad feeling that something was wrong. He glanced at the semi-deserted yard and thought that even if he wanted to get out of the car, he couldn't go into the city alone.
"Aaargh, I think I'm going to be sick again!"
Hassan looked into the back-seat of the automobile where Draco was sitting, in agony. The car came to a sudden stop, making the wizard hit his nose on the window.
"Ouch... Hey, don't..." He was violently thrown out of the car by the muggle. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself on the ground, the guy pointing a cylindrical black object in his direction. In a bad English, he ordered Draco to give him all his money and his bag.
"Bloody muggles..." Draco moaned as he brandished his wand.
The guy sneered at the flimsy piece of wood Draco was pointing at him and repeated his request more violently.
"Stupe..." Draco was about to jinx him, when he was cut short by a loud bang followed by an indescribable pain in his chest. Speechless, his look was asking Hassan what was happening to him. The man was wide-eyed, it seemed like it surprised him too.
Draco searched for the source of his pain, and discovered a stain of blood spreading across his white shirt, and suddenly felt weak. Despite himself, he collapsed on the floor. He felt that his pockets were being emptied, heard a violent bang and the car speeding away leaving a cloud of dust behind.
He tried to get up but the pain was too deep; too harsh. He glared at his chest once again, and thought that he would die if the bleeding didn't stop.
"I'm going to die. Me, killed by a muggle. Shame..."
His thoughts went instantly to Hermione, who was waiting for him in Wizarzat and who would be so disappointed to find him dead.
Hermione.
Although Draco knew that his loathing for the girl was changing into something much more complicated, he didn't know why he cared so much about her... He wished he could tell her that he was disappointed too, that he was sorry to not be able to keep his promise, and that after all he actually wanted to help her. Did he just hear her voice, or was it his over-active imagination?
"Oh my god, Draco!"
He saw her face above him, and tried to speak but only succeeded in grimacing. Her features were twisted in an expression of pure horror. A momentary flash of panic went though him, as he saw his own fear reflected in her eyes. He thought that he wasn't ready to die; that he didn't deserve to die. Not this way. As he hold held back tears, he felt something smooth and warm, and realised that his head was resting on her chest. He thought about his mother. He used to hate it when she hugged him this way, like he was a little boy, whereas he was a true man now. How he missed her, and how he regretted to be such a difficult son. He wished he'd loved her better...
"Please, Draco... don't die."
He didn't understand half the sentence Hermione said. All he remembered was her sweet and yet insistent way of calling him Draco. And then, everything went black.