Contingent | D.M. + H.G.

Chapter 22: Inevitable

A/N: This one is definitely shorter than normal, but this is simply plot buildup since the climax starts. Soon.

Completely unbetaed, please let me know of any mistakes you see.

xoxo, carm

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The seventh of April was drawing closer.

He'd never dreaded a holiday as much as this one. It was the end of March, and that meant he had roughly a week left to figure out how he was going to manage his way around this. There was really no way out, not even if – by some miracle – the Order had figured out a way to save him.

So he would proceed as planned, but with an abundant amount of caution.

That began with him using Occlumency more, with him slowly pulling away from Granger. He didn't like it, and he knew that she would notice, but he had no other game plan at this point.

A small part of him had a nagging suspicion that the Order would wind up abandoning him, or leaving him to fend for himself, and that was a possibility that he couldn't cope with.

How was he even supposed to get her to the Manor? Fake a family emergency? Say he wanted to introduce her to his parents? No, none of that would go over well. She was too smart – she would immediately see right through it, especially with how odd he'd been acting lately in an attempt to distance himself.

Voldemort had clearly not thought this through. Yes, Draco was smart, but he didn't think he would have had this in him. He had realized mid-mission that he'd never hated Granger. Just resented her because he had to. Because he was raised to.

But he never did. Not really. That much was obvious to anyone conscious with eyes.

There was really no way around it. He was going to either have to Imperio her or drag her, but lying to her was clearly not an option.

Fuck. He was so fucked. He was going to lose, and he was going to lose everything. Thoughts started flying around in his mind at an unprecedented rate. His mother, Hermione, his own bloody life... and that was about where the list ended. He would have to make sure to leave some gold to Theo and Blaise so that they could leave the country. He would leave some for Granger too, but he knew she wouldn't flee.

And now he was thinking about his will. This was so fucked. He wanted to drink, but he didn't think there was any Firewhisky in the castle.

Before he could let himself slip back into a panic, he started the grounding technique that Blaise had taught him. After a while, he realized that it was Hogwarts. And he'd heard it been said that help would always be given to those who asked for it.

But he wondered if that would extend to a lonely Slytherin who had made all the wrong choices as much as it did to the Golden Trio?

-

The last few days for Hermione had been spent in frantic correspondence with Shacklebolt, Moody, and Remus. There was something about involving Dumbledore (more than the adults already have) that she didn't fully agree with. It was nearing the Easter holidays, and Hermione knew that Draco would most likely be called home, and from what she had gathered, 'home' was a fairly loose term when it came to describing Malfoy Manor.

So, she'd been trying to make hasty arrangements in order to either keep him at Hogwarts, or bring him to one of their safehouses. It was difficult, since no one had actually been able to speak directly to Draco. There hadn't yet been an opportunity to question him under Veritaserum or look through some of his memories in a Pensieve.