DEVOTED | dramione ✓

| Twenty

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20

P A R T I A L

R E U N I O N

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She is searching through the remains of her house for any signs of who the arsonists were, combing through the debris like a bloodhound. She comes up empty handed, so she moves her search to the outlying forest surrounding the property. She is able to search for several short minutes before the loud crackling of people Apparating sizzles in the air.

Hermione glances toward the house and sees figures immediately descend on the crumbled foundation with their wands drawn.

She places a quick silencing charm on herself before creeping along the ground on hands and knees through the brush. As she approaches, she can begin to make out their conversation.

"- it wasn't her. I'm telling you - if it were her, then who made these footprints? You think she burnt down the whole bloody house just to investigate her own mess? She's smarter than that."

She freezes at the sound of his voice.

Draco -

Hermione peeks under the leaves and although she can only see his shoes, but at least she knows he's alive and safe.

And looking for me -

She wants to jump up and greet him, like old times, but she remains frozen and rightfully so, for Draco is not alone. Beside him is another man, only stylized as such because of his thick black alligator skin shoes.

"What could she have been looking for then? The whole place is gone, would something have really survived this kind of inferno?"

"There's a lot we don't know about her, even with my knowledge. If Luna had caught her like she was instructed to, I'd wager we'd have her in Azkaban and Voldemort dead by now."

"Watch it, Malfoy," the man says sharply. "You might have fooled Dumbledore, but not me. I see right through that cowardly facade. The moment we get Granger into our clutches, you'll be demanding her freedom. Claiming the Imperius, or some shit."

Draco doesn't favor the man with a response, instead, he begins to stalk off toward the lake.

"I'll check over here," Neville Longbottom says, all too late. He begins searching the brush on the opposite side of the lake, leaving Hermione to her freedom, however limited it might be.

It takes everything in her to not chase after Draco, the only person she cares about in all of this.

My only objective -

She DisApparates again, winding up in extremely dangerous territory. The streets are crawling with Death Eaters, who are eager to have a go at someone who probably made even their lives hell, but standing in Peter's yard, she knows she's safe; the front door is only a meter away. Hermione runs up the stairs to his house, and she enters through the door as she always has.

Inside she finds a note on the table.

If you are reading this,
Peter is now residing under surveillance
by the Regime.

Run.

- V

She sees someone pass by the window in front of her, and she nearly jumps out of her skin. Instead of waiting to fight, she locks the front door before heading upstairs. She locks that door too, and walks over to window. Looking down at the desk in front of it, she sees an old newspaper, a couple stands happily in the photo on the front page.

But what catches her off guard is that the photo isn't moving like the enchanted papers she knows.

A Muggle item -

But their name is what catches her eye, so when a loud crash occurs downstairs, she grabs the newspaper and shoves it in her bag.

Small explosions shakes the house as someone tears apart the downstairs. Hermione climbs on the desk and unlocks the window; the intruder begins up the stairs. Her sweaty fingers push open the pane but it's creaky and old, and it takes longer than she likes. The creaks are loud, and she didn't have a chance to place silencing charms, so the intruder starts beating the door.

"Granger! Come out! I only want to play!"

Her heart drops as she recognizes the familiar voice of Theodore Nott.

Bella didn't kill him, after all -

He must just be under the Imperius curse -

She continues out the window and onto the small bit of roof that extends from the wall. Theo bursts in at the same time Hermione jumps to the ground below. Falling from such a height sends bolts from her feet to her brain, but she staggers past the barrier of Peter's property in time to DisApparate. Theo's shouts whirl in her ears until she hears nothing.

The ringing silence slowly brightens into the sound of songbirds chirping. Their voices carry in the expansive stone corridors.

Her eyes burst open and she can finally breathe. She glances around at the decrepit building.

Hogwarts -

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