||Now It's Just Us||

Chapter 43

There were shouts overhead, and then the sound of bottles breaking on the floor. The door to the basement banged open, and Ginny barged in, binding all the purple robed people in thick ropes. Ginny was followed by Harry, Ron, and a dozen other aurors. They scoured the area, rennervating people and then shackling them to take them up and out. Harry rushed over to Hermione and Draco.

“Are you okay?” he pressed a kiss onto her forehead.

“I’m not the one who was abducted, Harry,” Hermione returned his affection, but rolled her eyes. She removed the silencing charm from over Draco, “How are you feeling?”

“Terrible,” he replied sardonically.

“You’re alive,” Harry pointed out, before giving Draco a gentle thump on the back. 

“Kingsley would like to meet you two,” Ron came over, waving his wand in the direction of the exploded wall. THe pieces grated back into place.

“Alright,” Hermione said. 

She was still furious at Ron. But she knew, now better than ever, that holding grudges did nobody any good. They would never be able to go back to being how they were before, but they could be friends. 

“Ron,” she said without completely planning to. Ron stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly. Hermione breathed in, “I forgive you.”

His face slackened, then he began stammering and bumbling like an idiot, “I, oh well I- well…”

“You’re supposed to say thank you,” Harry reminded him.

“Yea, right, uh,” Ron rubbed the back of his neck, cleared his throat, “thank you.” He paused, “We- we’re still friends, right?”

“Yes,” Hermione affirmed. Ron cracked a small grin and nodded, then turned and disappeared up the stairs.

“‘Mione!” Ginny sank to the floor beside Hermione, having bound the last member of Rena’s, “Good to see you alive, Malfoy.”

“Gee, thanks,” Draco said, letting Ginny ruffle his hair. He grunted in displeasure right after. Hermione suppressed a chuckle and placed a few of the strands in place. He gazed up at her, then asked, “Mother and Father, are they…?”

“They’re safe,” Ginny assured him, “in Zabini Manor. We’ll track down the remaining people with Rena if there are any.”

“And the charges against us?” Draco asked.

“That’s what Kingsley wants to meet you for,” GInny informed them, and stood, “come on, Harry, we’ve got to be there for the interrogations.”

“Right,” Harry stood, nodded at both of them, smiled meaningfully at Hermione, then left.

Draco had released himself from her hold, and now they both sat facing each other. Hermione reached out to rub some dirt from his nose.

“Thank you,” he said, pressing a kiss into her palm.

“What for?” she shrugged, “You would have done the same for me.”

“Still,” he said, very seriously, “I’m not only thanking you for today. I’m thanking you for everything else.”

“You don’t have to,” Hermione said.

They lapsed into silence. Hermione remembered that Draco had been saying something before she had rudely silenced him.

“What were you saying before I silencioed you?” Hermione asked. 

His face fell. She waited for him to answer, but when he didn’t, she prodded him gently on his forehead, “Tell me.”

“It was nothing,” he shook his head.