DRAGON'S HEARTSTRINGS || dramione | harry potter

Chapter Ten

Of course, he's sulking. Hermione prayed for Harry to not get back to his depression after hearing the news she would tell him.

She found him in the common room, reading. That's how she knew his mind was already not in the right.

"Hey," she spoke softly.

Harry looked up. "Hermione!" He stood up, hugging her tightly. "You're back..." Hermione smiled. And then the tears began. "Oh my god, Hermione, what happened? Why are you crying?" Harry asked, frightened.

"I—I have to tell you something..." she sobbed.

"Well, what is it?" Then he saw her hand and his expression darkened. He took it and lifted it up to see better. "Did he do this? Did he hurt you? That was not what we agreed—"

"No, no, it doesn't matter... I have to tell you something about Pansy..."

Harry frowned, the name catching his attention. "Pansy? What about her?"

Hermione couldn't stop the tears from running down her cheeks, sobs raking through her chest uncontrollably. "Oh, Harry... Pansy is... She's dead... They killed her..." she choked out, hugging so she wouldn't have to see his grief-stricken face. She couldn't bring herself to say the High Reeve's name.

"Who's dead and what am I going to wear to the funeral?" she heard a sleepy voice say.

Hermione withdrew from Harry and saw a black-haired woman over her shoulder.

Her heart stopped for a moment. And then started beating again.

"Pansy," she yelled, running to a very confused witch and hugging her so tightly they both almost fell to the ground. "Oh my god, I thought I will never see you again!"

"Uhm, who are you and what did you do to Granger, because this show of affection to a Slytherin is illegal in Gryffindor law."

Hermione leaned back, looking over Pansy, making sure this was really her. "I'm sorry, I'm just—I'm just so happy you're alive..."

"Why did you think Pansy was dead?" Harry asked.

Hermione looked at him, wiping the tears with the back of her hand. "Because... I saw her die. I saw her get tortured and killed, and I—I don't understand how... How did it happen..."

Harry frowned and Pansy rolled her eyes, but her voice was soft. "Well, Granger, now you know I'm okay. Don't tell me you came all this way just to look into my face, no matter how hot I look."

Hermione stared at them both guiltily. "Well, actually... Yes, that's why I'm here."

"And you left your husband all alone?" Pansy sighed theatrically.

"He is not my husband."

Pansy kept grinning. "But you married him."

"Ugh, it doesn't matter, I left because I thought—you know what, who cares. I'm here now, and—I don't know what I'm going to do next."

Harry's face, unlike Pansy's, was grim and serious. "Start off by telling me how you saw Pansy get killed."

Hermione's eyes widened. She didn't want to retell it. It was too horrible. Although now that she thought about that scene while knowing that Pansy is safe and sound, standing right before her, she couldn't be sure if she remembered it all well enough.

She sat down on the reddish sofa in front of the fireplace. Pansy sat by her side, seeming nonchalant, but her eyes were tense. Harry remained standing.

"It happened last night," Hermione began, staring at her hands, then at the fire in the hearth. "Crabbe and Pucey came to the Malfoy Manor—I'm not sure why exactly, nobody told me, although I think they wanted to see me and mock me, but—they brought someone else with them." She looked at Pansy. "You. At first, I didn't notice it was you, you were wearing this huge cloak and there was a hood on your head... Then, Crabbe took it off, and I immediately recognized you, even though you didn't look at me as if you didn't even see me... Then he... The High Reeve... He started torturing you with Cruciatus... You recognized him, you spoke his name, begging him for mercy, but he kept going... I couldn't watch, I wanted to stop him, but he immobilized me, and all I could do was watch as he—as he killed you..." Hermione finished with a sob.