Coffee and Spearmint Toothpaste - Dramione

54-Vowes

Hermione whole world was upside-down. Draco had had to go very soon after he had proposed and she hadn't seen him since, that was about eight hours ago and she was still ecstatic. So ecstatic that she couldn't focus long enough to read a page of her book.

She couldn't believe it. They had agreed that they would just fill out the paperwork so that they would be official, and they would have the wedding after they defeated Voldemort. She looked down at the ring she now had placed on her finger and watched as it sparkled under the lights of the library, almost as if the ring was magical.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and she shot up off he feet. She pulled open the large oak door to see Pansy stood there, the smile on her face ear to ear. "So?" She said.

Hermione held up her hand and showed her the ring.

"Merlins beard. He has talked about it for days but I didn't think he would actually do it. Did you say yes for the safety or for other reasons?"

"I said yes because I'm in love with him and I want to spend the rest of my life with him."

"Don't you think it might be a bit soon."

"No. It is only on paper for the moment and we don't have to actually have the wedding for months."

There was another knock on the door and then Draco walked in, smile on his face. "Hello Pansy."

"What's got you all chipper?" She smiled.

"Nothing, it's just that the girl I'm in love with has agreed to marry me."

Suddenly Blaise burst through the doors, the loud noise of them hitting the walls shaking the room. "Draco, we have a problem."

"What is it?"

Hermione stood up in response and walked over to him.

"Emily's mother, we found her deep within the ministry, we think You Know Who has been experimenting on people down there, some of it is horrific. Emily's mother is down stairs now, we don't think there is anything we can do to save her but she has information that she wants to tell you."

Draco grabbed her hand, and apparated, his touch was cold as he let go of her hand. They were in the living room and there was a woman with bright blond wispy hair lying on the sofa, the lower part of her left cheek was missing exposing her teeth and inside of her mouth.

The experiments they were doing were truly horrific. Hermione looked down at the woman's legs where she saw what new spells they were using. The flesh on her legs had began to dissolve leaving only bone and a few pieces of cartilage, it was slow acting and incredibly painful. If you were shot with that spell you might not know it for days or even weeks until suddenly blisters would form and that would be it. She had to cover her mouth with her hand.

Emily, just a little girl in this war, was now holding the hand of her dying mother.

"Draco." she said, "What I am about to tell you could be the difference between winning and loosing this war." She tried to sit up in the chair but it was clear that her strength was wavering.

"Please, don't sit up, you need to preserve your strength."

"We both know this is the end for me."

Draco stayed silent.

"Now, me and about fifty other of the lower ranking staff with in the ministry that revolted against the new leadership were experimented on with fifty new spells found in a band book that was stolen about two months ago." She coughed into a tissue to reveal blood. "We were kept in cages, injected with potions to stop us from screaming, stop us from moving. They tested spell after spell on us. About two weeks ago we heard about someone that was resisting Voldemort, someone called the Phantom, and apparently it was impossible to know who he was because the mask he wore was enchanted so that people would only know who it was if he showed them. Another man joined us a few days later and his son was part of the resistance and spoke to you, he said that you were evil but we had hope." A tear fell from her eye. "One night we were able to steal wands and escape, I was the only survivor that didn't die of injures."

"I'm sorry." Draco said bowing his head almost in a sign of respect.

"Its better they died rather than suffering." She looked at her daughter as if trying to comfort her in her last moments. "I'm going to tell you every spell they used now." She looked up at him. "Get a quill."

And she did, she spoke of every single horrific spell they had used on them in detail, spells that turned the stomach condense to soil, ones that implanted worms and maggots under the skin, eating away the flesh until there was nothing left, spells that crated loud piercing noises that only you could hear, driving you to the point of insanity.

Hermione didn't know what to do. All she wanted to do was comfort this woman but how could you, what what she had experienced was so harrowing and vile. Even holding her hand felt worthless compared to what she had gone through but she did it none the less. It was about 10 in the night when she finally took her last breath, when she was finally at peace. The war had almost felt like child's play up until this point and now suddenly after hearing this woman story it all felt scarily real.

As Emily began to cry and held onto Narcissa, Draco took hold of her he hand, his touch was cold almost like the dead, and she suddenly had the feeling that she never wanted to let him go. It was latter that night that they said their votes in secret with only Blaise and Pansy there as witnesses, if it was secret they might be able to use it to their advantage later on.

She lay awake in her room that night unable to sleep, still thinking of that poor woman. She stared out the window at the start sky, everything around her seeming too silent. She lifted the covers of herself and stepped onto the hard wooden floor. She walked out of her room and across the hallway, not knowing where she was going really. She wound herself knocking on Draco's door and he opened it far faster that she expected he would have, as if he had been standing right behind it.

"Couldn't sleep?"

"Would you mind if i stayed with you?"

He open the door in response. She walked in and climbed into his large bed and lay facing him as he climbed in too.

"Do you think we will win this war?" She asked?

"I don't know."

She moved closer to him and lay her head on his chest. She didn't know either.