Another Chance

Chapter 21

The Hogsmeade trip went smoothly, that night was different. Hermione walked down the halls of Hogwarts to finish up patrols and look for Draco. But she could not find him anywhere until she heard yelling. She turned the corner and saw Draco and Ron fighting.

"What is going on?" Hermione said making sure both boys know that she was there.

Draco turned around to face Hermione and said,

"I found him wandering the halls. When I approached him he whips his wand out. He started to threaten me, saying that he will hex me."

Hermione did not know what to say. She could not believe that Ron was acting like this. This was not the Ron that she thought she knew. Hermione did not know what to say. She knew that she had to get Professor McGonagall. She casted her patronus and sent it off with a message. McGonagall came not even five minutes after Hermione sent her patronus.

"What is going on?" The professor asked.

"I think Draco should answer that question." Hermione stated.

Everyone faced Draco and he started,

"I was patrolling this corridor and then I heard a noise and I found Mr. Weasley here wandering. I asked him why he was out of bed, but he did not answer. Instead he whipped out his wand and started to threaten me."

"That was when I heard voices and I came looking for Draco and found this." Hermione gestured to Draco and Ron.

"I see. Now I would like for you Mr. Weasley to come with me. Mr. Malfoy Miss Granger you may go back to your common room. I think that your patrolling is done. Am I right?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes professor. We are done with our patrol. Good night Professor." Hermione stated and Draco and she went back to their common room.

They sat on the couch and started to work on some of the dance that would be coming up. Draco saw that it was almost one in the morning and said,

"We should be going to bed. We can finish this tomorrow during our free period if you want to."

Hermione nodded and headed to bed. She did her usual route to get ready. She put her silence charm up onto her room and headed to bed.

"Run, run Harry!" Hermione screamed.

"Do you see them?" Harry asked looking back.

She shook her head no and then THOD! She feels to the ground in front of one of the snatcher. They were grinning at her. The snatcher pulled her by her hair to the camp ground. Hermione casted a quick spell toward Harry.

"What happened to him?" The snatcher asked.

"Don't know. That is how we found him." One of the other goons said.

They dragged them to a dark house. Hermione recognized it as the Malfoy Manor. The snatcher kicked Harry to the floor and held Hermione and Ron in their grip. Bellatrix was trying to get Malfoy to identify Harry as himself. Bellatrix turned around and saw the sword.

Hermione was lying on the ground. She was screaming and Bellatrix said,

"How did you get into my valet? How did you steal it from me?"

"We did not steal it. We found it." She said while crying.

Bellatrix kept torturing her. She continued carving the word, "MUDBLOOD" into her arm.

Hermione screamed and bolted up in her bed. She looked around and saw that she was still in her room.

"It's just a dream. She is dead now. She can't hurt you anymore." Hermione told herself.

She knew that Bellatrix could not hurt her anymore. She was happy that Mrs. Weasley killed her. No one could get hurt anymore from that horrible witch. Hermione lay back down and tried to fall asleep again but that was not going to happen. She got up and headed downstairs. She looked at the clock and it said that four in the morning. She went to the couch and picked up the plans for the ball. She needed something to distract her. Hermione started a new cup of coffee for herself and Draco.

Draco woke up to a loud bang from the common room and saw that his clock said four- thirty in the morning. He slowly walked down the stairs with his wand out. He did not know who was making all of that noise. As he turned the corner, he got hit and his whole body went stiff.

Hermione ran over to Draco and gasped,

"I am so sorry Draco, Petrificus Totalus."

Hermione helped Draco up and they both head over to the couches. Hermione sat in a corner of the couch with her legs to her. Draco sat down and looked toward Hermione. He did not understand why she did that. This is Hermione Granger the smartest, calmest, level head person ever.

"Hermione why are you up? Was it a nightmare?" Draco asked concerned.

Hermione nodded. She did not like to talk about it. She looked away from Draco and onto the table that had all of the work she did about the ball. Draco looks toward what she was looking at and saw all of the papers and notes she wrote down.

"You know that you could have waked me up. I would have been there for you. I have them sometimes too." Draco said trying to reassure Hermione.

Hermione looked up into Draco's face and saw that he was telling the truth. Hermione sighed and said,

"Yeah it was a nightmare. I did not want to bother you."

"Well, I would not have cared if you bothered me. I would have wanted you to bother me instead of sitting in the common room alone not facing it all." Draco stated.

Hermione looked at him confused. She did not understand what he was talking about. Draco figured she did not know what he was talking about and said,

"I faced my nightmares by talking to someone about them. They are all not gone but they are under control and I can actually sleep peacefully."

Hermione was shocked at what Draco told her. She could not believe that Draco Malfoy had nightmare and could not sleep like her.

"I want you to promise me that you will wake me up next time you have a nightmare." Draco stated taking her hands into his.

"I promise to wake you up if I have another nightmare again. Thank you Draco." Hermione said and kissed his check. She was very grateful to have people in her life like Draco, Fred, George, Harry, and everyone else that cares so much.

"So are you going to tell me about this nightmare?" Draco asked.

Hermione shock her head no. Draco sighed, in defeat. He figured she was not going to tell him but he at least had to try. So Draco changed the conversation to the ball. Hermione showed him all of the things that she thought up. Draco was impressed on all of it.