Her Sweet, Decadent Smile

☘ Chapter 13 ☘

And he once had a gaping hole in his chest, but not anymore.

.

.

A bomb. A weapon of mass destruction set to explode in the underground vaults where precious things were stored. Muggles were clever. Magic wouldn't have stood a chance.

She would never have suspected him to have thought of something so muggle, so completely unlike him. But then again, that was just how he operated. She could never understand how his mind worked. He had been here only a while ago, showing his concern for her after Astoria Greengrass had completely destroyed her potion. Hermione felt a horrible sensation in her gut and a strong urge to throw up. A while later, she was retching all the contents of her stomach onto the floor.

Reality had finally crashed down on her, shocking her to the core. The Denovorum was gone. Dennis was going to die, and Draco... Draco had betrayed her to run off with the Death Eaters.

It was unfair that such horrible things had happened all at once. She couldn't understand why Draco would betray her like that. Had he been planning this from the beginning? He had made a promise to her, had assured her that he wouldn't kill anyone anymore. He hadn't killed Astoria because of that promise.

Perhaps he wasn't really betraying her. Perhaps he just wanted to keep her away from harm. But she knew this was all wishful thinking. Nothing she did seemed to silence the thoughts in her head but at least her thoughts were a fine distraction from reality.

The more she thought, the less she heard the screams from below.

She paced around the laboratory, Astoria's wand in hand. Draco had taken her wand, but by sheer dumb luck he'd forgotten about Greengrass's. Hermione had been so relieved to have found the wand. She'd had no second thoughts prying it from Astoria's perfectly-manicured, unconscious hands.

But the odds were against her. Draco had planned that she stay here, and he had planned it well. Apparition wouldn't work— nothing would. She was stuck here until he reversed whatever curse he had placed around the perimeter. There was nothing she could do but send a Patronus to find Harry and spend the next few minutes waiting in silence.

She soon realized the flaw in her plan, thinking that maybe Harry had his hands full with Death Eaters, and as a consequence he'd take a long time getting here. Or maybe he was injured... or maybe he hadn't gotten her Patronus, or maybe a stray spell had, had...

Ugh. This was maddening. Pretty soon, she couldn't ignore the screams anymore. She let out an anxious groan and slammed her shoulder against the door of the laboratory repeatedly, knowing that it wouldn't budge no matter how many times she tried to force it open.

Finally, she gave up and slammed her back to the concrete hard. She let her body slump, slowly descending to the cold floor. She brought her hands to her face and murmured obscenities to the air. She kept thinking how much she was going to make Draco suffer for doing this. Revenge would be sweet. Him and his bloody bombs.

Wait—that's it!

She let out a loud gasp and jumped up from her crouched position. Frantically, she searched the laboratory for materials: lithium, tritium, deuterium, thorium...

Magic wouldn't stand a chance.

Running down a flight of staircases was easier with her dress ripped a few inches above her knees. It didn't take long for her to reach the lobby where the ball had been taking place. The huge space, once bedecked with the finest flower gardens and fountains, was barely recognizable. It was now a barren wasteland destroyed by the Death Eaters. Gone were the banners and the decorations and colorful lights, but what was left was a battleground with blood staining the floors and dead bodies scattered everywhere.