Quarrels & Loves

A War Undenied

She didn't have to answer him and she sure didn't want to, but as the arm around her throat tightened slowly, she knew he wouldn't let it—or her, for that matter—go.

"I came for Draco," she gasped, trying to wrench one of her arms free so she could claw at the arm around her throat.

King Lucius tightened his hold on her, making her unable to wriggle free. Thankfully, his arm around her throat didn't tighten.

"What do you want from him?" King Lucius demanded. His arms tightened around her suddenly and she gasped for air. "What are you planning on doing to him?"

If she hadn't been struggling to breathe or trying to escape the arms of a madman, she would have wondered why King Lucius cared. As far as she knew, Draco was just a kind soldier she'd had the fortune of meeting a year ago. Perhaps he was high ranking, but that was no reason for the King to care so deeply about what she could have been plotting against him.

"Stop," she gasped, straining on her toes in an attempt to breathe. If she could just get his arm from around her neck, she could think straight enough to come up with an escape plan. Unfortunately for her, King Lucius didn't care that her lungs were screaming and her eyes watering.

"What are you planning?" King Lucius yelled, shaking her violently. The jolt provided a second of release and she took a deep breath before his arm was around her neck once more. "Tell me what—"

"Father, stop!"

Hermione opened her eyes to see a familiar figure standing almost within reach. The light from his and her lantern combined lit the icy cave and revealed Draco hurrying towards them. His cloak was pulled down and his worried face was unmistakable even from a couple of metres away with her blurry vision.

"What is she doing here, Draco?" King Lucius demanded, lessening the pressure on her neck just enough she could breathe again. She gasped, taking in a deep breath before coughing violently. King Lucius must have mistaken her leaning forward as an attempt to escape because he promptly tightened his arm around her neck.

"Let her go!" Draco yelled, dropping his lantern beside hers and continuing towards them.

Hermione could feel her head getting lighter as the cave fell silent. In front of her, Draco glared at King Lucius so fiercely, Hermione worried the King would have his head for such disrespect. Before she could worry about that too much, however, King Lucius let her go.

She stumbled forward, coughing once more as the cold air of the cave hit her lungs. She blindly reached out for Draco and as she fell forward lightheaded, she felt someone grab hold of her. As her coughing slowly died down and she tried to breathe more evenly, she became aware of the fact that the cave was not silent.

"—hurt you, Draco," King Lucius hissed. He stepped forward and Draco shot out a hand to stop him. King Lucius immediately stopped but Draco continued to glare.

"She's not a threat," Draco replied coldly. He held Hermione tightly and pulled her away from the King. When Hermione looked up at him, she paused, realising for the first time just how similar King Lucius and Draco looked.

"She's not one of us, Draco," King Lucius said, scowling at Hermione as he spoke. Draco shifted and she was soon standing behind him. "You can't trust her like you can—"

"She's not a threat," Draco repeated.

The cave fell into silence as King Lucius and Draco stared at each other. After a minute or three, King Lucius nodded once and glanced behind them further down the cave.

"If anything goes wrong," he warned. Draco nodded as King Lucius left the rest to the imagination. With a less than friendly look, the King walked past Draco and Hermione towards the cave exit. They waited until they could no longer hear his footsteps to breathe and then waited even longer before speaking.

"Merlin, Hermione," Draco whispered, turning to look at her for the first time that night. Hermione sucked in a breath when his hands reached up to gently grab her neck, but she quickly relaxed at his apologetic look. "I didn't know he knew, I swear," he said. He brushed his thumbs over the sorest part of her neck and Hermione reached up to stop him.

"Will you have trouble?" Hermione asked. Draco frowned for a moment, confused before he realised what she meant.

"No," he assured her. One of his hands slipped under her two cloaks to wrap around her waist while the other cupped the back of her neck, pulling her close to his chest. "No, he won't hurt me. He'll be cross, but my father has much on his plate so finding me meeting up with King Dumbledore's granddaughter probably does not sit well with him."

"Your father—" Hermione cut herself off as the realisation hit her.

Draco was King Lucius's son; he was the Prince of Slytherin. Here she'd thought she was falling in love with a lonely soldier boy when really she'd been with the Prince this whole time.

At the strange look Draco gave her, Hermione shook her head and said, "Nevermind it. Will this mean we'll have to stop this?"

Draco hesitated and even though he said that didn't have to be the case, Hermione knew it would be. He rushed to clarify though, as he said, "Perhaps we should not meet here. Somewhere else, though."

"Won't your father know where you go now?" Hermione asked.

Draco sighed but didn't comment. Instead, he pulled Hermione closer and brushed his lips softly against her forehead.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he murmured. His thumb brushed against a mark on her neck as Hermione nodded, promising him she was fine.

"The marks will be gone in the morning," Hermione told him. She looked up at him and smiled as she said, "If you'll meet me by the river, I have a place we can meet that your father can't find."

"It sounds perfect," Draco hummed, kissing the top of her head as she leaned closer to him just to listen to his heartbeat. In the quiet of the cave, it sounded much louder but that made it all the better. Despite seeing Draco at least once a week in private and spotting him occasionally on the battlefield, Hermione could never truly stop worrying about him until she was listening to his heartbeat.

"One day, this will be over," she whispered. Draco just pressed a kiss to her head in response and Hermione smiled to herself. "Then we'll be able to meet during the day."

"We'll meet here, of course," Draco said, making Hermione frown. "That godforsaken warm land you call home is much too horrid to visit in the day."

"If we come here one more night, I'm going to freeze to death!" Hermione told him. As if the cave wanted her gone, a cold breeze blew past and ruffled her two cloaks, making her shiver against Draco's chest.

"Perhaps we'll meet in the middle," Draco ceded, rubbing her shoulders to help warm her despite the fact that she was plenty warm curled up next to him.

"When the war is over," Hermione murmured, closing her eyes briefly and trying to forget the battles she'd seen that day and the hatred King Lucius had had for her.

"When the war is over," Draco agreed.