I OWN NOTHING!! EVERYTHING BELONGS TO J.K.ROWLING!
I am having an exceptionally great day! At midnight we were told which exams and finals we had to take this year. I have NO exams and only 2 finals! and I ended Biology and Math with an A and Physics with a B :D I couldn't be more happy! Sooo, here's another chapter!! :D
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Chapter 18 - Only The Beginning
DRACOS POV
Holy shit! I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had been in McGonagalls office for over an hour, discussing our current situation. Now I was in my bed trying to fall asleep, but I couldn’t. My conversation with McGonagall kept coming back into my mind.
About two weeks ago some woman from Hogsmeade told her, she had spotted Fenrir and my father. No one else knew because they weren’t sure if it was true at that time. We hadn’t heard anything about a breakout from Azkaban, where they both had been locked up since the Battle of Hogwarts. But after observing Hogsmeade closely at night, McGonagall saw the woman had been right. Lucius and Fenrir were back, we didn’t know where they stayed, but they were here.
McGonagall needed me to be here, so I could help her if the two Death Eaters showed up at school. I didn’t know why she wanted my help though; I had never stood up against my father, I didn’t know if I was able to. Potter, Weasley and Hermione would be the best choices for this kind of situation. Well, maybe not Hermione. With her memory loss she wouldn’t be much help. But Weasley and Potter then. They had saved the wizarding world more times then I could count, over and over again. They were even during a special auror training now. Why couldn’t they be here to help McGonagall, while I took care of Hermione?
“Because I need you to prove your loyalty.” I said mockingly out loud, imitating McGonagalls voice. Arh, stupid woman! Why didn’t she just believe me when I said I was on their side now? Or she could give me some veritaserum and ask me about my loyalty! But oh no! It was not good enough. She needed to see me stand up to my father and Fenrir Greyback. Damn, how was this ever going to happen? I had never stood up to anyone in my life! I may seem like the leading type of guy, and I was when it came to people my own age and people who were dumber than me. But other than that… no, I wasn’t. Ugh… fuck my life.
I closed my eyes, shut out every thought and slowly fell into the black pit of unconsciousness.
“My son. You have come back for us.” Said Lucius Malfoy and extended his hand to me. I looked around; I was in a dark cave. I couldn’t see the exit and the only light in here came from my wand.
“Father…” I breathed, “Is it really you?” a smirk spread on my fathers face.
“Yes it is. Draco, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you here. You have come to join us execute our revenge!” he said and pulled me in for a hug.
“How did you get out? Where are we?” Fenrir suddenly appeared next to us as Lucius let me go.
“Let’s just say we aren’t the only followers of the Dark Lord left. Lots of people are still willing to help us in our revenge.” He growled and licked his lips.
“What revenge? What are you two talking about?” I said and stepped away from them, Fenrir sneered at me and Lucius just smirked.
“We are going to kill the Golden Trio. They killed the Dark Lord, they have to die!” said my father.
“No! You can’t do that!” I heard myself say. It just sort of fell out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“What do you mean? Of course we can do it!” yelled Lucius but was cut of by Fenrir.
“And we’ll start with that disgusting mudblood.” He growled. I pointed my wand at him.
“No! You can’t do that. I will not allow it!”
“Why not, my son?”
“I… well, I…”
“Don’t think we didn’t see you with her, you little blood traitor!” sneered Fenrir. My mouth was hanging open; I had absolutely no clue! I didn’t have a problem with the other students seeing her and me together. But my father? Lucius fucking Malfoy? And Fenrir Greyback? This couldn’t be good!
“Yeah, we were the ones casting the curse that made her fly into that wall!” Fenrir cackled.
“What?” I yelled, “Why the fuck did you do that?”
“We hoped the collision with the wall would have killed her. It would have looked like it was that redheaded blood traitor who killed her. Potter would have turned against him, and it would have been easier to kill them when they weren’t always with each other.” Explained my father.
“You men are repulsing! I will never help you with your sick need of revenge.” I sneered and turned around.
“Oh no, it won’t be that easy to leave us!” yelled Lucius behind me, “CRUCIO!”
A sudden pain shot through me. I screamed as I fell down on the hard stone floor. I had experienced this kind of torture before, last year the Dark Lord had tortured me for failing my task. But this was different, the pain was worse. It felt like every part of my body was ripped apart and then put back into place, just to be ripped out again.
But then the pain was gone.
I couldn’t move. I was in so much pain, a small moan escaped my lips and I felt a stream of hot tears running over my cheeks and down onto the stone. I heard footsteps coming closer, and I prepared myself mentally for whatever was going to happen. One of the men bent down next to me and I felt his breath against my face.
“This is only the beginning.” Whispered my father into my ear.
My eyes shot open and I sat straight up in my bed. My bed was soaking wet from sweat, I looked frantically around the room. I had a hard time controlling my breath, I felt the tears on my face and I let out a sob. What had just happened? That dream had felt so real; I could almost still feel the pain in my bones. I had never had a panic attack before, but I was pretty sure this was how it felt like. I slowly stood up and made my way to my bathroom. The light burned in my eyes after being in my dark room, but I didn’t care. I stripped out of my pyjama bottoms and boxers and went in my shower. The warm water had a calming effect on me; my breathing slowly returned to normal, and, after some time, the tears stopped as well. I now needed Hermione more than ever. Not just for my own benefit, but I needed to check on her. Something was not right. This dream meant something.
I sighed and put both of my hands on the wall in the shower, and leaned my forehead against it as well. I knew what I needed to do.
……
“You want me to do what?” Ginny shrieked. I found her on the way down to the Great Hall next morning. She hadn’t been as hostile towards me as the others; she was actually pretty cool. I had been talking quite a lot with her during this last week.
“You just need to distract McGonagall for 15 minutes or so, while I sneak into her office and use the floo network. I know you’ve done stuff like this before, and you’re a Weasley. How hard can it be to cause some havoc?” I teased. She bit down on her lower lip.
“I… I don’t know Malfoy.”
“Please Ginny, I need you to do this! I have a bad feeling about Hermione, I have to see her.” I begged, “Please…”
“Wait… what?”
“It’s probably nothing.” I shrugged.
“I will do this on one condition.” Ginny offered.
“Sure anything!”
“Tell me what happened since you suddenly need to see her.”
I groaned, damn that girl… “Fine…” I said. I grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty classroom without anyone noticing us. “McGonagall wanted to talk to me yesterday as you know,” I began and Ginny nodded. “Well, she told me the reason she wanted me here at the school.”
“What is it then?” she said when I hesitated.
“My father and Fenrir Greyback.” I whispered, “They’re back. Somehow they got out of Azkaban and now they’re hiding somewhere outside of Hogsmeade. I had a dream, which involved them last night. I’m not sure what it means, but I need to see her, to make sure she’s okay.” I explained. Ginny stayed quiet for a while, but then she extended her hand.
“Fine. It’s a deal. I'll help you.” She said, it made me so happy I completely ignored her hand, and hugged her instead. She seemed kind of surprised, which isn’t that weird.
“Thank you Ginny. I have McGonagall during my last period today, so after school you should come to her classroom and distract her. I'll go to her office and go to St. Mungos.”
“Sure. Whatever. I'll do it, and I'll get Neville and Luna to help me.” She said, more to herself than me, “You were right you know. I was born with havoc in my blood, this is going to be fun!” she continued and smiled slyly at me.
“You’re awesome Ginny.” I said before leaving the room.
HERMIONES POV
My days were the same every day, I’d get up, eat breakfast, look at the pictures in a photo album I got from Harry and Ron, or I’d read. Later I would eat lunch, and take a walk around the hospital before the two boys would show up. When they came we would talk, they’d tell me crazy stories and we’d eat supper together. They stayed until I was asleep. When I woke up the next morning I would just repeat what I did the previous day.
It’s safe to say I led a boring life here at St. Mungos.
This day was different though. I was sitting in my bed looking at one particular photo. It was of me, Ron and Harry during our first year in Hogwarts. I had looked at this photo so much; I almost felt I could remember this particular day. I ran my finger along the edge of the photo, and smiled at our young faces when I heard someone yell my name. I looked up at the person who entered the room. I immediately jumped out of the bed and ran towards him.
“Draco!” I shrieked as I threw my arms around him. Oh, how I had missed him!
“Hey babe.” He muttered into my ear. Too quick he pulled away from me, he placed his hands on each side of my face and looked at me.
“What are you doing?” I asked suspiciously. Draco chuckled and kissed my forehead.
“Just looking at you. I’ve missed your gorgeous face. You have no idea how lonely I feel without you by my side.” He gushed.
“You sound like such a love-struck fool!” I teased and hit him lightly on his arm.
“That is because I am a love-struck fool, babe.” He said.
“I’m so happy you’re here! Did the headmistress give you permission to come?”
“Well… not exactly.”
“Then how are you here?”
“I snuck out. Ginny created a distraction for McGonagall so I could use the floo network in her office.” Draco explained.
I snorted, “So she doesn’t know you’re gone?” Draco shook his head.
“No, but I'll be back before she notices. I just needed to see you, to make sure you’re okay.”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay? Actually I’m better than okay, I’m really remembering a lot. Harry and Ron have really helped me.”
“Really?” I noticed Draco had flinched when I mentioned Harry and Ron. I put my hand on his cheek.
“Yes. But I think I'll be even better with you.” I smiled. Draco’s eyes met mine and he smiled.
“Good.” He said and began to lean in for a kiss. We were literally only millimetres from each others lips when we were interrupted.
“Malfoy, what are you doing here?” yelled Harry somewhere behind me. Draco groaned and straightened up again.
“Hello Potter.” He grumbled, “Weasley.” He curtly nodded at the boys. I turned around to see them enter the room.
“Good afternoon Hermione.” The boys said. I smiled awkwardly at them; I knew I used to date Ron so it might not have been fun for him to walk in on me almost-kissing Draco.
“Hi.” I muttered.
“Malfoy, I'll repeat my question. What are you doing here?” sneered Harry.
Draco sighed and put his hand on my shoulder, “I needed to check in on Hermione. Bad things are about to go down at the school, and I have a feeling something will happen to Hermione.” I said but hesitated before continuing, “and you two as well.” The boys looked at each other.
“What do you mean? What’s going on?” asked Ron.
“Let’s go upstairs to get something to eat. I’m starving, I'll tell you when less people can hear.” Draco said and squeezed my shoulder. The boys reluctantly nodded and turned around. We followed them out of the room and upstairs, into the cafeteria.
Draco got his food and we sat down at a table.
“Now tell us. What’s going on?” demanded Harry.
“Death Eaters. That’s what’s going on! They’re back…” Draco whispered. I heard both Ron and Harry inhale sharply. I remembered them telling me something about these Death Eaters. They were the ones closest to Voldemort, but, according to Harry, most of them weren’t too bright. Judging from their reaction, they weren’t too happy about the news though.
“What do you mean? Who is it?” Ron asked.
Draco bit down his lip, I took his hand and began to stroke it comfortingly, “Fenrir Greyback and… uhm… my father.” he quietly said.
“Great. The dumbest Death Eater and the most disgusting one.” Joked Ron.
“Why are they at the school?” asked Harry.
It looked like Draco was having a really hard time explaining this to us, I just squeezed his hand and he looked gratefully at me, “You can tell us.” I whispered, he sighed and then looked back at the two other boys.
“They want revenge.” He hesitated before continuing, “They want you all dead.”
Harry stood up, “What?” he roared. Ron sat very still, almost as if he had been petrified. I let go of Dracos’ hand and moved slightly away from him.
“Your father wants to kill me?” I whispered.
“Yes. And he already tried.” Draco said, both Ron and Harry now looked at Draco, “When you were with Ron in Hogsmeade and he cast that spell on you, my father was hiding and he also put a spell on you. His spell made you fly into that wall. He hoped the collision would have killed you, and it would look like it was Rons’ fault.” He explained. I bit my lower lip and felt the tears sting in my eyes.
“Why?” I breathed.
“You’re muggleborn, and you helped kill the Dark Lord. They want revenge.” Draco said.
“Wait! So Hermiones’ memory loss isn’t my fault?” Ron asked.
“Yes it is! You were the one to cast the memory spell on her.” Draco sneered.
“No, Malfoy. It’s not his fault. Rons’ spell was perfect, he only made her forget what he wanted her to. The memory loss is from the collision with the wall, her healer told us last night Hermione has a small brain damage.” Said Harry.
“I have a what?”
“Brain damage. You hit your head on a wall, and your subconscious is blocking out everything because it was a traumatizing experience,” Harry explained, “that’s what Deena told us at least.”
“Holy shit. That is insane.” Breathed Draco.
“Don’t swear. I don’t like it.” I snapped at him, he chuckled and patted me on my head.
“Sorry babe.”
“Could you please keep the gooey love to a minimum while I’m here.” Ron said. I felt my cheeks heat up.
“Sorry man. It’s not my fault you two broke up, you might just need to deal with seeing her with me.” Draco said and put his arm around me. I shook it off though.
“No, it’s fine. I don’t want to make anyone mad or uncomfortable.” I said. Ron nodded gratefully at me but Draco just sighed.
“But back to the Death Eaters. They’re trying to kill us? But they don’t know we aren’t at the school?” Harry asked, trying to break the awkward tension that had appeared.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Well then, now there’s even more reason for us to stay in London. They don’t know where we are; we’ll be safe here.”
“Yes, but…”
“No, Draco. No ‘but’. If I’m safe here, I'll stay here. No matter what.” Hermione said.
“No, no, no, Hermione! I need you at the school! I need to be sure you’re okay!” I pleaded.
“I will be okay here, don’t worry.”
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