“Are you fucking kidding with me right now?”
“Ron-” Hermione was about to come to him when suddenly Draco grasped her hand in his. Her eyes fell on their entwined fingers just before she looked at the blond by her side. “Let go of me.” she seethed, her eyes closing in anger. Hermione didn't want it to be this way but Draco and Ron were behaving like stupid children. She didn't even want to fathom what would Harry say next. It was tough as it was already. Draco gave her an amusing glance, his gaze fling over the ginger twins and then at Potter before finally on Hermione. The anger on her face clearly meant no bullshit. Just as fast as he had grasped it, he let her hand go, stepping back with his hands up in surrender and a playful frown on his face.
“Ron—” Hermione spared no second glance at Draco, quickly walking off towards the three friends she felt like she hadn't seen in a lifetime.
“We leave you for a few months. Don't talk to you. Don't see you. And this is what you do? Merlin, disappointment is an understatement here.” well, he sure didn't spare any concealed profanities.
"Ron, please, listen—” Hermione chastised despite the tears burning her eyes. She knew her friends would react harshly but she didn't think it'd be this much. As she put up her hands in definitive surrender and trudged forward, her heart felt like it was being stabbed the moment Ron took a step back, his eyes were full of disgust. Like he couldn't believe she was the same girl they had had years of friendship with, the same girl he had, at some point, loved. While she could understand how hard it could be for her friends, especially Ron to see her this way with Draco, she also wanted them to put behind a fued no one quite frankly needed at this point. Yes, Draco had done several questionable things in the past but she believed everyone, even Draco fucking Malfoy, deserved another chance. All she wanted, at that moment, was for her friends to feel the same way.
Hermione certainly didn't want them to think that Draco had put some kind of magic on her that had left spellbound, no, she wanted them to understand. Understand that loving someone is never a choice, and that accepting a person is okay, as long as they are ready to change for the better.
“This is more important than you, Weasley. Stop overracting. So what if she loves me? We all know you couldn't give the love she deserved, why not just back the fuck off?” Hermione wished Draco hadn't said that because the moment he did, she could feel the tension getting even thicker in the room, she could swear that she could slice through it like butter. Ron was visibly angered—Hermione noticed how the tip of his ears turned as red as his hair. Thank Merlin for Harry who stepped in just when Ron was about to punch Draco.
“Shut up! Both of you! Or I will have your heads on sticks outside the Gryffindor common room.” Ginny, who had been silent this whole time, screeched. All eyes shifted to the red head as she gave everyone in the huge office nothing short of a death glare. Briskly, she walked in between the odd pair with four pair of eyes still lingering on her. Ginny sighed, consequently massaging the bridge of her nose. “Look, I'm going to say it once and once only. I am assuming whatever Professor McGonagall called us in here for is pretty vital, otherwise, I don't think she'd ever voluntarily put Malfoy and Ron under the same roof. Now, if we can all be civil about this, I'm sure it will all be over soon. You don't have to see him,” she turned to her right where Ron stood, still caged in Harry's arms as if he didn't trust him enough to let go just yet. “And you don't have to see him. We all can walk out if this office with our limbs still attached to our body.” Ginny peered to her left where she was met with an exasperated Malfoy.
“Are we clear?” neither of them spoke, only continued to huff in annoyance at each others' mere presence. “I said.” Ginny fired again, this time, more fiercely, her tone having a sharp edge to it. “Are we clear?” Hermione and Harry had their mouths agape the whole time. While Hermione knew Ginny had quite a temper, she had never believed her to be this wise and blunt. It was maddening to even think— the young girl who had been treated like a child all her life because of six older brothers had a voxie of her own, and Merlin's beard, did Hermione wish she was never on the receiving end of it.
After a brief nod of affirmation was exchanged between the blond and the redhead, professor McGonagall came bustling in through the double doors, a parchment in her hands. Her face was struck with worry, immediately putting the other five people in the room on edge. "There's been a breakout!” she panted. “At Azkaban.” her pupil could only stare at her— while Harry, Ron and Ginny had no real knowledge of the matter at hand, when they heard about an Azkaban breakout, they could tell it was something huge, quite possibly as huge as Voldemort. Little did they know, it already was.
"How many?” Harry finally spoke, his voice was a chilled whisper, a kind of voice that ran down your spine.
“I've got people tracing them, Potter. Don't worry—”
“How many escaped, professor?” Harry interrupted her.
Eyes awaited an answer, bodies sweating profusely in the distance.
“Two.” she responded, handing them the letter. It was Ron who grabbed the parchment while the others hustled to get a clear view of whatever was written. Draco and Hermione were on Ron's left while Ginny and Harry on the right. “Who escaped?” Draco voiced the horror in his voice, it didn't betray him. His body had started to itch. The world was becoming pitch black as the moments passed and he had no idea why. His mark was burning again and it pained him to the extreme.
“Is it the parchment?” he found himself asking, “Or just another one of the many horrid episode?”
His eyes rolled back into his skull and he felt himself falling, falling deeper and deeper into an abyss of nothingness. He didn't know what his back hit— maybe it was a cloud or maybe it was the ground, he didn't quite know. All he did, however, know was that the pain was killing him. Death would've been a better penalty compared to the pain running through his body like a tremor, feverent and electric. The last thing he remembered was Hermione calling out his name and then, it was nothing.
Darkness welcomed him like the fast friend it was.
———————
“How's he doing?” Ginny looked concerned, her voice was still a little shaky after the news McGonagall had broken to them. It was like the war all over again, the same quivering lips on everybody, the same stale air that smelled of dried blood and the same brave hearts they had been forced to keep throughout the entire time of despair the war had gone on for.
“I don't know.” it was true, she didn't know how was Draco. She didn't know if he'd even wake up. All the other times she had witnessed his mark burn wasn't even a quarter as much painful as to the aftereffect this time. Each time, Hermione observed now, the pain had heightened. She knew she shouldn't have listened to him when he had told her not to worry. Of course it was something to worry about! How could she have taken the word of the brat for it! She should've reported it to Madam Pomfrey. Maybe then, she'd know for a fact that even though he had experienced the excruciating pain, he'd still, at least, wake up to her. “Where are Harry and Ron?”
Ginny jerked her head back. McGonagall was holding up sodding journal while Ron and Harry had their eyes widened. It surely was as surreal as their expression gave off, Hermione confirmed to herself.
“Has this ever happened before?” Ginny asked out of the blue. Talking about Draco was the last thing she wanted right now, when she didn't even know how he was doing but she had also just found Ginny, she didn't want to loose her either.
“Yes. Many times. I was just too busy to report it. With all that's been going on, I think I forgot about it myself for a while.” Hermione shrugged, her gaze falling on her shoes like they were suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. “I don't know Gin, I don't know why I didn't—” a choked sob escaped her lips. Ginny was right next to her afterwards, cooing her friend as she cried into her shoulder. “I'm such a bad person.”
“You're not. Stop saying that.” Ginny rubbed her shoulders softly. “We've been through this before, we'll get through this again.”
The girl was so full of hope, it made Hermione envious; that she wasn't carrying the same amount of hope that radiated off Ginny. “Okay.”
She cast one longing look towards her right where the hallways lead to the infirmary. McGonagall had placed him in an isolated room within the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey treating him as they spoke. Maybe looking at the stoney path that led to him brought her comfort, it was odd, nevertheless, true.
Silence loomed over them like a thick cloud. Neither of the two knew what to say to comfort the other. Things were getting so out of hand, it scared her more than it annoyed her; scared that the threat of yet another Wizarding war was lurking in thin air and annoyed that they weren't doing anything as immediately as they should've been doing. Before she could ponder further on the matter, Harry and Ron made their way towards them, their faces glum.
“I still can't believe someone is trying to revive Voldemort again.” Harry sighed. “So much happened and you didn't tell us earlier, 'Mione?”
Hermione had no answer to that. She had been so caught up with Draco and her feelings for him that the idea of telling something as big as this had completely slipped her mind. It's not like she didn't want to tell them, of course she would've wanted to; just that they hadn't actually been in a talking place at that time, they had been in different boats, different problems— all for naught. Hermione rubbed her cold hands together. They were approaching the start of February now, while the wind was still chilly most of the time, the beautiful sunsets every now and then paid off wholly for it; her favourite part.
“I'm sorry.” was all she could offer.
Her eyes meet Ron's and immediately, she felt herself lowering her gaze. She didn't know what she had actually done that was so bad but somehow, she felt guilty. It was a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach, daunting and frightful.
“McGonagall told me about his mark burning. Not going to lie, sounds very dangerous. I don't know why you didn't think it was serious.” he added, just when Hermione though he was done scolding her. “You've been very carel—”
“Yes okay, Harry, we get it. Now can we please talk about where we go from here? What do we do to prevent this mess?” Ginny grasped Hermione's hand, giving her a warm smile. Hermione returned the gesture timidly.
Harry gave her a stern look but sighed anyway. “McNair and Dolohov escaping Azkaban isn't a pointer I'm happy to start with but it's the only pointer we have except for Malfoy's burning mark and that journal McGonagall told us about.” he gestured to Ron who nodded. “The best thing to do would probably jot everything down and then, maybe, just maybe, it might get easier to make a connection between all these occurances.” without waiting for their word, Harry was already dashing off into McGonagall's office. Ron followed suit, with Ginny grabbing Hermione's hand and leading her to the cabin. Hermione cast one last glance toward the hospital wing before being swept away by her friend.
“I love you, please be okay.” she whispered under her breath, directing her eyes towards the brave fellow Gryffindor dragging her.
————————
“At what time did they breakout of Azkaban, professor?” Harry had a parchment spread on the table and a quill in his right hand. Ginny and Ron surrounded him, while McGonagall stood opposite to him, clasping her hands. Hermione, knowing all this stuff before, stood on the opposite corner of the place, the parchment McGonagall had brought earlier with her, in her hands. There was just something very peculiar about the parchment. She didn't know if anyone had noticed but Draco's mark had been triggered by it. But it seemed so stupid and unreal. How could a parchment cause his mark to burn up?
“According to the officials posted at Azkaban, it was sometime around midnight. They have a great head-start. I do not even want to imagine what they would be doing right now.” McGonagall spoke, her eyes closing. She could understand, it was all just a huge nightmare nobody wanted to believe in.
“I don't understand, how are they both alive? I tought we had managed to kill them for good.” Ginny had a good point. It attracted Hermione's attention immediately. She twirled the parchemnet in between her fingers but refused to let go of it. Come to think of it, how had they survived? She didn't even know that they were locked up in Azkaban. Hopefully, all four students looked at their professor.
“As far as my memory goes, I recall Hagrid slamming Walden McNair against a wall during the battle of Hogwarts. I am not so sure about Dolohov.” her voice was timid and apologetic.
Silence loomed over them, the aura of tension thicker than ever. The threat of war could be heard like hooves of horses stomping down the earth right in their hearts. Hermione felt her fingers twitch; usually, at times like this, she had grown accustomed to snaking her fingers with those of Draco's who always stood to her side. She recalled tangling and untangling their fingers together just for the sake of it, laughing and kissing him in the privacy of their four walls.
When did things get so complicated?
“And what about this new horcrux? It's simply impossible. I mean-” Harry stammered for words. “We destroyed them all! The cup, the locket, the diary, everything!” his fingers tangled in his black locks. “It can't be. It simply can't be.” it was then that Hermione decided to come to her friend's aid. She clasped her hand around his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “We'll get through this. Just like we did last time.” her smile was small but welcoming. For a moment, she could feel a bit of burden lifting off her chest.
She still had her friends by her side, it was therapeutic.
“Do you think—” Ron sighed, like be didn't even want to voice the words. “The journal is a horcrux?” he jutted his chin out in affirmation, towards the black leather book sitting on the table before them. All eyes snapped to the journal, nobody had considered the possibility before but nobody could deny that it could be a true hypothesis.
It did raise a good question, didn't it?
On the other side of the castle, Draco Malfoy tossed and turned his hospital bed. Something just wasn't right about it; he was sweating like a pig and his palms were too clammy. A thick bead of sweat had formed on his upper lip as well as his cheeks and the slender form of his nose. Either the room was getting too hot or he was losing his mind. How could it be this hot when they were just ending the month of January? As if to give him a scare, he heard the only window on the small room open and then shut with an approximate duration of 5 seconds. He tried to open his eyes but his vision was still hazy, his nose was stuffed so he had to open his mouth to grasp some bit of oxygen that he could. His vision betrayed him, from pitch black darkness, he welcomed the lackluster of colorful floating particles of an outline that graced his vision.
And then he heard a voice.
“Draco...” it was like a dementor was speaking to him. His breathing become even more erratic while his eyes closed. There was just something about that voice, something so familiar, something so daunting that it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He had heard that voice, he was sure but where, he didn't know.
His throat was as dry as the Sahara, even breathing was becoming more difficult as the minutes passed. He could feel someone breathing over his face for a second before...
Before he was screaming again.
Something sharp and hot had just traced his skin in a pattern.
Hello, please leave a review! I'd be forever thankful. Also, I'll proofread this tomorrow, I'm sooo tired right now. :( can anyone guess who's the culprit? ;) 10 points to your house if you do!
Till next time, lots of love, me. xx