~A/N> Sorry this update took so long, but I had some trouble with it. I took my time writing it because I'd
rather post a chapter that meets my standards rather than one that I feel is crap, I respect you guys too much to do
that. Just so you know, the attack on Hogsmead in the last chapter was the start of the second War, and there will be
no quick end. I plan for it to last through the next three chapters, possibly more. And the moment everyone has been
waiting for between H/Hr is coming, so please be patient with me! Thanks to Spaz141 for all your help, and thanks to
everyone who reviewed, it's greatly appreciated!! Oh, and I apologize now for the cliffy at the end, I will work
hard to post the next chapter quickly!
~"Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear."- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~
'Did he just say...?' I thought, and then thought to hell with asking myself. "Are you mad?" I almost shouted, glaring at Malfoy. "You and Harry, storming Malfoy Manor alone? That's suicide!"
"Thanks for having so much faith in me 'Mione" said Harry, and I knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn't going to work.
"And you" I said, rounding on him, "don't you even dare consider this...this insane plan."
"You can't tell him what to do!" stated Malfoy.
"Stay out of this Malfoy!" I replied, scowling at him.
Ron looked as if he were a spectator at a tennis match; his head kept shifting from Malfoy to Harry to me, and then back again as we argued over Malfoy's suggestion. Ginny just sat there silently watching us, and when there was a break in the argument she said, "they don't have to go alone."
"WHAT!?" Ron and I yelled, turning on her.
"What have we been doing in the DA all this time?" she asked, looking from Ron to me. "Isn't this what we've been learning and training for? We've learned how to defend ourselves; why not use it to help Harry? We could go and watch his back, put what we've learned to good use."
"There is no way you're going anywhere near the fighting" said Ron in typical big brother form.
"Don't tell me what I can and can not do Ron" she replied, anger flashing in her eyes. "Dumbledore asked Harry to re-start the DA for the purpose of teaching us to defend ourselves; what better way to use our skills is there?"
"So a group of students from Hogwarts is supposed to storm Malfoy Manor and go up against You-Know-Who and his followers?" Ron responded, just as angrily. "It's still suicide, there's just more lives at stake!"
"STOP!" Harry yelled, getting everyone's attention. He looked straight at me, and I could instantly read the look in his eyes. He was going with Malfoy, and he was going alone.
"You can't be serious!" I almost yelled.
"I don't want to put anyone in danger 'Mione, you know that" he said quietly, keeping eye contact with me, "this is War, and the Order, along with the Aurors, are off fighting in Hogsmead. We have the opportunity to check on Voldemort, see what he's up to, and after all the lessons I've had with Dumbledore I feel I'm ready."
"I repeat, once again, are you MAD?!!" I shouted, while glaring at him. "You're not ready, you've just started lessons a few months ago! There's no way you could have learned how to defend yourself against Voldemort so quickly!"
He stood there quietly, and by the look in his eyes, I knew that I had gone too far. I had not only questioned his decision, I had doubted his abilities, and there was such a look of betrayal in his eyes that I had to look away. "Well" he said stiffly, "with that resounding vote of confidence, I think I'll go get my things ready." He stormed out of the room, not once looking back, and I felt like crying. 'How could he just walk out like that?' I thought sadly.
As if somehow reading my thoughts, Malfoy drawled, "I think he just needed to get away from you."
"Sod off Malfoy" I said, surprising myself with my language. I could tell the others were surprised as well from the looks on their faces. Steeling my nerves for what I was about to do, I took a deep breath and then made my way out the door, determined to stop Harry.
He was halfway down the corridor already, so I ran to catch up to him. Finally I was side-by-side with him as he strode purposely towards the common room, and as I struggled to keep up with his fast pace I said, "Harry, you can't do this; you can't go with Malfoy alone."
He stopped dead in his tracks, and I had to turn around and walk back to where he was standing. He was glaring at me, and his frustration with me showed in his eyes. "How many times do I have to say it Hermione? I am going to go, by myself, and that's final!"
When he started to walk away from me again I grabbed his arm to try and keep him there, but he yanked it away and kept walking. "Are you going to force me to stop you?" I asked.
"I'd like to see you try" he said, almost daringly.
I was stunned for a moment by the way he was acting, but I quickly recovered. I shadowed him all the way through the portrait hole and up the stairs to his dorm room. When I walked in I could tell Neville, Seamus and Dean were surprised to see me there, but at the moment I really didn't care. I motioned for them to leave, not really asking, and thankfully they left without arguing with me. Once the door closed behind them, I yelled, "Harry Potter, you are not going; I don't care if I have to somehow call Dumbledore back to the castle to do it, but I'm not letting you leave!"
He turned from his trunk and took two steps toward me; he was so close our noses were almost touching. "Listen Hermione, Malfoy and I have a chance to go to the Manor to see what's going on. It's not as if we are going to go charging in there with our wands drawn; we're going to see if we can find anything that might tell us what Voldemort's up to. Draco knows every inch of that place and he'll be able to show me where to go. If we're lucky, we can find out what Voldemort is planning next."
I suddenly felt tired of all the arguing, and a little defeated. "What are you going to do if you get caught?" I asked, barely above a whisper, "what if this is just a trap and Malfoy wants to deliver you to Voldemort to get in good with his Father again?" He stood there looking at me for a moment, and I knew he was thinking things through.
"I don't know" he admitted, and then turned to continue his preparations.
"Then let me go with you!" I demanded.
"No!" he shouted, turning towards me again. "It's bad enough that it was my fault you were hurt at the Department of Mysteries; I'm not letting you risk your life for me again."
"Isn't that my decision to make?" I asked, starting to get angry once more. "I can help you; I can 'watch your back' as Ginny put it."
"You don't get it, do you? You are NOT going with us!" he yelled. I watched as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them and looked at me with an almost pleading look in them as he said, "I promised your Mum I would look out for you, and I intend to keep my promise. You mean too much to me 'Mione, I don't want to risk losing you, so please just drop it and let me get ready to go."
"But that's exactly how I feel!" I replied, frustrated. "You're all I have left, and you're going off half-cocked, with Draco Malfoy of all people, on a dangerous mission. I can't lose you too, and if you don't come back, you will have broken your promise to Mum anyway."
"I'm coming back," he stated, sounding like he was trying to convince the both of us.
My eyes welled up with tears; I wasn't going to change his mind no matter how much I tried. "I give up" I said, my breath hitching as I attempted to suppress the tears that were threatening to fall. I turned abruptly and made my way to the door, feeling a great need to get out of the room as quickly as possible.
I heard Harry call out to me, but I ignored him and walked out the door. As I made my way down to the common room, I noticed Ron and Ginny sitting in the chairs in front of the fireplace.
"Did you get him to change his mind about going alone?" asked Ron, ever so oblivious.
"Obviously not Ron, can't you see how upset she is?" asked Ginny as she got up and wrapped me in a hug.
I just stood there and cried; a part of me felt as if I'd lost him already, and it was an awful feeling. I heard Ron get up and start up the stairs, and I knew he was going to talk to Harry. It was no use, he wouldn't be able to talk him out of it either, though I was glad he was giving it a try. Ginny walked me over to the sofa and we sat quietly staring into the fire. I heard the dorm room door open a little while later and then Harry and Ron arguing as they made their way downstairs. The voices stopped directly behind us, and then I felt what had to be Harry's hand on my shoulder. "Hermione..." he started, but I interrupted him.
"Just go" I said, hating myself for it, but I was hurting so badly and I wanted to hurt him just as much. He slowly withdrew his hand and I watched out of the corner of my eye as he made his way to the portrait hole. He had changed so that he was now dressed in all black; he had his broom in one hand and his invisibility cloak in the other. His head was hung low and he was dragging his feet slightly; when he reached the portrait he looked back at me for a moment and then walked out into the corridor.
My chest felt tight and my head was pounding; the person I loved more than life itself had just walked away from me, even after I begged and pleaded with him not to. 'What if this is the last time I see him?' I thought, and then jumped up off of the sofa. I made a mad dash out into the corridor and down to the entry hall, where I saw Harry walking out the door. I ran as fast as I could, afraid that he would leave before I could talk to him, and then slammed through one of the doors.
"Harry!" I yelled, seeing him just a few steps ahead of me. He stopped and turned to face me, an unreadable look on his face. I continued to run until I was right in front of him and then I flung my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly to me. I lost all control of my emotions as I started sobbing uncontrollably into his chest. "Please don't leave me," I implored.
I felt his arms go around me and he held me just as tightly as I was holding on to him. We just stood there like that for a while as I continued to cry and beg him to stay. I told him how much I loved him and how scared I was that he wouldn't come back. He just stood there holding me, listening to me cry and plead for him to stay. I told him that if he would just wait until the next night we could plan everything out so that he would be safe.
Draco cleared his throat and said quietly, "we really need to get going."
Harry slowly pulled away from me and I fought the urge to keep my arms tightly around him. He placed his hands gently on either side of my face and caressed my skin with his thumbs. "I love you 'Mione, don't ever forget that" he whispered and then placed a tender kiss on my lips. He dropped his hands and took a step back, distancing himself from me. We stood there staring at each other, his eyes full of sadness and my tears continuing to stream down my face. "I have to go" he said quietly and then mounted his broom. He rose up so that he was hovering just high enough to touch the tips of his shoes on the ground. "I'll be back as soon as possible."
"Harry, please..." I started, but he interrupted me.
"I love you" he said, his voice sounding thick with emotion.
"I love you too," I said, my voice breaking as I tried not to cry even harder. I watched as he rose up higher into the air and then flew to where Malfoy was waiting. He turned briefly and waved, and then they were gone.
I fell to my knees, my legs unable to support me anymore, and buried my face in my hands. I had never cried so hard in all my life, not even when my Mum had passed away. When Harry left that night, he took a part of my soul with him, and I wasn't sure I'd ever feel whole again.
~*~
Leaving her was the hardest thing I had ever had to do in my life; I had never seen Hermione lose control of her emotions like she had that night, not even when her Mum had died, and I had almost given in to her numerous requests to stay. But then I remembered what we were going to Malfoy Manor for, and I steeled my resolve against her pleas.
I flew silently next to Malfoy, the cold night air stinging my face and making my eyes water. Neither of us said a word the entire way, we were too wrapped up in our thoughts to make meaningless small talk. I had asked Malfoy to let me know when we were close to our destination and when he gave me the signal I draped my invisibility cloak over myself so that it seemed only Draco was approaching the Manor. I didn't dare tell him about it beforehand, and he looked surprised when I suddenly disappeared from view; thankfully he didn't ask any questions.
We landed in a grove of trees and hid our brooms; I slipped off my cloak and covered both brooms with it to ensure they wouldn't be found. Malfoy motioned for me to follow him as he walked up to a huge boulder. He waved his wand over it, saying something I couldn't hear, and then suddenly the boulder disappeared. When the rock had vanished it had uncovered a tunnel entrance leading below ground. "Where does this lead?" I asked as quietly as possible.
"It's a secret underground tunnel that leads into the dungeon" Malfoy answered, "it's outside the wards, so no one will be tipped off that we are here."
I nodded my head in understanding and watched as he started to make his way down the ladder that led into the tunnel. Once he reached the bottom, he looked around to make sure the coast was clear and then signaled that it was safe for me to descend. Once my feet touched the floor, I looked around and I immediately felt ill-at-ease. We were in the Malfoy dungeon; I looked over at Draco and noticed that he was staring at a set of manacles hanging on of the wall. "Is that...?" I started, but Draco interrupted me.
"Let's get going" he said angrily, and I knew then that that must have been where he had found his Mum, after Lucius had killed her to punish him.
I followed him, noticing that we were passing cages and more manacles hanging on the walls in different places. It looked like a virtual torture chamber and I felt a cold chill run through me as I passed by what looked to be a blood stain on the floor. I stared straight ahead the rest of the way, trying not to think of how many witches and wizards had been tortured and killed down here.
Draco stopped at a heavy iron door and turned to face me. His face was as white as a sheet and I could tell he was trying really hard to disguise his fear. "Outside of this door there is a staircase; it leads up to a trap door that opens into the pantry. Once we're out of the pantry, follow my lead; my Father is probably in his study, and more than likely Voldemort is with him. That's where they normally hold their meetings when they're planning an attack."
"Is the study far from the kitchen?" I asked, wondering how far we would have to go, and if we might run into any Death Eaters along the way.
"Once we're out of the kitchen, we'll make a left turn and head down the corridor; the study is about five doors down on the left" Draco explained.
I nodded my head to let him know I understood and he turned to open the door. Thankfully it opened quietly and we climbed up the very narrow staircase; at the top he slowly pushed the trap door open and we made our way into the pantry. I tightened my grip on my wand as Draco walked up to the door that led into the kitchen and cracked it open just enough so that he could do a quick check of the room. Once he was satisfied that it was empty, he quickly made his way across the room and I followed him out of the kitchen and into the corridor. 'One...two...', I counted to myself as we walked closely pressed against the left wall and passed each door. 'Three...four...', Malfoy stopped just outside of what had to be the study door and then motioned for me to stop. We both listened to see if we could hear anyone talking inside, but it was quiet.
Just as he put his hand on the door knob to open it, a sudden shout of "Expelliarmus!" rang through the air. Both of our wands went flying and we turned to see who had disarmed us. There stood Peter Pettigrew, his silver hand gleaming in the light of the corridor, looking as if Christmas had come early.
"Well, well, well...who do we have here?" he asked gleefully. "Harry Potter and Lucius Malfoy's son, together? This is quite a surprise." He started walking toward us slowly as he said, "If your looking for your Father and my Master, they're not here. Oh, but my Master is going to be so pleased when he gets back to find that I've captured you both." He stopped two steps away from us, and with a maniacal gleam in his eyes, he pointed his wand at me and yelled, "Stupefy!"
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