Her footfalls sounded heavy and loud as she walked down the empty hall. It felt like the house was listening anxiously for the return of the DA members who left for the ambush, and any noise was disturbing its vigil.
I should be there with them, Hermione Granger thought bitterly to herself. She couldn't ever remember yelling at Harry the way she had before he left, but it just made her livid. She had more than proven herself time and time again, and for him to still be so protective of her, especially when she wanted to help, was so infuriating she wanted to scream.
She heard a soft chuckle from her side and shot an angry glance at Draco Malfoy, who was looking at her with a smirk.
After she had stormed out on Harry she had gone to Draco's room, told him she was watching him tonight, and to follow her, all before he could even get a word in. Since then they had just been wandering the halls, neither saying anything.
Who does Harry think he is? He can't tell me what to do! I want to help him! I…
Again, she heard Draco quietly laughing and asked harshly, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "You just better unclench your hands or you're going to break them."
She looked down at her hands, which were balled into angry fists, and slowly let them relax, trying to get the rest of her to relax as well. It wasn't working.
Finally, Draco broke the silence and asked, "Why aren't you out with the rest of them, saving the world?"
"Someone had to stay here and baby-sit you," she fired back, matching his sarcasm perfectly.
"And the High King Potter thought it should be you, did he? What's the matter? He afraid of his porcelain doll breaking?"
Hermione stopped dead and her voice took on an icy tone. "Watch what you say. I'm not in the mood for it tonight. Do you understand?"
He stared right back into her eyes and said in an even voice, "Understood."
She broke his gaze and started walking, and he was at her side again.
"I just don't understand his reasoning. You've got more brains than him and Weasley put together, yet he makes you stay behind. Not the best battle strategy."
She turned to him, and could hear her voice rising as she said, "I said be quiet! You don't understand, so don't pretend to."
"Oh, right," Draco shot back. "I don't understand at all what it's like to be left behind while others fight battles you should be in. I have no idea what it's like letting the people closest to you fight and die while you're stuck doing nothing." She could hear the emotion in his voice, and there was a hint of vulnerability mixed in with the anger.
Hermione coloured, remembering that he had been forced to stay behind by Snape while his parents were killed and the War was fought.
"I'm sorry," she said. "It's just frustrating."
"No, what's frustrating is knowing that the people who took your life away are out there, and now they're almost within your grasp, but you can't do anything about it. You don't know frustration, Granger. Not yet."
She felt the anger in her rising again, but pushed it down this time. She just tried to remind herself how much he had been through.
"I may not have been through what you have, Draco, but don't make the mistake of thinking I can't empathize," she said, trying to keep her voice level.
He snorted but didn't reply, and they lapsed back into silence. She kept noticing how eerily quiet it was in the house with so many people gone, and shivered involuntarily. Hopefully, they'd be back soon.
"Potter's a fool," Draco suddenly said, breaking the silence. They stopped in the middle of an abandoned hall, and she looked at him.
"A fool? He could've thrown you in a cell in the basement, and not let you out at all," she said, but he cut her off.
"He could've taken you where you would have been of use, instead of wasting your talents here with me, but he didn't, did he?!"
She was quiet for a moment. She knew she should be defending Harry, especially to Draco of all people, but a part of her agreed with him. She knew she could have been of use at the ambush, instead of being stuck here.
"He's also a fool," he said quietly, and took a step towards her, "for leaving you alone with me."
She felt the heat rise in her face and her heart started to beat faster at his nearness.
"How does that make him a fool?" she said, her voice coming out softer than she would have liked.
He smiled and took another step closer to her. "I think you know why, Hermione."
The way he said her name, her actual first name, like it was something new and exciting gave her goosebumps and she said, trying to maintain a calm voice, "No…no, I don't."
"Really? Then why are your hands shaking?" he asked, closing the distance between them to just under a foot. A few strands of his blonde hair fell down into his eyes as he stared into her own, waiting for a response.
Something inside of her screamed for her to run, to move, to do anything, but she was rooted to the spot. There was something about him that she couldn't ignore. She had heard the vulnerability and loneliness in his voice several times, and now she actually saw it in his eyes. He wasn't the same mean, spiteful person she used to know, but there was real depth in him. A well of pain, and a need.
It doesn't matter, a voice inside her said. You love Harry!
But Harry doesn't need me, another voice answered. I haven't felt needed in some time, but here…
Stop! the first voice shouted, in response.
Draco was still staring at her, but he had started to lean in, and to her own shock, she found she was too. They were suddenly getting closer until they heard footsteps come pounding down the hall towards them.
Draco stepped back and his face took on the same hard mask it always had as Seamus came ripping around the corner.
"Hermione, there you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!"
"What is it?" she asked, her mind a wash of confusion.
"He's back! Callum's back!"
***
Hermione closed the door to the darkened room where Callum lay asleep. She couldn't believe the good shape he was in, but that he had come back at all was no small miracle.
She and Draco had followed Seamus down to the main entrance of the building where everyone was grouping around a very haggard looking Callum. His clothes were torn, he was filthy and his eyes were bloodshot.
"Callum, what happened? We all thought you were dead," she said, coming up next to him and checking him for wounds.
"No, not dead," he answered. "The spell missed me but it knocked some of the building down and I got trapped under the rubble when it collapsed. I think I must've been knocked out, because when I came to it was daylight and I was alone. My leg was trapped under a beam, and it took me days to get it out from under there."
"Are you all right?" she asked. "Does your leg hurt? We can have someone check it to…"
"I'm fine," he said sharply, surprising her. "I'm sorry. I'm just tired." He was looking at something strangely behind her, and she turned to see Draco staring at him.
"When did he get here?" Callum whispered, still looking at Draco.
"We found him the night at the mansion. He's been here for a couple days, helping us with the Death Eaters. He told us about a raid tonight, so that's where Harry, Ron and most of the others are."
"Oh," Callum said, finally looking away. "I'll have to hear all about it."
"Of course," Hermione reassured him. "Right now I think it would be the best thing if you got some rest. You look exhausted."
He nodded. "I'll walk you to your room, just give me a moment," she said and walked over to where Draco was standing.
He looked at her curiously as she neared and she said, "Seamus, see Draco back to his room, will you please?"
He grabbed her arm and pulled her a little closer to him, and in a whisper so low that only she could hear it, he said, "Something's not right here."
She pulled her arm away and tried her best to ignore the tingling sensation of his hand touching her skin. "Callum's been a good friend for a while. You're just being paranoid," and walked back over to Callum as Seamus lead Draco away.
And now as she shut the door to his room, Draco's words came back into her mind. Why would Callum be lying? We're all his friends here, he wouldn't betray us, she told herself, and decided the uneasy feelings were due to the encounter between her and Draco before he arrived.
What had she been thinking, letting him get that close? She was in love with Harry, she knew she was. Yet there was that side of her, which had grown fainter but not disappeared, that grew excited thinking about Draco. He was so different from everyone else, and he actually made her feel needed and…
She was hit by a wave of guilt, and started walking to clear her mind. Harry's been everything to me for seven years and to think I would risk that for…Draco. She was angry at herself for even entertaining such thoughts, and it only made her guilt worse.
It hadn't been long before one Luna came running by her, saying, "They're back! They're back from the ambush!"
Guilt mixed with anxiety pushed her forward and she was running to the Apparation Room as quickly as she could. By the time she got there, there were already a mass of people gathered at the door, but it was most mostly quiet.
Oh no! What's happened? she thought with terror and she pushed her way through the people to get to the door. As she was moving forward, she caught a glimpse of three bodies on the ground. She thought she was going to be sick, and kept pushing through people until at last she stood at the entrance to the room, the three bodies on the ground and behind them stood all the rest of the people who had gone on the ambush.
She scanned the faces of those standing and didn't see Harry, and panic rose up to choke her. She couldn't bring herself to look down. If she saw him lying there, she didn't know what she would do.
Suddenly she heard her name and looked up to see Harry pushing his way from the back of the crowd moving towards her and in a flash she was throwing her arms around him and kissed him deeply.
He hugged her close and she closed her eyes, a tear streaming down her cheek.
"I'm sorry, Harry," she said.
"So am I," he said to her. Then he spoke up a little louder, but still not letting go of her, "Only one is dead. The other two are wounded and will need some healing."
"We won!" she heard Dean shout, and there was some cheers, but she figured most of them couldn't stop looking at the bodies.
She finally opened her eyes to find she had been swung around completely when she had hugged Harry, and was facing all the people who had stayed behind. Sure enough, they were all staring at the bodies, Luna in front. Hermione caught a flash of blonde in the back and her eyes met Draco's for just a moment before he backed away from the group and headed back to his room.
It had gotten very quiet in the room, when suddenly the silence was broken by Luna's soft voice, singing something only barely audible:
Beware, beware,
The Twilight Road,
where stars come down,
and sun meets moon.
Beware, beware,
The Twilight Road,
where there's naught but darkness, choices made,
and loved one's left to carry the load.
The words and the voice sent a shiver down her spine, and Harry held her tighter in response.
Luna was looking at the bodies as she sang it, but as soon as she was finished she looked up and Hermione looked straight into the suddenly clear blue eyes.
As they gazed at each other, Hermione wondered who the song had been for: those on the ground, or her.
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