Chapter Fourteen
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Draco sent the latest report from the ball to both the Auror office, and one to Bellatrix. In the report for Bellatrix, though, he left out any information about Hermione Granger as an Auror. She was just described as Connor Cowell's date. He still hadn't dared speak about what had happened at the ball to Harry. And Hermione was obviously avoiding both of them, so he wouldn't have the chance to explain to her what had happened. She came in to the office every morning to attend the daily meetings, but she left immediately after they were done.
A few days after the ball there was a large conference in Hogsmeade and Draco knew he'd see her there. Kingsley Shacklebolt was holding his usual inspiring speech; it was the anniversary of the end of the war against Voldemort. A monument was to be raised in Hogsmeade, celebrating the fall of the Dark Lord. Draco scanned the crowd for Hermione and soon found her standing next to Neville Longbottom and listening to Shacklebolt talk about grave times, and how they had passed. He kept eyeing the crowd and saw many familiar faces. Potter's beloved members of the DA were always at these meetings. They took pride in the fact that they helped take down Voldemort, but where were they now? Draco was an Auror, he was working for the "good" side everyday while these people just glowed and bragged about their glory days. He snorted loudly as he saw Lavender Brown beaming at Shacklebolt's words.
He looked at the other side of the crowd and saw Harry Potter standing with his arms crossed glancing over at Hermione every once in a while. He looked completely miserable…and it made Draco feel so much better.
"This monument has been in development for a very long time now, and I'm pleased to finally present it to you on this special occasion." Kingsley's voice boomed and Draco turned his attention back again. A fat little man pulled a big cloth from it and in front of them was large statue of a large phoenix. "This phoenix represents us, our community rising out of -."
Suddenly the crowd was screaming.
"A body!" a woman shouted and the crowd started running in fear. Draco tried to push through the crowd, but it was too hectic. He didn't know what everyone was running from. He searched for the other Aurors, but they were all running, too. He finally knocked someone out of the way and reached the statue.
He couldn't see what it was; he was looking at the phoenix from the front. It was so large, and he couldn't see at all what they were all screaming about. It raised high above him, wings spread out. But he soon realized that someone was lying on the back of the statue, blood was dripping down in between Phoenix's head and its wings. Hermione and Harry reached him at the same time, and they ran around to the other side. A beautiful blond woman was laying on it, a knife in her heart and her right hand cut off. It took Draco another few moments to realize that it was his mother.
Hermione covered her mouth and turned to Draco. Harry grabbed her arm as she started to run forward. Draco stared at her body for a few more moments and then turned and began running. With a pop he had apparated away.
Hermione still had her hand over her mouth. "Oh my God, Harry, who would do this?" she asked, she was whispering but she didn't realize it.
"I - I don't know. I can't believe this…." he stuttered. Aurors came running from all directions and Harry pulled Hermione back.
"You can't be here, someone will see you. And no one knows you are an Auror! Go back to your flat," he said softly, but sternly.
"No, I - I have to find Draco," she answered and Harry frowned but let her go.
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She went to Draco's flat and his mother's mansion but she couldn't find him anywhere. She didn't know where to look; she didn't know Draco well enough to know where he would run to. She contemplated for a moment finding Pansy Parkinson, but then again, if that's where he had gone, he wouldn't want Hermione showing up.
Finally she returned to his flat for the third time and Sally informed her that he was, indeed, home.
"Can I please come in?" she begged of his maid Sally. She didn't answer Hermione, she just bowed her head and let her enter. "Where is he?" Hermione asked, not knowing the layout of Draco's flat at all.
"He is in his bedroom, this way," Sally answered sadly and Hermione walked after her. She found him sitting on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands - crying.
"Draco," she spoke softly. He looked up at her, he looked angry.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he hissed at her.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He snorted at her and looked away. She walked slowly towards him and sat down on the bed next to him.
"Draco…I am so sorry!" She put her hand on his thigh and stroked him slowly. "We will find whoever did
this, I promise."
Draco sobbed slightly again and Hermione pulled his head down on her shoulder. She was surprised when Draco put both his arms around her and pulled her into his lap. But she felt his hot tears on her neck and hugged him tight. He changed her position and she was straddling him. She started to feel uncomfortable but still held on to him for dear life. The pain he must be feeling, I can never even imagine, she thought. My parents were spared! Narcissa was all he had.
She suddenly became aware of Draco's tongue on her neck and his hand hurriedly shoving inside her shirt. She hastily started to fight him off. "Draco, what are you doing?" she screamed surprised, and Draco grabbed one of her breasts violently.
"You came here to comfort me right?" he hissed and she struggled but he was too strong for her.
"Let me go!" she screamed.
"This is how I want to be comforted," he spat and ran his tongue eerily along her collarbone.
She smacked him hard on the side of his face and she saw his eyes fill with both fury and tears from the sting of her palm. With a strong and violent shove he pushed her off him and she went flying into the dresser next to the bed.
"Get out of here, you worthless mudblood! You're not even worth fucking!" he screamed. Hermione got up, ignoring the pain in her hip, and gave him a hurt look before she hurried over to the floo and left.
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She returned to her flat in absolute shock. She knew Draco had been very sad, and people always say and do strange things when they are hurt, but he had been so hateful, and the things he had said…. Her hip hurt her as she sat down. She needed to sleep so she poured a sleeping draught in a cup and gobbled it down. She laid down on the bed and before the draught swept her away her mind drifted to Draco, his mother. For one short moment she thought about Harry, wondering where he could be.
The dreamless sleep took her over.
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Harry arrived at Hermione's flat three hours later. He needed to talk to her; he needed to explain what had happened at the ball. He needed to tell her that he hadn't agreed with any of the horrible things Draco had said. He needed to tell her everything!
Seeing Draco's mother with that knife sticking out of her heart made Harry realize that Hermione could have died just like that on the evening she was attacked. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. He wanted to ask her why she had gone back to Ron after the night the had spent together. He knocked on her door, and was disappointed when she didn't answer. He wondered if she could still be with Draco.
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Hermione and Harry woke up at the same time, but in different places of London. They both had an owl screeching at their windows. They both had the same note.
"Another attack."
They arrived at the meeting within moments of each other.
"Who?" Hermione gasped. She looked from Gawain to Bruno.
"Neville Longbottom," Gawain answered sternly.
"Is he…?" Harry couldn't continue.
"Yes, he was killed." Hermione sat down on a chair, unable to catch her breath.
"Oh, Neville," she moaned and rocked back and forward.
"And was his hand…?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, it was gone," Gawain answered. Hermione left the meeting and walked silently into her office, she sat down at her desk and started crying.
Neville! she thought. Wonderful, sweet, Neville!
She needed to know what was going on and who was behind all of the murders. Draco didn't come into the office; he had been given time off due to the murder of his mother. More Aurors were appointed to the case and Hermione felt like she was working at half her normal speed.
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Three days later, she was standing between Ron and Harry watching Neville's casket being lowered into the ground. She turned and cried into Ron's shoulder. She looked up at Harry and saw that his jaw was clenched shut, and she knew he was struggling. She reached for his hand and took it. He looked at her, and he seemed to be thinking exactly what she was, "We have to find whoever is doing this, now!"
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One more week passed and nothing new was discovered in regards to the case. They had found some traces on Narcissa, but they couldn't identify it. Draco had come back to work but he spoke to neither Harry nor Hermione, he didn't really speak to anyone. He just kept to himself. Buried in notes about the case…. Something was obviously bothering him, but no one dared ask him.
Harry finally came to Draco's office and tried to speak to him. "So how are you doing?" Harry tried uncomfortably and sat down in the chair opposite Draco's desk.
"Is there anything in particular you want?"
Harry was silent; he didn't really know what he wanted. Draco looked awful; he looked like he hadn't slept for ages.
"I'm really sorry, Draco," he said and the usage of his name obviously caught Draco off guard.
"I bet you are," he snarled.
"No one should ever be able to see their mother like that," Harry answered silently and Draco looked up. He seemed unsure as what to do now.
Draco was still waiting for Harry to punch him for what he had done and said about Hermione when she had come to comfort him. He was still waiting for her to punch him for it as well.
Harry cleared something in his throat. "Well, if there is anything I can do…."
"Aren't you going to ask me about Granger?" Draco said.
"What about her?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Didn't she tell you what happened?" He thought for a moment. "No, she wouldn't would she?"
Harry looked bewildered; Hermione hadn't been home when he knocked the door. His mind immediately began racing,
trying to figure out what Draco was talking about and how long she had been with him. Draco noticed the obvious
confliction Harry was feeling and finally felt a better since he had seen his mothers' dead body. He tossed a scene
from his mind into Harry's: Draco lying on a bed, a woman naked on top of him. They were moving in rhythm, panting
and moaning. She had large bushy brown hair….
No! Harry tossed Draco out of his mind. "Fucker," he scolded. As Aurors they had all been trained in Legilimency and Occlumency, but they were, of course, not supposed to use it on each other.
"There you go, Potter. Now you know what happened!" Harry eyed him angrily.
"That wasn't her!" he spat back.
"Really?" Draco sounded arrogantly.
"That girl didn't have a tattoo!" Harry answered, he turned and stormed out of the office. He didn't get very far before he had to stop and catch his breath. He wasn't sure if Draco had really shown him a picture of Hermione or not. The image had come and gone so fast, he wasn't sure. He suddenly felt sick. If only he had stayed a few more moments in Draco's office he would have realized the answer from the look on Draco's face. He was so shocked by the tattoo statement; it could never have been her.
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Later that evening Harry was lying on his sofa watching muggle television when Hermione arrived. He felt very awkward, they still hadn't talked about what had happened at the ball, and now the only thing playing in his mind was Draco with a bushy haired brunette on a bed. Harry fumbled with the remote and quickly turned off the television. Hermione smiled kindly and sat down on the coffee table.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, just had a row with Draco," he answered. Hermione nodded sympathetically.
"Harry, it's time you did Legilimens and looked at what happened the night I was attacked. We need to find out who killed Neville!"
AN: Yet again I want to say thanks to all how leave a review, I really appreciate it and after the story is done I'm taking you all out for pizza, on me ; - )
I found it funny that many of you have a secret crush on Draco, there's something about those bad boys - right? If you like a little more triangle-drama you might check out my other story Hidden Agenda while waiting for the next chapter!
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