Chapter Twenty-Two
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A week had passed since Draco's meeting with Ron and Harry. He was giving Bellatrix false clues, but with enough truth in them for her to believe them to be real. He was following the plan Harry had ordered of him, it would take some time, but maybe they had a shot. He hated following Harry, but he had finally realized that he had no choice.
He returned to Hermione's room after a long day of pretending to be looking for Ron in London. She was sitting on the bed, crying.
"It's nothing…." she hesitated and looked into his eyes. "It's nothing!" she said again.
He got up and paced the room. It had happened a few times in a row now, him walking in on her crying, and she would always wave it away. It was always nothing - but he knew something was happening he was afraid she was losing it, and he wanted to comfort her, but she would never let him. Finally one night he demanded answers.
"What is it? What has happened?" he insisted. "
"I have to tell you something," she whimpered.
He nodded, scared. "Go on…."
"You have to get me out of here, it's really important Draco. I really didn't want to tell you…but I have to…I don't know what to do…." Hermione stopped speaking and looked down at her hands; her tears were dripping from her chin down her face. He kneeled on the floor in front of her. Draco didn't have a clue what had happened.
"Was one of the guards in here?" he stipulated. Just saying the words filled his insides with cold terror. He clenched his fists; if that was the case he would have someone's head on a plate, served before Hermione that very evening.
"No!" she answered and sniveled, drying her nose on the back of her hands.
"Hermione, I don't understand what you are trying to say. Look, I know this is hard but…."
"If I stay here…I just can't, it's much more now!" she looked up, meeting his eyes. He didn't understand. "It isn't just me anymore, Draco."
There was a moment of silence, then reality, truth hit Draco like a fist in the face.
No! Not that! Anything but that! He shot off from the floor.
"You're pregnant!" he stated. He looked at her, imploring her to tell her that this wasn't the case. She nodded.
Draco swallowed, this was the worst news he could have heard. If Bellatrix found out that Hermione was carrying Harry Potter's child she would be ecstatic. She would probably keep Hermione until she had delivered and then kill the child in front of the world. He looked at Hermione, she looked devastated.
"How long have you known?"
"I am three weeks late, I just figured it was stress. But I am throwing up my food, and my breasts are really sore so I just figured...."
Draco's eyes darted to her breasts for a moment before he looked into her eyes again. He remembered the night he had come to Hermione's room, her bed. He had touched her breast and she had whimpered in pain. He couldn't tell Hermione about the plan, she couldn't know. The plan would never work now. And Hermione…pregnant with Potter's child…. All was lost for him. The thought irked Draco deeply and then he remembered Snape. Was he to meet the same destiny? Would he save them, to save her life, and they would live happily ever after? Should he betray them, so he wouldn't have to see bloody Harry Potter with Hermione? He could always do as Bellatrix had asked, make sure Potter died and Hermione would be his. He would lose either way, but it was time to choose.
---
Harry heard the sound at his window. He knew it had to be Draco; Ron had left an hour prior for the Burrow. Harry's temper flared, Draco wasn't supposed to come to Grimmauld Place. He was endangering Hermione's life by being this carefree. Before setting off downstairs he stopped for just a moment and held his breath, was Draco here because something had happened? He tried not to think of the possibilities. Harry ran down the stairs and found Draco in the living room.
"Why the hell are you here? You're not supposed…."
"Something's happened!" Draco answered and looked seriously at Harry.
Harry sat down in the armchair, petrified.
"Is she…okay?"
"She's okay, but we need to change the plan," Draco answered simply.
"We're not changing the plan. If this is some kind of trick…."
"Hermione's pregnant," Draco spat the words.
Harry looked at a loss for words, he fell into an armchair. "P-Pregnant?" he stuttered.
"Yes, genius. You are obviously not smart enough to use protection Potter," he looked down at Harry. He looked pathetic with his white face.
"Pregnant?" he said again.
"Yes, Potter, you knocked her up. Congratulations! We will never be able to go through with the plan now. If
Bellatrix finds out that she is carrying the spawn of…you," Draco wrinkled his nose, not able to hide is
disgust," she'll kill Hermione immediately or something even worse…." Draco wrenched his hands, he was
starting to lose hope. His own words were convincing him that reality was much worse than he had thought.
Harry looked up at Draco, he was right. Hermione was in more danger now than ever. And she was pregnant, with his child. It was now much more important for him to get her home.
"Is she showing?" he stammered. He couldn't even believe the words he was asking. Was Hermione showing? Was she showing that his child was inside of her? Their child…. He forced himself to snap out of it, he needed to see this as a case. Just any file…. He had to try and forget that his soul mate, the love of his life was involved. That would make him do irrational things. Just the kind of thing he wanted to do at the moment, sacrifice himself so she would release Hermione. He took a deep breath. "Is she?" he repeated.
"No, not yet. Well, her boobs might have gotten a bit bigger," Draco added thoughtfully and Harry scowled at him. "And they seem sore to the touch."
"Malfoy!" he spat and stood up, pointing his finger warningly at Draco.
"Relax, scarhead, she needs to get hers after all this time. You know what they say, pregnant women want it the most," Draco snarled.
Harry had yanked him out of his seat in a split second; he stared into Draco's silver eyes and saw something that surprised him. The cocky, self-loving boy he had known wasn't there. He could see that Draco was lying, he was scared. Harry quickly realized that this was Draco's way of pretending to be strong. Harry released him and felt a slight shiver of panic. He didn't know what was worse, Draco suggesting he and Hermione were lovers or seeing the fear in Draco, realizing that he had no control and this might go straight to hell. Harry looked into the fire, he needed to get to Hermione somehow, and they needed a new plan.
"I have to get to where she is!"
"There is no use Potter, Bellatrix can somehow know exactly how many wands and how many people are at the fort."
"So I won't bring my wand."
"And how will you hide?"
"Then could she know that Hermione is pregnant?" Harry asked.
"I doubt it. I think she only knows the actual number of walking, breathing people at the place."
"You will bring me there as your prisoner!" Draco rolled his eyes, Harry was really grasping for straws and it was obvious he was desperate. "We need to know where the castle is; we need to let the Order know where to find us."
"Impossible." Draco had told Harry this a million times.
"No, there is a way. Hermione has a ring on her finger,"
"The blue sapphire?" Draco asked and Harry resented how many details Draco noticed about Hermione.
"Yes, she can call me with it."
"What?"
"If she whispers my name, I get a location…. Well, the details aren't important. But if you get her to call me, just say my name close to the ring. I will be able to find you.
Draco suddenly understood. That was how Harry had found them when they were in hiding. He felt bitter just thinking about Hermione sneaking off, meeting Harry without him knowing, he felt betrayed.
"She will never do it," Draco finally said. "I believe she would rather die than lead you into a trap." Harry felt a pang in his heart, his darling Hermione.
"You have to make her say my name, a whisper is enough. Just as long as the ring is close to her lips." Draco shook his head.
"She won't."
"Look Draco, you have to get her to do it…by any means. It doesn't matter how!" Harry looked away, distraught. He knew how Draco would have to get her to say Harry's name and the pain in his chest was excruciating.
---
Draco returned to the castle. The plan Harry had just told him was playing over and over in his head. It was a suicide mission. He was sure of it. But they had no choice. Now he just had to get Hermione to say Harry's name. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the potion he had bought in Knockturn Alley, he reached into his other pocket and pulled out the small piece of hair Harry had give him.
He later joined Hermione for dinner and they ate in silence. He watched her silently, feeling a bad about all the plans going on behind her back. She ate as normal, running up every now and then checking on Mallory.
"You're hardly touching your dinner!" Draco pointed out.
"I'm just not feeling so well, you know with the…."
"Yeah, I know," he interrupted her; he didn't need to be reminded. Normally getting a girl drunk was always a sure way of…but he knew Hermione would never drink a sip now that she was…compromised. When Hermione excused herself and went to the bathroom, Draco quickly poured the content from his flask into her goblet.
---
Draco had left her after dinner and Hermione was now brushing her hair in front of the mirror as usual. She felt really strange, she felt very drunk. But she'd had only pumpkin juice with dinner. As she got up to walk to the bed she almost lost her footing and had to hold on to a table. Somehow everything felt okay, she knew it all would work put. In a way, being in this castle felt kind of good didn't it? She felt happier and more content than she had in a long time. She stumbled over to Mallory to check on her. She was sound a sleep. Hermione tumbled into bed, the room was spinning. She heard the door open and gasped. She squinted as the shape came into more focus. Was it? Could it be?
"Harry?" she asked, not believing her eyes. The dark-haired, green-eyed love of her life was in her room. "Is that you?" He nodded and slowly strode to the bed.
Draco was shaking as he walked towards her. The way she was looking at him…she had never looked at him like that before. He reached her, sitting at the edge of the bed and lovingly caressed her cheek. She leaned into his hand, not saying a word; he bent down and let his lips caress hers. Her tongue danced at the entrance of his mouth and his heart beat faster. He had wanted to feel her this close for so long, and now she was begging for him. He could see it in her eyes; she needed him more than she needed anything. She had finally realized what was between them, what could be.
"Oh, Hermione," he whispered and gently pushed her back on the bed. He reached for the strap of her dress and let it slide off one of her shoulders. He bent down and kissed her naked skin softly. She tasted so sweet, and she was so warm. His tongue made small circles on her tender skin.
Hermione ran her hands through his hair; she looked into his eyes again. Everything was spinning slightly, but it was him, her Harry. She grabbed his collar and pulled him on top of her. His weight felt wonderful and she arched against him. She couldn't get enough of him. Finally he was here! No matter what happened from now on, it didn't matter - as long as she had him now. All she had dreamed of since being taken was being returned, for one night, to Harry's arms whether it be a reunion or a goodbye. Her heart was pounding wildly. So filled with hurt, so filled hope and sorrow….
Draco reacted by pure instinct when he felt Hermione arch and push against him. He grabbed her leg and wrapped it around his hips, she was still dressed and he had to get her naked now - before he would go insane. He had long since forgotten why he was there, or what he had to do. Finally, finally….
"I want you so much," he grunted. "I have wanted you for so long!"
"Take me!" she groaned back. She kissed his neck lovingly, "I love you!" she finally whispered in his ear.
They were the words Draco had wanted to hear for so long. Not until she actually had said them did he realize how much he had wanted her to say them. All thoughts of Harry, the ring, the mission had long since disappeared from his mind. The only thing in the world was him, Hermione and this bed. He wanted her more than he had wanted anything in his whole life. It had nothing to do with lust, sex or pleasure. It was a need he had never felt before - the desperate requirement, necessity and the only way to keep on breathing - the need to be close to her. To have her hold him and say it was all okay. And if Merlin was kind, to hear her say that she loved him again.
He seized one of her breasts and gave it a gentle squeeze, Hermione was unbuttoning his shirt and it seemed she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Hermione buried her face in his neck. She knew they were in danger, just as they had been so many times. But now she realized why she had been so brave all those other times. It was because he was there with her, they were fighting together. And even when they weren't fighting together - she was fighting for him. Even long before she had realized it, she had been giving up her life for him.
As he kissed her neck forcefully Hermione felt some kind of resolution forming, a truth was escaping her. It scared her slightly, it was as if she was letting go of who she was and who she had been. She should be thinking practically, but now that he was here: all she could think of was love. And love meant only one thing - Harry!
Never meant to be, against what people had hope wished for. But who could fight true love? Who could say what anyone should be, or act like?
Two souls that had found each other, found love… and again: Love meant only one thing - Harry.
"I love you, Hermione," he cried as he kissed her collarbone. The taste of her, the feel of her - he could easily burst into tears at this moment. Her soft skin under his hands….
"And I love you, Harry," she answered her eyes closed.
Draco suddenly pulled back. Harry? He felt furious, he felt sad and, most of all, he felt empty and dead inside, he felt so completely heartbroken. She thought she was in bed with Harry, not him, not Draco.
He sat up on his knees, watching Hermione on the bed, her dress falling of her shoulders. She was looking up at him, her pupils widely dilated from the potion made to confuse her. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Draco actually felt like slapping her across the face. Here he was telling her that he loved her, he loved her of all people, and she was saying another mans name! She was pathetic, lusting for that idiot Potter when someone like Draco loved her. He glared at her, and in that moment he actually felt a sliver of hate for her. He grabbed her roughly and flipped her to her stomach.
He clutched her right hand, where she was wearing the ugly, nasty, cheap sapphire ring and lifted it close to her mouth.
"Do you love me?" he hissed in her ear. Hermione didn't answer, it was all so confusing. Draco thrust against her backside, both of them still dressed.
"Tell me that you love me again," he whispered and licked her ear.
"I - I do love you," she answered, uncertain. Draco reached under her stomach and gently caressed her soft skin, his index finger just above her navel. He needed her to say it.
"Say it again," he whispered, tears burning his eyelids.
"Oh, Harry, I love you!" she answered in a moan.
There, she had said it….
The name into the ring…
He let go of her and climbed down off the bed.
"Where are you going? Please stay here with me!" she pleaded. "Don't leave me, please." Draco looked at her…it would be so easy. He could sleep with her right here, right now. No one would know, she would never remember. The way she was looking at him, pleading for him to stay…. He wanted it; he wanted to know what it felt like.
"Harry?" she asked.
"Oh fuck," he murmured angrily and slammed the door to his own room.
---
"What is it Draco?" Bellatrix demanded. She was as always on her throne, eating grapes from a silver plate, her dogs in front of her.
"I need to talk to you…." Draco hesitated. Bellatrix raised her eyebrows, obviously very interested. "I - I have been thinking… and well I…." Draco stuttered.
"You are ready to join me," Bellatrix finished for him. She shot up from her throne and Pansy widened her eyes eagerly. "Did something happen?" she sneered. He didn't answer but looked down at the floor. "Oh, did she give you what you needed and you found it not what you wanted, or did she reject you?" Draco continued to look at the floor. Bellatrix licked her wand nastily sickeningly.
"So you want to join me?"
"Yes, but I want…."
"What do you want, Draco?" Bellatrix's voice was sweet and she walked up close to him.
"Power!" he stated confidently.
"Draco you will have all the power you can dream of," she circled him and her index finger was trailing his upper body. She didn't believe him, she circled him again, suspiciously. Then she saw something that caught her interest. She leaned closed. A tear spilled over Draco's eye, only one, making its way down his cheek. Bellatrix smirked; she looked more satisfied than Draco had ever seen her. She waved her wand and a chair came up to the back of Draco's knees, it hit him so hard that he sat down at once. "What made you change your mind Draco?" she asked and her face was so close to his, he almost thought she would kiss him.
"I'm tired of all the bullshit, I am a Malfoy - I need to be treated like one. Not running errands for mudbloods and traitors!" She smiled contently; obviously she didn't know the pain of a broken heart. All Bellatrix could see was a wounded ego.
"See, Pansy, I told you he would clear his head soon," she said contently, Pansy smiled happily at Draco.
"You will join my army, at Pansy's side...."
"Yes."
"And maybe at times Pansy will be generous enough to share," Bellatrix continued. She ran her sharp nail over his cheek. Draco swallowed hard, not understanding what the crazy bitch meant. He glanced over to Pansy, she looked equally uncomfortable.
"I mean, you do remind me so of your father. He was such a handsome man, striking even." She circled him once again and then leaned close to his ear, standing behind him. As the words escaped her, only he could hear them: "There is a lot of Sissy in you, too, and she was a very beautiful woman - some would call her exquisite," she breathed.
Draco pushed her back hard, he looked disgusted, but Bellatrix just laughed. Draco got up to leave.
"Draco!" Bellatrix called after him and he turned to face her again. "Bring me Weasley! Bring me what I want, I am growing very weary!"
He glanced again at Pansy and saw that tears were flowing down her face, but he didn't care. All he knew now was that he had to do what he had to do. The situation brought him strangely back to the night he watched The Godfather with Hermione. It was funny that such a silly and stupid movie could still reflect his life in such a way. Sometimes, you just have to do what you have to do….
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