Chapter Twenty-Three
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Hermione was asleep when one of the guards yanked her out of bed. "Let go of me, you rank monster!" she screamed and hit him hard in the face. He didn't even flinch; he just dragged her by the arm.
Hermione shuddered with fear, she knew she was being taken to Bellatrix and it hadn't gone well the last time. As she was being dragged across the room, Hermione clenched her left fist, she still wasn't able to clench it properly and she would have hoped it had healed before the next time she met Bellatrix. This time she was ready to fight and she wouldn't let Bellatrix get so close to her again.
As the guard led her through the hallway, Hermione looked frantically at everything around her. She tried to remember every detail, hoping it would be useful for her in the future.
The large oak doors opened and Hermione was once again ushered into the room. Bellatrix barely noticed Hermione's arrival; she just nodded to the guard to place Hermione on the side. Hermione saw Bellatrix, but gasped in shock when she saw Pansy in the corner, still not having been informed about Pansy's involvement. Bellatrix noticed the true expression of shock in Hermione's face and she smiled contently - Draco hadn't betrayed her. Pansy quickly looked away from Hermione, as if the sight of her made her nauseous.
"And now we wait," Bellatrix said and leaned back in the chair.
Hermione looked around - a guard stood in every one of the five corners of the hexagon-shaped room. The dogs at Bellatrix's side looked wild and she was sure they were trained to kill. Hermione thought about the child she was carrying, her biggest fear was that Bellatrix would find out about it. Her mind was racing wildly and she couldn't get her pulse to calm down. The door swung open and Hermione felt slightly better to see Draco enter the room.
"So?" Bellatrix asked.
"I've brought h…" Draco stopped speaking when he saw Hermione. "What is she doing here?" he asked.
"I feel she needed to be here for this," Bellatrix answered, bored. Draco knew she was testing him, to see if he was really loyal. "Bring him!" she ordered and Draco walked back through the doors.
Hermione tried to see what or who he was getting, and she held her breath. She kept trying to tell herself over and over again, Draco could never get Harry! Draco could never get Harry! She screamed wildly when she saw a tied and gagged Ron thrown down on the floor at the entrance of the door.
"No, Draco, no! Stop!" she screamed and she fought to get loose. Bellatrix looked contently at Ron on the floor.
"You did well, Draco," she smiled.
"I will do anything!" Hermione screamed at Bellatrix. "I will do anything - take my hands, just do it!" The tears weren't even running down her face, she couldn't produce any. What she felt was pure panic. She would do anything in the world to save Ron.
"Thank you," Draco answered Bellatrix, not looking at Hermione. Bellatrix nodded towards Draco and then turned to look at Hermione again. The pain she saw on Hermione's face was quite enjoyable. She took quite a few moments to take pleasure in it before she spoke,
"Do you want to finish this?" she asked Draco and licked her lips in excitement.
"Draco, please I beg you!" Hermione screamed, tears were flowing wildly now and her voice barely held.
"Do you hear how she speaks to your lover?" Bellatrix turned to Pansy, who shot out of her chair. She was eager to address Hermione and obviously ecstatic at the permission to speak.
"You muddy, worthless whore," Pansy yelled. "How can you even talk to someone as pure as Draco Malfoy?" she slapped Hermione hard across the face. Hermione turned bewildered to Draco, but he just looked away. "What? Do you think he is going to help you? Did you honestly think he cared about you?" Pansy laughed evilly and continued. "Don't you think I know everything? He has told me everything! Oh I know about your little moment in the closet at that ball. I know about your time in the house, it meant nothing." Hermione looked at Draco again, but he looked sternly at the wall behind Bellatrix. "He told me about you crying on his shoulder about Potter," Pansy took a moment before continuing, she wanted to enjoy the distress on Hermione's face. "It was just an act. He loves me, me!" Hermione looked pleadingly at Draco and he finally turned at met her eyes.
"You always said I was an actor," he said to Hermione in response to the look she was throwing him. The tone in his voice sent chills down her spine.
"Draco, please, don't hurt him. I will do anything…." she begged.
"Do you want the honor?" Bellatrix said to Draco, she held out a silver knife. Without answering, he grabbed it from her hand. Ron started fighting and screaming under his gag and Hermione cried desperately. Draco walked over to Ron and kicked him hard to stop him from squealing.
"Draco, don't do this!" Hermione screamed in a voice that didn't even sound like her own. He looked at her and with all her might she pleaded with him.
"Do it!" Bellatrix ordered and with a swift motion, Draco shoved the knife into Ron's heart.
All sound left Hermione; everything went quiet as she fell to the floor and she could swear that the knife had gone through her own heart. She didn't feel herself falling to the floor, but suddenly she felt her self lying against it, the cold surface against her face. She looked into Ron's eyes and saw that he wasn't there anymore. The blood from his chest was slowly dripping down onto the floor. The guard had let her go, maybe he was tired of carrying her weight, maybe he somehow knew she needed to die on the floor next to Ron. She couldn't breath; the pain in her heart, her chest, in her whole body was total.
"Give me his hand!" Bellatrix ordered, Hermione heard the order from somewhere far away.
"No!" Hermione shrieked and crawled quickly over to Ron's body. She covered it with her own. "You won't touch him!" She hung on to his lifeless body with her whole strength.
"Remove her," Draco ordered to the guard who had helped him carry Ron inside.
"You will not touch him!" she repeated, she looked Bellatrix in the eye. "I will rather die than let you touch him!" she meant it, but Bellatrix just smiled contently. The guard hurried forward. He grabbed Hermione and lifted her off the floor. She fought hard, but he was far too strong for her. Hermione didn't scream, she just watched as Draco stepped forward, in what seemed like slow motion. He held the silver knife high. Hermione looked over at Bellatrix who nodded. Draco lifted Ron's right hand and, with a strong slash, Ron's hand was removed from his body. It fell to the floor with a thud and Draco picked it up. As he presented it, he kneeled before Bellatrix. She gave him a wild smile, grabbed Ron's severed hand and smelled it. Hermione watched her in horror.
Ron… she cried in her mind.
"Take the mudblood away!" she ordered and the guard holding Hermione dragged her out of the room. She was crying and screaming so hard that she couldn't even attempt to walk on her own. As soon as the doors were closed to the room, the guard turned her to face him, and she looked into his face.
His eyes…
they almost looked emerald green.
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An hour prior
Harry's hands were tied behind his back. He wore a cloak hanging long over his face. Draco was leading him as if he was his prisoner. The sword of Godric Gryffindor was hanging down Harry's back, causing him slight discomfort, but he needed to concentrate on other things. Draco called the guard at the castle and he had taken them to the castle via the portkey.
"So you got Weasley, huh?" the guard asked.
"Mmm…." Draco answered.
"You're gonna die now, traitor," the guard laughed and pushed Harry hard in the back. Harry stumbled forwards, he was unable to catch himself since his hands were tied and he slammed his chin on the stone floor. His hood almost fell off of him, which didn't go unnoticed by Draco. Almost panicking, he pulled the cloak back over Harry. Thinking he'd seen dark hair, the guard leaned forward.
"So where did you find him?" the guard asked.
"Just in London," Draco answered absentmindedly. He slammed the guard hard in the back of his head and he fell like a tree. Harry turned on the floor.
"Damn, I thought he saw me there for a moment!"
"I think he did," Draco answered and helped Harry get the rope off of his hands. "Have you got it?" Draco asked and Harry pulled out the polyjuice potion. He yanked a piece of hair from the guard and put it in his flask.
"Here, this is the one with Ron's hair in it," he said and threw a flask to Draco, who poured the contents in the guard's mouth.
Harry entered the dungeon with Draco, carrying the guard who now looked exactly like his best friend. They threw him on the floor as Draco approached Bellatrix and Harry noticed Hermione being held by a guard. He wanted to scream and let her know he was there, but he couldn't. He only had a brief moment to take in the sight of her. She looked pale and very worn. Even though he knew she was pregnant, she looked much thinner than when he had last seen her.
She was screaming, pleading for Ron's life. Harry felt so awful for her, he knew exactly what she was feeling and he hated having to put her through this, and he was scared the stress would hurt the child growing inside of her. Suddenly, Pansy stood and addressed Hermione and slapped her. Harry clenched his fists, not knowing how much more he could watch. He tried to look neutral but found it harder by the second. He snapped out of his trance when he heard Pansy's latest words.
"Don't you think I know everything? He has told me everything. Oh, I know about your little moment in the closet at that ball. I know about your time in the house, it meant nothing. It was just an act. He loves me, me!"
He looked over at Draco and noticed his discomfort. As Draco plunged the knife into Ron, Harry had to use all his will power to not jump forward. Even though he knew it wasn't his best friend, he still felt nauseas seeing what Ron would look like if he did die. As Hermione threw herself to protect Ron's body, Harry held his breath.
"Remove her," Draco ordered and Harry hurried forward. Hermione was strong and Harry had to use every ounce of his strength to move her. He tried to be as gentle with her as he could, but she wasn't making it easy on him.
As Draco cut the hand off the guard, Harry watched Bellatrix. She was licking her lips and looking giddy. He wanted to kill her - he wanted to watch her squirm and suffer, but he had to stay calm.
"Take the mudblood away!" Bellatrix ordered him and he started dragging Hermione away. She was screaming and crying and Harry wanted to tell her. He remembered the directions Draco had given him to find Hermione's room and he took her there. He closed the door behind them and released her.
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Harry turned to her and noticed that she was staring at him strangely. He walked over to the door and put his ear to it to make sure no one was listening. When he turned around, Hermione held up her finger and waved it insanely in front of him.
"You…who are you?" she demanded.
"Hermione, it's me!" he said and she started backing towards the bed. All she could see was the ugly guard who had dragged her to her room the first time she had arrived to the castle, but those eyes….
"No," she spoke softly.
"It's me!" Just a few moments more, he thought, patiently waiting for the polyjuice potion to wear off. He'd taken enough to last an hour and time was just about up. He backed away, trying to stall long enough, and then felt a pain throughout his body.
Hermione stared in horror as the guard's body melted to reveal Harry. She stared at him, not believing what she saw. He offered her the flask that had contained the polyjuice potion and she smelled it, recognizing it immediately.
"H-Harry?" she whispered, tears spilling over. "Am I dreaming?"
"No. It's me!" he said and they crashed into each other's arms.
"But how?" she cried into his shoulder.
"Draco!" She pulled back and looked into his eyes.
"But Ron…."
"That wasn't Ron, it was the real guard."
"So Ron is okay?" she cried so loudly that he covered her mouth and reminded her to be quiet.
"He's fine, Hermione. He just misses you." Hermione grabbed Harry's face in her hands and started kissing every inch of it. Harry wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her hard, never wanting to let her go.
"I can't believe you're here," she cried again.
"But I am, and I will never leave you again."
"I had a dream, that you were here and now you are!" she sobbed. Harry flinched; he didn't want to know about that dream. He didn't want to think about what Draco had done to get Hermione to say his name. Harry kissed her hard on the lips, the feel of her lips against his again after more than two months was indescribable. It was as if he'd come alive again for the first time.
"Oh, Harry," she mumbled into his lips. They backed towards the bed and fell into it.
Harry pulled them up to a sitting position again.
"Malfoy told me about…you know, the baby." He nodded towards her stomach. She looked hesitant. "I'm really happy about it!" he assured her and she smiled.
"But I'm so scared that she will find out!" she confessed.
"I will not let anything happen to you!"
"Oh, Harry, you shouldn't have come. This is what she wanted, to draw you here. I will throw myself from this window if I'm the reason something happens to you!" Hermione waved dramatically towards the large window.
Harry kissed her again. "Nothing will happen." The door opened and Draco entered quickly closing the door behind him. He saw them sitting on the bed, holding hands.
"It worked," he said and walked towards them. Hermione jumped off the bed and threw herself around Draco's neck. She kissed him many times on the cheek, Draco and Harry's eyes met briefly.
"Thank you, Draco," she whispered and he hugged her back with one arm. She pulled back and sat down on the bed next to Harry, who reached for her hand immediately.
"So what now?" Hermione asked.
"Now we wait," Harry answered.
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Draco retired to his room, a bit reluctant to leave Harry and Hermione alone. As soon as he had closed the door behind him Hermione ran over to Harry who was sitting on a chair by the desk. She sat down on his lap and kissed him excitedly.
"I still can't believe it!" she murmured.
"Believe it," he smiled and placed his hands on her hips. He lifted her up and then sat her down on the desk behind him. He attacked her neck fervently and she leaned back.
"Oh, Harry," she moaned and hearing her voice moaning his name made him even more excited.
"God, I need you," he whispered and Hermione turned her head back towards him. She looked into his eyes and
saw his desire.
"Take me," she leaned forward and started teasing his earlobe. Harry reached under her dress and pulled down her underwear. He grabbed her shoes and tossed them over his shoulders. He knew that they had much to catch up on, but the constant fear of losing, which he had carried over the last few months gave him to urgent need to feel her, have her, and touch her. Hermione fumbled with his zipper and soon he was out of his pants. Hermione steadied herself on the desk and Harry entered her. She cried out as he penetrated her, it had been so long. She bit down on his shoulder as he brought her over the edge. Harry leaned his sweaty forehead against the side of her head and panted hard.
"What's this? Can't you keep up? Lost your touch?" she teased while she breathed heavily.
"I haven't had a chance to practice these months," he answered.
"You'd better not have practiced!" she joked and kissed Harry again.
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Soon they were lying in the big bed. Hermione's head was resting on Harry's chest while he held her tight. "So will you have to go back out there and pretend to be that guard?" she asked.
"Yes, sometimes. But Draco has requested that I guard you at all times. He told Bellatrix that now that you believe he is a traitor you might try and jump."
"If you hadn't come, I might have," Hermione joked.
"That's not funny!" Harry said seriously.
"Sorry." Harry tilted her head and kissed her again.
"So tell me, is that door always open to Draco's room?" She nodded.
"And does he come in here a lot?" Hermione looked up at Harry and smiled.
"Are you jealous again?"
"Of Malfoy?" Harry let out a snort.
"Why not? He's kind of cute," Hermione teased.
"Oh, is he?" Harry pulled back and eyed her. Hermione started laughing. "Watch it, Granger," Harry said and started tickling her. Hermione ran her hand though his hair, her fingers tangled slightly in the sweaty mess.
"So we are having a baby, huh?" Harry whispered. She looked at him intently, trying to read his expression. "We're going to be a family," he added and smiled lovingly at her.
"I love you, Harry," Hermione answered and started tearing up.
"What's wrong?" he asked concerned.
"It's these damn hormones," she sobbed. She started bawling and buried her face in his armpit.
"Smelling my sweaty armpit won't make it better," Harry joked and stroked her hair. "You can cry all you want, Hermione, because now I'm here to comfort you. And I will be for as long as you'll have me."
"Stop!" she sobbed. "You're just making it worse!" Harry laughed again and Hermione slapped his arm.
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AN: Reviews = happiness! Happiness = faster uploads!! ;-)
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