CHAPTER 31: DRACO MALFOY CAN BE KIND OF SCARY SOMETIMES

Throwing open every door they found was not the greatest plan that they'd ever had. By the time they'd rushed through almost all of them, Ron's stomach had grumbled more times than Draco cared for, and he would have gladly punched the red haired Weasel in the face if not for Pansy's warning glare.

Draco growled to himself and kicked open another door, his nails digging into the flesh of his palms when it was empty once more. The ring on his finger didn't offer any more help.

Draco rushed ahead, turning the corner into a smaller corridor and his blood froze in his veins.

What was this feeling...this sick feeling in his stomach? He felt like someone was clenching his heart from within his body. He clasped at his chest and Pansy and Blaise, who'd followed after him, glanced at each other in horror.

The rings that Draco and Hermione were wearing, connected their lives together, if Draco was in this much pain, then Hermione...

"She's in there," Draco gasped out, pointing at a heavy wooden door. It was locked, and otherwise looked like any of the other doors that they'd seen, but neither Pansy nor Blaise argued against it or asked why.

"Potter, Weasely, we've found her. Get your asses here." Blaise called to the two men, who sped up. Harry and Ron ran over to them, and glanced at the locked door in confusion, "how do you know she's in here?" Harry asked, wiping sweat from his brow.

Blaise opened him mouth to explain, but Draco stood up suddenly, his face grim but ready for anything, "shut the hell up Potter," he muttered before yelling "BOMBARDA."

The door blew open and the lot of them rushed in, ready for anything.

However, whatever they had been expecting, this was not it.

Not only did the door not lead to a room, but the sight that met them left all of them dumbfounded. It led to a forest, and by the darkness around them, Draco assumed that this was part of the Forbidden Forest that wasn't as well known to everyone.

Draco turned around and observed the solitary standing door in the middle of the forest. It was completely disconnected from Hogwarts itself, but through it, he could see the hallway of the dungeons they'd been in before.

This was strong magic, and Draco felt his heart beat faster in his chest. Where was Hermione?

Fortunately, it appeared as though whoever had taken Hermione through here, had been here quite a lot. Through the knee high grass, they could all make out a downtrodden pathway of sorts that curved into the dark trees ahead, like an ominous sign begging them to walk in.

"What the hell kind of a place is this? Does this mean we're not that far from Hogwarts?" Blaise asked, testing the ground with his feet like he was afraid that it would swallow him whole.

"No, we're pretty far from Hogwarts, but this is definitely part of the Forbidden Forest...why would anyone want to bring Hermione here?" Harry asked, looking around themselves.

"Who the hell cares? Just help me find her," Draco scowled, before heading into the forest, following the well-trodden pathway. He could hear them all following behind him, and he clenched the wand in his hand tighter, aware that he was only one who was armed in this situation. When it came down to a fight, he would be the only one capable of doing anything, and he had to be prepared for it.

The pathway wasn't long, and in fact, within just a few minutes of following it, Draco found himself at a graveyard and froze at the sigh that met his eyes. The others, seeing his still form, fell mute and crept up next to him, their eyes widening and their mouth hanging open at what they were seeing too.

Harry had been pretty sure that he was going to have to face a gruesome sight, where he would lose Hermione for sure this time. The wizard behind the mask, whether it was Nott or not, was powerful and strong and his magic was no joke, and without a wand, and as injured as she was, Hermione didn't have a chance to fight against it.

Ron had expected something similar too, though he'd been hoping that the man who'd tortured and harmed all of them would be around still. Ron wanted to convey his feeling to the creep in the best way possible, physically and magically, through the various new curses he'd learnt throughout his time as an Auror.

Pansy had had her fingers crossed in a silent prayer to whatever gods or deities there were, that Hermione Granger would be alright. For the first time since she'd met the guy, Draco Malfoy had actually looked like he had genuine feeling for a woman that wasn't limited or one way. It was alarming and heart-warming to see her friend, for that was who he was now, growing as a person, so, as far as Pansy was concerned, if Nott or whoever he was, so much as caused a ripple in the relationship between her ship, she was going to torture the life out of him.

Her ship was already sailing, and there was no way that a man with a creepy mask was going to ruin its journey.

Blaise, on the other hand, was incredibly and quite outrageously, hungry. His stomach seemed like it wanted to wage war on anything that moved and though the gruesome sight that met his eyes made him want to throw up, he was also tempted to grab some of the wild mushrooms growing by his feet and eat them raw.

But the look on Draco's face kept them all still and silent and waiting. Right now, it was up to Draco to decide what they were going to do, and it was pretty obvious that if anything didn't go his way, they were all screwed.

Draco felt like his body was being slowly and carefully torn to pieces. Everything hurt. His life was surely cursed. He'd lost his freedom, his parents, his friends, and now he was losing his love.

Hermione was knelt on the ground in front of a gravestone with no marking or name, her arm was outstretched in front of her, and as Draco watched in horror, drops of her blood fell onto the ground where a pool of the liquid had formed, bubbling and frothing like it was being heated from underground. Her face was pale and her form was shaking, and her eyes glassy and still, like she was under a spell and unable to move or do anything about the position she was in, and the bruises that he could see on her now seemed more prominent and painful than before.

"Draco..." Pansy's voice faded as she gulped in slight fear at the look on his face.

"I see the rest of you decided to join us after all...and here I was going to let you all go in exchange for poor little Hermione's sacrifice! I guess you can all die together in the end anyway!" The masked man appeared from the shadows of the forest, standing in front of Hermione like he was making sure that they wouldn't be able to interrupt whatever was going on.

"Theodore Nott! It's you, right? You're Theodore Nott? Why are you doing this? What are you doing with Hermione?" Harry cried out, taking a step towards the two of them, his jaw clenched in anger.

The man laughed, and Draco felt his rage rise, his blood rushing through his veins so fast that he felt like the world was slowing around him. "Does it matter who I am? What matters more, Harry Potter, is that soon, the friend you betrayed and chased around the world for two years, is going to die, and from her death, shall rise up what you all took from me!"

All too suddenly, Draco began to understand what was happening, and it filled him with such dread and horror, that for a moment, he couldn't breathe.

The madman, whether he was Nott was still debatable, was using Hermione's blood and lineage and her connection to the Resurrection stone, to bring someone back to life. Everything that had happened to Granger over the two years, all the people she'd lost and such, had all been for this moment, were the psychopath would drain the life out of her to resurrect someone else.

He was going to take Hermione's life for the life of whoever was buried in that grave.

"You're a smart man, Malfoy, that much credit I give to you. You realise, don't you? What I am doing? With the blood of the most powerful and influential and pure families in my grasp, you five, and the final ingredient- a sacrifice worth my brother's life, I can bring him back! You and your world took him away from me, but now I can have him back!" The masked man cried out, laughing manically as Hermione suddenly gasped like she'd been electrocuted and fell sideways, her form still and pale, like she was...

"Theo doesn't have any siblings." Blaise whispered to no one in particular, his face grim and worried and his body inching towards Hermione. He had no magic at hand and no wand, but he wanted to help her. If Hermione died...Draco would...Draco would...

"You took everything from me! You all, with your Pureblood ways! You took my family and my friends and my freedom and then you took my brother too! Your stupid war took everything from me! My brother, killed and left like nothing! You're the one who gave him false hope and led him to the front lines! You killed him!" The man threw a spell so fast that Draco barely had time to react, throwing up a shield in time to protect himself, and watching as Ron Weasely was thrown back against and tree violently and crumpled to the ground, unmoving. Harry rushed to his side, scowling when he realised that his best friend was unconscious.

The masked man laughed again, "you shield yourself but leave your allies to be wounded! You selfish, unchanging, Death Eater! I'm going to kill every single one of you, but you Malfoy, I'm going to let you live with the guilt of their deaths for the rest of your life. I'm going to rip the life from all those you care about and leave you to rot in the prison of life!"

To everyone shock and confusion, Draco Malfoy began to laugh.

.*.

Ginny snuck around the reporters and the Aurors gathered around Hogwarts, thankful that Harry was terrible at hiding his invisibility cloak. Was is a universal thing for men to try and hide things in their sock drawers?

He'd hidden his engagement ring in there too, almost a year before he'd gotten the courage to ask her. It was kind of sad the Head of the Auror department was so bad at hiding things.

She froze as an Auror ran past her suddenly, his face pulled into a look of frustration, yelling at the others. "You still can't find them? People don't just disappear without a trace at Hogwarts! Track their magic, for Merlin's sake!" he yelled, running into a tent set up near the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Neville was probably in there, Ginny thought to herself as she crept past them all, flinching and running into another, smaller tent, as a bunch of reporters ran after him to get the scoop on the hunt for Hermione Granger.

Ginny tsked at her bad luck as she found herself in a powder room of sorts, and almost shrieked in surprise at finding the crumpled form of Rita Skeeter on the floor, a black eye forming on her face.

Why the hell was Rita Skeeter on the floor looking like someone had punched her lights out, up close and personal like? And why did this scene remind her of Hermione so much?

"Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter! You're telling me that you can't find any of them? This is ridiculous!" Someone muttered outside the tent. Ginny held her breath and crept closer to the voice, wanting to hear more.

"Well, its confirmed that Head Auror Potter definitely went inside, but he was separated from the search group and hasn't been spotted since. Maybe Granger and Malfoy..." Someone else replied, sounded just an angry and confused as the first.

"That's absurd! As capable as Hermione Granger may be, Potter is the Head Auror for a reason! They have to be here somewhere. I'll double check with the Minister, but extend the search to the Forest and the dungeon systems within the castle too. We have to find them! We can't let this go one for much longer!"

"Yes sir!"

The voices dispersed and Ginny gulped, her heart hammering in her chest. They couldn't find Harry? And Hermione and Malfoy were missing too? What was going on?

What was this sinking feeling in her stomach...like something terrible was happening? Rita Skeeter moaned from her position on the floor, and Ginny knocked her out with a silent spell, watching in satisfaction as the ridiculously dressed woman fell into a sleep once more. The last thing they needed was this woman floating around outside asking questions and causing chaos...but more importability...Harry...

Clenching her teeth, Ginny pinched herself to get her muddled mind together and took a deep breath in. Harry wasn't a child, and she wasn't his keeper.

The only thing she could do was have faith in him...and find Hermione.

.*.

Pansy and Blaise took a step back from Draco, glancing at each other in worry at his behaviour. This was certainly no time to be laughing, but the blond man was doubled over, laughing like he'd never heard anything so amusing in his life.

He took a deep breath suddenly and stood up, all sense of amusement gone, his eyes narrowed into slits that reflected the depth of hatred that was now ebbing off him. "I don't care." He stated with finality, like that was all he needed to say and everyone was just supposed to understand what he meant.

The not Nott hesitated, looking unsure on how to proceed, "you don't care about what?"

Draco snorted and ran a hand through his hair, his lips pulled into the smirk he was well known for, filled with pride and arrogance and the knowledge that he was great. He twirled the wand between his fingers teasingly, like he was having a casual conversation with someone.

"You see, you stupid, idiotic fool...I don't care about you or your brother. I don't care about Pothead or Weasel or Parkinson or even Blaise. I won't shield them from your magic if they get in the way, and they can curse me to the depths of hell if they want. I don't care about anyone else, do what you want with them," he stood straight and took a step towards the man, who visibly gulped and stumbled back, aware now, that the Draco Malfoy in front of him now was the one they'd all known at school.

"But if you so much as touch Hermione Granger, I'm going to rip out your intestine and use it to choke you to death."

Harry flinched at the threat in Draco's voice. He was well aware that to cast an unforgivable, you had to mean it. From the bottom of your very soul, you had to want to hurt another being, watch them suffer, and right now, Draco Malfoy sounded like he would cast the killing curse at any one of them, without second thought.

The man stumbled back further, his eyes widening. "You're that selfish? You would give up four lives to save this one?" He pointed at the unmoving body of Hermione and Draco found himself getting angrier.

"I would give up the lives of anyone for her life."

Draco moved so fast, that to most of the people gathered around him, he looked like a blur, but he himself was far too pissed to care or notice his sudden boost in energy as he crashed into the man and punched him straight in the face. The man's wand went flying, landing near Blaise who grabbed it and shot a flare into the sky immediately, knowing that Hermione would need medical attention as soon as possible.

The masked man laughed again, spitting out blood like it didn't bother him one bit. Hermione moaned in pain and Draco breathed in deeply, his jaw clenched tightly in murderous intent. Snarling in anger, Draco ripped the mask of the man's face, and cast a revealing spell too, wanting to know the identity of the thing he was going to kill.

Theodore Nott's face melted away and revealed a face that wasn't familiar to him. "You don't even know who I am, do you, you pompous ass?" the man muttered, spitting out blood.

Harry trudged his way over and closed his eyes at the face that he saw, his fingers clenched so hard into fists that his nails dug into the soft flesh of his palm and began to bleed.

Of all the people who could've done this...of all the monsters out there, Harry felt his heart break at the sight of Dennis Creevy on the ground, laughing at the idea of killing someone.

"Dennis...why would you do this?" Harry asked, finding it hard to breath as everything that had happened began to fall into place, "how could you kill all those people? Kingsley? Dean! Even muggles!"

How had the sweet young boy who used to follow him around with Colin, been twisted into this monster that killed so easily?

"Dennis?" Draco asked, glaring down at the man on the floor, "as in Creevy? The guy who was found dead first? You're that guy?"

Dennis laughed, his face pulling into a horrific smile of satisfaction as Pansy ran over to Hermione and began to examine her, her face grim. The brunette woman was still breathing, though her heart beat was getting slower and slower and further and further apart, like she really was dying. "C'mon Granger, don't leave us now. Draco needs you." Pansy muttered, turning Hermione over.

She ripped through the fabric of the cloak she was wearing, wrapping and bandaging the cut on Hermione's arm to stop any more blood from leaking.

"What does it matter who I am, Malfoy? You see, I don't care either! You can kill me if you want, but Hermione's going to die and my brother will live again. Who even cares about that pretend mudblood?" Dennis cried out, struggling against the weight that Draco put on his chest with his knee.

"Pretend mudblood?" Harry muttered to himself, but any chance of questioning that was lost as Draco snapped and grabbing Dennis by the collars, drag him to his feet and begin punching him.

"Never," Punch

"Ever," Punch

"Call," Punch

"Her," Punch

"A Mud blood," Punch, Punch

"Ever," Punch

"Again," Punch

The man crumpled to the ground, blood spurting out his nose and mouth. "Filthy waste of a human being. Don't even look at her!" In a final roar of fury, Draco kicked the man where it hurt the most. Dennis screamed out in pain, cursing them all as he struggled to breathe in, his body doubled over in as he gasped for air.

"Blaise!" Draco called, before turning his attention to Hermione.

Blaise ran over to Dennis, and turned him over so that his face was pressed to the ground and he couldn't move, casting a full body bind on the man so that he couldn't move, before sitting on top of him.

"Potter. Save her. Now. Do whatever you need to." Draco said as Harry took the wand from Blaise and nodded in determination. He began to cast very healing charm he knew, mending her broken bones and trying to ease the paint that she was obviously in as quickly and efficiently as possible. She would need the hospital, and a whole lot of blood replenishing potions, and though the exterior wounds seemed to be healing well, neither her colour nor her breathing improved.

The blood pool on the graveyard bubbled and Hermione paled even more, "it's too late! It's too late! Hermione will die and my brother will live!!!" Dennis laughed, his face still pressed against the ground. Blaise scowled and punched the man's face, shutting him up once more.

Draco gritted his teeth in anger, "consider yourself lucky to face death, dog, or you'd have lived the rest of your worthless life looking forward to me visiting your prison cell to break you into little pieces every single day."

This time, Dennis didn't say anything, his attention fixed on the grave instead. Draco glanced at the bubbling grave and then back at Hermione before tsking in anger. Light began to emit from the grave and just as a pale, shadowy figure of a young boy began to appear above the bubbling blood, Draco grabbed the wand from Harry and turning to the grave, cast a spell that turned the bubbling blood into nothingness.

"NO!!!!!" Dennis tried to claw his way to the shadowy figure who suddenly disappeared again, "no! Colin! Come back, please! Colin!" Blaise punched him again.

For a moment, there was utter silence, and then, with a gasp of surprise, Hermione suddenly sat up, coughing as she took in deep breaths of air, her face flushing red as she began to breathe deeply, her shoulders heaving.

"Granger!" Draco grabbed and pulled her close to him, hugging her tightly as she struggled to breathe in his embrace. "Draco...I can't breathe!" she managed to whisper out.

Draco held her at arm's length, his grey eyes softening slightly as her still pale form, "I thought...I thought I'd lost you."

She closed her eyed, just breathing before she suddenly scrambled her to feet, "Dennis! Where's Dennis?" her knees almost buckled, but Draco held her up in time, his arms around her waist, holding her up. "Why? Why do you want to see him? He tried to kill you!" he asked her, nevertheless pointing at the man on the floor, whom Blaise was still sitting on.

Hermione shrugged out of Draco's arms, and stumbled over to the boy, Blaise got off him, but Dennis Creevy didn't move, his face pale and his eyes overflowing with tears, his arms outstretched towards the grave of his older brother.

She knelt beside him, her eyes full of sorrow and she wiped away his tears, "your brother was young, but he was brave. He fought beside the Order as a proud Wizard of Hogwarts, and he will never be forgotten." She told him, her voice barely above a whisper, "Dennis...Dennis, I'm sorry for not being able to protect Colin from what happened. I'm sorry you lost your brother, and I'm sorry I never realised how much you were hurting before." She whispered to him, tears brimming in her own eyes.

Dennis didn't move, but he glanced at her for a moment, surprised at the tears she was shedding before he turned his face away from her, his form defeated. It didn't matter what she said anymore, his only chance of seeing his brother again was gone. That spell would never work again.

Hermione sighed and moved away from him, going back to Draco as Harry and Ron took that as a cue to bind the young man. Just then, the other Aurors and the officials from the Ministry decided to turn up, scrambling through the forest, they surrounded Hermione and Draco, wands drawn, only to hesitate at the fact that Harry Potter wasn't capturing her, but some other man, and Ronald Weasely and Pansy Parkinson were both somehow seemingly alive, and Blaise Zabini was there too.

Harry sighed, a headache growing as he shouted at his Aurors to stop being stupid and arrest Dennis Creevy. There was chaos for a while, but soon enough, Dennis Creevy was led away, Harry and Ron following behind them and explaining to the officials why they weren't arresting Hermione Granger.

Harry wanted nothing more than to speak to Hermione right now, but it wasn't the right time. Plus, what he had to say couldn't be rushed. An apology was the least of his worries.

Pansy dragged Blaise away too, knowing that they weren't needed right now. Hermione and Draco had been reunited, and as much as she wanted to stick around to see what was going to happen, they needed their space. She inclined her head at them both, before grabbing Blaise by the ear and taking him away, following the Aurors and officials.

They were all alone now.

Hermione turned to face Draco. He was watching her intently, his eyes narrowed in anger, his lips set in a straight line, his fist clenched at his sides.

She had tear stains on her cheeks and blood on her lips. Her fingers were twitching, a well-known after effect of the torture curse. Her hair had come out of her ponytail and was falling around her like a broken halo. He'd never seen her look more wounded than now. Even during the war, she'd retained her impossible glow, but now, she looked like any second, she would slip into a deep sleep that she wouldn't be able to wake from.

And it broke his heart.

"You sent me away," he whispered slowly, needing to understand.

Hermione looked at the ground, "I didn't want you to get hurt."

"I wouldn't have gotten hurt!" he yelled, his fists clenching at his sides, "none of us would've been hurt if I'd stayed with you! You promised me forever, Hermione... then you sent me away." He wanted to yell at her, scream at her for doing something so stupid, but couldn't bring himself to do so.

She looked away.

He clenched his teeth. "Why? Why would you send me away? Why go through so much pain?"

She huffed, glancing at him like he was being ridiculous, "pain? Pain? This," she pointed to her broken body, "this," she wiped the blood from her face and clenched her fingers into a fist, "this is nothing! Nothing compared to how I would've felt if I saw you going through this."

Tears fell from her eyes, but she wiped them away hastily, "I could never watch you get hurt Draco, because that would hurt me more than any number of broken ribs or curses."

Draco felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. He hugged her gently, kissing her hair softly, "how are you so perfect Granger?" he whispered. She laughed at that, the most beautiful sound he'd heard in his life.

"Forever and ever, my true love," she whispered to him.

Draco finally smiled.