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They All Taste the Same	By : pomerann Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 22348 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All characters, concepts and places in the Harry Potter world belong to J.K. Rowling. i make no profit from this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Chapter 10 - Alternate ending

Draco was terrified.

Hermione was naked, covered with blood, hugging her knees, and rocking back and forth on the floor. Crouched in front of her and trying to calm her down, he was at a complete loss of what to do. She didn’t appear to hear anything he was saying. Her muttered half sentences gave no indication that she was listening to him. If anything, his attempts to get through to her were making her more upset.

“We… We… I can’t believe we did that! I can’t believe — oh! Draco! We’re evil! Vile!” she hiccuped and started sobbing again.

He clutched her upper arms, trying to steady her and still her rocking. He tried to keep the panic out of his voice, but it rose in tenor nonetheless, foiling his attempts to soothe her. “Hermione, Hermione. Listen to me. There was too much blood. I had no control either.”

She looked up and he felt ice flood his veins at the slightly crazed look in her eyes. Her words came out in bursts as she hyperventilated. “He wa-was my first friend! And we f-fed from him! We killed him! And… And… I knew what I was doing! And, oh God! We, we—” Unable to continue her sentence, she sucked in a shuddering breath and continued to rock back and forth.

He didn’t know what to do; he was losing her. In a moment of sheer desperation, he backhanded her.

Shocked, she looked up at him—hurt but coherent. “This is what we are, Hermione. Accept it.”

Her mouth was open and her eyes swiveled to stare at Longbottom’s violated body.

“Hermione, look at me.” She continued gaping, and Draco turned her around so that the corpse was behind her. “Look at me.” She stared into his eyes, mouth still slightly open.

“He’s not the only one of the Order that died tonight, and there will be more. It was an accident. Friendly fire. That’s happened to the Order before, hasn’t it?”

She didn’t answer, but a weak whimper left her mouth. "Parvati."

"What?" he asked, confused. Petrified that he would lose her attention again, he tried a different tack.

“Most of the Order will be leaving tonight unharmed, even against the odds they’re facing. Do you know why?”

When she didn’t answer, he grasped her shoulders and shook her gently, saying, “Do you?” She whimpered again.

“Because of you, Hermione. You’re intelligent, you’re pragmatic, and you took an opportunity when it presented itself, even against my will. You knew we’d be an incredible weapon, but underestimated how hard we would be to control. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be here now, and the Order wouldn’t be winning. Do you hear me?”

He shook her again, less gently this time.

“Do you?” he raised his voice, near panicking himself.

“Yes, yes!” she said, still crying.

“Hermione, it’s war. People die. But you already know this! You’re an excellent strategist! I’ve seen it! I’ve been on the opposing side! You know what needs to be done, and you do it! Gods, Hermione! Your side is winning! Are you going to give up now?”

Don’tgiveupdon’tgiveupdon’tgive- Please!

She took a heaving breath and looked up at him. Her eyes were sad, yes, but sharp. Lucid. His muscles relaxed as relief spread through his entire body at the sight of her return to normalcy.

“Draco,” she asked in a small voice, “Have you ever-?”

“Goyle,” he said, cutting her off.

He saw realization light up her eyes and she gasped. “I didn’t know! You never said anything! You seemed…”

“I told you. I accept what I am. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I wasn’t as upset as I would have been had we been as close as we had been back in school. He…” Draco swallowed, “despised me after I changed. And, well, that was the night I got you. I’ve never attacked anyone that I really loved… not until you.”

She smiled weakly and then dropped her head into her hands.

Not wanting her to slip away from him again, Draco pulled her up to a stand, and wiped away her tears, smearing blood on her face in the process. He cupped her cheek and said in an even voice, “Accept what you are. Accept it, and stay away from those you love. Come on, it’s not over yet. We can have this conversation another time.”

She seemed hesitant to leave and he pressed on. “For every one of them that we ki… incapacitate, we’re bringing the end of this war sooner and reducing the casualties your friends will suffer.”

She looked up at him pleadingly. “No, it’s not that. Please! We can’t… we can’t leave him like that.”

He glanced over her shoulder at Longbottom’s corpse on the floor, and then into her horrified eyes. His voice lowered. “I’ll take care of it. Wait for me in the next room.”

“Thanks,” she whispered.

ooooooooooooooooo

Draco and Hermione, worn out a bit emotionally but otherwise unscathed, continued in much the same fashion. Running from room to room, stunning Death Eaters, and evading members of the Order as best they could. Keeping away from the Order was usually easy, since the rotting stench of garlic warned them of their proximity.

After some time of traversing empty rooms, they ran into Lupin, who had given them an impressed nod of approval, and Tonks, who was half in shock with the success of the operation.

“Wait,” Hermione called out as they turned to leave so as not to be in the presence of the two vampires.

Lupin and Tonks stopped and turned around.

“You sure?” Lupin asked, eyes narrowed.

She nodded. They had all but engorged themselves just a few minutes ago.

“How many… who else has died?”

“Who did you see dead?” Lupin asked quickly, brow furrowed in worry.

Hermione felt herself tear up. She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

“Longbottom,” Draco answered for her and squeezed her hand lightly.

She swallowed. What would she do without him?

“Neville?” Tonks repeated, dismayed. “We didn’t know! Where did you see him? They haven’t found him yet.”

“Back in the east corridor towards the armaments room,” Draco answered again for her.

“Oh, Hermione,” Tonks said as she finally noticed the horror-struck on Hermione’s face. “I know that you two were close. But we’re winning! His death wouldn’t be for nothing. And we’ll get the bastards who killed him. We will.”

Gods! Hermione sucked in a shuddering breath. She had to keep it together. But she had to tell them. She had to.

Draco was rubbing circles on the underside of her wrist, but she could tell that he was tensing up, afraid for her.

“Who else?” she asked, her voice scratchy.

“Kingsley Shacklebolt, Susan Bones, Seamus Finnegan and Dennis Creevey,” Lupin answered.

“Dennis Creevey?” Hermione said in shock, finally able to get control of her voice. “But he’s a mediwizard! He just takes the dead and injured away!”

Lupin nodded at her grimly. “Lavender said they were attacked while he and Colin were carrying her out.”

“Lavender’s injured?”

Tonks answered this time. “She’s got a broken leg and some spell injured her spine.”

She gasped. “Her spine?”

Tonks nodded gravely. “Hers is the most serious injury. Madam Pomfrey should be able to mend the rest.”

Hermione took a deep breath and gazed up at the two. They had to know. “About Neville…”

Hermione felt a slight tug on her arm. She looked to Draco and saw him shake his head.

“We’ll find him,” Lupin answered. “Don’t worry.”

With a wave, they went off to another room.

Hermione turned to Draco, her lips trembling.

“I need to tell them!” she protested.

Tenderly, he placed a hand on either side of her face. “Now is not the time,” he whispered. “They’ll figure it out anyway when they find his body. Let’s finish this.”

She closed her eyes and nodded, and they moved on.

After the majority of the Death Eaters had been defeated, Hermione and Draco finally arrived at a circular room, which had multiple doors—much as the Department of Mysteries had. Draco frowned in thought.

“What is it?” Hermione asked.

“A trap. It wasn’t like this when I was here before.”

Hermione waved her hand, sensing the ebb and flow of the magic around her, and pointed to the door that appeared to be the one they had just entered from.

“That one.”

Draco slowly approached and rested his fingertips on the handle. “Potter and Weasley. They’re already there, and they’re surrounded.”

Her eyes widened. “Hurry! They might be-“

He turned to Hermione and the expression on his face stopped her mid sentence. His whole demeanour had suddenly changed. His eyes were worried, sad. He seemed reluctant to enter and… maybe afraid? She didn’t understand why. Was he nervous?

“These will be the best of the Dark Lord’s Death Eaters,” Draco explained. She could detect a slight tremor in his voice. He was definitely agitated about something. “It’s his inner circle. Intelligent, trained, and experienced.” He probed the door with his fingers. “It’s… We can’t walk through this time. They know what we’ve been doing.”

Troubled. He looked troubled. Indecisive maybe? But they had to get in! Who knew what was going on in there?

“Draco,” she said, approaching him and feeling slightly panicked. “We have to go in now. They’re alone!”

Slowly, he raised his eyes to hers. “By now, they know what we are and what we’re capable of. They’ll be ready for us. We should wait for back-up.” And he shot red sparks down the hall so that the Order would know where to follow.

What was wrong with him? They could take out a room of twenty in several seconds.

“Draco, we are the back-up!” Was he nervous about seeing Voldemort? He wasn’t afraid of death, she knew that much. And neither was she. What had gotten into him?

As she prepared to blast open the door, he pulled her back.

His voice became husky. “Hermione, wait.”

She swallowed at the seriousness in his tone and looked up at him. He glanced at the door and then back down at her. He rested his hand on the nape of her neck, not quite ready to release her, and stroked her collarbone with his thumb. The look on his face was resigned.

He slid his hand to the nape of her neck and then fisted her hair possessively. “You’re strong.”

She stared up at him, bewildered. He was stating it like a fact, as much to reassure her as he was himself. His eyes were loving, admiring, caring. She was going to ask him what he meant, when two agonized screams rang out from behind the door.

Her stomach dropped at the sound of her best friends being tortured. She had to get to them now. She broke away from him and held her hand up to the door, summoning her magic.

His eyes widened and he struggled to turn her towards him. “Hermione, wait! You’re not think-”

She shrugged him off, Harry and Ron’s screams were causing her adrenaline to run on overdrive. “Kill the snake!” she ordered him.

“Hermione!” he shouted as she blasted the door open. “No!”

Nearly twenty Death Eaters were standing in a circle with Voldemort at the head, laughing. Harry and Ron were in the middle, writhing on the floor in pain. In a flash, she erected a shield between them and the curses being aimed at them, healed their wounds and pulled them to their feet.

She looked for Draco, who was on the other side of the room, hands bloody, and standing over torn pieces of Nagini’s body. He wasn’t looking at her though, he was looking directly at Ron, who was nodding, wide-eyed. Everything happened so quickly, she didn’t have time to process what he was doing or why.

The Death Eaters all raised their wands to the ceiling and chanted as one, their voices deafening.

“Lumos sol!”

Her eyes widened in fear and she leapt to attack them, knowing she would never be able to fell them all before the spell started. But Draco hurled himself at her, pinning her to the ground and shielding her with his body. A blinding light filled the room and she erupted in flames. It hurt so much, she couldn’t summon the magic necessary to protect herself.

Just as suddenly, she was enveloped in darkness, but she and Draco were still shrieking in pain, clinging to each other while they burned.
- 9
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- 11
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They All Taste the Same