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The Paths We Take	By : Luckycharms Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 18436 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That right goes to the AMAZING JK Rowling. No profit is made off this story. Shout out to Scorpia11 for being my awesome Beta!!

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
A/N: Sooo, you’re getting this chapter early because I won’t be home to post it later tonight so I hope you are all okay with that…I’m guessing you will be haha! Anyway, this chapter does have a song for it, or at least one that had inspired me and every time I hear it, I think of scenes in this chapter that are about to happen. If you would like to envision what I was imagining, then take a listen, preferably after you have read the chapter as it plays better when things are in ‘slow motion’ lol. If not, totally understandable. Though I will say that without the song, I wouldn’t have come up with this chapter or era for that matter so a huge thanks to the movie Sucker Punch for introducing me to this version and for rousing my brain to think of Salem and what to do in it.
Song: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)- Emily Browning version

“You're on your own now
We won't save you,
Your rescue squad
Is too exhausted”
Army of Me- Bjork

Chapter 13- Sweet Dreams
Friday, May 7^th, 1999
“I-is he-he dead?” Narcissa questioned as she stood above Harry who had just yelled out in excruciating pain once again when his hip popped back into place and he lay motionless on the Library floor. “Oh, Gods! Is my son dead?” she wailed as she fell to her knees with a hand clasped against her chest.
Elizabeth quickly embraced the Slytherin witch as Molly and the five students watched Thorfinn check the Chosen One for a pulse. The seconds felt like days as everyone waited, stared, and prayed to any God that would listen, with anxiety filling their hearts and minds. Rowle pressed two of his fingers against Harry’s jugular but before he could say if the Golden Boy was alive or not, the remaining wounds covering the Gryffindor’s body, began to heal. He then noticed the faint pulse beating in The-Boy-Who-Liveds’ neck was strengthening and quickly rolled him onto his back before picking him up bridal style.
Pansy and Luna realized then that Harry was indeed alive and rushed to clear the books and papers off the desk the former Death Eater was making his way to, before he laid Harry down.
“Molly! Do you still have Calming Draughts in your bag?” Thorfinn inquired while removing Harry’s glasses, that had somehow managed to stay on through his entire ordeal.
“Yes!”
“Good! Grab them and bring them here!” Rowle demanded as he looked down at the color slowly returning to the Chosen Ones’ complexion. “I have a strong feeling he is going to need them when he wakes up.”
Molly didn’t hesitate to remove herself from where she stood frozen and reached into her bag for the Draughts that were requested of her. Though as soon as she attained the small vials, Harry awoke in a panic and began flailing about on the table. Ron quickly jumped in to help Thorfinn pin Harry to the table, as he was thrashing about and screaming wildly while tears slid down his face.
“GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME!” he roared while trying to fight Rowle. “I DID NOTHING WRONG! I AM NO WITCH!”
“Molly, the Draughts! Now!”
The redhead raced over with two vials in her hands. Popping the stopper off of one, she reluctantly poured the potion down Harry’s throat as Ron and Thorfinn held the Chosen One firmly to the table. The former Death Eater than pulled Harry into a hug as the raven-haired boy began to weep.
“You’re okay, Potter” he shushed calmly while looking up to Molly before glancing to Narcissa who breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that if Harry was okay then so was Draco. “It’s going to be alright, boy. You’re okay.”
Harry continued to sob into the ex-Death Eaters chest, who was rocking him side to side, before Rowle urged the mother Weasley to give him another potion as the first one clearly wasn’t strong enough. She did as she was told, and after a few seconds Harry finally stilled, allowing his breathing to revert back to normal. Releasing his hold before looking the Gryffindor Prince over to make sure all his wounds were healed, Thorfinn gazed into Harry’s eyes and asked him what he had seen.
However, the boy simply stared unseeingly through him as Pansy held tightly to his hand. Theo noticed the action but didn’t say a word as his heart broke for not only his schoolmate, who was undergoing eminence misery because of him, but for himself as well as his world came crashing down around him.
“Is…is Draco…is he alright?” Narcissa pleaded while Elizabeth warily watched her, hoping she would be okay.
Silence engulfed the room as Harry continued to stare ahead of him, processing the entire night he had gone through, that was less than an hour to the people in the present. Narcissa opened her mouth to ask him again when she was suddenly cut off by his soft voice.
“No…” he spoke low, but his meaning was heard loud and clear.
“D-did he escape?”
“Is he going to be alright?”
“Where is he?”
“What happened?”
The questions from everyone in the room began to cause a headache to form in the young Gryffindors’ temples as they continued to bombard him, making him feel like he was being interrogated by the Wizengamot. But it wasn’t until he heard the eldest Malfoy, who had stayed silent during the inquiry as she waited in sorrow for him to answer, ask if Draco was dying, that the room instantly grew quiet once more.
“They’re going to hang him…He-he won’t even get a trial before hand…He’s going to hang and…and they just left…” he flickered his gaze to Narcissa who looked so broken that Harry wished he could lie to her; to tell her anything to make her feel better in hopes everything might work out in the end. However, he knew he couldn’t. The Malfoy witch deserved to know the truth…no matter how much it hurt. “They left him…alone…to die.”
“Who, Harry?” Ron questioned with worry dripping from him quivering lip. “Who left him?”
But Harry simply gazed down at his hands as he thought about the emotions he had felt radiating from the Slytherins body, before incoherently mumbling as if no one had just spoken to him.
“Where the hell was everyone…?” he asked aloud, though more to himself than anyone else, before looking up to Thorfinn still standing to the side of him. “Where the hell was Hermione?”
Salem, August 1^st, 1692
“Is this how it’s supposed to look?” Ginny inquired as she stirred the gun powder Joseph had obtained for the group, with sugar over low heat like Hermione had instructed.
They were all working on very little sleep as they had stayed up most of the night preparing a soundproof plan to save Draco. Ginny wanted to be absolutely certain she had heard her friend correctly, so she didn’t ruin the gunpowder the brunette father had stolen from a few neighbors as they slept in their homes; careful not to take too much to be noticeable from each house.
The curly-haired witch set the straw she had transfigured from hay down on to the table and walked over to the fireplace in the kitchen to check on the redheads’ work. Blaise continued to stuff converted matches into a few straws as Julia and Joseph excitedly made pull rings with strikers. The pair had never seen half of the objects splayed out in front of them, but once Hermione had showed them what to do with each item, they readily accepted the task of learning.
“Just a little longer, Gin. You want to caramelize the sugar and only stop when the mixture is liquefied.”
“Got it!”
Hermione then summoned six glass cylinder bottles that laid on the counter and began preparing them with the melted liquid. Sticking transfigured pens into each one, she charmed the bottles to cool so they didn’t have to wait an hour for the mixture to set. Once everything was ready, the guys began to add the strikers and round metal pull pins to the top of each straw, secured with paperclips and rubber bands, before the girls replaced the pens with the makeshift fuse and taped the containers closed; only leaving a small hole at the top to protect their hands from the heat when the smoke bomb would go off.
“These are amazing, Buttercup!” Blaise exclaimed with a wide grin as he examined one of the containers. “Where did you learn to make these?”
“A muggle boy, actually” Hermione replied with flushed cheeks. “We uh-we dated over the summer after Ron and I broke up and he was very into science. Him and his friends used to make them, usually with color though, to entertain children around my parents’ neighborhood.”
“They’re bloody brilliant!”
Hermione smirked as she began to clean up the kitchen with a flick of her wand while thinking about the boy she had lost her virginity to, just a year ago. It wasn’t the best sex she had ever had with him and although he was very sweet and extremely kind, he wasn’t the gentlest when it came to de-flowering her. They had tried a few times afterwards, but she was always left unsatisfied and resorted to pleasuring herself once he was finished. They didn’t last long after that, not that they would have as she had decided to go back to Hogwarts to finish her schooling and told him she was going to some college in Germany in order to break it off with him. He took the news rather well and both chose to remain friends. However, the last letter she’d received from her parents had informed her that he’d found himself a new girlfriend he was over the moon in love with.
She was happy for him but the idea of being alone now settled in the pit of her stomach and she wished she could take back the fight she had with Draco. She knew she kept pushing him away because of fear and logic, and in the end all it did was make her feel exceptionally empty. So. She promised herself right then and there that once they saved the Prince from impending death, she would follow Ginny’s advice and listen to her heart…rather than her head. And her heart was telling her it wanted him.
“So…” Ginny began, cutting through the forlorn thoughts of the Gryffindor Princess as she began handing out two smoke bombs a piece to Blaise and Hermione, “who’s going to apparate him out? It has to be someone who landed near him when we arrived.”
“I’ll do it” Blaise claimed as he rolled up his sleeves to his elbows.
“You can’t…” the bookworm stated, knowing the Italian spawned the furthest away. “You both arrived about a half a mile from us…I was only a few meters from him. I have to be the one to do it.”
“Are you sure, Mione?” Ginny inquired in concern.
“I’m sure. Plus, you’re supposed to be the distraction, Gin. And seeing as I now have to grab Draco, I can’t ride Isabel. We need to rethink our plan a bit.”
“Do you need thy help?” Joseph questioned while shifting from foot to foot nervously.
Biting her lower lip as she thought of a new plan, Hermione glanced to the floor as an idea came to her.
“No, we need you here in case we have to come back. Julia can still meet us with Isaiah and Isabel at the jail, Ginny, you can still be the distraction carrying the faux body and Blaise…you take Isabel and help confuse people once the smoke bombs go off” she stipulated as she paced the length of the kitchen table. “Once the path is clear and everyone is looking away, I’ll grab Draco and apparate him back to the woods. We don’t know his condition, just that he was hit a few times before being captured, so for all we know he could be dazed. We’ll have to be quick. After you evade the guards, you both can meet me where we landed, and we can go from there. Sound good?”
Everyone nodded in agreement as Joseph looked out the kitchen window and into the greyed-out town when he heard sounds of people happily walking past his house.
“They be headin to Proctor’s Ledge…you need to get goin” the brunette muggle claimed despondently as the rain clouds above them slowly opened up; drizzling just enough that the group could now wear hooded cloaks without drawing attention. “They will be movin him soon.”
After collecting everything needed to save the blonde Prince, who they had no idea was in much worse condition then they thought, Hermione, Blaise, and Ginny began to say their goodbyes to Joseph before exiting the house.
“I don’t-I don’t know how we can ever thank you for helping us…” the Golden Girl began as she pulled Joseph into a hug before slowly backing up. “I know we threw a lot of information on you that we probably shouldn’t have-”
“My daughter and I’s lips are sealed, Hermione Granger. God as thy witness I promise you, we will never speak of what you have taught us nor what you have shown us.”
“We know…” she bit her bottom lip as she smiled softly. “But…thank you.”
“You are most welcome. And thank ye…for helping thee right thy path with the Lord and see that there be good in this world” he grinned before looking to Blaise who reached out to shake his hand. However, when he turned to Ginny who pulled him in a warm hug, Joseph gulped as he took in her wondrous scent. “I…I-” he began to mumble when she pulled away from him and Hermione and Blaise moved to stand on the front porch. “Uh…I-I wish you would stay…Julia h-has taken a likin to y-you…” he claimed tenderly.
“She’s a sweet girl” Ginny shrugged as she glanced to the floor for a brief moment. “You tell her I said that, okay?”
“I shall…” the redhead turned to leave but was suddenly pulled back and found herself staring deep into the brunettes’ delicate brown eyes. “If-if things were different…” he began while tucking a stray hair affectionately behind her ear, making her freeze in confusion. “If you could stay…a-and we had more time to-to get to know each other…could…could you ever see us together? I-I know you are not from this time but…you are thee only woman who has stirred…somethin inside of thee since thy wife’s passin. I never knew if I could love again but you, Ginny Weasley, you have found a way into thy heart and I cannot shake you.”
Too stunned to move and too shocked to breath, Ginny stared wide eyed at Joseph, completely dumbfounded. She knew the man had liked her more than her friends, but never did she think he fancied her as a future wife.
“I-I-I-I…” she stuttered as Hermione and Blaise waited impatiently outside for her. “You-you’re kind, Joseph a-and very handsome, but…I-I already belong to another.” His lips fell to a frown and the redhead instantly felt terrible for turning him down. “Please understand…” she pleaded while taking one of his hands into both of her own. “You deserve someone from your own time, someone more fitting to be a wife a-and a mother. I’m not ready f-for that sort of commitment. I’m still trying to figure myself out. Though, I know your God has someone waiting for you and I hope…I hope that being able to open your heart as you have now, will help you in your journey to find her.” She quickly leaned in and placed a gentle kiss upon his cheek before stepping back and releasing his hand. “You will find her, Joseph…I know you will.”
Smiling softly, Ginny lifted the hood to her dark brown cloak and bowed her head before walking away; leaving a brokenhearted Joseph, to carefully think over her words as he watched the three magical people drift out of his life.
As the trio covertly made their way through the wet town, avoiding as many people as they could, they paused halfway to the jail when a roar of laughter was heard a few blocks ahead of them. Quickly making their way forward, so they could see what had caught everyone’s attention, the three wizards nearly stumbled at the sight before them as their breaths caught in their throats. Hermione unconsciously grabbed Ginny’s’ arm as tears began to brew in her soft brown eyes. None of them could look away as Draco knelt awkwardly on a wooden cart, pulled by a single brown horse, with his head hung low while the men surrounding him assessed a broken wheel on the topless wagon.
They could see obvious signs of wounds covering his pale bare torso as blood mixed with saliva, dripped from his mouth and his blonde hair lay limp in front of his face. His breathing was ragged, and it was apparent he couldn’t see them even if he wanted to. However, the sound of giggling and shushing pulled the stunned group from their dismayed gazes to see five girls running into an alley to get a better look at the wizard that was about to be hung.
A dangerous mixture of sadness, disgust, fear, and anger filled Hermione’s mind and before Ginny or Blaise could stop her, she stormed over to the narrow passage with her wand at the ready. The five adolescents continued to snicker without realizing a very pissed off witch, was following them. However, their snickering was sort lived and they suddenly found themselves falling to the ground as they ran into an invisible force. Startled from the impact, they scrambled to their feet and looked around. Though it wasn’t until Betty Parris, the youngest of the group, turned around to see an enraged Hermione with a long stick held out in front of her.
Her small yelp caused the remaining four girls to turn in surprise and gasp when both Ginny and Blaise stepped up next to the heavily breathing brunette. Although, none of them knew the witch only wanted one of them. They all backed away slowly but couldn’t run as their backs pressed up against the unseen wall behind them. Nevertheless, they all feared for their lives.
“WITCH! WITCH!” Mercy Lewis shouted. However, Blaise quickly flicked his wrist, silencing the girl before pinning all but Ann Putnam against the barricade.
“I knew it! I knew you be a witch, just like that filth, Draco Malfoy!” Ann screamed with a tight scowl resting on her pretty little face.
“Filth?” the bookworm questioned in sarcasm. “Wasn’t it just last night you were dying to be his new bride…?”
“That was before I saw thee Devil’s work conjured by his hand! I thought I was doin you a favor by turnin him in, but you are just the same! You’re a witch and I’m tellin! WITCH! Satan’s witch, Satan’s witch, Satan’s wit-”
Yet the raven-haired youth never finish her chant as Ginny stormed up to her and solidly punched her in the face, forcing her to the ground as tears filled her eyes and blood pooled from of her nose.
“You should be bloody grateful you turned Draco in instead of Hermione!” the red-headed Gryffindor snarled. “Because if you had accused her before trying to out us all, he would have killed you and this pathetic excuse for a village, instantly, you daft little shite! You’re lucky I don’t kill you now!” Ann scrambled backwards as she tried to get away from Ginny, but the redhead was dead set on scaring the girl with every inch of her being. “He is my friend! The one who taught me how to punch; taught me to defend myself! The one who protected me when I didn’t even think I needed him! You will pay for what you have done, you worthless wench!”
Blaise looked back at his girl with a raised brow as Hermione momentarily stared at her friend in confusion. Though she never once thought that the hatred spewing from her best friends’ lips was unwarranted and scoffed lightly in amusement. But as the curly-haired witch raised her wand to obliviate the girl, two men who had heard the screams of the child, came running into the alleyway. Although they stopped short when they saw Ann on the ground and two women with sticks in their hands hovering over her.
But before either man could take a step forward, Hermione picked Ann up from the ground and stood behind her with her wand pressing up against the neck of the ‘afflicted’ accuser. She didn’t know who the men were, but she knew she needed to put the wretched child between them before she could erase the memories of every muggle surrounding her and her friends.
“You came back…” the oldest man with a dark-grey overgrown beard claimed when he recognized the three students before him. “You must be most brave to return…Everyone be lookin for you, but it seems we shall gain the reward of capturin thee…”
“Stay back!” Ginny yelled while training her Yew wood wand in front of her. “Hermione, obliviate them” she whispered, though it was loud enough for the men to hear.
“Hermione eh? Samuel, I do believe we found thee girl our prisoner was speaking of.”
“Do thy eyes deceive thee, John, or does this…little woman appear to be too small to kill us like that weak demon claimed?” Samuel chuckled. “Maybe we shall do to her what have done to her pathetic fiancé?”
“I do believe she would make the most blessed of screams as we whip her back and make her soil theeself as she cries out for mercy like that yellow-haired witch” John boasted, causing Hermione to tilt her head as she came to the understanding that these were the men responsible for hurting Draco, the ones Joseph had warned them all about.
“What-did you do-to him?” she questioned with narrow brows as her blood began to boil in animosity. She had never been so angry in her entire life, not even when Ron had left her and Harry during their hunt for Horcruxes, or even when Rita Skeeter told false tales about her. Though, before she decided to do anything, she wanted to hear exactly what the men before her did to the man she saw completely broken and battered just a few minutes ago. “What did you do?”
“What did we do not?” Samuel chortled as John crossed his arms in front of him and smirked mischievously.
“You want to know, little girl? I will tell thee.”
As John began to explain, cruelly, the punishment they bestowed upon the blonde Prince, something inside Hermione snapped as she glanced down at the girl struggling in her arms before slowly raising her sadistic eyes to the scum laughing about the torture they had delivered and now wished to apply to the rest of Draco’s group. Leaning down, without removing her hate filled glare from the daft bastards, she began to utter into Ann’s ear, loud enough for all to hear, as all sense of control…left her.
“And Jesus said unto them, ‘do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement…’ You want to accuse those of being Satan’s witches…murder them because you don’t like them or because they’re…different…You haven’t seen the Devil’s work; you haven’t seen what I’m capable of…But don’t worry…I’m about to show you…”
“Mione?” Ginny stated as she and Blaise worriedly looked to the bookworm seething with anger; an anger the redhead had never seen upon her best friends’ face before. An anger…that showed just how willing the Golden Girl was to injure anyone and everyone, standing in her way.
But Hermione Granger…was long past listening.
Slowly raising her wand, she pointed it at John who raised a brow before beginning to laugh like a savage who thought he was above everyone. Like a crude villain who reminded Hermione too much of Voldemort.
“What you gone do with that, little miss? Kill thee?” he roared in amusement as Samuel hunched over in a fit of hilarity. However, neither men saw the evil smirk forming on the Gryffindor Princess’s lips as her eyes grew preternaturally dark. Her magic began to crackle through her hair and across her palms, startling Ann and causing the girl to yelp at the shock, forcing the two men to glance at her with wide eyes.
“Yes…” she claimed adamantly before flicking her wrist, sending Samuel flying against the wall to her left, pinning him there, and causing astound surprise to radiate from both men’s faces.
“Hermione, no!” Blaise called out while John stumbled backwards, and Samuel shouted ‘witch’ over and over again. But the older Puritan never had a chance to speak or even run away before Hermione slashed her Vinewood wand through the air at a speed so fast, neither of her friends could halt her movements.
“Sectumsempra!” she hissed menacingly, forcing a bright white light to shoot from the tip and slice across the elders’ pectoral muscles. As her friends choked on their gasps while their jaws fell open in horror, Ann and the rest of her gangs’ eyes widened in terror as John fell to the ground sobbing in pain while clawing at his blood-soaked chest as multiple lacerations appeared on his torso. Samuel howled in a dreadful panic as Hermione threw the raven-haired girl in her arms to Ginny, walked up to the bearded man on the ground, and crouched down while biting her bottom lip. Looking past him while resting her arms on her thighs while her two friends stood in utter alarm, the no longer innocent Golden Girl turned her gaze to the man bleeding out into the dark dirt beneath him with a placid expression resting on her features. “There is a special place in Hell for people like you…And now you’ll get to see it for yourself…” she sighed with an extremely light chuckle. “Draco told you I would kill you…” she declared in a tone so eerie it would make even Bellatrix shiver in fear, “you should have listened…”
Slowly standing up, Hermione stepped over John, breathing erratically as his life drained from his body, before snapping her wand at Samuel, breaking his neck, and allowing him to slump to the ground, with absolutely no remorse for what she had just done.
“What…wh-what did you just do?” Ginny questioned completely stunned while still holding on to Ann so she couldn’t run away, and Blaise lowered his wand holding the remaining four girls in place.
Hermione glanced at the scared young teens before turning her attention to the raven-haired child struggling to free herself from the arms that bound her. She knew she should obliviated the girls but something inside her was now saying differently. She wanted them to remember what she did; she wanted them to remember because if they didn’t, after everything they went through, they would stop accusing people and that would royally mess with the present. She hated that she had to let things continue to play out the way they were supposed to. She just hoped the two murders that now stained her hands, didn’t affect the future and prayed that the men were going to die anyway like the people Draco and Blaise had slain since they began their journey.
Walking up to Ann with narrowed brows and a set glare of hatred planted in her almost black eyes, she stared the girl down as the raven-haired muggle trembled with a small whimper.
“A-are you goin t-to kill thee?”
“If Draco dies...I'll turn your dreams into your worst nightmares” Hermione began, never once breaking her monotone as she gently swept a strand of black hair from the girls’ face. “I'll make sure that every meal you eat, every drink you sip, will taste of blood-his blood-that you spilled. I'll make you friendless, loveless, childless. You won't be able to escape me.” She lifted Ann’s chin so that she could look her directly in the eyes. “And when you finally crack from the pressure and the reality that no one believes your tales of being haunted by a witch and you find yourself entering a state of madness that makes you question your sanity, and forces you to want to end it all, end the suffering...I'll still be there, keeping you alive for as long as possible. I'll keep you alive until you're all alone with no one to save you and then repeat the process until you're lying in the streets praying for a higher power to take you away…But they won't...No, if Draco dies because of you, I won't kill you...I will break you.”
Ann whimpered once more as Hermione looked her up and down before nodding for Ginny to release her and took down the barrier. After the children ran away sobbing, Blaise, who was breathing heavily as he was still in shock at what he had just witnessed, looked to the Gryffindor Princess in utter confusion.
“Who are you and what the fuck have you done with Hermione Granger? You-you could have just messed up the present, you know that, right? You didn’t obliviate them and-”
“To be the change is the key…” she quickly cut in while simultaneously trying to think about the repercussions of her actions.
“Mione, are you even listening?” Ginny questioned, still stunned that her friend had the strength to do what she just did.
“We need to change our plan” the brunette claimed while ignoring the aghast redhead. “Once word gets out that we ‘came back’ they are going to go after Joseph and Julia. We can’t let that happen. Someone needs to go to the house and protect him.”
“Wha-wha-Hermione, you just killed two men!” Blaise exclaimed as he looked to the dead bodies behind the Gryffindor.
“You can’t say you wouldn’t have done it too, Blaise. You saw Draco, we all saw him. They would have gladly done the same to us had they had the chance. I did what needed to be done and we don’t have the time right now to talk about it. Someone needs to protect Joseph and we need to save Draco before he’s hung!”
“Okay, alright!” the Italian stated with his hands raised before reaching for his smoke bombs to hand one a piece to both the brunette and the redhead. “But don’t think this conversation is over! Once we save my mate, we are going to discuss what the fuck you just did…! I’ll take Isabel and ride back…just…just save him, okay, Hermione…Please…” he begged with tears filling his dark eyes. “You all are all I have left…”
“He would do the same for us…I’ll save him, Blaise…I promise…”
Friday, May 7^th, 1999
“Are you saying that Blaise, Ginny, and Hermione, left him? They left my son?” Narcissa probed as the entire room fell quiet. “Blaise wouldn’t leave him!”
“I’m not saying they did!” Harry retorted; however, he quickly changed his tune when he remembered he was speaking to the mother of the boy who had technically just been tortured in front of her. “I just heard a man say they left, Mrs. Malfoy, but I was ripped out of the vision after Draco passed out-”
“He passed out? Oh, Salazar…”
“Mrs. Malfoy, I…I-” the Chosen One began to apologize, but he suddenly felt extremely weak and a wave of tenderness began to engulf his whole body again. Throwing his head back as a spike of pain riddled his muscles, the marks that had once lay upon his skin, began to reappear as his eyes rolled back and he fell sideways into Thorfinn’s arms.
“Ahh, pray be, William!” John Wallace bellowed in irritation while pointing to the broken back wheel as three hooded figures stood stunned just four blocks away. No one seemed to notice them, and they quickly scampered away as five giggling girls ran down an alleyway. “You said thee cart was fixed! Nichols worked on it for weeks!”
“Tis not thy fault thee rain caused thee wood to rot!”
“Thee rain cause not the wood to rot in a mere hour!” he retorted before sighing heavily as he glanced at the Draco leaning sideways as the wagon tilted to the left. Due to courtesy of the woman in the town, a few guards managed to wrestle long breeches onto the boy, but John refused to allow a shirt because he wanted the Slytherin to still be shamed like the rest of the prisoners. “It matters not, find a replacement wheel, lad, and do it fast! We have a hangin to get to!”
“I know there be a spare in Mr. Wardwells’ shop two blocks from here” William reluctantly stated as he wanted nothing to do with the murder of a human and was unwillingly dragged into the mess as he was an apprentice to the town’s sheriff. “Give thee a few moments to retrieve it, alright?”
“Make it quick, William. We do not want to delay any further.”
William hopped onto his horse, that was following the prisoner, and raced to the shop as Draco kept his head down, praying death would take him before the men had a chance to place a noose around his neck. However, the sound of a female cry rang through the streets, causing him to lift his head painfully as everyone looked in the direction the shout came from.
“WITCH!”
“Sweet Jesus, I pray tis a mistake!” John huffed before glaring at Draco like he was the one to cause the disturbance. But the blonde sullenly lowered his head once more and looked down at his hands tied in front of him as his strained breathing continued. “You men,” he began to order while pointing to four men speaking to each other around the cart, “watch him! Samuel! Let’s go!”
When the pair began to walk away, the Slytherin lifted his head and watched as they made their way down the muddy street before turning right and down the same alley the five girls had walked into earlier. Once they were out of sight, William returned and together, with help of the men supposedly watching the prisoner, they replaced the broken wagon wheel. But as they waited for John and Samuel to return, Draco saw a bright white flash light up the path the two had previously walked into. Though he once again passed it off as his mind playing tricks on him in his weakened state as no one else appeared to see what he did through his one good eye.
“We cannot delay any further” an older Puritan man with a thick black beard claimed while getting into the front of the cart. “We were to meet Reverend Parris fifteen minutes ago. John Wallace and Samuel Pinkel shall have to meet us up thee hill when they are done with whatever thee be doin.” With that, he clicked the reigns attached to the single horse and began carting Draco away.
The ride was not a smooth one and caused the Prince to wince and groan in pain as his body ached when the cart ran over large potholes in the road. It took all of ten minutes until the group made it to Proctor’s Ledge and the rain finally subsided, but it was ten minutes the blonde Slytherin wished had passed by even quicker.
Draco had finally given up wanting to live after hoping one last time that his friends would save him. He was helped to his feet, as his hip was still dislocated, and moved to the back edge of the wagon for all to see him clearly. Taking a look at all the people staring up at him in disgust made him realize he probably wouldn’t be missed once he was dead…at least not by anyone in this era. William, who appeared to not want to do what was asked of him, gently balanced Draco and placed the large rope noose, swung over a strong branch of the tree the cart was stationed in front of, around the blondes’ neck before sighing softly.
“I am sorry…” he whispered as he looked to the ground while facing away from the crowd of villagers taunting the accused witch. However, Draco simply looked back to the crowd as a small tear escaped his good eye. “I am truly sorry…I will pray for thee death to be quick, for the Lord knows this be not right…”
As William released his grip and stepped off the cart that was to be pulled out from under Draco when the time came, a woman’s piercing scream reverberated off the trees of the Ledge as she pointed to the wizards’ left arm.
“SATAN BE AMONG US! HE BEARS THEE WITCHES MARK!” she shrieked before collapsing into her husband’s arms.
Everyone looked to Draco, who glanced down at his forearm, and sure enough the glamour charm had faded, and his Dark Mark shown clear as day. Slowly raising his eyes back up while thinking about how screwed he was because now they had the proof they needed, the Malfoy heir scanned the throng of people cursing and throwing rotten food at him. Although, one person appeared to stand out from the masses. One person he knew he was hallucinating.
Hermione Granger stood in the back of the mob with her lips slightly parted and sadness riddling her features. The sun slowly emerging from the darkened clouds, cast a small glow around her as she removed the hood covering her hair before reaching into her cloak with both hands and pulling out two foreign items. He couldn’t see her very well, but he knew she looked like one of those muggle angels he had heard so much about. She was beautiful and the more Draco stared at her the more Harry could feel a spike of emotions coursing through his body.
Though the blonde wizard only thought he was materializing the Gryffindor witch to help get him through the hate spilling from the town’s lips and the emanate demise he was about to suffer through, Harry knew the truth. The Chosen One was able to tell the difference between what was real and what was imaginary. He may have been in Draco’s body and could sense everything his former nemesis could, but he was not directly in the Malfoy heirs’ tortured state of mind. And as he studied Hermione, slowly pushing past people who didn’t even bother to give her a second look as they continued their loathing taunts and the Reverend began to speak a passage from the bible open in his palm, Harry watched as his best friend inconspicuously crossed her arms over her torso while her nimble index fingers slipped purposefully into the metallic rings of the objects he couldn’t identify.
She held Draco’s’ gaze while ignoring the people around her before pulling the pins and dropping the bombs to the ground at her feet. A rush of white smoke began to fill the air as Puritan women screamed in confusion, alerting everyone of Hermione’s presence. However, the thick smoke engulfed her as it rose above her head, preventing the now scrambling villagers from seeing her, while Ginny reared Isaiah with a fake body splayed in front of her, to gain everyone’s attention.
Unfortunately, the abrupt sounds filling Proctor’s Ledge, caused the horse attached to the cart Draco was standing upon, to rear in fright. Standing on its hind legs, the brown steed kicked its front hooves in the air before crashing them to ground and bursting into a run. The sudden bolt was too quick for William to stop the process and Draco felt the wagon pull out from under him and the rope to tighten around his neck. But before his feet could whip through the air as he dangled from just his neck, a smoke bomb was thrown at him and a red light raced through smog, severing the rope, and forcing him to crumple to the ground with his hands still tied in front of him.
Perplexed and dazed, Draco grunted in pain as he smashed into the grass in one swift agonizing motion. Though before he could understand what was happening, a figure slowly walked through the white vapor and looked down at him. His vision was blurred, but as Hermione crouched down and placed her hands gently on him, he truly thought he was dead.
“Her…mi…” he whispered before tilting his head into the mud as pain overwhelmed his senses.
“Draco…” he heard her mutter, but he could have sworn it was just the voice of an angel calling him into the afterlife as he thought about the happy moments with the people, he thought were his friends. “Draco…don’t let go, okay…Don’t let go…” It was the last thing he heard before everything went black and he felt a strong arduous pull all over his broken body, causing Harry to break from the vision and gasp as he shot up straight; scaring the ever-loving piss out of everyone in the Library.
Salem, August 1^st, 1692
Hermione apparated Draco back to the woods they originally landed in and fell to her hands and knees at the loss of blondes’ weight. Scrambling to her feet she quickly raced towards the Slytherin laying in a pile of leaves passed out and severed the robes binding his hands and feet. Looking him over to make sure she didn’t splinch him in the process of trying to save his life, she tapped his face in an effort to wake him; praying he wasn’t dead.
“Draco! Draco, please wake up…! Come on, you insufferable git, wake up!” But he didn’t move. “Please…please don’t be dead…Please!” she sobbed as she continued to gently smack his less injured cheek.
When he groaned and moved his head, she gasped in relief and immediately tried to help him stand. It wasn’t the most graceful process nor was it the quietest as the Malfoy heir cried out in excruciating pain, but she had to get him away from the town as fast as possible. Throwing his right arm over her shoulders, Draco howled in agony as she tried to steady his full weight before doing anything else. And as she began to move while the blonde protested against her, and his twisted left leg dragged across the debris riddled ground, Ginny rode Isaiah with the fake straw filled body, as village men chased after her on steeds of their own.
The redhead had already thrown two smoke bombs in an attempt to distract the riders away from Hermione and Draco, who had disapparated only moments ago, and happily steered the angry Puritans through almost every street she encountered. She was grateful she had learned to ride over the summer after the war, and as it turned out, she was exceptionally skilled in the activity. She always loved horses and when her parents gave her permission to help rid the depression she was feeling after her brothers’ death, she realized horseback riding took the heartbreak away. The youngest Weasley didn’t have to think about anything except the wind in her face and the sound of a thunderous tempo, created by hooves hitting the ground, while a wave of energy, power, and freedom washed over her.
Although the situation she found herself in now was much different than when she would gallop in an open field, the exhilarating feeling of adrenaline still proceeded to fill her soul. Weaving in and out of alleyways like they were cake work, Ginny allowed the men behind her to continue their pursuit, leaving ample distance between them, as Joseph stood in the front doorway to his home with his arms crossed.
Reverend Parris stationed himself just outside of the house with a mob of about a dozen men behind him, as they came to arrest the brunette and his daughter, who was hiding behind her father. After being alerted by Ann and her friends during the chaos that occurred on Proctor’s Ledge, of the murders they bore witness to, the Minister gathered who he could and rushed to the Hamman farm as quickly as possible. He wanted an honest reason to arrest Joseph because he knew the Puritan had lied about the whereabouts of the blondes’ group. And after finding out the people who had stayed with him killed two of his best jail workers, he was itching to take him away and see him hanged. But a deep sound, like an amplified bass that one could feel in the pit of their stomach, began reverberating the Earth’s surface, pulling him from his pleased glare. It was faint at first but grew louder and more defined as the vibrations rose in everyone’s chests and the booming rumble finally revealed its source.
The Minister and his fellow followers turned to see a smirking redhead trailed by at least twenty or so villagers, barreling down the road to their left, heading straight for them. However, Ginny quickly steered Isaiah away from the throng of people and rushed past them as she headed towards the woods, but not before purposely dropping the faux body at the feet of the angry crowd. Wide eyed and confused, Parris slowly turned back to Joseph, who was now grinning mischievously, as Blaise rounded the corner of the doorway with his wand at the ready and sparks of magic flaring at his fingertips.
The two men smirked happily when the Reverends’ face fell to one of shock and fear and he stepped back in absolute horror. All the while, Ginny reached the edge of the wooden thicket and threw her last smoke bomb at the entrance before jumping the black Stallion through the thick smog, causing her pursuers to halt in disarray.
XX
Hermione stumbled as she carried Draco through the woods, causing the blonde to cry out in agony as they both fell to the ground. No longer able to go any further than the sixty meters they had somehow managed to already slowly walk, the brunette witch laid the Slytherin Prince down as she began to assess his injuries. However, the cries he had emitted allowed Ginny to easily find the pair as she rode Isaiah through the dense trees.
“Mione!” she called out before stopping the horse and dismounting. “Oh, my Gods! Draco!” she exclaimed when she saw his crumpled body lying in a pile of dirt, twigs, and leaves. “Get him on the horse! We have to get him out of here! I don’t know how long that smoke bomb will keep those men at bay!” she claimed as she knelt down opposite Hermione.
“We can’t lift him, Gin! There’s something wrong with his leg a-and it hurts him to move!”
“Well, what if we levitate him? I know it’s a slow process given his weight but-”
“Hermione! Red!” Blaise shouted in an attempt to find the girls. He had warded the Hamman house and their farm so the town of Salem couldn’t get to family, before disapparating to help his friends with Draco. He didn’t know exactly how bad of shape his best mate was in and he prayed his eyes had deceived him when he saw the wizard kneeling in the cart. However, when he finally stumbled upon the three, the sight he saw, made his blood run cold. “Oh, my fucking Gods…” he uttered in sheer shock. “What the fuck did they do to him? What the fuck did they do?”
“Blaise!” the bookworm sobbed. “Help us get him on the horse! We have-” she began to state, but the sounds of men echoed through the trees, causing them all to freeze. Thinking as quickly as she could, Hermione brought out her wand and stood up, allowing Blaise to take her place as she began placing wards around them. Ginny hastily followed suit and together the two witches did their best as they rushed to place up as many charms as they could. Although during the process, Draco howled as the rain began to pour down upon them through the tops of the trees and soft droplets of water pelted his raw skin. “Shut him up!” the Golden Girl shrieked. She had yet to fully cast the muggle repelling ward and she didn’t want anyone to hear the screams, leading the villagers directly to them. “Blaise! Shut him up!” she demanded as the Prince continued to wail uncontrollably.
“I’m trying!” the dark-skinned wizard retorted before pulling out his wand and unwillingly cast a silencing spell on his friend.
As soon as Hermione and Ginny both finished their chanting, a horde of men walking through the woods approached them with a variety of weapons and muskets in their hands. Some were on horses, trotting through the muddy ground, while others simple trekked on foot as they searched for the four during their atrocious witch hunt. Though one man stopped roughly a half a meter from Hermione’s face as she held her breath and tried not to make a sound in case the wards were not properly placed in their urgency to hide themselves.
The unknown man with long straight black hair, scowled as he scanned the invisible barrier before shaking his head in confusion. He had no idea why he was out in the woods anymore and looked around at all the people scouring through shrubs for some unknown reason. He then suddenly had a strange urgent feeling that he had forgotten to snuff the candles in his home and quickly raced back to the village. The same happened a few more times until the vicinity surrounding the foursome became vacant as the Muggle Repelling enchantment prevented all non-magical beings from seeing the group.
Finally taking a breath, Hermione panted for a second before reaching into her purse and pulling out one of the tents they had used back in China. Throwing it to the ground, she pointed her wand at the fabric, erecting it as quickly as possible, before uttering an Expanding charm, making it large enough for the four of them to share.
“Get him into the tent, hurry!” the brunette ordered as she rushed to help Blaise.
Standing Draco up, who was silently pleading with the trio assisting him to stop while clinging to Blaise’s shirt as pain ripped through his body, they rushed into the tent. As they hobbled inside, Hermione summoned a few blankets they had acquired throughout their journey and laid them on a makeshift table she had transfigured from the second tent.
While the blonde cried, he continued to beg for them to put him down, but they couldn’t hear him through the silencing spell Blaise still had on him. He just wanted it to stop; he wanted it all to stop…He now knew he wasn’t dead, but it didn’t stop the horrid thoughts of wanting to die from escaping his mind. Though he had been tortured by the Cruciatus Curse repeatedly over his life, the agony was only temporary and stopped shortly after the spell had ended. But the pain he was feeling now, the injuries spasming through his core, it was never-ending. Normally the Slytherin Prince could handle pain, he could handle the whips his Aunt threw at him, and he could manage the aftereffects left upon his skin. But this pain, this torture…he couldn’t deal with.
The group set Draco on the wooden table while Blaise removed the charm so his friend could tell them what hurt more. However, as soon as the spell was lifted, the Malfoy heir screamed while tears streamed down his face and he gasped for breath, causing Ginny to quickly throw a silencing spell around the tent, just in case. It broke all of their hearts to see him riddled with pain as he sobbed uncontrollably, but they had to shake away the sorrowful thoughts if they were going to be able to help him.
“Draco! Draco, I need you to tell me what hurts the most, mate!” Blaise requested as his adrenaline spiked and he moved around the table to stand on the wizards’ right-hand side while Hermione began healing Draco’s eye and face with her wand. Ginny did her best to help Blaise remove the breeches the muggle way before deciding to just rip the trousers with her hands. But in doing so, Draco screamed worse than before, causing his voice to crack and break as his body spasmed and flailed. Deep purple bruising could be seen littering the pale skin of the Slytherins’ left leg, just above the edge of his damp boxers.
“Shhh, Draco, please hold still” Hermione pleaded as she stroke the top of his wet hair.
“What the hell did they do to him?” the redhead muttered as she reached for her wand and sliced a cut through the soiled underwear in order to get a better view of the dangerously swelling injury. The scent of urine filled the tent as she shed a tear and gazed at Draco’s protruding hip in outright shock. “Mione, what potions do you have…? Mione?” she inquired again when her best friend didn’t answer, before looking to her while Blaise preformed a diagnostic spell. “Hermione!” the brunette snapped her sullen face to the Gryffindor. “What potions do you have?”
“I-I-I’m not sure…”
Ginny sighed before reaching for the beaded bag and pulling out all the healing elixirs she could find. Unfortunately, there were no sleeping or even calming draughts, which made her believe Hermione had used them all in order to combat her nightmares, and there wasn’t a single pain-relieving potion either. All she could find was a small bottle of Skele-Gro and half of the bottle of Wiggenweld they had used on Blaise in the desert.
“Shite!” she claimed in frustration before handing the dark-haired wizard the only items, besides their wands, that they could use to heal the Prince. But as she reached across Draco, she accidentally brushed up against his hip, causing him to suddenly shift his body as he rolled to the side with a loud yell.
“Fuck!” Blaise shouted while quickly pushing his friend back down. “Hermione, hold him down!” he ordered. Although, the blonde began gasping for air as the bookworm pinned his shoulders to the wood, forcing the dark-skinned Slytherin to think the broken rib he had seen during his first diagnostic spell, veered upwards. Preforming the charm again, but this time only over Draco’s chest, he realized he was right. The single broken bone, surrounded by three bruised ribs, had unfortunately shifted during the turn and punctured a small hole in his right lung. Luckily for them, when Blaise had forced Draco to his back, the bone realigned close to its counterpart, so he didn’t have to painfully guide it back. “Okay…” he began while breathing hard and trying to think of what to do. “I need you ladies to hold him, and I mean hold him down…He’s not going to like this very much.”
“What about his hip?” Ginny questioned in a panic. “We have to pop it back in!”
“The hip is going to have to wait, Red! He can’t breathe right now and if I don’t heal this puncture, fluid is going to build in his lungs!”
“Okay! Alright…” she gasped while trying to contain her emotions before rushing to the other side of the table to hold Draco’s right leg down while Hermione removed her cloak and quickly shoved it in the Princes’ mouth.
Taking in a deep breath while the girls pinned the blonde Slytherin to the table, Blaise pointed his Ivy and Runespoor Fang wand at his best mates’ right lung and bit his bottom lip before beginning to heal organ. Draco growled against the fabric in his mouth and pushed his body against the two Gryffindors struggling to contain him as his left arm shot up and clutched Hermione’s’ bicep for dear life. After the few seconds it took to repair the injury, the pale blonde sucked in a deep breath through his nose but continued to hold onto the Golden Girl as Blaise forced him to drink the nasty tasting Skele-Gro to mend his ribs before shoving the cloak back in his mouth.
Turning his attention to the dislocated hip he knew would take a day or two to fully heal, the dark-haired wizard wiped a hand down his face as he walked around to the other side of the table. The hip was too far gone to magically heal it at this point and needed to be manually popped back in as well as allowing the blood, pressing hard against his skin, to release, before he could move forward. Unfortunately, he knew the pain would match that of the Cruciatus Curse…except in only one location.
“Red…Red, I’m going to need your help…”
“What about me? I can help…” Hermione claimed in desperation.
“You are going to help, Buttercup” Blaise stated dejectedly. “I need you to keep holding him, alright? I need you to do your best to keep him calm. I’m not skilled enough to magically repair this sort of injury until the hip is put back in place and…and I stop the swelling. Which means he’s going to be in an intense amount of pain. I don’t care what you have to do but you have to keep him still, do you understand?”
Hermione’s bottom lip quivered as she nodded her head. A single tear fell from her lashes as Ginny prepared to lift the Princes’ twisted left leg and Blaise hesitantly placed the tip of his wand on the side of the injury while exhaling swiftly. While trying to hold back water wishing to spill from her brown eyes, she looked to Draco who was sobbing as small moans escaped through the cloak held tightly in his teeth. Cupping her hands around the blondes’ wet face, she rotated his head so he could look at her.
“Draco…” she uttered while licking her lips. “I need you to stay calm alright…Can you do that for me?” Shaking his head ‘no’ as he pleaded with his grey eyes for them to stop, Hermione brushed a strand of hair out of his face before rubbing her thumb tenderly across his cheek. “Please…Please try…”
“We have to do this now, Hermione” Blaise interrupted with determination as he prepared to cut into the blondes’ skin while Ginny readied herself to help keep the leg as steady as possible.
“Okay, okay…Just…do it. I’ve got him…” she claimed without taking her eyes off Draco. “I’ve got you…”
“On the count of three…One…” the dark-skinned wizard began, but without warning and without reaching two, Blaise quickly started slicing deeply into the Slytherins’ leg, causing Draco to scream in agony and thrash about while dark blood pooled from the wound. “Hermione! Keep him still!”
“Draco, stop! Stop! You have to stay still! You have to let them do it!” she cried while trying to keep his attention on her. But he was in far too much pain to even hear her. “You’re okay, Draco! We’re only trying to help you!”
“Hermione!” Ginny shouted as the Prince continued to flail and shriek while they struggled to hold his leg still, forcing the brunette witch to do the only thing she could think of to calm him.
“MALFOY!” she screamed, causing the wailing Slytherin to finally look to her once more. When she had his attention, she caressed his cheek with shallow breaths. “I…I need you to let me in…” She could see the heartache emitting from his beautiful grey eyes, but entering his mind was the only way she could distract him enough to keep him still. However, he slowly shook his head right as Blaise and Ginny pushed at his leg to pop the hip back in, causing him to scream while shutting his eyes tightly. “Look at me…!” she demanded forcefully, making his eyes shoot open. “Look at me, remember…? Only me…” Fresh tears fell from his lashes as he recalled what he had said to her in Pompeii when he had tried to protect her from seeing the ash cloud. He knew she just wanted to help but he never allowed anyone to enter his mind. Although something about the way Hermione was gazing delicately at him made him rethink everything he ever knew. “Please…Let me in…”
He hesitated for a brief moment before nodding his head and lowering his walls to allow the Gryffindor Princess to enter his mind. Sighing softly, while gently gripping both sides of his face so their eyes stayed connected, Hermione wandlessly cast Legilimens and in less than a split second, found herself being pulled uncontrollably into the thoughts and memories of Draco Malfoy.
Multiple images swirled around her as she tried to gain the upper hand against the pressure of him wanting to push her out, causing the brunette to witness things she never thought she would ever see. Flashes of Draco as a small child barreled at her at lightning speed, making her feel slightly lightheaded before the visions suddenly halted and she found herself sitting at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. She couldn’t control her body although she could observe Theo pegging Neville in the back of the head with a balled-up piece of parchment before hearing laughter emit from the group surrounding the Prince. It was then that she realized she was witnessing a memory from right before they went to the museum.
As she watched herself pick up the paper before turning around to scowl at the Slytherins, she felt her lips fall to a frown…but she wasn’t controlling it.
“Alright…” Draco ordered firmly as his gaze remained fixed on Hermione. “Enough.”
“Enough?” Blaise questioned with a raised brow. “Since when did we stop messing with Longbottom?”
“Since it became boring” the blonde snapped his sight to his Italian friend. “Move on to someone else; maybe a Ravenclaw or something” he suggested with a wave of his hand as he turned his mercurial gaze away.
“Now that’s a real challenge. I like it!” Theo claimed with a smirk as he began to look around the room for a new target.
However, the bookworm noticed Draco’s eyes veer back to her and she felt an odd ping in her chest as he watched her comfort her Herbology friend. But the memory cut short and she felt herself being dragged through his mind once more; stopping in a new flashback of the blonde looking down at a potion before adding the last drop of Hellebore to the mixture. Realizing it was the day they had made Draught of Peace back in December before Christmas break, she recalled that she and Draco were the only ones to correctly brew the recipe. The last part of the directions was to add exactly seven drops of Hellebore as the potion simmered on a low heat and it was the part most students misjudged. But as he lifted his eyes to her and watched her only put in six, he covertly added a drop when she wasn’t looking, causing her breath to catch before being pulled into a third memory.
"Am I just a convenience to you?" she heard herself hastily question. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to come out the way it sounded I just…I want to know that we can still and I don't know, grab a Butterbeer or-or go to dinner or something…once we're home."
"I can't tell if you're asking me to hang out or if you're asking me on a date…" he claimed with narrow brows. But she could feel her…his…heart begin to race.
"Not a date!" she quickly proclaimed with crimson cheeks. "I-I-"
"I was joking" he scoffed lightly. However, the sudden feeling of sadness washed over her and she knew it wasn’t her own. "But to answer your many questions-”
Before he could continue, she felt herself being dragged into one last flashback…one she had prayed heavily to avoid.
Standing in the greyed-out Drawing Room in Malfoy Manor, Hermione watched as Bellatrix Lestrange hit her with the Cruciatus Curse, causing the brunettes’ body to wither on the tiled floor in excruciating pain. Suddenly, the room began to shake as if an earthquake was occurring as a loud trembling noise reverberated off the walls around her. However, the people in the room listening to her screams as she was hit with the curse again, appeared to not be fazed. It was as if the quake wasn’t even happening.
Heartbreak and sorrow filled her soul as Draco flicked the wand rapidly at his side, but unbeknownst to anyone except Narcissa Malfoy standing off to the side while the walls of the room continued to violently shake and the noise grew even louder, the Slytherin Prince cast a wordless protection spell, Hermione couldn’t identify, around the thrashing girl screaming in agony on the floor.
Before she could think anything of the action, the bodies in the room quickly faded away and she felt an extremely hard push against her chest, knocking the wind from her lungs as Draco forcefully shoved her out of his mind. Stumbling backwards while trying to catch her breath, Ginny and Blaise glanced to Hermione in utter confusion while still holding the blondes’ leg in the air.
“Mione? Are you alright?” the redhead inquired as the brunette witch clasped a hand over her chest while gasping for breath. It took a moment for Hermione to understand what the hell she had just witnessed before looking to her friends and nodding her head. “Okay, well whatever it was you were doing, we need you to keep it up. We almost have his hip back in place…”
Staring unseeingly in front of her, the Gryffindor Princess took an extra second to wrap her mind around the idea that Draco Malfoy, of all people, had been subtly protecting her since before the Battle of Hogwarts. Realizing however, that she needed to focus as the Princes’ cries broke through her stunned thoughts, she quickly ran her fingertips over her forehead and rushed back to him; careful not to slip on the blood that splayed across the ground.
“Draco, let me back in…” He shook his head ‘no’ because he knew she had seen what he had done to help her, and he had made a promise to himself, and to his mother, that he would never share that secret with her, ever. Understanding that he was now reluctant to allow her access to find the memory she was originally searching for; Hermione softened her gaze as she cupped his face and whispered low enough so only he could hear. “You have protected me for so long, Draco…” she began gently. “Please…please allow me to protect you this time…Let me back in…”
A single tear dripped from his lashes and landed on her petal soft skin before he closed his eyes and cautiously nodded his head. Recasting the spell but this time with more meaning, she strongly focused on the pure memory she knew would help calm him.
Standing in the middle of an open field as ash fell from the sky, every emotion flooded Draco’s soul as Hermione’s curly brown hair blew around them while a gust of wind whipped through their entangled bodies. His breath caught when she reached up and cupped his left cheek in her palm before sliding her fingers through his hair and brought him closer to her. Nothing but the thought of how beautiful she looked, even with soot covering her delicate pale skin, filled his mind.
His heart stopped however, as the brunette slowly brought her lips to his and a feeling of euphoria washed over his body. Closing his eyes once more, the blonde Slytherin embraced the witch with his right hand and deepened the delicate kiss. Lifting her up slightly by the waist while still strongly holding her body to his, Hermione parted her lips ever so slightly and allowed him to heighten the experience as she cradled his right cheek with the hand that was resting comfortably on his chest.
Replaying the kiss over and over again, the curly-haired witch allowed the memory to sooth the pain Draco’s physical body was experiencing, until everything slowly began to go dark and her Prince Charming fell into a blissful slumber.
Thank you all so much for your kind words and wonderful reviews last chapter! They mean the world to me! We all know reviews are an authors’ saving grace and a lifeline basically, but you guys went above and beyond and I legit teared up in happiness when reading them! So, thank you all for not only taking the time to read this story so far, but to write such amazing things about it! I am beyond grateful for each and every one of you! Please don’t stop leaving comments though! I NEED them haha! But I love them so much and get excited every time I get an email notification! Love you all XOXO
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The Paths We Take