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Slytherins in the Attic	By : elruefaerie Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 3909 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the characters, or anything else that was originally by J.K Rowling. I also did not create this for profit or make any money off its existance.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
All allusion phrases and their meanings were found at www.phrase.org.uk

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CHAPTER 4

�At Loggerheads� � In dispute with

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"Hermione!"
Voices echoed around her as a small group of wizards came into view, their wand lights dancing happily in front of them, which was disconcerting considering the condition they were in. Harry's glasses had been broken for the hundredth-or-so time and were hanging off one ear. Tonks and Harry had several scratches on them and a large gash was streaking blood across Tonk's right cheek. They looked as though they had been in as tough a fight as she had.
She was wrong. According to the looks on their faces Hermione could tell she looked a lot worse. Possibly, worse than she felt. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again there was a light shining in her eyes so bright she couldn't see what was going on.
"Her nose is broken too, but I can fix that," Tonks was saying as she gingerly touched the bruised spots around Hermione's face. When had she gotten that close? Hermione groaned and shut her eyes again.
"Harry, move your wand, I can't see." The movement around her stopped at once and she blinked a few times before the scene in front of her shifted into view. She wasn't in the forest anymore. In fact, she wasn�t even outdoors; she was lying down in a bed and the light shining on her was coming directly from the window beside her. It was daylight.
That wasn't the only shock she was processing. Another glance around the room proved that she wasn't in the eyeglass shop either. They were back in Grimmauld Place. 'Uh oh,' Hermione thought. 'Mrs Weasley must be furious...'
Hermione shifted to sit up again when a cool hand pressed down lightly on her shoulders. "Lie still," Tonks said gently. "You've got a few bruised ribs and your clothes are being cleaned and mended. What happened to you? Can you remember?"
Visions of the night before came back slowly, and not immediately in order. Tonks falling as they ran... following Kreacher's trail through the town... there was an ambush... she and Draco were fighting for the wand...
Draco.
Hermione's eyes flew open as she remembered how haggard and dirty he had looked. The state of his usually pressed robes, ripped and frayed. The sight of his hair, it certainly hadn't been cut or washed in months. How cold his eyes looked before he'd angrily beaten her up. Hermione searched the faces in the room, half expecting him to be there, tied to a chair or being questioned by Aurors. Ron and Tonks looked down at her with worried expressions while the memories began to focus more sharply. No, Draco had disappeared; they probably didn't even know he was in the same forest...
"Death Eater," she spoke slowly, testing the reactions on their faces, "caught me. I fought back." It was a simple explanation, and not altogether a lie, but the wizards standing above her seemed to nod in approval and Hermione relaxed again as Tonks lifted her wand and Hermione felt the pressure of Ron�s hands gripping her shoulders. She looked up to see his face set in a grim expression and he squeezed reassuringly before looking away. She closed her eyes again, bracing herself.
"Take a deep breath through your mouth. This might hurt..."

***

Hermione sat in the tub enjoying the warm soapy water surrounding her, despite the dull thud from her nose as it recovered from being broken and snapped back together again. The water was murky from the dirt that had been caked in her hair before, but at least she felt somewhat clean again.
Her head, on the other hand, was a mess.
She was going through the events of the night before over and over. Why had she covered for Malfoy that morning? She should have told them he was there, they could have gone searching for him! No, he'd have been long gone by then. He would have expected her to send them back once she was conscious again.
Still, why had she hidden the fact that she had run into him? After all, Draco had beaten her to a pulp when he saw her pitying him.
Pity. That was it. Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Prefect, the girl whom the Slytherin Prefect, Draco Malfoy, had bullied and hexed for six years, pitied the Death Eater. The murderer had finally been given a dose of reality, and she felt bad for him!
Hermione suddenly felt dirty and cold again. How could she feel sympathy for someone like that; someone who would have killed her if given the chance; someone who would have turned her in to the Death Eaters in the blink of an eye?
"You're a much better person than you give yourself credit for."
Hermione started and looked to her right. Ginny was standing inside the bathroom beside the tub with a towel hanging from her arms. For a split second, Hermione had the wild notion that Ginny had been listening to her thoughts.
"Hu...How long have you been in here?!"
Ginny placed the folded towel over the washbasin and closed the toilet seat to sit down. "Just a few moments. You looked like you were deep in thought, so I waited."
Hermione could only nod and looked back down at the soapy water, letting a few more moments of silence hang in the air. "What did you mean by that? I'm a 'much better person'?"
Ginny frowned so deeply lines began to crease her forehead and for the first time in Hermione's memory, she looked severely angry and hurt. "You shouldn't have come with us to search for Kreacher. It's not your problem; it's mine and Harry's."
Hermione stared open mouthed at the redhead for several moments before rolling her eyes up to stare at the ceiling instead and answered, �He would have left anyway, you know. Kreacher was purposely going up there to leave the house. You two just happened to be in his way.� Hermione sighed at Ginny, who remained staring down at her hands,�It�s not your fault��
�Of course it is! We attacked him, we tried to follow him and catch him. If you hadn�t come, you wouldn�t be nursing broken bones and bruises right now!� Ginny was flushed and Hermione could tell she was holding back tears. Hermione sighed again and looked back up at the ceiling.
"Well if we�re going down THAT path�you shouldn't have followed us to the Hall of Mysteries fifth year to look for the prophecy, or helped me with Harry's research to win the cup fourth year, or secretly written in Voldemort's diary..."
THWAP!
Hermione sat stunned for a second before cracking a grin as she turned back to Ginny, the towel suddenly back in the redhead's freckled hand, which arched to serve another blow to Hermione's head.
"Ow! You're supposed to be helping me heal, not giving me more injuries!" Ginny took a few deep breaths before the bright red colour drained from her face again and she took in Hermione's joke. "Hmph. See if I ever keep a secret for you again," Ginny muttered, dodging a light splash from the water Hermione sat in. "Ew. Keep that water to yourself," she giggled, wrinkling her nose and placing the towel back on the toilet seat.
Hermione grinned at Ginny's retreating back, waiting for the girl to close the door so she could dry off. When she returned to her room, cleaned and dressed again, Harry and Ron were already sitting on the bed, waiting. Harry�s glasses had been fixed and Ron was sporting a black eye. Before Hermione could even ask them anything, the boys launched into a full explanation of the last few hours.
The twins had finally entered the fray while Hermione and Tonks ran towards the trees. With both Fred and George�s surprise appearance, they were able to take out a few of the Death Eaters quickly, allowing for Hermione�s escape and Tonks� rescue. Once the rest of them had found Hermione, the idea was to take her back to the eyeglass shop. However, Moody had used his eye to see just how badly Hermione had been hurt -Hermione gave in to an involuntary shudder at the thought of Moody using his eye for any reason on her- and decided that it would be best to return to Grimmauld Place instead.

Mrs Weasley had thrown her usual fit and so far hadn't given the group more than toast and jam as punishment for being so reckless. The attic had been charmed to stay locked against anyone not over a "respectable age" -and here Ron had used his hands to indicate the quotation marks, rolling his eyes at the same time- to keep the portkey out of reach. Even the twins were stuck there now until the Order decided whether or not they could all be allowed out of the house and back to their own flat above the shop in Diagon Alley.
Hermione groaned. Having the twins cooped up in the house together would be like living with caged-in Cornish Pixies. Then again, at least she wouldn't be bored.

***

Draco sat in the back corner of another farmhouse barn. The straw had just been laid down that morning and he could still smell the freshness in it as he leaned against the walls and stared out at the moon rising through the small window at the top by the roof.
She had let him go. He had lost his temper and would have stopped at nothing to kill her, but she had spared his life. Why?
Draco rewound the thought. No. He probably wouldn't have killed her. He hated her more than he hated Dumbledore, almost as much as he hated Potter, but he wouldn't have killed her.
On purpose.
He shuddered and looked down at his hands. He'd known for a long time that he had a temper, but it rarely lashed out at anyone in particular. Most of the school had bended so easily to his will that he'd never had to resort to much violence. He'd never completely lost his temper before, as his father had.
Another chill racked his body and he blanched at the memories flooding his mind, his father's anger filling a room. The broken sobs of those on the floor in front of him as he tortured them. The way his mother would run into the room just in time to save some pathetic Death Eater's life. Even worse, the times she hadn't. Occasionally Lucius' rage had consumed him more than he could control and he'd killed those people in his anger, whether he'd meant to or not.
Draco knew his father lacked compassion, but his mother had somehow regained her own sense of right and wrong. Even Bellatrix, his aunt, was more ruthless than her big sister. He'd heard them arguing once, late in the night while he'd been sneaking back into the house after a riot with his friends, their first acts as true Death Eaters, not long after he'd been given the task of killing Dumbledore last summer.
Draco laughed hollowly at the memory of his aunt. When he had been a baby, he wasn't able to form his mouth around the difficult pronunciation of "Bellatrix", and as he grew up Draco became aware that the shortened version "Bella" meant 'Beautiful'. He had balked at the idea of anyone finding his aunt 'pretty' let alone a beauty, and so she had been nothing more to him than 'Aunt B', a name she had despised almost as much she loathed having a nephew around at all to address her with such stupid names.
Bellatrix had blamed Draco's existence on Narcissa's resolve to let weaker beings live, but his mother had always turned a deaf ear to the argument. She'd stood up for herself that one night by telling Bellatrix, who had never reared a child, that she saw more in the value of someone's life no matter how pathetic they were, because she couldn't stand the thought of it happening to her own son. They'd argued more and Draco had watched as his mother marched out of the house, Bellatrix on her heels screeching not to go to Snape for help...
Snape, who had saved Draco from himself. Who had told him to run...
Draco's thoughts settled back into their usual pattern. Revisiting every event, every moment of the last year over and over again. Running in circles as they did every night until the sun came up and he was forced to run and find a new place to hide again.
Only now, his thoughts didn't end with Snape. They didn't end with the look on Dumbledore's face, or the fear of being found by someone in the midst of the war. Instead, they ended on Hermione Granger, who had just saved his life.

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AN:Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews!! I apologize for this chapter being so late. There really is no excuse, since it was just sitting around waiting to be posted for about 2 weeks now...Never again, I promise!
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Slytherins in the Attic