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They All Taste the Same	By : pomerann Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 22355 -:- 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
- 7
- 8
- 9
Chapter 8 - Alternate ending

Back at number twelve Grimmauld Place, Ron and Harry were sitting across from one another at the kitchen table during breakfast, both ensconced in their own thoughts. Neither had slept, and neither had said anything since their encounter with Hermione and Draco last night. The two turned at the sound of footsteps descending the stairs, and Lupin appeared in the doorway, looking a bit worse for the wear.

“’Morning,” Lupin said, grabbing a scone out of the basket and leaning against the wall.

Harry grunted a response and returned to staring at the table.

Lupin gave a rueful smile, noting the dark bags under their eyes and the passably healed wounds on each of their necks. “So the meeting went well, did it?”

Harry looked up and met Ron’s eyes. Embarrassed, they both looked away at the same time.

Clearing his throat, Harry spoke first. “She thinks that we can attack their stronghold and defeat him with minimal casualties.”

Lupin was about to take a bite his scone and froze.

“Tomorrow, or whenever we can get everyone ready,” Ron added.

“Hermione said this?” Lupin asked incredulously.

Ron nodded wordlessly.

“What about the wards?”

Harry was digging his nail into a scratch on the table. “She said they weren’t a problem.”

“And your mission… it’s finished?”

Harry and Ron both looked up. “They finished it,” Ron said, still in disbelief.

“Gringotts?” Lupin’s eyebrows rose in question.

“Mmm-hmm,” was Harry’s grudging answer.

Lupin’s voice turned soft. “They’re that powerful, are they?”

“Incredibly,” Ron said sullenly.

Lupin was scratching his stubble in thought. “That’s just… I’ll have to speak with her first, but there’s still the moon… Harry, how are you contacting her?”

“We could use a Patronus for short messages or an owl,” he said. “Assuming she doesn’t eat it,” he continued testily.

Lupin looked at his two previous students and slowly sat down. “So,” he asked cautiously, “what do you think of vampires?”

Harry rubbed his tired eyes. “Professor, she…” He couldn’t quite form the words, as he would be admitting to what had actually happened. Shaking his head, he attempted to clear his mind of the images. “She tried to… to eat us. And she…” he flushed, and bile rose to his throat at the memory of her hand on his prick, and Malfoy fucking her.

Lupin gave him a dark look. “Good thing you practiced that binding spell. I warned you not to underestimate her.”

“But it’s Hermione!” Ron blurted out. Harry noticed that he didn’t mention their failure to bind her.

Lupin shifted his eyes to Ron and asked, “Why do I take the Wolfsbane potion every month?”

Harry let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s not the same thing!”

“Oh, but it is, Harry.” Lupin said with narrowed eyes. “Make no mistake. My trigger is the full moon. Her triggers are a combination of blood, excitement, and other stimuli. The results are the same— a ruthless predator. I’m sure the presence of two healthy young men tested the limits of her control.”

Harry and Ron met each others’ eyes again and shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

After a pause, Ron said, “We won’t be together anymore like we were.” His voice cracked. “Will we?”

Lupin sighed and gave Harry and Ron a sympathetic look. “I think not. She’s better off living away from humans.” At this, Ron’s face went white. “It’s not as if you’ll never see her again; you just have to be on your guard with her and realize of what she’s capable.”

Harry looked up at Ron. “I still can’t believe that she… it really was a sacrifice, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” Lupin nodded slowly. “But it sounds as if it was worth it.”

Harry glared at him. “Worth it? How can you be so cavalier?”

“Harry, believe me, I’m not. I understand. Much as I am ostracized by society, it won’t compare to the isolation that she’ll have to live in. But if we don’t defeat Voldemort, none of us will be alive to partake in these philosophical discussions.” He tapped his fingers on the table excitedly. “And it sounds like that is actually going to happen.”

Harry sighed. “It just might…” For a few minutes, nobody spoke. He just couldn’t drum up any excitement over Voldemort’s impending defeat. Not when he was losing Hermione. Losing her to… He ran both of his hands roughly through his hair. He couldn’t stop thinking of the way she-

“What did she do, Harry?” Lupin’s eyes pierced his.

He sighed. It was better that Lupin knew everything. “Professor, we were stupid,” Harry admitted. “And I think we’d be dead if Malfoy hadn’t—” He felt his throat go dry and swallowed. “Hadn’t been there to stop her.”

Ron looked up, horrified, as Harry had just said precisely what he didn’t want to come to terms with.

A sardonic grin appeared on Lupin’s face. “Good thing we’ve got Malfoy around, then.”

Ron clenched his fist. “Sodding, manky, cunt-faced, dodgy, pikey, mother-fucking, grotty, cocked-up - .”

“Ron, please,” Lupin interrupted.

Ron was fuming and continued angrily. “God fucking dammit! He… he did something to her! And now she…” Harry watched Ron’s ears turn bright pink. His eyes were full of hatred. “He bloody well did this on purpose.”

Harry rested his forehead in his palms, trying coming to grips with everything, and spoke to the table. “Hermione did this to herself. She wanted to give us a weapon. If we don’t use it, everything she did will have been for nothing.”

Ron glared at Harry wordlessly.

Lupin nodded. “Exactly. So, what did she have in mind?”

Both remained silent. Ron looked like he was ready to break the kitchen table in two with the force of his stare. Harry sighed again; Ron was too upset to talk rationally.

“We didn’t get that far. Hermione was explaining how she got into Gringotts and I tried the binding spell on Malfoy.” Harry ran a hand through his hair, unwittingly making it stick up more. “Honestly, I think that’s what pushed her over the edge.”

Lupin looked between Harry and Ron, who was still sulking angrily. “Why didn’t one of you bind her?”

Harry had hoped to avoid that question, but turned to face Lupin. “At first, I didn’t want to hurt her if I could help it. Malfoy really looked like he was in pain. But then… it was… I just…”

Harry looked to Ron for help, but he was still staring angrily at the table. “I couldn’t believe that she would hurt either of us, even while she was feeding from Ron. And when she bit me,” He felt his cock twitch at the memory of her body against his and he looked down, ashamed. He clenched his hand and continued in a gruff voice. “I didn’t want her to stop.”

He exhaled, trying to collect himself, and yet felt relieved to confide in someone. “But when Malfoy pulled her away,” he shuddered and looked back up to Lupin, who was studying him. “Professor, she was like an animal. There was nothing human of her left. I…” His voice cracked. “I don’t ever want to see her like that again.”

Lupin stood up. “Listen to me well—both of you. This is who she is now. You need to accept that and move on. When the war is over, we’ll have time to devote to other pursuits and possibly figure out a way to help her interact with society more. In the meantime, it’s exactly like you said Harry; we need to use the weapon she’s given us. Understand?”

Harry felt like he had lost a part of himself. It was almost as bad as when they had found Ginny’s dead body.

“Understand?” Lupin repeated.

Harry nodded, as did Ron.

“Speaking of which,” Lupin continued, “we need to set up another meeting with her to discuss strategy. Bill, Dora and I should be there as well. Then we can—”

“Do we really have to bind her with silver?” Ron interrupted angrily.

Lupin flattened his mouth into a line. “Yes, I’m afraid that’s the only—”

Ron interrupted again. “Malfoy said it was almost as bad as the Cruciatus. Isn’t there some way we could make it easier on her? Maybe we could give her more time before she...” He looked to the side and swore. “What if we were to bring garlic?”

Lupin looked surprised, almost as if he were going to laugh. Ron cursed and got up from the table sending his chair skidding across the floor.

Lupin held out his hand in an effort to placate Ron. “Wait, wait, Ron. I think you just might be onto something.”

Ron turned around and Harry sat up straighter in his seat.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

“Hold on, Harry.”

Tonks touched his collar with her wand and extended it to a turtleneck. She patted him on the back. “Very ‘Flourish and Blotts.’”

The turtleneck was a bit too tight around his neck, and Harry inserted his finger underneath the material, pulling on it slightly. He lined up with Tonks, Bill, and Ron to face Lupin. Everyone was in a good mood; they were going to see Hermione, and they felt much more prepared to deal with her. Not only that, but they were going to plan out a strategy to end this war.

Lupin raised his wand, pointed it at Ron’s chest and pronounced, “Silencio Cor!” Next, he waved his wand over Ron’s body. “Silencio Sangre!”

Ron squeezed his eyes shut as if he expected it to hurt, and when nothing happened, he opened one eye, followed by the other. Lupin went on performing the silencing spells on everyone else.

“I don’t feel any different,” Ron said, looking down at his body.

Bill adjusted his turtleneck and donned a shapeless wizarding robe. “There’s no reason you should.”

Ron cupped his hands around his ears. “Weird,” he said, after a few minutes.

“What?” Bill asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” Ron answered with a grin on his face, still cupping his ears.

“Mum always said you were the ‘special’ one.”

Harry and Tonks sniggered.

Ron scowled. “No, really! Usually, it sounds like the ocean, but now… Nothing. Try it.”

The other three cupped their hands over their ears, staring at nothing in particular.

Lupin was giving them all a very odd look, and he cleared his throat. The four looked at him, and then brought their hands down awkwardly.

“Alright then,” Lupin said with an amused smile. “On to the next round.” He pointed his wand at Harry, who was fastening a set of bulky wizarding robes.

“Turgeo odoro!”

After Harry, he performed the spell on Tonks, and then on Bill and Ron before pointing his wand on himself.

Ron leaned over and sniffed Bill. “Ah… now the air smells nice again. You know when you smell something bad for so long you just don’t notice—hey! Ow!”

Bill smacked Ron upside the head.

Tonks stood in front of Harry with her pinky extended. She dabbed him behind the left ear, dipped her pinky in a vial full of yellowish liquid, and dabbed him behind the right ear. The smell reminded him of Italian restaurants. She went on dabbing everyone else behind the ears.

Lupin was appraising everyone. “Alright. We took care of sight, smell and hearing. There’s not much we can do about touch and taste, but even so, I think that we’ve bought ourselves much more time with her.” He glanced over at Ron. “Good thinking.”

Ron grinned.

“Alright, you’ve all practiced the binding spell, let’s hope it won’t come to that.” Lupin led them out the door. They looked around, making sure the road was deserted before Apparating.

Harry staggered a bit after landing in the field, and Bill caught his elbow, steering him to an upright position.

“Thanks.”

“Yep.”

“Hey.” Hermione’s voice was soft and apologetic.

They all turned around to see her and Malfoy standing several feet away from them, dressed in black. Malfoy tilted his head, a puzzled look on his face. Slowly, a half grin spread and he gave Harry an approving nod. Harry thought Ron deserved the credit since it was his idea and he pointed in Ron’s direction. Malfoy responded with a look of disbelief.

Hermione took a deep breath and looked between Harry and Ron. “Harry, Ron, before you bind me, I just wanted to apologize.” Her voice started to tremble and Harry felt his heart go out to her. Malfoy put a supportive arm around her, which didn’t go unnoticed by Ron, who glared daggers at him. “I never meant to hurt either of you! I just didn’t think… Oh, I’m so sorry! Draco tried to warn me but I—”

She abruptly stopped talking and crinkled her nose. “I… What’s that… Oh my god! That’s disgusting! Did we Apparate next to a corpse?”

Draco covered his mouth and nose with his hand. She started looking around for the source of the smell. Harry couldn’t keep the grin from his face. He nudged Ron, who was also smiling, with his elbow.

This was going to work.

She covered her mouth and nose with her hand and looked questioningly at everyone else. “You don’t smell it? It’s… it’s…” She leaned slightly in their direction and then immediately recoiled. “It’s coming from you!” Harry watched her lip curl in disgust, but she met his eyes, saw his grin, saw Ron’s grin, and her hand dropped from her mouth.

“You… you did this. And the way you’re dressed… and I can’t hear your… your…” Harry saw a smile spread on her face. “You all did this for me.” She went to run and hug them, but Draco pulled her back; she looked happy, but her eyes were tearful. Harry looked at Ron, who to his credit said nothing, and silently clenched his jaw.

She turned towards them; her eyes still gleaming with unshed tears. “Thank you.”

“I think that it’s us who need to be thanking you, Hermione,” Lupin said.

They all nodded and murmured their agreement.

“This wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for you,” Lupin continued. “Now, I don’t know how much time we have here. Is there any way to estimate how long before…” His voice trailed off and he looked between Draco and Hermione.

Hermione looked up at Draco who shook his head to the negative.

“So why don’t we get started?” Harry said. “Hermione? This is your game.”

She nodded and pretended to scratch her nose as she wiped a stray tear away. Harry grinned. Some things were still the same.

Straightening herself, she smoothed her shirt and addressed them in her lecturing tone. “Alright. This is how it’s going to play out. Draco and I will go in to the fortress first, clear out as much as we can and signal when we think they’re alerted to our presence. We’re extremely fast and won’t need much time to act, assuming we don’t…” she flushed, and continued.

“In any case, the most important thing, and I can’t stress this enough—” She gave another apologetic look to Ron and Harry. “—is to stay away from us. With all the fighting, and the excitement, the adrenaline, the…” she said, shuddering. “Even if we feed beforehand, it might be too much. Especially if there’s bloodshed.” She closed her eyes briefly, as if the mere mention of it were affecting her.

Malfoy’s brows knitted in worry. They waited patiently while she composed herself. After a few more seconds, she opened her eyes and continued. “If you see us in a room, you have to leave right away. Be prepared to bind us. And that bit of spellwork that you did tonight was brilliant. Do it on everyone.” She looked to Malfoy.

“Draco? Can you—? Thanks.”

Malfoy conjured a large piece of parchment, rolled it up and levitated it over to them. Tonks grabbed it out of the air and unrolled it. Everyone gasped, and Harry grabbed a corner to pull it closer to him, mouth slightly open. Even Ron looked reluctantly impressed. It was a blueprint of the fortress, replete with the lines of the protective wards, and areas where magic was used to fortify or entrap.

“Now, we won’t go through the entrances,” Hermione continued as flashes of red indicated where she was talking about on the map. “It will ensure that we exploit the element of surprise to the fullest extent. And when they do find out that there are intruders, they’ll pull guards away from all the entrances and exits to fight internally, thus making it easier for you to come in. Another thing I’ve thought of…”

Harry looked curiously at the expression of admiration and tenderness on Malfoy’s face, and realized with a shock, that Malfoy loved her. He knew that there was more to their relationship than met the eye, especially given Hermione's changed Patronus. But he didn’t know how much of it was due to the fact that they were vampires and needed to... he pushed away the memory of Draco pinning Hermione to the ground. Maybe having Malfoy around wasn’t such a bad thing. At least Hermione’s feelings for him weren’t one-sided. In the end, if it weren’t for Malfoy, she would be alone most of the time. Wouldn't she?

As if sensing that Harry had been watching him, Malfoy looked up and sneered.

Sodding ponce.

“…shifts in guard duty, and that’s when Draco and I will start attacking. And then we—yes, Bill?”

“The wards, you said that you can take them down.” She nodded and he continued. “How long will it take you?”

“Seconds.”

Lupin was shaking his head and muttering to himself. Harry thought he’d heard him say “unbelievable.”

“Draco’s done it before,” Hermione said. Apparently, she had heard him, too.

After a bit of silence, she opened her mouth to speak again before Lupin interrupted her. “Instead of taking them down, can you… alter the wards?”

At this, Hermione looked to Malfoy, who shrugged and nodded to the affirmative. Lupin was rubbing his chin in thought.

“Can you change them so that we can all enter, but no one can leave? No Apparition, no Portkeys, no Floo, nothing.”

Harry felt an adrenaline rush.

Ron protested, “But Professor, what if someone—?”

Harry turned to him. “We’re going to win Ron. And we don’t want to be hunting down rogue Death Eaters years from now.”

Lupin gave him a half smile and nodded. “Something like that.”

“Alright,” Tonks said, with an aggressive tone to her voice. “The final battle.”

Harry looked down to see different flashes of color appear on the map. Hermione’s voice rang out, confident and strong. She was completely in her element.

“Now these are the paths that I want the Order to take. They are the most efficient way to sweep the castle, which we’ll do in two stages. The second stage will be to catch any that might have doubled back. I agree, I don't want anybody escaping to fight another day. Two-thirds of our force will be in the first stage; we won’t need as many for the second. Harry, pay attention.”

He sat up straighter.

“This is where Voldemort is most likely going to be.” Harry looked up to see Malfoy flinch at the name, as he knew he would. He smiled at Malfoy’s discomfort. “You…” she paused, and he met her eyes. They were full of concern. “You know what you have to do.”

He knew what he’d have to do since Seventh Year.

While Bill, Tonks and Lupin fired a series of questions at her, making suggestions and changing plans, Ron caught his eye and nodded. It was good to know that there were people who would have his back until the end. Harry looked up at Hermione, deep in discussion with Tonks, when suddenly she tensed.

Malfoy put his hand protectively on the back of her neck and she looked up at him, a worried expression on her face. He nodded and murmured something to her, too quiet for them to hear.

“I… I’m sorry. In spite of everything you’ve done, you’re all starting to look fairly delicious and I think that I…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, scrunching up her face in disgust over the garlicky smell. “Yes, I think I should go. Draco can finish answering your questions. We planned for this, I’ll just—”

“Hermione,” Harry called out, and she turned to him. “You're brilliant. We all owe you.”

Somehow he knew, he just knew that everything was going to work out. It felt right. It was unfortunate that they couldn’t be around her that long, but this was almost like a normal meeting with the Order. Almost.

“Oh, Harry, I’ve missed you all so much and I… I…oh!” A look of sheer panic crossed her features and she wrung her hands helplessly right before her fangs extended. Draco stepped over to her and she hissed at him, backing up defensively. He lunged at her, encircled her upper arms with his hands, and Disapparated the both of them with a pop.

Harry turned to Ron. “Well, that went much better than last time.”

Ron looked physically ill at the memory. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Harry was about to ask him what he thought about Hermione’s plans when Malfoy immediately reappeared.

“Where is she?” Harry asked.

“About a half mile that way,” he said, motioning with his head. “There were a few deer…”

Harry saw Ron sneer out of the corner of his eye and there was an uncomfortable silence as the unbidden image of Hermione elbow deep in deer blood came to them.

Malfoy scanned them briefly and said, “Well, if that’s all…”

Bill cut him off, “You made that map?”

Malfoy narrowed his eyes, and after deciding there was no ulterior motive in the question, he nodded.

Bill continued, “It’s quite detailed, we can use the magic and traps put in place to our advantage.”

Tonks was leaning over the map, tracing her finger along one of the lines. “Nice work, cousin.”

Malfoy didn’t reply, but Harry thought he saw a fleeting smile.

Ron spoke up harshly. “What day?”

Malfoy shifted his eyes to Ron. “What’s that?”

Ron ground his words out as though speaking to Malfoy was causing him acute pain. “What. Day. She didn’t say which day she wanted us to attack.”

Malfoy sneered right back. “As soon as you can gather everyone and coordinate. That would require some communicative and organizational skills. Not exactly your forte, Weasley.”

Bill snorted. Ron opened his mouth to retort when Malfoy interrupted him.

“One more thing.”

Ron glared at him.

“You have to Obliviate everyone after the attack is done.”

What? Harry snapped his head up, and Malfoy continued. “Everyone in the Order, and everyone left alive. No one can know about wizard vampires.”

“What’s that?” Tonks asked. Lupin and Bill were looking at him warily.

“We’re too powerful. You’re most likely going to be outnumbered four to one in this attack, but because of our speed and strength, you’ll have the advantage, and quite easily. Imagine if the Dark Lord were a vampire. What if he had wizard vampires working with him? If you don’t Obliviate everyone, you’ll kill this Dark Lord, and another will appear, finding power and immortality much more easily than this one did. Think about it.”

Harry listened to Malfoy with his mouth slightly open. He hadn’t thought of that. It was an excellent point. “You’re right.”

Malfoy nodded to him in acknowledgment. He saw the reluctant acceptance on the faces of Lupin, Tonks and Bill, but Malfoy’s assertions were making Ron even angrier.

“That’s ridiculous! How can we possibly Obliviate that many—”

“They would hunt her down, Weasley.”

Ron stopped mid-sentence and clamped his mouth shut.

“She’ll be famous after this, a symbol. Everyone will know who and what she is. You don’t need some nutcase on a mission trying to track her down.”

Ron’s jaw clicked. “Fine,” he said belligerently.

For once, they were in agreement.

“Much as I’d love to stick around,” Malfoy said, giving them a look that told them that he would love to do anything but. “I'm hungry.”

With a final smirk, he Disapparated.

Chapter End Notes:

Oooooh! Final battle coming up next!

Also, I tried to make it obvious from the context (and Ron's observations), but the spells are to silence the sound of the heart and blood and to remove their smell. Turtlenecks are, of course, to cover their necks; shapeless robes to hide their bodies.
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They All Taste the Same