The Bracelet, Chapter 101/103
Title: The Bracelet
Author: AkashaTheKitty
Characters: Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley, Theodore Nott (whew)
Genres: Drama, Friendship, Hogwarts Years, Humor, Romance
Warnings: HBP Spoilers, although slightly incompatible.
Overall Rating: R
Summary: When Hermione Granger loses a bet she was sure she'd win to Draco Malfoy, it's the beginning of her own personal hell. And his.
Go here if you didn't read previous chapters.
Hermione was bone-weary and all she wanted to do was sleep for a million years. Her brain was already happily asleep, so she'd spent a good few minutes staring after the suddenly moody Draco when Theo touched her arm. She forced her head to turn. Slowly, so very slowly.
"He's been tending to the wounded," he said with a slightly raised voice, nodding towards Draco.
Hermione wondered why he would speak so loudly to her for the second it took Draco to utter a foul expression and glare at Theo.
She didn't understand his upset. "Really?" she rather dreamily asked, feeling a smile spread on her face. So he did have good in him. He'd helped those in need, when he could've just sulked or left or get killed. She kind of wanted to hug him again just for that.
Draco looked anything but pleased and abruptly turned away, muttering about ways to murder Theo.
Hermione decided she really must be tired, because she didn't understand his reaction at all. Was he upset that she thought something nice about him? Why would that upset him?
"What about his father?" Theo asked, breaking the new trance she was falling into.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, almost jumping to her feet and doing the best to shake the cobwebs from her mind. "Oh, of course! Draco, about your father…"
Draco shot her a resigned glance from his spot by the window. "Don't bother. Your side won, so someone probably had to kill him, right?" He sighed deeply and stared out the window again. "I won't lie and say that it's ok, but I guess I understand. He wasn't exactly an innocent."
"No, he's not dead," Hermione began. "He-"
Draco straightened and turned back. "Really? You managed to capture him? Is he in danger of getting the Kiss?"
"Could you let me finish, please? He is not in danger of receiving the Kiss. In fact, he may get a full pardon. He's the reason we managed to wrap things up as relatively painlessly as we did."
Draco opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again just to say, "How?"
"Well, he wanted you. I refused to tell him where you were-"
"You faced him yourself?" He'd visibly paled and his fists had clenched.
"-Let me finish!-and when it seemed to become clear to him that you were under our protection, he offered us a deal. He said that being a Death Eater held nothing of interest for him anymore now that he was robbed of his wife and son and, besides, You-Know-Who was proving more and more unstable. Oh, and your aunt was getting on his nerves. She is dead, by the way. Can't say I'm sorry for your loss."
Draco shook his head, looking more confused than sorry about the loss of his batty aunt himself. "How did he help you?"
"He lured single or small groups of Death Eaters into ambushes where we could safely capture them. It really saved everyone a lot of bloodshed."
"Imagine that," he muttered, turning away again.
Hermione frowned and plunked back down on the bed. She'd imagined that he would be pleased, even exalted, to hear about his father. Moody git. "I'm sorry I don't have as good news about your father," she said to Theo. "Unfortunately, he survived too."
Theo's lips quirked into a half-smile. "That old tosser will survive anything. I swear he'll outlive me."
"If he does, it'll be in Azkaban. I don't see any pardons in his future."
"Well, that's always something."
Hermione glanced back over at Draco. He didn't look like he was paying any attention to them. She didn't understand. After that almost desperate hug and the way he'd looked at her and… why was he all but ignoring her?
"So you finally decided to like him, then?" Theo asked in a very low voice, sounding dismayed.
The words acutely embarrassed Hermione. It really was the dumbest thing. "Sorry," she muttered, lowering her eyes and feeling her cheeks heat. Good thing that Draco wasn't likely to be able to hear what they said as long as they kept their voices lowered.
"I've regretted breaking up with you, you know. Especially the way I did it… It was stupid. I was jealous. I shouldn't have treated you like that. I should have talked to you instead. You wouldn't have developed feelings for him if I hadn't pushed you in his direction back then."
"Does all that really matter now?"
He gave her a pained look. "It does to me. Can you really see the two of you being together?"
Hermione shrugged. "I… don't know. Probably not?" Most likely not. But it didn't matter. She'd survived a war; she could survive this.
"Then be with me. I'll give you everything you want. Everything you need. I won't hold your feelings for him against you as long as you'll try to love me too."
"I-I don't know…" Hermione glanced first at Theo and then over at Draco's back. She hated being so weak, but right now the offer actually sounded quite tempting. Be with someone who understood she had feelings for someone else and still wanted to be with her regardless. She could do with some romantic happiness.
But then she realized it wasn't realistic. He would begin to resent her if she wasn't the girlfriend he hoped for, she would resent him for not being someone else entirely, and it would all end badly. She didn't want to end badly with Theo.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
He sighed deeply. "Oh, well. How about a kiss, then?"
She stared at him.
His lips twitched slightly. "I knew my odds, Granger. They were never that good. I'll live."
Hermione couldn't quite help the giggle that escaped from her lips at Theo's way of dismissing his own offer. She blamed a very emotionally exhausting day and night with no sleep whatsoever. Still, laughing felt good. It felt normal. It felt like this nightmare might actually truly be over.
On an impulse, she leaned forwards and pressed her lips against Theo's. It was just meant to be a peck, but before she could pull back, his hand came up and kept her head in place, his lips becoming more demanding. Hermione allowed this for only a brief moment, before she pulled free.
"What was that about?" she scolded.
Theo was wearing a full-on smirk now. "Just getting my money's worth. After all, not likely to get another chance, am I?"
Hermione glanced in the direction of Draco, but found the spot he'd occupied before empty. Shocked, she jumped to her feet and frantically looked around, just to find that he was nowhere in sight. "Theo!" she groaned. "He's gone! You did this on purpose, didn't you?"
"Look at it this way," Theo quietly said. "He can't pretend he doesn't care now if you go after him, can he?"
For a few seconds, Hermione stood undecided, but then she bolted towards the doors.
Draco stumbled out the doors, hardly seeing where he was going. The pain in his chest was overwhelming.
She was kissing Theo.
Well, so much for not knowing. Now he knew. She'd chosen Theo, the wounded hero, over Draco, the indecisive git.
Unable to stand himself anymore, Draco sped up his pace until he was racing down the halls, flying down stairs. By the time he'd reached the entrance hall, he wasn't even sure where he was going. He didn't want to go to his room, but didn't want to be around people either. There were people in the castle. Aurors, Order members, students. He assumed the bulk of them were in the Great Hall, though, considering that this was where people seemed to be coming from or going to.
Nobody seemed to be guarding the doors out, so he made a dash for them. Fresh air would be just the thing to get his mind off Hermione snogging Theo upstairs.
Outside, he kept running up until he got a stitch in his side. Gasping for air, he leaned against a tree and looked around. He'd made it to the lake. In fact, this spot seemed awfully familiar. He frowned and stared at the tree, trying to figure out why and then it hit him-oh, wasn't that just ironic? In a sense this was where it had all begun. This was where Hermione had been sitting that night after the Quidditch game. The night he'd forced her to come inside with him. The night he'd first kissed her.
He sighed and sat down. They would all probably be sent home now, and it was just as well that he wouldn't have to be around her or places he'd been with her anymore. It was over. For real this time. He was out of options.
Carefully, he reached down in his pocket and pulled out the last letter from his mother. The tone of it was far from happy, but she'd finally softened enough to agree to not immediately hex him or his 'unsuitable witch' if they should show up on her doorstep together.
The fact that she'd even given them that much of a chance was proof of how much Narcissa Malfoy loved her son. Too bad that it was all for nothing.
Draco hadn't really realized how much he'd hoped for a different outcome until now. He'd tried to keep himself prepared, but he hadn't been. Not at all. Somehow he'd actually thought that it would work itself out in the end.
Stupid. Life never worked itself out. Not for him. He wasn't one of the heroes. He hadn't done anything noteworthy in his life-unless you considered failing at everything as noteworthy.
He covered his eyes with his hands. He was tired and wanted for this all to be over. He just wanted for the feelings to stop. They were clogging up his chest and his throat and his mind, and he didn't know what to do about it. He had to collect himself, though, because at some point today, Hermione was sure to seek him out for some kind of talk and he had to say all of the right things not to mar her happiness.
No sooner had he finished the thought, before he heard the sounds of someone approaching. No! Not yet!
"Malfoy," she gasped as she reached him. "What's the rush?"
"Sorry," he muttered, slowly removing his hands and blinking a few times as he forced the pain back. "Didn't know I was needed right now. How did you find me?"
"Saw… window… run…" She seemed unable to be much more coherent than that as she was still gasping to regain her breath.
Draco couldn't help but smile a little. "You didn't have to run, Granger; I'm not actually going anywhere."
"Why did you run?" she asked, almost accusing, straightening up now that she seemed to have gotten her breath back.
"Oh, that…" He looked out over the lake, quickly coming up with a story. "Been cooped up all night. Needed to move."
"And you felt the need to just leaving without saying anything for no particular reason at all?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, you seemed to want your privacy. I didn't figure you'd miss me. Certainly didn't mean for you to have to come after me. What is it you need from me?"
"Oh." She looked away, seeming uncomfortable. "I guess… I need to finish the conversation we were about to have before the battle?"
"Right now?" Draco asked, not feigning his surprise. "Don't you have enough to do with Theo, battle aftermath, sleeping, and, I don't know, figuring out what to do the next time You-Know-Who pops up?"
"Next time?" Hermione frowned. "There won't be a next time. He's gone. Really gone. All fragments of his soul are destroyed. Dumbledore has been working on it all year with help from Harry."
Draco blinked. "Really?"
"Really. It was this whole… secret thing."
"Wow. That's… good news. Mother will be happy not to hide anymore."
"And what I want to do is finish our conversation!"
"You don't think life or death takes precedence-?"
"Life or death is over. You said you had something to tell me. It must have been important. So tell me now!"
Draco hesitated. He couldn't tell her the truth. He didn't want to ruin her happy ending with his own unhappy one. "It's actually of no consequence now," he hedged.
"Let me be the judge of that." She crossed her arms.
He suppressed a sigh. She was going to force him to lie again. He quickly glanced down at the letter in his hand. No names were mentioned and his mother had refrained from referring to Hermione's blood status for once, merely calling her 'unsuitable'. "I just wanted to show you this," he said, vaguely flapping the letter at her. "I finally got my mother's blessing to-to be with…" Pansy? No, he'd been with Pansy for years and, besides, he was done using Pansy. "… Astoria," he said before really thinking and cleared his throat. "You don't have to fear my antics anymore."
"A-Astoria?" Hermione looked shocked. Then she stepped forward and snatched the letter from him before he could object. "Your mother is less than pleased," she then muttered as she skimmed the words, sounding dejected. "W-why would seeing Astoria be an issue?"
"Well…" he said, slowly getting to his feet to buy time. "Her family is poor and doesn't have any influence. As far as pureblood witches go, I could still do much better on that score. And the fact that I asked my mother means that I'm serious. Really serious. I… just thought you might like to know."
"I see," Hermione muttered, looking dazed.
"I'm sorry, I have to… have to go!" he forced out and then quickly brushed past her to get away from her, the situation, his own lies, everything.
This would be the last lie he told to spare her. He couldn't do it anymore. It hurt too much.
Hermione swallowed. Then she swallowed again. She was staring out at the lake, but didn't see anything. She'd been so sure. For a while there, she'd been so sure that… that….
Maybe she hadn't been completely wrong. He did seem to have some feelings for her. But what did it matter if he had feelings for her when he was willing to ignore those feelings in order to keep pursuing ideals of blood purity?
She wished him all the best of luck. She really did. She just never wanted to lay her eyes on him ever again. She'd had enough. If he couldn't look past his own prejudices long enough to give them a chance, then he didn't deserve for her to care. She deserved better than to pine for someone who would despise her for something as insignificant as being born to non-magical parents.
If she was feeling a little teary-eyed, it was only because she was so exhausted she could barely stand up straight, and she would now be going back into the Great Hall to face that too many people she cared about had lost their lives tonight.
Silly her for wanting to see if she couldn't gain something good first before facing those losses.
It didn't matter. She didn't need him. Her friends would be there for her, as she would be there for them too.
Straightening her back to the point of pain, she slowly and purposefully walked back.
Author: AkashaTheKitty
Characters: Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley, Theodore Nott (whew)
Genres: Drama, Friendship, Hogwarts Years, Humor, Romance
Warnings: HBP Spoilers, although slightly incompatible.
Overall Rating: R
Summary: When Hermione Granger loses a bet she was sure she'd win to Draco Malfoy, it's the beginning of her own personal hell. And his.
Go here if you didn't read previous chapters.
Hermione was bone-weary and all she wanted to do was sleep for a million years. Her brain was already happily asleep, so she'd spent a good few minutes staring after the suddenly moody Draco when Theo touched her arm. She forced her head to turn. Slowly, so very slowly.
"He's been tending to the wounded," he said with a slightly raised voice, nodding towards Draco.
Hermione wondered why he would speak so loudly to her for the second it took Draco to utter a foul expression and glare at Theo.
She didn't understand his upset. "Really?" she rather dreamily asked, feeling a smile spread on her face. So he did have good in him. He'd helped those in need, when he could've just sulked or left or get killed. She kind of wanted to hug him again just for that.
Draco looked anything but pleased and abruptly turned away, muttering about ways to murder Theo.
Hermione decided she really must be tired, because she didn't understand his reaction at all. Was he upset that she thought something nice about him? Why would that upset him?
"What about his father?" Theo asked, breaking the new trance she was falling into.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, almost jumping to her feet and doing the best to shake the cobwebs from her mind. "Oh, of course! Draco, about your father…"
Draco shot her a resigned glance from his spot by the window. "Don't bother. Your side won, so someone probably had to kill him, right?" He sighed deeply and stared out the window again. "I won't lie and say that it's ok, but I guess I understand. He wasn't exactly an innocent."
"No, he's not dead," Hermione began. "He-"
Draco straightened and turned back. "Really? You managed to capture him? Is he in danger of getting the Kiss?"
"Could you let me finish, please? He is not in danger of receiving the Kiss. In fact, he may get a full pardon. He's the reason we managed to wrap things up as relatively painlessly as we did."
Draco opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again just to say, "How?"
"Well, he wanted you. I refused to tell him where you were-"
"You faced him yourself?" He'd visibly paled and his fists had clenched.
"-Let me finish!-and when it seemed to become clear to him that you were under our protection, he offered us a deal. He said that being a Death Eater held nothing of interest for him anymore now that he was robbed of his wife and son and, besides, You-Know-Who was proving more and more unstable. Oh, and your aunt was getting on his nerves. She is dead, by the way. Can't say I'm sorry for your loss."
Draco shook his head, looking more confused than sorry about the loss of his batty aunt himself. "How did he help you?"
"He lured single or small groups of Death Eaters into ambushes where we could safely capture them. It really saved everyone a lot of bloodshed."
"Imagine that," he muttered, turning away again.
Hermione frowned and plunked back down on the bed. She'd imagined that he would be pleased, even exalted, to hear about his father. Moody git. "I'm sorry I don't have as good news about your father," she said to Theo. "Unfortunately, he survived too."
Theo's lips quirked into a half-smile. "That old tosser will survive anything. I swear he'll outlive me."
"If he does, it'll be in Azkaban. I don't see any pardons in his future."
"Well, that's always something."
Hermione glanced back over at Draco. He didn't look like he was paying any attention to them. She didn't understand. After that almost desperate hug and the way he'd looked at her and… why was he all but ignoring her?
"So you finally decided to like him, then?" Theo asked in a very low voice, sounding dismayed.
The words acutely embarrassed Hermione. It really was the dumbest thing. "Sorry," she muttered, lowering her eyes and feeling her cheeks heat. Good thing that Draco wasn't likely to be able to hear what they said as long as they kept their voices lowered.
"I've regretted breaking up with you, you know. Especially the way I did it… It was stupid. I was jealous. I shouldn't have treated you like that. I should have talked to you instead. You wouldn't have developed feelings for him if I hadn't pushed you in his direction back then."
"Does all that really matter now?"
He gave her a pained look. "It does to me. Can you really see the two of you being together?"
Hermione shrugged. "I… don't know. Probably not?" Most likely not. But it didn't matter. She'd survived a war; she could survive this.
"Then be with me. I'll give you everything you want. Everything you need. I won't hold your feelings for him against you as long as you'll try to love me too."
"I-I don't know…" Hermione glanced first at Theo and then over at Draco's back. She hated being so weak, but right now the offer actually sounded quite tempting. Be with someone who understood she had feelings for someone else and still wanted to be with her regardless. She could do with some romantic happiness.
But then she realized it wasn't realistic. He would begin to resent her if she wasn't the girlfriend he hoped for, she would resent him for not being someone else entirely, and it would all end badly. She didn't want to end badly with Theo.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
He sighed deeply. "Oh, well. How about a kiss, then?"
She stared at him.
His lips twitched slightly. "I knew my odds, Granger. They were never that good. I'll live."
Hermione couldn't quite help the giggle that escaped from her lips at Theo's way of dismissing his own offer. She blamed a very emotionally exhausting day and night with no sleep whatsoever. Still, laughing felt good. It felt normal. It felt like this nightmare might actually truly be over.
On an impulse, she leaned forwards and pressed her lips against Theo's. It was just meant to be a peck, but before she could pull back, his hand came up and kept her head in place, his lips becoming more demanding. Hermione allowed this for only a brief moment, before she pulled free.
"What was that about?" she scolded.
Theo was wearing a full-on smirk now. "Just getting my money's worth. After all, not likely to get another chance, am I?"
Hermione glanced in the direction of Draco, but found the spot he'd occupied before empty. Shocked, she jumped to her feet and frantically looked around, just to find that he was nowhere in sight. "Theo!" she groaned. "He's gone! You did this on purpose, didn't you?"
"Look at it this way," Theo quietly said. "He can't pretend he doesn't care now if you go after him, can he?"
For a few seconds, Hermione stood undecided, but then she bolted towards the doors.
Draco stumbled out the doors, hardly seeing where he was going. The pain in his chest was overwhelming.
She was kissing Theo.
Well, so much for not knowing. Now he knew. She'd chosen Theo, the wounded hero, over Draco, the indecisive git.
Unable to stand himself anymore, Draco sped up his pace until he was racing down the halls, flying down stairs. By the time he'd reached the entrance hall, he wasn't even sure where he was going. He didn't want to go to his room, but didn't want to be around people either. There were people in the castle. Aurors, Order members, students. He assumed the bulk of them were in the Great Hall, though, considering that this was where people seemed to be coming from or going to.
Nobody seemed to be guarding the doors out, so he made a dash for them. Fresh air would be just the thing to get his mind off Hermione snogging Theo upstairs.
Outside, he kept running up until he got a stitch in his side. Gasping for air, he leaned against a tree and looked around. He'd made it to the lake. In fact, this spot seemed awfully familiar. He frowned and stared at the tree, trying to figure out why and then it hit him-oh, wasn't that just ironic? In a sense this was where it had all begun. This was where Hermione had been sitting that night after the Quidditch game. The night he'd forced her to come inside with him. The night he'd first kissed her.
He sighed and sat down. They would all probably be sent home now, and it was just as well that he wouldn't have to be around her or places he'd been with her anymore. It was over. For real this time. He was out of options.
Carefully, he reached down in his pocket and pulled out the last letter from his mother. The tone of it was far from happy, but she'd finally softened enough to agree to not immediately hex him or his 'unsuitable witch' if they should show up on her doorstep together.
The fact that she'd even given them that much of a chance was proof of how much Narcissa Malfoy loved her son. Too bad that it was all for nothing.
Draco hadn't really realized how much he'd hoped for a different outcome until now. He'd tried to keep himself prepared, but he hadn't been. Not at all. Somehow he'd actually thought that it would work itself out in the end.
Stupid. Life never worked itself out. Not for him. He wasn't one of the heroes. He hadn't done anything noteworthy in his life-unless you considered failing at everything as noteworthy.
He covered his eyes with his hands. He was tired and wanted for this all to be over. He just wanted for the feelings to stop. They were clogging up his chest and his throat and his mind, and he didn't know what to do about it. He had to collect himself, though, because at some point today, Hermione was sure to seek him out for some kind of talk and he had to say all of the right things not to mar her happiness.
No sooner had he finished the thought, before he heard the sounds of someone approaching. No! Not yet!
"Malfoy," she gasped as she reached him. "What's the rush?"
"Sorry," he muttered, slowly removing his hands and blinking a few times as he forced the pain back. "Didn't know I was needed right now. How did you find me?"
"Saw… window… run…" She seemed unable to be much more coherent than that as she was still gasping to regain her breath.
Draco couldn't help but smile a little. "You didn't have to run, Granger; I'm not actually going anywhere."
"Why did you run?" she asked, almost accusing, straightening up now that she seemed to have gotten her breath back.
"Oh, that…" He looked out over the lake, quickly coming up with a story. "Been cooped up all night. Needed to move."
"And you felt the need to just leaving without saying anything for no particular reason at all?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, you seemed to want your privacy. I didn't figure you'd miss me. Certainly didn't mean for you to have to come after me. What is it you need from me?"
"Oh." She looked away, seeming uncomfortable. "I guess… I need to finish the conversation we were about to have before the battle?"
"Right now?" Draco asked, not feigning his surprise. "Don't you have enough to do with Theo, battle aftermath, sleeping, and, I don't know, figuring out what to do the next time You-Know-Who pops up?"
"Next time?" Hermione frowned. "There won't be a next time. He's gone. Really gone. All fragments of his soul are destroyed. Dumbledore has been working on it all year with help from Harry."
Draco blinked. "Really?"
"Really. It was this whole… secret thing."
"Wow. That's… good news. Mother will be happy not to hide anymore."
"And what I want to do is finish our conversation!"
"You don't think life or death takes precedence-?"
"Life or death is over. You said you had something to tell me. It must have been important. So tell me now!"
Draco hesitated. He couldn't tell her the truth. He didn't want to ruin her happy ending with his own unhappy one. "It's actually of no consequence now," he hedged.
"Let me be the judge of that." She crossed her arms.
He suppressed a sigh. She was going to force him to lie again. He quickly glanced down at the letter in his hand. No names were mentioned and his mother had refrained from referring to Hermione's blood status for once, merely calling her 'unsuitable'. "I just wanted to show you this," he said, vaguely flapping the letter at her. "I finally got my mother's blessing to-to be with…" Pansy? No, he'd been with Pansy for years and, besides, he was done using Pansy. "… Astoria," he said before really thinking and cleared his throat. "You don't have to fear my antics anymore."
"A-Astoria?" Hermione looked shocked. Then she stepped forward and snatched the letter from him before he could object. "Your mother is less than pleased," she then muttered as she skimmed the words, sounding dejected. "W-why would seeing Astoria be an issue?"
"Well…" he said, slowly getting to his feet to buy time. "Her family is poor and doesn't have any influence. As far as pureblood witches go, I could still do much better on that score. And the fact that I asked my mother means that I'm serious. Really serious. I… just thought you might like to know."
"I see," Hermione muttered, looking dazed.
"I'm sorry, I have to… have to go!" he forced out and then quickly brushed past her to get away from her, the situation, his own lies, everything.
This would be the last lie he told to spare her. He couldn't do it anymore. It hurt too much.
Hermione swallowed. Then she swallowed again. She was staring out at the lake, but didn't see anything. She'd been so sure. For a while there, she'd been so sure that… that….
Maybe she hadn't been completely wrong. He did seem to have some feelings for her. But what did it matter if he had feelings for her when he was willing to ignore those feelings in order to keep pursuing ideals of blood purity?
She wished him all the best of luck. She really did. She just never wanted to lay her eyes on him ever again. She'd had enough. If he couldn't look past his own prejudices long enough to give them a chance, then he didn't deserve for her to care. She deserved better than to pine for someone who would despise her for something as insignificant as being born to non-magical parents.
If she was feeling a little teary-eyed, it was only because she was so exhausted she could barely stand up straight, and she would now be going back into the Great Hall to face that too many people she cared about had lost their lives tonight.
Silly her for wanting to see if she couldn't gain something good first before facing those losses.
It didn't matter. She didn't need him. Her friends would be there for her, as she would be there for them too.
Straightening her back to the point of pain, she slowly and purposefully walked back.