Fic: No Courage to Live (Draco/Hermione)
Title: No Courage to Live
Author: kalina_blue
Rating: PG-13
Prompt Set: 100.1 (Draco/Hermione)
Prompt: 50. Years
Word Count: 896
Summary: A visit at Azkaban.
Warnings: Post-DH
A/N: Well, it’s depressing, but considering the quotes that sort of was a given.
Written for Day 01 of the Easter Angst Challenge at dramionedrabble. I used the following quote:
2. Have the courage to live. Anyone can die. - Robert Cody
To anyone who didn’t know Hermione Granger she appeared to be calm, sitting at the table, legs crossed, the epitome of patience. Only if you looked very closely, you saw that she was chewing the inside if her cheeks nervously and that the huff she emanated every once in a while wasn’t an indication of boredom but pent up energy.
As it was, the guards at Azkaban were neither personally acquainted with one of the most prominent witches of the Wizarding world nor were they particularly perceptive, so when they brought in the prisoner, they were still assuming that it was just a routine interview of one of the former Death Eaters by a ministry official.
Their first clue that this might be anything but an ordinary event was when after they had sat down the prisoner, binding him as usual to the chair, Miss Granger politely requested that the guards leave the room. Protocol stated that there always had to be two guards present while a Ministry official interrogated a high risk inmate-and this particular prisoner was nothing if not dangerous.
But one didn’t easily refuse one of Harry Potter’s closes friends, so the guards grudgingly agreed to wait outside, resolving to keep a close eye on the interview through the see-through walls. Little did they know that as soon as they left, Hermione Granger magically created an illusion, making it look like she and the prisoner were only sitting on opposite sides of the table, talking. The guards had no idea that this interview was nothing but normal.
---
“You look pale,” Hermione commented quietly once the guards had left the room. The prisoner remained impassive.
“Are you alright?” Hermione asked again, uncrossing her legs and getting up from her chair. There still wasn’t an answer when Hermione walked around the table and crouched down next to the chair the ex-Death Eater was bound to.
“Please,” she whispered, once hand squeezing his bony knee gently. He had lost weight. Dull grey eyes looked at her.
“What does it matter to you?” the prisoner finally asked, his voice sounding weak.
“Draco, you know I care,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “I need you to get through this.”
“Get through?” Draco Malfoy asked, although he still remained uncharacteristically calm. There was none of his former energy, not even when he was fighting with her. “I’m not going to make it through another ten years of this.”
“Don’t even say that,” Hermione shouted, forgetting to whisper. Draco shot her a look and Hermione took a breath to calm herself. It would not do to alert the guards and adding a silencing charm to the visual illusion would risk making the magic so obvious that even the slightly dim-witted guards at Azkaban would notice.
When Hermione continued, her voice was quiet again. “You can’t just give up.”
“Easy for you to say,” Draco replied, and the ghost of his trademark sneer briefly appeared on his face. But it was gone just as quickly, as if Draco didn’t even have the energy to be angry anymore.
“But the Dementors are gone from Azkaban,” Hermione said. “I know being locked up must be terrible-”
“They are using charms and potions now. Did you know that?” Draco interrupted. “Trust me, no inmate in Azkaban remembers how it was to be happy.”
Hermione gasped, her eyes filling with tears. “Do you remember this?” she asked, reaching towards Draco and brushing his lips with hers.
“Of course I do,” he said once they broke apart. “But we were never happy, were we?”
“No,” Hermione replied truthfully. “But we could be.”
“Don’t fool yourself. Even if you think you are willing to wait for me ten years, I’m not going to last this long in here.”
Hermione was crying then. “You can’t just give up.”
“Why not?” Draco asked, deliberately avoiding to look at her face. “If I can’t survive the next ten years, it’s easier to die now. Why suffer any longer than I have to?”
“You can’t die.” Hermione’s voice was shaking. “You just can’t.”
Draco only looked at the table in front of him, ignoring her words.
“Draco, please!”
He didn’t flinch, and Hermione only cried harder.
“I’ll find a way to get you out of here,” she whispered feverishly.
“Why bother?”
“Because I care about you.”
“Well, everyone I ever cared about is dead. My father, my mother, all my friends. They either died during the war or were executed by the Ministry for their crimes. And I helped killing them because I betrayed the Dark Lord-for you.”
“I know that,” Hermione whispered.
“I betrayed my entire family and I still got 12 years for being a Death Eater. So, excuse me, if I don’t have enough strength to get through this.”
Hermione could only nod, wiping away her tears furiously.
“I still refuse to give up on you,” she said determinedly before walking to the door. Draco didn’t reply.
---
The guards would have had to be blind not to notice Hermione Granger’s tear-stained face or her blood-shot eyes when she left the interview room. They clearly saw that this had not been a standard interrogation. However, there was nothing they could do, but escort the prisoner back to his cell.
Just like there was nothing Hermione Granger could do to give Draco the courage to live.
Author: kalina_blue
Rating: PG-13
Prompt Set: 100.1 (Draco/Hermione)
Prompt: 50. Years
Word Count: 896
Summary: A visit at Azkaban.
Warnings: Post-DH
A/N: Well, it’s depressing, but considering the quotes that sort of was a given.
Written for Day 01 of the Easter Angst Challenge at dramionedrabble. I used the following quote:
2. Have the courage to live. Anyone can die. - Robert Cody
To anyone who didn’t know Hermione Granger she appeared to be calm, sitting at the table, legs crossed, the epitome of patience. Only if you looked very closely, you saw that she was chewing the inside if her cheeks nervously and that the huff she emanated every once in a while wasn’t an indication of boredom but pent up energy.
As it was, the guards at Azkaban were neither personally acquainted with one of the most prominent witches of the Wizarding world nor were they particularly perceptive, so when they brought in the prisoner, they were still assuming that it was just a routine interview of one of the former Death Eaters by a ministry official.
Their first clue that this might be anything but an ordinary event was when after they had sat down the prisoner, binding him as usual to the chair, Miss Granger politely requested that the guards leave the room. Protocol stated that there always had to be two guards present while a Ministry official interrogated a high risk inmate-and this particular prisoner was nothing if not dangerous.
But one didn’t easily refuse one of Harry Potter’s closes friends, so the guards grudgingly agreed to wait outside, resolving to keep a close eye on the interview through the see-through walls. Little did they know that as soon as they left, Hermione Granger magically created an illusion, making it look like she and the prisoner were only sitting on opposite sides of the table, talking. The guards had no idea that this interview was nothing but normal.
---
“You look pale,” Hermione commented quietly once the guards had left the room. The prisoner remained impassive.
“Are you alright?” Hermione asked again, uncrossing her legs and getting up from her chair. There still wasn’t an answer when Hermione walked around the table and crouched down next to the chair the ex-Death Eater was bound to.
“Please,” she whispered, once hand squeezing his bony knee gently. He had lost weight. Dull grey eyes looked at her.
“What does it matter to you?” the prisoner finally asked, his voice sounding weak.
“Draco, you know I care,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “I need you to get through this.”
“Get through?” Draco Malfoy asked, although he still remained uncharacteristically calm. There was none of his former energy, not even when he was fighting with her. “I’m not going to make it through another ten years of this.”
“Don’t even say that,” Hermione shouted, forgetting to whisper. Draco shot her a look and Hermione took a breath to calm herself. It would not do to alert the guards and adding a silencing charm to the visual illusion would risk making the magic so obvious that even the slightly dim-witted guards at Azkaban would notice.
When Hermione continued, her voice was quiet again. “You can’t just give up.”
“Easy for you to say,” Draco replied, and the ghost of his trademark sneer briefly appeared on his face. But it was gone just as quickly, as if Draco didn’t even have the energy to be angry anymore.
“But the Dementors are gone from Azkaban,” Hermione said. “I know being locked up must be terrible-”
“They are using charms and potions now. Did you know that?” Draco interrupted. “Trust me, no inmate in Azkaban remembers how it was to be happy.”
Hermione gasped, her eyes filling with tears. “Do you remember this?” she asked, reaching towards Draco and brushing his lips with hers.
“Of course I do,” he said once they broke apart. “But we were never happy, were we?”
“No,” Hermione replied truthfully. “But we could be.”
“Don’t fool yourself. Even if you think you are willing to wait for me ten years, I’m not going to last this long in here.”
Hermione was crying then. “You can’t just give up.”
“Why not?” Draco asked, deliberately avoiding to look at her face. “If I can’t survive the next ten years, it’s easier to die now. Why suffer any longer than I have to?”
“You can’t die.” Hermione’s voice was shaking. “You just can’t.”
Draco only looked at the table in front of him, ignoring her words.
“Draco, please!”
He didn’t flinch, and Hermione only cried harder.
“I’ll find a way to get you out of here,” she whispered feverishly.
“Why bother?”
“Because I care about you.”
“Well, everyone I ever cared about is dead. My father, my mother, all my friends. They either died during the war or were executed by the Ministry for their crimes. And I helped killing them because I betrayed the Dark Lord-for you.”
“I know that,” Hermione whispered.
“I betrayed my entire family and I still got 12 years for being a Death Eater. So, excuse me, if I don’t have enough strength to get through this.”
Hermione could only nod, wiping away her tears furiously.
“I still refuse to give up on you,” she said determinedly before walking to the door. Draco didn’t reply.
---
The guards would have had to be blind not to notice Hermione Granger’s tear-stained face or her blood-shot eyes when she left the interview room. They clearly saw that this had not been a standard interrogation. However, there was nothing they could do, but escort the prisoner back to his cell.
Just like there was nothing Hermione Granger could do to give Draco the courage to live.