rating: NC-17 (for future chapters and etc)

Demon Beneath My Will

by harshdecember
 
 

Chapter 12
Gone for a Day
 

"Hermione!" Harry yelled out of the window, too happy to realize she couldn't hear him, not to mention was asleep.
"Hermione!" Harry called again across the green, sunny lawn. Silience. Not even a twitch. -OK, I really don't think
she's lying down because she ran all of the way here.- Harry thought, his smile fading into a small frown. He
practically fleed out of the room and jumped down all of the pearly, marble stairs so see her. He really missed her
and Ron. He wished even more to see Ron as well. Harry swung the front door open and sprinted outside, running
across the misty lawn. It was early morning, which was when Harry would usually wake up from his wonderful
sleep which felt like he was drifting on a cloud from the comfy mattress. He also had many online pen-pals from
other countries. It was fun to write to them. It was even more surprising to find that Dumbledore had electricity.

"Hermione! Mione! Herm!" Harry shrieked, skaing her rapidly. Hermione groaned, turning on her side. "Come on, Hermione!" Hermione, finally getting who was talking to her, shot her eyes open and smiled widely.

"Harry!" she shrieked and swung her arms around him, hugging him. Harry too put his arms around her with in a
great hug. Though he had no sexual attractions towards her. He took the understanding that Ron liked Hermione,
and didn't think twice about what Hermionewould look like in her 'birthday suit'. "I'm so happy to see you!" Hermione gasped, finally letting go after a good ten minutes. It had been different with Harry since she hadn't seen him longer. It
had only been a week or two after the summer holidays since she saw Ron, and Harry seemed more valuable since he
was the main wizard Voldemort wanted to kill.

"What are you doing here??" Harry asked in disbelief. Hermione looked even puzzled herself.

"I have no clue. Draco and I-"

"Since when do you start calling him Draco?"

"Since we've been on the run from his father and Voldemort! Anyways, Draco and I were going back to his mansion
to retrieve a few things when Lucius apperated on the porch and we wouldn't dare to move-"

"Did he see you?? How on earth could you have escaped? The man's a...mad man!"

"Oh, yea, he has an invisiblity cloak-"

"Since when?"

"Since he took yours until he could buy his own."

"Was he the-"

"Yes, yes, I've already gone through that with him. Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted, we were standing
there until Lucius started throwing this tantrum and we ran for it and he was right on our tail and then...and then...I
remember apperating here. But that's impossible, I'm not registrated for that yet."

"Maybe it was 'magic'. Talk about crazy, huh?" Harry kneeled down beside her and winked after his statement.

"Oh, bugger off! I'm pretty sure I didn't 'magic' my way here. At least I don't think."

"Maybe it was a dream."

"Then how did I get here?"

"Maybe this is a dream."

"Whatever! You can be so sarcastic sometimes, but I wouldn't think you'd be sarcastic when Voldemort's trying to
capture you!"

"Please, Hermione, I have nothing to worry about when I'm with Dumbledore. Dare I say this has been the best
summer of my entire life!"

"Wow. Seventeen years and this is the best summer?"

"You know perfectly well the Dursleys would never let me have a good time."

"Even so...wait, I just suddenly realized something out of all of this jibberish."

"What? Forget something?"

"Yes. Draco. Where is he?" She started looking around her, panicking.

"Who cares?"

"I do!" Harry widened his eyes as if she had just said she wanted to become a Death Eater. But the look on
Harry's face was sure to look like he had just seen the dark mark on her forearm. "Look, he's been helping me
out a lot. As arrogant as he can be, I still kind of now see him as a pretty good friend." -Or more.- Hermione
thought.

"You actually consider the thought??"

"Well, quite frankly, yes. He is sweet to me, sorry to say, and he's been helping me out with this." Hermione
pulled down her front shirt just above the breast line to expose a very now red scar placed upon her chest.

"And he's actually been helping you? Isn't he a Death Eater? Supporter of Voldemort?"

"Well, um, he is a Death Eater-"

"Then what is he doing with you??"

"I told you already!" Hermione's forehead crinkled, looking and feeling around on the wet grass. "Do you think
Lucius got him?"

"Hermione, I'll tell you right now that I don't care. But if he is here somewhere, trying to scare you, I'll sick a
house-elf on him." Harry smiled, but Hermione didn't follow. She now understood the fact that house-elves did
enjoy working, but she really couldn't believe Draco would scar her like that. "Look, Mione, we're safe here,
OK? Dumbledore has this fence proof...thingy that doesn't allow any Death Eater in of the sort; including
Voldemort. You are completely safe. Malfoy's had a good life, right?"

"Not really."

"Come again?"

"His mother died from his father and his father abuses him." Hermione gave up hope on finding him and looked
down. Nothing could get worse. Or maybe better.

"Come on, cheer up. Come inside and have some pumpkin juice," Harry offered, standing up and giving out a
hand to the cold muggle-born. Hermione decided it as for the best, and took his hand, propped herself up and
followed Harry into the quite large, pearly white mansion.
 

~~~~~~

"I see your point, I guess," Harry finally agreed with Hermione, sitting down at the long, marble table in the kitchen.

"I can't say I don't feel guilty that I'm here and he isn't," Hermione moped, putting her hands on her cheeks and
elbows on the table.

"Do you have the duffle bag that he packed?" Hermione suddenly looked up.

"No. Well, yes. When we were running, I think it slipped off of his shoulder and landed in my hand since I was so
close to him...and I apperated with it..."

"So....?"

"Then it's still here! But where??" Hermione bounced off of her chair. "Why did it show up only me?"

"Maybe the spell thing forgot about him," Harry guessed freely, stuffing a roll from a whicker basket into his mouth.

"I really don't think magic 'forgets' like that."

"Then maybe it went wrong."

"But there was no spell!"

"How do you know for sure? Maybe Malfoy did one." Hermione looked down. She needed to find out where he
was.
 

~~~~~~

"Dumbledore's here." Harry announced happily that night, jumping off of the modern couch and pranced out of the
living room with Hermione. The next moment, the two front doors of the manor slammed open and the night's breeze
whistled in. And in the door way stood Dumbledore, cheery as ever.

"Do not take me for some conjuror of cheap tricks! I am not trying to rob you!" A shadow fell over Dumbledore and
his eyes flashed. Then slowly light appeared behind him again. "I'm trying to help you." Harry sniggered to himself.

Dumbledore smiled. "I never get tired of doing that. So what's the news today, Harry? Do you think I would make a
good Gandalf?"

"If only they knew," Harry replied. "I do have some news today though. Guess who wanted to pop in?" Hermione
took a step forward from out of the hall way. Dumbledore gasped.

"What are you doing here, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked, shaking her hand.

"Well, sir, Lucius-"

"Oh yes. I've heard of him. The ministry found him down at The Burrow. I'm afraid he has strucken Mr. Weasley unconsious and left since they didn't know where the young Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger were. Then a few spotted
him down in London. Then it seems he happened to appear back at the manor, of what we can track down. But
when we got there, he was gone." Dumbledore interrupted.

"That's because we were at the Malfoy Manor, and we were running under this invisibility cloak Draco has and then
I happened to appear here. I've been checking under all of the resourse I could and it doesn't make sense," Hermione replied. Dumbledore took a moment to seize this through.

"Well, if I am mistaken, young Draco is a Death Eater, is he not?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, yes," Hermione replied.

Dumbledore, not by the answer, but by the truth hurt him; showing through his eyes. "Hermione, did you know that
Death Eaters are more powerful and have more powers than the average witch or wizard? Since Draco is a Death
Eater, he could have wished your way out of the situation, just by his mind and his wand. Did you know that my
manor is Death Eater proof?" Hermione didn't know why she hadn't seen it before. "By the way, I tripped over this."
Dumbledore pulled something out of his bushy cloak. It was a navy blue duffle bag and a silky invisiblity cloak. "I'll
have you know, thanks to this, I had a life threatning stroke," Dumbledore tried making her smile, but she knew the
facts all too well. Malfoy was back there. With Lucius. "Um, Hermione, my protection around this manor isn't that
strong. It'll keep the average Death Eater and Voldemort out of here, but if Draco is something else, like he is, he shouldn't be too far away. At least I'm sure of what I say. I take the understanding that Draco has helped you out
the past two weeks. And I understand that if someone is caring about you so, it is likely for you to care about them
after they aren't with you. It is like a puppy. You have it for one week, then somebody takes it away. I suggest you
both go to bed, now. Yes, you too, Harry. I will keep a careful eye out. Lucius could be anywhere, and it is bound
to have Draco there with him."
 

~~~~~~

Hermione didn't sleep a wink. She was wide awake in the spare guest's bedroom, thinking. She didn't know why,
but she really now cared about Draco, even though it has only been two weeks. She cared about Draco as much
as she cared about Ron. She knew him as a friend as much as she knew Harry. But there was something different
about Draco, something more that he's never shown to a muggle; or mudblood in his case. She couldn't get to sleep.
She at least needed to walk around and get it off of her chest. She pulled the blankets off of her and pushed herself
off of the high bed, landing her feet on the cold, plushy carpet. Luckily, she didn't change into her pajamas, only a
black spaghetti strap and a silvery glittery, see through over shirt that felt like water to her skin. Followed by her
long, black skirt. She thought to herself that night 'Screw it. Who cares about pajamas?' She slipped on her leather
buckle-up shoes and walked out of the cozy room and into the dark hallway.

As she walked along, her shoes padding across the polished wood, she began to hear distant voices. But there was
only Harry and Dumbledore that lived in the house, and Harry was asleep. But there were two voices; who was the
other's? She continued down the shadowed halls and finally managed to find a stairwell. She walked slowly down the
stairs, hoping not to wake any body up, and made it to the first floor. She began walking to the breezy living room
where everything was open to her and it didn't feel stuffy. She heard more laughter. What time was it? Around 2:00
a.m.? She slowly paced herself to the living room, hoping to find Dumbledore to talk to since he was so kind and
open minded. She padded into the cozy living room where plushy couches laid around and a huge fish tank was in
view full of unique fishes. She looked around quickly, feeling groggy, and stopped at the site she most hoped to see.

"Good night, Hermione!" Dumbledore said cheerfully, then he looked down at his wristwatch. "I mean, good morning!" Hermione dropped her jaw.

"Indeed. Good morning, Hermione," a rather familiar voice recalled. Hermione drew her attention towards him and
put on a huge beam. Malfoy was smiling with a bruised lip. Infact, he had bruises all over his arms and neck, and rips
on his black shirt. His lower lip had split and blood was still dipping down from it, and his left eye was black.
Hermione couldn't help but think he looked absolutely dangerous...and cute.

"Draco!" Hermione let out a shriek with out realizing it. She ran over to him and swung both her arms around his
neck, practically choking him. She finally let go and gave a quick kiss on his bruised cheek. "Where were you?"

"Back there with Lucius." Malfoy replied.

"How did you get here?"

"I could explain that." Dumbledore rose his boney hand.

"Do tell." Malfoy asked sarcastically, putting on mock interest.

"If you don't mind, Mr. Malfoy, I would like to explain how I got you here. Good. Now, I left around 11:00 at
night and figured Lucius must have went back to the mansion after some of the wizards from The Ministry left, so
I went back. Of course I don't need any cloak of the sort to be invisible, so I slipped in and followed this yelps-"

"Hey, they were not yelps!" Malfoy defended.

"Oh, you know what they were. Anyways, I found Lucius beating Draco to death. Literally, he looked like the
Bloody Baron himself, Draco did, and you know as so easily I got him out of there. I tried going after Lucius with
my wand but he had already apparated."

"But...I thought the average Death Eater couldn't come with in three miles of this place?" Hermione asked with puzzlement. Malfoy looked down, becoming extremely interested with the unique designs of the soft carpet. "
Draco. You are just a Death Eater, right?"

"Hermione, there is something you should know..." Dumbledore began.

"What? What is it? What's wrong with Draco?"
 
 
 

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Chapter 13