Born The Day You Kissed Me

HERMIONE'S TEARS

Hermione's face was white with horror and her eyes were wide opened with panic and shock. She screamed, but the sound was muffled by the hand on her mouth. She desperately wanted to go to them, to make sure that they were okay, but the man would not subside. She watched her parents carefully for any signs of movement...but they weren't even breathing.

Hermione suddenly snapped her eyes to his with hatred. She had momentarily stopped struggling, so when he eased off slightly Hermione sunk her teeth as hard as she could into his finger, while simultaneously kneeing him between his legs.

"AHHHRGGG!" he screamed stumbling back.

Hermione took this chance to scramble out of his grasp, darting for her parents. She didn't even think of grabbing her wand to curse the man for all she could think about was getting to her parents. She began screaming as loudly as possible, belting out, hoping someone would come to help her. She sprang up and bolted for the door realizing this was her chance to escape, but he beat her to it.

"You're not going anywhere!" the man bellowed, grabbing her arms and shoving her back against the door. She continued screaming, so he slapped her across the face to shut her up.

She stopped breathing while one solitary tear slid down her emotionless, red face. Her eyes remained on her mother's panic stricken expression.

Seeing that she had stopped retaliating, the man leaned his head down towards her right ear. His breath on her neck made her shake with fear and disgust, and more tears fell from her eyes as he violently whispered, "You're next."

A loud knock on the door behind them caused them both to jump and the man hauled her away from the door in order to open it.

Lucius walked in, and sniffed the air in approval when he saw the motionless bodies. "Good, you have the girl. Bring her to the front room," he said as he turned to leave, his cloak billowing behind him.

Hermione began to struggle against him, trying to free herself. Where was Draco? He had to help her! The man had already begun to drag her out of her parents' room and down the hall. When she got to the living room, her blood turned cold at the sight of several cloaked figures. Her eyes frantically searched the room for Draco, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Let her go McNair," Lucius said strolling up to them. Lucius then harshly grabbed her arm to make sure she wouldn't flee. "Looking for my son, you worthless mudblood?" Lucius spoke callously.

When she was silent he continued.

"I must say, he did not do as he was instructed. His only assignment was to coax you into coming back to the Manor." Lucius threw her to the ground vehemently. "Screwing you was never in the job description." He slowly circled above her, enjoying her distress.

"Draco's tactics have always been unique, so I presume that he thought he had to seduce you into believing him. From that little display of...affection we were all ungrateful to witness, I'm assuming that his act worked. It's a shame I had to come and finish his job for him. He has already returned to the Manor to...to think things over and discover how he failed to perform this one simple task."

Hermione cowered over, feeling ready to vomit.

"Tell me, if you are supposedly the smartest student at Hogwarts, how is that you fell for my son's pathetic act?" he chuckled aloud. "He must be raking in the women if the likes of you gave in to him so quickly." He leaned down and yanked on her hair so that her tear streaked face was visible to everyone. "However...I never thought he'd sink as low as to fuck a mudblood."

She felt her insides burning with anger...surely she would die soon from the emotional pain she was experiencing.

Her gut had been right. This was all set up, and she had ignored her conscience when it had told her that Malfoy couldn't have changed for the better.

She couldn't believe she had been so submissive! She should have known that after seven years she could never trust him, he was not on her side. She had been seduced, as Lucius had said. This had all been an act, and she had fell for it, hard.

Her brain was racing, because it didn't seem to add up. He'd had her at the Manor, she'd been right under the Death Eaters noses. Why hadn't he turned her in then? Why did he save her from those rapists? Why did he carry her when she had fainted? Why did he warn her that her parents were in danger? It must have all been an act...she had been set up.

And now he was gone. He had left her, surrendered her to his malicious father. She felt her insides throbbing in aggravation.

Damn Malfoy! Why did she ever trust him? It was his fault her parents were dead, and it was his fault that she was now at the mercy of the Death Eaters. A new batch of tears came tumbling down when she realized her life was about to come to an end....

Suddenly, her front door swung open. In an instant there were spells being flung back and forth as Auror's came fleeting into her living room. Hermione stood, ducking curses from left and right and ran as fast as she could out her front door. She heard Lucius belt, "STOP HER!" Snow crunched under footsteps as they started towards her, and she screamed as someone grabbed her arm to stop her.

"IMPEDIMENTA!" Hermione heard someone shout, and the man who had been chasing her fell on top of her, stiff as a board.

"Help!" she cried, squished into the snow under an unbearable weight. She could hear people screaming curses left and right, and no one could hear her.

"Ron, come help me get him off of her!" Harry said, kneeling down next to her.

"Harry!" Hermione bellowed in relief. Together, the boys pushed the body off of her.

"Hermione, come on, stand up," Harry said quickly, taking her hand to help her stand. They hid around the corner from the front porch, waiting for the action to stop. When they couldn't hear anything else, they ran back to the door.

Hermione leaned against Harry as she turned in time to see some of the Death Eaters dissaparate, Lucius included. The Auror's had managed to capture two men, and were currently binding them to take them to the Ministry. The rest had gotten away.

"Thank Merlin you are okay!" Ron said stepping in front of her. "W-We thought, well, we heard there was an Unforgivable here, and we thought you'd been-"

"Ron," Harry said, putting his hand up to silence him.

Hermione had tears steadily flowing down her face as she looked up into their faces. She opened her mouth to tell them what had happened, but nothing came out. Her eyes had a vacant look in them, and her lips were trembling.

Harry hugged her close to him and Ron put an arm around her as she cried to them both.

"Ron, Harry, bring her in here please," a soft voice spoke.

Hermione looked up to find Charlie, backed up by Lupin, Tonks, a few men and women that she didn't recognize, and Mad-Eye Moody.

"M-My, they...they," Hermione sputtered only to burst into tears again. She clutched at Harry, realizing that she too, was an orphan like him.

Ron went to Charlie, and they spoke quickly. Tonks and Lupin turned to search the house now that they knew an Unforgivable hadn't been used on Hermione.

"Hermione, what is it? What's wrong?" Harry asked her when her tears would not subside.

All she did was shake her head, mumbling incoherently and clutching at him tighter.

"Charlie, Moody," Lupin said, coming around the corner. "Her parents...they've been killed."

Harry and Ron gasped aloud, Harry hugging her more tightly while Ron came over to put his arm around them.

"C'mon, lets get her out of here while we deal with officials," Charlie said, coming to the three of them. "Take her to the Burrow."

* * *

Draco sat on his bed, swinging his legs nervously. He was locked in. His father had returned, furious with him for his foolish behavior. He took away his wand, and locked him in his room so that he couldn't escape, unless he wanted to jump out of his window.

Draco had no idea what had happened after he left, but he knew that for the time being that Granger was safe, otherwise Lucius would have gloated that it was he who brought her to the Manor. His father's mood was hostile, and Draco had never seen him so angry. He forbade his mother to talk to him, or to bring him any food. He was relying on Tish to make sure that he didn't die of starvation.

He had no idea what would happen when it was time for him to return to school. His mother was adamant about his attendance, so he doubted he'd be denied of returning to Hogwarts. What made his stomach turn in knots was...what would Hermione say to him when he got there? They shared living quarters, it would be near impossible to avoid each other. He realized that she must have gone through something horrible...that scream still echoed in his memory nonstop. He couldn't save her.

And what was worse, was that he had been taken away, so that he had no idea what had happened after that. It occurred to him that his father probably revealed what his original assignment was to her. He remembered overhearing the Death Eaters, he was supposed to convince her to come back to the Manor to use as live bait against Voldemort.

He stood up, pacing back and forth. She probably hated him now. He didn't think she'd ever trust her again. She thought that she meant nothing to him, but he had developed feelings for her in a short period of time. He even thought that she might return the feelings...but that would never work anymore. His father had crushed any chances he may have had with her, and it made him shout out in frustration.

He slammed his fist into a wall, not caring about the blood that began to trickle down his forearm. He deserved pain...he should have been more careful. He should have gone with her when she went to see what the noise was. Maybe then, she'd see that he really was innocent. He hadn't even known about the assignment at first! It was her in the first place that had suggested that his memory had been tampered with, but would she still believe that he hadn't known? He should have told her what he'd overheard so that he could defend himself and convince her that he wanted nothing to do with the Death Eaters, and would never want to harm her.

All of this was true, yet it still didn't erase the fact that before his memory had been modified, his task was to lure her to the Manor. And for him to have ended up in that forest by her house, he must have agreed to do it. The thought made him kick his bed with all of his might, not caring what kind of bruises would appear tomorrow.

* * *

"Quick, hide under the tree...secret passage...to the west wing...I'm going to go and make sure the coast is clear..." Hermione turned over in a restless sleep.

"Well would you look at what we've got here, she's a piece of work...get off me!...STUPEFY...are you okay?...a bath will make you feel better...we're even now....

"I had them cleaned for you...I got us some food too...My father...stay here until I come back...." Hermione sighed, turning over again.

"You're parents are in danger...Right now, we just need to get you home....

"Lets get out of this mess...Granger, wake up. Open your eyes...I'm trying to kiss you....

"You're next....his only assignment was to coax you into coming back to the Manor...screwing you was never in the job description...." Hermione shot up out of bed, panting hard.

She felt disoriented, and she didn't know where she was. "Hello?" she called out. She swung her feet over to stand up out of bed. After letting her eyes adjust, she realized that she was in the Burrow.

She walked into the bathroom. She was sticky with sweat from the dream, and her hair was a mess from tossing back and forth. Her eyes were red from crying, and she wished she could brush her teeth to get the horrid smell to leave her.

She sat on the toilet seat, reliving her dream. Malfoy had seemed so generous...half of her was livid with herself that she would believe his lies...while the other half still doubted it was an act. He had seemed so sincere; there had been no lies in his eyes. No malice in his smile...or in his lips as they had kissed her in passion.

Hermione touched her lips with her shaking fingertips, wanting to cry. However, no tears came. She was still trying to sort out her feelings.

She felt used. Dumped, betrayed, and lied to. Yet she had never felt so alive when his hands had stroked her hair or when his lips had kissed hers sweetly. She was so confused. She still couldn't believe that this was happening to her. A knock at the door brought her out of her reverie.

"Hermione?" Ginny called out. "Hermione, can I come in?"

Hermione wanted to answer her, wanted to hug her, wanted the comfort she had to offer, but couldn't get her voice to work.

"'Mione, C'mon. Let me in," Ginny said knocking softly.

She stood, and walked to the door. Five minutes seemed to pass until she turned the door knob and faced Ginny.

Ginny said nothing, only swooped in to hug her. At last, the tears came. Hermione began to shake with sobs, as they fell to the floor in a strong embrace.

"Shhhh, it's okay. I'm here. We're here for you," Ginny shushed her, while smoothing her matted hair down with the palm of her hand.

"Ginny's right, we are here for you Hermione," Harry said. She looked up to see Ron and Harry sit down crossed legged beside her, while patting her on the back.

They all sat there for a long time, nobody daring to speak first. Hermione had composed herself and was now staring off with a faraway look. She felt everyone's eyes on her, waiting for an explanation, but she couldn't give it to them. Not yet. For her, the grief was still too near.

. . . .I died inside the night you left me. . . .