Fate

Chapter Two

Guilt summed up the emotions running through Draco Malfoy's mind at the moment. Anger in himself, and much to his dismay, relief. He kept on telling himself that relief was just a normal human emotion to feel, so why did it feel so wrong? He hadn't known that Harry's plane; the plane he was supposed to be on, was going to have serious technical malfunctions. It happened over the ocean, and no survivors had been found so far. Draco had been silently praying for Harry to have found some way to escape; maybe he could have apparated back to land, for the plane crashed when it was less than an hour away from London. He was sitting in the airport hotel that the airlines offered him and all of the other passengers whose flights were delayed. He sat in his dark room, with an enormous amount of anger bottled up inside of him. What should he be feeling? Guilt? Anger? Pain? Relief? He was grieving for Harry's loss, and the thought of Harry's friends made his mind ache even more. All because of him, Ron lost his best man, his best friend. And Hermione? She lost her sole mate, her husband, and her life....

All because of Draco Malfoy, because he had tried to do one good deed, now Harry was never coming back. Never. It was almost too much to bear, and Draco headed down to the Hotel bar for a drink. He needed something to take his mind off his overwhelming thoughts, and if alcohol was the solution, so be it.

* * *

It had been almost a week when Hermione finally left her house. She had barely spoken to anyone about the events, but she knew it was probably unhealthy to keep it bottled up inside. She walked a few times around her block, but ran home when it began to rain on her. She decided to floo over to Ron's house; she needed to see someone.

"Hi," he greeted her when she appeared. Luna came forward, sweeping Hermione up into a tight hug. "How have you been?"

Hermione sighed, looking at her feet. A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked back up into his eyes, "Better," she lied.

Ron reached out to wipe the tear away as Luna brought a cup of steaming tea to Hermione. "Here you are," Luna whispered as she led them to their living room.

"Hermione, we need to talk about making arrangements for the funeral," Ron said apprehensively.

Hermione held the cup in two hands, absorbing all the warmth it was producing. She kept her eyes glued to the floral decorations on the mug, trying to ignore the subject of a funeral. It was inevitable, but it was just too final, it meant that he was gone for good. She finally looked up, "Ron, can't we wait? I mean, they still haven't found his body yet," her voice dropped to a soft whisper, "there's still hope."

Ron exhaled and sat there at a loss for words. What was he supposed to say to that? She was technically right; they hadn't found his body yet, so Ron did all he could think of and nodded his head. "Maybe, maybe."

Luna had a worried expression on her face, and she was biting her lip. She was never good at offering comfort, and Ron was not the greatest at it either. Before she could say anything however, Hermione placed her untouched tea on the coffee table, and walked silently out the back door. Luna made to follow her, but Ron's hand on her arm caught her.

"Just let her be," Ron said.

Hermione sat on the ground, surrounded by tall green grass, and shivered when she heard distant thunder. She shut her eyes, trying to think of something; anything else, but to no avail, the voice came back...your husband died...

She couldn't take it anymore, that treacherous voice bombarded her thoughts day and night. Harry's face was embedded in her memory, and she couldn't concentrate without him, she couldn't function without him. She kept recalling the last thing she had said to him. She had been arguing with him, and she had basically hung up on him. She hadn't even said 'I love you.'

At that moment, she did all she could think of. She screamed, screamed as loud as her voice would allow her. She screamed in anger and in pain, screamed to the wild, screamed to the heavens. Tears poured down her face and her teeth chattered. She collapsed in a sobbing mess in the grass, and watched as the black clouds accumulated over her head, spilling cold harsh rain drops all over her body. It felt like glass was slicing away at her skin, yet it only took away a small fraction of the pain from her heart.

* * *

Draco arrived in London a week later, since the airports had been closed after the accident. It had been a huge technical problem, none of which Draco knew anything about. Narcissa had come to pick him up, and had insisted that they go to Diagon Alley for a few errands. He eventually left the dress robes shop after a few hours of his mother bossing the people around, and was now looking through the Quidditch Supply store, when he heard someone call his name. He turned around to find Ron standing with an armful of supplies. He and Ron had finally come to like one another after a tough seventh year, and Draco had to chuckle at how much Ron had not changed. He was still the same little kid with no sense of style.

"Hello Weasley," Draco said. He helped him to carry his things to the checkout and agreed to go to get a drink with him.

They sat in silence for a while, until Ron finally came out and spoke the unspoken. "I'm going to assume you know what happened," he said looking down.

Draco merely nodded, and shifted a little uncomfortably. Did Ron know the whole situation? That it was his fault in the first place for Harry's death? "When was the funeral?" he asked cautiously.

"We haven't had the funeral yet." He paused. "Hermione wont let us. She thinks that there is still hope, since they haven't found his body yet," Ron said, taking a long swig of Butterbeer.

So far, it didn't seem like Ron had any knowledge of the ticket switch; things would be so much more uncomfortable if that were the case. He didn't think anyone would have told Ron or Hermione that Harry switched tickets with him, and that was the way he intended for it to stay. He couldn't deal with his guilt and the anger from the entire wizard world that it was his fault that 'the boy who lived' died.

"Anyway, Hermione is a mess and we are trying to help her out. Maybe you could stop by at my house for dinner with us tonight," Ron said. He explained to Draco how to get to his house, and told him to be there at about 7.

* * *

Ron came home to find Luna and Hermione chatting softly on the sofa. Ron poured himself a cup of tea and headed back to the living room.

"Hermione, guess who I saw in Diagon Alley today?" Ron said as he situated himself next to Luna.

Hermione's face brightened up in a hope so intense, it broke Ron's heart to disaffirm her thought.

"I saw Draco Malfoy, and I invited him to have dinner with us tonight," Ron said, trying to read the expression on her face.

She tried to put on a small smile. "That's great, Ron," she managed to say semi-happily.

"Don't get too excited now," he joked. Hermione smiled for real this time. It would be nice to see Malfoy; she hadn't seen or talked to him since their Hogwarts Graduation. Maybe this was exactly what she needed to take her mind off things, an old friend.

Hermione and Luna spent the rest of the afternoon making dinner, and Luna couldn't help but notice that this was the happiest Hermione had looked since the incident.

* * *

Draco's heart pounded with anticipation as he walked up the steps to Ron's house. He didn't know if he could face Hermione, and he stopped dead in his tracks at the thought of what she would say if for some reason she knew of the exchange of tickets. He slowly began to turn around when he stumbled over his own two feet. He couldn't quite keep his balance and he landed with a thump on the ground. Ok, so things were not looking too good. His breathing was abnormal, surely they would all sense that something was not right. He stood up and shook the thoughts from his head. Get a grip, Malfoy, he scolded himself. He rolled his shoulders and stood straighter as he reached out and rang the doorbell.

After a moment, the door squeaked opened, and a small, petite figure stood before him. His breath caught in his throat, and his heart began to beat wildly in his chest. Hermione's eyes were big and welcoming, and that only fed the guilt inside of his body. He smiled warmly and she opened the door wider.

"Hello, Draco," she said softly. He nodded at her and stepped through the door when she beckoned for him to come inside.

Without even thinking, he gathered her up into his arms and hugged her comfortingly. "I'm so sorry," he whispered into her ear.

He could feel her smile slightly. "It's okay," she replied in barely a whisper.

He pulled away to look into her eyes. "How are you doing?"

She nodded with a distant look in her eyes as she stared down at the floor. She was at a loss of words, that question was getting too overused, and she was tired of lying to everyone by just saying that she was fine. Suddenly, tears began to steadily flow down her cheeks and she wept softly, bringing her hands up to cover her face. She sniffled quietly and she began to shake her head back and forth mumbling incoherent things into her hands.

Draco was being ripped apart inside, he didn't know what to do or say, so he just hugged her tighter to him. He saw Ron and Luna walk up behind Hermione, and Ron's eyes were filled with grief and despair. Ron mouthed "outside" to Draco, so Draco slowly led Hermione out back. Once through the door Hermione ran through the grass and once again collapsed on the ground. Draco didn't know what to do, and he looked back to Ron for help.

"Just give her some time. This is what she does everyday," Ron said with a remote look in his eyes. "She and Harry used to sit out here all of the time. She comes out here, sometimes to remember the good times, other times she comes out and cries until she has no tears left. And then there are the times she just sits and screams her lungs out..."

Ron stood there and put into words all of the pain Hermione had been going through, and it was all too much for Draco, and he quickly began to walk out into the field towards Hermione. Maybe he should try some of her techniques. He sunk to his knees and screamed his lungs out. This halted Hermione's crying as Draco's voice echoed through her, and she shivered unknowingly. Draco sat down, breathing hard, and Hermione crawled up to him and hugged him once more. They sat for a while, just holding each other, Draco continuously whispering 'I'm sorry' into her ear, though only he knew the real meaning those words. Eventually, the two composed themselves, and they silently walked back to Ron and Luna.

Dinner that night was pleasant; it was mainly a discussion about Harry and how his life had touched them all. When Ron brought up the funeral, Hermione firmly disagreed and insisted that they keep waiting. No one had the heart to tell her otherwise, so eventually they began to discuss Ron and Luna's wedding instead.

After dinner, while Luna and Hermione were cleaning the kitchen, Ron pulled Draco into the living room. "I have a favor to ask you," Ron said.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I would like to know if you could be my best man at my wedding," he asked sincerely. "You see, I would choose George but then Fred would kill me, and I can't choose between Percy and Charlie and Bill, so that leaves you," he said.

Draco knew that he would basically be replacing Harry, and somehow that felt terribly wrong. "I don't know Ron, that would feel awkward-"

"Draco, no, please don't feel like you'd be replacing Harry, I want you at my wedding, and it would make me happy to have you as my best man," Ron said genuinely.

Draco nodded in response. "We'll see," he said.

"Is that a yes?" Ron asked in a lighter tone.

Draco nodded. "Yes, I'll do it."

"Do what?" Hermione asked as she came in the room. Draco looked around at Ron for back up.

"Draco is going to be my best man," Ron explained.

Hermione's went wide. "Oh, I see," she said. She smiled and looked into Draco's face. "That's great news," she said, trying to look happy when this was just another situation where Harry being gone fully hit her and made her heart sink deeper than she imagined it could.

"Right," said Ron breaking the uneasy silence that followed.

"I had better get going, thank you for inviting me Ron, Luna," he said appreciatively. He turned to face Hermione, and reached out to give her a sympathetic hug. She hugged him back so tightly that it seemed like she was attempting to squeeze the air out of his lungs.

"Thank you," she whispered into his ear.

He nodded, "Anytime, day or night, I'm here for you," he said rubbing her arms. "Ron, do you mind if I just floo back to the Manor from here?"

"No problem. Goodnight," Ron said with a friendly handshake.

Draco nodded at them all letting his gaze linger on Hermione, and in moments he was gone.

* * *

Hermione finally left Ron's after they began to chase each other throughout their house with that knowing look on their faces. Hermione flooed back to her house without a goodbye, not wanting to disrupt the happy couple. She felt miserable, and she ached to be held again. She realized that she had finally felt relieved that afternoon when Malfoy had just held her and said nothing. Those few moments, when she had been wrapped up safely in his arms, were the most peaceful she had felt since the accident, and she sat now in her dark empty house needing to feel the warmth of a human touch. She turned around on instinct to go back to Ron's, because she knew she couldn't survive another lonely night in a huge house all by herself, but she then remembered what had been going through the young couples' eyes. Draco. She thought. He had said it, day or night he'd be there for her, and without another thought she flooed to Malfoy Manor.