Return to Eden

I stand here face to face

with someone that I used to know,

He used to look at me and laugh.
But now he claims
that he's known me for so very long.
But I remember being no one.
I wanted to be just like you, so perfect, so untouchable.
Now you want me to be with you.

-"Remember Me" Hoobastank

Return to Eden

Chapter 4: The Summer From Hell, Part Three

Draco was having the most boring summer of his life. He had read almost every book in the library and finished all of his homework. He had made the usual visits to various relatives and friends. He had even helped his father with affairs concerning both the Ministry and Voldemort. Most of his time was spent in his room thinking.

Hermione continued to entrance his mind. She would pop up at the most inopportune times like when talking to his father or visiting his grandmother. His continual fantasy of her manifested itself deep within his thoughts. He could picture her long, flowing hair and deep, chocolate eyes; the way her body fit against his and the feel of her lips on his own.

Draco had been in the middle of conjuring up this vision while preparing to go to bed in his room one night. He was sitting at his desk when the same girl that had been haunting his mind for weeks stumbled out of his fireplace looking shell-shocked and unable to string two words together. She looked so fragile and vulnerable that Draco was suddenly frightened. A feeling he very seldom felt.

He rose from his seat at the desk and went to her. "Hermione. Are you alright?"

She had been staring straight ahead, but upon hearing Draco´s voice, her eyes focused on him as if just noticing that he was there. "Draco?"

"Yes, that´s me. Do you mind telling me what you´re doing here?" He had a touch of the old resentment in his voice.

Hermione looked around the room and took in her surroundings. Draco´s room was done entirely in Slytherin colors. Green and silver touched every item in the room except the furniture. The furniture was made of a fine ebony that was very rare. She turned her attention back to Draco. She still didn´t seem to be quite there. "I don´t know. I just -"

Suddenly, her knees gave out and she collapsed on the ground in racking sobs. She clutched at her chest willing the pain to go away, but it continued to burn her from the inside out. Rage mixed with grief. She felt like she was going to implode. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she could no longer speak through her gasps for breath.

Draco stood for a second more before sitting next to her and gathering her in his arms. He had no idea what would cause a reaction so strong from Hermione. He felt it was best to be left for later. She clearly needed to get this out of her system before anything could be talked about.

So, they sat there together on the floor. Draco comforting Hermione while she poured out her pain through her tears.

*~*~*

Less than an hour before...

Hermione stepped out of the fireplace in her room with fire in her eyes. She was unsure of how to take this news concerning her birth parents. Everything seemed to run together in her mind when she thought about it. Confusion was putting it mildly. She felt bitter towards the people she had once held dear. The Ministry did this. The Ministry took away my real family before I could even know them.

Hermione was in a state of both shock and dismay. Her mind was racing so quickly that she didn´t completely take in her surroundings. Two things hit her at once: her room was in shambles and loud sirens were coming from outside.

She ran to the window and looked out on the street below. Four police cars were parked in front of her house with the lights blinking and sirens roaring. Accompanying them were two ambulances that gave Hermione a feeling of foreboding.

She took a closer look at her room. Usually, the room was the definition of clean and organized. But it wasn´t now. Her mattress had been overturned and her clothes were thrown across the floor. All the items on her dresser and her desk were on the floor as well. I do not have a good feeling about this.

After gathering her wand from its hiding place in her closet, she bounded down the stairs to be greeted by police officers grazing around the lower level to her house. She knew something was terribly wrong.

She went up to one who did not look much older than herself. "Excuse me, can you tell me what´s going on?"

"And you are?"

"I´m Hermione Granger. I live here."

"I´m sorry, Miss Granger, but I´m not allowed to disclose that information. You´ll have to go see the detective."

"Where is the detective?"

"He´s around here somewhere."

Hermione rolled her eyes. They did not seem to be on top of things. Oh well, I´ll find him myself. Then, maybe someone will tell me what is going on in my own house.

She avoided any other contact with the other officers as she made her way through the rooms. All of them seemed to be in the same state of disarray that Hermione´s room had been. It was when she entered the room that she saw it.

Blood was splattered on the wood paneling and her father´s lifeless arm was peeking out from the base of the kitchen counter. She turned the corner and gasped as the whole scene became visible.

Complete shock and denial were beginning to set in as she looked upon her father´s dead body. His eyes that had always been so full of happiness were completely empty, devoid of any emotion. Blood pooled around him from the bullet holes in his chest.

A man came up behind her and grabbed her arm spinning her away from the horrible spectacle. He was a man in his late thirties who somewhat reminded Hermione of Sirius Black. He spoke with a slight Scottish accent when addressing her.

"I assume you would be Miss Hermione Granger?"

"Yes, I am. Why? Who did this?"

"First of all, I would like to say how sorry I am about your parents."

Hermione´s denial set in further. "My mother was shot as well?"

The detective´s tone was sympathetic. "Yes, she was. Once again, I offer my condolences."

"How did this happen? Who did this? Why aren´t you out catching them? That´s what you do isn´t it? Catch the bad guys?" Her voice was rising in pitch and taking on a slightly hysterical edge.

"Just calm down, and I will be able to explain everything."

"Calm down?! You want me to calm down?! My parents were just murdered and you want me to calm down?!?!" Now she was gone into full-blown hysterics.

The man looked nervous at her tone. He wasn´t used to dealing with teenage girls. "Someone broke into the house at about 10:30 p.m. They were going to rob it thinking no one was home. There were two men. Your father came down to the kitchen to get something and was shot when the men realized that the house wasn´t empty. Your mother probably heard the shots and came down the stairs. She was shot as well. The police were called by a neighbor that heard the shooting."

Hermione walked into the living room followed closely by the detective. She sat down in her favorite chair as she tried to process all the information. It simply seemed unreal. She had just found out that she had been adopted that morning which had been a shock. But after adding everything else in, she was ready to break. She could feel her grasp on sanity start to slip as the events of the day kept replaying in her mind. Her eyes became unfocused as she stared straight ahead, lost in her thoughts.

"We have caught the ones responsible. They were apprehended upon arrival."

Hermione didn´t reply to this statement. She wordlessly stood and walked back up the stairs. Life as she knew it was crashing down around her. She knew that she could never go back to the way it was.

Her feet had brought her back in front of her fireplace. She grabbed another handful of Floo powder and threw it into the flames. They erupted green around her and she spoke the first thing that came to her mind. "Draco Malfoy´s."

The irony of it all was that it was her birthday.

*~*~*

Blaise Zabini was not your average girl. Her family descended from one of the most prominent pureblood families in Britain. She attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was about to begin her last year. She was a member of Slytherin House along with Draco Malfoy.

She and Draco had been raised together. They were both only children and they related to each other. Their parents had one day hoped they would marry, but they were both opposed to the idea. Draco had his girls, and Blaise had...well, Blaise had her boys.

No one could ever accuse Blaise of being shy. She was a far cry from it. Her exotic looks were what attracted boys to her, but her outgoing personality was what kept them there. Her sleek, raven hair and creamy complexion with violet eyes trimmed in dark lashes is what lured them in. Her cleverness and wit kept the crowd of boys following her. She was ranked beneath only that Gryffindor Granger for top marks.

Brutal honesty was one of the traits she had always prided herself on. It was what kept everyone on their toes around her. She found it quite humorous. Over the years, Draco´s sarcastic streak had rubbed off on her and stuck. It seemed almost natural to fall in stride with Draco and shoot banter between them.

She was having a particularly slow day in her own Manor when she decided she would visit the Malfoys. It was summer, after all. And she needed a little excitement in her life. She ended up getting more than she bargained for.

*~*~*

A peaceful silence had settled over the night in the British countryside. The stars were twinkling down upon the earth from their heavenly perches, and the only sounds that could be heard were creatures far in the distance.

A young boy named Harry Potter slept on through the still night. His dreams were, for once, not filled with the dastardly deeds of Lord Voldemort.

Suddenly, he shot up from bed; a searing pain coming from the scar ingrained on his forehead. He lifted his finger and traced the scar with the tip. An eerie sense overcame him as he did so. He ran to get his godfather, Sirius Black. Something is wrong. Deadly wrong.