Old Moon Fades

Chapter Four: Layers Upon Layers

It felt like she was under some sort of trance the way her body refused to move. Hermione's arms and legs were stiff and sore, and felt as if they were somehow detached from her body. The silence in the underground chamber was deafening. Her own breathing sounded like a roar in her ears compared to the permeating stillness of the room. And, as Lucius Malfoy's body hit the cold marble floor Hermione felt the spell lift of her. The fight or flight instinct took over and she desperately longed to get out of there. She wanted to run as fast and as far as her legs would take her. But, she knew that escape was impossible. There was no way she would be able to run anywhere, let alone walk on her ankle. She slowly sank to the floor. Her legs couldn't hold her up anymore.

Lucius Malfoy's cold, unseeing eyes stared at her from across the room. Gunmetal eyes filled with hatred even in death. Hermione didn't want to but forced herself to tear her eyes away from the dead man and look at her schoolmate. Her heart broke into a thousand tiny pieces when she saw him. Malfoy's legs were curled underneath him as he sat back on his feet. He rocked back and forth slowly as if in some mournful dance to a silent melody. There were no tears in his grey eyes, but they were darker than usual and appeared cloudy almost like an approaching storm.

The dichotomy of her emotions was very unsettling. One part of her wanted more than anything to go over to him and comfort him like she would Ron or Harry. The more rational side of her brain insisted that no matter what had happened in the last few minutes, no matter what she had heard or what had been said, he was still her enemy. He was still the same Malfoy no matter what had just happened. She sided with the rational part. But, as she watched him from across the room her heart went out even as she trembled in fear of what was to come. The one thing she was certain of was that no matter what happened she had to get out of there.

Escape however seemed nearly impossible; if she had her wand she might be able to perform some kind of healing charm on her ankle and make a run for it. That might last her until she could find help. Nevertheless it was pointless as she still had no clue where her wand was. As far as she knew, Malfoy still had it tucked away somewhere in his robes. That left only one option. She had to retrieve the dagger. It lay quietly on the floor mere inches from Malfoy's shiny black boots.

The thought that more Death Eaters could possibly be on their way briefly crossed her mind. She pushed the thought away and focused on the here and now. If she thought too far ahead she was likely to drive herself insane. Concentrate. She slid across the floor slowly so as not to attract Malfoy's attention. He seemed to have forgotten her for the moment and that was just how she liked it.

It wasn't that far, only a few feet, but it seemed like so much farther. After what felt like an eternity she felt her fingers wrap around the edge of the blade. Hermione's hand grasped vigilantly onto the hilt as she tucked it safely away into her empty wand pocket. Now, with some form of defense Hermione felt the panic that had been nearly overwhelming recede. She knew that there was no way that she could defeat Malfoy in a knife fight, but she was fairly confident that she could out-wit him. But, looking at him now, defeated and withdrawn, she didn't feel that he would pose much of a threat to her.

He looked up at her then, confusion and something else, something that she couldn't name, written on his face. A face that only a moment ago had held such malice and contempt for her and her kind. The hatred was still there, buried under layers upon layers of grey in his eyes, buried so deep that it made his eyes seem bottomless. The thought that she could lose herself in those eyes barely registered in her mind before it was captured and hidden away.

He didn't say anything. She was glad of it and at the same time it made her more nervous. Unaccustomed to distinct quiet, she longed to break the silence and yet couldn't form the words that could adequately describe the feelings that were charging the air like electricity. Sorrow. Anguish. Fear. Doubt. Hate. All of these were the feelings that accompany the consequences of lies and truths. Her body ached with keeping all the feelings inside. She longed to release them, to make them known. There was nothing between the two of them now as they both sat on the ancient marble floor. No secrets. No lies. Just air and breath and loss.

And Lucius Malfoy's corpse.

They both looked upon it now, all their emotions buried deep inside and visible only to each other. The walls that had been erected so strong and so tall were crumbling. The pedestal that Malfoy had been placed upon was falling out from under him. The wreckage threatened to drown them both. The hate was still there, proud and insolent as ever, but buried in the rubble and covered in confusion.

All at once it set in. Draco Malfoy had killed his father. But, how? Hermione's brain quickly jumped from thought to thought as she struggled to make sense of it. She looked from him to his father and back again. He hadn't used the knife. He hadn't cast a spell or curse. He'd only screamed as his father began the Killing Curse. Then Lucius Malfoy had fallen over clutching his heart. How?!

The answer came to her in a rush. Wandless Magic. Of course. It was obvious now that she had thought of it. With enough unfocused energy and the height of the emotions that Draco Malfoy had been feeling it was no wonder his father was dead. She was surprised that he hadn't inadvertently killed himself, or her, along with his father. Wandless Magic was extremely dangerous and required complete control. It took a powerful wizard to harness Wandless Magic and do even the simplest of magic. Malfoy must be very powerful indeed if he could manage that much without even meaning to.

The thought that he might have intended to kill his father didn't occur to Hermione. She knew deep down that he hadn't. He had been upset and confused, but he hadn't meant to kill him. The shock he was wearing so heavily on his shoulders was enough to prove to her that it had been an accident. A horrible accident. Hermione knew at once that she should feel something other than acceptance of what had happened. She knew that she should feel horrified and sickened. It was a shock to her that she didn't feel any of those things. In fact, she was glad of his death.

His voice was small and like a little boy's when he spoke. "What have I done?"

He was looking at her as if she weren't his enemy but simply some stranger. He didn't expect an answer and she didn't give one. She just looked at him blindly. Guilt was everywhere, in every inch of his posture and demeanor. It shackled him with invisible chains and cowed him before his father's dead body. His voice was just as quiet as before as he spoke again.

"They'll be coming for me soon."

The Death Eaters or the Ministry? Hermione prayed silently that it would be the Ministry. She wondered who Malfoy hoped it would be. He couldn't go back to them, the Death Eaters. Not now. Not after killing his father and disobeying a direct order from Voldemort. And she was still alive. Hermione looked down at her hands just to make sure.

As if reading her thoughts he said almost apologetically, "I didn't kill you."

He seemed as genuinely shocked as she was. The fact that he was talking to her at all was proof enough of the insanity of the situation. It was laughable really if you thought about it, the two of them sitting together after everything that had happened. There they were, acting almost friendly with Lucius Malfoy's body only a few feet away. They sat talking together as if none of it was real. But, the cuts and bruises covering their bodies were proof enough that it had been real.

The mental reminder of her injuries made her wince in pain. The boots she had chosen that morning for their practicality were incredibly tight around her ankle and she wished she could remove them. But she knew that they were probably the only thing keeping her bones in place at the moment. Malfoy looked just as bad as she imagined she herself looked, if not worse. His face was mottled with dark purple bruises and blood seeped from a wound over his right eye. His white-blond hair hung limp over his forehead and was clotted with blood. She didn't look at his mouth.

Suddenly there was a banging at the door. They both turned toward it, their faces sharing the same look of apprehension and resolve. The sound of spells and voices made Hermione's ears ring in comparison to the deafening silence of before. The door knob was rattling but they still couldn't get in. She looked quickly over at Malfoy who was adjusting his robes and smoothing his hair. Vain til the end, she thought.

He stood up slowly and released the charm on the door that kept it locked against intruders. Was it the Ministry coming to their rescue or Voldemort come to kill them both? Hermione prayed it was the former. Malfoy was unreadable about his preference. Maybe he wanted death to come for him...

The door opened excruciatingly slow, each second dragged on for minutes. Time and space stood still as everything rushed around her. All of a sudden there were arms lifting her from the ground and checking her injuries. Someone prodded her ankle and she gasped with the pain. She didn't care if they ripped her foot from her body, she was safe.

She heard someone demand to know what had happened. Lucius Malfoy's body was quickly covered in a thick woolen cloak and only his dragon-hide boots poked out from beneath it. Voices were whispering harshly and people were running about the room inspecting and categorizing evidence. No one was paying any attention to her anymore and so she stayed where she was on the floor.

Something shiny caught her eye. The Malfoy signet ring was residing on one of Lucius Malfoy's cold dead fingers, begging her to release it. The intricate design of a snake encircling a very proud "M" was carved onto the surface of the ring. A quick glance around the room proved that they were still ignoring her. Taking advantage of their lack of attention to her she slipped the ring from his finger into her pocket. She felt a small clunk as it nestled down next to the dagger.

Malfoy stood on the other side of the room being interrogated by several members of the Order of the Phoenix. She instantly recognized Nymphadora Tonks and Mad-Eye Moody. The others she didn't know. Mad Eye was vigorously shaking his head, his magical eye rolling. Tonks was staring hard at Malfoy with her arms crossed across her chest and her hair a vivid green that contrasted with the dark colors of the room. She wondered what was being said and could only catch snatches of the heated conversation. Malfoy's voice was quiet but forceful. It held remorse but wasn't overly shameful.

"... Didn't want to... part of my initiation... couldn't do it... Accident..."

She was surprised that he was telling the truth, or at least seeming to. His head was held high as he seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. Tonks seemed to melt a bit from Malfoy's account of the events. She reached out and placed a hand on his arm, but only for the briefest of seconds. Mad Eye didn't seem as convinced but nodded his head in reluctant acceptance of Malfoy's story. He made to move but a noise from the door stopped the entire group.

Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, stepped boldly into the room. He took one look at the covered body on the floor and did a quick assessment of Hermione and Malfoy's wounds. He ran a quick hand through his rumpled grey hair after removing his lime green bowler hat and looked over at Mad Eye Moody.

His voice boomed when he demanded, "What the hell happened here?!" Moody turned from questioning Malfoy and focused his attention on the Minister of Magic. When Moody didn't say anything in response to his question, Fudge yelled, "Whose body is that and how the hell did he die?!"

One look at Draco Malfoy would have been answer enough. The guilt was so painfully evident that even a blind person could have seen it. Fudge walked the few steps toward the body and lifted a corner of the cloak to reveal the face of the dead man. He dropped the cloth quickly and stepped back amazed and bewildered.

Again he asked, "What happened? Was it You-Know-Who?" Fudge's voice went quiet with that question as if he feared the Dark Lord was somewhere still in the room, hidden in the shadows.

It was certainly a shock to Hermione when Malfoy took a step forward and with a voice that was just as quiet as Fudge's had been and even more compunctious than during his interrogation with Moody, he said, "I did it. It was an accident. I'm not really sure how it happened or what I did, but I did it. I killed him. I killed my father."

The words hung in the air, ominous and cold. Fudge seemed genuinely stunned as did the others. It was something that a Malfoy had never done before. Draco Malfoy owned up to a crime, and not just any crime, but the worst sort of crime in the Wizarding world. He had used magic to kill. That Lucius Malfoy had been evil and cruel and was an escaped convict didn't matter in the least. That he had wanted his only son to kill for him, for the Dark Lord, didn't matter. All that mattered in the eyes of the Ministry was that he had been murdered and that his son had just confessed to killing him.

Fudge came alive in that next instant and what he said next baffled all the people standing in the room. "Draco Malfoy, I place you under arrest for the murder of your father, Lucius Malfoy, and for violating the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery."

A slight nod toward the door and the room was filling with several members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. Shortly thereafter Malfoy was restrained with magical bindings. He didn't seem very upset or even very surprised about his arrest. In fact, he was very acquiescent, not resisting or even defying Fudge.

Tonks vehemently voiced her objections and tried unsuccessfully to give Fudge Malfoy's side of the story. That it had been an act of self-defense and was completely accidental didn't change his mind. Fudge waved her off with a flick of his wrist and with a barely perceptible nod of his head the Law Enforcement Squad was hauling Malfoy away to Azkaban.