Seven Reasons Not to Love

Part Ten - The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend

Hermione watched Lucius Malfoy leading his son from the room with increasing panic. She now had no doubt that Draco was not lying. The door slammed shut and locked, and she let out a frightened sigh. Harry was staring after Lucius, and Ginny sank to the floor.

"What are we going to do now?" Hermione said. Harry faced her.

"I have no idea. Where are we? Smells like a cellar." Harry wandered to a small hole that was in the wall on the right, and glanced through before turning back to face Hermione. "Just another room in there."

"Do you believe now?" she said. Harry glared.

"I don't think now's the time to argue, Hermione."

"I don't want to argue! I was just saying...he wasn't lying."

"He gave me back my wand," Ginny interrupted.

"Who did?"

"Draco. He took it when we were in the classroom, but just then gave it back." Ginny waved it a little so they could see, then put it back into her robes. Hermione felt a tiny glimmer of hope rise in her. They had a wand! That meant they at least had some chance, however small.

"We can get out..."

"No, don't use it," Harry interrupted her mid-sentence. He'd sat down by the wall, leaning against it directly under the little window to the next room. "If we need to use magic, we should save it until we really need to. As far as we know they don't think we have a wand. We should use that to our advantage."

"But Harry, we can use it on the door. We can get out..."

"And then they'll know we used magic, and will just take the wand." Harry stared at her, his face set. She opened her mouth to protest, but then decided against it. He was right. She sat on the floor next to Ginny and waited. She wasn't sure what for, but whilst Harry sat determinedly in the corner, she had faith in him.

Only twenty minutes passed before they had heard the whole story from Ginny and gone silent again. In their silence they heard voices in the corridor. The three exchanged glances, and Hermione stood and put her ear to the door.

"I don't know."

"Imagine that...here, in the Hog's Head..."

"I know. I don't know what to do about it, can hardly say clear off!" There was muffled laughter, and the voices silenced. So they were in the Hog's Head. That explained the faint smell of alcohol. But all in all, didn't help them very much, as the Hog's Head was not the greatest place to be looking for help.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?" she faced Harry.

"Do you think when Voldemort kills me he'll be invincible?" Harry's voice was flat, almost resigned. Hermione started to quiver with fear. She shook herself, trying to be calm.

"He won't kill you, Harry. We'll escape."

"But if he did?"

"I don't know. I don't want to think about that," she looked him in the eyes and saw fear there. But Hermione knew that fear was not of death, but that he might not be able to do what everyone expected of him. She stepped forward, intending to hug him and comfort, but they heard more footsteps in the corridor and both instinctively looked at the door.

The footsteps passed their room and they heard a door opening nearby. There was a shuffling noise and a quiet thump, almost as though someone had throw a pile of laundry onto the floor. Then they heard the door slam shut, and it magically locked itself. The footsteps passed again, and disappeared into the distance. Hermione looked back at Harry, who was walking to the window to the other room. He glanced in at then looked away again. Hermione's heart began to pound.

"Wha...what is it?"

"Malfoy, look. I think he may be dead," Harry said quietly. Hermione hurried over, closely followed by Ginny, and they all looked through the window. Sure enough, on the other side Draco Malfoy lay on the floor, unmoving. His blonde hair was streaked with dirt and blood, and his robes slightly torn. For a moment, Hermione too though he was dead, but then she thought...she leant closer, looking as hard as she could.

"He's alive, Harry...look, he's shivering." They all looked through the window again, and to their surprise Draco looked back at them. His eyes seemed unable to focus on them, and he stared a long while before saying anything.

"What?" he said finally, his voice hoarse as though he'd been shouting for a long period of time.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, though immediately wished she hadn't.

"Do I look it?"

"Sorry. What happened?"

"Questions." He lay back down flat on the floor, apparently to weak to hold his head up any longer. "Why are you still here?"

"Sorry?" Hermione looked blankly at Harry, and they both looked back through the window.

"She...I gave her..." Draco waved his hand around, and Hermione saw a trickle of blood ran down his arm to his fingertips. He meant the wand.

"We're not using it until we know we can get away."

"Oh." He went silent, and the three of them stared through the window waiting for a further response. But none came. Ginny leaned back against the wall, facing the door.

"What can we do anyway? Whatever we try, they've all got protection."

"Well we only have one chance then, don't we?" Harry said, and he too turned to lean on the wall. When Hermione looked back through the window, Draco was standing only a few feet away on the opposite side. She let out a little gasp. He opened his mouth to speak, but only got as far as, "Ro..." when the door to their room slammed open and three Death Eaters filed in. Draco ducked out of sight as Hermione turned.

"Come on then, Potter. The Dark Lord is waiting," Lucius said. Harry started to walk forwards, his expression set, when an arm grabbed the back of his robes. Hermione looked back through the window at Draco, who looked directly at her.

"Not yet," he whispered. Hermione felt a tiny amount of relief...Draco had a plan. But that soon evaporated when Harry yanked himself free, giving Draco an angry look. At this exchange, Lucius laughed and stepped a little further into the room. When he did, there was a loud bang that echoed through the rooms, and everyone looked at the ceiling. Nothing happened.

"Well boy, seems like Potter is wiser than we were. None trust you now you have betrayed us," he turned to the Death Eater on his left, who walked forwards to grab Harry, but Hermione put herself between him and Harry, facing Harry. She thought she trusted Draco. He may have made mistakes, but this time...she felt he was right.

"Harry!" she said frantically. "They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Even if he isn't your friend, is he really your enemy?" she was violently shoved aside, and hit the wall with a resounding smack! Ginny and Harry both turned to face her, but the world blackened for a second. Two of the Death Eaters had Harry by the arms, and he was struggling fiercely to get to Hermione.

"LET ME GO!" he yelled. At that moment, three things happened at the same time; Harry wrenched himself free and rushed towards Hermione and Ginny; Hermione stood up to help; and there was a massive explosion, causing the roof to cave in. Stones crashed down around them and people ran frantically to get out of the way. Hermione clutched Ginny and Harry and tried to cover her eyes.

The dust swamped them, and all three started to cough loudly. However, Hermione noticed that theirs was not the loudest noise by far. There were people duelling. She could hear them shouting spells, and just as she tried to look up on flew right over her head and hit the wall behind. She let out a little shriek and fell back to the floor.

It quietened around them, and Hermione dared another glance up. There were people milling around now, seemingly trying to find them under the rubble. She could see Ron coming towards them and jumped up, pulling Ginny and Harry with her.

"Ron!" she called. "You're okay!" Relief ran through her as he came over and hugged her.

"Yeah, and you so it seems."

"How did you know where we were?" she asked, astonished that he'd managed to find them and get help.

"I..."

"Come on, we have to leave quickly..."

"Professor Lupin!"

"Yes, come on," he ushered them from the room, and Hermione couldn't help noticing that all the Death Eaters had disappeared. They were pushed out of the room, and several others of the Order of the Pheonix were waiting. Tonks started to lead them upstairs, still holding her wand out in front of her as she went. Hermione turned back to Ron.

"How'd you know?" she whispered.

"Malfoy, he has this ring of my granddad's. Used it to summon me here...what?" Ron paused. Hermione had stopped in her tracks. They'd left him.

"Malfoy!" she turned and started back down the stairs, snatching Ginny's wand as she went.

"Hey!"

"Hermione?" Lupin called.

"We have to go back..."

"What?" Lupin looked confused.

"Malfoy, he has Ron's ring. He called you here. We should help him."

"You mean get the ring back?" Ron said, a slight bitterness in his voice. Hermione looked at him and sped back down the stairs.

"Hermione, wait!" she heard Harry call after her. But there was no time for that. She ran back down the corridor and to the room where Draco was trapped. She slammed into the door, forgetting it was locked at first.

"Alohomora!" she said. The door sprung open and she cautiously entered the room. Draco was leaning against the far wall. When she entered he shook his head very slightly. So slightly she was unsure if he was just shivering again. But he fixed his eyes on her and she saw he was serious. Hermione turned to flee but someone was standing directly behind her. She screamed and jumped backwards.

"Turned out you were useful for something then, perhaps we should keep you," Lucius said, giving his son a dirty look. He pointed his wand at Hermione, who just stared blankly. Fear was stopping her doing anything at all, and the thought that she'd just acted so stupidly. She turned to face Draco.

"You helped them!" she said quietly, knowing she sounded disappointed, but not sure why.

"No," Draco said, equally as quietly. Hermione's mind started to ache. She was about to turn back and face Lucius when there was a third bang, and a voice shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Lucius' wand flew from his hand and into that of Harry. Hermione smiled at him, seeing the others all crowded behind him. They'd followed her and were in the doorway of the room. But she thought too soon, and Lucius took three fast steps towards her, drawing a knife. She froze, completely panicked. But before Lucius could strike at her, someone had grabbed her by the shoulder and thrown her aside.

Draco was standing in front of his father, who was staring right back at him with a hatred Hermione had only ever seen between Harry and Snape.

"If that's the way it is," Lucius said indifferently and he thrust the knife into Draco's abdomen. Hermione screamed as she saw the blood splatter to the ground in front of her. Time seemed to slow as the drops of blood plunked one by one onto the wooden floor. Draco collapsed and she scuttled across to him. He looked up at her saying, "smash...mirror," and she felt the gentle touch of his fingers brush her hand. He pushed a small metal object into her palm, and whispered, "smash..." again. Ginny's wand was still clutched in her hand. In a swift, fluid movement she stood, turned and yelled, "STUPEFY!" Lucius was so near that the spell smacked him in the chest before he had time to even blink. He fell back with a shout and the magic mirror flew from his robe, smashing on the floor in front of them.

The world turned upside down again and they hurtled through the portal back towards the school. Everyone hit the floor with a resounding crash, and tables and chairs went flying. There was a momentary silence in which no one moved, and the Hermione was pushed out of the way by Madam Pomfrey, who had been awaiting their return with Professor Dumbledore. She quickly drew up a stretcher and carted Draco off to the medical wing. Dumbledore conjured ropes out of thin air, and they snakes their way around Lucius' wrists.

"There you are Alastor. All yours," Dumbledore said. Mad-Eye Moody clunked across the room and, with a team of Aurors transported Lucius Malfoy from the room. Hermione felt shocked beyond belief. And she wasn't sure why. She'd seen everyone make it out okay. But she still felt on the verge of tears. She started to shiver, and Harry put an arm around her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded, but simply leaned on him for a while.

"Can you all stand? Madam Pomfrey wants to check you all over," Dumbledore said quietly. Hermione nodded again and stood, carefully holding onto Harry to make sure she was stable. Concluding that she was, she followed Dumbledore out of the room silently.

When the reached the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen. A screen had been erected around one of the beds, and Hermione's heart skipped a beat. Draco might die. She shivered and allowed herself to be steered towards a bed beside one that Harry had lay down on. She watched him take off his glasses and face the ceiling again. He did not look anywhere else until Dumbledore started to speak.

"I assume you are all uninjured, aside from a little shaken?" he began, surveying them over the rim of his glasses. They all nodded and he continued. "You will be glad to know that everything has been sorted out. Mr. Weasley here came to see me immediately after you three and Mr. Malfoy were kidnapped. I have questioned Pansy Parkinson about the events, and I am sorry to say that Luna Lovegood is, as we feared, dead." Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Ron look away, and Ginny put a hand on his shoulder. She too wanted to reach out and comfort him, but her feelings were too confused and she could think of no comforting words. "I do however, ask that next time you find out something concerning my students, be it about them being missing, or that they are involved in something they should not be, I beg you come to me sooner. It could well have saved Mr. Weasley a lot of emotional trauma. Not to mention the injury of more of my students. Now, I ask you get some rest. Madam Pomfrey would be much obliged if you stayed here tonight, and has brewed you all some potions to help you sleep. Goodnight." Dumbledore smiled briefly at them and made his way towards the door.

For a long while, none of them said anything. Harry returned to his staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. Ron and Ginny sat close to each other, and Hermione just watched them all. She saw Madam Pomfrey flitting in and out of the area behind the screen, but other than that there was little movement at all. She sighed and reached for her potion; her eyes were almost shutting as she sat. Something metal softly fell onto her sheets and she paused, picking that up instead. It was a ring, and she only just remembered Draco giving it to her. She'd been holding it ever since, and had clamped it so tightly in her hand that there were little welts in the skin where the metal had pushed up against her palm. She stared at it for a moment, then suddenly didn't want to hold it anymore. She held it out to Ron, who stared back at her.

"How'd you get..."

"Just take it," she said quietly. "Draco...Malfoy gave it me."

"Oh, thanks," he said uncertainly. Hermione closed the curtains around her bed, called "night" to the others and drank her potion. In no more than a minute her eyes couldn't stay open any longer, and she fell into a deep sleep.

In the morning, Hermione woke slowly. She lay in bed for a long time, and though awake, she didn't want to move. When she eventually pulled her curtains open and stepped off the bed she saw the others were already awake and talking. They smiled when they saw her.

"We were beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up," Harry said.

"Oh, I think I may have drank the potion too quick," she said with a smile.

"Are you ready to go?" Ron said. Hermione hesitated. She'd had a long think about what happened, and decided she needed to talk about it.

"Um...not yet. I need to...to talk about..."

"Yesterday? We can do that in the common ro..." Ron began.

"No, I mean, I need to talk to him...to Malfoy." Hermione wanted to shut her eyes so she wouldn't see their expressions, but in actuality, the only shocked one was Ron's. Ginny smiled, as though she knew she was going to say that, and Harry sighed as though he too had expected it.

"Well...are you sure?" Harry asked, taking advantage of Ron's open-mouthed, shocked silence.

"Yes. Don't worry. It'll be fine, I'm sure."

"Why?" Ron said suddenly, when Harry and Ginny went to move.

"He saved my life, Ron. You were there. Don't you think that's worth something?"

"No! No..."

"Oh, shut up Ron," Ginny said as she and Harry dragged him away. They waved at the door, and Harry turned back.

"Happy Valentines day, by the way," he said before disappearing down the corridor. Hermione smiled and turned to face the boy in the bed at the end of the ward. The screens had been moved and he was sleeping. She took a deep breath and went over to the bed, sitting in the chair and waiting.