Dramione; A Battle Worth Fighting

Malfoy Manor

The next few weeks passed in a flurry, and before Hermione knew it, Christmas was upon them. Hagrid had, of course, delivered the usual 12 Christmas trees, being decorated by Professor Flitwick, standing on his wooden stool to add to his height a little. The ceiling of The Great Hall had been charmed to snow over the students, and Nargles were producing mistletoe in the most unlikely of places. Peeves the Poltergeist was waving sprigs of it whenever a boy and a girl entered a room together; he was determined to catch Hermione and Draco together, but Professor Mcgonagall caught him at it. She then charmed their common room to deflect ghosts so they could not pass through the walls - she thought it would only be sensible to do so. Hermione agreed.

Since she would not be staying at Hogwarts, Hermione was using her spare time to pack her smaller suitcase ready for her stay with the Malfoys, going up until Sunday 3rd January evening, when she would use floo powder to return to Hogwarts through Professor Mcgonagall's office.

In her room, she was busy with post. She was sending an order form for Draco and Narcissa's Christmas presents. As it were Christmas, and they had invited her to stay, it was only kind to buy them some presents. On the order form, she put "Malfoy Manor" so they would arrive on December 23rd, just in time for her to wrap them and place them under the tree. There was suddenly a knock at the door as Hermione was opening the window for the owl.

"Just a minute!" she called out, as the owl flew out of sight. Sighing with relief, she opened the door, and Draco (not to her surprise) stood there with his suitcase.

"All packed and ready?" he asked. "I was going to take your suitcase to the Prefect compartment on the train ready for tomorrow."

"Oh, yes. It's just here..." Hermione passed him her suitcase, which only contained clothes and other everyday items. She had bewitched it all to be feather light, to make apparating easier when the time came.

That night, Hermione wished upon the stars again. She leaned against the wall, and would sigh with tranquillity. The stars almost seemed like they were speaking to her, winking and sparkling in her eyes. Every night, she would wish for her miracle. The miracle that would never be. Not even with magic. Miracles were impossible; always had been, always would be. Even with magic. The biggest miracle Hermione thought had happened was staying alive in The Wizarding War - but then she remembered that if she was not with the famous Harry Potter, she would've died. If she had stayed at Hogwarts, she probably would've died because of her blood status. If she had stayed with the Order, she would've died. It was only because of Harry Potter she lived. That wasn't a miracle; it was one person making sure she was safe.

Hermione suddenly felt like she needed to go to the Memories Room and put up some photos. She left the window after wishing for her miracle that would never come, and gripped the golden door handle. She pulled the door open, and received quite a surprise. Inside, there were many pictures already on the walls. The door shut behind her, but she didn't notice. Hermione just sighed with mystery, and walked slowly to the pictures. Above the cluster of moving people in their frames, was the heading "Those who died"

Underneath, there were many faces. The top one was a picture of Lily and James Potter. Underneath, there was a little label: "Lily and James Potter. Members of the Order of the Phoenix. Died 31st October, 1980.". The next was a picture of Cedric Diggory: "Cedric Diggory. Hogwarts Student in Hufflepuff House and Triwizard Tournament Competitor. Died July 1994"

There were many more pictures, all with labels; Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Albus Dumbledore, Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey...and Cho. Cho Chang, right at the very bottom of the cluster. The Cho in the picture was smiling at Hermione, obviously not aware there would be a wizarding war; obviously not aware Cedric would be killed; obviously not aware she would die at her own school.