Lifelines (Draco X Hermione)

Chapter 18 DIAGONE ALLE

HERMIONE's mind was everywhere but with her. She had just needed to get some fresh air to clear her mind from everything. Her life was literally a series of shocking moments where she constantly had to catch up to. There was so much going on at this moment, that she did not understand. The storylines of the lives were logical enough; but the feelings of comfort, familiarity, pain that she felt watching it all was strange to her. It was the same feelings she felt when looking at a photograph of her deceased grandmother or Granger family holiday photographs.
This was a new side of Draco that she did not know. He was kind, caring, loving. In fact, she felt saddened at the thought that the Draco Malfoy she had grown up knowing, had been lonely, bullied and forced to commit all the horrific realities of their world. She had never stopped to think about the life behind Draco Malfoy as a person. Sure, she had seen his sickly body; the look of pain she lay on the floor; the panicked looks he tried his best to hide. But ultimately Harry was alive because of the Malfoy family. She had always thought him as a spoilt rich boy. That was barely the surface of it.

"Look who we have here" a voice mumbled from behind her. In an instant her wand was in her hand, and she was ready to defend herself. More shuffling and mumbled surrounded her. She was very outnumbered and un-prepared. "Miss Golden Girl herself" another snicker mumbled. Glancing around she did not know who any of these people were. But she knew that a lot of Voldemort's supporters had been let go with warnings. She had a strong gut feeling that the group surrounding her were indeed those people.

"All by her onesome lonesome. Where is the straggling Potter hey? Not here to save you is he'" the voice Infront of her stated with a toothy grin. Panic picked up in her body, there had to be almost ten of then. Even her fastest spells would not work. They began to circle around her like vultures approaching their prey. "Not so chatty today are you Mudblood?" the short plump man snickered.

"You can let me go and be on your way" she spoke, praying that she sounded braver than she had hoped.

"And what, not have a little fun first?" the first man spoke. Chattering down the street had the men disappear in an instant, a group walked past happily in chatter. Hermione had never been so glad to see people and quickly got along her way out of the ally. Her heart was still thudding when she had returned to the safety of the hotel. She did her best to suck in deep breaths and walk in as if nothing had happened.

"I was about to send a search party for you!" Draco smiled as she sat in front of him at the table. If only he had known.

"No need. Just needed some fresh air after visiting that last lifeline" she added bravely. Draco stopped what he was doing and watched her expression for clues. Neither of them had discussed the individual timelines they had travelled to. Hermione was not even sure if Draco had been to his either, or what he thought of it all. From his expression, he was waiting on her to say more. "It was a nice one, neither of us died or got killed this time" she added trying to lighten the mood.

"I went to mine as well. He had been an idiot" Hermione laughed at that. She ordered a glass of butterbeer, which was when Draco noticed the markings from her hands. A line across her palm with the indent of the moon shape from her nails. They were both keeping information away from each other. Had Hermione known that a drunk idiot came and spat slurs into Draco's face only moments ago. That the man had sat in the very same spot Hermione sat in now, telling him to rot in Azkaban and rot like the mould he was. She couldn't have known all that transpired only five minutes before she walked back in, cheeks red from the cold.

"What happened out there?" Draco asked finally. She had not met his gaze at this point. And the curiosity was chewing at his mind. Her movements were jittery as she looked anywhere but at his face. "Hermione, what happened" he refused to ask anymore.

Finally, she met his eye.
"How did you..." before she could finish, he reached over at her hand and flipped it, palm side facing up. She looked down at the red marks and muttered a soft

"oh"

"Are you going to tell me what happened out there?" he asked again letting her hand go. Her drink was placed Infront of her, and she waited for the waiter to pass before taking a long breath. Her words made his blood boil in frustration, he had heard rumours tricking around the Slytherin common room; but he didn't realize that they would be so idiotic as to act on it. "You are okay now." He told her watching her softly nod. Hermione finished her drink, before Draco escorted her back to her room and returned to his own.

He was not surprised to see an owl with a letter for him by his window. Not keeping the bird long, he took the page and gave it a treat from the box on his table. The handwriting was messy but recognizable.

Whose side are you on.
Draco scrunched the page and sent the owl on its way. His lack of response in itself was a loud signal. As soon as the war ended, and he had lost; Draco knew something for certain. He would not support that side at all. He did not need to be caught in a web with Granger for his mind to be changed otherwise.

Now that Granger was involved, he wanted to stand up for her. It felt like his moment to truly redeem himself for all the times in the past. To prove it to himself that he was more than the hate that his father had drummed into his brain, the same hate he had spent the last couple of years praying to Merlin to get out. It didn't take too long for him to pack up his things and check-out of the inn. Knowing Hermione's Gryffindor tendencies she would not have let him go on his own. So, she could not know, until he had fixed his situation.

Fortunately, the last of the followers were not the brightest, and so he knew exactly where to go to find them.