1This is the companion piece to Lioness. You do not have to read one to understand the other.
Disclaimer: Harry is cute, Draco is hot, J.K. owns them and I, sadly do not.
It was going to rain.
Not that it would bother her much. Rain couldn't get you wet if you weren't really there to get wet to begin with. It was nearly winter, November, if she remembered right. Strange how time seemed to fly when you were dead.
She wasn't even entirely sure why she was here - sitting on her tombstone - that she didn't like - and not in Heaven or Nirvana or whatever it was. Sir Nicholas had said that when wizards died they had a choice or whether to stay or to go. She didn't remember making a choice.
She was just here one day.
And while she sat on her conspicuous tomb, the Wizarding world was moving on. Rebuilding.
Without her.
And her headstone was a lioness. A life-sized lioness.
Really, she was proud to have been a Gryffindor, but the visual representation was a bit much she thought. It was Ron and Harry's idea obviously. The wizarding world was calling her "Lioness" and instead of brightest-witch-of-her-year, she was now brightest-witch-of-the-century.
She was just Hermione, she didn't need any grand gestures of recognition, though the First Class Order of Merlin was nice
The 'pop' of apparition pulled the spirit from her thoughts. Hello Love. She spoke. She had found out quickly that for one reason or another she couldn't be heard or seen by the living. Really, she had tried to be heard or seen or even felt by those who came here to the grove.
It was lonely here. She was the only ghost in the cemetery.
She watched as he strode past the stone angels and watched as the statue's stony eyes followed him, their wings flexing ever so slightly.
"Are you happy there, love? Are you watching me?" He spoke aloud; he always did that when he was thinking. I'm right here, Love. Always here.
Love. It was their pet names for each other. After hating each other for seven years, calling each other by their given names had felt weird. Awkward. Though she had secretly loved how he spoke her name. She loved his voice. It was firm, masculine now that he was an adult, but held a hint of centuries of breeding and aristocracy.
She remembered how he had started calling her Love not long after he had turned to them. It had startled her.
"Why do you insist on calling me that? It's annoying." She had asked one afternoon in the library at Number 12 Grimmwald place. He had given her one of his inscrutable looks and shrugged in response. And it had driven her crazy.
"Think of it as a term of endearment" He had said. They had been looking through the family archives that remained. He had managed to grab several books from the prestigious Malfoy library when he had fled, including his family histories.
"Did you know my family is descended from Morgana?" she shook her head. "Turns out that's where a lot of the Malfoy- pureblood mania comes from."
He had then proceeded to tell her how Morgana - after she had done whatever it was that made her famous - had married into the Malfoi family that had just come from France.
His voice pulled her back from her memories "surprising isn't it, love? That I would that I would become friends with someone I once hated. That I was jealous of. That I sought to destroy, but then that isn't so surprising now is it, Love? People change." No it is not so surprising, Draco. You loved me that say everything.
She watched silently as he knelt before her headstone and watched as he took out his wand and whispered a spell.
" What is the mission this time?" she asked from her spot on his bed watching as he paced the small room.
She watched as his shoulders slumped a little in the wake of the question.
She watched as he turned around to face her, his movements tired and strained like those of an old man.
"Moody is sending Weasel, Lupin and I to bring one of the spies back to HQ. Apparently one of his confederates figured him out. We're to get him out and replace the confederate."
She nodded slowly, her gazed trained on the floor. Slowly, carefully quietly " I guess someone has brewed a batch of that new polyjuice potion?"
She didn't see him come and sit next to her. Rather she felt him next to him. "Ginny is finishing it up. We're to leave in the morning. The good news in all this is that apparently the Dark Lord isn't aware of the spy yet. The rat hasn't ratted on our man. Apparently he has a taste for the dramatics and Moody thinks the rat will probably will reveal him during the next revel."
"How did our man find all this out?" There was something else he wasn't telling her. She knew it his voice was betraying him
"A good spy notices everything." A shadow fell over his face.
"I have no idea when we'll be back." He nearly whispered. " We're heading right into the snake pit"
The snake pit
Code for Voldemort's Headquarters. Harry had come up with it one day. He had said in between laughs how fitting it was.
Riddle Manor.
Without thinking she buried her face in his shoulder and cried. Draco wrapped his arms and her and buried his nose in her hair and held her tight.
The next morning when she woke up in his bed, he was gone, but he had covered every surface with lilies.
That had been one of the worst times. The waiting had been terrible.
"Potter is getting married you know, to Ginny, just like you said they would. The wedding is next summer. Potter asked me to be in the wedding." He was whispering so she had to strain to hear him.
She saw Ron a second before Draco sensed his presence and proceeded to threaten Ron.
Typical.
She didn't really want to hear their banter that was always just covered their animosity and tuned them out.
He must have been here to visit Fred. Poor George had been distraught when he had found out.
"I loved her, but she loved you more Malfoy. I haven't a clue in nine hells what she saw in you, but she must have seen something worth wild, Merlin knew, she didn't just trust anyone.
"Stop it Malfoy! Just stop it! Don't play with me, I don't need this. Tell me what you want from me right now or so help Merlin I will hex you where you stand!" she screamed. He stood quietly for a moment before speaking.
"I guess you already know. What the assignment is, huh, love?" It was his first real assignment from Moody. Not scouting, not recon, not research with her. A real mission.
"Screw you Malfoy! I can't take your mind games! It's a suicide mission and you are taking it anyway!" she screamed. "Fine go die see if I care. Cause I don't! Not at all!
"Hermione please! I want to talk to you, please listen. I might not get another chance, if ever!" He stated firmly. Ever the clear-headed Slytherin, the Bastard.
"No you listen to me! Seriously? Bellatrix Lestrange? Are you bloody out of your mind? She killed Tonks! One of our best, how do you expect to hold up against her? Huh? Tell Me!" She shouted at him, the scar on her arm seeming to throb.
"You lack of confidence hurts, love." He replied glibly.
"Then why did you accept the mission?" she asked desperately, trying not the hurt into her voice. Her parents were gone she couldn't take losing someone she had just found.
"Because I am the only one she'll let close. I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I have a liar's palace all set up in my head, thanks to Severus, rest his soul." He paused and gave her that assessing look. She just glared back at him. "Moody and Potter think that once she's out of the way, it will all come crashing. Rabastan is already gone. Once she's dead that will be when the clock starts ticking."
He was right, and she knew it. Bellatrix was Voldemort's most adamant supporter and used people's fear of her, to create support for him. With her gone, his entire organization would have to be rebuilt and with the right timing, he wouldn't get to.
"Hey," he said pulling her away from her thoughts. "Just a little faith, alright love? Its you I have to come back to." He whispered, moving a little closer and leaned his forehead against hers, noses inches apart. "Alright." she whispered. Tears building in her eyes. He took a deep breath. "Just be here for me to come back to." He whispered, before dipping his head a little to catch her lips with his.
The next morning he left, kissing her forehead, before walking out the door. That was one of the few times she saw him before the Final Battle.
They manage to sneak a few hours together in the three months leading to it. She hadn't even gotten a chance to tell him she was pregnant before the Final battle. It was probably better that he never knew. Now she was stuck in limbo. She couldn't move on and she couldn't stay here.
She watched silently as Ron walked away toward where poor Fred was buried. Draco muttered about having to plan a stag party with him, before settling down and talking about what was going on, outside the cemetery. The trials were finishing up. Several donors were funding the rebuilding of a floor in St Mungo's, Harry and Ginny's wedding. Things she was missing.
It started to rain.
It was what finally made him leave, though it didn't hide the sheen in his eyes. Her eyes misted too, and ghostly pale tears rain down her cheeks.
"I love you Hermione. More than I can ever say." He spoke quietly so she had to strain to hear, before turning walking back to the apparition point. She hated it when he left.
"I love you Draco please don't leave me here!" she cried out.
The wind kicked up and she found she was in what must've been Draco's room in the Manor and silently watched as he came in and readied for bed. A voice spoke in her head.
You will meet him again, in time and you and him will know much joy. But to move on, you must say good-bye, for now.
Mystified, but somehow understanding, she floated over to Draco as he lay on his bed and kissed Draco upon the cheek. I love you, always. She whispered and it seemed like he heard her.
As he drifted to sleep, she faded and knew a world of green trees and laughter and her child.
I will find you again Draco. We will meet again, someday.
Hey, Sphinx here,
I have been writing this on and off for a year and I have finally posted it.
Please review.