Resentment | Dramione

Chapter 22

Draco stood still in the middle of the drawing room, rooted to the spot as he listened to Hermione's raging panicked thoughts. And it wasn't until he let himself look into her view and watch as Hermione cast a spell on Potter's face to deform it and watch them walk outside, that he understood what her panicked thoughts were all about.

He couldn't quite believe it at first, but after a bit of digging through Hermione's mind, he all too soon found out that it was because of Potter that their entire cover had been blown. Silently cursing the idiot for being so careless, he waited in horrified anticipation for them to arrive at the Malfoy Manor.

He was quite certain that they would be brought here instead of the Minisitry. After all, only Potter had been camouflaged by a spell. Weasley and Hermione would be easy enough to identify if the Snatchers used their brains.

Trying not to show his anxiety in front of his parents, he kept his expression in check as he waited rather impatiently for the three of them to arrive. And at last they did – brought in by his mother and Greyback, and the former asked him to identify the three of them.

Draco swallowed, slowly rising from his seat in the armchair as he approached them. "Well?" Bellatrix asked him, a little too eager as she held Potter up by the back of his shirt. Draco, please. Hermione begged him, and he hesitantly took in Potter's mingled features.

"I can't be sure." He replied, his voice a little shaky. Lying to his family was very tricky to do at the moment. As soon as they would find out then they'd all be in big trouble. "Draco," a hand grasping his neck had him momentarily startled, but he fought every nerve in his body to keep him from jumping at his father's grasp. "If we are the ones to hand him over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiven."

Greyback interfered, reminding him that it was him that caught Potter. Bellatrix broke the huddle apart, urging Draco to take a better look at Potter. Knowing he had to give something on to not sound suspicious, he opted for the safest remark he could offer as he stared at Potter's swollen face. "What's wrong with his face?"

"What indeed is wrong with his face?" Bellatrix asked, and went to the Snatchers to ask them. Obviously they had no clue, but to Draco's dismay his father managed to figure it out soon enough. "Looks like a Stinging Jinx to me."

Rising from his spot below, he turned to face his parents and Hermione as Bellatrix approached her, snatching Hermione's wand from the Snatchers' hands. Checking the last spell cast, she confirmed Lucius' suspicions.

"Come over here, Draco." His aunt urged him on, and Draco took a few careful steps forward. "Isn't this the Mudblood from the Prophet?" Draco hesitated, pretending to take a good look at Hermione to try and see if it was actually her. In reality, however, he was simply trying to figure out what in the world to do. "I don't know.. maybe.. yeah.."

Taking in Hermione's face, it was a little foreign to him after all those months. The time spent in the woods were clearly shown on her face – her features tired and her hair wild. Yet, she seemed to have matured greatly over the spread of months, something he hadn't been able to notice over the reflections he had seen the entire time.

Shooting her a quick apologetic look for giving away her identity, he took a step backwards. It's okay, we're doomed already, anyway. Her voice sounded so hopeless, but Draco didn't know anything to say to lift up her spirits. The only way to make her feel better was to lie, but he saw no use in that.

They both knew that Hermione and her friends were slowly being identified by his family, and it wouldn't be long before the Dark Lord would be called out. "Where did you get this sword?" The panicked voice of his aunt shook him out of his thoughts, and he watched as she eyed the sword in Greyback's hands.