Hold On - Dramione

Chapter 7

Draco had been right again. They did pull their stunt off. But it was not without its consequences.

The first one happened when Ron had been about to magically knock out an unsuspecting Willard Munston only for another Ministry worker to round the corner and see him with his wand drawn.

"Oi! What are ya doing?!" he'd bellowed as he drew his own wand, but Hermione was faster.

And so, their first complication had been having Ron transform into Reginald Cattermole, a lower-level employee whose wife was being interrogated by Umbridge for being muggleborn.

Their second complication came when Harry's Polyjuice potion wore off first and he had no choice but to go out with a bang as he stunned the pink woman and Hermione stole the necklace as they raced for the elevator.

Their third complication came in the form of the dementors that Umbridge had been holding at bay with a cat-shaped Patronus. While it seemed impossible that she'd have a memory happy enough to conjure one, that Patronus quickly faded when she'd been stunned and the Dementors were let loose on them.

Hermione had never experienced the soul-sucking caused by the Dementors stealing her happiness. And for once, Harry's description of it had been apt. The way it felt like your insides were being pulled out through your mouth. The cold feeling that settled into your bones as you realised that you'd never be happy again. The agony of realising that you were left with nothing, but your worst experiences and they definitely had a few of them.

Harry saved them, naturally. He'd experienced the soul-sucking enough that he was skilled enough to be able to focus on his happy memories as they were being sucked away and summon a Patronus of his own.

The fourth complication was the aftermath of exiting the elevator. Hermione's Polyjuice potion had also worn off, so she and Harry stuck close together as they weaved through the crowds of people with their heads down.

"Hermione, I know how it feels, but you've just got to hold out a little bit longer. We're almost to the exit," Harry whispered to her, able to see the physical discomfort on her face.

She hadn't said anything back as they walked before they realised that they lost Ron. The wife of the man he impersonated and that they'd saved from the courtroom below had clung to his arm and now she was kissing him as his Polyjuice wore off.

It might have been a residual effect from the Dementors, but where that would've once bothered her, Hermione didn't feel jealous like she should've been, like she had been when she watched Ron kiss another girl just a few months ago.

The fifth and probably the biggest complication came in the form of Corbin Yaxley, one of Voldemort's senior Death Eaters. He chased them from the courtroom towards the fireplace exits in the main hall.

And while they made it into one of the fireplaces before the golden gates came down, so did Yaxley. His arms had wrapped around Hermione as they Disapparated but his touch was nothing like Draco's. Draco's touch was cold like ice, like the frigid breeze before a storm, and the sharp shivers of the first day of winter. It was a good cold. Yaxley's hands were cold like death, like walking through a graveyard at night or the chilly air inside a haunted house. And his hands had hold on her as they made it to Grimmauld Place, their bodies being torn and pulled by magic as Hermione was able to shake him off.

Hermione was crying when the world came into focus, and she wanted to crawl out of her skin as a bruise began forming on her arm from where Yaxley had held her. And suddenly she found herself unknowingly calling for someone in her head.

"Draco. Draco. Draco! Draco. Draco." She called him over and over again, unsure why she was saying his name like a prayer before she saw something else. "Oh my god."