Relentless - A Dramione FanFic

London ~ The Theater + The Past

After enjoying the most delicious meal of their lives, Hermoine, Ginny & Luna leisurely strolled the few blocks to the theater.  They were seeing a performance of Shakespeare's: "A Mid Summer Night's Dream".  Hermoine assured her two friends that if the wizarding world had such thing as theater, this play would be just as much, if not more of a hit there as it was here in the muggle world.

"So, explain this again...  There are muggles whose only job, whose sole purpose in life, is to pretend to be other people on a stage?  And these actors, as you call them, are the most famous and wealthy people around?"

"That's right." Hermoine couldn't help but smirk at Ginny's dumbfounded expression.

"Muggles," Ginny mused, "They confound me."

"I came here once with my mother just before she died."  Luna asserted, gazing up at the old stone building.  "Her parents were muggles, you know."  No, they hadn't known, and their jaws dropped upon hearing this information, but still Luna continued, "She loved the muggle world, especially things like the theater, and she wanted to be sure I experienced it before I got my Hogwarts letter.  Letting me know I had options, I guess.  After she died, my dad never mentioned her muggle heritage again, and I didn't ask.  I was happy to stay in his world with him, but I never forgot our visit to this theater."

"I didn't know that about your mum, Luna."  Hermoine stated, feeling embarrassed and ashamed she had never thought to have the kind of personal conversation with Luna that would uncover that kind of information.

"Yeah, me neither."  Ginny agreed, in a barely audible whisper, also upset with herself.

"Oh, well now you do."  Luna smiled.  "She would be glad I made it back here, especially with my two best friends."

Ginny wrapped her arm around Luna's waist, and pulled her into at side hug.  "I'm glad we're here together, too."

The crowd in front of them dissipated and Hermoine handed each of them their tickets.  She led the way, making sure both her friends saw the way she held her ticket out for the doorman to scan.

**

Once inside, the girls made a quick stop in the ladies' room to freshen up before heading to their seats in the auditorium.  Hermoine's uncle had given her the family's season tickets for this night's performance as he was in Ireland on holiday.  Her family had had these seats as long as anyone could remember, and she'd been attending the theater with her parents at least once a year since she was five.  She politely declined assistant from the attendants, confidently guiding Ginny and Luna to their floor seats.  Twelfth row, seats 10-13.  She settled in to seat 12, her seat, as the curtain went up, and the warmth of fond memories filled her.  

**

From his private box, he gazed down, not at the stage, but at her.  Twelfth row, seat 12.  She was here.  Finally, after three long months of attending every performance, waiting, hoping, to see her, there she was.  Even after the lights went down and the curtain went up, her smile lit her face.  It was is if she was her own light source.  And he was a moth drawn to the glow.  

"Hermoine..." he whispered to himself.  Her name felt good on his lips.  For so many years, he hadn't permitted it to escape his lips, opting rather to call her by her surname of Granger, or in more desperate times, by the vile insult: Mudblood.  He hated the way that word tasted in his mouth, yet he'd used it so many times against her.  He deserved feeling the way it made him feel... pathetic and weak.  He'd wanted to tell her the truth on their first day at Hogwarts, but Severus wouldn't allow it.

     "Get yourself together, boy, or do you want everything we've worked so hard for to come crumbling down?"  His godfather snarled when he'd told him he couldn't do it to her.  He couldn't be the evil prat they'd spent so many years perfecting.  "If our plan is going to work, you have to make everyone believe she's your enemy... that you despise her and everyone like her.  Its for her own good, Draco.  As much as it hurts you, if you love her, you must stay away from her."