On the Way to the End - Dramione

Chapter 11

Hermione fluttered her eyes open and took a deep breath as she woke. She stretched a bit but stopped short when her hand brushed against something. The Gryffindor turned over so she was facing the other side of the bed and her mind flashed with the events of last night. She had forgotten for a moment what had happened but she was quickly reminded as she saw the sleeping figure of Draco Malfoy on the other side of the mattress. 

He seemed so relaxed. A look Hermione had not seen on him, well ever. Hermione turned towards the window and noticed that it was light out. It was raining, again, making it difficult to tell how early in the day it was though. Hermione grabbed her wand from beneath her pillow and slowly pushed herself out of bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping boy to her right. He did, need the sleep with that injury, after all. 

The young woman shivered as she left the warmth of the bed and crossed her arms to keep as much of the heat in as possible. She headed down the hallway towards the bathroom but stopped short when she heard a rustle coming from the living room. Footsteps. Hermione ducked into the bathroom, waiting as they came closer. 

"Dra-" The voice began but was quickly cut off by the curse coming out of Hermione's wand. Stupifying her target, she sent them flying into the wall all the way in the living room. 

"What the actual fuck?" The voice responded, coughing from having the wind knocked out of him. Hermione ran towards the dark-skinned boy and pointed her wand at him. The young man was looking at her in confusion from his thrown position on the floor. 

"Granger, what is going on?" Draco's voice came from behind her. He quickly made his way over to her. 

"Can someone please explain what the hell is going on?" Blaise questions, looking up at the duo. 

"First explain what you're doing here." Hermione's voice was strong. 

"Granger, come off it! It's Blaise! And you've gone and thrown him into my living room wall!" Draco exclaimed, pushing her wand, that was aimed at Blaise, down. He sighed and offered his friend a hand, which Blaise took, and pulled him up. 

Hermione instantly felt bad, "I..." 

Blaise gave a wary look over towards Hermione but focused on Draco, "well I'll admit I am glad to see your alive." He turned to the girl to his left and back to his friend, "but what the hell is she doing here?" 

Hermione looked as though she was going to interject, so Draco spoke, not wanting any more hexes being fired. "I went to Grimmauld as you know and-" 

"Yes, yes to warn her." Blaise rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed with Draco's interests in Hermione. 

Draco huffed slightly, "and it was a blood bath-" 

"So I heard," Blaise interrupted again, dusting himself off before going into the kitchen. 

The blonde looked at him in annoyance, "I got hit with a curse and Granger got me out." 

"Adorable." He called as he opened the fridge, scanning for a snack. Draco sighed, sharing a look with Hermione who was silently standing there, clearly baffled by the whole situation. "Everyone thinks the Order kidnapped you, so you're in the clear for now." Blaise continued, sighing as he noted that the fridge was particularly empty.

"Malfoy," A feminine voice finally spoke, "didn't you say no one would come here?" Hermione asked Draco, completely ignoring the other wizard in the kitchen. 

"I never said that, I said no Death Eaters knew about it. So we'd be safe." Draco corrected, "and I did mention Blaise and my mother being the only people who know about it." He said as if it was obvious. 

"Yes, hello to you too," Blaise said directed at Hermione, "no worries, I forgive you for sending me into a wall!" He said his voice dripping with sarcasm as he flicked his wand and began making tea. "Anyone for some bloody tea?" 

Draco gave Blaise an unimpressed smile, raising his eyebrows. He couldn't help but find his friend's attitude amusing. He headed towards the kitchen to join the other wizard and grabbed three teacups. 

Hermione just looked at the two men and sighed. 

"Oh, nice outfit by the way," Blaise smirked, referring to Malfoy's night attire that she was clad in.

 Hermione's cheeks reddened a bit, "I'm sorry, but if everyone thought Draco was kidnapped then why are you here?" She bit back, annoyance in her voice. 

"Okay, ladies that's enough." Draco, who was clearly getting tired of hearing his two companions bicker, said firmly, placing a mug down on the counter. He looked at Blaise as if to say, 'watch it'.  

Blaise offset his jaw to the side and rolled his eyes as Draco. "I'm here because of the deal we set." He said, directed to his friend. 

Draco nodded and turned to Hermione, "we're working on some sensitive stuff here." The blonde gestured for her to follow and walked to his desk in the living room. Papers on Horcruxes, locations for them, Death Eater schedules and plans were scattered about. "So if I got captured, to be safe, Blaise would find a hiding spot for this stuff," he explained. 

"No one knows about this place," Blaise continued, "but we can't take the risk." 

Hermione nodded in understanding. Blaise levitated two teacups into the living room and placed them on the coffee table in front of the fire. The third he put on Draco's desk, which the blonde gave him a nod of appreciation for. He sat at his desk. 

"I'm sorry are you just staying now?" Hermione turned to Blaise. 

"Are you?" He quipped back. 

"I need to contact the Order, make sure everyone is okay." She explained. "We are supposed to meet tomorrow morning at one of the safe houses." 

"Well then go tomorrow morning. No one will go before then anyway, besides, I don't want you getting caught up with a group of Death Eaters. I can't save your arse all the time, Granger." Draco told her, gesturing for her to sit. 

"I need to help them-" 

"And you will, by figuring this damned thing out." Draco lifted up his notes on Horcruxes. Hermione sighed, looking back to Draco. "If I wanted to betray or kill you it would have already been done." He looked at her, "I had plenty of chances." 

The young woman shook her head and sat down, placing her wand on the chair next to her and clasping the warm tea with both hands. She felt exposed in a strange way. She trusted Malfoy but Blaise was unfamiliar and hadn't proven a reason for her to trust him at all. 

"Come on, Granger." Draco sighed from his desk, "we all have a common goal and shared trauma." 

Hermione took another deep breath and looked up at him once more. "Fine." She nodded, "tell me everything you know so far about this Horcrux and we'll go from there."