4.1 | Draconian ✓

29 | serpensortia

A/N

Hello my loves, I'm SO sorry for the delayed update! Things had been crazy this weekend and Wattpad had been glitching for me when I tried to update. Nevertheless, here's a chapter, and here's hoping you'll only wait less than a week for the next one. Enjoy!

x Noelle

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2 9

s e r p e n s o r t i a

Conjures a snake.

HERMIONE REMAINED BY Draco's cell for the rest of the night, listening to Theo's grumbling and Blaise's words of comfort to Pansy. Draco, on the other hand, was silent. She had to wonder if his sombre mood had to do with him killing his uncle right in front of her.

It was probably that.

Sometime later, the door creaked open. Luna stepped in with trays of food in her hands and two guards trailing after her. After she slipped a tray through each of the four cell doors, she set the last one down in front of Hermione.

"Shacklebolt wants to know if you'd like a room to stay for the night." Luna's voice was quiet. "He's not very happy that you're here with them but he still welcomes you all the same."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere."

Luna nodded and climbed to her feet. "I'll see you in the morning, Hermione," she said, and threw a last glance over her shoulder before leaving with the guards.

The door shut behind them and silence descended upon the room. Hermione picked listlessly at the food on her tray, but she couldn't summon up an appetite.

"I miss being a Death-Eater," Theo's chirpy voice broke the silence at last. He sounded so cheerful that she couldn't help but quirk her lips into a brief smile.

"For Merlin's sake, Theo," Blaise fired back and Hermione could almost imagine him rolling his eyes. "If anyone outside hears that we're going to be in trouble - "

"But it's true. At least the food didn't taste so fucking shite when we were Death-Eaters."

"In other words," Pansy mused, "you're saying that you miss Blaise's cooking."

"Fuck, no - "

"Aw, Theo," Blaise said, with exaggerated affection. "That's really sweet."

"You know what I don't miss?"

"Your face?" This snub came from Draco, and Hermione couldn't stop the chuckle that slipped past her lips. She felt Draco's fingers tighten on hers and she eased back against the wall of his cell, listening to the Slytherins bicker in their usual fashion.

And, for a moment, she forgot that they were locked up in the thick of war, with the Order turned against them. With them, everything seemed normal and safe.

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But this was not to last.

As soon as the sun's first rays streaked through the windows, the doors burst open and Kingsley Shacklebolt entered. Several members of the Order followed him, and Hermione didn't miss the way they stared at her.

"Ms Granger," Shacklebolt said. "You need to come with us. We need to have you checked for any potions or curses."

Hermione felt Draco's grasp loosen from hers as he began to pull back, but she refused to let him go. "I will if you let my friends out of their cells," she said, boldly meeting his gaze. "Otherwise I'm not going anywhere."