Draco looked at her sharply, irritation visible in his silver eyes. “My entire life is comprised of emotional fallout.” He looked feral. “Sometimes — I don't have the capacity to handle any more of it.”
Hermione pressed her lips together, but they twisted. “Is that what you're going to do to me too — when it's my turn to go?”
Draco's eyes glinted. “No. Although it would be fitting. We were never much for goodbyes, as I recall.”
She looked down and fidgeted with her hands. “You should have let her say goodbye. A few more minutes wouldn't have hurt. Now she's going to feel—”
“I'm aware of how it feels to lose someone without saying goodbye, Granger!” His knuckles were white and his jaw clenched as he snarled the words.
It was like being kicked in the stomach. She felt herself pale.
Draco's eyes burned as he glared at her with all his bitter rage. Then he blinked, and the emotions vanished behind his occlumency walls.
“Sorry. I'm sorry. Just — tell her I'm sorry,” he said in a clipped voice.
Hermione swallowed bitterly as she nodded. She looked down at her hands, trying to think of something else to talk about.
“I didn't know you were in contact with Ginny,” she finally said.
Draco shrugged and appeared relieved by the change of subject. “Not much. I used to visit on occasion, mainly to ensure she hadn't tried to run off.” He raised an eyebrow. “She tried to cut my throat with a steak knife when I told her the Order had lost.” He gave Hermione a pointed look. “Shockingly enough, it was rather difficult to make her believe I was keeping her locked in a safe house for her protection.”
Hermione's eyes dropped away. She hadn't considered how fraught a situation it would have been for Draco to be the one informing Ginny that the war had been lost and her entire family killed. Or how he would have ever managed to convince her that he was trustworthy.
“Once the Dark Lord restricted me from leaving Britain without permission, we primarily used a scroll with a protean charm for occasional communication. Topsy was with her, helping her care for James until you were assigned to me. Ginny was aware that you'd finally been found, and that the plan was for you to join her. I sent her updates from time to time about your memory loss and what condition you were in, so she'd know what to expect. So… she's — aware that you've become pregnant.”
Draco looked down and straightened the cufflinks on his shirt.
Hermione studied him for a moment. “What?”
Draco looked up from his sleeve, and his expression closed. “Well, she was informed of the context in which you were being sent here to the manor, unfortunately she — she assumed I had greater ability to subvert instructions and protect you than I did. She only realised that it wasn't the case when I sent word that you were pregnant.” His jaw twitched minutely. “Suffice to say, the begrudging tolerance she'd developed up to that point has permanently gone now.”
He cleared his throat. “I hadn't anticipated the Dark Lord knowing about you when I was trying to get you out of Europe. Aside from the safehouse in Denmark, most of the escape routes in place weren't feasible. I used Kreacher to establish a secondary portkey route that Ginny could use, but it wasn't completed until the end of April.” He cocked his head to the side. “Muggle aeroplanes were an idea I had, but the Muggle Prime Minister has been collaborating closely with the Ministry. Polyjuicing you as a Muggle was an option, but not once you were pregnant, and there were variables I wouldn't have been able to control for in the Muggle world…”
He abruptly seemed to realise he was rambling and cut himself off. “So — portkeys were the best I could do.”
Hermione stared up at him.
“I have to say, you've ended up being quite expensive, Granger.”
There was a reason why international portkey travel was restricted. Intercontinental portkey displacement could drop a Wizard into outer-space if incorrectly calculated. There was elaborate and specialized expertise necessary for intercontinental portkey creation, to the extent that most were government sponsored and owned in order to be affordable.
Hermione knew because the Order had pursued the idea of obtaining a portkey to Australia or Canada in order to evacuate the children and refugees. Legally purchased, it would have used an eighth of Harry's vault. On the black market, the price would have easily been double or triple.
“It won't be as untraceable as the route with Severus—” Draco was saying. He'd caught her hand in his, and one of his fingers slipped along her inner-wrist and twitched at the manacle locked there, “—you should use the extra time to regain more weight and build up your stamina."
She furrowed her eyebrows as she stared up at him. “How will you get the manacles off without Severus?”
Draco gave a dry laugh. “Removing them was never really an obstacle. The difficulty has always been getting you safely out of Europe immediately afterwards. There are plenty of Death Eaters who will do anything they're told once you find the right pressure point.”
Hermione nodded stiffly. “How long — until Ginny comes?”
Draco furrowed his eyebrows and then quirked one up as he calculated. “The house-elves will have to apparate to the safe-house by a series of jumps since they can't use portkeys. It takes more than a week to apparate to the safe house. Kreacher will escort Ginny back and show her the route. It's a series of concealed portkeys rather than one. The margin for error is smaller when the distance is reduced. She'll probably arrive in three weeks, depending on how she handles portkey travel.”
More time , whispered Hermione's desperate, greedy heart, but the instant it occurred to her, the guilt struck her.
Now that she was no longer primarily dreading him, the reality of Severus' death was slowly washing over her.
Severus, her mentor. Her colleague. One of the few people she had regarded as having truly known her. He'd been chained to the war even longer than Hermione and Draco. She'd often wondered what the reason was for his switch in allegiance.
Whatever it had been, the secret died with him.
Draco went and dropped into the chair.
“Did you — know Severus well?” she asked.
He looked up at her. His eyes were cool grey, but a thin smile played at the corner of his mouth. “No. He didn't like me.”
Hermione looked down. “I'm sorry.”
“When he wasn't giving me orders, he spent most of his time telling me that I didn't deserve to have someone like you care about me; that you were worth ten of me.” He raised an eyebrow. “When it wasn't Severus saying it, it was Ginny; although she placed the number somewhat higher.”
Draco's availability abruptly ended with Severus' death. He was called away less than an hour later. Hermione didn't see him until he arrived briefly the next afternoon in order to introduce Hermione to Topsy's replacement.
Bobbin was a younger elf. Hermione wasn't sure how old any of the elves were, but Topsy had easily been older than Kreacher, and Bobbin seemed to be about the age Dobby had been. As Hermione studied her, she realised she'd seen her before. Bobbin was the elf Astoria had sent when Hermione had first arrived at the manor.
Bobbin gave a low curtsy. “Bobbin will be doing her best.”
“Tell Bobbin anything you want. She's aware of the restrictions you have.” Draco's mind was clearly elsewhere. He walked away without a word.
Hermione didn't see Draco again for more than a day.
She forced herself to eat even though it made her stress nausea worse.
She started working out again.
A longer, harder journey. Multiple portkeys while pregnant.