15. Acceptance

Author's Note: I actually have to get to work, so I don't really have time to write too much of an author's note this time. So...thanks to all for reviewing! Oh, and to clear up the confusion of last chapter for a couple of people - that last chapter was a flashback, so it was the real Hermione who was murdered, not the new one.

Disclaimer: I don't own nothing.

Draco remained completely silent. He stood leaning up against the wall, staring straight up at the ceiling, trying to pretend Hermione did not exist. He had been forced by Dumbledore to accompany Hermione to the Great Hall that morning – Monday morning – and to wait outside until he was done making the announcement to the students of her arrival. So far, the old man was still waiting to get the attention of everyone.

"Do you think they'll like me?" Hermione asked in a small voice.

"No," Draco said simply, without hesitation. He didn't bother to look to see if his answer had hurt her. Her silence was indication enough.

With a sigh, he continued. "It's just going to be weird, that's all. To everyone, it's going to be like Hermione is back from the dead. Even though they will be told you are a completely different person from a completely different dimension, everyone is going to look at you, and they are going to see her. But they are going to know that you're not her, and they are all going to hate you for that."

Hermione studied him closely. "Are you sure that's how everyone is going to feel? Or are you just assuming that's how they're going to feel, because it's how you feel?"

"I don't hate you, Granger," Draco said stiffly. "I don't even know you."

"But you don't appear to want to get to know me."

"You're right. I don't."

"Listen, Malfoy-"

She stopped talking the moment she heard Dumbledore's voice coming from inside the Great Hall. She and Draco immediately spun around and glanced inside to see the old man standing before all of the students, who were now completely silent.

"May I have everyone's attention, please," he was saying as most of the students turned their attention to him. "I have an announcement to make. A couple of nights ago, Hogwarts received a most extraordinary visitor – one whom I would like to introduce to all of you."

Beside Draco, Hermione took a deep breath and held it in. After a few seconds, she let it out in one big whoosh. She held her hands up in front of her. "I'm shaking," she whispered.

"Calm down, Granger," Draco hissed as he strained to hear what Dumbledore was saying.

"…may come as a shock to you all, but please do not be alarmed, and please give her a warm welcome. Would our guest please step into the Great Hall?"

Hermione made a little whimpering sound, and Draco rolled his eyes. "Get in there, Granger. It's not going to be as bad as you think."

Gently, he nudged her along. With another deep breath, she stepped through the doorway, into plain sight for all of the students to see.

There was an immediate reaction amongst the students – something like a collective gasp, then complete silence. After a few moments of the silence, though, everyone began to murmur amongst themselves, staring at Hermione with mixed expressions of astonishment and horror.

"Boys and girls," Dumbledore said loudly over their voices. "I would like you to meet Hermione Granger." He motioned for Hermione to join him up at the front of the room.

"But Hermione is dead!" one student called out in fright.

"This is not the Hermione Granger we all knew," Dumbledore continued as Hermione joined him at his side. "She has come to us from another dimension."

"Another what?" someone else cried out.

From outside the room, Draco watched intently as the whole scene unfolded. He couldn't help but feel sorry for Hermione. Obviously, the students were not going to be accepting of her – at least not right off.

Glancing over at the Grryfindor table, Draco noticed a mix of emotions: Ginny looked pleased; Ron looked somber; Lavender Brown looked like she was about ready to cry; Neville Longbottom looked downright terrified; and Harry…well…Harry was not even paying attention. But if Draco had to guess what he was feeling at the moment, he would say Harry was probably very unhappy.

Dumbledore proceeded to try and explain the whole situation to the students, but nobody seemed to really understand. Or perhaps they did – they would just need to wait for the shock to wear off. Draco knew all about that. It was the same thing he had experienced after he first met her.

Eventually, Dumbledore's speech was over and Hermione apprehensively headed over to the Gryffindor table. He watched as Ginny waved her on over, having saved her a seat. Hermione seemed to notice Harry sitting so close – on the other side of Ginny – and hesitated for a moment before sitting down. This intrigued Draco. This was the second time she had seen Harry and acted weird around him. She seemed fine around Ginny, Ron and Luna, and even around Draco. But Harry's presence somehow…unnerved her? Draco wasn't sure. He made a mental note to ask her about it later.

Slowly, Draco made his way into the Great Hall and headed over to the Slytherin table, where the topic of conversation was, of course, the resurrection of Hermione Granger.

"She's a lot hotter than the other one," Goyle was saying as Draco sat down.

"Eww, you did not just call Hermione Granger hot," Millicent Bulstrode said, scrunching up her face in disgust.

"What?" he said defensively. "She is. With that short little skirt and that soft, shiny hair…" His voice trailed off as he noticed everyone at the table within earshot was staring at him in horror.

Draco chose to ignore the whole conversation, and hoped that nobody tried to include him in it. Glancing around the table, though, nobody was even paying attention to him. No one, that is, except for Pansy.

"Hello," she said pleasantly.

"Hey," he muttered. His gaze flickered over to the Gryffindor table, where Harry was now getting up to leave.

"So this new Granger," Pansy was saying to him. "It's weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Is she staying with you right now?"

Draco sighed. "Yes."

"How long have you known? I mean, how long has she been here? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Pansy, shut up," Draco snapped. "Please."

Looking genuinely hurt, Pansy frowned and mumbled, "Sorry."

"No," Draco said, "it's okay. It's just…I don't feel like answering all of these questions right now, okay?"

Pansy nodded and then turned to Millicent and began talking to her. Draco felt relieved that she didn't continue.

"Hey," another voice said to him.

Draco glanced over to see Blaise staring at him. Draco did not return the greeting. Instead, he stood up from the table and began to walk away. He really couldn't deal with this right now. Luckily, nobody followed him. But before he left the Great Hall, he did sneak a glance at Hermione over at the Gryffindor table. It seemed as though everyone there was quickly warming up to her – though a bit tentatively. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as they had both thought. Maybe everyone would end up loving the new Hermione and would accept her as a substitute.

But Draco never would.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who felt that way. As he neared his common room, he noticed somebody sitting underneath the portrait, waiting for him. As he got closer, he recognized the boy right away.

"Potter?"

Harry quickly stood up from the floor when he saw Draco. "I was hoping you'd stop by here before class."

"Well, here I am," Draco said stiffly. "What do you want?"

Draco and Harry had never gotten along, and there was always a lot of animosity between them – but never as much as there was during the two months following Hermione's death. So naturally, Draco was quite surprised and very curious as to why Harry was waiting for him.

"We need to talk," Harry said as the portrait hole opened up. "May I come in?"

"Sure," Draco mumbled. "Be my unwanted guest."

Harry ignored that and followed him into the common room.

"So what's this about, Potter?"

Harry began pacing the room. "This new Hermione girl - what do you know about her?"

Draco shrugged. "Not much."

"Not much?" Harry spat. "You've been living with her for a couple of days now, and you haven't found out anything about her yet?"

"She doesn't talk much about anything," Draco said. "And I don't really ask her too many questions. And even if I did, she would probably lie."

"Lie?"

"Yeah. Lie," Draco replied. "She's not exactly the same sweet and innocent Hermione we all knew and lov -" He stopped quickly before he could finish the sentence – we all knew and loved…

Harry didn't seem to notice Draco's near-slip. He was still pacing the floor, looking deep in thought. "I don't trust her," he said simply.

"Why not?" Draco asked. "You've only met her once, and not for very long. In fact, you're probably the one person who is the least allowed to judge her because of that."

Harry shook his head. "You don't understand, Malfoy. Whenever I see her, or think about her – something's just not right about her. I can't explain it, and I can't quite put my finger on it, but…something just isn't right. I can feel it."

Draco sighed in annoyance. "Okay. Fine. You have a problem with her. What does this have to do with me?"

"You are living with her!" Harry snapped. "You have the perfect opportunity to find out what exactly is going on!"

"Potter, you are paranoid. Now, I don't exactly like this new Hermione myself, but I'm not going to waste my time interrogating her every chance I get. If you think something is wrong about this whole situation, then you investigate it. I don't have time for this. Now, if you would please let yourself out."

Draco brushed past Harry and headed toward his bedroom, but Harry stopped him.

"I'm surprised," he said. "I would think you of all people would want to get to the bottom of this. I mean, after all, considering the way you felt about the real Hermione."

Perhaps it was the spite in Harry's voice as he said it. Or, perhaps it was the fact that he'd said it at all. Either way, it caused Draco's hands clench to fists at his side.

"I believe I asked you to leave, Potter," he said as calmly as possible.

Surprisingly, Harry obeyed. Without another word, he left the common room and headed out the portrait hole.

It had certainly been an interesting visit. It had almost seemed as though Harry wanted them to work together on this. Why else would he bother coming to Draco – especially since the two were sworn enemies?

He had to admit, though, Harry's visit now got him thinking. Of course something was off about this Hermione – because she wasn't the Hermione. But what if there was more to it than that? What if there was something about this Hermione that was…wrong? Dangerous, even?

Well...maybe he would have to find out himself.

Draco was not sure how long he had been sitting couch, in the dark, staring at the wall. It could have been five minutes; it could have been an eternity. Really, it was all the same to him.

It wasn't until he'd heard the portrait hole open up that he realized he hadn't moved at all since the house elves had left a couple of hours ago, and that he had not even been aware of his own surroundings. When had the room gotten so dark?

"Mr. Malfoy?" a soft voice said.

Draco recognized the voice, so he ignored it.

"Draco?" the voice tried again. When the visitor once again failed to get Draco's attention, he waved his wand about and said, "Lumos!"

Bright light filled the room so suddenly that Draco automatically shut his eyes to keep it out. When he opened them again, the light was a little easier to handle. He squinted up at the old man who stood before him. "What do you want?" he mumbled.

Professor Dumbledore took a seat across from him. If he noticed the mess Draco had made of the place earlier, he did not mention it. "I came to see how you were doing. Madame Pomfrey informed me that you ran out of the infirmary before you should have. That was a very powerful spell that Death Eater cast upon all of you -"

"Who was it?" Draco interjected, his voice completely devoid of any emotion.

"I assure you he is in custody, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore replied. "And he will pay severely for what he has done. But I am afraid I cannot reveal that information to you. Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley have already asked, and I told them nothing, either."

"Why did he do it?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid we don't know yet. He has refused to talk thus far. He is obviously as deranged as they come. I'm sure he felt as though he were performing a service for a higher being -"

Draco snorted. "The Dark Lord, I assume? He is no higher being."

Dumbledore nodded. "Nevertheless, I'm sure he had his reasons. To him, they were justified. But to us…" His voice trailed off.

"Listen, Draco," he continued, "sometimes people do things, and there is not always an explanation – at least an acceptable one. What this man did, he will pay dearly for – that I am sure of. But the truth is, we may never know why he did what he did – and if we were to find out, there is no explanation that would justify what happened. We just have to accept it -"

"Fuck that," Draco muttered under his breath.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, but did not reprimand Draco for his use of foul language. Instead, he stood up and said, "I'm very glad to see you are feeling better, Mr. Malfoy. But may I suggest you get some sleep? It's been a long day."

Draco said nothing, just continued to stare straight ahead.

"I will let myself out," Dumbledore said, heading to the portrait hole. When he got there, he stopped and turned around. "Oh, I wanted to inform you that we will be holding a memorial service for Miss Granger the day the rest of the students arrive back from holiday. I just thought you would like to know."

As soon as the old man was out the door, Draco finally took his gaze off the wall. He stared at the portrait hole, which was now closed, and the first thing that came to his mind was that Hermione would never come through that door ever again. She would never sit on this couch again, reading one of her boring old books. She would never again light up the room with her smile. He was never going to see her again.

And he was supposed to just accept that? How insensitive could that old man be? Had he already accepted it? Most likely. Hermione was just another student who had fallen victim somehow to Voldemort's cause – like Cedric Diggory before her. Sure, they would hold a memorial service to remember her and to honor her, just as they had done for him, but then that would be the end of it. Everyone would go back to their normal lives. Sure, once in a while someone might mention her name, or remember how she used to raise her hand every single time a professor asked a question in class – but then they would all forget. Eventually, even the memory of Hermione Granger would be gone from Hogwarts forever – especially after their class graduated this year.

No…Draco would not let that happen. He would not allow Hermione to be forgotten by anyone.

A memorial service? Draco laughed. That was all Dumbledore could think to do? He failed to save her life – so he thought a memorial service could somehow make up for it? Well, it couldn't, and it wouldn't. Because Draco decided then and there that there would be no memorial service.

Before Dumbledore had arrived, Draco had been thinking long and hard about the events that had taken place earlier. He had sworn to Hermione that he would protect her - but he had failed as well. But perhaps it was not too late.

He knew of Time-Turners – a small device that allowed witches and wizards to travel back in time. He even knew of the fact that Hermione herself had used one a few years ago to take on more than one class at once. Of course, he knew very little of how to use one, but it couldn't be too hard – he would just have to set it back to the time before they had all headed down to Hogsmeade. Perhaps he could somehow cause something to happen that would prevent them from going. He knew enough about time travel and the Time-Turners to know that it wouldn't be wise to interact with anyone from the past – especially himself.

He knew Dumbledore most likely had one in his office. So naturally, his first obstacle would be finding a way to obtain it without the old man finding out. The second obstacle would be trying to think of some sort of diversion to prevent Hermione from leaving Hogwarts. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep tonight – suddenly, his mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts and ideas. Suddenly, he was feeling quite optimistic.

So no…there was going to be no memorial service. Because by the time all of the students arrived back from holiday, Hermione would still be alive. Draco was going to make sure of that. He was going to keep his promise to her. He was going to protect her.

He was going to save her life.