Can't run from time

The silence that followed after voldemort left was deafening. For a moment, no one moved, no one breathed. Then the crowd began to stir — whispers, sharp glances, nervous shifting of feet. 

The funeral resumed, as though death himself hadn't just walked among them.

Hermione stood in the same spot, trying to calm the thunder in her chest. Narcissa had healed up her cut but the pain remained. She felt Draco's hand still in hers, warm and shaking.

They left the crowd not long after. Narcissa found them near the edge of the garden, eyes glassy but steady.

"You shouldn't have come," she said to Hermione softly. But then — she reached out and hugged her. Just for a second. And when she pulled back, she brushed Hermione's hair from her face and whispered, "But thank you for being here."

Lucius didn't speak to them. He didn't even look their way.

But Bellatrix did.

Her eyes glittered from across the marble floor. Hungry. Knowing.
Hermione felt the chill in her spine instantly. "Draco," she whispered.He didn't need an explanation. "Come on," he said quickly, grabbing her hand. "We need to go. Now."

As they stepped out of the Manor's grand gates, Hermione looked back once — just once — at the garden where the guests still gathered around the final resting place of a man she'd once known in another time.

"Goodbye, Abraxas," she whispered.

Then she followed Draco into the dark.

-----

They returned to Hogwarts in silence.Draco hadn't let go of her hand the whole journey back. On the train, they shared a compartment — unspoken agreement. No one else. Not even Pansy tried to intrude, not after the funeral. Something had changed. There was a weight in the air around him, and everyone could feel it.

Hermione didn't ask questions. Not yet.

She watched the shadows under his eyes, the way he leaned against the window, gaze unfocused. Grief clung to him in quiet places: the slouch of his shoulders, the tremor in his fingers, the way he blinked too often like he was holding something in.

Back at the castle, students whispered.

Hermione barely noticed.

Harry and Ron saw her and didn't even nod. Parvati threw her a sharp look. Ginny wasn't there — never would be again — and everything about Gryffindor Tower felt hollow now. It had for a while.

But she didn't cry.Not until she was in the library.Not until she sat in their spot — the one by the window where light spilled like a secret — and realised he hadn't shown up all day.Not in Charms.Not in Transfiguration.Not even at dinner, where she sat between Seamus and an awkward silence, scanning the Slytherin table for blond hair and narrowed eyes.Nothing.No Draco.For three days.

When she finally saw him again, he was slipping through the corridor behind the Charms classroom, hood low, steps fast.