Chapter 4
I stood up from where I had been sitting. The weight of Malfoy's words held above me. I walk down the steps and back down the long corridor. I reached the common room finally, and to my surprise, both Harry and Ron waited up. And boy do they look pissed. “You lied. You weren't in the library. You vanished off the map.” I’m now thankful I was smart enough to put an enchantment on myself before I left, But why is Ron so concerned over where I go?
“So you were tracking me?”I genuinely feel offended as if I'm not trusted. “No, Mione, that's not it. With Malfoy acting the way he is, we just wanted you to be safe.” I roll my eyes at his words. “I can take care of myself Ronald. I’m not some damsel in distress. Now goodnight to you both.”
I make my way up and into my room. I grabbed two spare notebooks that I had lying in my trunk and made a two-way connection to them. Malfoy gets one and I get the other. For this to work out I need to be discrete. Tomorrow I will get this message to Kingsley.
I lay out my clothes and change into them. I put my hair into a bun and lay down. Malfoys and mine conversation still lingering in my head. His smile is at the forefront of my dreams. I clear my head and fall Asleep.
“Hermione. We are going to be late for breakfast if you don't wake up.” I hear Ron yelling through the door. I get up and through my uniform on and take my hair out of the lazy bun I had put it into the night before. I put both books into my bag. “I need to see Dumbledore before class I don't have time for breakfast. Now if you two will excuse me I have somewhere to be.” I walk past them and go straight to the headmaster's tower. I mutter the password and descend up.
“Miss Granger. What ring you into here?” Dumbledore asked me as I opened the door. “I need to speak to Kingsley. It is rather important.” Dumbledore just nods his head and hands me a bag of floo powder. “He should still be at the Weasley’s if you hurry.”I nod my head and head over to the fireplace. “The Burrow.” In a second I stand in front of Molly, Arthur, Remus, and Kingsley. “I don't have much time before my classes so I need to hurry. This is for you, Kingsley.” I handed Kingsley the Note from last night. “I can't tell you how I got this information yet for safety, but they wanted you to have this.” I go to step into the fireplace but before I can a hand on my shoulder stops me. “Miss Granger. I will have a contract written up this week to protect this individual from any possible prosecution.” I smile and nod at him. “I have already taken care of that.” I step into the fireplace and floo back to the castle running down to potions. I still have two minutes before it starts but I don't want Harry and Ron to know I had gone to the burrow. Though Molly will probably tell Ron in no time.
“Did you let someone know?” I turn around to see Malfoy looking down at me. “Yes. I had just come back from there, but take this it is a two-way connection I have one and you now have one. If we need each other then we write here. It's safe for you and Ron and Harry have been breathing down my neck since last night.” He Looks Down at me and smiles. “Did they not like little Miss Golden Girl lying to them?”
“Not at all. They treated me like a damsel in distress. As if im not the brightest witch of our age.” I smile back at him. “That you are Granger.” I look past to see Harry and Ron walking in. “Meet me in the same spot as last night Granger.” I nodded my head as he walked away. Harry and Ron filling his place. I Hate lying to them but it is for the best. They can't know about this no matter the cost. “What did Malfoy want? Why were you talking to him.” Ron asked me with a hint of disgust in his voice which I almost did not pick up. “We were arguing. The usual when I see him. Do you want me to tell you all about how he called me a mudblood? Or are you done questioning me.”
“No need to be rude about it,” Ron said as he walked away from me and to his table. We work through potions at such a grueling rate it almost feels as if I am in a History of Magic class. I grab out the two-way notebook and write to Malfoy.
You never told me a time for tonight.
Finally, we are dismissed and I head to my next class when I check the notebook.
Looking forward to seeing me, Granger?
I walk into my next class and take my seat in the front DADA is going to suck with Snape as professor, and write back to Malfoy.
You wish. Just don't want to be late.
Snape goes on in the class and who would have guessed singled me out to take points away from Gryffindor. I did not doubt that he would do it. After all these years I had expected it, and sadly I have double Defense against the dark arts back to back. Knowing that he hates me for simply being Harry's friend or me being a Gryffindor. I will never know but that's fine with me. I go through the rest of the class without a hitch. Finally, it's lunch. I only realize how hungry I am now. I shouldn't have skipped breakfast but oh well I had to deliver that message so I did.
I sit down next to Harry, grab a plate of food, and start to eat. “Good, she’s eating maybe she will be less emotional to me, Godric knows how women get when they are emotional,” Ron said to Harry and then looked at me. Did he actually just say that? I feel eyes staring at the back of my head. I grab the pumpkin juice and splash it on him. “ I don't know why you are being such a dick to me but it stops now.” I walk out of the great hall without a care in the world. I expected Malfoy to say something like that to me not one of my best friends and yet the table is turned. I felt a hand grab my elbow and when I turned to see who it was. The same grey eyes that have been following me are now leading me up to the astronomy tower. We walk up the stairs in silence. He only spoke to me when we reached the top.
“What happened back there?” Draco spoke almost as if he was trying to calm me down. “He said it was good I was eating because I was emotional and Godric knows how women get when they are emotional.” I sit and lean my back against the cool brick wall. “Weaslebee said that to you? Are you joking?” I nod my head. And mutter the same spell I used last night to prevent Harry from seeing my location. “How is it that me, a marked death eater is being more of a gentleman than Weaslebee.”
“I don't want to go back to the common room and deal with the mess I just made. No doubt Harry will make Ron apologize, but if I see his face right now might actually punch him” I see Malfoy grimace at that. “You pack quite a punch. I would know.”
“Yeah, Sorry about that by the way.” I look over at him and smile. “Why did you want to see me tonight? Do you have more information?”
“No, I just wanted to do what we're doing right now.” He looks over at the railings watching the trees sway and the leaves fall. “ and what is it that we are doing?” He meets my eyes and for a few moments, I forget who im talking to. Fo in this moment I just see Draco Malfoy. Not the bully I grew up with, Not the death eater that could kill me. Just Draco Malfoy.
“We’re talking, and right now I think that is all I need. I can't talk to anyone from Slytherin since it is such a gift I have been chosen to do the task when they couldn't be more wrong.” He looks away from me and messes with his shirt sleeve. “Does it hurt?” I feel his breath catch next to me. It looks as if he is pondering his next words. “If you reject it, then yes. It burns like hell. The worst pain I think I have ever felt. Even worse than when I got the damn thing.” I did the dumbest thing I think I have ever done. I reached over and took his hand in mine. We sat there For the longest time. He didn't try moving his hand out of mine. “I know this sounds personal and if it's too personal then tell me no, But can I see it? I might have a salve that can help it not hurt so bad.” He finally looks at me. I can tell that he's nervous. “If I show you are you going to run off? Because if your answer is anything other than no. Then I can't do it.” I look at him and smile. I have never felt so unsure about something in my life. While I wouldn't run for the hills. Seeing it makes this real. “I won't run off now are you going to show me or what.” He looks down at our hands which are still linked with each other. “I need my hand back if you don't mind.” I let go of his and I'm just hoping that I don't have a blush on my face.
He unclasped a button on his shirt i can tell by even putting a small amount of pressure on it that it was painful. He lifts the sleeve up and there I see it. The skull with the snake coming out of it. Though it was very red and inflamed. I look through my bad and find the salve. “What are you looking for granger?” I hold up the small bottle and turn back to him “This. Now may I?” He hesitates for a moment before he says yes. I can tell it takes him a lot to be vulnerable like this. I move myself so im in front of him. I take his arm and set it down on my legs. I take a bit of the salve onto my fingers “This may hurt. So beforehand I’m sorry.” I Softly drag the salve along the mark I can tell he's fighting the urge to curse me so I hurry up my pace and finish. I put the salve back into my bag and turned back to him. “You will need this every day for a week so whenever you are free I can do it for you.” He nods his head and buttons his sleeve up, and then he does the unexpected. He takes my hand back into his. “We have classes to get to you know.” He lets out an audible groan. “Classes can wait. You have all year.” Now it was my turn to let out a groan. “What did you mean last night? When you said I wasn't the only one who smelled the enemy in the Amortentia?” He looked at me with a puzzled face. “The brightest witch of our age can't figure it out. Think about it for a second granger.” I think back to it to realize he was talking about himself. He smelled me. My face felt like it was going to catch fire. “ There you go. I knew you were a smart witch. Now tell me what did that beautiful brain think of.” My mouth feels dry. And there is a knot in my stomach.
“You. You were talking about yourself.” I felt nervous as I said those words. “That beautiful brain of yours is right. Now I need to attempt to work on my task be back here tonight at eight.” He stood up and left. I feel flustered as I make my way to my door. I need a cold shower.