One of Them
"I don't want this."
His words rang in her ears and she couldn't help but stare at him as if to ask 'what are you talking about?' She was hoping to see a glimpse of regret on his face, but he just kept staring back at her with that same attitude of stoicism. With a million thoughts racing through her head and her words becoming stuck in her throat, she was helpless to react. With each passing second, her heart began to beat more quickly as a result of all the thoughts. She took a step back before meeting his eyes. He gave her a blank look as he continued to stare. He had his jaw tightened and his lips pressed into a hard line, and she had no idea what it even meant.
She wanted to scream at him for saying it like that! She never would have found herself in this predicament if it weren't for him. Yes, she knew she let her guard down and ended up catching feelings for him, but she had no intention of acting on them. Until today, at least. He initiated it all, and certainly, she deserved an explanation as to why he changed his mind so abruptly. "Why?"
"Why?" He repeated. "Do I really have to explain why?" He shook his head and looked away from her. "You already know the answer to that."
No, she didn't, in fact. She had two theories, though. The first was that he didn't like her as much as she believed he did, and the second was her blood status. She had a gut feeling—or at least she hoped—that it was the latter. However, she refused to let him know that he was the cause of her hurt feelings.
"Because I'm a mudblood?" She finally managed to spit out. Never before had she addressed herself as that in his presence, not like this.
Draco, on the other hand, made a conscious effort not to recoil at the use of the term because he knew the significance of it after witnessing the dark lord murder one of his own followers for conversing with one of them—the filthy ones, as he liked to refer to them. Even though Draco had heard rumours and tales about him in the past, having him in their manor showed him just how terrible, vicious, and merciless he could be. Nobody mattered to him but himself. Still, Draco was prepared to go to any lengths to redeem the family's honour after his father had brought such shame to the Malfoy name. The Malfoys used to be revered and feared throughout Europe. But now? Now, the family looked ridiculous ever since his father was prisoned in Azkaban.
"Yes, we shouldn't even be having this conversation."
It wasn't a lie. His concern was not with her house, but with her blood status. That was something he was unable to explain to his mother or him. A few months ago, Draco wouldn't have even entertained the idea of dating her. But now...now, things were different. He couldn't pinpoint exactly how it happened; the only thing that he knew was that somehow, she'd managed to worm herself into his heart. She suddenly became the only good thing in this damn school and he laughed at the irony numerous times. But, despite how strange and out of character the situation had become, he didn't quite regret the change, at least not until now. Because now it became all too real and he knew what was coming, especially for her. He knew what they would do to her.
"What about the kiss?" She asked. "Why did you kiss me?"
The kiss.
His body immediately reacted to her words, reenacting the feeling of her lips on his. His heart began to pound at the reminder and he took in a deep breath, hoping the coolness in his lungs would help gather himself. It failed, but then again, nothing could ever do.
They kissed.
It was brief but it was enough to set something ablaze within him that hadn't been sparked by anything in a long time. There was heat pooling in the pit of his stomach and spreading throughout his body, making his cheeks flush. He felt alive and free. It had been a while since he'd had this feeling. He couldn't deny how right everything felt when she kissed him like that. How right she made him feel. He could never forget the softness of her lips against his own anymore. He hadn't wanted that kiss to end and let this feeling fade away. But it did, of course, and he faced the reality once again.
He took another breath and scoffed. "I don't know, I got caught up in the moment," he replied with a shrug. The casual air around him betrayed his inner turmoil.
"We both have been drinking a lot, Granger. There was already enough adrenaline in our body from all the dancing, add the alcohol and the hormones to that and you get your answer."
"The hormones?" Her voice cracked and for some reason, the sound made his stomach flip over itself. He was getting more anxious than he liked to admit.
"Yes. We were too close to each other and when you're that close to someone, you kind of just... do things." He trailed off when he saw the hurt look in her eyes. He tried to feel her, but she wasn't there anymore. Their bond had been there longer than it was supposed to be and he felt relieved that it was gone. He sighed and continued.
"You kissed me, too! Why am I being interrogated here as if I did something that you didn't want? It could've happened with anyone—"
"Stop." She cut off whatever else he planned to say and held up a hand to silence him. When she spoke again, her tone was more controlled. "I've heard enough, you were right."
He blinked in confusion. "About...?"
"Nothing can happen between us. Not friendship or anything else."
Anything else? Was there even a possibility for anything other than friendship? It wasn't likely that she cared for him like that, because why would she? She couldn't possibly like someone who was constantly fighting with her; not only was he an asshole, but he was also incredibly immature and annoying. He knew himself well and it didn't bother him. He never even wanted to be friends with her, he didn't care if she hated him before. But things have changed, he realised, a lot had happened. And the slight crack of her voice was now enough to send shivers down his spine.
Hermione paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. "Let's stop practising for Snape's class, we don't need it anyway."
He didn't know why that sentence bothered him this much but it repeated itself in his head. He was already going to leave everything behind very soon and she was going to go back to hating him for good. That's how it was supposed to be. But when he brought her here today, he didn't expect to say goodbye to the Hermione he was getting familiar with. He would see her in the class of course, but the girl who would laugh around him was already gone. She would never even talk to him anymore let alone smile at him.
She didn't wait for him to say anything more and went to the corner to change her clothes. Draco sat at their table and poured himself a drink as he watched her leave. The blue dress was left folded on a chair.
He, too, changed his clothes, the alcohol had made him sluggish in his movements as he walked over to the table to grab his drink. His eyes caught a glimpse of the dress lying neatly on the chair and his hands tightened around his glass. How long had he stood staring at the dress, he didn't know. It stood there reminding him of the things he lost, things he could've had. Things that he was sure he was never going to seize the chance to have again.
There was a tugging sensation at his chest and before he could even register what was happening he heard the loud smashing voice of his glass. He looked at the pieces scattered across the floor and felt an overwhelming urge to run. Run far away from wherever this pain came from and never come back.
He stood frozen in place as the realization hit him with full force. It was gone. His teenage years, his youth. He was no longer a regular student. It was all gone. And he couldn't move. It would take some time before he could fully comprehend his situation.
He wanted her.
And his life, at least his old life where 'he' wasn't part of it. But he was in it, and Draco had no choice but to do as he said. Yes. He had to go through with the plan.
He needed to save the only thing he could... his family.
He pushed back the dishevelled hair that had fallen into his face and walked out of the room without sparing another glance at the shattered glass on the floor. No one would ever need to come to the room from the yule ball anyways.
—
The next day went uneventful as she ignored the thoughts of him and focused on studying instead. If she had allowed herself time to think about the reasons he had, she couldn't be able to stop her thoughts. It was easy for him to nestle in her complex mind, keeping her busy when she didn't want to and he didn't even have any idea.
After the lesson was finished, Ginny approached her. "Hey Hermione," she greeted cheerfully. The brunette glanced up, giving the girl a confused look. She was supposed to be in herbology class.
"Can we talk?" Ginny asked softly, eyes wavering between her and the class.
"Sure, but what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to catch you before your class was finished. Can we sit down somewhere?"
"Of course, lead the way." Hermione followed her friend out of the class and into the corridor. She took a seat on one of the benches. Ginny paused for a second and sat next to her with a thump.
"Okay, I'm not sure what is going on but... I think Harry's into me??" She embraced herself for Hermione's reaction.
Hermione chuckled, shaking her head at Ginny's bluntness. "You think? Ginny, you two are literally the worst at subtlety. Of course, he likes you! You can't tell me you didn't see the way he was looking at you and Dean. Especially when you came with puffy eyes. And also how excited he was when you would talk to him or smile at him. He's head over heels!"
Ginny thought for a while, this was all too much. "But that'd be so strange, I mean, I've always liked him, so why now? Why not before?"
"Honestly, I have no clue. You can never understand boys' feelings." This made her stomach drop remembering what happened last night. She really thought she could understand them by now, two of her best friends being boys, but she was wrong. She shut her eyes for a moment and brought her attention back to her friend. "Maybe, uh, you should talk to him. Only he can answer to that."
She thought for a second and her face dropped slightly. "I don't know if I can. I don't even know who's he coming with to Slughorn's party tonight. What if it's someone he... likes?" She chewed on her lips.
Hermione smiled fondly. "It'll be fine, Ginny. He's going with Luna, and I'm absolutely sure he doesn't like her like that. I already told you that he likes you, stop worrying."
She seemed relieved by her reasoning. "Thanks, Hermione."
A thought occurred to Hermione. "And Dean?"
Ginny's lips curled and she shook her head. "We broke up a while ago."
"What??" It wasn't something she was expecting her to be smiling about.
"Yeah, you seemed... busy, so, I didn't want to bore you with all the details. It wasn't that big of a deal anyways," she said as casually as possible.
"I—I'm sorry... I know I've been a bit distracted lately, but I'm always here to listen." She didn't know if this would make up for all the time she missed with her, but she hoped it could.
"I know," Ginny gave her a grateful look. They both stayed quiet for a while, enjoying the peaceful silence. "So, did you figure out who are you taking to dinner then?"
Hermione sheepishly looked into her eyes and replied. "McLaggen."
Ginny's face was worth taking picture of, her eyes wide and mouth agape. "Yeah." Hermione simply nodded.
"Are you trying to make someone jealous?" She sounded a bit more excited than she intended.
"What— jealous? Why would I even do that, there's no one to make jealous." She shrugged nonchalantly. McLaggen was the perfect guy to make someone jealous only because of his good looks, although she wasn't interested, she could appreciate the fact. And his quidditch skills made him super admirable among the guys, but... she didn't like him one bit. He was way too annoying for her taste.
"Ah..." she murmured, disappointed. "I thought you and Malfoy had a bit of a thing for each other."
Blood rushed to Hermione's cheeks, her heart thudding wildly in her chest. All her efforts of trying not to think about him or even his name went out the window in seconds. The feelings she was suppressing all day started to surface and she wasn't ready to face that rejection once again.
"What?! Do you hear yourself? Can you imagine something like that happening for a second? I can't even stand seeing his face," she scoffed loudly. "We barely tolerate each other, I can't wait for our partnership to end."
"Alright, calm down!" Ginny looked at Hermione, who was almost out of breath now and sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I was just joking, it was a misunderstanding."
Hermione looked at her friend and realised that her reaction was a bit too much. "No, Ginny, it's just... I'm not sure if I can even be around him anymore."
”He's that bad? I can always jinx his food you know, or just hex him. Tell me what to do."
She knew her friend could always take care of things and she was grateful for her enthusiasm and support but, they were not on the same page at the moment. Although she knew it was best not to say anything about Draco to anyone, she couldn't help herself from seeking her friend's support.
"No, Ginny, you don't need to do anything. I'm grateful but, it's not something like that. He, uhm... we-"
"Did he hurt you during practice?" Her eyes quickly inspected Hermione's body.
"No, it's not that, nothing like that. It's just..."
Ginny waited for her answer, but Hermione's gaze suddenly shifted down and her cheeks reddened. 'It's just' her mind echoed. Ginny frowned slightly. Could she do this?
"Stop worrying me and tell me what's wrong!"
"We, uh..." she stuttered, her voice soft.
"You what?!" Ginny snapped.
"We kissed."
Hermione shut her eyes the moment those words left her mouth and when she slowly opened them to see her reaction, she was met with an emotionless face. That only lasted a second though.
Ginny's face was somehow the combination of both shock and anger and Hermione swallowed. "Is this a joke?" Hermione shook her head. "When did this happen? And how?? I thought you—"
"Last night," Hermione replied and didn't say anything more while she waited for her to finish scolding.
"What?? What happened to barely tolerating each other?"
Her eyebrows furrowed and confusion was clearly visible on her face. Hermione took a deep breath and told her everything that she had been bottling up inside. Starting from the yule ball to last night. The more she talked, words came out of her mouth easier than before. Although Ginny was surprised, she listened to her all the way through without interrupting her. And Hermione was glad about that. She wanted to get all of that out of her system immediately. When she finished telling her the story, feeling noticeably lighter after doing it, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Wow..." was all she managed to say after a long, tense silence. "That's a lot..."
"Yeah," Hermione agreed nervously.
"But not unexpected though," Ginny shrugged. Hermione stared at her in utter shock and confusion. "There was just too much tension between you two, it had to happen at some point... especially after the Yule Ball, which was a shock to the whole school by the way and it still is to me even though I know more about what happened… I don't think anyone can forget you two dancing," she enjoyed remembering the night. "But I must say, I definitely didn't expect him to be..." she searched for the right word. "Thoughtful? The Draco Malfoy that I know and the one you just told me about are not the same people."
"Thoughtful? Seriously Ginny?" Maybe she too could've thought the same if the night hadn't ended on a bad note. But he was definitely not thoughtful.
"Just forget about what he said last night for a second and focus on what he did, Hermione. It pains me to say this but, it seems like Malfoy really likes the time he spends with you. Yes, what he said after you basically confessed to him was rude but isn't this how he is? Insulting people and lying are what he knows best, but he also asked for your forgiveness and fucking hell, he recreated the Yule Ball, and for what?"
Hermione scoffed bitterly. "Does it matter? He's still the same, selfish person. He said and did all that to make me forgive him so he wouldn't feel any kind of guilt."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "And you were calling me blind..." she took a breath. "Hermione, I'm going to say this once, okay? First of all, I definitely don't think he deserves to be your boyfriend or whatever this tangled situation is, but I do think there is something different about him and pretty much everyone can see that. And second of all, you know he's lying. Do you even know how many times I caught him staring at you during meals?" Hermione didn't respond. Staring wasn't a new occurrence between them, but she knew exactly what Ginny meant by that, and she didn't want to ask any further even though she was eager to learn more.
"Okay, just tell me one thing..."
Hermione looked at her, trying hard not to look too curious. "Hm?"
"Did you... " she started, "enjoy kissing him?"
Hermione froze instantly and Ginny noticed the change of expressions on her face. "Oh my god, have you?" Her eyes lit up with hope as soon as the words left her lips.
"I...uh... I don't know," she mumbled and closed her eyes briefly.
"I do," Ginny said and Hermione looked up. "You would push him away if you didn't enjoy it or said no immediately, but you're unsure because it's him. If it was anyone else, I don't think it would be this hard."
"Of course because it's him, Ginny." Hermione sighed.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
Hermione had been wondering the same thing ever since last night. "I don't know, I felt too embarrassed. He said he didn't want this, I mean, what can I even do?"
"Maybe make him jealous at the party?" Ginny smiled wickedly.
Hermione shook her head. "Not happening." She paused for a moment. "I don't even know if he'll be there, I doubt he knows about it. I don't want to see him anyways."
Not long have passed after their conversation when she went to the Slughorn's party. She had worn a pink elegant dress for the evening. It was showing a bit of cleavage, but nothing that would attract too much attention. The room was filled with people she hadn't even seen before, some colleagues of the professor and his old students as well. There were students talking, some were hiding in a corner and the others were dancing or doing shots. McLaggen was already there, talking to his friends while waiting for her. His eyes lit up when he saw her, and she knew she wouldn't be able to escape from him easily.
He approached her and grinned broadly. He grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles. "You look beautiful as always, Hermione."
Hermione gave him a quick smile and muttered a small thanks.
"Do you want a drink?" He asked.
She nodded, alcohol could help ease her nerves right now. "That sounds great."
McLaggen turned around and called someone over and ordered something for the two of them. When the bartender came, he got two glasses and handed one to Hermione. She took a sip from the dark drink and grimaced slightly. "Let's go sit somewhere," he said and held her hand, leading her to a table at the back of the crowd.
She could still see the room easily, but not many people were sitting there. She was aware this was intentional because there were many other tables available, but she decided not to dwell on it for now.
He sat right next to her, placing his hand on her back, causing her to shiver slightly from the contact. He looked directly into her chocolate brown eyes. "Is everything okay?"
It startled Hermione, but she managed a small nod before looking away. "Yes, I want to watch the dance," she said and turned towards the crowd, not forgetting to put a considerable amount of distance between herself and him.
The music started playing and everyone started moving to the rhythm. A few couples were slowly making their way to the dance floor. She scanned the room to see Harry or Ginny. Any one of her friends.
"Aren't the decorations look so cool and romantic?" He asked out of the blue.
"I'm sorry?"
"The Christmas decorations," he looked around and faced her. "Aren't they romantic?"
"I wouldn't say romantic but they look nice," she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"So you're not into festivities, huh?" He really wasn't good at small talk. She decided to change the topic.
"How's quidditch?"
That wasn't anywhere near better, but she knew he liked quidditch, so yeah.
"I didn't know you liked quidditch!" he beamed.
"Almost all my close friends are in the team, not even mentioning the captain, of course," she replied. He had to be blind not to see her cheer for the team. Or maybe he was just too oblivious. Because Hermione would always scream her lungs out for Gryffindor. She didn't have to play it to like the sport.
"Ah, yeah, that's right," he nodded. "I still don't know how Weasley beat me at the tryouts though. I was, and still is for your information, remarkably better than him.“
Hermione squinted her eyes. "You're not insinuating that Harry chose him because he is a friend, right? "
McLaggen laughed. "Oh goodness, no," he waved his hand. "He was lucky, that's all. But I must say he was much better at the game, though, maybe that's why Harry thought he would be a better fit."
Just as she was about to respond he continued. "Maybe I just don't like Weasley because he didn't introduce you to me when I first asked him."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You asked him to introduce me to you?"
"Yeah," he shook his head. "He never did."
Hermione wanted to go to the dorm and thank Ron for that, it would even make things better between them ever since the day she sent those birds at him. She nodded at him and looked around the room, hoping to see one of her friends, but locked eyes with Blaise Zabini instead. He was nothing but a gentleman towards her whenever she spoke to him and he was good with Harry, too. She sent him a faint smile and he returned the gesture with a nod of his head. When he immediately shifted his gaze elsewhere, she instinctively followed and found Draco sitting on a table, staring at them. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. He slowly raised his glass at her but she turned her back to him, looking at her date. He seemed to be aware of the situation.
"Do you know Zabini?"
"Zabini? Ah, yeah..." her eyes searched for him for a moment, but couldn't see him. Draco was still standing at the same spot though. "I spoke to him a few times, why do you ask?"
"Just curious."McLaggen shrugged. "Come on, let's dance." He said and pulled her by her arm.
She couldn't imagine a worse dance than this, they were off-beat and were doing different things. She couldn't help but remember her dance last night with Draco. She had thought it came easy to her, but it wasn't about her skills. She was good with Draco.
Speaking of him, he was nearly glaring at them when McLaggen wrapped his hands around her and held her tighter. She remembered what Ginny said and decided to try it out by putting both of her hands on his shoulders. McLaggen looked at her once again and told how beautiful she looked before glancing up above. When she noticed he was leaning in for a possible kiss, she immediately pulled away. "I need to use the restroom," she said and walked away, leaving him confused.
When she looked back at him, she realised they were standing under a mistletoe back there. She dived into the crowd and finally found Harry and Luna. "Harry!"
"Hermione? What happened?"
"Cormac," she answered. "He tried to kiss me just now and I can't do that. If he comes asking about me, tell him that you didn't see me. You too, Luna, okay?"
They both nodded simultaneously and Hermione once again tried to find her way to the exit, this time not paying attention to where she was going and bumped straight into someone.
"Pardon me," she quickly apologized and stepped away from the person.
It was Malfoy.
"Hey, Granger." He greeted her casually.
"What are you—" Her wrist got gripped by him.
"He's coming here, follow me," he said and dragged her along with him.
She stumbled a little and looked back only to catch sight of Cormac looking around for her in the crowd. Lowering her head seemed like the best thing to do at the moment to hide from him and it seemed to have worked.
Malfoy pulled her along behind a big curtain and let her hand go. She stopped for a second to get her breath back. "What do you think you're doing?"
She was mad.
He shrugged, not saying anything at first. "You looked like you needed to get out.“
"That's none of your business, Malfoy!" She snapped. " I don't need you to help me."
"Were you having fun back there?"
"Yes, I was."
He chuckled humourlessly. "Really? Is that why you ran away from your date when he tried to kiss you?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Isn't that what was happening?" He asked. His eyes pierced through hers, daring her to lie.
Hermione stared at him for a while, completely dumbfounded. She was silent for several seconds while he waited patiently. Finally, she spoke:
"I didn't want to kiss him because I thought it was too soon."
Malfoy snorted sarcastically and rolled his eyes. "Oh, my bad. I thought you only needed to have chemistry to kiss a guy,"
"What?!" An ice-cold rage shot through her veins.
"That's what happened with Krum, too, right? You can hardly say you knew him enough."
What was his problem? Was he trying to hurt her on purpose? Didn't he tell her that he didn't want this yesterday? How dare he asked her these questions? He didn't get to do that.
"Why? Are you jealous now?"
She asked, her lips curling slightly when she noticed she hit a nerve. "I, in fact, did get to know Viktor and he isn't the kind to kiss a girl because he's drunk or he's close to her. That's what you said would happen, right? Well, it didn't!"
Her words had the power to make his skin crawl, he didn't realise how much it had affected him until he heard her say Krum wasn't the kind of guy to kiss a girl because he was drunk. He clenched his jaw with annoyance and took a deep breath to calm himself down, but it wouldn't work, how would it work when she was defending him? The images of Krum and even McLaggen kissing her flashed in his mind and he couldn't do it anymore. He could make an effort to filter his annoyance or anger at her, but it just seemed impossible at the moment.
"First, fuck off. Don't act like I forced myself on you, Granger, you were pretty much participating yourself if the way your mouth moved against mine was any indication."
She was lightheaded, and her lower lip trembled momentarily. He was not wrong, but the way he spoke about it made her feel embarrassed nonetheless. She never thought they would bring this up again, but he was talking about it so casually like it didn't even matter to him. Was he kissing girls like this all the time? Maybe he was right, maybe these things do happen when two people get close enough and can kiss each other without any feelings.
"And second, I was trying to be kind for once. I saw you practically running away from the guy and thought you might need help. I was wrong, again, because you obviously like it more when we argue, don't you?"
She froze and clenched her fists tightly. "Fuck you."
His pupils widened under her gaze, glueing him to the spot. His mockery demeanour of earlier was gone as if she had taken some of it from him. "Do you see what you just did now? You messed it up. Each time you were kind to me, each time you were a bit different than usual, you somehow managed to ruin it all and I'm tired of it!" She walked out of the curtain and looked for the exit. She heard a faint 'Granger' being uttered behind her but she ignored it. She wasn't ready. She wasn't even sure if she wanted him to be nice to her anymore. She didn't even bother turning to look at him, afraid that she'd burst into tears in front of everyone in the crowded room.
After walking around for a while, she sat on a large windowsill. She could hear the music playing and the sound of dancing feet behind her. It was quiet outside and her surroundings were calming, making her forget her anger a little. She felt her heart beating faster as well as her cheeks growing warmer. She wrapped her arms around her legs and looked out the window.
It hadn't been a few minutes when she heard voices passing by her and she sat still not to make a sound. A minute later she quietly slid down the windowsill and walked towards the voices. When she turned to the corner she saw Harry eavesdropping on who turned out to be Malfoy and Snape.
"What was that back there? Stop being so sloppy and focus on the task ahead!" Snape barked.
She tapped on Harry's shoulder and he whipped his head around, covering her mouth with his one hand and raising a finger to his lips, signalling her to be quiet. She nodded and he removed his hand and they continued to listen in together.
"I know what I'm doing," Draco spoke.
"Do it better next time and stop involving other students, especially Potter and his friends," Harry and Hermione looked at each other, and she knew they were both thinking the same thing: Why them?
"Granger told me she no longer wanted to practice with you today... did you say something to her? What did you do?"
Hermione swallowed in anticipation as Harry's eyes met hers. She could read the confusion on his face. Had Malfoy really done something to her?
She shook her head reassuringly at him. Harry didn't seem convinced but decided to stay quiet. "Why would I say something to her? I'm not crazy."
"You are crazy if you think you can fool him—"
"What's it to you?!" Draco spat.
Snape pushed him to the wall and grabbed onto his collar. "I swore to protect you! The Unbreakable Vow!"
Hermione froze. The Unbreakable Vow? Why would Snape risk his life to protect Draco? There wasn't that great of a danger. Yes, Voldemort was alive and out there, but he couldn't harm them when they were in Hogwarts. This was one of the most secure places in the wizarding world, they didn't need to protect themselves from Voldemort.
What he said next answered all of her questions, even the ones she was avoiding all year. "He chose me! Not you, not anyone else, but me! And I won't fail him." His voice was strained, as if he didn't believe it himself, but was desperate to.
"You're afraid, Draco. Conceal it all you want, but it's obvious. If you were to fail, I will take your place and finish what you started."
"No! This is my moment, you can't take that away from me! Do you hear me? I will do it!"
"Then hurry up and fix that damn thing!" Snape let go of him and she heard the clicks of their shoes fading away before she could make out their conversation. She slowly turned around, still holding a shocked expression on her face, and looked for Harry, but he was already on his way to the Gryffindor common room. She ran after him and found him sitting by the fireplace. It was already late at night and only two other people were in there. She sat next to him and whispered, "Harry?"
He seemed lost in his thoughts, staring at nothing. He had his brow furrowed, looking thoughtful and troubled.
"Did he hurt you?" He asked eventually, still not looking in her direction, and Hermione was startled by that sudden question.
"Me?"
"Yes. Did he hurt you?" He repeated. "When you were behind the curtains?"
"N...no," she replied softly, looking away for a moment before focusing on him again. "How did you know..."
"I saw you storm out and then he came out behind you. I guessed something wasn't right, what did he do?"
"He didn't do anything."
"Don't lie to me." Harry would get mad at times, but she didn’t see him get mad at her like this before.
She hesitated for a while before saying, "I was avoiding Cormac and he said he saw me and wanted to help. I got mad, we argued and I left," she explained.
Harry nodded. "I don't have doubts anymore, Hermione," he stared at the window, or the wall, she wasn't sure. He looked like he was seeing something that wasn't there. "He's one of them... a Death Eater."
They both went silent after Harry said those words. They sat in the Gryffindor common room for what felt like an eternity. Hermione wasn't quite sure how long had passed, but the other students weren't sitting there anymore. She tried to hold onto her hope that Draco was innocent of all these crimes they thought he committed, but it was getting harder as the truth became clearer.
He was the enemy.
His words to Snape echoed in her mind again and again. A small part of her always hoped that he was being forced if he was one of them, but now the truth was out, and there was no point in wishing that was true. He wanted to do this, he wanted to make Voldemort proud. She closed her eyes, feeling dizzy as if she needed some air.
"What is the Unbreakable Vow?" Harry asked suddenly, almost out of nowhere. He looked taken aback by her saddened expression, but he continued regardless. "What happens if you do break it?"
"You can't break an Unbreakable Vow, Harry." Hermione sighed. "Because if you do, you die."
His eyes widened as he thought it through. "That means Snape will die if he won't protect Draco? Why would he do such a thing? I thought he was smart."
"He is."
Harry remained silent after that. If she was right and Snape didn't go mad, he must've had some sort of ulterior motive to make an Unbreakable Vow, because there was definitely no way he would willingly risk his life like that. Whatever his motives were, both of them showed their true colours tonight and he needed to keep a close eye on Malfoy; especially since he now knew that he had a task he had to complete.
"I'll be watching Malfoy from now on..." Hermione finally looked at him, a line appearing between her eyebrows. "I know he will act soon, we should be prepared... it's good that you stopped seeing him, Hermione."
"I will still see him this week... we'll be patrolling."
"Okay..." he said and they fell silent again. After a minute, Harry stood up from the couch and extended his arm to help Hermione off of it too. She took it and got up from her seat, following him along. They silently made their way back to their dorms, the silence becoming unbearable every second. Once they were in front of her dormitory, he cleared his throat to get her attention.
"I'll tell Ron if he's awake, but if not, he'll learn tomorrow morning."
She nodded. He needed to know, too.
"We will figure it out together."
Hermione had the most restless sleep she'd ever had in her life. Every time she would close her eyes, she would see Draco's face, and if she didn't see his face, his voice would run in her ears: He chose me! I won't fail him!
He was chosen for something and her mind wouldn't stop questioning everything. If he had a task at hand this whole year, did it also mean that his attitude towards her was also a part of his plan? Was he trying to get close to her, was that his mission? It would make sense, she was one of Harry's best friends and she could be considered a great asset with her knowledge and skills. If Voldemort used legilimency on her and used her for her intelligence, they could do great damage to the Order. She knew where the Order was hiding, plus he could imperio her in the future as well. But why would he choose her? Was it because she was the only girl in the trio and they thought it would be easier if she just fell for Draco??
The thought made her heart jump in her chest, even if that were the case, he wasn't completely unsuccessful. Her body had reacted to his nearness, and so did her brain, making her feel warm inside. Her cheeks flushed red at the thought. No matter how much her rational side tried, this was far beyond friendship. Even more than she had expected. She had spent so long denying the possibility of falling in love and yet here she was having these feelings in a very real situation. It wasn't a dream come true, but a nightmare nonetheless, and she couldn't escape the reality of him lying. Her heart broke more now that she acknowledged her feelings for him, and she was angry at herself even more, because she still remembered his smile, or his smirk rather, which she had become so fond of whenever he teased her. That smirk was a mask, and maybe if she hadn't seen it for what it really was, she would have gotten over it quicker and maybe wouldn't have had those weird feelings towards him. The feeling of yearning had never faded, but now that it was impossible, she felt it even more. She wanted him to kiss her, she wanted him to hug her, she wanted to pull him into a deep passionate kiss and to taste him against her lips. She wanted him to ask her things, and worry about her just as she was worried about him.
It doesn't work that way. It never has and never will. You can't fall for someone who wants to kill you, she reminded herself. It doesn't matter if he actually cared about you or not. What matters is he's a Death Eater. He's the enemy. Nothing more.
She told herself repeatedly until she finally fell asleep, but her dreams were filled with nightmares, and images of her dead friends and family. She was helpless, she wanted to fight back but something was holding her in place, forcing her to watch everything. She couldn't move. She was crying, begging them to let her go, let her friends live. She couldn't escape, she couldn't run away, but they ignored her cries as if she wasn't there. Voldemort waved his wand once again and she saw Ginny drop dead to the floor and she screamed in despair. Voldemort laughed before pulling out his wand again and casting another spell that made her scream louder than the others; it was her parents.
When she finally caught his attention, Voldemort thought for a second and whispered to Draco to finish her off. He walked over to her and leaned on her level. Her heart started beating faster than ever. For a second, she thought he was on her side, for his face was soft and he smiled at her gently. His bloodstained face contradicted his kind eyes, but it soon changed and a wicked smile appeared. His hand went to his jacket and pulled his wand out. She watched him with her wide eyes, frozen to her spot. She wanted to scream again, she wanted to cry, she wanted to do anything but look at him. Suddenly, a dark green light erupted from it and surrounded her entire vision. Then she woke up panting and crying. Everything was a mess and it was too much, but there was one thing she was sure of.
Harry was right.
Draco was a Death Eater and they needed to keep a close eye on him as the only people aware of his identity. For the sake of the whole school.