You Found Me
A Harry Potter Tale
Summary: Hermione overhears part of a conversation that starts a revelation about a certain Slytherin. He's in love, but refuses to admit it because she might be in danger. Draco hears his friend trying to force him to open up to the one girl he can't, so he decides to exact some revenge with Hermione's help. OC. Pairings. AU.
Disclaimer: I am J.K. Rowling and I do own Harry Potter...and if you believe that, then I'm also having a love affair with Tom Felton and gave birth to Jensen Ackles' child. Hello, if I was J.K. then I wouldn't be on here.
Author's Note: OK. This is going to be a two or three part fiction. I'm not sure on that exactly, depends on how inspired I am. I've gone over this plot multiple times and changed it repeatedly. This is a new plot-line. There is an O.C. named Marianne Dantes (pronounced Don Tess). She isn't the main character, but she is a main character.
1. The Plot
"Everything I touch in this world turns to dust. Everything I love dies in my hands. Why would I want to tell her how much I care if all that will happen is watching her die? Why would I want to put myself through that? Why should she die because of me? I'm cursed, He cursed me, and I won't have her suffer for it."
"Don't you think its her decision?"
"You're still working under the assumption that she feels the same way, Dantes. She doesn't. She hates me and that is the way its going to remain. Don't tell her, don't tell anybody. If this is the only thing I can do right in this world, then so be it. She won't be my fault."
It had been a week since she overheard that conversation and she still couldn't get it out of her mind. She had never meant to over hear it, and she knew that it was meant to be a private conversation. Who had he been talking about? Why would it be his fault? Why would he presume to think anything would happen to the mysterious girl that held his heart? Before that discussion, she would have been the first person to assume that he didn't have a heart nor bore the abilities to have any sort of emotion towards another human being other than loathing.
Apparently the girl he has feelings for doesn't share them, although it seemed possible in Dantes' eyes. Unfortunately, one of the main things Hermione knew of Marianne Dantes was that the girl had a hard time believing the worst in people. Despite having the worst in this world done to her, Dantes saw the best in people. Hermione never assumed that it extended as far as Draco Malfoy, but it shouldn't have surprised her seeing as they had grown up together.
To think that Draco Malfoy was so in love with someone that he couldn't bear the thought of telling her because it would put her in harm's way had caused Hermione to re-evaluate everything that she knew of the blonde-haired Slytherin Prince. It spoke volumes of his character that she knew he had kept hidden. She was always the first one to say he wasn't completely evil, every time Harry or Ron accused him of being at the bottom of some insidious plot, but that didn't mean she believed him to be that good.
Analyzing, as she had done in the week that followed, had caused her to see every kind action he had done throughout their school days. She didn't like that she had misjudged him, based solely on his treatment of her and her friends. She prided herself on her ability to see people for what they truly were and he had been the one person she overlooked.
Her mind searched her memories of Draco Malfoy, finding things she hadn't even thought about at the time. In second year, he had been in the hospital wing when everyone had woken up from being Petrified. In third, he helped up a first year who had fallen into the disappearing step on the one of the staircases. In fourth year, he had given her a smile and a nod at the Yule Ball. In fifth, he had whispered something to Goyle about the 'weapon' which she had overheard and gotten the idea to lead Umbridge to Grawp. And last year he had been so distraught about the prospect of killing Dumbledore that he had even cried over it, then couldn't do it, sparing the professor's life and sought asylum from the Order.
She knew that he had gone with them on the raids over the summer and watched his mother and father get brutally murdered by Voldemort. She had seen the turmoil it put him through while they stayed at Grimauld Place together. He had kept to himself unless it was necessary to be around everyone and had endured all of Ronald's snide remarks with grace that only a true Aristocrat could have.
Hermione honestly didn't know why overhearing that small piece of information had caused her analysis, she had witnessed and experienced his changes first hand over the summer, yet thought nothing of them until now. He hadn't once called her 'mudblood' or 'bookworm' or any of the other nasty things that he had called her in the past since joining the Order. In fact, he barely took notice of her at all. Her or her friends and she was fairly certain that they all had been his favorite targets.
Now, she was worried for him. Her analysis drew up that he hadn't been the tyrant that they had all made him out to be, merely a victim of circumstance, and he needed a friend. But, it seemed, to her relief, that he had found confidence in Dantes.
Damn him! Damn Draco Malfoy! He had to occupy her mind and muddle her feelings toward him! Why couldn't she have overheard some conversation about him plotting against Harry or Ron? Why couldn't he just be the bastard she always thought him to be?!
She closed her book with a slam, she hadn't read it anyway, and looked around her. She had been sitting in the library, trying to go some place where no one would ask her what was wrong. But, instead of studying, she only thought back to Malfoy. It wasn't fair, but it was frustrating that she hadn't seen it sooner. Hadn't her father always told her that she was a soul reader? She had always been able to see past facades and see what was hidden beneath them! Always!
Thinking of her father, though, brought on a new wave of emotion. He had been gone for two years now, the cancer had taken him faster than anyone would assume. She missed him every day, but was grateful when her mother had met someone new. She hadn't expected it, when she had introduced them over Christmas last year, but wasn't angry about it either. In these times, love was a rare gift and after all, Remus Lupin was the kindest and best of men. Even her father would have approved the choice.
Just before she came to school this term, they had announced they're engagement. They planned to marry when the war was over and her mother returned from Australia. Remus and Hermione had convinced her it was safest to be as far away from the crossfire as possible. She had reluctantly agreed, barring that both of them were as safe as possible.
Hermione glanced at her watch and decided that she needed to head up to the dormitories. It was eleven o'clock and she shouldn't have to worry about her newly confusing dorm-mate being awake to great her with his irritating indifference. Ever since getting Head Girl, she had felt more like she had her own dorm versus sharing it with the Head Boy. His silence had carried over from the summer, though now she didn't blame him – he had had a lot on his mind apparently.
She walked up to the dormitory with her books in her hand. She hoped that she didn't run into anymore disturbing information tonight as she walked level by level to the sixth floor. "Granger!" Someone shouted behind her and she turned to see Dantes coming up the stairs. Her long copper hair flowed behind her gracefully, her crystal blue eyes were tired, and she was panting as if she had chased Hermione through half the castle. "I'm glad I caught you."
"What's the matter?" Hermione asked curiously, looking at the seventeen year old Ravenclaw with wide eyes.
"Has Draco talked to you at all lately?" She asked, her breathy voice worried.
Hermione shook her head. "He never speaks to me unless we're in a Head meeting. Why?"
Marianne looked away in frustration. "He hasn't talked to anyone in since last Monday. Even Blaise hasn't gotten anything out of him," her voice shook as she spoke. "Will you see if he'll talk to you? We've all been so worried about him."
"What's wrong with him?"
She shrugged. "He just hasn't been the same since last year. After everything that happened, I just don't know how to help him."
"What makes you think he'll talk to me over you? He hates me." Hermione said honestly.
Marianne's eyes were unreadable. "I don't think he does, Hermione. He's a hard person to get to know. Please, just try. If he doesn't open up to someone, I'm afraid he'll hurt himself."
"Do you really think that Malfoy would do something like that?"
"Not intentionally." She amended. "But sometimes its the last person you would expect it from."
"I don't know, Marianne."
"Please, Hermione. If its not you, then it will have to be Potter or someone." She stated. "I doubt Potter would be very sympathetic to him, though he should understand better than most."
"Because he lost his parents?"
"Yes," Marianne agreed. "The only people that can truly relate to Draco right now are Potter and myself. He won't let me help and Potter won't. Hermione, Draco has been strong all our lives. He's the strongest person I know and he was broken down so hard the last few years that I'm not sure that he'll be able to build himself up again. He needs help."
She was late. He was pacing the length of the common room, debating on whether or not he should go find her. On weeknights, she usually arrived back at the dormitories at eleven, eleven-thirty at the latest, and now it was nearly midnight. She was never late.
Different scenarios were playing out in his mind and it had him worried. He knew if nothing was wrong, then he would have to explain why he'd been looking for her, but if something was wrong, he would have to explain why he was saving her. Either way, he would need a proper explanation. She didn't even know that he sat up waiting for her every night to make sure she was safe, he was always sure to be in his room by the time she came in.
She hadn't been the same, the last few days, and it concerned him. She hadn't seemed the same after he came back last Monday from talking with Marianne. It was almost as if she had heard...but no, that was impossible. If she heard, then that would mean she would know, and she would have certainly confronted him about it by now. It isn't everyday that you find out that your childhood nemesis is in love with you and trying to keep you safe from the worst evil the world had ever known. He didn't want her to know. He didn't even want to know. And he didn't understand how in the hell Marianne knew.
Draco wasn't sure when exactly he first realized that he was in love with Hermione Granger. He did know that he felt a peculiar attachment to her the first time he saw her on the train before first year, when she was helping Longbottom looking for that damn toad. He knew he talked about her a lot over the summer and that's when his father forced the Malfoy 'guidelines' for him. Hermione Granger was a muggle-born, a Mudblood. She wasn't allowed to live, let alone be in the eye of a Pure Blood especially a Malfoy.
Second year he tried to separate himself from her as much as possible as to not anger Lucius. He started referring to her as a Mudblood, getting his friends to do so also (although Marianne and Blaise refused, neither of them cared about blood purity). It didn't help, no matter how big he talked about hating her and how he would relish the victory for Pure Bloods if Slytherin's beast killed her. It didn't stop him from spending all of his free time in the Hospital Wing with her while she was Petrified or from making sure that the Mandrake Potion worked.
He tried his best to come off as a nasty little shite for the last six years, but somehow, she seemed surprised every time he was cruel. When she slapped him in third year, he thought that he had finally gotten her away from him and his heart...then he saw her at the Yule Ball in fourth. On the arm of Viktor Krum, showing off her new smile that she had thanks to him, and looking like Aphrodite embodied. He could have killed Krum that night and he very nearly did. Especially when he kissed her, in the gardens, and Draco had seen.
In fifth, he knew he would have his work cut out for him with Umbridge teaching at school. His father insisted that he stayed on her good side, so he did whatever he could to do to become teacher's pet. When the Inquisitorial Squad was formed, he was the first to sign up. It satisfied his father, Umbridge, and it allowed him to protect Hermione from afar. He would give false leads as to where the insipid Dumbledore's Army were meeting, though he had been the one to suggest to Dobby that they meet in the Room of Requirement. Dobby had passed the information about the Room to Potter and then confirmed that they were meeting there to Draco. Dobby might have lost his loyalty to Lucius, but Draco had never done anything to harm him and even protected him as much as possible.
Last year had been the hardest. His task would endanger not only his life, but hers and her loved ones as well. In the end, he saw her face in his mind as he pointed his wand at Dumbledore and he couldn't do it. He begged for asylum. Snape had helped them, but he was forced to sever all ties with his family and take up residence at Grimauld Place. He was surrounded by her at every turn and all he could do was remain silent. He joined the Order the moment he could and began to help them with raids. It was the last raid to Malfoy Manor that he watched his father forced to kill his mother and then Wormtail, Wormtail of all people, kill his father.
Voldemort had thought of the least dignified way to kill his parents and leave them completely dishonored. It was then that he decided that she could never know. If she found out, He would kill her. He would make Draco watched as she suffered and was tortured, just for knowing his feelings. He didn't suffer from any delusions in his mind that she felt for him the way he did for her. No, he had been too convincing over the years for her to ever suspect. He preferred it that way. If it would spare her, he would never tell her.
Never.
A noise pricked his ears from outside of the portrait hole, two female voices outside the door. He leaned in and heard Marianne's voice, "He needs help."
"If he will let me, if he'll even speak to me...and these are very big ifs, Marianne," Hermione's voice this time, her tone sullen. "Then I'll do whatever I can. I honestly don't know what I can do for him that his best friends can't."
"He won't even look at us anymore, let alone tell us what's on his mind." Bollocks! He had just gotten through talking about his feelings on things about an hour ago with the noisy witch. "All I'm asking is for you to try. If it doesn't work, I'll try Potter or Thomas or someone."
He walked away from the door and went into his bedroom. That conniving, evil little wretch! Why in the hell did the Sorting Hat put her in Ravenclaw? That right there was a Slytherin move if he'd ever seen one! He hadn't spoken to them or looked at them? He sat with Blaise every day at meals and spent the majority of his time talking to her! He knew what this was about – she was trying to force him to tell Hermione the truth. She was trying to set it up so that Hermione got to know him better, under the guise of helping him through whatever neurosis she had concocted for him!
Well, two can play at that game, Dantes, he thought bitterly. If she was going to try to get him to open up to Hermione, then he was going to force her to speak to Potter! She had been harboring feelings for Scar-Head since the beginning of sixth year and refused to speak up about them. She kept saying that even if Potter was interested, he wouldn't be after he found out her situation in life. She said she had too much for even Harry Potter to handle. Well, if his beliefs about Hermione mattered so little to her, then he would show her just how little hers toward Potter mattered to him!
The only problem was how to get revenge on her? She clearly didn't have his current issues. Potter wasn't much of a brain and Marianne was the second witch in their year anyway, so he could ask Potter to tutor her. Marianne had quit Quidditch in fifth year, so no help there. Damn! Her excuses for him were so much more simple. Maybe Hermione could help? He could simply explain that Dantes had lied to her, but he wasn't going to let her get away with it...no, that wouldn't work. Hmm...how about giving Granger a toned down version of Marianne's love life and how he thinks that Potter would be an amazing match for her? That seemed the more likely option to work.
He heard the portrait close and he sighed. She was safe, back, and in one piece. He didn't have to go out to find her, and he didn't have to worry about one of His spies getting her – at least, not until tomorrow. But, for now, she was safe. He could breathe now.
A soft knock came to his door and he walked over to it. Gently, so he didn't alarm her, he opened the door and looked into her confused chocolate eyes. "Yes?" He asked quietly. It had been the first time he had spoken to her in quite sometime and he could tell that he even spoke at all shocked her.
"I was wondering if we could talk." She stated simply, her voice low and unsure.
"About anything in particular or just small talk?" He questioned, he was slightly amused. "Its rather late."
She nodded. "It is. I didn't mean now, of course. Later though. Would that be possible?"
"You never answered the question." He said, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.
She huffed in frustration. "Just anything. Anything that's been on your mind lately. Just talk, like civilized people. Like..."
"Friends?"
"Yes, like friends." She agreed, looking at him with pleading eyes, almost as if she expected the onslaught of insults at any moment. He really should give in to the eyes and slam the door in her face, but revenge on Marianne seemed too sweet a thought to ignore and he would definitely need Hermione's help in order to do it.
"Well, I suppose that would be fine." He decided. "Tomorrow though. After dinner, unless you plan to be out until nearly midnight again."
She shook her head with a glint of anger in her eyes. "No. And I hadn't planned on being out this late tonight. I was detained."
"Detained?" He asked, smirking at her.
"Yes, by one of your friends. Marianne Dantes."
He rolled his eyes. "Don't pretend you aren't friends with Marianne, Granger. Why else would you allow her to detain you?"
"Well, I suppose that you could call us friends, or at the very least acquaintances, but that is beyond the point. She wanted me to speak with you."
"I suspected as much." He looked at his watch and faked a yawn. "You can give me her story tomorrow, but for now, good-night." At this point, he should have definitely slammed the door, but instead he straightened his pose and moved out of the door frame.
"Good-night, Malfoy." She said, her eyes betraying her shock at his civility and he watched her walk away to her room across the common room from his. She gave him one last look, a simply bewildered look, before she shut the door.
Until tomorrow, Hermione.
Attention: The first chapter of my Draco/Hermione fic! I've been planning this thing forever and I finally think I have a plot down that I can work with! Now, to make sure that I don't get sidetracked or get writer's block or anything! PLEASE REVIEW! I hope you like it! And PLEASE check out my Twilight re-write, Blue Moon, it's my baby and I love it!
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