A/N: This just occurred to me in class. Just some scene between Draco and Hermione. This happened after the Sectumsempra chapter, when Hermione was trying to research about Horcruxes. This is just a one-shot story, but tell me what you think of it. If you deem this rather terrible, well, please tell me. If the characters are OOC, tell me too. I'll post the continuation soon. This will probably be only 1,000 words, not exceeding 2,000 . . . I guess. Please R&R!
A Speck of Light
"No, do not follow me here, Myrtle."
Draco was groping his way in the darkness, with the illumination from the Hand of Glory as his guidance. The silvery sheet of the ghost was following him, attracted to him like a moth to a flame.
"But oh, you're all right! I haven't seen you for ages!" She peered at him closely. "You're fine already! No more wounds! I didn't expect Harry to do that to you—oh, so remorseless!"
"Whatever."
Moaning Myrtle didn't seem to have heard him. "But—but you're going to visit me again, right? And when you need someone's shoulder to cry on . . . Oh, I'm here! I will always visit you in the washroom! I know you can do it—"
"Yeah, yeah!" blustered Draco, his patience waning. "I'm fine! And I'm busy, can't you see?"
Myrtle burst into sobs, and Draco had the impulse to use a silencing charm on her, but of course that wouldn't work.
"Oh, you—you seem changed! After that, you didn't visit me anymore!" And with that dramatic proclamation, the ghost vanished into thin air.
Hermione was starting to feel spark of apprehension. It wasn't like she hadn't gone to the library at evening before. But now that she was alone, she couldn't help feeling afraid. In the middle of the night, here she was, in the utter darkness. It wasn't as though she could ask for Ron or Harry to come with her . . . especially Harry. For him, the Half-Blood Prince was someone you ought to respect or something. But that wasn't the only thing that Hermione was going to look up; she would try to research something about the enigmatic Horcruxes too. There wasn't anything wrong in trying, was there?
Oh please, I hope that Madame Pince doesn't decide to come here all of a sudden, please, Hermione thought desperately. She tried to imagine it, and the blazing look on the librarian's face when she found a student in the restricted section of the library in the middle of the night was too mortifying to consider.
She opened the door to the library as silent as she could, her sweating hands almost missing the ice cold knob. She tried to grasp her way without the help of her wand for a few paces, but decided that it was too strenuous. It was worth the risk.
"Lumos!"
The moment she had uttered the spell, she heard a distinct cry some distance away. Hermione froze, waiting for a few grueling seconds.
"Merlin's beard! Who else is there?" a familiar voice yelled, and she heard the tinge of fear in it. "Imperio!"
There emerged a strange sensation inside her, one that she had only felt once, when the impostor Mad-Eye Moody did the Imperius curse upon them. Hermione tried very hard to resist the order, but it was very arduous—
"Hermione Jean Granger," she mumbled automatically.
"Petrificus Totalus!" the voice cried once more. There was a figure nearing her, a shadow coming out of the darkness. Soon enough Hermione was staring at Draco Malfoy, her insides boiling. He was holding a shriveled hand, and Hermione recognized it at once—the Hand of Glory.
"It's the mudblood! Goodness, Granger!"
Hermione remained immobile.
"Well, well, I wonder what the mudblood is doing here, in the middle of the night?" Draco sneered. He didn't seem to enjoy talking to a petrified person because he said, "Okay, I'm going to undo it—but don't you dare hex me . . ." He removed the charm, and once more Hermione could move freely.
"Malfoy! You stinking bit of wart!" Hermione shouted, advancing towards him.
"Hey—don't be so furious with me—"
"How could you do that? Performing an unforgivable curse! Petrifying me—"
Draco smirked. "Why, you couldn't do it yourself, could you? That just proves how pathetic mudblood magic is—"
"How can you call me that?"
"No one to rescue you now, eh? Where's wealthy Weasley and Pottie boy?"
"Don't you dare insult them!" Hermione burst out, raising her wand.
"Going to hex me, Granger? Like you can—"
There was the sound of creaking. The door had opened. They both froze.
So, how is it?