Author notes : Hello to you all. Please Give me feedback !
Some informations about me first : I'm French, so english isn't my mother tongue. Therefore, forgive me for any mispelling or errors in the story, and feel free to correct me, this will be much apreciated. Also, this is my first time posting a fanfiction.
Some indications about the story : I will try to post once a week as much as possible. The chapters will rotate between Draco's and Hermione's viewpoint. The lenght of each chapter will be between 500 and 1000 words.
I will only put the Disclaimer once, here, for the entirety of the story : I do not own Harry Potter, its universe or its characters in any way, all of it is J.K. Rowling's property.
Chapter 1 : Gotta find a way
On a far corner of the library, protected from prying eyes by the absence of other tables around and bookshelves hiding from view, was Draco Malfoy, seated alone with piles of books surrounding him from all sides. He was almost finished with the book opened in front of him when a student tentatively walked toward him and stopped a few steps away. Feeling his concentration wavering as he was being watched, Draco peeled his eyes off the letters and looked at the one that had bothered him in his lectures.
A boy, seemingly a 4th year from Ravenclaw, seemed hesitant to start talking to him. He was sending discretely looks behind his shoulders, in direction of two others of his house placed near a bookshelf that were making encouraging gestures in his way. Fed up by the show, and starting to feel quite irritated, Draco caught the eyes of the bravest one -even if he was more likely the one who had been chosen as sacrifice, before talking :
"What do you want ?" He asked rather harshly.
"We-well, we have this essay to write and we were wondering if we could seat there to do it."
To his defence, the boy didn't lower his eyes and answered Draco rather confidently, apart from the stutter at the beginning of his sentence. But this fact did nothing for his cause, and Draco's slightly impressed state only transpired by a raised eyebrow.
"The table is already taken. By me."
"Yeah but..." the Ravenclaw tried.
"No, I am busy. Now get lost." He tersely hissed and narrowed his eyes threateningly.
The look he sent in the Ravenclaws way had been scaring enough for them to retreat and leave the Slytherin alone. On his own again, he wondered briefly where those guys had found the stupid idea of sharing a table with Draco Malfoy.
Chasing those useless thoughts, he tried to go back to the book he was reading. And quickly closed it in a huff. Who was he kidding ? There would be nothing to help him in it, like in the first parts of it, and like in the book before, and all the books spread out around him. He leaned back against his chair and let his eyes fly over the proof of his unsuccessful attempts. Reaching for his wand into his robes, he waved it in their direction and tossed a "Depulso" spell allowing the books to fly off the table and find back their own place on the shelves.
Once the table was book-free, he slumped down on it, head tucked in his right arm, the left outstretched along the surface. He closed his eyes and stilled in that pose. A long and stressed sight escaped his lips. It sounded kind of defeated in his own ears. He had passed an awfully long part of his time doing researches lately, and had not found a clue on what could possibly allow him to get ride of his problem. Not that he had hoped he would find the solution written black on white on sheets of paper, this issue was for all he knew unheard of. Yet he had expected that looking on specific topics related to it, he would at least find something, anything.
He had passed days, weeks, that even turned into month now, doing researches on researches. He had covered all the books written on dark spells allowed to be seen, and even a few from the restricted area. As he found nothing, he had inquired on large subjects which had the tiniest link such as mental control, vital transfer, spiritual ties and studied the Protean Charm as much as wizardly possible. He even found some muggles books from "doctors in psychology" that he forced down his throat. To no avail.
While ruminating his dark thoughts, leading him to even darker places, he didn't feel himself falling asleep. But his last coherent thoughts, that he mumbled to himself, sounded quite comforting :
"Can't give up... gonna fight this.. fight this and find a way..."
