Alternate History which disregards HBP, perhaps. Good ol' Dumbledore isn't dead, but Malfoy does receive his mark. Written for the prompt in which Draco teaches Hermione Occlumency. I didn't exactly plan on entering the contest; I just wanted to write something light. I need criticism, and to get that, of course I need to write. How does one improve without either? But in any case, this is my "entry" or whatever you may call it. Enjoy!
Draco sighed for the nth time that afternoon, breaking the connection between him and Hermione. "This isn't working at all-and it's not because I'm a lousy teacher, mind you, Granger."
Hermione sighed, too. "It's not because of you, Malfoy. I'm sorry I can't control my emotions, my thoughts-I don't know why it's-"
"Granger," he hissed, her name coming out like poison through his teeth. She gave him a pointed look; he grimaced and started saccharinely, "You are a bloody Gryffindor. You can't control your emotions; you're supposed to wear your heart on your sleeve just because you're too self-righteous for anything else. Why would you want to suppress what you feel, huh? You stand for everything you bloody believe in!"
She let out a huff from her disbelief at his words. "I'm sorry if I happen to be inherently good, Malfoy," she cried. "I'm sorry if, unlike you, I'm not capable of just simply compartmentalizing all my emotions and thoughts! Really, look at you-you're a bloody Death Eater! You're probably just like your father-"
His right arm shot up from his side, pointing his wand at her throat. "Don't speak of things you don't know of, Granger. It saves your pretty little bushy head from the fact that you sound ridiculous and stupid-like Weasley-"
She continued to look up at him defiantly and then cut him off, "And I suggest you not to be a hypocrite, too, Malfoy." With that said, she pushed his arm down and glared intensely at him. "It saves your pretty face from being hexed."
Despite the hopelessness of their situation, they found themselves smiling.
Catching himself immediately, Draco coughed and stepped back, mumbling something incomprehensive and inaudible to Hermione-well, not completely.
"What was that, Malfoy?"
"I was asking the gods why in bloody hell was I paired up with you," he replied casually.
"What's so bad about it?" she asked.
"Well, for starters, you're a horrible student. I don't think you're even trying to resist me! I mean, I am irresistible, but-come on! You don't do as I say and we don't progress because of that! You're supposedly the brightest witch of our age, aren't you? Look where we bloody are, Granger! I'm stuck here repeatedly doing Legilimency on you because you can't cast me out of your mind!" Draco was blabbering-Malfoys didn't blabber, but he was completely exasperated with her. "All I ever see in your head are books and lessons and Potty-head and Weasel! I-"
And so he continued to rant about how useless this ingredient used in the Potions assignment was, how Romeo and Juliet were bloody idiots, how Lavender and Parvati stalked him the other week, how Divination class was irritating him, too. All because those were the subjects he got from using Legilimency on her.
Hermione was silently counting the minutes that passed by. It was very amusing to see Draco Malfoy in this state-almost as funny as watching him being transfigured into a ferret. She was chuckling, but Malfoy wasn't paying any heed to her at all. He just went on and on and on about how his hair was beautiful or something like that. A good nineteen minutes later, and he was panting.
She smiled at him. "Are you done now, Malfoy?"
He nodded, sliding down against the cold wall of the Potions room. "You're infuriating," he told her. "And you're a bitch."
She slid down beside him and nodded along. "Trust me, I think the same of you."
He turned to face her, locking his steel-gray eyes with her warm chocolate ones. "Do you want to try it one last time before we both resign?"
She nodded, not diverting her eyes anywhere else. "Just don't…"
"Legilimens."
Hermione had found him on top of the Astronomy Tower one night, shivering and muttering things about Death Eaters and their stupid bigotry. She was greatly confused to why he was saying all those things when he himself was prejudiced against all those who weren't pure-blood or something.
She was biting her lip. She desperately wanted to chastise him because he wasn't supposed to be up there-but neither was she, so she couldn't really. Plus, he didn't know she was there, and she was afraid that if he did, something might happen to her.
Under Harry's invisibility cloak, she got the Astronomy notes she left there and slowly walked back down. She took one more look at him, and then took a misstep-which led her to stumble to her side and falling down on a step.
Draco snapped his head up and quickly turned around. Weird how nobody was there yet he could feel a presence lurking and could hear a light whimpering. It couldn't possibly be a ghost, could it? Draco, admittedly, was a coward-but he had no expectations of being otherwise, so it didn't matter much to him. He wasn't a bloody Gryffindor, after all. "Who's there?"
Hermione considered all her options-in the end, she decided not to send a Full Body-Bind Curse and then Obliviate him. Her left arm was stuck in the space between two steps and she was sure that she broke her right wrist. With a sigh, she called out for him.
"Granger, is that you?"
"No, it's bloody Lavender Brown stalking you again. Yes, it's me, Malfoy!"
Though she couldn't see him (and he couldn't see her), she was certain that he was smirking when he said, "I didn't know that you had it in you to stalk me, Granger. I'm touched, really. Pansy finally got you to join my fans club, has she?"
"Sod off, Malfoy," she grunted back-and then realized that if he did, she'd be stuck like this until the next class comes in or until Filch finds her-both of which should probably be tomorrow. "I mean, help me, please? Don't think of me as Granger, if it bothers you to help a filthy Mudblood. Think of me as…a cat. Yes, I'm a cat, and I just broke my…paw. And you have to help me! Otherwise, I can charge you for…animal cruelty-it's got to be in the handbook somewhere…"
Draco honestly tried his best to suppress his laughter over Hermione's quirky monologue. "Granger, where the bloody hell are you?"
"I'm here!" she replied, trying to take off the cloak by shaking. "Malfoy, get this thing off me!"
"What, is Filch on you?"
"No, Harry's invisibility cloak is." She tried to move her right arm up to remove it, but the pain from her wrist shot up and made her yelp softly. "Please, Malfoy, take it off!"
He was getting more and more amused by their conversation. "Well, Granger, if you insist…"
"You are bloody impossible!" The pain came back to Hermione, and this time, she began to cry. Draco Malfoy, supposedly pure-blood elitist extraordinaire, could not bear the wails of any woman-and besides, he gave up on his father's beliefs long ago. "Granger, you need to tell me exactly where you are if you want me to help you."
Through her whimpers, she croaked, "The stairs."
It was a start of a not so beautiful friendship.
"You two," drawled Snape, motioning Hermione and Draco. "You two shall work on the potion together. Either of your two buffoon best friends will probably take advantage of the fact that you two can do the potion by yourselves, and I will not tolerate stupidity just because their partner's too proud or too concerned about their grade. Understood?"
"Professor, I-" Hermione tried to argue, but Snape had already turned his back and resumed to writing down instructions on the board, his greasy hair whipping back and forth as he did. She sighed, gathering her books and parchment from the table she shared with Terry Boot. She walked slowly to the center table, where Malfoy was sitting, and saw the concerned or sorry (Hermione was not exactly sure) looks from Harry and Ron.
"Hello, Granger," greeted Malfoy, smirking.
"Malfoy," she acknowledged back, holding back a groan. "Did you plan for this or what?"
"Did I plan for Potty or Weasel to be incompetent at Potions without the help of the girl wonder from their trio? I wish I did." He shrugged and then opened the special textbook placed at the center of the table and began to read.
"The Tingere Iris potion?" Hermione rhetorically asked. "Malfoy, move over I want to read."
"The Tingere Iris potion changes the color of the surface it is applied on…It is similar to the Colovaria charm…It can be used on inanimate objects by either directly pouring it or by using a charmed brush…It is poisonous to humans and must not be swallowed, but one may use bezoar as an antidote," Hermione read out loud, earning her an annoyed look from Draco.
"You have an hour left to finish the potion. Begin," Snape instructed, and then exited the room. Hermione and Draco looked up at the board simultaneously.
"A spoon of Wormwood essence, two Asphodel leaves, five cinnamon barks, one exploding ginger eyelash, ten fairy wings, and a drop of unicorn blood?" Hermione asked rhetorically again, closing one of her textbooks. "Seriously?"
"Must you always have a lot of questions, Miss Granger?" Draco drawled, imitating Snape. "A million points from Gryffindor! Just because I don't like you."
Hermione giggled-giggled!-at Draco's humor. "We should probably get started, Malfoy. Merlin knows if I have enough patience to get through an hour with you."
They did, and thirty minutes later, they were a step away from finishing their potion. They were adding the fairy wings one by one in ten second intervals when Draco decided to speak up and say, "Granger, you're doing it wrong."
"No, Malfoy, I'm pretty sure I'm right," Hermione retorted, putting in another fairy wing. "That's the eighth one. One, two, three…"
"No, you're supposed to put them all just in one place because the fairy wings dissolve and you don't want it to be inconsistent or uneven when you mix it in the end."
Hermione ignored him and then put another one in. "It doesn't say so in the textbook or in Snape's instructions, Malfoy. One, two, three…"
"It's written right over here, in paragraph four," Malfoy pointed out, shrugging. "If Snape deducts points, it's all on you."
"Where?" Hermione asked frantically, looking for the specific instruction in the book.
The fairy wings should be added one by one in ten second intervals. Unlike cat hair or lacewing fly, it does not matter where you drop them in…
"Malfoy, you slimy git!" She slapped his arm and then turned to the potion, dropping the last fairy wing. "Oh no, because of you, it's delayed! You don't know what could happen, Malfoy! What if it doesn't work or if it turns into something else or if it just explodes and then sends us back in time or something. I don't want to be stuck with you!"
"Granger, you've been stuck with me before. I don't think it makes that much a difference to the potion," he said, stirring the cauldron thrice counter-clockwise. "See, looks normal to me."
Snape chose to appear back at that moment, and drawled, "Miss Granger, what have you done?"
Hermione turned to her right and saw that Snape was directly in front of her. Her eyes snapped open and then she stepped back, bumping into Draco. She almost fell down, had it not been for Draco holding on to her waist. "Don't want yourself falling and breaking something again, do you?"
Snape, inwardly amused by the display, drawled (yet again), "Ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin each for indecent behavior-from prefects, no less." He turned to the rest of the class and said, "You have twenty minutes left. Malfoy, Granger, pour yours into a vial and we'll test it so that you can go."
They did as instructed and handed their vial over, which Snape in turn just poured over Hermione's hair. She shrieked, causing the whole class to look at the three of them in front. Hermione's hair began to change color, began to turn into some curly rainbow complete with sparkles and glitter.
Snape frowned in obvious distaste. "You added one fairy wing a second late, I presume? Points off for that. But I guess it would be better than any other Tingere Iris potion created by the rest of the class. You're free to go."
"Professor!" Hermione shrieked yet again. "And my hair? What am I to do?"
"Ah," Snape replied. "It'll wear off, Miss Granger-in three hours, considering the quantity. Now, get out of my classroom before I take off more points from both of your houses."
Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but was stopped by Draco who was pulling her out of the room. The last thing Hermione saw was Harry and Ron looking up from their tables, worried, but Snape's glare had apparently shut them up and put them back into working on their potion.
"Mister Malfoy, Miss Granger!" Madam Pince whispered hoarsely to them. "Must I remind you that this is a library and is not a place you can just…desacralize with snogging! Really, I should take off points from both your houses! But, as you are prefects, and I know Miss Granger well, I shall not. Instead, I shall leave you two with a warning. Good day."
Hermione could only look at Madam Pince's retreating form in shock. She knew better than to just burst here in the library, and she knew better than to hex Malfoy here in the library. So, she grabbed Malfoys arm (roughly, at that) and threw him out of the library, pushing him into a secret passage that would lead to the corridor of the Ancient Runes class, which was currently deserted.
"You tell her that we did not snog!" She panicked, squeezing his arms. "You tell her that! My reputation is ruined, Malfoy!"
"Because we…snogged?" he asked, trying to pry her hands off his arms. "I was about to, had you not pushed me out. Really, what do you think would happen to my reputation? Oh, a pure-blood Slytherin decides to be involved in some scandal with a Mudblood Gryffindor-do you not see how that would turn out for me?"
Hermione shivered from the gust of wind that passed by, and then removed her hands off Draco. It now seemed incredibly awkward, this friendship thing of theirs. Hermione had already gotten a sermon from both Harry and Ron, a few hexes sent her way from Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass, and a lot of nasty rumors about her.
Her reputation was tainted as is.
And Draco-sure, some Slytherins hissed at him for befriending a Gryffindor, but a lot were still very much afraid of Draco and decided that there was probably something else he needed from Granger.
"Snogging with Draco Malfoy is the last thing I need on my back, trust me. Heck, I didn't even snog you! You pushed me onto the bookcase!" she accused, pointing her wand at him. "Oh, what I'd give to have my time-turner back."
"Well, I wouldn't have pushed you back if you didn't threaten to cast the Bat-Bogey Hex at me," Draco retorted, pushing her wand arm down. "Really, Granger, you should stop with the being immature-it doesn't fit you at all."
She screamed, completely frustrated. "You are completely infuriating!"
"So are you."
"That's it, that's it!" Hermione yelled, stomping into the Ancient Runes classroom, where her next class was. "We're not friends anymore, Malfoy! Stay the bloody hell away from me, got it?"
She slammed the door and slid down, breathing deeply against the furnished wood. Before she knew what was happening, she was crying.
Hermione woke up from her sleep screaming. It had started with vague visions of a Muggle neighborhood. After some time, everything seemed to clear and she realized that it was that street in London where she grew up. She walked towards her house, but she had no control over her legs. It continued to take her there; the street was somehow void of people and eerily silent. She cringed at how cold and surreal everything seemed to be, but something kept pestering her that it wasn't a dream.
Her hand reached out for the doorknob, but it was locked. A simple Alohomora opened it with a click and she turned it. Inside her house, it was pitch black.
"Lumos."
With the light, she saw that her parents were sprawled out on the floor, their bodies twisted to what seemed like the Cruciatus curse. She began to choke, the hot tears were blinding her vision. A repeated set of no's came out from her mouth as she began to deny everything in front of her. They couldn't be dead. They…just couldn't.
"I'm dreaming," she told herself, the bile trapped in her throat rising up completely and she puked it out. "I'll wake up. I will. I shall. I...no."
"Believe it, Mudblood."
Hermione turned to face the speaker. He was a cloaked figure, but she could make out the red slits and the pale hands hidden. Voldemort.
"You killed them!" Hermione screamed, taking out her wand-but it wasn't in her pocket. She began to panic, trying to look around for anything that could help her. None, none in this Muggle home-in her Muggle home.
"I won't kill you because you're the Potter boy's friend," Voldemort hissed. "If I did, he'll come for me immediately and the battle won't be worth it since he's not prepared at all. I have something better for you, Mudblood."
Hermione tried to run to the door, or at least reach a place where she could find shelter. But no, Voldemort had been faster.
"Crucio."
And then she woke up. Yes, she was screaming. She couldn't even think through the pain-who would even try to think when a person was feeling extremely tortured? The pain that kept surging through her was unlike anything she's ever felt before, unlike anything she ever thought she would have to feel. It was unbearable, raw pain.
What seemed to be a lifetime later, the pain stopped. Her body was sore, but at least there was no more of that blinding pain. Her breaths came in heavy pants and her surroundings were very much unclear, just like the beginning of her vision earlier-had it been a vision? Perhaps this was a dream as well. No, her mind was being tortured, too, in the form of doubts. It hurt, it was all too confusing, it was hell for Hermione.
"Hermione, had a nightmare?" Ginny asked, very much concerned. Around her were also Katie Bell, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and some lowerclassmen Hermione couldn't identify. "Hermione, answer me!"
A moment later, Professor McGonagall rushed in along with Dumbledore, Snape, Harry, Ron, and a few other boys from Gryffindor. "Oh, Miss Granger, what happened?"
It took her a few seconds to compose herself when she muttered, "Crucio, Voldemort, pain, death, help, make it stop, dreaming."
Dumbledore faced Parvati and Lavender, who were just as shocked as everyone else. "Miss Brown, Miss Patil, was anyone else in here?"
"N-No!" Lavender stuttered out, not bothering to contain her fear. "It could've been me, it could've been anyone of us attacked, Professor!"
"I see. Minerva, Severus?" he called out to the two other professors with him. "Pain is only in the mind, as you both know. I am afraid that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has gotten through Miss Granger with his Legilimency." At that, almost everyone gasped. "We are to act upon this immediately. Mister Potter has already started his lessons with you, Severus, hasn't he?" Severus nodded in response. "In that case, I shall take Mister Weasley and teach him Occlumency. Do you know who could possibly teach Miss Granger?"
The three Professors exchanged questioning glances and Snape was the first to speak. "Draco Malfoy should be able to teach her. He's very skilled since Bellatrix was the one who taught him, Albus."
Dumbledore's expression was unmoving. "So I see."
"I don't trust Malfoy!" Ron jeered, softly pushing Neville out of the way to face Dumbledore. "I don't trust him, Dumbledore. He's not for the Order, is he? I believe that he's like his family, all death eaters! Why should we put Hermione in his care?"
"Ron," Harry whispered, tugging his arm back. "I'm afraid to admit it, but Dumbledore's right. Would you rather that Hermione's not prepared in any way, open to more things like this. Do you really want this happening?"
"I'll take Malfoy instead of Dumbledore, then!"
"I don't think Mister Malfoy would be cooperative in that case, Mister Weasley," Professor McGonagall said. "I mean no offense, but unlike Miss Granger, you're not exactly the levelheaded one. You'll run out of patience and you'll end up nowhere with Mister Malfoy. And besides, Miss Granger and Mister Malfoy are well acquainted with each other, are they not?"
Hermione wanted to protest against it, too, but her body wouldn't let her. With one last strained cry, she fainted back on her bed.
They were both completely silent in the Potions room. Hermione was shaking in one cold corner while Draco was just staring at her from his place. The tension between them was highly noticeable.
Draco had broken the connection immediately after that memory. He had delved into the memories that involved him-it was easy since they had a connection to him. He had browsed through almost everything: From when Hermione first saw him at the Great Hall in their first year until the last private lesson they had just two days ago. And now that he saw the reason why she was here with him, he was terrified. Not only for her, but for the (added) strain this brings to their so-called friendship.
After a minute of debating with himself, he asked, "Granger, would you like to talk about it?"
"No," she whispered barely audibly. "There's nothing to be said."
"There is, Granger. You're scared to just tell me about it, aren't you? I bet it's not just me-you haven't told anyone else because you're afraid. I saw what happened, Granger. I also went through what you did because the Legilimency let me feel what you felt-though not in the same degree, I'm sure." He sighed at her unresponsive state. "Hermione, let me help you. You defended me for the Order, and you…turned me into a…well, less than a prat. You helped me. You're my…friend." He inwardly cringed at the term, but was very honest about it. "You're the closest friend I have."
Hermione raised her eyes to meet his. She was crying and held her knees close to her face. Draco assumed that it wasn't just from the invasion of privacy-she had let him see a lot of memories that consumed a great part of her life. It was safe to say that Draco knew Hermione better than anyone else in Hogwarts just because of that. No, it was from seeing the memory again, from remembering the pain. He found it hidden underneath everything else, and curiosity had gotten the better of him. Had he known that it would cause her to suddenly be like this, he wouldn't have looked at the memory.
Hermione only grimaced. "Thank you, Malfoy. I think. I don't know. You saw, and I…I'm sorry you had to."
"I'm sorry that I looked-"
"Don't even dare finish that sentence, Malfoy!" she shouted, her voice quivering. "It's my fault. My fault, all of it! If I hadn't been so stupid, if I practiced more, maybe I would've been able to block you out…It happened at least one more time after we started, but I thought that I would be strong enough to go through with Occlumency-I can't. I'm not. I don't know anymore, Malfoy. Draco. I just want it all to be over…"
Somewhere in the next minute of Hermione's explanation, Draco had slid down beside her and pulled her into an embrace. Her words were muffled in his chest, and he could feel her tears wetting through his robes. He slowly rubbed small circles on her back and tried to shush her, convince her that it was okay and they'll all get through it.
Hermione stopped talking and just breathed against his chest, inhaling Draco's scent. It calmed her, along with the words he was whispering to her-so softly, so sweetly, so…human. It surprised her that he was showing another side of him, but at the same time expected it. They both welcomed the silence as something natural, as something more than just a compromise between the two ex-enemies.
"Hermione, it's going to be okay," he said, pushing her face up so that she could see him with all his sincerity. "It is, I promise you. We'll make it out of this together."
Draco's voice sent immediate shivers down Hermione's spine. Slowly, she shook her head in response. He was shocked, of course, but she spoke before he could ask her why. She said, "No. Not with you. I can't do this-this Occlumency with you. You don't understand, do you? I can't empty myself of emotions, memories, thoughts, or anything when I'm with you. I can't; not when you bring out so many of them. Do you get it now, Draco?"
It hadn't even registered to Draco that they were calling themselves by their first names now-and neither did Hermione, really. He shook his head, still confused with her words. In a hypothetical situation, she had just told him words that seemed to be some sort of predecessor to a break up. Wait, what, is she breaking up with me? That's not even possible since we're not together!
"No, Hermione. Tell me what's wrong?"
Hermione brought her shaking hand to his cheek, feeling the warmth and just basking in it. "My walls, my defenses, all of them, all of me-they're all down when it comes to you."
Despite the hopelessness of their situation, they found themselves smiling.
And oops, that's the end of this one-shot. Please leave constructive criticism or anything that'll prolly make me happy. :)
Xx, Lily