Our Little Secret
A/N: This fanfiction is dedicated to Marshmallow Ninja [a dedicated Dramione]. I hope you like it, Ninjaesque! Thanks to J.K. Rowling too, for making this wonderful, creative, and dramatic book! :)
"Harry, for the last time, Malfoy is not a Death Eater!" Hermione sighed exasperatedly, slouching into her armchair. She was already tired of Harry rambling on about Draco. She knew better. Draco be a could never Death Eater, he was only sixteen. And obviously, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself would not find trust or power in an underage boy in Hogwarts.
"How sure are you?" Harry demanded, throwing a look at her. Ron fidgeted in his seat. He didn't want to see his two best friends fight.
"Well, you don't have any proof about it—" started Hermione, and Ron let out a groan. The two shot stares at him, and he immediately retreated to the boy's dormitory.
"Look at the facts!" Harry exclaimed in annoyance, "He's been bragging to his friends about it, he was trying to get an object from a Dark objects shop, and he wouldn't let Madam Malkin touch his arm! Of course he's a Death Eater!"
"There could be a more reasonable solution! First, he could be bragging. Second, maybe it was just an old family relic! And you know the Malfoys, we all know his father's a Death Eater! And he might've had a skin condition, maybe from a hex—"
Harry fell silent. Hermione's face grew scarlet.
"Fine! I'm going to go and get proof that Malfoy isn't a Death Eater. I'm going into Slytherin Common Room to ask him myself." She headed for the girl's dormitory.
Ron's mouth was agape. "Hermione, you can't go to the Slytherin Common Room! You don't know the password… and even if you did get in, why would Malfoy tell you?"
Hermione swiveled around. "Remember that time when we stole ingredients from the potions cupboard for the Polyjuice Potion? I'd managed to get some Veritaserum… just a bottle, you know? That's why Snape ran out a bit earlier than he was supposed to last semester. And I still have the Polyjuice Potion from our second year, so it's pretty simple. I'll slip some Veritaserum into Pansy's pumpkin juice with Harry's cloak on—"
"No! I'm not going to let you use my cloak for this plan!" Harry insisted.
"You are, unless you want someone else to find out whether Malfoy's a Death Eater or not!" Hermione retorted. Harry became silent.
"And then I'll bring her into the corridor and ask for the password. Once she answers, I'll pluck out some of her hair and Stun her. Then I'll use the Polyjuice Potion and get Malfoy's answer." Hermione then turned around and continued to march towards the girl's dormitory.
"She's amazing, she is," Ron muttered, "You'd better give her the cloak, Harry." Harry stood up and entered the boy's dormitory to pick up his cloak.
Hermione opened the door to the girl's dormitory and snatched the two bottles (which were disguised as cough potions; she got the idea from Fred and George) off the windowsill, then walked out once more. Harry, who had a reluctant face, thrust the cloak to her.
"Wait… why can't we go with you?" Ron asked. Harry nodded in agreement. Hermione groaned.
"Wouldn't it be a bit suspicious if there were three, unconscious bodies in Filch's cleaning supply closet? At least with Pansy it looked like she was skiving off class and fell asleep…"
"Yeah," Ron agreed, and Harry nudged him in the ribs. Ron was still trying to get on the winning side, and obviously he didn't want to fight.
"Okay, fine," Harry mumbled, "Good luck."
Hermione smiled and walked calmly out the door. She quickly ran down to the Great Hall, where the Slytherins had already taken their seats. Malfoy was biting deeply into a green apple, with a smirk on his face, while Goyle and Crabbe were digging into some bacon. Pansy was beside them, carefully prodding her eggs.
Hermione hid behind a pillar and put on the cloak. It was quite awkward, for some reason, to not see her hair dangling around her eyes, but she quickly adjusted to it. She scurried over to the Slytherin table, and carefully poured three drops of Veritaserum into her cup. Then, she ran over to the corridor opposite. Pansy took a sip of the Veritaserum-spiked drink. Hermione smirked and took out a Galleon from her robe pocket.
"Wingardium Leviosa." The Galleon rose into the air. It stayed still for a few seconds, then hovered over to the Slytherin table. The light from the chandelier let it glint; Pansy immediately turned to it. She jumped up and dived for the Galleon, knocking Goyle's bacon off the plate. Hermione hastily moved the coin and brought it back into the corridor. Pansy's pug-like face as she chased the Galleon clearly amused her; she stifled a giggle.
Hermione let the Galleon conceal itself under the cloak. Pansy scratched her head. Where had the Galleon gone?
"Locomotor Mortis." She whispered, and Pansy's legs were rigid. She fell down, and looked around to see who had cast the spell.
"Pansy, what is the password to Slytherin common room?" Hermione asked, trying to make her voice as disguised as possible.
"Who—Black Mamba," she spilled out, and then covered her mouth with her hands.
"Stupefy!" Pansy fell to the ground. The thud wasn't so loud, but one Slytherin happened to notice it.
Hermione plucked a hair from Pansy's head and put it into the Polyjuice Potion. It immediately turned a sickly green. Hermione held her nose, closed her eyes, and drank the potion.
She slowly began to morph. She shrunk by an inch, and then her hair grew shorter and lighter. Her face was morphing the most. Then, after thirty seconds, the potion had taken complete effect.
Hermione used Wingardium Leviosa on Pansy's limp body, and then stowed her away in a nearby cupboard. Pleased, she advanced to the Slytherin common room. It was behind a wall, as Harry had told her. She searched around, and found the wall where the common room was. She took off the cloak, and stuffed it into her cloak pocket, part of it still hanging out.
"Black Mamba," she said, and the wall seemed to let her inside. The Slytherin Common Room was quite eerie, compared to the Gryffindor Common Room. The walls were made of slimy stone that were unpleasant to touch. It didn't seem comfortable or warm. The room was lit a deep moss green. The light was quite intense.
Suddenly, Hermione began to morph back to her original self. She cursed under her breath.
"I didn't leave it in a neutral temperature, so it—"
"—wore off to intense light."
Hermione swiveled around. It was Malfoy, with his wand arm ready to cast a spell. "Don't make me hex you, Granger. Get out. I know why you're here."
"Really?" Hermione raised a brow, slowly extracting her wand from her pocket, "Then you know what I want to ask, and you know the answer."
Malfoy sighed, then slumped down onto the ground. He had to submit to Granger. Even if she was a mudblood, Granger was easy to give in to. That's why Malfoy avoided her often, not because of her 'filthy blood'.
"Fine. I'm a Death Eater, okay?"
Hermione was aghast. Draco seemed so different today… his lack of arrogance, his pale face, his quick submission; what was wrong with him?
Draco felt a wand prod against his neck. He winced. The Granger girl was going to curse him. And turn him in. He was going to go down, all because he couldn't fight Granger's power of obedience.
"Explain." She said, poking the wand into his neck. It dug in, but he heaving with relief.
"I wanted to honor my family. After dad failing to get the prophecy, mum was tortured by the Dark Lord himself, and I seemed pretty proud about it at first. But then I realized what a hard job it was." Draco looked down, and tears rolled down his cheeks. "Sometimes I wish that I was muggle-born. I wish I wouldn't have to go through this."
Surprisingly, he felt Hermione's wand lower. He began to smirk. The tears began to dry up.
"So now it's your turn, Granger."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione with a quizzical look.
"It's Truth or Dare. The Muggle Game. You have to choose now." Malfoy's smirk grew into a grin, and Hermione frowned.
"Wha—Malfoy, this isn't a game, you know that I'm going to be telling…" but Hermione's voice softened. If she did, she would've been wrong all along, and Harry would be right. No, that wasn't acceptable, she'd had enough of Harry being the right one anyway.
"Fine. Truth," Hermione mumbled crossly.
"Is it true you like the Weasel?"
And so Hermione stared straight into Malfoy's playing eyes. There was the arrogance, there was the color, and there was the determination. She took a breath. She'd said yes to him after all.
"Well… slightly, I'm becoming fond of him," Hermione blushed as she said this. She sat down onto the stone floor.
"Oh…" Malfoy sat down onto the floor as well, "Truth."
"Do you like Pansy?" Hermione asked. Her voice was interrogating.
"Ew, no!" Malfoy yelled taken aback, "What gave you that idea?"
"Nothing, it's just you keep talking with her and she combs through your hair all the time—"
"So you're jealous?" Malfoy raised a brow, smiling.
"No!" Hermione exclaimed with indignity, "Of course not! You realize that I've always hated you, why would you think that?"
"Just asking," Malfoy tilted his head slightly and shrugged. "So, who do you really like? I mean, you have to like someone besides the Weasel boy."
"I have much more important things to do than fawn over boys, Malfoy," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Even after this?"
Malfoy gave her a three-second kiss on the lips. Then he slowly leaned back. Hermione looked dreamy at first, but then switched into her furious look.
"How dare you!" she yelled out, slapping him, "You… you…"
"Stole your first kiss?"
"Yeah." Hermione said in a lower voice, still angry.
"Well, how was it?"
"It was just… horrible," she said. However, her giggles said otherwise.
"Really?"
Hermione heard the tapping of footsteps. People were entering the common room.
"I have to go. People are coming. And don't be so smug. I'm still going to tell someone."
"Sure. Go with that."
And with that, Hermione pulled the cloak over herself and went through the wall, Malfoy astounded.
"Thanks," she whispered.
"So he's not a Death Eater?" Ron asked, biting out of his sandwich. Hermione shook her head. Harry looked disappointed.
"I still don't believe it," Harry mumbled. Hermione rolled her eyes. Of course; Harry was too stubborn to believe anything. He could find out the truth himself.
A/N: I know, that wasn't so good. Sorry, Mallow. I was having really big writers block.