A/N - Hey guys, long time no see :) This is a new fic I'm starting while I'm having such mega writer's block for my other fic, Left Behind. It was inspired by a challenge over on the forum HPFC (link is: (slash) topic (slash) 44309 (slash) 69137535 (slash) Multi-Chapter-Boot-Camp-Challenge if you're interested) which I haven't entered but I am stealing the prompts for ;) They give fifty prompts, and each prompt must be a chapter so I'm going for it!
Basically, the gist of this fic is this: AU Sixth Year- Harry is told about the horcruxes this year. Voldemort is back but is not as strong yet as the Order have stepped up their efforts to hold him at bay. Draco has therefore not been told to kill Dumbledore. Snape makes no Unbreakable Vow. There are still many deaths at the hands of Voldemort and his forces. Lucius escaped Azkaban and is in hiding with Voldy. Draco is still a prefect. Ron will never be poisoned, Katie Bell will not be cursed, no Battle of the Astronomy Tower, etc. None of the implications of Draco's task.
Hermione tapped her foot as she gulped down the final foamy dregs of her Butterbeer and looked at the clock again.
He'd said three o'clock, but now it was quarter to four and he still wasn't here.
The bell over the door tinkled delicately and in response Hermione's head whipped around to stare at the entrance, like she had done every time she'd heard it jingle for the past forty-five minutes, but it brought with it only a gust of freezing wind and a tall bearded man wearing a blue cloak. No Ron.
She sighed and slumped back in her chair. Normally she'd just feel irritated with Ron's lack of punctuality, but today there was something more. He'd promised to meet her there. He'd pulled her aside that morning at breakfast to tell her to meet him in The Three Broomsticks at three because he wanted to speak to her.
"In private," he'd emphasized, glancing at Harry. "There's some stuff I want to talk to you about."
Then he flashed her an awkward smile and left with Harry for yet another Quidditch practice. Harry really was working the team hard. He was worse than Oliver Wood nowadays.
She'd felt so sure that Ron had wanted to talk to her about them. Or, well, specifically, the lack thereof. She'd thought he'd finally opened his eyes and realise that she'd liked him for a few years now and he was going to do something about it… and now he wasn't here.
Maybe practise ran over, she thought. But he'd only got his spot on the stupid team because of her in the first place, hadn't he? If she hadn't Confunded McLaggen, Ron wouldn't even be the bloody Keeper. But it was Hogsmeade day. And even Harry, in his determination to win the Cup, knew how much his team needed the respite. In fact, she'd heard him promise Ginny he'd finish practise at two. So where was Ron?
It was five to four now, and Hermione was thoroughly annoyed. She wasn't going to sit here and wait for him any longer; that was for damn sure. And to think that she'd been considering inviting him to Professor Slughorn's Christmas party… She was a fool. Of course Ron didn't know she liked him. Of course he wasn't going to finally make a move.
Well there was no use wallowing in self-pity. Damn Ron. She'd go and find a nice new book that would take her mind off him and his unreliability.
She left her Butterbeer bottle on the table and abandoned the warmth of the pub to be greeted by a brisk wind that knocked all the breath out of her; head bent down against the gale, she fought her way up the cobbled streets towards the tiny little bookstore cramped in a row of shops, that currently was silhouetted against a spectacular pink and purple sky as the sun began to set. She opened the heavy wooden door and another bell tinkled – why did all the shops in Hogsmeade have bells over the doors, she wondered? – and she heard a voice call out: "Hello! I won't be a moment!" from somewhere in the depths of the bookcases.
She knew this place better than to think the owner, a small elderly man with thick, round spectacles who shuffled about with a cane, would be hobbling out to help her any time soon. She didn't mind.
She ran her fingers over the cracked spines of the worn, leather-bound books on the shelf nearest to her, letting the cool covers play under her fingertips. The shop smelled musty and like paper and ink and age, which was part of its allure for her, and dust twirled about in the air, illuminated by shafts of watery autumn sunlight. She let out a deep, relaxing sigh and began scanning the high rising shelves for anything that looked unusual or interesting.
Thought the place was dimly lit, Hermione didn't think of it as dingy – more like cosy. It was cluttered with piles and piles of books, tiny trestle tables and squishy armchairs. Shelves went up and up, all the way up to the ceiling, but the thing she loved the most was the old-fashioned wheeled ladder to allow access to the higher shelves. She loved that thing. It felt so antique, so traditional. It made the shop feel like it went on forever, and that it was filled with more books than anyone could ever read in a lifetime.
She lost track of time as she strolled through the alleys of bookcases, occasionally picking up a book and flicking through it, and soon she had a stack of her selections in her arms. But then, as she wandered around to the textbook section, she saw something that nearly made her drop them.
To her great surprise, Malfoy was reclining in one of the armchairs under the window, his feet propped up on the sill, reading some brown tome. What was he doing here?
He hadn't appeared to notice her. As she stared at him with narrow eyes he scratched his head absently then moved a piece of hair out of his face. He looked different when we was reading, Hermione noticed, to when he was being backed by his cronies.
"Spying are we, Granger?" he said without even looking up.
Hermione started.
"Not spying. Just surprised to see you here. I didn't even know you could read," she remarked.
"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not as brain-dead as those idiots you hang around with. Potter's too busy chasing the baddies and I'm willing to place a bet that Weasley's as stupid as he is poor."
Malfoy snapped his book shut and rose from the chair while Hermione stood glowering at him.
"You're pathetic," she said.
"And you're a Mudblood, and I think I know which is worse," he replied with a smile, and then without another word he strode past her and disappeared into the maze of shelves. A minute later came the chiming of the bell as he left the shop.
Merlin, she despised that boy. And now he was in the bookshop, her place, poisoning it with his malice. Since when had he been interested in books anyway? He was usually too busy messing around with Crabbe and Goyle to even bother paying attention in lessons, and now all of a sudden he was a bookworm? He was clearly up to something sinister.
Later that evening, Hermione was leaving her dormitory after depositing her newly purchased novels there when Ron showed his face at last. He was coming in through the portrait hole with Katie Bell, Harry, Ginny and that Chaser girl, Demelza something, from the Gryffindor team, laughing and joking around. When he caught sight of Hermione his face blanched and he hurried over to her.
"I am so sorry, I'm such a prat," he said before she could say anything herself. "I was supposed to meet you, wasn't I?"
Hermione kept her face blank and crossed her arms. "Yes, Ronald, you were."
"Don't 'Ronald' me, I'm sorry. I just forgot. Practise didn't even finish until three, but it went so well that Harry said he was going to buy us all anything we wanted at Honeydukes and then we went and I got a bit distracted and I… well, I just forgot," Ron replied, looking sincerely at her. "I'm sorry for being so useless. Are you really mad?"
How could she stay mad at him when he looked so apologetic? Besides, even though it was infuriating, Ron wouldn't be Ron if he wasn't so absent-minded.
"No, I'm just annoyed. Don't worry about it," she conceded, unfolding her arms.
Ron smiled and looked relieved.
"I was just going down to dinner, are you coming?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure. I'll just get Harry."
When the three were finally reunited, they went down to the Great Hall. Harry and Ron immediately began shovelling food down as though they hadn't eaten for weeks while Hermione looked at them, disgusted.
"Didn't you lot eat your body weight in sweets at Honeydukes this afternoon?" she asked in amazement.
The boys looked at her blankly.
"So?" said Ron, spearing a potato.
Hermione just shook her head and put some food on her plate. "Never mind. So, what do you think you'll be doing in Dumbledore's next lesson?" she asked, turning to Harry.
He swallowed and shrugged. "No idea. Probably learning more stuff about Voldemort. Dumbledore seems to think it's important."
"Well of course it's important!" insisted Hermione, surprised at Harry's aloofness. "'Know thy enemy.' How will you be able to defeat him unless you know all about him? Otherwise you won't know his weaknesses!"
Harry shrugged again, clearly not in the mood to talk about this today. Before Hermione could press it further, Ron interjected.
"What did you do today?" he asked Hermione.
"Oh, I went into the book shop, bought some new books."
"More books?" Ron replied through a mouthful of food. "You must own every book ever written by now."
"There's nothing wrong with reading, Ron! Maybe you ought to do a little more, then you wouldn't need so much help with all your homework. Oh," she added, suddenly remembering, "you'll never guess who I saw there."
"Who?" asked Harry.
"Malfoy. Sat in the corner reading. I've never seen him there in my life, I don't know why he's suddenly become such a big fan of literature," she said.
Harry's eyes narrowed at the mention of Malfoy's name.
"That git. Did he say anything to you?"
"No, not really," Hermione hedged.
Ron looked disbelieving. "He called you… that, didn't he?"
Hermione sighed. "Yes, but forget about it. It hardly bothers me anymore."
Ron said nothing but his hands curled into fists.
"He shouldn't have been let back into Hogwarts," said Harry angrily. "And how he managed to still be a Prefect I'll never know."
"I think Dumbledore has bigger things to worry about than Draco Malfoy, mate," said Ron.
"Still, he totally abused his power last year. I agree with Harry, he should have had his title revoked," Hermione added.
Harry seemed to be getting angrier the more they talked about him. "That whole family is poison. He shouldn't have been let back into school, especially not since his dad escaped Azkaban. I bet you Malfoy knows where he's hiding."
Hermione patted him consolingly. "The Ministry interrogated him, Harry, he doesn't know anything. They wouldn't have let him go if they thought he was lying."
"He's dangerous. He should be locked up. Especially now he's in Death Eater training."
Hermione and Ron exchanged sceptical glances and Ron began wolfing down his food to avoid this particular minefield. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I highly doubt that Voldemort is so desperate for Death Eaters that he recruited Malfoy. I mean, he got Lucius back, didn't he? And most of the others who were in the Department of Mysteries. Malfoy might be an arrogant arse, but he's not exactly evil."
Harry gave her a dark look and said nothing.
After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, Ron cleared his throat.
"Fancy going visiting Hagrid for a bit?" he suggested, surprisingly tactfully as Harry still looked murderous.
The offer seemed to perk Harry up a little. "Yeah, actually. Sounds good."
Hermione frowned. "But it's after dark. It's not allowed."
"Relax, we'll use the cloak," Ron said breezily.
She still felt uneasy.
"Are you coming or not?" inquired Ron as he and Harry rose from the table.
She shook her head. "No, I'm going to finish that essay for Slughorn instead."
"It's not due in until next week," Harry half-laughed.
"I want to get it done. And I picked up a book today on the properties of Shrivelfigs that I think will really help me. But I suppose you'll be getting all your essay guidance from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince, won't you?" she asked tartly, unable to help herself.
Harry pulled a face. "Leave it Hermione," he said, and with that he walked off with Ron.
At about seven, she went with her books to the library, intending to begin her essay there. She walked through the doors, smiling contentedly as she entered her sanctuary and made her way to her usual spot – a small desk in a corner, not quite hidden but secluded enough that she liked it. To her great surprise however, she saw Malfoy again. This time he was rising from his desk, gathering his belongings and now was headed towards her. He scowled at her as he drew near.
"First spying on me, and now you're following me," he spat as he passed her. "Tut tut, didn't somebody's filthy Muggle mother tell them that it's rude to hound your superiors like this, no matter how much you might adore them?"
She ignored him and strode haughtily over to her spot and placed her things down there. That arrogant, racist pig. Why had he suddenly decided to stake out all of her favourite haunts? She was fairly certain that Malfoy despised school work – not that he needed to do it, he was wealthy enough to never have to work a day in his life, what did his grades matter? – but now, if she didn't know better, she might have thought that he'd just been studying. Malfoy and studying were two things that were not compatible. For some reason she felt threatened.
But why should she be? He was hardly physically intimidating. Sure, he was a fair but taller than she was but he wasn't exactly muscular – Quidditch players were toned, but Seekers were hardly known for their brawn. And she could have sworn, when she'd been so close to him, that he was a tad thinner than usual. His face had looked a little gaunt, his cheeks a bit hollow.
But she was probably imagining things, and even if she wasn't, what was it to her if Malfoy had lost some weight? All she cared about was that he leave her to study in peace and stop invading her spaces. She opened her copy of Shrivelfigs: The Wonderplant and hoped to god that Malfoy would forget his sudden interest in academia soon.
Hope this was enough to set up the story for you. Hopefully there should be a new chapter each week. Thanks for reading!