Author's note: Hey y'all! This is my first fanfic, I wrote it for my bro
for his graduation, so yeah. He's a Draco/Hermione shipper. Shakes head
I don't get it. Doesn't he see that Harry and Hermione are just meant to
be? Ehem, anyway, hope you enjoy it, please make sure you review!
Disclaimer: Y'all have heard it before, but here we go, I do not own any of the characters in this story. They all belong to JKRowling.
"Draco!" Luna Lovegood called as she raced down the packed corridor after the 7th year Slytherin.
"Oh, no. Not again." Draco muttered as he continued walking, trying desperately to ignore the 6th year Ravenclaw. He loved getting attention for the most part, though when it was coming from Luna it wasn't exactly the same; she only ever annoyed him. He also did not want everyone in the school to see him anywhere near Loony Luna. Little did he know that a good part of their interaction in the corridors was carefully monitored by another student.
"Draco! Wait a minute!" Luna grabbed his arm and turned him toward her. She suddenly got the misty look in her gray eyes that she always had, though it got worse when she looked at Draco Malfoy.
"What do you want?" Draco cried in exasperation.
"Can you help me with my potions homework?" She asked dreamily.
"No." Draco said shortly as he started to turn away. She was not ready to let him go yet. She grabbed his arm again and tugged him back. He heard a small rip at the seam of the left sleeve of his robe.
"But, Draco—"
"What are you trying to do?" Draco yelled. "Rip my robes apart? I'm no expert at the sewing charm!"
Before Luna could utter another word Draco stormed off.
"Luna, you really need to back off." Hermione Granger, the student who had been watching all of this, informed the younger girl. She did not like watching Luna chase after Draco, though she would not admit it to anyone.
"Oh, I don't know." Luna answered airily. "Why would you care anyway?" The girl sounded as if she were hinting at something. Something that she was not at all pleased about. Then, lowering her voice she said, "You can't hide it from everyone. Not all of us are blind."
With a finally look of resentment Luna turned and walked off toward her next class.
Hermione, somewhat taken aback, shook her head as she started after Draco.
"Hermione Granger, what do you think you are doing?" Ron Weasley, one of her best friends, called after her. Hermione stopped and turned around to look at him and Harry Potter, their other best friend.
"Malfoy needs to get his sleeve fixed and he doesn't know how. We have double Transfiguration with Slytherin anyway." Hermione informed the two boys. Again she turned on her heel and quickly headed off towards their transfiguration class and Draco.
Ron looked at Harry.
"She's gone mad!" He cried. "She wouldn't help Malfoy out for a million gallions! A million new books, maybe but I doubt he is offering. I smell a polyjuice potion."
Harry chuckled but looked thoughtful. His black eyebrows where now forming the subtle shape of a 'V', indication that he was deep in thought.
"She's probably just trying to be nice." He reasoned, though Ron was right. Why in the world was Hermione going to help their arch enemy? He did not like the idea that kept popping into his head as the thought about this. Could their Hermione possibly fancy Draco Malfoy?
Ron shook his head and the two walked through the corridor, which was beginning to clear out, towards their class.
"I don't need your help, Granger." Draco muttered when Hermione offered to sew up his sleeve.
"Just hold still!" She answered.
Slightly glaring at her Draco did as he was told. He knew she was probably the most powerful witch in Hogwarts, and as much as he did not want to let her help him, or at least he didn't want anyone to see her helping him, the thought of being turned into something other than himself was not a pleasant one.
Hermione took out her wand and mutter the incantation while pointing at the ripped seam. Draco noticed that her once bushy, mouse colored hair was now darker, closer to auburn, longer, about midway down her back, and wavy rather than bushy.Her chocolate eyes were watching the seam closely, concentrating on her charm as if there were nothing else in the world. There were a few freckles scattered across her small nose and slightly over her cheeks. Her chin was set in determination, all the more reason for him to be careful that she didn't curse him. Her lips were tinted with pale pink lip gloss as if longing to be kissed.
"Ahem." Hermione cleared her throat loudly snapping him back into the reality. "Why were looking at me like that?" She asked.
"Like what?" Draco asked quickly. "Why would I be looking at you like anything, Granger? Must have just been your wishful thinking."
Draco quickly turned and sat down at a table with Crabbe and Goyle on each side. Hermione shrugged and turned to Harry and Ron, who she noticed for the first time, were staring at her.
"What are you two goggling at?" She asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.
"You and Malfoy?" Ron whispered glancing in Draco's direction, then looking at Hermione again. "Merlin, Hermione! Anyone but him!"
"What are you talking about?" She asked. She could feel her cheeks heating up slightly and knew she was blushing. She looked away from Ron. She had noticed Draco looking at her in an odd way. His usually cold, steel colored eyes had been almost kind, not harsh. A strand of his slick blond hair had fallen out of place and had been hanging in his face. She had noticed that he was several inches taller than she had thought.
'Why on earth are you thinking of Draco like that?' she asked herself as she and her two friends sat down at a table together. 'He hates muggle borns and he has hated me since our first year. Why would that change now?'
"Today we will continue working on transforming large objects into animals." McGonagall was saying. Hermione hardly heard her. 'You can not start thinking of Draco like that!' She was scolding herself.
"Miss. Granger!" Hermione jumped and looked up at McGonagall.
"Yes ma'am?" Hermione blushed.
"Would you please demonstrate the spell by turning this desk into a dog?" McGonagall asked her.
"Oh. Right." Hermione waved her wand and muttered the spell and what had been the desk that Hermione and her friends were sitting at was now a dog with shaggy black fur. Hermione felt Harry tense up next to her. She gasped and realized what had to be the problem and quickly changed the dog back into a desk. She gave Harry an apologetic look.
"Thank you, Miss. Granger." Mcgonagall said. "Please try to pay attention for the rest of the class."
The remainder of the transfiguration class was uneventful as usual. Hermione caught herself glancing in Draco's direction several times. Unfortunately, Ron and Harry noticed too.
"Hermione, what are you thinking?" Ron repeated as they left the class room.
"Is there an echo in here?" Hermione asked, completely ignoring his question.
"You fancy Malfoy, don't you." It wasn't a question.
"No I don't!" Hermione glared at Ron. "I don't know where you would get such an idea!"
She hurried off to her next class before Ron or Harry could explain to her just why they thought that she fancied him.
"I can not like him." She muttered to herself. "I can't go against my best friends and like Draco."
She sighed.
Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind and yanked her into an empty classroom.
"Hush up!" Draco told her as she screamed. "It's only me!"
"What do you think you are doing?" She asked roughly.
"I wanted to talk to you without Potter and Weasley around." Draco told her.
"Well, here I am. What do you want?" She asked.
"I... I just wanted to say I'm sorry for always teasing you for being a mud—muggleborn." Draco said softly.
Did she hear him correctly? Was he trying to be nice to her? She gaped at him for about 20 seconds.
"You just.... You just..."
"Yes, I just apologized." Draco finished for her. "Don't tell Potter and Weasley. Can't ruin my reputation now, can I?"
He winked at her. She managed to smile back and nod.
"See ya around, Hermione." He grinned then walked out of the classroom leaving a shocked Hermione staring after him.
The next morning, at breakfast, Hermione received a letter carried by a school owl. Quickly opening it she read.
"Hermione,
Meet me in the Room of Requirement as soon as you get out of your last class.
Draco"
'I wonder what he wants.' Hermione thought. 'The Room of Requirement. Hm... That could be a bad place to meet him.'
Hermione wanted so badly to meet him there, but at the same time she was a bit afraid too. In the Room of Requirement he could get anything he wanted to hurt her. His apology the day before could have been a set up. He could have done it just to get her to trust him a bit so she would do as he asked.
'He sounded so sincere though.' She told herself.
"Hermione." Ron broke through her thoughts. "Where are you? Off in Neverland or something? Come on. We have to get to class."
"I'm coming. And I've been right here the whole time."
"In body alone." Harry commented quietly as he and Ron headed out of the great hall. Slowly, Hermione stood up and followed them.
'I guess the only way to find out what he wants is to go meet him.' She returned to thinking about Draco. Looking over at him she saw him trying to blend into the crowd as Luna made her way toward him.
'Why can't that girl just leave him alone?' She thought bitterly. She sighed and shook her head. Even though it completely went against her better judgment she didn't care, she was going to the Room of Requirement after her classes and she was going to see Draco.
After her charms class Hermione excused herself from Harry and Ron and ran towards the girls bathroom. Turning she saw that the boys were not paying any attention to her. She quickly ran down the nearest staircase and then to the Room of Requirement. When she reached the room she did not go in right away. Instead she stood outside looking at the door knob.
'Do I really want to do this?' She asked herself. She was a bit nervous about being in the room alone with Draco.
Biting her lip she opened the door. When she stepped inside she saw Draco sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace. He was staring into the fire completely ignoring the portrait of the lady in a blue dress. She was above the fireplace, and she was telling him that he should not be in here, but rather he should be in his common room or the library doing his homework.
Hermione took a quick look around the room. There were bookshelves full of books and magical items all around the room. There was a table with two chairs in the far left corner, the opposite corner from the sofa and fireplace. The light from the fire seemed to give the room an orange glow.
"Draco?" Hermione said softly.
Draco quickly turned around. Seeing Hermione he smiled and stood up.
"Hermione. I'm glad you came. Come have a seat." Draco said as he motioned to the couch.
Nodding, she sat down quietly and gracefully. Draco sat next to her looking quite nervous. He was unconsciously biting his lip.
"Are you ok?" Hermione asked.
"Um... Yes." Draco stood up and began to pace back and forth in front of the fireplace. "I don't really expect you to trust me right now. I haven't been very nice to you in the past 6 years."
"To put it very lightly." Hermione muttered. Draco turned to her.
"Hermione, I'm sorry for how I treated you. And Potter and Weasley as well. I changed over this last two years. Mum has never liked me. She never loved me. The only reason she even acknowledged that I was alive was because of Dad. When he went to Azkaban there was no one to stop her from doing as she wished. She didn't think that I was good enough to be a Malfoy. She started ignoring me. I didn't really mind at first. I didn't need her for anything. The house elf would do anything I needed, and over all, I never spent much time with her anyway. But then she commanded the house elf and the servants to not do anything for me. I did everything for myself. Once I learned how to cook a bit then there wasn't a problem. When Mum saw that I was still fine even though I had to do my own laundry and cook my own meals she decided to have me be like one of the servants. I did more work than a lot of the servants in the house. I found out what it was like to actually work. As soon as I turned 17 last summer she kicked me out of the house. She didn't give me any money so over the summer I had to find a place to live as well as a job so I could eat. I learned what it was like to not have an over abundance of money to spend as I wished. It gave me a new respect for Weasley especially. Don't tell him I said that. I lived with a muggle family that a guy at the Leaky Cauldron suggested to me. They lived close to the Leaky Cauldron so it was easy for me to get from their place to the book shop in Diagon Ally where I got a job at Flourish and Blots. The muggles, David and Helen, were very kind to me. They trusted me with their house and to watch their children for a bit of extra money, not that muggle money helped me too much until I found out that you can get muggle money exchanged for our money at Gringots. That family gave me a new respect for muggles and muggle borns, like you. Then just about 2 weeks before school started we were getting ready to sit down for supper when David remembered that he needed to pick something up for work. After eating a quick supper David and I went to go pick up the stuff he needed. As we were coming home I saw the Dark Mark in the sky. As we got closer to the house I realized it was over the house. When we got inside we found Helen and all 4 kids dead. The Dark Lord, a being that I had been in league with had murdered the only family that had ever really cared for me, even in those few short months. I am not in league with him anymore. I just wanted you to know that." Draco finished looking nervously at Hermione.
She stared at him trying to take in the whole story. So that was why he apologized. Also why he hadn't been giving her and her friends such a hard time this year.
"I'm so sorry about that family you were with Draco." She said finally. Draco nodded.
"Will you forgive me for how I have treated you? I know I apologized yesterday, but that was just a quick thing, and you didn't say that you forgave me or anything." Draco seemed to find his feet very interesting as he said this to her.
"Yes, Draco. I forgive you."
After that night Draco and Hermione began meeting in the Room of Requirement regularly for the next couple of months.
Two months later in the Gryffindor common room Hermione was sitting at the corner table studying as usual. Tonight she was humming to herself. Harry and Ron were sitting at the table with her playing wizard chess.
"You seem to be in an extra good mood tonight, Hermione." Harry commented. "Actually you have been for the past month or so."
"Hm?" Hermione looked up from her Transfiguration book. "Oh, yes." She went back to reading and taking notes.
Ron and Harry exchanged curious looks.
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Why what?"
"Why are you so happy lately?"
"I don't know. Does a girl need a reason to be happy? I think not." Hermione stood up. "I need to go to the library."
With that she turned and headed out the portrait hole. When she reached the library she found that it was not empty. Sitting at one of the tables was Draco and some younger Slytherin girl. She was sitting on his lap and giggling flirtatiously. Draco seemed very annoyed with her.
'Who is she?' She thought to herself as she grabbed a book off the shelf and sat down in an armed chair. Looking up she saw Draco look at her and smile.
'Why does he have to do that?' She wondered. 'Every time he gives me that look I melt!'
"Excuse me a minute, Lacy." She heard Draco said. He stood up and walked over toward her then appeared to be looking for a book next to where she was standing.
"Meet me under the willow tree by the lake." He told Hermione under his breath. He grabbed a book flipped it open then looked in it for a moment before shaking his head and putting it back. He then want back to Lacy and told her he was leaving. When she tried to come with him told her, rather forcefully, that he wanted to be alone.
Hermione watched as he walked out of the library. Knowing that he did not want anyone to know that they were going to meet by the lake she waited a few minutes before following. When she reached the main doors she looked outside and saw Draco walking toward the large umbrella like willow. The slight wind was causing his robes to billow behind him slightly as he walked.
As soon as he reached the willow tree Hermione ran after him. When she got to the tree Draco grabbed her hand and the two ran around the glossy lake towards the foreboding forest. They ducked around one of the trees at the edge of the forest and sat down among the roots on the soft green moss. The Hogwarts grounds, brightly lit from the moon and the reflection of the moon from the glimmering lake, were behind them, the dark, cold forest was in front of them. The two sat in the shadow of the tree panting a bit from running.
'God she looks beautiful.' Draco thought as he looked at the girl beside him. The dim lighting made Hermione look mysterious. Her hair partly falling out of her hair tie hung around her shoulders. Her eyes were shadowed from the light.
"Isn't that girl, Lacy, going to be mad that you left her like that?" Hermione asked looking over at him.
"Oh, probably. But it's not like I invited her to come with me to the library anyway." Draco replied. "It was more like she followed me. She gets rather annoying like that, you know?"
"I'm sure." Hermione smiled. "Her and Luna. They could start a fan club."
"Oh, God. Don't remind me of Luna!" Draco groaned. "That girl doesn't know when to stop! You know yesterday when I was leaving my common room she was sitting right outside waiting. Then she followed me to the Great Hall and stood behind me while I was trying to eat breakfast! Do you know how irritating that is?"
Hermione laughed. "She had a slight crush on Harry last year. He complained about that. If he had to deal with her like you have I'm not sure what he would have—"
"Shh.." Draco gently, but firmly covered her mouth and listened. "I heard something."
Hermione followed his gaze and saw that he was searching deeper into the forest.
"What do you think it was?" She asked quietly.
"I don't know, but let's go back to the castle." The two stood up and he put his arm around her and led her back toward the castle.
"Draco!" Someone yelled from behind them as they reached the grass. Draco stopped short.
"Oh, no." Hermione heard him whisper.
"Draco Malfoy, look at me right now, young man." The woman's voice said. Draco, very slowly, turned too look at the woman. Hermione also looked over her shoulder and saw Draco's mother, Narcissa, standing at the edge of the forest with her wand pointed at the couple.
"Umm... Hi mum." Draco said sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"
"The correct question would be, what are you doing with that mudblood?" Narcissa spat the name as if it held a nasty taste that she wanted out of her mouth.
"Don't call her that." Draco ordered. "Besides, what do you care?"
"Oh, you have a soft spot for her, do you?" Narcissa smirked. "I always knew you would be trouble. For a few years I thought you might pull through. But, no. Now you have become a muggle lover. Oh, Draco, Draco, what am I going to do with you?"
"Get out of my life like you tried to do already?" Draco suggested.
"No, that wouldn't do. You know too much about the Dark Lord's plans." Narcissa answered.
"But you already kicked me out. Now you want me back?" Draco asked.
"The Dark Lord informed me that it was a mistake to let you go like that. I can't let you blab to everyone now can I?"
She pointed her wand at her son. "Obliviate!" She yelled. Hermione screamed and pushed Draco aside. In doing so the spell hit her instead causing her to be knocked unconscious and fall to the ground. Draco gasped and pulled his wand out.
"I wouldn't do that, boy." Narcissa warned.
"Why not?!" Draco yelled.
Behind Narcissa two more Death Eaters appeared.
"Must I really answer that question? You always have been good at asking dumb questions." The mother answered cruelly.
"Stupify!" Someone yelled from behind Draco. The spell hit the larger of the other two Death Eaters in the chest..
Draco quickly turned around to see Harry and Ron running across the grass toward him. Harry's wand was raised out in front of him while Ron was still digging in his robes for his. Behind them were Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. A frantic Luna knocked Colin Creevy to the ground as she pushed her way through the door. Ginny, directly behind her, had to jump over him to avoid tripping.
Grinning, Draco turned back to his mother whose face was twisted in a sneer. With a wave of her hand, Narcissa motioned for 5 more Death Eaters to come out of the forest. Draco's grin faltered slightly.
Harry and Ron were now next to Draco, their wands each pointing at a different person. Soon the whole group was standing behind Harry, Ron and Draco, their wands out and ready to fight.
"Well, boys,"-Ginny poked him with her wand- "and girls, one down, 7 to go." Draco called.
"You do not want to do this boy." Narcissa warned.
"Yes, I think I do." Draco answered. "Stupify!"
Narcissa dodged the spell. The fight was on. Jets of ruby and emerald light began to shoot across the grounds and across the sky.
"Ginny!" Harry yelled while jumping out of the way of a spell. "Go get help!"
Ginny started running up to the castle. Before she got half way a jet of a scarlet light hit her in the back. She immediately fell unconscious to the ground.
"Ginny!" Ron screamed as his sister fell. He then turned to the Death Eater who had cast the spell. "Petrificus totalus!" The Death Eater's arms snapped to his sides and his legs snapped together, he went rigid and fell over. The only part of his body that could move were his eyes. He looked back and forth, trying to keep track of what was going on, but in the position he was in it was impossible; he had fallen face down in the grass.
Draco soon found himself face to face with his mother.
"I thought you were better than this." Narcissa snarled jumping out of the way of his stupify curse. "Becoming friends with Harry Potter." She spat the name as though it held a taste that she detested.
"We are not friends!" Draco yelled as he jumped out of the way of another of her curses. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was sure that he did not want to be hit with it. He heard a small gasp behind him. Quickly looking over his shoulder he found the source of the sound. Luna had been standing behind him. When he jumped out of the way the curse hit her instead. With a surprised look on her face she fell over and lay motionless in the wet grass. Draco now knew what the curse had been.
"You killed her!" Draco gasped. His mother just smirked.
"You said she was annoying you anyway. Why should you care if she is dead?" Narcissa replied sending another curse at him. This time it hit him.
"AAAAAAAAAARG!" Draco howled in pain. It was worse than anything he had ever felt before.
Colin, seeing Draco on the ground twitching and screaming, ran at Narcissa and jumped on her back causing her to break the connection that was causing Draco the pain. Draco crawled a little ways away before looking at his mother again.
"Stupid boy!" She was yelling at Colin. She threw him off of her as though he were a cloak on her back. "Avada Kedavra!" He just barely rolled out of the way, only to roll into another Stunning Spell and went unconscious.
Draco took quick inventory of who was left. There were only two Death Eaters left standing now: Narcissa and one other Death Eater. Of the Hogwarts students who had come out to help there was only one left: Harry.
Harry and Draco exchanged quick glances. That was all they could manage before they each dove out of the way of spells again.
"Malfoy! Remember the dueling club!" Harry yelled as he dove out of the way of another Stunning spell and quickly cast a Stunning spell back at the large Death Eater.
'The dueling club?' Draco thought as he blocked a spell from his mother with a shielding charm. 'Why would he be thinking of the dueling club now of all times? All that happened there was—' that was it. Draco knew what it was that Harry was trying to tell him. Quickly getting out of the way of yet another Stunning Spell (or was it a stunning spell that time? Draco did not know, but he wasn't about to find out.) he pointed his wand toward Harry and yelled, "Serpensortia!"
A large cobra shot out of the end of his wand. Harry quickly began hissing to the snake.
"Attack the Death Eaters!" He hissed. This surprised the Death Eaters for they did not know that he could speak to snakes as their master could.
"Why?" The snake answered him lazily.
"If you do you can have all the rats, cooked just like you would like them, as you could possibly eat." Harry bribed the snake dodging another jet of light.
"That wont cut it, bud." The snake answered in the same lazy tone. "I just ate."
"Fine, then attack them or I will blow you into a million pieces!" Harry hissed.
"That'll work." The snake answered.
As fast as lightning the snake's head shot towards the large Death Eater. Before the man knew what was happening the snake had bitten his ankle.
"Embrace the pain." The snake hissed to the man even though Harry was the only one who could understand him.
The Death Eater's face began to twist in pain. He screamed as he clutched his heart, dropped his wand, and fell to the ground.
Harry, Draco, and the cobra all turned to Narcissa now. She was being very cautious. She was now facing two well trained young men and a deadly snake. She slowly backed towards the forest again hoping that she would be able to get some cover in there and be able to pick the boys and snake off one at a time without being seen. The problem was that she needed to get into the forest before her plan would work.
"Where are you going mum?" Draco asked.
"That is an easy question, Malfoy." Harry answered for her. "She is going to Dumbledore."
Before she could react Harry hit her with the Disarming spell and sent her wand flying into the air. Draco quickly cast the full body-bind on her causing her body to go rigid and fall to the ground.
"Well, that seemed to work pretty well." Harry said nodding. "mobilicorpus." He muttered with a flick of his wand. Narcissa's body floated a few feet off the ground.
"What about the other Death Eaters that are lying around all over?" Draco asked.
"You're creative, Malfoy. You think of something. I need to get her to Dumbledore." Harry answered. With that he walked back to the castle with Narcissa floating in front of him. She was going to have a nice long talk with Dumbledore and probably a lot more people.
After Harry had dropped, literally, Narcissa off at Dumbledore's office he went back to help Draco with his friends and the Death Eaters. When he got back to the spot where the fight had taken place he found Draco sitting with his wand out and seven Death Eaters all tied tightly together. The cobra was coiled up next to Draco.
"Why are you still here?" Harry hissed at the snake. The snake turned it's head toward Harry.
"You owe me all the rats I can eat, cooked just they way I want them." The snake replied. "Remember?"
"Hey now! I thought that was not part of the agreement."
"It is now." Was the answer.
Harry rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Draco and the Death Eaters.
"Well, that was one way of doing it." Harry said. Draco turned around to look at him.
"Well, you didn't give me any ideas." He said. "And it works. How about I take care of getting these guys to the castle and you take care of getting everyone else to the hospital wing?"
Harry nodded his reply and began to levitate the students one at a time and took them to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfry put them all in different beds and gave them each, with the exception of Luna, Ginny, and Hermione, a potion that would bring them back to consciousness, but did not wake them up because they "Needed their rest." Luna was simply laid on a bed and covered with a sheet. Hermione, having been hit with a mild memory charm, would take longer to recover than those where were simply stunned. To everyone's relief it had not been a very powerful Memory charm. If it had been a strong memory charm there would have been nothing that all that Madam Pomfry could do to help her, and she would have ended up like Gilderoy Lockhart, and that would be a bad thing. As it was there was a handy potion that Madam Pomfry had Snape brew that helped her remember everything that she had forgotten.
Nearly all of the students that had been on the grounds fighting the Death Eaters were stunned. Ginny had been hit with a curse that neither Harry nor Draco were familiar with. They were later told that she had been hit with a curse that had injected her blood with a small amount of poison. The poison would make its victim go unconscious instantly, and if untreated immediately, would eventually kill the victim. Madam Pomfry assured Draco and Harry that she would have Ginny and Hermione back to normal in a few weeks, but the boys were still not feeling good about it.
Two days later all of the students, other than Hermione, Ginny, and Luna, were all back to class as usual. Harry, and Draco went to the Hospital Wing every day to visit Hermione and Ginny while they were recovering. They were now awake, but not allowed to leave the hospital wing because Ginny was still weak from the curse, and Hermione was still recovering her memory. She did remember Harry, and Draco quite well. That was probably largely due to the fact that they were there every day from the day she woke up until the day she left the hospital wing and went back to class.
Harry was not taking Luna's death easily. There had been another friend of his killed. He knew that this time it was only a very small part because Voldemort wanted to hurt him by hurting or killing people close to him. He knew that it had been a problem between Draco and his mother as well. The curse had been for Draco. It wasn't Harry's fault that Luna was killed. But that did not ease his mind. He tried not to show it, but he really missed the absent minded. The only being that he would confide in was the cobra, who he called Comet.
Ron took Luna's death worse than Harry. He and Luna had gone out for a few months a year earlier. That was before she developed her crush on Harry. Ron still loved Luna very much, and the two had still been close friends. Ron spent several days after the incident just sitting in the Gryffindor common room looking at the fire in the fireplace. Harry would bring him tea and food, but he wouldn't eat very much.
"Ron, you have to eat." Harry told him close to a week after it had happened. "you have hardly touched your chicken, and you are not looking very healthy."
"I'm not hungry." Ron's voice was flat and emotionless.
"She wouldn't want you to starve yourself." Harry said.
"I'm not hungry." Ron said again.
"Ok, fine." Harry thought for a minute. "We have to get our Divination homework finished. The easiest homework because there is no right answer, right?"
Ron shrugged as Harry got out their quills, parchment and divination books. He gave Ron his things and the two began predicting what would happen to them for the next month. This did exactly what Harry meant for it to do: it got Ron's mind off of Luna for a little while.
A couple of weeks later Harry, Ron, and Draco were in their transfiguration class, as usual, McGonagall asked a question that no one could answer.
"How do you transfigure a human into an animal?"
When no one raised their hand McGonagall shook her head.
"Did anyone read their homework last night?" She asked exasperatedly.
"More like read it after all of our other homework and didn't remember a word of it." Ron whispered to Harry.
"There are two ways." A voice behind the class answered. "You can brew a potion that has an extract of the animal you want to change into, but this would be the wrong class to learn how to do that. The second way requires several advanced spells which use a lot of energy to do correctly. If not done correctly the witch or wizard may only transform part of the way. Under extreme circumstances the witch or wizard may be stuck partly transformed and live the rest of his or her life with a cat's tale or a dog's nose, but this is very rare."
The class turned around to see who the speaker was. A few of the students did not need to turn around to know that it was Hermione standing in the doorway. These three students turned around grinning at their friend while she quickly walked over to Harry and Ron giving them each a quick hug and sitting down between them.
After class Draco and Hermione stepped aside from everyone before going to their next classes.
"I'm so glad you are up and around and safe again, Hermione." Draco said wrapping his arms around her. Smiling, Hermione fondly returned the embrace.
"I'm just glad that you and everyone else got out of the Death Eater situation safely. Though I do wish Luna hadn't...." Her voice trailed off. Tears filled her eyes as she rested her head against Draco's chest and he gently stroked her soft hair.
"I know. As much as she annoyed the hell out of me, I didn't really want her to die either. Granted, some serious hexing crossed my mind several times, but not death. Not quite." Draco told her softly, and then kissed the top of her head.
Hermione then stepped away and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
"We had better get to our classes." Hermione smiled at Draco then looked over her shoulder. Harry and Ron were leaning against the wall watching the couple and waiting, rather impatiently, for Hermione so they could go to Herbology.
"It seems I am being waited for." She leaned over and kissed Draco on the cheek then turned and walked over to Harry and Ron, who was watching with a disgusted look on his face. She began walking past then and waved them to come with her and hurry up about it.
"Potter, Weasley." Draco called. Hermione stopped as well when the boys stopped and turned around to look at Draco. "This does not make us friends."
"Ya got that right, Malfoy." Ron answered. Harry just nodded, a grin playing at his lips.
Disclaimer: Y'all have heard it before, but here we go, I do not own any of the characters in this story. They all belong to JKRowling.
"Draco!" Luna Lovegood called as she raced down the packed corridor after the 7th year Slytherin.
"Oh, no. Not again." Draco muttered as he continued walking, trying desperately to ignore the 6th year Ravenclaw. He loved getting attention for the most part, though when it was coming from Luna it wasn't exactly the same; she only ever annoyed him. He also did not want everyone in the school to see him anywhere near Loony Luna. Little did he know that a good part of their interaction in the corridors was carefully monitored by another student.
"Draco! Wait a minute!" Luna grabbed his arm and turned him toward her. She suddenly got the misty look in her gray eyes that she always had, though it got worse when she looked at Draco Malfoy.
"What do you want?" Draco cried in exasperation.
"Can you help me with my potions homework?" She asked dreamily.
"No." Draco said shortly as he started to turn away. She was not ready to let him go yet. She grabbed his arm again and tugged him back. He heard a small rip at the seam of the left sleeve of his robe.
"But, Draco—"
"What are you trying to do?" Draco yelled. "Rip my robes apart? I'm no expert at the sewing charm!"
Before Luna could utter another word Draco stormed off.
"Luna, you really need to back off." Hermione Granger, the student who had been watching all of this, informed the younger girl. She did not like watching Luna chase after Draco, though she would not admit it to anyone.
"Oh, I don't know." Luna answered airily. "Why would you care anyway?" The girl sounded as if she were hinting at something. Something that she was not at all pleased about. Then, lowering her voice she said, "You can't hide it from everyone. Not all of us are blind."
With a finally look of resentment Luna turned and walked off toward her next class.
Hermione, somewhat taken aback, shook her head as she started after Draco.
"Hermione Granger, what do you think you are doing?" Ron Weasley, one of her best friends, called after her. Hermione stopped and turned around to look at him and Harry Potter, their other best friend.
"Malfoy needs to get his sleeve fixed and he doesn't know how. We have double Transfiguration with Slytherin anyway." Hermione informed the two boys. Again she turned on her heel and quickly headed off towards their transfiguration class and Draco.
Ron looked at Harry.
"She's gone mad!" He cried. "She wouldn't help Malfoy out for a million gallions! A million new books, maybe but I doubt he is offering. I smell a polyjuice potion."
Harry chuckled but looked thoughtful. His black eyebrows where now forming the subtle shape of a 'V', indication that he was deep in thought.
"She's probably just trying to be nice." He reasoned, though Ron was right. Why in the world was Hermione going to help their arch enemy? He did not like the idea that kept popping into his head as the thought about this. Could their Hermione possibly fancy Draco Malfoy?
Ron shook his head and the two walked through the corridor, which was beginning to clear out, towards their class.
"I don't need your help, Granger." Draco muttered when Hermione offered to sew up his sleeve.
"Just hold still!" She answered.
Slightly glaring at her Draco did as he was told. He knew she was probably the most powerful witch in Hogwarts, and as much as he did not want to let her help him, or at least he didn't want anyone to see her helping him, the thought of being turned into something other than himself was not a pleasant one.
Hermione took out her wand and mutter the incantation while pointing at the ripped seam. Draco noticed that her once bushy, mouse colored hair was now darker, closer to auburn, longer, about midway down her back, and wavy rather than bushy.Her chocolate eyes were watching the seam closely, concentrating on her charm as if there were nothing else in the world. There were a few freckles scattered across her small nose and slightly over her cheeks. Her chin was set in determination, all the more reason for him to be careful that she didn't curse him. Her lips were tinted with pale pink lip gloss as if longing to be kissed.
"Ahem." Hermione cleared her throat loudly snapping him back into the reality. "Why were looking at me like that?" She asked.
"Like what?" Draco asked quickly. "Why would I be looking at you like anything, Granger? Must have just been your wishful thinking."
Draco quickly turned and sat down at a table with Crabbe and Goyle on each side. Hermione shrugged and turned to Harry and Ron, who she noticed for the first time, were staring at her.
"What are you two goggling at?" She asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.
"You and Malfoy?" Ron whispered glancing in Draco's direction, then looking at Hermione again. "Merlin, Hermione! Anyone but him!"
"What are you talking about?" She asked. She could feel her cheeks heating up slightly and knew she was blushing. She looked away from Ron. She had noticed Draco looking at her in an odd way. His usually cold, steel colored eyes had been almost kind, not harsh. A strand of his slick blond hair had fallen out of place and had been hanging in his face. She had noticed that he was several inches taller than she had thought.
'Why on earth are you thinking of Draco like that?' she asked herself as she and her two friends sat down at a table together. 'He hates muggle borns and he has hated me since our first year. Why would that change now?'
"Today we will continue working on transforming large objects into animals." McGonagall was saying. Hermione hardly heard her. 'You can not start thinking of Draco like that!' She was scolding herself.
"Miss. Granger!" Hermione jumped and looked up at McGonagall.
"Yes ma'am?" Hermione blushed.
"Would you please demonstrate the spell by turning this desk into a dog?" McGonagall asked her.
"Oh. Right." Hermione waved her wand and muttered the spell and what had been the desk that Hermione and her friends were sitting at was now a dog with shaggy black fur. Hermione felt Harry tense up next to her. She gasped and realized what had to be the problem and quickly changed the dog back into a desk. She gave Harry an apologetic look.
"Thank you, Miss. Granger." Mcgonagall said. "Please try to pay attention for the rest of the class."
The remainder of the transfiguration class was uneventful as usual. Hermione caught herself glancing in Draco's direction several times. Unfortunately, Ron and Harry noticed too.
"Hermione, what are you thinking?" Ron repeated as they left the class room.
"Is there an echo in here?" Hermione asked, completely ignoring his question.
"You fancy Malfoy, don't you." It wasn't a question.
"No I don't!" Hermione glared at Ron. "I don't know where you would get such an idea!"
She hurried off to her next class before Ron or Harry could explain to her just why they thought that she fancied him.
"I can not like him." She muttered to herself. "I can't go against my best friends and like Draco."
She sighed.
Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind and yanked her into an empty classroom.
"Hush up!" Draco told her as she screamed. "It's only me!"
"What do you think you are doing?" She asked roughly.
"I wanted to talk to you without Potter and Weasley around." Draco told her.
"Well, here I am. What do you want?" She asked.
"I... I just wanted to say I'm sorry for always teasing you for being a mud—muggleborn." Draco said softly.
Did she hear him correctly? Was he trying to be nice to her? She gaped at him for about 20 seconds.
"You just.... You just..."
"Yes, I just apologized." Draco finished for her. "Don't tell Potter and Weasley. Can't ruin my reputation now, can I?"
He winked at her. She managed to smile back and nod.
"See ya around, Hermione." He grinned then walked out of the classroom leaving a shocked Hermione staring after him.
The next morning, at breakfast, Hermione received a letter carried by a school owl. Quickly opening it she read.
"Hermione,
Meet me in the Room of Requirement as soon as you get out of your last class.
Draco"
'I wonder what he wants.' Hermione thought. 'The Room of Requirement. Hm... That could be a bad place to meet him.'
Hermione wanted so badly to meet him there, but at the same time she was a bit afraid too. In the Room of Requirement he could get anything he wanted to hurt her. His apology the day before could have been a set up. He could have done it just to get her to trust him a bit so she would do as he asked.
'He sounded so sincere though.' She told herself.
"Hermione." Ron broke through her thoughts. "Where are you? Off in Neverland or something? Come on. We have to get to class."
"I'm coming. And I've been right here the whole time."
"In body alone." Harry commented quietly as he and Ron headed out of the great hall. Slowly, Hermione stood up and followed them.
'I guess the only way to find out what he wants is to go meet him.' She returned to thinking about Draco. Looking over at him she saw him trying to blend into the crowd as Luna made her way toward him.
'Why can't that girl just leave him alone?' She thought bitterly. She sighed and shook her head. Even though it completely went against her better judgment she didn't care, she was going to the Room of Requirement after her classes and she was going to see Draco.
After her charms class Hermione excused herself from Harry and Ron and ran towards the girls bathroom. Turning she saw that the boys were not paying any attention to her. She quickly ran down the nearest staircase and then to the Room of Requirement. When she reached the room she did not go in right away. Instead she stood outside looking at the door knob.
'Do I really want to do this?' She asked herself. She was a bit nervous about being in the room alone with Draco.
Biting her lip she opened the door. When she stepped inside she saw Draco sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace. He was staring into the fire completely ignoring the portrait of the lady in a blue dress. She was above the fireplace, and she was telling him that he should not be in here, but rather he should be in his common room or the library doing his homework.
Hermione took a quick look around the room. There were bookshelves full of books and magical items all around the room. There was a table with two chairs in the far left corner, the opposite corner from the sofa and fireplace. The light from the fire seemed to give the room an orange glow.
"Draco?" Hermione said softly.
Draco quickly turned around. Seeing Hermione he smiled and stood up.
"Hermione. I'm glad you came. Come have a seat." Draco said as he motioned to the couch.
Nodding, she sat down quietly and gracefully. Draco sat next to her looking quite nervous. He was unconsciously biting his lip.
"Are you ok?" Hermione asked.
"Um... Yes." Draco stood up and began to pace back and forth in front of the fireplace. "I don't really expect you to trust me right now. I haven't been very nice to you in the past 6 years."
"To put it very lightly." Hermione muttered. Draco turned to her.
"Hermione, I'm sorry for how I treated you. And Potter and Weasley as well. I changed over this last two years. Mum has never liked me. She never loved me. The only reason she even acknowledged that I was alive was because of Dad. When he went to Azkaban there was no one to stop her from doing as she wished. She didn't think that I was good enough to be a Malfoy. She started ignoring me. I didn't really mind at first. I didn't need her for anything. The house elf would do anything I needed, and over all, I never spent much time with her anyway. But then she commanded the house elf and the servants to not do anything for me. I did everything for myself. Once I learned how to cook a bit then there wasn't a problem. When Mum saw that I was still fine even though I had to do my own laundry and cook my own meals she decided to have me be like one of the servants. I did more work than a lot of the servants in the house. I found out what it was like to actually work. As soon as I turned 17 last summer she kicked me out of the house. She didn't give me any money so over the summer I had to find a place to live as well as a job so I could eat. I learned what it was like to not have an over abundance of money to spend as I wished. It gave me a new respect for Weasley especially. Don't tell him I said that. I lived with a muggle family that a guy at the Leaky Cauldron suggested to me. They lived close to the Leaky Cauldron so it was easy for me to get from their place to the book shop in Diagon Ally where I got a job at Flourish and Blots. The muggles, David and Helen, were very kind to me. They trusted me with their house and to watch their children for a bit of extra money, not that muggle money helped me too much until I found out that you can get muggle money exchanged for our money at Gringots. That family gave me a new respect for muggles and muggle borns, like you. Then just about 2 weeks before school started we were getting ready to sit down for supper when David remembered that he needed to pick something up for work. After eating a quick supper David and I went to go pick up the stuff he needed. As we were coming home I saw the Dark Mark in the sky. As we got closer to the house I realized it was over the house. When we got inside we found Helen and all 4 kids dead. The Dark Lord, a being that I had been in league with had murdered the only family that had ever really cared for me, even in those few short months. I am not in league with him anymore. I just wanted you to know that." Draco finished looking nervously at Hermione.
She stared at him trying to take in the whole story. So that was why he apologized. Also why he hadn't been giving her and her friends such a hard time this year.
"I'm so sorry about that family you were with Draco." She said finally. Draco nodded.
"Will you forgive me for how I have treated you? I know I apologized yesterday, but that was just a quick thing, and you didn't say that you forgave me or anything." Draco seemed to find his feet very interesting as he said this to her.
"Yes, Draco. I forgive you."
After that night Draco and Hermione began meeting in the Room of Requirement regularly for the next couple of months.
Two months later in the Gryffindor common room Hermione was sitting at the corner table studying as usual. Tonight she was humming to herself. Harry and Ron were sitting at the table with her playing wizard chess.
"You seem to be in an extra good mood tonight, Hermione." Harry commented. "Actually you have been for the past month or so."
"Hm?" Hermione looked up from her Transfiguration book. "Oh, yes." She went back to reading and taking notes.
Ron and Harry exchanged curious looks.
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Why what?"
"Why are you so happy lately?"
"I don't know. Does a girl need a reason to be happy? I think not." Hermione stood up. "I need to go to the library."
With that she turned and headed out the portrait hole. When she reached the library she found that it was not empty. Sitting at one of the tables was Draco and some younger Slytherin girl. She was sitting on his lap and giggling flirtatiously. Draco seemed very annoyed with her.
'Who is she?' She thought to herself as she grabbed a book off the shelf and sat down in an armed chair. Looking up she saw Draco look at her and smile.
'Why does he have to do that?' She wondered. 'Every time he gives me that look I melt!'
"Excuse me a minute, Lacy." She heard Draco said. He stood up and walked over toward her then appeared to be looking for a book next to where she was standing.
"Meet me under the willow tree by the lake." He told Hermione under his breath. He grabbed a book flipped it open then looked in it for a moment before shaking his head and putting it back. He then want back to Lacy and told her he was leaving. When she tried to come with him told her, rather forcefully, that he wanted to be alone.
Hermione watched as he walked out of the library. Knowing that he did not want anyone to know that they were going to meet by the lake she waited a few minutes before following. When she reached the main doors she looked outside and saw Draco walking toward the large umbrella like willow. The slight wind was causing his robes to billow behind him slightly as he walked.
As soon as he reached the willow tree Hermione ran after him. When she got to the tree Draco grabbed her hand and the two ran around the glossy lake towards the foreboding forest. They ducked around one of the trees at the edge of the forest and sat down among the roots on the soft green moss. The Hogwarts grounds, brightly lit from the moon and the reflection of the moon from the glimmering lake, were behind them, the dark, cold forest was in front of them. The two sat in the shadow of the tree panting a bit from running.
'God she looks beautiful.' Draco thought as he looked at the girl beside him. The dim lighting made Hermione look mysterious. Her hair partly falling out of her hair tie hung around her shoulders. Her eyes were shadowed from the light.
"Isn't that girl, Lacy, going to be mad that you left her like that?" Hermione asked looking over at him.
"Oh, probably. But it's not like I invited her to come with me to the library anyway." Draco replied. "It was more like she followed me. She gets rather annoying like that, you know?"
"I'm sure." Hermione smiled. "Her and Luna. They could start a fan club."
"Oh, God. Don't remind me of Luna!" Draco groaned. "That girl doesn't know when to stop! You know yesterday when I was leaving my common room she was sitting right outside waiting. Then she followed me to the Great Hall and stood behind me while I was trying to eat breakfast! Do you know how irritating that is?"
Hermione laughed. "She had a slight crush on Harry last year. He complained about that. If he had to deal with her like you have I'm not sure what he would have—"
"Shh.." Draco gently, but firmly covered her mouth and listened. "I heard something."
Hermione followed his gaze and saw that he was searching deeper into the forest.
"What do you think it was?" She asked quietly.
"I don't know, but let's go back to the castle." The two stood up and he put his arm around her and led her back toward the castle.
"Draco!" Someone yelled from behind them as they reached the grass. Draco stopped short.
"Oh, no." Hermione heard him whisper.
"Draco Malfoy, look at me right now, young man." The woman's voice said. Draco, very slowly, turned too look at the woman. Hermione also looked over her shoulder and saw Draco's mother, Narcissa, standing at the edge of the forest with her wand pointed at the couple.
"Umm... Hi mum." Draco said sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"
"The correct question would be, what are you doing with that mudblood?" Narcissa spat the name as if it held a nasty taste that she wanted out of her mouth.
"Don't call her that." Draco ordered. "Besides, what do you care?"
"Oh, you have a soft spot for her, do you?" Narcissa smirked. "I always knew you would be trouble. For a few years I thought you might pull through. But, no. Now you have become a muggle lover. Oh, Draco, Draco, what am I going to do with you?"
"Get out of my life like you tried to do already?" Draco suggested.
"No, that wouldn't do. You know too much about the Dark Lord's plans." Narcissa answered.
"But you already kicked me out. Now you want me back?" Draco asked.
"The Dark Lord informed me that it was a mistake to let you go like that. I can't let you blab to everyone now can I?"
She pointed her wand at her son. "Obliviate!" She yelled. Hermione screamed and pushed Draco aside. In doing so the spell hit her instead causing her to be knocked unconscious and fall to the ground. Draco gasped and pulled his wand out.
"I wouldn't do that, boy." Narcissa warned.
"Why not?!" Draco yelled.
Behind Narcissa two more Death Eaters appeared.
"Must I really answer that question? You always have been good at asking dumb questions." The mother answered cruelly.
"Stupify!" Someone yelled from behind Draco. The spell hit the larger of the other two Death Eaters in the chest..
Draco quickly turned around to see Harry and Ron running across the grass toward him. Harry's wand was raised out in front of him while Ron was still digging in his robes for his. Behind them were Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. A frantic Luna knocked Colin Creevy to the ground as she pushed her way through the door. Ginny, directly behind her, had to jump over him to avoid tripping.
Grinning, Draco turned back to his mother whose face was twisted in a sneer. With a wave of her hand, Narcissa motioned for 5 more Death Eaters to come out of the forest. Draco's grin faltered slightly.
Harry and Ron were now next to Draco, their wands each pointing at a different person. Soon the whole group was standing behind Harry, Ron and Draco, their wands out and ready to fight.
"Well, boys,"-Ginny poked him with her wand- "and girls, one down, 7 to go." Draco called.
"You do not want to do this boy." Narcissa warned.
"Yes, I think I do." Draco answered. "Stupify!"
Narcissa dodged the spell. The fight was on. Jets of ruby and emerald light began to shoot across the grounds and across the sky.
"Ginny!" Harry yelled while jumping out of the way of a spell. "Go get help!"
Ginny started running up to the castle. Before she got half way a jet of a scarlet light hit her in the back. She immediately fell unconscious to the ground.
"Ginny!" Ron screamed as his sister fell. He then turned to the Death Eater who had cast the spell. "Petrificus totalus!" The Death Eater's arms snapped to his sides and his legs snapped together, he went rigid and fell over. The only part of his body that could move were his eyes. He looked back and forth, trying to keep track of what was going on, but in the position he was in it was impossible; he had fallen face down in the grass.
Draco soon found himself face to face with his mother.
"I thought you were better than this." Narcissa snarled jumping out of the way of his stupify curse. "Becoming friends with Harry Potter." She spat the name as though it held a taste that she detested.
"We are not friends!" Draco yelled as he jumped out of the way of another of her curses. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was sure that he did not want to be hit with it. He heard a small gasp behind him. Quickly looking over his shoulder he found the source of the sound. Luna had been standing behind him. When he jumped out of the way the curse hit her instead. With a surprised look on her face she fell over and lay motionless in the wet grass. Draco now knew what the curse had been.
"You killed her!" Draco gasped. His mother just smirked.
"You said she was annoying you anyway. Why should you care if she is dead?" Narcissa replied sending another curse at him. This time it hit him.
"AAAAAAAAAARG!" Draco howled in pain. It was worse than anything he had ever felt before.
Colin, seeing Draco on the ground twitching and screaming, ran at Narcissa and jumped on her back causing her to break the connection that was causing Draco the pain. Draco crawled a little ways away before looking at his mother again.
"Stupid boy!" She was yelling at Colin. She threw him off of her as though he were a cloak on her back. "Avada Kedavra!" He just barely rolled out of the way, only to roll into another Stunning Spell and went unconscious.
Draco took quick inventory of who was left. There were only two Death Eaters left standing now: Narcissa and one other Death Eater. Of the Hogwarts students who had come out to help there was only one left: Harry.
Harry and Draco exchanged quick glances. That was all they could manage before they each dove out of the way of spells again.
"Malfoy! Remember the dueling club!" Harry yelled as he dove out of the way of another Stunning spell and quickly cast a Stunning spell back at the large Death Eater.
'The dueling club?' Draco thought as he blocked a spell from his mother with a shielding charm. 'Why would he be thinking of the dueling club now of all times? All that happened there was—' that was it. Draco knew what it was that Harry was trying to tell him. Quickly getting out of the way of yet another Stunning Spell (or was it a stunning spell that time? Draco did not know, but he wasn't about to find out.) he pointed his wand toward Harry and yelled, "Serpensortia!"
A large cobra shot out of the end of his wand. Harry quickly began hissing to the snake.
"Attack the Death Eaters!" He hissed. This surprised the Death Eaters for they did not know that he could speak to snakes as their master could.
"Why?" The snake answered him lazily.
"If you do you can have all the rats, cooked just like you would like them, as you could possibly eat." Harry bribed the snake dodging another jet of light.
"That wont cut it, bud." The snake answered in the same lazy tone. "I just ate."
"Fine, then attack them or I will blow you into a million pieces!" Harry hissed.
"That'll work." The snake answered.
As fast as lightning the snake's head shot towards the large Death Eater. Before the man knew what was happening the snake had bitten his ankle.
"Embrace the pain." The snake hissed to the man even though Harry was the only one who could understand him.
The Death Eater's face began to twist in pain. He screamed as he clutched his heart, dropped his wand, and fell to the ground.
Harry, Draco, and the cobra all turned to Narcissa now. She was being very cautious. She was now facing two well trained young men and a deadly snake. She slowly backed towards the forest again hoping that she would be able to get some cover in there and be able to pick the boys and snake off one at a time without being seen. The problem was that she needed to get into the forest before her plan would work.
"Where are you going mum?" Draco asked.
"That is an easy question, Malfoy." Harry answered for her. "She is going to Dumbledore."
Before she could react Harry hit her with the Disarming spell and sent her wand flying into the air. Draco quickly cast the full body-bind on her causing her body to go rigid and fall to the ground.
"Well, that seemed to work pretty well." Harry said nodding. "mobilicorpus." He muttered with a flick of his wand. Narcissa's body floated a few feet off the ground.
"What about the other Death Eaters that are lying around all over?" Draco asked.
"You're creative, Malfoy. You think of something. I need to get her to Dumbledore." Harry answered. With that he walked back to the castle with Narcissa floating in front of him. She was going to have a nice long talk with Dumbledore and probably a lot more people.
After Harry had dropped, literally, Narcissa off at Dumbledore's office he went back to help Draco with his friends and the Death Eaters. When he got back to the spot where the fight had taken place he found Draco sitting with his wand out and seven Death Eaters all tied tightly together. The cobra was coiled up next to Draco.
"Why are you still here?" Harry hissed at the snake. The snake turned it's head toward Harry.
"You owe me all the rats I can eat, cooked just they way I want them." The snake replied. "Remember?"
"Hey now! I thought that was not part of the agreement."
"It is now." Was the answer.
Harry rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Draco and the Death Eaters.
"Well, that was one way of doing it." Harry said. Draco turned around to look at him.
"Well, you didn't give me any ideas." He said. "And it works. How about I take care of getting these guys to the castle and you take care of getting everyone else to the hospital wing?"
Harry nodded his reply and began to levitate the students one at a time and took them to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfry put them all in different beds and gave them each, with the exception of Luna, Ginny, and Hermione, a potion that would bring them back to consciousness, but did not wake them up because they "Needed their rest." Luna was simply laid on a bed and covered with a sheet. Hermione, having been hit with a mild memory charm, would take longer to recover than those where were simply stunned. To everyone's relief it had not been a very powerful Memory charm. If it had been a strong memory charm there would have been nothing that all that Madam Pomfry could do to help her, and she would have ended up like Gilderoy Lockhart, and that would be a bad thing. As it was there was a handy potion that Madam Pomfry had Snape brew that helped her remember everything that she had forgotten.
Nearly all of the students that had been on the grounds fighting the Death Eaters were stunned. Ginny had been hit with a curse that neither Harry nor Draco were familiar with. They were later told that she had been hit with a curse that had injected her blood with a small amount of poison. The poison would make its victim go unconscious instantly, and if untreated immediately, would eventually kill the victim. Madam Pomfry assured Draco and Harry that she would have Ginny and Hermione back to normal in a few weeks, but the boys were still not feeling good about it.
Two days later all of the students, other than Hermione, Ginny, and Luna, were all back to class as usual. Harry, and Draco went to the Hospital Wing every day to visit Hermione and Ginny while they were recovering. They were now awake, but not allowed to leave the hospital wing because Ginny was still weak from the curse, and Hermione was still recovering her memory. She did remember Harry, and Draco quite well. That was probably largely due to the fact that they were there every day from the day she woke up until the day she left the hospital wing and went back to class.
Harry was not taking Luna's death easily. There had been another friend of his killed. He knew that this time it was only a very small part because Voldemort wanted to hurt him by hurting or killing people close to him. He knew that it had been a problem between Draco and his mother as well. The curse had been for Draco. It wasn't Harry's fault that Luna was killed. But that did not ease his mind. He tried not to show it, but he really missed the absent minded. The only being that he would confide in was the cobra, who he called Comet.
Ron took Luna's death worse than Harry. He and Luna had gone out for a few months a year earlier. That was before she developed her crush on Harry. Ron still loved Luna very much, and the two had still been close friends. Ron spent several days after the incident just sitting in the Gryffindor common room looking at the fire in the fireplace. Harry would bring him tea and food, but he wouldn't eat very much.
"Ron, you have to eat." Harry told him close to a week after it had happened. "you have hardly touched your chicken, and you are not looking very healthy."
"I'm not hungry." Ron's voice was flat and emotionless.
"She wouldn't want you to starve yourself." Harry said.
"I'm not hungry." Ron said again.
"Ok, fine." Harry thought for a minute. "We have to get our Divination homework finished. The easiest homework because there is no right answer, right?"
Ron shrugged as Harry got out their quills, parchment and divination books. He gave Ron his things and the two began predicting what would happen to them for the next month. This did exactly what Harry meant for it to do: it got Ron's mind off of Luna for a little while.
A couple of weeks later Harry, Ron, and Draco were in their transfiguration class, as usual, McGonagall asked a question that no one could answer.
"How do you transfigure a human into an animal?"
When no one raised their hand McGonagall shook her head.
"Did anyone read their homework last night?" She asked exasperatedly.
"More like read it after all of our other homework and didn't remember a word of it." Ron whispered to Harry.
"There are two ways." A voice behind the class answered. "You can brew a potion that has an extract of the animal you want to change into, but this would be the wrong class to learn how to do that. The second way requires several advanced spells which use a lot of energy to do correctly. If not done correctly the witch or wizard may only transform part of the way. Under extreme circumstances the witch or wizard may be stuck partly transformed and live the rest of his or her life with a cat's tale or a dog's nose, but this is very rare."
The class turned around to see who the speaker was. A few of the students did not need to turn around to know that it was Hermione standing in the doorway. These three students turned around grinning at their friend while she quickly walked over to Harry and Ron giving them each a quick hug and sitting down between them.
After class Draco and Hermione stepped aside from everyone before going to their next classes.
"I'm so glad you are up and around and safe again, Hermione." Draco said wrapping his arms around her. Smiling, Hermione fondly returned the embrace.
"I'm just glad that you and everyone else got out of the Death Eater situation safely. Though I do wish Luna hadn't...." Her voice trailed off. Tears filled her eyes as she rested her head against Draco's chest and he gently stroked her soft hair.
"I know. As much as she annoyed the hell out of me, I didn't really want her to die either. Granted, some serious hexing crossed my mind several times, but not death. Not quite." Draco told her softly, and then kissed the top of her head.
Hermione then stepped away and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
"We had better get to our classes." Hermione smiled at Draco then looked over her shoulder. Harry and Ron were leaning against the wall watching the couple and waiting, rather impatiently, for Hermione so they could go to Herbology.
"It seems I am being waited for." She leaned over and kissed Draco on the cheek then turned and walked over to Harry and Ron, who was watching with a disgusted look on his face. She began walking past then and waved them to come with her and hurry up about it.
"Potter, Weasley." Draco called. Hermione stopped as well when the boys stopped and turned around to look at Draco. "This does not make us friends."
"Ya got that right, Malfoy." Ron answered. Harry just nodded, a grin playing at his lips.