Chapter 2

The Path Continues

The ground crunched under their feet as they continued their journey in silence, and the moonlight was blocked by towering trees along their path. Hermione felt relieved and happy that she had reached an understanding with the boys about Snape, but she only wished she could get through to them the extent of everything she knew.

"Lumos," she whispered, conjuring a faint blue light from the tip of her wand.

The blue glow allowed just enough light to see the soil passing underneath her feet, and it brought to her mind her trip to Hogsmeade with Madam Pince. She could not stop the grin from crawling across her face when she remembered how silly Madam Pince could be when she was away from school. The snarly old witch had turned out to be her friend. Although she was honored, she mostly thought it was because the pessimistic woman honestly thought Voldemort would wipe them away at any given moment, and she had decided to live life to the fullest. In doing so, Pince had bought several pairs of lacy knickers, a bottle of perfume, and a tube of ruby red lipstick while they visited Gladrags Wizardwear. Hermione almost laughed out loud when she remembered their short walk to the Three Broomsticks.

Madam Pince clutched the shopping bag full of lacey knickers to her chest, and said enthusiastically, "Argus will appreciate these."

The pub was warm and welcoming and there were only a few other people sprinkled about the tables. However, Hermione saw Draco Malfoy sitting at the bar with his disciples Crabbe and Goyle. They chanted and cheered while the blonde wizard shot Firewhiskey. She was sickened because Draco had threatened Madam Rosmerta into serving it to the underage student. Hermione did her best to ignore the situation and enjoy being away from the castle for a bit.

They took a seat by the window and ordered warm Butterbeer. Madam Pince began a conversation about the need to upgrade the ventilation system in the library, but Hermione could hardly hear her over the loud drunken voice of Draco Malfoy. He began boasting about becoming a Death Eater just like his father and how he would soon be taking the Dark Mark. In a way, she felt sorry for him because she never believed he was truly as evil as the rest of his family. However, his arrogance was worse than his father's and she wanted to bodily throw him out of the pub.

The door of the pub flung open violently and Severus Snape stalked through the room and took Draco by the collar. Hermione could not hear what the professor said to the younger wizard, but the rumbling of his voice was firm and full of anger when he spoke. Stifling a laugh, she watched the drunken blonde wizard being pulled to the door and she secretly enjoyed seeing him publicly humiliated. She was certain that Draco was going to lose house points and receive a very long lecture on his way back to the castle under Professor Snape's administration. However, her smile slowly left her face when she saw crimson dripping from underneath his black curtain of hair. Pausing at the door, Snape's eyes accidentally locked with hers and for a fraction of a second that felt to her like minutes, he seemed relieved to see her sitting there. She shuddered under his commanding gaze and was confused by the awakening in her body he had unknowingly provoked. She wanted to help her Potions Master and wipe the blood from his brow, but she was frozen in place. Tightening his grip on Draco's collar, he flung open the door and jerked Draco into the darkness, slamming the door behind them.

Later that same evening, just around midnight, she had finished her rounds as Head Girl, and she quietly began the descent of the narrow spiral staircase leading to the dungeons. About half way down, she found Draco distraught, crying onto the stone wall of the stairwell. He had not heard her approaching over the sounds of his sobbing, and she could not continue downward because he was blocking her way down the steps.

"Haven't had time to sleep it off, I see. Snape must have worked you over pretty good!" she said, failing miserably with trying to make it sound more like a joke. Realizing that her voice had not had the tone of her intention, she braced herself for his response while she held on to the hope that he would simply move aside and let her pass. However, he spun around, startled, and menacingly eyed her as he harshly wiped his eyes and his nose on his sleeve.

Taking in a deep, hitched breath, he hissed, "What do you want, Mudblood? Are you here to punch me in the face? Or maybe you'd like to hex me!" He rubbed his eyes with his hands as though he was trying to push them through to the back of his head.

After wiping away the wet tears from his fingers onto his trousers, he threw up his arms, defeated, and she saw terror in his face.

Then, with no trace of emotion, he blurted out, "Well, here I am, Granger. Go ahead. Take your best shot because I frankly don't care anymore. I wish you would just do us all a favor and kill me."

She studied him for a moment, noticing how the grey color of his eyes was emphasized by the puffy redness of his eyelids. She was relieved that he had not chastised her for breaking curfew, nor had he inquired about her mission in the dungeons. She had never seen Draco Malfoy so upset, and she was puzzled that he had not been more hateful when he spoke to her, thinking it rather odd that he had not tried to hide his emotions from her.

Crossing her arms, she said civilly, "I don't wish to go at it with you right now, Malfoy. Could you please step aside so I may pass?"

He did not move, but he turned his head toward the bottom of the stairs to where Snape's private quarters were situated, and he looked up at her. A worried expression took over the sadness in his face, and he rasped, "He's not back yet and I don't know…The Dark Lord was…It's all my fault!"

Draco's face contorted into a miserable expression of distress and he broke into heartbreaking tears. Covering his eyes with his hands to hide his misery, he flopped down onto the stone step and crumpled against the cold wall, his body shaking as he sobbed.

Hermione sat on the step behind him, concerned for her Potions professor, and she reluctantly touched Draco's shoulder with empathy. He cried even louder, becoming inconsolable, and she decided to sit with him until he regained his composure, hoping he would offer more information about Snape. As much as she disliked Malfoy, she still saw him as a human being, and she was extremely curious as to what could have him so distraught.

After a few moments of his constant sobbing, she asked, "Are you hurt, Draco? Do you need me to fetch Madam Pomfrey?"

"No!" He whimpered, trying to control his emotions. Raising his voice, he slapped the wall, and shouted, "I'm not hurt and I don't need Madam Pomfrey!" Pinching the bridge of his nose as hard as he could to stop the tears from escaping his eyes, he inhaled and exhaled a quick, deep breath. Lowering the volume of his voice, he said, "Why are you being so nice to me, Granger?"

Hermione removed her hand from his shoulder and rested her elbows on her knees. "Draco, you are an ass, but you're also a person. Well, sometimes you are, anyway, but I don't ever remember seeing you like this. Even though I really don't like you, it's actually heartbreaking to witness."

Noticing the panic residing in his swollen eyes, she appreciated the color of them because they seemed too innocent and scared to belong to such a bloody prat as Draco Malfoy. However, she shuddered when she realized the dark indecision that lay inside them.

Swallowing hard, she clenched her eyes together and asked brokenly, "Is your family alright?"

He subconsciously did a double take at her and he stared at her for a moment. When he realized what he had done, he began to chuckle at the absurdity of her inquiring about his family, and he snorted, "Good one, Granger."

They both laughed nervously and the atmosphere between them began to lighten and a silent truce was made.

Leaning back with his elbow on the step next to her, he relaxed for a moment, and replied with a quick grin, "My family is OK for now. Thank you for asking."

Looking down, he began to sob again, and he added, "Actually my mother…Professor Snape took…" Abruptly silencing his voice, he stood, and grabbed her hand. "Vow that you will never repeat to anyone what I am about to tell you! Swear it!"

"Of course I won't tell anyone! I promise, Draco." She retorted, insulted that he questioned her loyalty.

His soft voice echoed in the stairwell when he told her in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry, Granger. I need to be sure you wouldn't go tell Weasley and Potter what I'm about to confide in you." His stern, grey eyes pierced hers, and his voice trembled, "Hogwarts seems so far behind me now. I'm scared, Hermione. This is bigger than our rivalry!"
She impatiently whispered, "Draco, these are dark times for our world and whether we like it or not we have to help one another fight our way through it. If you have information that can help Professor Snape, then for the love of Merlin, Draco, what is it?"

Sitting on the step beside her, he opened his mouth to speak, but he closed it again, wondering why she was suddenly so concerned about the Potions Master. Rubbing his hands through his already disheveled hair, he gasped, "You have a thing for him, don't you?"

"You Prat!" she yelped, unable to stop the gush of blood flushing through her blushing face. Slapping him on the arm, she covered her face with both hands to hide the truth that he had just made her realize.

Laughing nervously, he said, "I see you don't deny it. Don't worry, Granger. Your secret is safe with me." Abandoning the playful banter, his face became stern and he pulled both of her hands away from her face by her wrists, searching her eyes for answers, pleading for her help, and he spoke almost inaudibly, "I have to kill Dumbledore or the Dark Lord will kill me."

"You what?" She asked, looking at him in shock. "That's…You're not going to actually do it, are you?"

He hesitated and she felt his hands trembling.

"Draco, I know you always complain about how much you dislike him, but I don't think you hate him enough to kill him, even if the Dark Lord says he will kill you if you don't!"

"I…I may not have to," he replied, sitting on the step next to her. "My godfather…I mean Professor Snape will…"

"Professor Snape is your godfather?" she gasped, cutting off his sentence.

Nodding his head, he continued, "He made the unbreakable vow to my mother that he would protect me and carry out the deed if I should fail. The Dark Lord sent me back to the castle and he was torturing Snape for my being late to the meeting." His insecure gaze awaited her reaction, hoping for some type of miracle solution to come from her brilliant Gryffindor brain.

She looked away, allowing her mind a moment to expunge vivid images of Snape being tortured under Voldemort's wrath.

"So that's why Snape dragged you out of the pub," she thought aloud.

"Yes. I didn't know the Dark Lord would pick tonight to want to see me and I went to the pub instead of staying in the Common Room like Professor Snape told me to do. He rewarded me and put Snape under the Cruciatus Curse. He told me of the deed I would have to perform to deem myself worthy of a…Death Eater." He clenched his teeth on the title when he said it, seething with hatred and anger. "It's what Father wants for me. I don't want to do it, but if I don't do as he says…"

Pulling out of the memory, Draco's watery gray pupils became the glowing blue light emitting from the tip of Hermione's wand, illuminating the ground beneath her feet. She glanced at the outlines of her two best friends walking in front of her. She had never betrayed Draco's secret, but she had led Ron and Harry directly to smoking gun clues that they dismissed over and over again, frustrating her even further. Harry had even overheard a heated conversation between Snape and Draco in which Snape spoke of the Unbreakable Vow, but he was too hell-bent on hating the wizard to believe his own ears.

After Dumbledore's death, Ron only threw coal on the fire of rage burning inside Harry when Hermione continued to defend the former Headmaster's trust in Professor Snape. She maintained the fact that she trusted their Potions Master because he had been the one to keep them safe all along, and that she believed in Dumbledore's fierce trust in him. She also had information that Snape had been treating the ancient wizard's blackening hand with potions and spells to help slow the dark curse, but when she had told Harry and Ron, they became so angry with her that they did not speak to her for an entire day.