Hermione awoke in a cold sweat but she couldn't remember exactly why. All she remembered from her nightmare was a pair of cold, fearful, slate-grey eyes staring at her from darkness and a long scream. It really troubled her so she got up and checked the time. 3:12 AM. Hermione grumbled to herself and dragged herself out of bed. She knew she wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night.
Hermione tossed on a robe and wandered downstairs. At first glance she didn't see anyone but when she looked around again she saw someone nestled in one of the armchairs by the fire. When she tip-toed closer, she realized it was Harry. She barely breathed for fear of him hearing her and exploding at her. He was so volatile lately she never knew when he would snap. It worried her greatly. She wanted her old Harry back.
She decided to take a chance and walked around in front of him. He tried to smile up at her. That was a good sign. She sat down on the arm of the chair he was occupying.
"Why are you up so early?" he asked.
"Honestly? I had a nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep. I don't remember it, though," she replied with a small frown.
"I know what that's like. I'm sorry to hear it." She didn't know how to reply to that. She didn't want to make him upset so she just didn't say anything.
Harry went back to staring into the fire and they sat in companionable silence for a while. The sun started to rise outside so she figured it was around 5:30 or so. Harry's friendly green eyes started to look haunted again. She wondered what was going through his mind that tortured him so badly.
"Harry? It's time to get ready for breakfast."
He turned those emerald eyes up to look at her and she could see the walls building again, brick by brick. But she had been given a new hope. They had been able to sit near each other for a couple of hours and he hadn't snapped at her at all. She started to puzzle out a way for that to happen again.
"Come on, love. Let's get you upstairs," she whispered.
He didn't say anything but got up and followed her to his room. She opened the door for him and he went inside. She headed back to her own room for a shower and to get dressed. Today was going to be a long day.
It was the first day of classes. She was (of course) taking Advanced everything. Her first class of the day was Advanced Arithmancy. She wondered if there would be anyone else she knew in there. All of her previous Arithmancy classes had consisted of a group of Ravenclaws and herself.
Hermione sighed deeply and headed to the Great Hall after getting dressed. She felt a little bit hungry after her long morning. Breakfast was a little more normal and more people started to talk. There was even a little bit of laughter. Ron came down first of the two boys, with his ex-girlfriend-turned-friend, Lavender Brown, in tow. They sat next to Hermione and Ron put about half of his usual amount of food on his plate. He even started nibbling at it which meant he was feeling a little better. She used to hate watching him scarf his food down like a starved dog but now she kind of missed it. She really wanted things to go back to normal.
When the doors opened to reveal Harry, Hermione caught her breath. She was worried he would be back in one of his dark moods, but he half-smiled at her and Ron so she knew he was at least a tiny bit better. His eyes were still haunted, though, and she doubted that would go away for a very long time. She knew a main reason behind that was the fact that he had seen Severus Snape murder Professor Dumbledore. Oh, how she could kill Snape if she got the chance. She had always hated him but now she had a longing in her heart to see him suffer. It was so unlike her that it actually frightened her. She was just glad that the ex-professor had gone into hiding after the murder, and no one had seen him since.
She went back to eating to take her mind off all of their troubles.
Every time the door opened her head snapped up for fear of seeing those cold silver eyes. She feared a repeat of last night's performance and didn't know if she could hold Harry and Ron back this time. But her fears were for naught. Draco Malfoy didn't show up all throughout breakfast. It made her wonder where he was. Probably lurking around the dungeons picking on helpless first-years and killing little creatures that crossed his path. Of course he's following in his father's footsteps, becoming just as evil as Lucius. But Hermione couldn't help remembering that defeated look his eyes had held when he'd entered the Great Hall the night before. It was almost as if he had WANTED the boys to reach him. She puzzled over that for a while.
The movements of people around her getting up and heading to their classes shook her out of her thoughts. She filed them away in the back of her mind to figure out later and got up herself to head to Advanced Arithmancy.
.ooOoo.
When Hermione entered her Arithmancy classroom, she was so surprised at what she saw that she tripped on an uneven tile and nearly fell flat on her face. Draco Malfoy was sitting at one of the eight double-seater desks, reading his Arithmancy textbook with a look of concentration on his long, pale face. She thanked God that he didn't notice her embarrassing stumble. She continued to stare in shock as she maneuvered herself to a desk as far away from his as possible in the tiny room.
Other students filed in and Professor Vector followed. Hermione noticed that she was correct in her assumption. The only two non-Ravenclaws in the class were herself and Malfoy. She almost laughed to herself but she was still too stunned.
Professor Vector walked about the room and greeted the class.
"Now I know that you are all sitting where you are comfortable, but comfort is not my goal for this class. I feel that students work most effectively in a place where they are not comfortable so I am going to take you all out of your comfort zones and we are going to have a seating chart."
She then proceeded to move students around and no one ended up sitting in the same place they began. Hermione's heart dropped when she heard her name called.
"Miss Hermione Granger. Lovely to have you in this class again. Your seat is now right over here, to the left of Mr. Fletcher."
Oh God. That's right in front of Malfoy!
She felt sick and wondered when the endless torturing would begin. She sat and waited… and waited… and waited. She nearly turned around in shock but caught herself. He hadn't even acknowledged her with a "Hey, Mudblood" or anything equally as foul.
Her stomach lifted a tiny bit and she turned to introduce herself to her partner. His name turned out to be Alan Fletcher and he was a pretty nice bloke, if not a little too inquisitive. He was a seventh-year Ravenclaw and was very much like herself. He spent most of his time in the library and took all advanced classes. She knew they would get on fine.
Hermione became increasingly uncomfortable during her conversation with Alan because of the eyes she felt scalding the back of her skull. She sneaked a glance behind her and brown eyes met silver. It was like she was trapped in his stare and the rest of the class disappeared. Hell, the rest of the WORLD disappeared it seemed to Hermione. It was the strangest feeling she had ever experienced, and that was saying a lot.
Malfoy's eyes stayed locked on hers but he wasn't glaring. He had a slight frown on his lips as he seemed to be searching her eyes for something. What he was looking for, she had no idea. She noticed that his irises were the color of storm clouds and then chastised herself for even thinking about what color his eyes were. Then it hit her… those were the same eyes that had stared, pleading, from the darkness in her dream! Then Malfoy broke the stare by glancing back down to his book. What felt like an eternity to Hermione was really just a couple of moments.
Hermione spun back around in her seat so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash. Her heart was racing in her chest and she felt like she was struggling for breath.
It took a couple more moments for her to realize that Alan was still talking to her.
"…and I really like to go camping with my brothers during the summer hols. How about you?"
"Wha… huh?" was her intelligent reply.
"I asked what you liked to do in your time out of school." He spoke slowly as if she were hard of hearing.
"Oh…. Well I really like to read and sometimes my friends Harry and Ron and I get together and spend time at Ron's house."
The eyes were back on her. She could tell because of the hairs lifting on the back of her neck. But she refused to turn around this time lest that whole interlude happen again. It freaked her out enough the first time. She didn't need a repeat performance.
"Ohhh! You're friends with Harry Potter, right? I think I've see you guys hanging out with that massive red-headed bloke, too."
"That massive red-headed bloke happens to be named Ron," she said dully. She didn't know why but it irritated her that he didn't care enough to know Ron's name when he so obviously cared that she hung out with Harry. Alan then proceeded to question her more about Harry. She let him know, politely of course, that Harry wasn't up for discussion. God, what was it with these people and being so nosey about my best friend?
She heard a tiny snort come from behind her and she whirled around ready to yell at Malfoy but he wasn't looking at her, though he was trying to mask his smirk. He looked back up at her and let the smirk flow free. His trademark smirk. The one that she hated. Ergh! She hated Malfoy!
Luckily for Malfoy, Professor Vector began her lesson and Hermione was quickly occupied with taking notes.
After what seemed like only a couple of minutes for Hermione, class ended and it was time for her to go to her next class, Advanced Ancient Runes.
.ooOoo.
By the end of the day, Hermione was exhausted. She had tons of homework even though it was the first day of classes, but that was because of her choosing all advanced classes. To be completely honest, she didn't mind it much. She actually enjoyed homework.
When it was time for dinner, Hermione, Ron, and Harry all headed out for the Great Hall at the same time. Ron and Hermione chatted idly about their classes on the way there while Harry stayed relatively silent unless directly spoken to. Ron and Hermione would throw him pitying glances every once in a while but Harry didn't seem to notice.
When they reached the Hall and sat down for dinner, conversation seemed to be pretty much back to normal. There were jokes tossed back and forth between the Gryffindors and lots of laughter surrounded them. It made Hermione smile. She was glad to hear her Gryffindors happy again. All except for one. Harry sat staring into his soup and didn't look up once. Everyone noticed but they all knew about his newly developed temper and didn't say anything. He ate in his own world then headed to bed before the rest of them.
Harry's attitude definitely dampened Hermione's good mood. She headed back to the common room before most of the other Gryffindors. When she got there, Harry was nowhere to be seen, although Ron and Lavender were thoroughly exploring each other's mouths on the couch. She frowned, disgusted. Of course they're back together. We'll see how long it lasts this time before she scares him away again, the nitwit. Knowing she couldn't do anything about it, she just sat down at one of the common room tables furthest away from the canoodling couple and finished her homework, which took only an hour or so.
Hermione headed back up to her room to find it unoccupied, changed into her nightgown, laid down on her bed, and fell asleep the second her head touched the pillow.
Hermione was running through the deserted halls of Hogwarts, wearing only her silk nightgown. It was pitch black outside the windows and nearly just as dark inside the school itself. She knew something horrible was following her but she didn't know what it was. She heard the advancing footsteps behind her and ran faster. Her bare feet were getting raw with the force of her fleeing.
She turned a corner into a darkened hallway and sprinted as fast as she could. She heard hideous laughter coming from behind her and she nearly screamed but her voice seemed to be lodged in her throat. She could feel the darkness creeping closer with every step. It was going to overtake her. She was going to die.
She rounded another bend and stopped short. It was a dead end. She spun around wildly looking for someplace to hide when someone grabbed her from behind, covered her mouth, and dragged her into a dark alcove, one of the ones that housed a statue. Whoever it was pulled her down into a grate that led to some underground passageway and pressed her up against the wall. It was an incredibly tight squeeze, barely large enough for one person. She felt a warm chest pressed tightly against her back. She tried screaming.
"Shhhhh… He won't know we're here if you stay quiet," whispered a deep, musical, masculine voice.
Hermione looked up into the face of the man who had grabbed her and saw pale white skin and beautiful stormy grey eyes. She was looking into the face of Draco Malfoy! That thought in itself made her breathing become shallow and her heart race even faster. But she didn't feel the urge to scream anymore and Malfoy read it on her face. He let go of her mouth.
Both pairs of eyes went wide when they heard the footsteps of her attacker approaching dangerously close. She tried to slow her breathing more so it wouldn't be audible but it was pointless. She was just too terrified to be able to control it.
"You can't hide forever. I WILL find you," the horrible voice said from above their hiding place. Malfoy knew she was close to sobbing so he covered her mouth again. He pressed his lips against her ear and whispered barely audibly "It's okay. You're fine. He won't find us. Shhh.."
She nodded imperceptibly. He pressed himself closer to her to keep her pinned to the wall. He didn't want her moving and accidentally making noise.
Suddenly there were shouts from above and spells were cast back and forth. They could tell by the flashes of light flying in every direction. Then the clamoring moved further away and the hallway had become deserted again. Malfoy kept her pressed up against the wall with his hand on her mouth for what seemed like an eternity but was really probably only ten minutes or so.
Slowly he inched as far away from her as he could in the small hole they were in. She moved away from the wall and looked around. What she thought at first was a passageway, she realized was really just a drainage hole. It was about seven feet deep and about four square feet around, with small pipes around the bottom for the water to drain out of.
Hermione was distracted when she realized that Malfoy was still incredibly close, and suddenly she felt rather warm, even in only her nightgown.
"Oh. Ahem. Uhhh... We should probably…umm… get out of here now, right? Do you think it's safe?" she whispered, flushing bright red.
"I think we'll be fine. Here, let me help you up."
She lifted her leg as much as she could so he could put his hands under her feet and pushed her up inch by inch until she could push the grate back again. He was really strong to be able to lift her so slowly, she noticed, then flushed even brighter. She peeked her head out and around and he was right. Nothing was there. Finally, she was all the way out. He hoisted himself out, turning down her proffered hand, and closed the grate again. He grabbed her hand and they inched their way out of the maze of hallways.
"Why is Hogwarts so dark right now?" she whispered.
"Voldemort does this partially to scare his enemies and partially to make it easier for his minions to see. You see, most of the creatures he's gotten to join his side are dark creatures, ones who see better at night," Malfoy explained in a whisper.
"You are certainly right about that, young Malfoy," the hideous voice that was tracking her hissed from the shadows. Malfoy threw her behind him while drawing his wand, and told her to run. She stubbornly refused, clinging to his shirt like a child. She tried backing away and pulling him with her but he wouldn't budge.
The creature stepped out of the shadows and Hermione screamed in horror. Its massive, 10-foot tall body was that of a hairy, black scorpion, but the most horrible part about it was that, in the place of the scorpion's face, was a grotesque, distorted human face. It was awful and Hermione felt sick to her stomach.
"Run, Hermione! Now!"
"No, Draco! I won't leave you!" Hermione started to cry, she felt so helpless.
"You should've listened to the boy. Now it's too late for you." The evil monster cackled right before it struck. The giant stinger came down and impaled Malfoy's chest drawing him into the air and flinging him against the stone wall. Hermione screamed again, this time in outrage. She whipped out her wand and an ancient spell she'd never heard before tumbled out of her lips.
"Per mos superum, ego ordo vos dimitto.
Vos valeo hic haud magis.
Per nomen quicumque est bonus, ego terminus vestri reign obscurum.
Ego iam ordo vos morior.
Absum, everto, quod nunquam reverto."
The evil monster's human face let out a horrid shriek and the body exploded into a cloud of dust.
Hermione ran over and lifted Malfoy's limp body onto her lap, placing one hand on the gaping wound on his chest, right where his heart would be, not caring one bit that his blood was now covering her arms and hands. She cradled him close to her. When she looked into his eyes, she saw that he was still alive, but just barely. His eyes pleaded up at her while blood trailed from his perfect lips. He coughed and more blood came out, adding to the pool already surrounding his body. He tried to smile at her but she knew it took a lot of effort.
"I'm so so sorry, Draco. I'm sorry," she sobbed into his neck.
He lifted his pale, long-fingered hand to cup her cheek. She turned her face into his hand and nuzzled it.
"It's okay," he whispered just audibly enough for her to hear him. "You're the one that needs to live. Live for me, Hermione."
With those last words his beautiful, stormy eyes went glassy and his head tipped to the side. She knew he was gone forever.
