Stopping dead in her tracks, she watched as he turned to see who was making the footsteps, and see the same look of recognition on his face that must have just occupied her own. Fortunately, she had the upper hand and managed to whip her wand out of her pocket and point it towards him before he could reach his own.
"What are you doing in here?" She demanded, sounding braver than she felt. This was the confrontation she'd hoped for earlier, but didn't know how to go about doing.
Malfoy kept silent, eyes darting between the wand pointed at him and the face of the person holding it as if trying to assess whether she'd actually use it. Hermione didn't know how he could possibly still doubt her abilities, but to make sure he was on the same page as her, she fired a silent curse towards him. His eyes widened as a flash of purple light narrowly missed his head, disappearing into the wood behind him instead. She couldn't help but feel a little proud of what she'd just done.
"I asked you a question," she said slowly, pronouncing each syllable as if gently reminding a child. "What are you doing in here?"
"Nothing that you need to know about." He finally replied, now only looking into her eyes, feigning courage.
"Now, we both know that's not true." She slightly relaxed her wand arm, but kept her piercing stare on him. "You've been visiting here all year. You were caught, the night of Slughorn's party, but let go. There's something here that you're hiding, for some reason. Whether or not your Voldemort's new lackey, I don't know, but you are most definitely up to something. And whatever it is, it's damaging your health."
Malfoy swallowed, his lips tightening with each word she said. Encouraged that she must be on the right track, she continued.
"I heard Snape talking to you, in that classroom during the party. He was trying to help you. What does he want to help you with? Huh? I swear, Malfoy, you'd better start talking." Damn. She was really impressing herself today. She still had no idea if what she was doing was right, if she was admitting that Harry had been right all along, but whatever it was, this felt good. Finally, having some power.
"Is this what that whole fake-breakfast thing was about this morning?" He asked, still trying to sound like he didn't care despite the fact that it was obvious that he feared what she could do with a wand. "Wanted to get chummy to know my plans?"
"Yeah, yeah, I admit, that didn't really work the way I thought it would." She relented, happy that he was finally talking back. "But the point still stands. So you admit, you have plans?"
The Slytherin scowled, bringing up a hand to push his hair away from his face. It was getting too long, but he didn't seem to care enough to get it cut.
"C'mon, Malfoy. I'm willing to stand here for the rest of the break if that's what it takes, but it would be so much easier if you just talked."
"Fine." He looked down. His face seemed to pale even more despite his naturally pallid features as he chewed the words in his mouth, unsure of how much to say. He seemed to come to a decision when he finally spit out: "He has my parents."
"Voldemort?" She asked, despite the answer being obvious. Malfoy just nodded, still not bringing his gaze back up to hers. She wasn't surprised about this information, considering the Death Eater's failure last year at the Ministry.
"They're being held prisoner in our manor. I can't talk to them. I don't even know if they're alive."
Now this came as a shock. Not what the words said, but how they were said. His voice was strained, free of his usual malice. His swagger that was always apparent in his appearance and cocky way of speaking had vanished, leaving in it's place a voice that sounded like that of a small, frustrated boy. There was still hate in his words, but not directed towards her for once.
But then again, Draco always was a good actor.
"How do I know that you're telling the truth? And what does that have to do with this room?" Hermione straightened her wand arm again, as it was starting to wobble a little. She wasn't used to having to hold it out for this long. But she needed to keep him on his toes. Even if he had some kind of sob story, that didn't negate what kind of person he was. Or seemed to be.
"You don't know, but you have to trust me. All I'm doing in here is opening up a line of communication for him." Malfoy hooked his thumb over his shoulder, pointing to the cabinet behind him.
"Communication for what?"
"I don't know. Someone else is going to answer the calls. I'm just trying to fix it, redeem some dignity for my family."
"Who's the one answering the calls?"
"I don't know. I'm not exactly trusted with that 'privileged' information, after everything that's happened. No one in my family is. We made a mistake somewhere along the lineand now my parents are paying the price."
Hermione was struggling. She knew that Voldemort could very well be torturing his parents, and Merlin knows what that would do to a kid, but she also knew that Malfoy could lie. Or tell half-truths. Or manipulate people for their feelings.
"Please, don't tell anyone. Not yet." He finally looked back up to see her studying his face, looking for tells. "I'm just doing a job. I have no choice."
"You always have a choice." Her face hardened as she said the words. She believed exactly what she was saying and that made it so much easier to spit out what she needed to say next, to spark some kind of reaction. "And you always choose to be a coward."
Whether or not the words actually affected him, she couldn't tell. His face also went stony as he stared back. That complicated things, as all Hermione wanted right now was a reason to actually fire a curse at him.
But his eyes were still telling. Behind the stony gray was a boy who was hurt. A boy who missed his mom and dad. Or, at least his mom. And family was important. She knew that she'd do anything, literally anything, to keep her own parents safe. For him, it was too late. He just had to try his best.
"You won't tell." He stated it as a fact. Damn. She must have let her guard drop, or had paused for too long before making another move at him.
"You don't know that." She tried in vain to redeem herself.
"Yes, I do." He started stepping towards her. She took a step back to compensate, keeping her wand between them. "You root for the underdog, don't you? Like with your silly little house-elf support group? Always cheering on the less fortunate."
"I don't see what S.P.E.W. has to do with anything we're talking about." She tried to muster up the courage she'd managed before, but was failing.
"I'm just trying to get by now, you can see that." Malfoy dropped his stony face and replaced it with a pleading one. "I just need to get through this year. I haven't hurt anyone and I'm just trying to keep what's left of my family. Please, don't tell anyone. Leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. I'll leave everyone alone."
Her instincts were telling her to freeze him and drag him to Dumbledore's office right then and there. He was a manipulative bastard. But he always had been big bark, no bite. Maybe he wouldn't actually do anything wrong. Besides, he'd been working on this cabinet for months and made what must have been no progress. She could get away with just pretending this never happened, right? Then, if anything even remotely seemed out of place with him, she could report him at that time, with proof. If he succeeded, it might be her fault, but since when did Malfoy succeed?
Hermione lowered her wand arm but kept it by her side, ready to draw again. Malfoy followed the action with his eyes and let out a small breath of relief.
"I'm not letting you off the hook just yet," she reassured him forcefully. "I'll be watching you. Any hair seems out of place and you're dead, you hear me?"
"Does this mean you won't tell anyone?" His eyebrows arched, almost surprised at her decision.
"Not yet, no." She shook her head slowly. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not willing too. But for now, no. Not even Harry will know. Though he is very suspicious, so I'd watch out for that if I were you."
"Oh," he let the sound out on a breath. "Thank you, Granger."
She just realized that she had given him advice. Genuine advice. Against Harry. As in, in favour of his nemesis. She expected to feel guilty and ashamed but instead she just felt, good. Almost charitable. And he had genuinely thanked her back, without an insult. What the hell was happening, a Christmas miracle?
She cleared her throat, and motioned towards the door with her wand. Understanding that there were no more words left to be spoken, Malfoy headed out the door in front of her. Once they were both back in the hall, looking at the tapestry, she finally said something.
"I still don't like you. And I still think you're up to something." She pushed him towards the stairs so he could head down to his Common Room while she headed the opposite way to hers.
"I don't like you either. In fact, I hate you. But that still doesn't change what we agreed." He turned on the stairs to look back her, making sure that the latter statement was still true. She nodded, and then flicked her hand towards him to indicate that he should leave now.
As the boy who was almost a man turned on his heel to head down the stairs, the girl who stood at the top could've sworn she'd seen the beginnings of a smile creep on his face as he looked away. What a scary thought.