The next few weeks flew by without much excitement. She hadn't looked into Draco's tempestuous eyes since Potions class in the first week of classes. Hermione was slightly relieved of that fact but knew she wasn't making any progress on her task from Dumbledore. All she could do was follow Draco and listen to his conversations. Some were boring but most were confusing. Majority of Draco's conversations were laced with words that had hidden meanings. At least the concealment charms she had been practicing over the summer were finally coming to good use. She was prepared to give him up the whole stalking thing until yesterday afternoon.
"I want you to keep an eye on someone for me." Draco's low voice barely reached Hermione, who was hiding behind the adjacent wall. "You are not to interfere but you will watch to make sure Katie Bell leaves Hogsmeade with a package in her hands…I said Katie Bell. Don't look so vacant, Goyle. If she does not have the package you will receive further instructions. Understand?" Draco was growing impatient with Goyle's insolence and was prepared to perform a memory charm on him to make him forget they were even friends in the first place. Things were not going as planned the blasted cabinet and he was resorting to desperate measures. He felt pathetic and fraught with worry.
"Yeah yeah. What do I get out of this? You haven't even told me what it's for."
Draco grabbed the front of his robes and pushed him up against the wall, a hidden Hermione holding her breath. "What do you want? A fucking cupcake and a hug? You will do what I say without questioning me. Do you understand me?" Hermione could have sworn she heard Goyle whimper in response before Draco let him go. "Let's go." She could hear the rustling of clothes as they adjusted themselves before walking away, leaving a shocked Gryffindor in their wake.
Under the pretense of sending her parents a letter, Hermione borrowed Hedwig to send Dumbledore an urgent letter. She was freaking out and the unsually messy handwriting would make that obvious to the Headmaster. When Hedwig returned to her so quickly she breathed a bit lighter.
Hermione ran a hand through her hair as she approached the statue leading to Dumbledore's office. Her mind was so muddled with nervous contemplations that she had nearly forgotten the password. "Acid Pops," she finally spoke to the statue which responded with turning slowly to reveal a spiral staircase. She had never been to Dumbledore's office alone but there was a first time for everything.
Pushing through the door to his office Hermione found the Headmaster sitting at his desk, seemingly talking to Fawkes.
"You are quite right, dear friend – "
"Erm…Headmaster."
Dumbledore looked away from Fawkes with a smile at the young witch standing in front of the door. "Come in Miss Granger." Hermione moved cautiously into the room as she examined her quirky elder. She nearly waved to the bird to say hello before she remembered the phoenix couldn't reply…it was a bird. She was going mental. She quickly made to sit down in the chair across from Dumbledore's desk, her hands instantly fidgeting in her lap.
"How are you on this fine night?" The question seemed commonplace but in the moment it made her look at him sharply with a raised eyebrow. It was the first time they were meeting from school started and it was under such importance pretenses. What did it matter how she was doing?
"Fine, sir. I'm a little distressed but that's why I'm here. You see –"
"And classes are going well? I hear you have been recruited by Horace for his meetings. Was the first meeting worth recalling?"
Hermione suddenly felt exhausted. Was she freaking out over nothing? The push and pull of her emotions was becoming too much to handle. Dumbledore was making it seem like Hermione simply wanted to chat over tea which was definitely not the case. She shook her head at his question and answered the only way she could. "If I'm to be honest, I don't find the chosen students to be nearly as interesting at Professor Slughorn believes them to be. Me, for example."
Dumbledore let out a throaty laugh that made Hermione involuntarily grin. "You are definitely interesting Miss Granger. Much more than you may want to believe." Hermione nodded quietly, looking down at her hands.
"But you came here for a reason. I have distracted us more than enough."
Hermione bought her hands to the arms of the chair and looked at him. "Draco is planning on giving Katie Bell something this weekend at Hogsmeade. I overheard him telling Goyle to make sure Katie had a package when she came back to Hogwarts. Is this something I should be concerned about?" she asked him, her eyes wide.
Dumbledore stood up and clasped his hands in front of his chest. "I fear Draco is becoming desperate."
"So it's something to do with dark magic?"
"I can only assume so."
Hermione was dumbfounded at the calmness in Dumbledore's voice. She wanted to scream at him to tell her what to do. "Sir…I'm lost here. I want to help but this is more difficult than I could have ever imagined. If Draco is giving something dangerous to Katie, why don't you go to his room and put him straight?"
"Oh dear girl, how will I explain where I heard this information? I do not think saying I heard it through gossip and rumors is adequate. Unless you would like me to sell you out as my spy?" Dumbledore looked at her through his half-mooned glasses, a smirk ghosting on his lips. She sat back in her chair as she realized the conundrum they were in.
"Now is the time where you take action. The last few weeks has been only preparation for how difficult it will be. You are going to be directly affecting his future with your actions this weekend. Are you prepared to do devious things?" he asked her, finally looking at the young witch. Hermione had been asked by Draco no more than a month ago if she had deviousness in her blood. She finally had an answer.
"Yes."
Dumbledore observed the girl in front of him before nodding. "You must not let Katie bring that package into the castle. Do not even let her touch it. Do you understand?" he stepped forward. Hermione nodded and sat forward in her seat. "Draco must see that resorting to dark magic is futile when the forces of good are working to protect Hogwarts. Maybe then he will realize that good will always prevail. He has goodness inside his heart but he is clouded by external forces we cannot control. We must protect his soul. If Katie were to get severely hurt, that guilt will build inside of him. This may not seem like an important moment Miss Granger but dark wizards become immune to evil over time. Progressively….Draco, like his fellow Death Eaters, will not know what remorse is."
Hermione took in his words and let them sink in. She wanted to believe Draco was a good person but his nasty behavior was contradicting. If Hermione trusted anyone, it was Dumbledore. So if the older man in front of her saw potential in a Malfoy…she would see it too. "How?" she final asked as their eyes met.
"That Miss Granger is up to you."
Hermione started at him for the longest time before letting out an exasperated sigh. Dumbledore walked to his chair once again. "And if I don't intercept it?" she willed him to tell her a straight answer. Hermione knew she was asking too much because he simply replied, "You must."
Hermione had it all planned out. Okay, that's a lie but she was hoping she had it all planned out. She had been seriously thinking of using Polyjuice potion to turn into Katie in order to directly receive the necklace from Goyle. But it was too risky and it seemed like Professor Slughorn was more diligent about checking the Potion's stock closet than Professor Snape. Therefore, she didn't have many choices how to stop the transfer. It had taken the entire week before the Hogsmeade trip to realize she had to be like Katie's second skin on the trip. Hermione would feel infinitely better if she was able to watch Katie like a hawk. So she did what she was learning to do so well; lie.
"Katie!" Hermione feigned excitement as she ran to catch up with the Gryffindor chaser.
"Oh hey Hermione. What's up?" Katie and Hermione were friendly but had never had a full conversation. To say the least, it was weird that Hermione was even speaking to her outside the dormitory.
"This is so embarrassing but I'm buying Ron and Harry their Christmas presents early seeing as I won't have time later in the term. I wanted to buy Ron a Quidditch gift, seeing as he's Keeper now. I figured you would know the best spots in Hogsmeade to buy him something. Do you mind helping me this weekend?" Hermione knew perfectly well where the best stores were to buy her best friends gifts but she needed to get an 'in' with Katie for the weekend.
"I don't mean to be rude but why not ask Ginny? She is his sister and aren't you two friends?" Hermione let out an uncharacteristically girly giggle. She had been expecting this from Kaite and had a perfect lie to feed to the witch in front of her.
"Well if I'm going to be honest, I think Ron has a bit of a crush on you. He's been a bit down so I was hoping I could talk him up a bit and then after we could all grab Butterbeers. But don't mention anything to him. He's terribly shy." She watched Katie blush a deep crimson and Hermione suddenly felt terrible for her deceitfulness. She just didn't see another way to keep Katie under her watch for the foreseeable future.
"I had always thought Ron liked Lavender…that's just wonderful. Are you certain?" Katie gushed and Hermione nodded, holding back a grimace. Ron did like Lavender but that was neither here nor there. "Of course I'll help you! Meet me in the common room so we can walk down together, okay?" Katie gave Hermione a tight squeeze. Hermione frowned as she pat the girls back before watching her new friend run away in happiness.
"I'm a terrible person."
So there Hermione was; sitting in the Gryffindor common room waiting for Katie to come down for their bonding session. Hermione didn't mind Katie in the least, she would have actually loved to be her friend. But this whole situation felt so wrong and fake. She could hear Dumbledore's voice in her head telling her that she must stop Katie from being harmed. Hermione in that moment suddenly questioned why Draco had chosen Katie of all people. Was she the most unsuspecting, under the radar person in all of Hogwarts? And this package…Was she bringing something into the castle for his benefit or was she the target?
Her head was swarming with dead ends, one after the other. She nearly yelped as she felt a hand on her shoulder, the laugh of her fellow Gryffindor filling her ears. "Did I scare you Hermione?" Katie giggled as Hermione looked around to see the welcoming face of her friend.
"Just lost in my own head space. Happens more often than you think!"
"I've been the same ever since you shared Ron's little secret," Katie whispered to Hermione who inwardly groaned at the reminder of her lie. "Let's head out!"
"Lead the way," Hermione stood up and followed Katie out the door. It was the first time in forever that she wasn't spending time with her best friends. It felt odd but it was necessary. She had told Harry and Ron that she would catch up with them at the Three Broomsticks later in the day. Hermione had failed to mention Katie would be with her but why not add on to her white lies? She was counting on their presence so that Katie would have three people ready to protect her if anything happened. If Hermione could get to the Three Broomsticks with Katie then she would safe for the time being. What could possibly go wrong?
Authors Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I tried my own pathetic excuse for a cliffhanger but I'm excited to post the next chapter. It's going to be the first big step for Hermione showing Draco she's not his enemy. So please review, I would love any kind of feedback! I'm still looking for a Beta so PM if you're interested. Thanks agaaaain (:
