Chapter 7: Backstabber
A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes. Also, this chapter will hold quite a lot of time jumping, since some major events from the movie and book will take place (e.g.: Peter Pettigrew's appearance and the time turning) and for obvious reasons I'm going to skip those events, and only focus on the Draco and Hermione parts that will actually be necessary for this fanfiction. It's a bit of a mess, maybe, but please do forgive me and do expect a more organized chapter after this!
"It's such a pity Harry couldn't come with us," Hermione sighed, digging her heels into the snow as she walked up the hill with Ron alongside her. "Yeah, he would've really liked it."
Reaching the top of the hill, she could see a dark outline in the far distance, its actual design covered by the soft snowflakes falling down. "What's that?" Hermione asked, taking a couple of steps closer. "Oh, that? It's the Shrieking Shack. It's said to be haunted." Ron gave a little chill beside her, though she doubted it was because of the cold.
Scoffing, she propped her hands into her pockets for warmth. "Haunted? Don't be ridiculous, why would a building be haunted?" Ron leaned himself on the fragile looking fence pillar, which seemed to have weakened due to the cold. "Villagers claim to have heard screaming coming from the place. It's been abandoned ever since."
Fascinated, and a little unconvinced, she tried to squint to get a better view, but it seemed useless. "Want to look a little closer?" She wasn't one for buying folklore without seeing it for herself.
"Isn't that place just right up your alley, Weasel-Bee?"
Wheeling around, she saw Malfoy coming down the hill they had just come from, strutting in his black coat, his furry hat resting easily on his head. Behind him were Crabbe and Goyle, looking dull as always, with their wicked grins on their faces.
"Are you sure you can afford such a grand place, Weasel-Bee?" Malfoy asked. "Don't you and your family sleep in one room." Hermione gave him a crossed look, but that only seemed to intensify his smug smirk. "Shut your mouth, Malfoy." Ron muttered, though his cheeks lit up in embarrassment.
Malfoy raised an eyebrow in feigned offense. "That's not very nice," he mocked, then looked at both Crabbe and Goyle. "I think it's time you learn how to respect those who are better than you." He said, tugging on his coat, and dusting it off with a controlled hand, the corners of his lips tugging up in wild confidence.
It was hilariously embarrassing, to be honest.
Letting out a humorous laugh, Hermione took a step forward, almost feeling the need to shield Ron from someone so vile. "I don't think you're the right person for that, then."
With that his smirk fell, and he took a step closer to her. It was quick, and bigger than she had anticipated. Without a warning he was right up in her face, his brows furrowed together in mild disgust, and his mouth formed into a sneer. "How dare you talk to me, you filthy little Mudblood," he spat.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she took a staggering step back. His eyes followed her every move, and his eyes seemed to soften, though a jerk of his lips made it turn up into a triumphant smile.
It was for that reason that she was beyond thrilled to see a snowball flying straight to the back of his head, planting itself in there with a loud thud.
Malfoy quickly turned around at that, nearly bumping into her in the process, and even Hermione let her eyes roam around to find the source of it.
She heard some shuffling behind her, and a second later Ron appeared on her right side, frantically searching with his eyes as well.
Now she didn't only feel the warmth of Ron's body beside her, but she also felt Malfoy's, who had apparently not noticed how he had closed the proximity between them in his frightful search at the unknowing flying snowball.
"Who is there?" Standing so close to him, she could hear the light shake in his voice, and she couldn't help but scoff under her breath. The boy acted so tough and superior, as if nothing could ever intimidate him. Yet, here he was, afraid of an unknown source.
His question got answered by another snowball thrown into his face, which made him take a step back, arms flying around and hitting her in the arm, which she cursed him for. Not the most lady like thing to do, but blimey, that really hurt.
Now a series of snowballs were flying around, hitting Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, and it didn't take her long to figure out that Harry was behind this charade.
Laughing, she enjoyed seeing Malfoy in misery for once, and the scare on Ron's face was what made it absolutely perfect.
"Harry," she chuckled as he played with her hat when the other trio had run away. Harry threw off his invisibility cloak, laughing in the process. "Scared me there for a second, mate." Ron breathed, a look of relief glued to his face.
-x-
A bone shattering chill went down her spine as she walked past the executor sharpening his axe. Not only the shrieking of metal against stone brought shivers on her, but what absolutely sickened her to her stomach was the passionate smile on the man's face, coming from out of his mask.
"I can't believe they're doing this." Hermione said, biting on her lip to not get choked up in her emotions. She had fought so hard for Hagrid's case, and to see it turned out like this, all because of Malfoy, made her blood boil with fury.
The boys remained silent by her side, hurrying their steps along to get away from the man, all of them trying their hardest to not let their minds trail to where that axe would soon find its new home.
They crossed the wooden bridge, and even though normally Hermione would always take a wandering glance around; admire the scenery, her gaze was now fixed right in front of her, focusing on making it down the hill to Hagrid's Hut.
But they never made it that far.
"How nice of you to join!" Draco exclaimed, a grin tugging on the right corner of his lips.
That's it. That's the last drop she could take from him. With a good stride she managed to close the gap between the two groups in just two steps, and she had her wand pointed straight at the sweet spot beneath his eyebrows.
A string of curses were all dancing around in her mind, one not quite as satisfying as the other. "This is all your fault, Malfoy," She hissed, her jaws clenched together as she took satisfaction out of his shaking lips.
She knew he was about to make a remark, so she reminded him that he was the one who had a wand pointed at him. "Hermione, don't," she heard from behind. Presumably from Ron, who was as concerned about her well-being as always.
Keeping her gaze fixed at the white blonde haired boy in front of her, she watched how his hair had shaken up, half covering one eye, and how his eyebrows were twerked up, a shocked expression taking place in his usual smug face. Not so very confident now, she supposed.
"You foul git," she said, and let her wand arm drop. Before he had time to recover, though, she let herself have the satisfaction of having her fist collide with his face, putting all her anger into it in the hopes that he would get the note that what he did was unforgivable.
Avoiding eye contact with her, he grabbed Theo and Crabbe and dragged them away as they moved to the bridge they just came off from.
"Bloody hell," Ron exclaimed, and as Hermione turned around, she saw both of the boys grinning in pride, and so she couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "That's exactly what I needed." She sighed, then let her smile falter as she turned back around and looked at Hagrid's hut in the distance.
-x-
"Bit peculiar, don't you think?" Hermione stopped mid-stride as a voice loomed in the shadows. She was about to make her way back to the dormitories after a long night. Peter Pettigrew's appearance, Sirius Black turning out to actually be a good guy, and helping Buckbeak escape wasn't exactly something she had planned to experience tonight.
Neither had she expected to have a certain someone go ahead and bother her this late at night, when all she wanted to do was sleep. "What do you want, Malfoy?" It would be a lie if she said that she tried to hide her aggravation. She didn't.
"Sirius Black escaping a Dementor's kiss, Buckbeak, who was sentenced to death, somehow managed to escape.. do explain to me, Granger, the one who is supposedly the Brightest Witch of her age, how this managed to happen?" He was mocking her, a dangerous snarl playing on his lips as he stepped out of the shadows.
If he tried to intimidate her, well, he was quite succeeding. Though, she wouldn't let him know that, of course. "I don't know, Malfoy. Dumb luck, perhaps? The fate of the universe? You tell me, after all, I quit my Divination classes. I'm sure you're far more skilled in this than I am."
A tug on his lips was all that changed in his expression as he closed the gap between them. "D'you want to know what I think, Granger?" She crossed her arms, partly to seem casual and unaffected, but also to try to create a sense of security, as he was seriously stepping into her little personal space.
"Enlighten me, Malfoy." She said, raising one eyebrow as if challenging him to convince her. "I think you aren't such a perfect student every Professor likes to believe, after all. No, I think you just broke so many rules that you could be kicked out this very second if the Ministry somehow caught word of how you've been using your Time Turner."
He was circling around her now, keeping his voice low. He was playing a game with her, threatening her, but he wasn't foolish enough to speak too loud. He wanted to have the advantage of feeling empowered, and he possibly couldn't if a passer-by would catch word of what he was saying by accident.
"Or am I perhaps wrong?" He stopped in front of her, duplicating her raised eyebrow and challenging her in the same way. "What I think, Malfoy," she began to say, but had to take a second to suppress a cough, "is that you're grasping in the dark to find ways to hold any kind of power over me. You see, even if what you said was true, what proof do you possibly have?"
It was her turn to take step closer now. He caught her off guard, yes, but she refused to be threatened. Especially by Malfoy.
"Is that so?" He scoffed, seemingly unaffected by her move. Hermione nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "The thing is, Malfoy, that we both know that you can't go to the Ministry for this. Even if you somehow managed to proof my actions."
He squinted his eyes together, clearly suspicious at what she was saying. "Oh yeah, and why's that?"
"It's very simple, honestly. The Ministry keeps record of all time travelling, so yes, you indeed would have documented proof of tonight's events. Sure enough, they don't know exactly what happened, but we both know they'd be smart enough to figure out that things didn't add up, and would figure out the truth sooner or later." He seemed triumphant with this information, so she quickly continued to shatter his hopes.
"Which also means tat they could track back our little trip to save Hogwarts." At this his smirk faltered. "Or did you forget that you participated in an illegal action? And not only did you go against the law of the Ministry of Magic, that your father works for as well, but you also did it alongside a Muggleborn."
It was her time to smirk, though it didn't come as natural to her as it did to him. "So, by all means, Malfoy, do step off now to the Ministry. Even better, I'll write them a letter on my behalf. Or instead, be smart and stay quiet. Because like it or not, there's only so much your precious Father can save you from. And escaping the Ministry's punishment, isn't one of them."
Prodding a finger into his chest, she let out a sneer. "Don't you ever think of threatening me again. You and I are in the same boat. And you can rock it as much as you want, but do it too much, and I'm not the only one who will be going down."
With that she had had enough, and bumped her shoulder into him on purpose as she walked away, but she didn't get very far. His slim fingers had already snaked around her arm, keeping a firm grip on it as he forced her to a halt.
"Don't think for a second that we're on good terms, simply because we're sailing in the same storm." Yanking her arm free, she looked over her shoulder and easily found his eyes that were a little too close for her liking.
"I wouldn't even dream of it. As long as we just keep sitting still, we should be all good." With that she was about to leave once more, but again she was held back. Releasing a frustrated sigh, she completely turned her body to him now. "Merlin, Malfoy, what else do you want to hear?"
His usual grey eyes were dimmed in the poorly lit corridor, and Hermione barely caught it, but the hitch in his breathing betrayed his discomfort from the closeness between them. Yet they both knew the tricks of persuasion. If you want something, then invade someone's personal space. They'll be more likely to be persuaded. Which made her wonder what he could possibly want from her.
"Well?" She pressed as he still hadn't answered. "An agreement," was all he said. Scoffing, she was about to walk away for real now. "So, let me get this straight. First you threaten me, and now you demand an agreement?"
Malfoy clicked his tongue in impatience. "The idea of sharing this single memory with you disgusts me," Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but he hushed her – which offended her even more. "Yet it got me thinking."
Hermione let out a dry chuckle. "Do enlighten me," she scoffed. "Considering I did help you save Hogwarts, I figured it's only fair that you help me get top of the class." She didn't mean to, but she burst out laughing straight at his face. "You're joking, right? What, second best not good enough for you?"
Malfoy clenched his jaw, a heavy breath filling the silent corridor. "Honestly, I refuse to let you better me in my classes. Besides, I've already stabbed my best friends in the back enough times by keeping this from them. There's no way I'm going to help our enemy get better grades."
He shook his head, "I don't need you to tutor me, Granger. Just need you to give me some lenience once in a while to top you off, even if it's for a short amount of time." She knew there was something he was keeping from her. The actual reason why he wanted this, he still hadn't mentioned.
"What do I get out of it?" He raised both his eyebrows, as if he couldn't possibly believe she might want something in return as well. "Summer vacation will be up tomorrow. How about I leave you and your dimwitted friends be for the next year?" She saw the pain in his face as having to say that.
Now, she knew it wasn't a glamorous agreement. She got less out of it than he did, but then again, they both owed each other. Like it or not, they both couldn't have saved Hogwarts without the other. Might as well spend it on something as useless as this, right? After all, if it's only a few classes she'd be a bit less in.. well, she could temporarily live with that heartbreak.
Chewing on her lip, she gazed a little longer in his expectant eyes. "All right, but if at any point you bother my friends, the deal is off." He waved her off with his hands. "Whatever, as long as you keep your end of the deal."
Nodding, she tried desperately to ignore the tinge of guilt that stabbed her in the heart. She was becoming convinced that she would soon run out of daggers to stab her friends with in the back. There's no other way, besides, I'm only doing them a favour. She said to herself, but it didn't convince her one bit.
With that Malfoy began to walk away, but she couldn't help but ask one thing. Now that they were being less angry, and all that. "So how did it feel doing some good in the world for once?" He stopped, turned his body around, and gave her an impatient look. "What are you talking about, Granger?"
"Don't know if you realized, but we just saved Hogwarts this year. Enemies or not, that's pretty impressive." Malfoy scoffed under his breath, then turned around, walking away and saying: "It does more harm than good."
With a shake of her head she walked away in opposite direction, unable to do feel that hint of pride. Truthfully, she meant what she said. It was very impressive to do, indeed. Even though she would have done anything to not have Malfoy be the person she had to save Hogwarts with.
It was odd, too, knowing the year had come to an end, and soon their past would be forgotten by anyone else besides them, and their current present would remain in each and everyone's memory. No one would know how close Hogwarts had been of closing, and Draco and Hermione forever had a secret to keep.
Who would have thought that she'd be sharing a memory with her enemy? And who would have thought that even sharing a secret with your enemy could be so much more difficult than anticipated?
A/N: As you might have guesses, their Third Year has now come to an end! However, in the next chapter I'll continue with them for their Fourth Year, and have got some exciting things planned. So, I'll be glad to welcome you back for that!
