Author's Note: Like, WHOA! TWENTY-THREE reviews? You must all really love me. -cry- Someone hand me a tissue. Wait. A lot of you guys chose B, so you must all really hate me, too! -cries harder- Oh, and sorry I didn't update earlier. It's been hectic with school starting and everything.
DCoD: Yeah, I was planning on her getting back the diary and then they set up a meeting place and whatnot…
sienna: Don't worry. It'll come soon enough!
ghilliekitten: Nice idea! -jots down- I guess that'll be in this chapter. nn
galleena: Like, NO! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR SICK AND TWISTED MIND? xD Okay I'm kidding so no need to run away from me. Mmkay? Mmkay. Sorry but it must. Be. Draco. I mean, this is a Dhr story not a Rhr story. -doesn't enjoy Rhr stories-
CrazyChick15: Well, why not?
Winona Corinne: Aw, you're so sweet… They're not falling for each other. Draco's in a very difficult situation right now and he has mood swings and such. Especially since he lost the Quidditch game (as usual), he's a little upset. And you'll find out why…
RavensWritingProphecies: Nah, the ball part'll be funner if they found out it's each other… I haven't written that part yet so the tension is rising!
fran: Ooh that's an awesome idea! No, no, I'm kidding. Don't worry. I wouldn't let her miss it for the world!
Chapter Seven: Lucius
Three days later, on Tuesday, Hermione eagerly rushed to the Great Hall for breakfast and sat down. Just after she had taken her seat beside Ginny, owls started swarming in to drop off packages. She noticed a rather large eagle owl with a square package drop it onto Draco's lap. The owl looked quite regal and beautiful. She examined all the owls coming in and fidgeted while she waited to see if her dress had come yet. Sure enough, a tawny owl dropped a skinny rectangular package into her arms. She tossed up three knuts for the delivery and embraced the package. "Oh, Ginny it's here!"
The Weasley turned her attention to her enthusiastic friend. "What is it?" Hermione trembled with excitement. "It's the muggle dress that I ordered on Saturday!" She grinned and stood up. "I'm going to go unwrap it in my room. Are you coming?" Ginny gave her a look of remorse. "Sorry, Hermione but I've made plans with Harry. He's coming to meet me in a couple of minutes.
"Alright." Hermione nodded understandingly and waved before hurrying out of the hall. She sped around the corner and turned back when she came across Lucius Malfoy and his son entering a classroom. She hoped that they hadn't seen her. Peeking around the wall, she saw that they hadn't, and whispered, "Accio invisibility cloak!" It came flying to her and she covered herself in it. "Sorry Harry." She mumbled and dashed inside the classroom before the door closed.
"Now, Draco. You know that I only want what's best for you…" Started Lucius as he strode to the front. Draco remained standing near the doorway. Hermione being closer to him than Lucius, heard him mutter, "Yeah, right." The elder Malfoy stopped walking and turned to face his son. "You know that I expect perfection from you. That is my top priority and it should be yours as well. You have failed in being the top student in the school." Draco frowned. "But I'm second best!" He protested.
Lucius gave Draco an unpleasant glare. Only Hermione noticed that he winced a little. "Yes, I am very well aware that you are second, but second is not first, is it? What's more is that you let a dirty little mudblood girl take your spot at the top!" His voice was steadily rising. "And what about Saturday's Quidditch match? You should be able to beat Potter! I've taught you to be the best since you were little, and what do you repay me with?" He raised his wand and pointed it at Draco. "I deeply regret having to do this, son. But it is the only way to discipline you."
"Crucio!" Draco only leaned over an inch. His eyes were slightly wider than usual, and his breathing became raspy. After about a minute, he clutched his stomach and leaned over. It wasn't much later when he fell on his hands and knees. His eyes squeezed shut as he felt every bone in his body threaten to break in little pieces. Countless daggers penetrated his skin and he grunted as his father kicked him in the stomach. "Get up, boy! I've taught you better!"
Nodding a little, Draco slowly tried to stand. Hermione felt tears brimming her eyes as she watched this. It was heartbreaking to see a father act this way to his own son. Even though he was her enemy, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. No one deserved to be treated this way… Draco got halfway up before he collapsed again. Lucius had no sympathy in his eyes and no regret. "Pathetic. I've raised a coward. Now whether you like it or not, you will get the Dark Mark this Christmas. The Lord insists that you are ready to take on any challenge."
Hermione fought the urge to go over and hex Lucius. He was so mean to Draco… And he just took it all without fighting back. That wasn't the Malfoy that she had come to know and hate. The older man took off the curse and walked out without saying anything else. Draco was still on the ground, staring at the stone floor. Hermione chose this time to leave. With a backward glance, she left toward the common room. She looked behind her and saw that Draco had exited the room and was heading in the opposite direction. This would be a good time to go in his room and see if she could find her diary.
Sighing heavily, Hermione went inside and into his room. Surprisingly, he didn't lock or even close his room. She found that his bedroom was actually quite neat for someone that was such a prat. Backing out of the room, she dumped her parcel and cloak onto a couch and walked back inside. Her dress would have to wait. Now where to search first… She saw no sign of her diary in the room and began examining his bookshelf, desk, and even looked under his bed.
Finally, she found the diary hidden in the back of his closet beneath a pile of clothes. She cradled it in her arms and smiled to herself. Mission accomplished. She walked back out of the closet to run face-to-face with the Head Boy. "What are you doing here?" Hermione hid the diary in his robes, praying he hadn't noticed. It seemed that he hadn't. "Um, oh, nothing." She ran out of his room, feeling his gaze bore into her skin. Without so much as a glance back at him, she picked up her dress and Harry's cloak and went into the safety of her room.
Hermione exhaled slowly and took out the diary from beneath her robes. She leaned against her door for a few extra seconds before jumping onto her bed. She left the dress and cloak at the foot of her bed and opened the diary. Just as she had expected, there were several entries waiting for her.
Hey, I just wanted to know where you wanted to meet me at the ball.
Hello?
Why are you ignoring me…?
Those were the first three out of eleven entries he had written in it. Hermione frowned and scribbled onto a fresh page quickly.
Sorry, I think that I just misplaced my diary. Let's meet inside the entrance like we had planned for that morning a little while ago. Stand alone and let's just hope that we can find each other.
She waited for over an hour for his answer, but she never got one. Hermione gave up on waiting and decided to get ready for the next class. Care of Magical Creatures was next and Hagrid's cheery face was pleasant to see. She gathered her things and strode quickly through the castle and outside. A few dark clouds gathered overhead, threatening to rain, but it didn't come. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself to try and keep herself warm.
Hermione arrived right on time, just seconds before Hagrid began the class. "Hey Hermione." Ron appeared at her side and he looked freezing. His whole body was shaking. "I have a real treat fer yer lot today." Hagrid grinned broadly as he spoke. "Since it's the righ' weather, we'll be going inter the forest. Don' wander too far, though 'cause yer don' want ter get lost if it rains. Follow me." He motioned them to follow them with a large hand and headed into the Forbidden Forest with Fang trailing behind him.
"That oaf's going to get us killed!" She heard Draco complain somewhere behind her. "If he does, my father'll hear about it and send him to his rightful place; Azkaban. I mean honestly, going into the forest before a storm? We might as well dig our graves right now." As if the clouds could hear him talking about the storm coming, it started to drizzle. "Oh, just wonderful!" Ginny whined and put her hands over her head. "Don' worry! I don' think it'll get any worse than this!" Reassured Hagrid, but no one was convinced that it was okay.
Unfortunately, rain started pouring down harder after only another minute of walking. "Alrigh' everyone! We can go back now!" A disgruntled Hagrid turned and waved for them to go back. Hermione took notice that Draco had fallen back behind everyone was walking alone, so she turned and walked up to him. "Hey, are you alright?" She had concern written all over her face. "What're you talking about, Granger? I'm perfectly fine!" He snapped, and shoved his hands in the pockets of his robes. The rainwater made his blonde hair seem darker and his bangs stuck to his face.
"Well, I…" Hermione contemplated on whether or not she should confess that she'd spied on them earlier. "Whoa…" Her eyes widened and she pointed over Draco's shoulder. He turned and saw what Hermione was pointing to. There was a whole herd of centaurs standing close to them, and they all were armed with bows and arrows. "Don't move." One stepped ahead of the rest. "Firenze, they're just foals." Another one came forward and beside the first. "Yes, but in they are almost adults." He raised a bow and arrow at them and the other followed suit. "Get out of our forest!"
Both turning immediately and running, they saw that everyone had disappeared out of the forest and they were left alone. It would be a miracle if they made it. Hermione tripped over a root sticking out of the ground and scrambled to her feet, but her foot was suck in between the root and the ground. Tears fell freely from her eyes, although it was hard to tell from the pouring rain. She tugged at her foot but it remained stuck there. Arrows were flying toward her but thankfully, none hit her.
She continued pulling incessantly and was just about to give up when someone bent down next to her and muttered a spell. Her foot slid out easily this time and the person helped her up. "Malfoy?" Hermione was surprised that he was even helping her and got to her feet. Her left foot, the one that had been trapped in the root, was throbbing painfully. More arrows flew at them and she felt one pierce her other leg. She fell back down, her whole body becoming even muddier. "Get up, Granger!" She saw Draco hovering over her and she squeezed her eyes shut. The pain traveled up from her leg and spread out to the rest of her body. That was all she remembered before she passed out.
.-0-0-0-.
Hermione's eyes slowly fluttered open. Her vision was blurry for a moment before everything became clear. She felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, and was strangely comforted by this. Madam Pomfrey walked over to her and handed her a small cup. "Here, drink this." Hermione obeyed and handed the cup back to her. "I hope you don't mind the position you're in. We tried prying you away from Mister Malfoy's grip, but he has some very strong arms there."
Wait… MALFOY? She craned her head so that she could look at the face of the person holding her, and saw that this was indeed true. Everything seemed suddenly awkward. "What happened?" She asked the nurse, remembering what had happened. The pain in her leg seemed to have gone away. "It seems that Mister Malfoy carried you out of the forest with two arrows in his right leg and one in his shoulder. It was surprising that he made it that far. Luckily, Hagrid saw you two and immediately rushed you two here."
Hermione nodded slowly. All this information had trouble sinking in. "Um, okay, thanks." She tried to get up, but Draco's grip was too tight. She'd just have to wake him. Squirming so that she turned onto her stomach, she looked into his face. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. And he looked quite attractive, too. Wait— what was she thinking? Hermione shook his shoulders. "Wake up, Malfoy!" She screamed into his ear. His eyes snapped open and his upper body swung forward a little, causing his lips to crash into hers. Hermione's eyes grew larger when she realized what had happened. Pushing him away, she shouted, "Let go of me!"
Draco did so willingly, and even shoved her off of him and his bed. "What do you think you're doing, Granger?" He glared at her and got off the bed. "Wait just a moment, Mister Malfoy. Drink this." Madam Pomfrey rushed back into the room after hearing their yelling. She handed him a cup of the same liquid that Hermione had swallowed. He eyed it doubtfully before draining it. He spit it all out and wiped his mouth. "What the hell is this?" He threw the cup down.
"It helps bring the pain out." Madam Pomfrey explained calmly. "I'm fine," Spat Draco and stalked out of the infirmary. There was a slight limp in his right leg as he walked. "Thank you Madam Pomfrey." Hermione smiled a little and followed him out the door. It wasn't clear to her why Draco had helped her, but she was grateful. She almost regretted sneaking into his room without permission. Almost. He had still taken her diary and it was rightfully hers. She headed silently to the library and decided that it was best if Harry and Ron didn't know about what had happened. Ginny would be understanding, though.
Author's Note: So what do you think? Please review and tell me! Oh, and I think I'm going to make have the ball be in the next chapter, okay? If you don't want this to be, speak now or forever hold you peace! Mwuahahaha! I know a bunch of you have been waiting forever for this moment… So please do review because then I'll update sooner!
