Chapter Eight – Rehashing the Past

*Hermione*

As soon as I got in my room, I threw my bag in the corner and plopped down on my bed. It had been a long day and I still had 2 rolls of parchment to complete for my essay on Porlocks for my Care of Magical Creatures class. I sighed and pushed myself to finish the essay before it became any later.

After writing the first and a half rolls, I decided to take a break and write a letter to my mum. It had been a while since I told them what was going on and a lot had changed since then.

Dear Mum,

Sorry I haven't written in a while. School is getting underway so my assignments are requiring more of my attention. I hope all is well with you and dad, and that he hasn't been bitten by any more patients.

After your last letter, I took some time and thought about the advice you gave me concerning Ron and I. And you were right; it wasn't just a rough patch. We had been slowly drifting apart for a while and I was simply prolonging the inevitable.

Needless to say, he and I are no longer together. He just wasn't the best person for me and I feel confident that I did the right thing by breaking up with him.

But I am seeing someone else and I think that when you meet him, you will see what I see. He's sweet, kind and caring although he doesn't want others to know that side of him. I like who I am when I'm with him. He brings out a side in me that had been dormant for so long; I almost forgot that it existed.

Maybe I will invite him home for Christmas break and you and dad can see for yourself just how amazing he is.

I will write more in a couple of weeks and tell you all about the fall harvest dance.

Until then,

Hermione

I put the letter aside and finished the rest of my report. When that was done, I took a quick shower and settled in with the book Draco gave me, reading about Persephone.

The next day began just like the one before it did. Draco escorted me to my seat and gave me a kiss before taking his seat next to Blaise and escorted me to my first class. He then met me outside my Herbology class and escorted me to lunch where he did the same thing as he did at breakfast. Ginny joined me a few seconds later, commenting on her disbelief of my dating Draco.

"It's not so much that it's weird. It's just that it's…Malfoy. But I don't even recognize him. He's polite, calling me by my first name, walking you from your dorm here and giving you kisses."

"I know this may sound a bit cliché but I just think that everyone needs to give him a second chance. I did and it worked out well for me." I smiled, looking over at him.

Draco was chatting with someone but gave me a wink before turning his attention back to them. I blushed and giggled much to Ginny's delight.

"You two are so cute together. So have you guys figured out your costumes for the dance yet?"

I shook my head no. I was constantly asking Draco about it but he always said the same thing, "I'm working on it." I was beginning to wonder if he had chosen something revealing and was waiting until the last minute so I wouldn't have any choice but to wear it.

"Well I'm dressing as mediwitch and Blaise is going to be a healer." She gushed as we prepared to leave for afternoon classes.

To my surprise, before we even made it to the exit, Draco had joined us, sliding his hand into mine and asked us what we were talking about.

"Oh, Ginny was just telling me about her costume for the dance. Speaking of, have you figured out what are costumes will be yet Draco?"

"I actually have but I need a bit of time to get it together. But don't worry I will have yours ready for you by next week in time for the dance. I give you my word."

I rolled my eyes at him and shot Ginny a look before departing from her when we reached Slughorn's classroom.

The second we walked in, Ron quickly started towards me stopping short when he saw Draco by my side.

"Still with your bodyguard I see. I was hoping we could talk sometime."

"He's not my bodyguard. He's my boyfriend, Ronald. And there is nothing that you have to say to me." I pushed past him and took a seat in the front of the class, knowing Ron would sit in the back row as he did in our younger years.

"Good morning class. Last week we discussed in great length the Conjunctivitis curse and its effects when executed properly. So today we will be concocting the Oculus potion, which counteracts the effects of the curse. So pair up with a partner and as always, follow the directions and make sure you add the right ingredients at the right moments."

I smiled over at Draco as he came towards me. Ron sneered at us, pulling out his potion ingredients. Draco and I compared what we had, noticing we were both out of ground unicorn horn and wormwood.

Draco turned to get the ingredients; Ron intentionally shoved Draco in the shoulder.

"What is your problem, Ronald?"

He shrugged his shoulder in a nonchalant manner and sauntered off towards his own station. Draco didn't say anything, just stiffened a bit before continuing on his way.

After we did the first 4 steps, Draco went to grab the stewed mandrake when Ron went out of his way to bump into Draco once again.

Draco was clearly getting tired of it but he kept his composure and didn't let Ron's childish actions get the better of him.

When he got back to the table, I beamed up at him.

"What?" he asked, giving me a crooked smile.

"I'm proud of you for not retaliating against Ronald. I know he's trying his hardest to get under your skin and you're just letting it roll of your shoulder and not letting it faze you."

He gave me a light peck on the cheek before going back to the potion, adding the next set of ingredients while I stirred. Ron must have seen the exchange between us because he made an off-handed about "the head girl should be careful when kissing a snake in the grass."

Draco balled up his fingers into a fist in anger before I diffused the tension by pulling him towards me by his tie, kissing him firmly on the lips in front of everyone.

A few students hooted, gaining the attention of Slughorn who smiled sweetly before "encouraging" us to return to our potions.

We both chuckled silently before looking over our shoulders at a sullen Ron.

Class ended with most of the potions being acceptable and a few outstanding ones according to Slughorn. I packed up everything into my potions case and walked out the class, my messenger bag swinging behind me.

Just as I turned the corner, Ron grabbed me, pushing me against the wall.

"What the hell do you think you were doing, making a fool of me like that? Now I've put up with this sham of a relationship for long enough. You know you belong to me."

"I will never again be yours. And what Draco and I have isn't a sham. That's what I had with you." I sneered as Draco came up behind him.

He grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around swiftly. "Weasley you better keep your hands off my girlfriend."

"She may be your girlfriend now but Hermione will always be mine." Ron said getting in Draco's face.

Draco chuckled darkly before narrowing his eyes at him. "If you lay one finger on her, if you look at her the wrong way, if you even think one impure thought about her, I won't hesitate to use the spells I learned from my training on you." he stated callously before grabbing my hand and pulling me down the corridor alongside with him.

*Draco*

I didn't say anything until we were back in our dorm. Hermione took a seat in the chair, as silent as the grave. I knew that my threat to Weaselbee had frighten her a little but I needed him to know that I wasn't and never would play around when it came to the safety of my princess.

"Are you okay?" I asked sitting on the coffee table in front of her.

"Draco, I know you said that you wanted to leave the past in the past but I have to know. What happened? When you came back, you were so detached from everything and everyone."

This was something I wasn't prepared to tell her about right now, if at all. But I knew that I needed to tell someone. I took a deep breath and began to tell her all about my dark past.

"Voldemort was returning to power and very eager to rebuild his army. He was upset that my father had been so careless to get himself arrested so he made me a Death Eater. When my mother found out, she begged Snape to try to convince him to give me some menial tasks so I wouldn't get hurt. Snape knew that the Dark Lord would never go for it so he did his best to keep me out of harm's way in the beginning.

"He taught me lots of dark curses and protection spells as a cautionary measure. Several of Voldemort's followers were jealous of the attention I was receiving and had let slip whispers that they were planning to incapacitate me in some way. When it was all done, I got pretty good at non-verbal magic. That was when Voldemort decided to put me through some training of his own design.

"He used a wide variety of curses and jinxes on me, just to see if I would break. It seemed like every night I was going to bed with broken bones, open wounds or coughing up blood. There were so many times that I wanted to quit and just beg him to kill me but I knew that was what he wanted. Not only that but I knew that word would get to my father and he would most likely disown me or take it out on my mother. So I remained strong and endured everything he threw at me.

"Once he felt I had proved myself enough, he entrusted me the task of killing Dumbledore. At first I thought it was an honor. I bragged about it on the train back and even lorded it over Snape's head.

"But the stress of it all was getting to me. I was getting paranoid, losing weight and falling behind in almost all of my classes. And to add to it, Voldemort was getting more and more impatient that the Vanishing Cabinet wasn't ready. I remembered feeling like I was going crazy when I tested it. Graham had told me it felt like he was stuck in limbo, hearing everything but unable to get out of it. While I stayed in there, I practiced the skills that my Aunt Bellatrix taught me, the unforgivable curses and the occulmency. It was during one of those times that I realized Voldemort only gave me the task to shame my father, in the hopes that I would die trying."

I took a deep breath realizing I had been talking nonstop for a while now. I looked over at Hermione who looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Hermione are you okay?"

She sniffled and got up out of her chair, wrapping me in her delicate arms. I wasn't use to this kind of affection. Not even from my mother.

"I'm sorry that you had to endure that because of the decisions that your father made. But you are not him. Here you are trying to make things right by being here and making amends for what you have done in the past.

I smiled, feeling a weight lift off my back. It felt good, sharing with Hermione things that I believed no one else would care to know or understand.

We spent the rest of the evening sharing with each other memories from our past. She told me about her childhood, how even in the muggle world she was despised for her mind. I shared with her how I wished for a sibling, and the different pranks Blaise and I played on each other whenever we were together.

By the end of the night I felt closer to Hermione than anyone else. I told her things I couldn't tell my so called friends or my mom. I had finally let someone in and they didn't immediately plot on a way to use it against me. She simply listened and expressed concern.

As she laid in my arms drifting off to sleep, I placed a small kiss on her forehead, falling in love with my Gryffindor princess.

AN: I know it's a bit short but as I said before, I just needed a filler chapter inbetween the last one and the next one which will be about the dance in its entirety and a preview of some smut. Keep the reviews coming