Chapter 8: Vanished
The two men shuffled down the corridor, bashing into each other as it grew narrower and narrower. The rough brick wall scraped their arms, creating long white slashes of toughed skin. They entered the room as silently as possible, standing with their backs to the cold wall, staring at the occupant of the seat opposite them with awe.
He was a man, late fifties, perhaps. He wore a simple black cloak that gathered around him in a way that made him look both powerful and respected. His features were weakened with time, but undeniably proud. He clutched a staff in one hand, leaning on it as he skeptically appraised the two newcomers.
The two stumbled over their words, "Master! You-you're—"
He crinkled his nose in distaste. "I have to say, I'm very disappointed in you two," the man remarked conversationally, as if nobody had spoken. He sat himself down on the creaking wooden chair and folded his hands neatly on the desk before him. "You can't even catch a mere Mudblood girl? Pathetic."
The man with sharp blue eyes bristled. "We can't even get into bloody Hogwarts! They've modified the wards with some – some ancient witchery and we can't decipher it! We could have got her last time, Master –"
The look the Master shot him was icy. "The aim of the last little excursion was to scare Hermione Granger. It is part of the plan, James Black. I wouldn't expect you to understand."
Jem opened his mouth to argue, but his partner elbowed him in the ribs. He shot the other man a baleful glare. The Master continued, "There's only one way we can do this, you understand."
The quieter of the two men raised his eyebrows in bemusement. "Sir?"
The Master grinned, showing long lines of impossibly white teeth.
"If we can't go in, our little Muggle girl is going to have to come out."
ooo
Draco awoke to arms locked tightly around his torso. For a second, he had the vague impression that he was in the Slytherin dorms, waking up beside Pansy. She always had this thing where she clung to him like a lovesick puppy; it was rather disheartening. Sitting up sharply, he felt a bundle of blanket fall off him. It hit the floor with a shriek. Frowning, he peered down, and found himself eye-to-eye with Hermione Granger.
A vague recollection of the previous night's events flooded his mind.
He groaned.
"What happened?" he demanded, trying to sort through murky flashes of what had transpired the night before.
her eyes, wide and impossibly innocent as she stared at him-acting like a complete idiot-a Christmas tree?
-"Merry Christmas" he'd whispered-
-and oh god she just looked so good he wanted to collect her in his arms-
but-this was Granger-he couldn't-
Hermione sat up, blinking at the sudden light. "Nothing. Nothing at all," she told him, more as a reassurance to herself than to him. "Don't you remember? We had dinner, and then fell asleep."
He had the impression that she was leaving just an tiny bit of information out of that.
Draco scowled. "Oh, and that cursed elf put something in my food—" He clambered to his feet. "I'm going to absolutely tear that elf in-"
The girl grabbed him by the arm, yanking him back onto the sofa. She climbed to her feet, raking a hand through her mess of curls, and snapped, "No. It was probably just something that disagreed with you. Get over it, Malfoy."
He stared at her incredulously. "I could have died-"
She decided not even to grace this with an answer, and instead stared at the Christmas tree, as if surprised that it was even there. It looked rather odd, standing there in all its glory, with a Gryffindor and Slytherin arguing determinedly beside it. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to let the oddity of this whole thing get her down.
Turning to Draco, Hermione felt a grin spread across her face. "Merry Christmas, ferret," she said as she sat herself down beside the tree, bouncing.
Draco scowled at her. "It's too early to be so happy." Still, he followed her and sat down next to her, raising his eyebrows at the presents beneath the tree. "Don't think I got you a present or anything," he told her, just in case she'd come to the illusion that he actually liked her or something.
She rolled her eyes at him. Her cheerful mood didn't even waver. "Likewise, Malfoy. Now, presents!"
The rest of the morning was spent pouring over Christmas presents, with assorted comments on the gifts, courtesy of Draco. She received a scarf from Harry ('Potter always was a bit simple-minded'), a necklace from Ginny, a box of various tricks from George ('Maybe there are some reasonable gingers. No, don't look at me like that, Hermione. I said maybe'), a sweater from the rest of the Weasleys ('I take back what I said about Gingers'). From Ron she received a miniature broom that flew around the room when she let it go, twirling and spinning.
Hermione frowned. Merlin, Ron was the most immature person she knew.
"What's with the frown, Granger?" Draco questioned as he watched the broom with some fascination. "It's not a bad gift, especially from Weasley."
She sniffed. "It's not that. It's lovely, really," she assured him. "It's just that he's doing it to be a stupid, sly toad." As she spoke, she was glaring at the miniature broomstick as if it was an insult to humanity in general.
Draco raised his eyebrows. "And why, pray tell, is that, Granger?"
Hermione sighed. "Because I hate flying."
He guffawed. "You-You're-" Realising she was serious, he fought the urge to burst out laughing. "Right. Okay." He filed that little bit of information for later when he wasn't obliged to be civil with her.
Weirdly, though, the idea of hurting her feelings was growing less appealing by the day.
That was certainly a frightening thought.
The rest of the day continued as any day might have, except this wasn't just a normal day. Draco made his excuses and left, returning to the Slytherin dorms. Granger was so absorbed in her presents that she barely even noticed him leave, only making him promise to go to the feast later. And, when he smirked at her, telling him to tone down the arrogance.
"See ya, Hermione," he called over his shoulder, ignoring the sharp look from the Fat Lady, and felt a grudging affection for the girl when she grinned and yelled back, "Later, Draco."
This was, perhaps, the most idiotic thing he'd ever done in his life.
He was long past his denial that befriending Granger was impossible. No, this was different. This was almost as if he respected her as an equal.
This, he mused, was ridiculous, because he'd never respected anybody as an equal. After all, who could possibly compete with Draco Malfoy himself?
Wait, was he talking about himself in third person now? Mordrid, Granger would probably have him in St Mungo's Crazies Ward by New Year's at the very latest.
The only placating thought for this was that she would probably be there right along with him.
Granger, he thought, wasn't a bad person. She was a Muggleborn and she had hair that was a little too frizzy for his liking, but overall, she was almost... bearable.
"Pureblood," Draco murmured to the portrait, and it swung open to reveal the Slytherin Common room. His fellow house mates, he decided, were going to need to work on their password ideas. They were getting slack. And big-headed.
Whistling cheerfully, he Transfigured the couch beneath two snogging sixth-years into a Gryffindor coloured armchair and smiled pleasantly as they jumped off in horror.
Maybe Christmas wasn't so bad after all.
It was late when Hermione returned to the Gryffindor dorms. Dark cloaked Hogwarts like a blanket, seeping into all the cracks. Normally, dark appeared safe, like a security blanket, but at that moment, Hogwarts was cold and desolate. Night hugged the place until it suffocated. A couple of first years stumbled past, prompted by a particularly grumpy looking ghost.
She fought back a shiver and entered the Gryffindor dorms, the portrait swinging shut behind her. The Christmas feast had been nice; quiet, homely, almost. For a second, she'd nearly forgotten about her parents, and about everything-but you can't escape things forever. Collapsing onto the common room sofa, Hermione found herself fidgeting, uneasy. There was no reason to feel like this; she'd had a lovely time, Draco had been bearable, even pleasant.
A gruff rustling sound made the girl pause. The window was open, which was weird, because she didn't remember leaving the window open. Huh. Maybe Draco had opened it before he left.
It seemed unlikely, but it was certainly plausible, she supposed.
There was a piece of paper on the window sill. Hermione felt a rush of déjà vu wash over her, and fought back a choked sound. Her heart thrummed in her chest. Carefully, she picked up the paper, feeling it bite into her fingers as she crumpled it in her hand.
No. No. No.
Not again.
"I should tell somebody," she whispered to the fireplace, biting down hard on her lip.
Or not. She was a Gryffindor, but she wasn't stupid. If this turned out to be a fluke, she'd be the one who'd have to pay the price. She was supposed to be the smartest witch of her age; she needed to start acting like it.
She flew into action, shoveling clothes into her bag, checking her wand, and casting a protective charm around the fire to make sure no sparks escaped. The last thing she needed was Gryffindor common room cooked to a crisp. The paper slipped from her hand as she began to pack, fluttering slowly to the ground.
If you ever want to see your parents again, it read, you know where to find us.
ooo
Draco was doing his potions homework when the screaming started. He'd been sitting, perfectly innocently, on the sofa, looking over some potions homework. Though it contributed nothing to his mark, he still felt the odd urge to complete his coursework-in other words, make his father proud. This sentiment, he knew, was ridiculous, because his father was dead. Even if his father were alive, he wouldn't have bothered with his son's grades. No, he'd be off, prancing the wizarding scene and rallying up the Death Eaters.
Imagine how Lucius would react now, with Draco fraternizing with Mudblo- Muggleborns. Just the thought made Draco feel sick to his stomach. Maybe he wasn't so sure about being friends with Hermione Granger.
Yes, the girl was alright. Bearable, even. But she was still Hermione Granger, and a few kind words and days spent together didn't mean much, in the end.
Any such thought flew out of his head as soon as the yelling began. A third-year shot him a look, almost as if to say, 'what've you done this time?'
So that was how, not long later, Draco Malfoy found himself standing outside the Gryffindor common room, staring at McGonagall in bemusement. The woman had gone deadly white, her robes creating a disturbing contrast next to her pale skin. The other teachers crowded around her like mosquitos, murmuring empty words of comfort.
"What happened, Professor?" he demanded, but his voice was lost in the buzz of chatter. Pushing through the crowd of students, he stopped short of grabbing the teacher's arm and hissed, "What happened?"
McGonagall looked at him, but Draco had the bizarre feeling that she wasn't really seeing him. "It's Ms. Granger," the woman whispered numbly, and his gut twisted. "She was going to meet me after the feast, to talk about giving up Prefect duties, but-she didn't turn up. I came in search of her." She peered down at the parchment in her hand, and, after a minute of hesitation, handed it to him. "We found this."
Draco took the note, feeling an icy stab at his gut. He fought the urge to hex something, anything.
McGonagal sighed. "She left quite a few hours ago, from what our spells can pick up," the Headmistress said dully. The Fat Lady, somewhere to their left, was making a horrible screeching sound, wailing that 'the girl said she was leaving to meet the Headmistress! Oh, this is too horrid! Simply, utterly horrid!'
Draco cleared his throat, trying to shake off this uneasy feeling. She was going to leave in the end, anyway, wasn't she? Granger could look after herself. Right? "She..." he whispered, his voice sounded alien even to his own ears.
McGonagall nodded numbly. "She's gone."
ooo
.
Not sure how I feel about this chapter; it's definitely not my favourite. Writer's block has been giving me absolute hell lately, hence the lateness of this chapter.
As always, please drop me a line, and tell me what you think! All your reviews are golden!
