Warning: Dark themes; the madness that is instilled within my mind.
Oh, and BOMBARDA is a spell that provokes small explosions.
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"If you would just open your eyes Granger," he said irritably. "Maybe you would actually see this."
Hermione shook her head even though she knew Malfoy couldn't see her. The cold wind pierced her skin. She knew they were high up now and she felt like vomiting. Her eyes were shut tight. She hated flying.
"What if I fall?"
"What if you don't?"
"No."
"Trust me."
"Trust you?" A bitter laugh escaped her lips. "I'm not stupid."
Draco smirked at this. How right she was not to trust him.
"You agreed to date me, you know," he said, emphasizing the word 'date' far too much for her liking. "That means you'd trusted me then. Why not trust me now?"
"This is not a date!" she yelled back in defense. "This is just my free pass so you won't pry into my business."
"Open your eyes or I'll drop you."
Hermione should have known better, she shouldn't have ignored the seriousness of his voice... but apparently she was being stubborn tonight.
"No."
Suddenly, he made a quick turn, catching her off balance and making her topple off the blasted broom. She screamed but he caught her by the waist before completely falling to her death.
She was dangling a hundred feet in the air with only his arm keeping her up.
"Alright, alright I'll open them!"
He hauled her back to the broom easily, as if her weight was nothing. Her breathing was uneven. She wanted to cry. She hugged him so tight, she felt like her life depended on it.
Well... it did.
"You're crushing my organs!"
"You!" She pounded at his back hard. "Sadistic git! I almost died of a heart-attack!"
Malfoy actually had the nerve to laugh.
"Stop laughing!" she yelled in outrage. "Stop!"
Malfoy didn't stop, he only laughed louder. The laughter just plopped into his stomach and he couldn't stop. Hermione scowled, but after a while she started laughing with him too. His laugh was very contagious. It wasn't like the cold, empty laughs she usually heard from him.
It sounded rich and genuine... and human.
She found that she liked it very much.
Draco clutched his stomach and after what seemed like hours he stopped. He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed so hard.
"Are you done?" she said in a somewhat amused tone.
"Yes." he said, smiling still. Draco was shocked when he actually wiped a few tears in his eyes, tears of bloody laughter.
If he didn't see it for himself he wouldn't have believed it. Tears? From laughing?
"Oh Merlin Granger, you really are something."
"Why don't you do that more often?" he heard her say. He could feel her head resting on his back.
"Do what?"
"Laugh."
He paused for a while.
Because I never had a reason to.
He rushed forward and he heard her yelp in surprise. He flew past the quidditch field and the lake with such speed, it was downright frigthening.
"Malfoy, slow down!"
He didn't. He kept going until they passed the Forbidden Forest and kept going even as they passed Hogsmeade. His knuckles were white against the broom.
"Stop! I think I might throw up."
He slowed down finally. She sighed in relief.
She looked back and she could see the tips of the castle towers. They were so far from Hogwarts now.
A perfect place to kill someone. She grimaced at the thought.
"How do you keep doing this?" she heard him say in frustration. He was angry about something. That always seemed to be a bad thing.
"Doing what?" She clutched the wand in her robes in case he tries anything. She must've said something wrong.
"Making me feel..." he muttered under his breath.
She looked at his back questioningly, loosening the grip on her wand. "Feel what?"
"Just feel!" he yelled angrily, scaring her shitless. She almost fell off the broom again.
What did he mean by that?
"I—I don't understand."
He didn't answer. He turned around slowly and headed back.
The rest of the trip was awkward and silent. She didn't know what to say. She was still confused about everything, about this, about him.
He was a puzzle she wanted desperately to solve.
"Malfoy?"
"Look around, Granger."
The moment she did her jaw dropped.
She understood immediately why he wanted her to open her eyes. The lake was ablaze, reflecting the stars that looked like thousands of diamonds gleaming intensely in the black sky.
The lake, the sky, the stars... everything was utterly beautiful.
This is what he wanted to show me.
She laughed to herself when there was a fleeting instance where she thought Malfoy was actually being sweet. I'm clearly losing my mind.
"Why did you ask me out, Malfoy?" she asked amidst the silence. "What do you want from me?"
He didn't answer again.
They landed on the ground safely. Hermione had never been so happy to see solid ground. He looked at her one last time with those intense silver eyes. Then he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek like he did so many times before.
She shivered when she felt his cold breath on her ear.
"Everything."
"Want to go to the ball with me?"
She looked at Harry's green orbs questioningly. He had one of those one-cheek-grins she found so adorable. "What ball?"
"The Winter Masquerade. The one coming two weeks from now."
"And how come I've never heard of this ball?"
He looked at the book in front of her. "Because you're too busy with research."
She furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't have time for balls right now." She cringed at how wrong it sounded. Harry chuckled. "I have a lot of research to do."
"Time to take a break then. You've been at it for days now." Harry looked at her sympathetically, touching the bags under her eyes with his fingers.
"I don't want to."
"But you must." He closed the book and led her out the library. "Did you find anything?"
"Yes." The corridors were empty, save for a few second years passing by. "I've narrowed it down to four pureblood families that may be involved in the art of Poison-making. Notts, Harpers, Zabinis and the Malfoys. It's got to be one of them."
Lavander Brown walked to the Dungeons confidently.
She had a mission today. A mission only for her alone.
The Professor wasn't in yet, perfect. She walked in front of the class. Every pair of eyes turned towards her.
And that's when she found her targets. All three of them in Slytherin green robes, sitting casually together.
Kill them.
One by one she pointed her wand at them. They didn't know what hit them. With one last mention of "Avada Kedavra" a jet of green light came from her wand and the last one fell instantly.
The students around her were too shocked to do anything.
Her high-pitched laughter similar to Bellatrix's echoed as she headed out the classroom.
"Where are all the teachers?" They were in the Great Hall. There were only a few students now because it was still a bit too early for lunch. The chairs on the front, where the teachers always sat, were curiously empty.
Hermione shrugged. "Probably on a meeting or something. It's still a bit early for lunch anyways."
They sat on the Gryffindor table and loaded their plates "I asked Lavender about the roses," Harry mentioned while she ate a slice of blueberry pie.
"What?" She almost choked on her food. "When?"
"Last night," he said seriously. "I had to. I had to know."
"You weren't suppose to ask her!" she said angrily.
This could ruin everything. Why did he think she was doing her best with this research? She wanted to investigate this without Lavender knowing anything, but now that he asked Lavender...
"What did she say?"
"It's not her," he assured her. "She said she just heard the rumors that Ron liked roses."
"What if she pretended?"
"Stop being so paranoid about this," he said. "This is Lavender we're talking about. She may be a lot of things but she's no murderer. Besides, you already narrowed it down to four remember?"
BAM.
There was a loud explosion from the door and Hermione was startled from her seat. Everyone looked at the person standing right outside. Speak of the devil.
She had a crazy look in her eyes and she was holding her wand out.
She walked tipsily to the empty Headmistress chair, almost falling over some students as she made her way there.
"Lavender?" Hermione looked at Harry in confusion. He shrugged and grabbed her hand. He pulled her towards Lavender, who was now pushing the empty chairs of the teachers around and making a huge mess.
"What's going on Lavender?" Harry yelled at her.
"Get away from her Potter!"
They looked back and found all teachers in Hogwarts enter the Great Hall. They all had their wands out and were pointing at Lavender.
Professor Flitwick started leading the students to the outside of the Great Hall. Harry and Hermione stayed behind.
"Ms. Brown," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "Put your wand away."
"N-n-n-no!" Lavender was shaking. She looked positively mad. She was laughing one moment and crying the next. She kept clutching her head and pulling her hair. They tried to send several curses at her but it only backfired and she wasn't the least bit affected. It was as if an invisible barrier was protecting her.
What was going on?
Professor McGonagall calmly took a few steps forward.
"S-s-s-s-s-tay where you are!"
"Ms. Brown!" said Professor McGonagall again, more angrily this time.
"T-t-t-t-the voices," Lavender was laughing again. "T-t-t-t-t-t-eling m-m-m-m-e t-t-t-to..."
She didn't stop laughing.
"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-no!" Lavender said. She sounded like she was arguing with herself.
Then she pointed her wand at her head slowly and smiled.
"Harry stop her!" Hermione yelled at him. He rushed towards Lavender, but it was too late.
"Bombarda."
"Still not sleeping?" She looked up from her covers and found his dark figure sitting on the foot of her bed. The aura of gloom that always seem to surround him made the hairs on her back stand.
"How did you get in?" She tried to make her voice sound as firm as possible but it came out as a small crack.
"Through the door." He snorted.
"I locked the door." I even put wards in it.
"I unlocked it." He said with a mocking tone, as if she was being stupid.
"Get off my bed."
"No."
She cursed under her breath and covered herself with the sheets. She had been trying to get some sleep but she couldn't seem to. The image of Lavender blowing her brains up all over the Great Hall kept replaying in her mind.
Lavender Brown had died by her own wand.
And she killed three people in the process.
Hermione didn't like Lavender very much but she didn't hate her either. She didn't know how troubled Lavender had been. In fact nobody knew. Professor McGonagall said she was bullied by the three Slytherins, that's why she killed them. And their other professors added that it was Ron's death that caused her to snap.
But was it really?
Lavender did mention voices before she died. Voices. Didn't that mean she was under a spell?
But there was no evidence that the Imperius Curse was used on her.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
She peeked from the covers. She stared at him with a curious look. "About Lavender?"
Draco smirked but he was sure she couldn't see him in the darkness. He was right, she was thinking about Blue's death.
Blue's death was one of his greatest masterpiece. It was bold, dramatic, and deliciously morbid. Everyone would remember it as a great tragedy, a sad and heart-breaking story of how a girl killed herself because of the pressures of life and other nonsense.
What they didn't know, however, was that it was all a show. She was merely Draco's puppet, disposed of because she was of no use to him any longer.
"Yes, and Weasley too."
She let the covers drop all the way to her waist. He started crawling towards her. She screamed but he covered her mouth with his hand almost instantly.
"Shh." He said quitely. She struggled against him. She tried to feel for her wand on the table beside her bed but she couldn't seem to find it.
"Don't scream," he warned her coldly. He sat beside her, their bodies touching. He was so close. Her eyes widened when she saw him twirling her wand against his fingers.
"Scared?"
"Go to hell," she said angrily, struggling to take back her wand from his hand.
He laughed coldly.
"I'm not going to rape you, Granger." He was enjoying this, he enjoyed seeing her shaken with fear and anger. "I just want to talk."
She really didn't feel comfortable with this position. She scooted away from him but he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her flush towards him.
"Relax." His voice was soft and oddly soothing in her ears and she started to feel sleepy.
"Talk to me about Blu—Lavender," she heard him say. She was only half-listening. Her eyelids felt heavy and she stiffled a yawn.
Why was she so sleepy all of a sudden?
"It was sad that Lavender killed herself," she managed to answer. "But just between you and me, I think—"
She yawned again.
No, she told herself desperately. Stay awake!
But she couldn't seem to anymore.
"You think?"
"I think she was murdered too." She rested her head on his chest, unable to control herself. If she wasn't so sleepy she wouldn't have missed the look of shock on his face. She started to drift off to sleep but he shook her slightly to keep her awake.
"Murdered too?" she heard him ask.
"Yes," she answered, "like Ron was."
Is that so?
Draco finally let her fall asleep on his chest. He brushed her soft hair between his fingers.
So she figured it out huh? He couldn't deny that he was rather impressed. He wondered how she found out. He had always been thorough.
No one, not even dear old McGonagall, suspected anything.
He smirked at how the events were turning out. It was getting interesting. He would let Hermione find out it was him, let her do her little research of how to destroy him.
And when she was sure she was rid of him, when she was sure she had won, he would strike back.
He was going to enjoy this.
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Draco killed four people here. Sorry about that. But i did warn you, you know :p
I don't know if committing suicide with your own wand is possible in canon, but it's possible in this fic because I said so. hehe. XD
Sadly, this story's about to end. Just a few more chapters and it's done. Awww. D:
Read and review hun :) It's pointless to update without knowing what you guys think :)
Thank you :D i love you all :D
