CHAPTER IX

Most of the students went to their first Hogsmeade trip this weekend, and Draco knew his younger self did, too. It was naturally impossible for Draco to remember everything he had done while carrying out Voldemort's order in this era, let alone the exact timelines of those … 'extra-school' activities, but he would always remember that he had Imperioed that Bell girl to bring the cursed necklace to Dumbledore during the first Hogsmeade weekend.

He knew his younger self had been busy making final preparations for the attack since the previous evening. He knew the boy had barely slept last night, and left his bed very early in the morning to execute the plan. So, Draco knew, the coast was clear; Myrtle's bathroom was free for him to roam.

He stunned Myrtle before she could even see him (wouldn't want the annoyingly too chatty ghost to give him away, would he?) and had, after muttering a number of incantations in replacement of the Parseltongue order, finally managed to open the Chamber of Secrets.

He slid into the dark tunnel, and landed harshly on piles of bones of what seemed to be once small mammals. Unpleasant, although rather vague smells of decays, rats' dung and damp lichens immediately invaded his nostrils, and sounds of running and screeching rats intruded his ears.

He saw the mouth of a bigger tunnel to his left, and immediately rose and walked toward and then through it. He met debris of collapsed walls and ceilings as he came out of the other end of the tunnel.

He chanted a spell to clear his path, and then saw a partly-opened hole across the room, which seemed to lead to another room. He stepped through the hole, and was now standing inside a huge, well-lit chamber in the middle of which two lines of giant head snake statues stood menacingly. The lines were divided by a wide, damp path that led to a bigger statue of what looked like a man's head attached on the wall.

He saw the decaying carcass of the basilisk lying abandoned in front of the statue.

It would have been dead silent in the chamber, if not for the echoing sound of water drops that regularly tickled the floor somewhere in a dark corner. And, soon, the almost dead chamber sprang to live as the sounds of Draco's firm footsteps as he walked steadily toward the carcass echoed across the hall.

He drew to a halt just a few feet away from the basilisk's monstrous head, simply staring it for a moment before scanning quickly the rest of the wrinkled, almost dried rotten mass of the giant snake, ignoring the stronger unpleasant smell of decay lingering in the air as he had come closer to the carcass.

Draco then retrieved from his pocket a magically expandable small bag, from inside of which he took a pair of dragon-hide gloves and a small, also expandable steel container.

He put the gloves on his hands before slowly lowering himself on the floor, placing the steel container near his foot, and then focusing his attention on the partly-opened jaws of the basilisk. He reached out with his hands, carefully protruding the jaws and the nearest fangs before deciding it was safe to go on with his plan. He picked a fang, holding the tip with his left hand, and aimed his wand at the base of the fang with the other hand. He muttered slowly the severing charm, carefully aimed it to one spot after the other and so on until the fang was removed and easily collapsed into his hand. He then quickly cast the freezing charm at both the fang and the ripped gum of the basilisk to prevent the venom from spurting and leaking unnecessarily. After that he enlarged the steel container, and carefully put the fang inside of it, attaching the thing to the base to prevent it from moving around after he sealed back the container, which he immediately did. He then stood up, moving away from the carcass, casting the Scourgify spell at his gloves, the container, the bag and all over himself before he took off the gloves and placed them and the steel container back inside the bag, which he secured once again inside his pocket.

Mission 1: accomplished. Draco allowed himself a little smile.


The Entrance Hall was filled with ruckus as Draco arrived. He had intended to head straight to the Great Hall to grab a lunch after his … small trip to the Chamber of Secrets; what with the trip made him famished. But, well, it wouldn't be wise to carry around a dangerous item such as a basilisk fang inside one's pocket, would it? So he had decided to drop by at the Slytherin dungeons before heading to the hall. He had put the fang inside his heavily-warded luggage.

Due to the ruckus, however, it looked like he had to suffer another delay for his lunch. The whispering and murmuring crowd gathering in the Entrance Hall practically blocked his way to the Great Hall. At first he wasn't aware what it was all about, but then as the crowd parted, he saw a half-giant by the name of Hagrid emerging, making his way through the crowd from outside, carrying in his arms an unconscious girl with long dark hair, and who was wrapped in a red coat. It was that Katie Bell girl. Yes, Draco almost forgot; this was right the time when the girl, supposed to deliver the necklace to Dumbledore, touched it and got cursed instead. Draco stayed rooted at the sight, watching silently from behind the crowd until Hagrid and the girl disappeared behind a corner heading to the Infirmary. He then waited for the crowd to disperse to allow him an access to the Great Hall.

He met the Golden Trio halfway. The Boy-Who-Lived and Weasley were too occupied to notice his presence, arguing heatedly no doubt about the Bell incident. But, Hermione… she happened to look up when he caught the sight of her. She looked troubled, and then a little bit perplexed when she saw him, but offered him a little weary smile in the end, which he replied with delight. They said nothing to each other, though. He allowed her to walk past him before he continued his interrupted trip to the Great Hall.

Draco headed straight to the Slytherin table, quickly indulging the meal presented before him, dismissing thoughts on what he had just seen. He sensed the troubled looks on the faces of the rest of the Great Hall occupants, and heard their anxious talks about what had just happened. But he ignored those, tuning out the voices. Well, what would he need to worry about anyway? He remembered clearly that the Bell girl had recovered quickly after being admitted to St. Mungo, and returned to school not long after the Christmas break. She would be okay.

But, Draco did look up when a platinum blond boy approached the table. Their eyes -for the umpteenth time- were momentarily locked before the boy quickly, and none too subtly at that, averted his gaze elsewhere; his posture went rigid and he too obviously avoided meeting Draco's eyes once more, picking a space far from him at another end of the long table. Maybe his younger self could catch the knowing look in Draco's eyes, or maybe the boy was just being paranoid; dead scared of getting caught after what he had done that had unintentionally hurt that Bell girl. The boy should find it hard to swallow any food right now, but Draco knew he was here to keep up appearances. It surely wouldn't do if he separated from others after what he had just done; that would most likely raise suspicions. Whichever, it looked like his younger self suspected that he knew. And, somehow, Draco didn't feel like hiding the fact, so he kept absentmindedly watching his blond, younger version as he continued his interrupted lunch. Maybe the boy finally had had enough, because just now he looked up and met Draco's eyes challengingly, sending him an angry, menacing glare filled with hostility.


It was later in the evening that Draco found Hermione in the library. He came there in a hope to find her, although hadn't exactly expected he would. Nevertheless, there she was, sitting alone at a table in a secluded corner, surrounding herself with piles of books and intently reading one.

After that eventful day when Hermione had accepted his offer of friendship, Draco hadn't had a chance to engage her in any talks. They had walked past each other, throwing each other smiles several times, but it had never been more than that. Potter and Weasley had seemed to be always glued to her side. Not that Draco was intimidated with either of the teenage boys, he only didn't feel comfortable talking with her while they were around, or while she was with anyone at that. He wanted his moments with her to be private.

Draco had been standing on the same spot behind a book shelf for some time now. He didn't immediately make himself seen, choosing instead to watch her silently from behind the shelf, raking his eyes slowly, appreciatively over her petite, slim figure, over the delicate contour of her face. And for some time he was captivated with the way she unconsciously bit her lips, making them look even redder and more ... tempting.

He woke up from his daze when she noisily turned another page of the book. That was when he decided to straigthen his back, and leave his hiding place to come and greet her.

"Hi. May I seat here?" he said as he arrived across her table, waiting for her to respond.

She was started and looked up, apparently had been to absorbed in the book she hadn't heard his footsteps. She smiled when she saw him, which he yet again replied with delight. He could get used to this smiling stuff. It was indeed weird, how her mere presence, her mere acceptance of him as a … friend (only for now; he promised), could bring smiles to his face, betraying his otherwise cold and aloof demeanor. He had basically forgotten how to smile for years, since Voldemort had ordered him the mission his younger self was currently doing. But, now, seeing those mirth in her eyes, the sweet smiles she had been sending his way several times so far... He couldn't help but feeling that surge of happiness and warmth filling his heart, slowly but surely bringing it back to life. He didn't remember ever smiling like this, even before those dark years removed all traces of happiness from his face. He remembered he had smirked, sneered and laughed at others' expenses a lot while he had been younger. But, the smile that was now gracing his face … it was new; and only her had seen. He was genuinely happy, only by being in her welcoming company, which made him feel as if everything would end up all right despite hard and dark days ahead.

"Oh, Dmitry, you surprised me," she said, indeed looking surprised as she almost dropped the book in her hands. "Please, do take a seat."

He smiled and drew the seat, lowering himself there.

"What are you reading?" He tried to initiate a conversation.

"This," she said, showing him the title of the book instead of answering. It read Magical Objects and Their Purposes.

"I reckon it has something to do with today's incident? They said the girl touched a cursed necklace."

"Yes," her smile immediately faltered, and she looked troubled once again.

Draco hated to touch the subject that removed the smile from her face, but he thought it was only normal that he brought up the issue. He was playing a new student after all, and new students were supposed to be curious about things happening in their new schools, especially if those things were quite unusual, such as a student being attacked by a cursed necklace.

"Have you found anything?" He decided to continue playing the ignorant new student part.

"No, I guess it isn't a special magical object; just an ordinary, expensive necklace someone had cast a curse upon."

He nodded. "Have any idea who might be responsible for that?"

Hermione seemed reluctant at first. She barely knew him after all, couldn't decide if he was a safe person to share these sort of stuff with. Nevertheless, after a moment, she decided to answer him, though she carefully picked her words.

"Actually, no," she said. "Katie -that's the girl's name- got the necklace from Hogsmeade, so it could be anyone. At times like this, it might as well be some Death Eaters. After all the necklace was aimed at Professor Dumbledore, so it's very likely a Death Eater's work."

He thought for a second or two before deciding to reply, "Well, better a Death Eater than some evil student. Imagine if it's the latter; he'd be able to work freely, unnoticed by anyone because… well, he's supposed to be just an innocent student."

Her eyes widened at this, and she seemed to want to say something else, although again quite reluctant at that, so he urged her to speak,

"Please, go on…"

"No, it's just that… Do you know Draco Malfoy? He's your Slytherin classmate."

He nodded.

"Well, Harry seems to really believe it must have been Malfoy. He has been trying to convince us that Malfoy is a Death Eater."

"And, what about you? You also think so?"

"I… I don't know. Malfoy has never been a… pleasant person. But, I don't think he would go that far into being a Death Eater and … trying to kill someone. After all, it's Harry we're talking about here. He… uhm… he always suspects Malfoy of evil doings. The thing is Harry has no single evidence that could support his accusation on Malfoy; at least not in this."

Draco smiled inwardly, pleased with Hermione's defending of his younger self, although she was sorely mistaken this time. Nevertheless, he was in an even better mood now (he was already in good mood since they had started talking), and decided to change the topic of the conversation into something … lighter. He also decided to let that suspicion on his younger self linger; he might as well need her help to fail the boy's ill mission, or perhaps her knowledge of the burden that his younger self was carrying could help her understand him better, thus make Draco's matchmaking job a little easier. To be honest, he really hadn't found any idea where to start on that. After all he had never before played a matchmaker, to anyone.

"From the sound of it, this Harry Potter friend of yours doesn't seem to be a good friend with Malfoy?" he decided to just settle on this topic, for now.

"A good friend?" she immediately laughed, and he enjoyed his musical laughter. She soon stopped laughing, though, as she noticed that intense look he was giving her again. And she immediately looked embarrassed.

"Oh, I… I'm sorry. I wasn't mocking you. Well, I didn't mean to," she stuttered. "You're a new student, so you wouldn't understand, but indeed you've just inspired in my head this funny mental picture of Harry being … good friends with Malfoy. And that looks downright ridiculous, and impossible," she seemed to try to suppress another coming wave of laughter.

"Enlighten me?" He smiled amusedly, enjoying her opening up to him and at the same time her lingering nervous, shy gestures.

"Well, for one they've been arch enemies since day one. Not merely because of the Slytherin-Gryffindor rivalry, but it was actually since Harry rejected Malfoy's offer of friendship. Yes… I guess they wouldn't have been so hostile to each other if only Harry hadn't rejected that offer. But, it's not like I can blame him either. Malfoy insulted Ron right in front of him that day, and Harry never liked those kind of condescending attitudes from anyone."

"And let me guess, since you're best friends with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, you're naturally Malfoy's arch enemy too?"

She seemed to consider the answer for a second, before replying, "Sort of … I guess."

He raised an eyebrow, so she continued, "Malfoy isn't as hostile to me as to Harry or Ron. Actually, I think he only is to me when provoked. Perhaps because I'm a girl. Anyway, I think I'm only an enemy, not an arch one," she shrugged.

"Besides, it's not wise, isn't it, to make the brightest witch of one's age their arch enemy?" He teased, which immediately prompted blush on her cheeks.

"Where did you even hear that rubbish?" she laughed.

"I'm a good listener, and from what I've gathered I don't think it's rubbish at all," he said, which made her blush even deeper.

He realized she didn't feel comfortable with the … flirtatious compliment. She immediately tried to change the topic, but was evidently not very good at it.

"You do don't seem to talk much. Are you always like this or is it because- …" she stopped her speech, immediately looking horrified, must be realizing she just touched a supposed-to-be-sensitive subject, that was if he really were a boy who had just lost his whole family in a plane crash.

As he was not, he chuckled inwardly, although managed to attach an understanding, encouraging smile on his face instead.

"I've always been like this," he shrugged.

"The difference is now I have more reason to stay like this," he decided to add after a short pause.

The girl in front of him seemed to be at a loss for words. He knew, she was very much affected with his supposedly tragic life story, although she barely knew him, let alone his imaginary dead family. Well, she had always been an empathic person, he knew her that much. In fact it was one of the things he loved about her. So, indeed, Draco didn't feel comfortable with his lies, not when they affected the girl he loved like this. But, he had no choice; he had to maintain the façade. And he needed to sound convincing, too, at that.

"It's okay, really," so he continued. "Actually, contrary to what most people seem to believe, sometimes I think I need someone to speak those sort of stuff with. You know, just to get them off my chest. But, well, most people treat me as if I were some kind of a fragile object, which could break down into pieces anytime someone reminds me ... of the loss. So, while that's not the case, I've been left alone, with my own devices, to cope with the loss," he finally settled on that little psychological speech. Aloof or not, Draco had always been a good liar. Those lies came out from his mouth almost naturally.

"Oh, Dmitry, I'm really sorry… Look, I'll be there for you if you need me. You can talk to me about … what happened to your family, if you want to. In fact, you can talk to me about everything you want. I'll be there for you," she stretched her arm across the table, subconsciously put her small hand over his large one and squeezed it a little in a sympathetic gesture.

He almost lost it there. It took quite self-control of him to fight the urges to grab that soft, small hand of her and trap it within his long, callous fingers, to bring it to his mouth and kiss the knuckles one by one. Anyway, he managed to force himself to continue the conversation, ignoring her soft touch and letting her draw her hand back.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it," he said.

Later that night as he was lying alone on his bed in the dorm room, a small smile kept tugging on a corner of his lips as he recalled the rest of the conversation he had had with Hermione. He had briefed her a little about his fake family history and imaginary past in Germany. Luckily in the future he had visited the country quite frequently, to take care of some businness affairs of his companies. So he wasn't completely clueless about the situation there, not to mention he was quite fluent in German again due to business demands. And, well, he should really thank Blaise for suggesting him the façade story. Yes, it was the future Blaise, but, well… since he was now nowhere around, perhaps he could deliver the gratitude through the younger version of his best friend. He looked up slightly toward a bed next to where his blond, younger version was lying, and smiled at the sight of the dark-skinned boy sleeping tight and snoring a bit.

Back to Hermione, she had seemed genuinely interested in whatever lies he had told her. He could see the wheels spinning in her head, could see her itch to attack him with questions regarding his foreign background and past life. Yes, he could see it clearly, and was now smiling fondly in remembrance of that overly curious look on her face. But, she had hold back. She had been really careful with her words and questions, which was good. Despite his previous 'psychological' speech, Draco was not sure if he could be consistent with all his lies, that is if she had indeed attacked him with those dozens of questions she had been dying to ask.

Eventually he made her talk more about herself than ask him questions. He made her talk about her family, her interests, favorite books and so on, by simply telling her he wasn't much of a talker. Aside of the fact it was wiser not to talk too much of oneself in these kind of circumstances, he had truthfully long stopped being a talker, choosing most to keep his thoughts on his own unless he considered it necessary to share them with others. And truer was that he loved listening to her soft voice, her musical laughter. He loved watching the sparkles in her big expressive eyes as she laughed, loved watching her face turn upset, sad, happy or angry in a relatively short amount of time, depending on what she was talking about. He loved watching her lips move, her tongue sometimes wet those glistening lips as she kept talking, blissfully unaware of his attention on those lips, and on her perfect brows, her long eyelashes, her cute button nose, rosy cheeks and almost everything of her but the content of her speech. That was for the most part. He did listen to some parts of her speech, genuinely interested in what she said, and commenting here and there to make it sound as if he was really listening all along. Luckily, he knew just when to listen and when to tune out; he was good like that in those sort stuff.

Slowly but surely, Draco's consciousness began to slip away. Not long after that he was entering the land of the wandering sleeping souls, and experienced for the first time after years a beautiful dream, where she stayed alive, safe and was happy at his side; a truly beautiful dream that didn't end up changing into a nightmare.


Author's note: Sincerely thank everyone who've been following this story, and especially those who have been kind enough to spare some of their precious times to review. I love reading your reviews, love to learn of what you think on the story, on the chapters. So, please review! :)

The special thanks goes to reviewers of the last chapter: tacker23, L and misa for eternity, LaFayette, HPAsherra (oh yes, we shall wait and see! ;) ), and Alkeni.

P.S.: To dearest readers of Matchmaking My Brother; I really don't mean to abandon the story, but have been having quite a writer's bloc for that story for some time now, especially because I've been barely in light mood over the past few months, while the story is supposed to be light and cheerful. I've found it difficult to write cheerful stories when in gloomy mood :(