A/N: Hey y'all, here's Chapter 11. I would've gotten this up earlier if my computer wasn't being such a pill. Practically, had to hack myself back in my computer. I hate technology. Anyways, please review/give feeback. Also a BIG thank for reviewing/following. Happy reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JKR does.
True Love's Locket
Chapter 11- How Draco Malfoy Resembles Harry Potter
She landed on the cold snow with a not-so-graceful thud while learning how to breathe all over again. Her apparition with Malfoy was the worst experience that she had with appariting yet. He had tried everything to get rid of her, short of shooting a spell at her. Shaking her, spinning her, and he even tried to pry her laced arms from around his abdomen apart but Hermione stayed hooked around him.
Hermione stared up at the sky as she blinked falling snow from her eyes. Her own mind wondered where she was at because of the weather. Tilting her head to the left, she furrowed her brow in confusion when she saw the familiar fence of the Shrieking Shack, looking out at the snow covered trail. Taking a breath full of cold air, Hermione placed both of her hands into the sitting up position. As she tried to get up from the frosted ground, something suddenly started to crush her lungs by being on her chest.
Her panicked brown eyes immediately looked forward to the source. The source of her pain, wasn't a something, it was a someone. His blond hair glimmered again as the bright sun shone on it, making a circle shape of a halo on his head. Malfoy sat on her upper body, his long legs pinned both of her arms down at her sides. She glared when his wand dug into her cheek painfully. The distant hollow look in Malfoy's eyes, made Hermione opened her mouth to speak,
"Malfoy! It's Hermione! What the hell are you doing?!"
The squeak of her voice brought a sad shame to Hermione for two reasons. The first being, Malfoy was, of course a prat but with their witty exchange, he hadn't tried to physically hurt her. In that moment, Hermione was slightly frightened just by the distance of Malfoy's eyes. The look in his silver eyes told her that nobody was home. Her other reason was, her own lack to remember Malfoy's 'condition.' He couldn't hurt her with magic or at least, she hoped not.
When his wand dug harder into her cheek, almost bruising, Hermione panicked more. She bucked her hips, kicked her feet and tried to free her arms from being pinned to her sides. All while she was attempting to free herself, Malfoy just sat there and adjusted his weight accordingly. When she was reduced to panting, the small voice in her head remarked that the only thing she successfully did was wear herself down. Feeling helpless, Hermione hated herself when her eyes threatened to tear up with warmth moisture.
She turned her head away to the right and barely saw the door of the Shrieking Shack over Malfoy's black knee. After all these years at Hogwarts, Malfoy had finally gotten her to tear up to cry. Biting her lip in pure stubbornness to not let her tears flow, she looked him and waited for a sign from him that this was one of his sick joke; a smirk or a sneer of some kind.
When nothing appeared on his hollow empty face, Hermione became more puzzled than scared. She spoke calmly to Malfoy while ignoring the grinding pain in her cheek from his wand, "Malfoy?"
He heard his name in the distance winds playing inside his head as he perched on top of the Death Eater who tackled him. Draco tuned the familiar feminine voice out, he couldn't afford to get distracted by it. Not when a Death Eater was so close to him. Who else would tackle him so close to the Shrieking Shack? Before he tackled the Death Eater, Draco had one hell of a landing; not at all graceful as all Malfoy's were. When he laid there, Draco turned his head and spotted a light cream-colored coat nearby.
His hands started to automatically crawl to the unmoving Death Eater as his mind questioned about unusual wear. Usually the Death Eaters wore black, as he would personally know. Why would a Death Eater wear something that looked muggle-ish was beyond him.
Draco's silver eyes spotted hand movement from the Death Eater and he quickened his pace. Before the Death Eater sat up, Draco lunged himself on top of the slender figure. He ignored the heat fire that burned at his body pleasurably. His knees blocked all movement of the person's arms which pleased him then he shoved his wand into their face. Then he looked at the person underneath him.
Blinking his eyes several times didn't chase away the tearful Granger underneath him. Instead, he shook his head, wondering if he had a head injury from his nasty landing. His head throbbed in reminder as his ears heard the sound of his name in the wind again. The maddening voice in his head was screaming at him to stop hurting her. That she wasn't a Death Eater, in fact, she was the only one that made him feel something.
Mesmerized, by her blue-tinted lips, he pulled his wand from her face. When he saw the growing bruise blooming on her face, Draco set his wand down in the snow and studied her cheek with a leather-gloved hand. His heart leaped sorrowfully when she squeaked out a complaint of pain and a small tear coursed down her face.
He licked his cold lips and brushed the tear from her cheek. As his hand went to grab his wand to give her a written apology. His name carried through the air again, this time by a different person. The one tone he was familiar with since he was born, his mother. Draco found his mother standing on the broken, dirty porch while draping a red shawl over her shoulders.
"Draco?"
Hermione's heart froze when his hand brushed away the tear that was on her cheek. Upon hearing another voice, Hermione angled her neck to look around his leg. Standing on the porch of the Shrieking Shack was a woman with shoulder length, black and blond streaked hair. Her chocolate eyes roamed over the woman in the cream dress, her eyes narrowed, training on the woman's face There was something familiar about her but Hermione couldn't pin point it.
When the woman's blue eyes connected with Hermione's brown ones, the switched clicked in her head. There was something about the shape of her eyes that made Hermione looked at Malfoy again. His head was looking away from her, looking at the woman on the porch. From the way he moved, she knew that he was back to his part self. Before she could even confirm her theory with Malfoy. Hermione studied the woman again. Hermione watched as the woman's eyes grew larger in surprise then, the woman's low but clear voice carried,
"Draco Alexander Malfoy! Let the poor girl up. She'll catch her death from hypothermia."
She watched as Malfoy's head snapped down. Their eyes met for a quick seconds before he pulled away from her. As she sat up, Hermione had been rendered speechless from the way his pale face looked with a pink blush on his face. Her heart did a foreign leap against her ribcage that made her gasp. Biting her lip, she fought not to close her eyes as a small shiver of simple attraction danced down her spine. She was still in awe when his hand appeared before her; offering silently to help her up.
Draco ducked his head away from his mother's lecture and looked down at the woman who was making his skin prickled with invisible waves of sensual pleasure. His eyes met hers, with a blush on his cheeks as a flashback of one his latest dreams played inside his head. Gulping down the growing lump in his throat, Draco gracefully removed himself from her, causing himself grief.
Brushing off cold snow from his legs, he centered himself and tried not to look like he wanted to touch her. When actually, he wanted nothing more in this world but to do just that. He shook his head again and thought about anything that sickened him. Then maybe he could brainwash himself to not want her. Flashes of, house elves, broomsticks (which only made him suffer more, as another flashback from one of his dreams toyed with him), Quidditch, a giant squid played through his head.
Some how, his own perverted mind would twist each one, into something positively filthy. If his mind kept with the perverted thoughts, Draco thought he would have to tumble in the snow naked to clear his head. Then Draco settled for Crabbe and Goyle, in red dresses, singing a love song to Snape. A sour taste burned the back of his throat and he mentally smirk while patting himself on the back for his outstanding idea. Automatically and ironically, he thoughtlessly held out a hand for the now-sitting up woman at his feet.
He tried not to jump from the arousing jolt of electric that pulsed through his gloved hand. Pulling with his shoulder, Draco's bigger body pulled 'Her' up from the ground with ease. Once he was sure that she was on her feet, Draco immediately dropped her hand like it something revolting.
Hermione brushed the snow from places that she could reach as her ears heard crunching of snow. Looking up from her task of ridding snow from the back of her legs, stood the woman. Quickly, Hermione mental snapshots of the woman. The cream and red clad woman had fine wrinkles at the corner of her eyes, which placed her age older than her. Maybe around her own mother's age, thinking of her mother, made Hermione's heart ache a bit.
As her tender feeling tried to fade, Hermione studied a bit more before she broke her stared with the fear of being caught staring which would be impolite. Even if the shape of their eyes were similar, she couldn't squash down the feeling that made her stomach do flip-flops. She only watched as Malfoy walked the rest of the way to the woman and embraced her. Hermione's eyes darted away, looking at the ground as some drops of jealously pulsed through her body. Biting her lip, she was in mental battle with herself to deny any feelings of jealously when she heard elegant swipes in the air.
Fiery red letters made Hermione's blood simmer from boiling to nothing by two words,
"Hello Mother."
She blinked her chocolate eyes at Malfoy, who towered over his mother by several inches. Hermione only gulped when her brown eyes flickered over to Malfoy's mother, who was studying Hermione from head to toe. Before Hermione was going to introduce herself, Malfoy's mother spoke in the same tone of voice as before,
"Let's get out of this cold and go inside where it's warm"
Hermione's fingers throbbed eagerly just by mentioning the word 'warm.' She followed behind the older woman and managed to somehow end up walking next to Malfoy. Their foot steps made an echo sound when they both stepped up the crooked, falling apart porch together. Then everyone stopped before the door, including Malfoy's mother. To her surprise, with her own eyes, she watched as Malfoy grabbed the rustic handle of the door and swung it open. His fingers held the top of it, as Malfoy's mother walked through, looking completely used to that kind of treatment.
She, however, was used to opening her own doors. When she didn't make any movements to go inside, Malfoy dropped the door on her but not before going inside himself. It slammed shut before she could walk through. Pushing the door with her fingertips she entered the Shrieking Shack, then her jaw literally hit the floor in utter surprise.
The dirty destroyed building in her memories vanished away when Hermione gazed at the small foyer. She was shoulder to shoulder with Malfoy to her right, standing near a dark wooden archway. Her eyes hunted for any damages that she remembered from Third Year. The claw marks polluting the walls were gone; instead light cream wallpaper with lacy white accents graced them. The bent and beaten stairs that she remembered climbing up with Harry were also gone. New dark red wood traveled up the stairs and bloomed down the small hallway that she didn't know existed.
A huge beautiful silver chandler dangled over her head elegantly and brightened up the room. Painting of witches and wizards waved in excitement to their new guest. Hermione was startled when Malfoy pushed passed her, venturing near the stairs and opened another door that she didn't know existed. Her eyes followed him as he held his arms out for his mother's shawl. Which the older woman wordlessly handed to her son before turning to her, " Draco didn't tell me that he was bring a guest. I'm sure you have many questions Ms.-?
"Granger. My name is Hermione Granger," then she paused, "I tagged along last minute."
Hearing a snort from the cupboard, Hermione tried not to smile and failed. Thankfully, she only saw the lower half of Malfoy sticking out of the room from the underneath the stairs. Her eyes roamed over Malfoy's backside, admiring the way the black dress pants hugged him. When she realized just what she was doing, her gazed ripped away from him while she tried to look like she didn't do anything.
The older woman just studied the younger woman in front of her. Her dark wet curly hair framed her cheekbones that most women would kill for. Along with pink full lips and blushing cheeks, this girl wasn't the picture of ugliness as Draco tried to paint. The woman's eyes carried a sense of intelligence that was similar to her own son's. This Granger was the young woman who made her son frustrated with his schooling that ultimately would get him punished every year by her husband.
When a small blush bloomed on Granger's cheeks, she looked over her shoulder to see her son's backside sticking out of the cupboard. She rolled her eyes as a sense of protective pride coursed through her heart. Protective, just because her was her son and no matter the age, he will still be her baby. She was proud that her son was handsome as he is, his looks would help on making a good marriage someday. It also helped that her son carried the Malfoy name. When her son emerged, she spoke in her low voice,
"Granger? The very same one you complained about in your letters?"
Draco nods his head while avoiding 'Her' eye contact. He didn't want to become embarrassed again just by admitting that he was writing complains about her. At least they were complaints and not love letters. Thank Merlin, he hasn't lost his mind to madness just yet. Draco listened as his mother continued talking,
"She's the one you described as," then she paused while waving her hand to recall the exact words of the letter, " a 'buck-toothed, bushy brow eye-sore that you would rather she be a gnome because you could at least kick her for being an insufferable know-it-all?' Draco, I think you certainly exaggerated. Ms. Granger isn't ugly at all. "
At the moment, Draco found the floor oddly fascinating while fighting the growing blush on his cheeks. He could feel 'Her' glare on his body which sent small jolts of pleasure down his body. If she only knew that her death glare was doing nothing for intimidation instead, he had a feeling that he would need another cold shower later tonight. Draco mentally shrugged his shoulders, he wasn't going to say a damn word.
His mother quoted his most recent letter back to him, the one he had written after a horrible nights sleep. He will admit, that he was a little temperamental but after having a filth mudblood moaning sweet nothings to him in dream, he needed to rant. The silence in the room, was light until his mother's voice bounced around the room,
"Would anyone like some tea?" Her older eyes flickered between the two younger kids who was playing a game of avoidance. If one looked up, the other would look away. Bemused, Mrs. Malfoy continued talking as she walked to the small kitchen in the back of the house. Her voice carried and echoed back to them in the foyer,
"Please excuse me, I need to go to the kitchen and put the water on. The Order of the Phoenix thought it would be too risky to take my personal House Elf, Peaches into hiding with me from Malfoy Manor. I've had to do everything myself and without magic; they're afraid that my wand will be traced."
Another silence went through the house, as sounds of banging and clattering came from the kitchen. As she filled the kettle full of water, Mrs. Malfoy spoke again, "Draco, take Ms. Granger's coat, I raised you to be a gentleman."
Between the sounds of banging and running water, Draco heard his mother's order. His feet walked the last few steps to 'Her,' still standing in the foyer. Reluctantly, he held out his arm waiting for her coat while still avoiding her eyes. His mother did raise him to be a gentleman, it didn't mean that he had to like it.
Draco watched as her blue-tinted fingers fumbled with the first button of her coat. When she continued to fumble with it for the third time; Draco grabbed 'Her' shoulders to pull her closer to him. He tried his best to ignore the fury of hot electricity racing down his skin from touching her as he quickly unbuttoned her coat with ease. While he was undressing her, Draco did his best to keep the horrid image of Crabbe, Goyle and Snape in his head.
She froze some more when she heard Malfoy's mother's order. Everything that were below her elbows suffered from her icy landing and Malfoy's attack. She regretted not going back to Gryffindor Tower for her gloves. Instead of putting up a fight when Malfoy grabbed her shoulders and pulled her petite frame closer to him, Hermione just stood there. Watching his pale fingers move through each of her white buttons with ease. Envious of his finger mobility; she spoke in a low teasing voice as she arched her brown eyebrow at him, "A gnome, Malfoy?"
She smiled again when he snorted at her as his fingers finished with their task. When her coat was undone, his hands gently ran over her shoulders to push the coat down. Shivers ran down her spine when Malfoy stepped in closer to her. His body was so close, that she could smell the cologne from his skin. Forcing herself to swallow the nervous twisting of her stomach, she almost sighed in relief when Malfoy stepped away with her coat in hand.
Before he had his back to her, Malfoy's hand had his wand which wrote blazing fiery red letters,
"Tagged along last minute?"
Hermione returned his teasing with a snort of her own. When she saw a small smile grace across his features before he turned around and walked to the cupboard, Hermione felt dumbstruck. In the back of her mind, she wondered how someone so judgmental and hateful could have a breathtaking smile like his. She turned away, thankful that Malfoy couldn't see her blush on her cheeks. Her brown eyes closed for a small moment as she hoped to Merlin that she wasn't getting sick.
As Malfoy tucked her coat away, Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket then she cast a Hot-Air charm on herself. She didn't want to get ill from having wet hair and wet clothing. Hermione waved her wand again to cast a Hot-Air charm on Malfoy, when he finally pulled himself out from the cupboard. His silver eyes connected with her brown ones, before either could communicate anything. Draco's mother walked down the hallway with a tray carrying three teacups, a silver pot, and two small silver jars which Hermione assumed either sugar or milk.
The older woman spoke as she walked past Hermione, "Come Draco and Ms. Granger, let's sit in the parlor for some tea."
She, along with Malfoy followed his mother through the wooden arch that she had seen upon entering the Shrieking Shack. Her eyes took in the gorgeous room which was wallpapered in tasteful light blue swirls that reminded Hermione of Van Gogh's Starry Night.
Another silver chandler hung over a crystal and glass table which sat in the middle of two creamed colored loveseats facing each other. The creamy color of the loveseats brought her eyes to the other creamy feature of the fireplace. The tile surrounding the fire sparkled slightly, like there were hidden fine particles of diamonds within them. Her feet echoed across the dark wooden floor as she follow Mrs. Malfoy deeper into the parlor. When the older woman sat down, Hermione followed suit and sat down on the loveseat opposite from her. She looked to Malfoy when tea was poured into the cups.
Draco stood there, looking between his mother and Granger sitting on opposite sides from each other. Something in his chest grew warm when both women, with teacups in their hands, turned their heads to look at him expectantly. It was eerie that their eyes gave him the same look that asked, 'Are you sitting down?' Shrugging his shoulders, Draco sat in Granger's loveseat, but not too close to feel any sort of pleasure, which he was thankful for. The sensual electricity caressed his skin when Granger's small hands stuffed a silver teacup in his own.
He sipped on the warm liquid and closed his eyes to make a appreciative 'hmm' sound with his throat. When Draco opened his eyes, he saw Granger looking at him and he turned his head away to blush. As he was fighting his embarrassment, his mother's voice broke the silence,
"Ms. Granger I'm sure you have many questions."
Hermione nodded her head, as she pulled the teacup from her lips. "Please call me Hermione and yes, I have many questions."
The older woman just nodded back at her, and Hermione continued to speak, "You spoke of The Order earlier, saying that you had to go into hiding?"
She felt Malfoy shift beside her and her brown eyes caught the side profile of his face as he stared at the painting across the room. Hermione head's whirled back to Mrs. Malfoy as the woman began to answer her question,
"This story is rather difficult to speak of since it pertains to my husband's actions and Draco's mission last year."
Her brown eyes followed Mrs. Malfoy as her head turned towards her son, "Would you rather explain it Draco?"
When Draco shook his head back and forth the universal sign of 'No', Mrs. Malfoy continued, "Do you know of my son's mission last year?"
Hermione fought to make her voice even, and not at all vicious as she would like. She knew of Malfoy's mission when Dumbledore had gathered the Order for a meeting, "Malfoy was ordered to kill Dumbledore by Voldemort."
Mrs. Malfoy visibly flinched at He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Name's true name then nodded her head, "It was such a dangerous order, I believe that 'He' gave Draco that task to fail, so Draco's death would be punishment to my husband's failure in the Department of Mysteries."
Hermione knew what kind of failure that Mrs. Malfoy was talking about. Her husband, broke the prophecy which spoke of Harry and Voldemort's fate. "I was there."
The older woman paused and looked at her for a moment, Hermione tried her best not to squirm under her gaze. "So, you know what I speak of?"
Hermione nodded her head, "I saw the prophecy break."
Mrs. Malfoy took another sip of her tea, "My husband's failure threatened all of our lives. If Draco was to complete his task, then we would be spared."
She blinked her brown eyes, while absorbing the information that Mrs. Malfoy was telling her, "But Malfoy didn't complete his mission."
"That's right Hermione, Draco didn't finish his mission because Dumbledore offered him something that he couldn't refuse."
Draco wished he wasn't sitting there listening to their conversation that spoke of him in the third person or that spoke of his failed mission or that what made him actually look like a decent person. Being decent wasn't in his character and every time he's heard his mother tell this story, he could felt her pride through her words. He took another sip of tea before placing on the table before him. Licking his lips, Draco stood up from the couch and wrote with his wand,
"I'm going to my bedchambers for a moment, then I'm going to check on the fidelius charm."
Hermione watched as his red letters began to fade from midair as his footsteps echoed up the wooden staircase loudly. When sounds of footsteps thumped overhead, Hermione spoke, wondering what exactly Dumbledore offered Malfoy, "What was it?"
"Dumbledore offered protection. He promised to hide me, and Draco, after he was finished with his last year at Hogwarts until He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is destroyed. Draco took it and surrendered himself to The Order. My son saved my life."
The word protection clicked a switch in Hermione's quickly-thinking mind. Her own conversation with Dumbledore replayed in her memories and froze when he spoke of, 'Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy are more alike than you would care to admit even if their characters are different.' Harry faced Voldemort to protect Ginny. Malfoy went against Voldemort's orders to protect his mother. Their characters were different, but they both wanted to protect those they loved.
Draco entered his room which was a twin of his room at Hogwarts. He strolled across the dark room floor and stopped in front of his bookshelf. A silver and green ring carried the Malfoy crest sat in his eyesight. The ring originally belonged to his father but it was given to his mother for their engagement ring. His mother gave it to him his First Year of Hogwarts. His own anger towards his father made him remove the ring before he went back to Hogwarts but the ring was still is mother's, which possessed him to place it back on his left middle finger. Afterwords, Draco started to walk down the stairs and heard 'Her' voice from downstairs.
"So, Malfoy is secret keeper?"Goosebumps spread around her body as warmth floated inside her. She finally understood Dumbledore's riddle and also his explanation to The Order about second chances. Her head whipped from the nodding mother who confirmed her question with an unsaid 'yes', to the stairs, where Malfoy's footsteps were coming down. Hermione just stared at Malfoy, as her eyes roamed over his body. Many thoughts plagued her head, Hermione would have never imagined what strength it took Malfoy to basically betray Voldemort. Her eyes landed on his shoulders, wondering just how much strength that he still carried.
The sound of the front door opening then closing snapped Hermione out the maze in her head. Taking another sip of her tea, she absorbed the peaceful silence. Her eyes watched the crackling fire until she heard the clatter of a teacup hitting the saucer. She looked up to Mrs. Malfoy with an expression of worry on her face, "Hermione, may I tell you something?"
She smiled at the older woman, "Of course."
"Before I tell you what I think you should know. I want to say I know of your blood status from Draco's letters," Hermione tried not to react when the woman continued,
"My family, my upbringing supported that Muggle-borns were lower than Pure-Bloods. After many years of hearing about blood purity, I stopped believing in that poppycock. I married Lucius to please my family and eventually I fell in love with him after Draco came into this world. I only supported the view that Lucius has because he is my husband, but the cause he is fighting for worthless. I know from the look in your eyes that you're an intelligent young woman, you know that hatred is taught? That everyone that is born starts out with a pure clean slate."
Hermione only nodded as she continued,
"The following story that I'm going to tell cannot leave this room nor can Draco know. Do you understand?"
Again, her chestnut head nodded in agreement.
"Draco, sadly, has picked up on Lucius's hated of Muggle-borns. I love my son but he doesn't know the true origins of my husband's hate. This secret has been on my shoulders since I got married. I don't know what is between you and my son, but hopefully, this story will help you see that Draco's hate can be easily cleansed away."
Hermione sat her teacup on the table beside Malfoy's. She absorbed Mrs. Malfoy's words as she licked her lips, "There's nothing between your son and I."
Mrs. Malfoy nodded her head with a smile on her face, "Of course not."
Draco walked outside, enjoying the coldness of the weather on his skin. Nerves played in his stomach every time he would think of his mother and Granger actually talking peacefully. The scene that he saw when he passed the archway to the parlor made his heart warm. He walked over to the fence in front of the ugly-looking shack and ran his over the magic guarding it. When he was pleased with the strength of the spell, he fell back onto the ground and just looked at the gray snow-falling sky. Draco never imagined in million years that Granger would be inside his new home with his mother. He had to laugh if someone told him this would happen from imagining his face several years ago. He closed his gray eyes and relaxed peacefully, the first time in months.
Another silence was in the parlor before Mrs. Malfoy spoke, "Here's story to the origin of my son's hate."
A/N: Well, that's it. Please review/give feedback. Hopefully this chapter wasn't too boring. Sorry, it's so short, couldn't find the right place to end it. Until next time, ta-ta!