Disclaimer: I'm not that creative.
Her Lucky Break
Secrets and Fears
Draco's eyes came into focus at the sound of her screaming and he yanked his robe sleeve into place looking for the danger. The woman before him had a feral look around her and he barely got his wand up to deflect a spell she fired off at him. It took him a second to realize that she had seen him reading in on the Death Eaters and had jumped to a reasonable conclusion. Even though it she had the wrong idea.
"Wait! You don't know what's going on!" he pleaded.
"Yes, I do!" she yelled sending another bolt of magic in his direction. "You're a traitor! You're helping your dear fellow Death Eaters. And to think I trusted you!"
He dodged her attacks again, letting an expelliarmus off in her direction. It was useless against the smart witch though. In her current state of mind she was ferocious. Her thoughts and rationality had apparently abandoned her, leaving her with animal like instincts. She was quick to diminish the spell and launched her own attack with such speed it was unreal.
Draco had a hard time keeping up and he was trained for magical combat.
Hermione on the other hand had full control over what she was doing. She knew only a few things. Draco Malfoy had used his dark mark to likely summon other Death Eaters. Draco Malfoy had infiltrated not only Hogwarts but the ministry as he worked on this case. Draco Malfoy had not only pretended to be her friend but she had started to trust him; had started to believe hat he was truly changing. Draco Malfoy was a lie.
She hated liars.
She shot off every spell she could think of, not even noticing his lack of participation in the fight. No, not lack of participation, lack of aggression. He was on defensive mood, only blocking her spells and trying to disarm her. She didn't care though. She didn't even want to notice this fact. She only wanted to see him hurt since he had hurt her.
Draco dodged behind a bookshelf, running through the maze they created so he could take a breath.
"Malfoy!"
Even in her delirious state he doubted that she would ruin all these books and the knowledge that they contained so he moved further back until he was sure he could speak without randomly being shot at.
"Let me explain!"
"There's nothing to explain! You cheated your way into the system!" she cried running through the maze of books.
"No! I didn't! I'm helping you."
"I won't fall for it again." she said spotting him.
He tried casting pertificus on her but she managed to avoid it. Instead the spell hit the bookshelf with enough impact to make it wobble. He stopped mid-turn and watched horrified as it started to topple. He thought without reasoning first and launched himself towards Hermione, toppling them both over and away from the falling shelves.
Well, mostly.
"Fuck." Draco yelled as the edge of the bookcase landed on his ankle. He tried to tug it out but it wasn't working. He searched for his wand only to find it resting beside a now standing Granger.
"This is the last time you'll do something like that, Malfoy." she spat.
She raised her wand, not even realizing what she intended to do. She was furious with being tricked so easily. Her mouth had just started to form the two little words when a third person yelled out "Expelliarmus!"
Hermione was stunned as her wand flew out of her hand and landed a few feet away. She turned to the new person and immediately felt ashamed of what she was about to do. Standing before her was Professor McGonagall who did not look very pleased at all.
"What in Merlin's name is going on in here?" she yelled, looking at the chaotic scene in front of her.
Hermione was red in the face as still glaring intently at Draco as tears threatened to fall down her face again and her hands were in fists at her side as if she was ready to use them to beat him to death.
"She attacked me!"
"He's calling the Death Eaters!" they both yelled at the same time.
McGonagall sighed and levitated the bookshelf off of Draco, walking over to check on his ankle. Concluding that it was just going to be badly bruised since a book cushioned it. Draco on the other hand wasn't convinced that it wasn't life threatening and was muttering that Hermione was crazy.
"Seriously, Granger. What were you thinking?" he spat out, nursing his injury.
"What was I thinking? You're a traitor, that's what!"
She had her wand back in her hand and was pointing it at him. She didn't do anything though, knowing that Professor McGonagall could handle him if need be.
"Enough. Draco, explain what's happening."
"I was mind scrying and Granger here apparently thought I was trying to contact them and started attacking me. It's not my fault that I can't do it in the privacy of my own rooms. Damn ministry putting magic blocking spells all over the place. They're not the only ones who seem to think that I'm not trustworthy though." he said sending a purposeful glare in the direction of one bushy haired girl.
Professor McGonagall just nodded as she expected that was the case. Draco had already confided in her about his special little talent that helped him to find the criminals. "Did you learn anything interesting?"
"Sort of. Actually, I learnt it from someone else and was checking into it."
"Wait. So, he's not a... 'bad' guy?" Hermione said looking extremely guilty as she lowered her wand. To think that she was about to use one of the unforgivable curses in her fit of rage!
"God, Granger. Couldn't you tell when I pushed you out-of-the-way?"
She gave a small sheepish grin.
"No, Professor Malfoy is probably our best asset in solving this case in fact. Not only does he already know how they think but he can get into their thoughts. Not everyone's, but enough that helps significantly. It's kind of our little secret for now though. We don't know how the ministry would react to such a skill." Professor McGonagall said scanning the room. "We should probably fix this mess the two of you have created so Madame Pince doesn't have a cow."
So the three of them righted the room, Draco and Hermione working on two completely different ends of the room to avoid each other. Hermione was ashamed of her action and how she had immediately jumped to such an irrational conclusion, even if it was fairly likely. He did change sides a few times in the war... but he had no reason to change now. Draco on the other hand was annoyed that she thought so lowly of him and was ready to yell at her for doing so, only McGonagall's warning looks stop him from doing just that. After the three of them had made the room look the same as it did before they grabbed a few chairs and took their seats in an odd three-pointed circle.
"So, let's start by clearing up the confusion that caused this scene."
"Well, I want to know what in the world she thought she was doing! She could have killed me!" Draco said, sending a pointed glare at Hermione who was bright red.
"I thought you were working with them. What exactly were you going anyway?"
"Well, I used to watch the Dark Lord call all the Death Eaters with the mark." he started slowly, to anybody he would seem almost bored with the conversation but in reality he was trying to figure out how to word it. "After the end of the war, my family was taken to Azkaban but I was let go for reasons that really don't concern you Granger. Anyway they asked for my help in finding some of the ones who still hadn't been caught as I knew the way they thought. They were all minor Death Eaters who didn't even earn the mark.
"However, we stumbled across one very unlucky predicament when thirteen criminals escaped from Azkaban. When I was told to help them find these new additions and was given the first list I noticed that some of them were actually part of the Dark Lord's inner group. They actually had the mark. I was originally just trying to see if I could sense them, to find out where they were but it wasn't working. I kept trying though, trying to find them while not exposing who or where I was. One day it just happened, I got into the mind of one of them. I got to hear their thoughts. I imagined that that's why the Dark Lord didn't have one himself but then one name popped up on my list and I found out that those trained in occulemency contained minds I couldn't get into."
"So that's how you were finding all of them? By looking into their mind?" Hermione asked. She was sitting on the edge of her seat, intrigued by all the new information that he was giving her.
"Yeah."
"So, what were you looking for?" McGonagall asked Draco.
"Well, Jasper, the first year from my house, confided in me about some very serious information. When I came back to my rooms this evening he was there and told me everything about Monli's personal life. Apparently Jasper is his son and another of the escaped convicts is his uncle, Caleb Getain."
"Well, that is quite troubling. You don't think he's going to try to associate with his uncle, do you?"
Draco shook his head. "No, he seemed to be terrified of him. It worries me though. He knew that Caleb was out of prison. I know he got a letter about his father's death, I got one about a family member too but I never received one about my father-"
"Your father?"
Draco handed Hermione the list that she had yet to see. They just kept hunting down whatever ones Draco decided were worthy to look for. At the top of the list was Lucius Malfoy written in a clear script. Why would he keep this from her?
"-so I can't imagine him getting one about his uncle."
"Yes, that is concerning. You think they already got into contact with him then?"
"I honestly don't know. I was hoping to find Caleb's mind and check but she got the wrong idea and attacked me. I'll never let you live that one down, Granger. You could have killed me with your carelessness."
Hermione looked down as she felt her face heat up. It wasn't really a question of if she would, she'd already decided that she was going to kill him and had started saying the two little words. She wasn't going to correct him though. He'd probably kill her himself for such a stunt. "I really am sorry."
Draco looked at her for a second longer before returning his attention to Professor McGonagall. "I don't think we should be too worried if Caleb's had contact with him yet. His brother is among the possible victims and I don't think he would kill his own brother for dirtying the bloodline. We wont know anything until we go..."
"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked, it wasn't like a Malfoy to trail off and lose his train of thought.
"No, I just forgot to mention something a found out the other night. They're having a celebration in honour of the killer. A costume ball of sorts. I'm not sure where yet, just that it's in a month and that he's supposed to make an appearance as the guest of honour."
"We should contact the aurors about this. They'll want to attend and surround the place to catch him right there and then." McGonagall suggested.
Draco shook his head, "No, they'll be expecting that. It's easier if we send in a few people to monitor the event from the inside. Then we may get to see the culprit and hunt him down while knowing his identity."
"Why wait? We can get him off the streets that night!" Hermione protested, "It's not worth waiting!"
"Hold it, Granger. There's no guarantee that he will even be there so why would we waste all the energy and resources when we can plan ahead? It'll be easier once we get a face and name to go after."
"Why wouldn't he show up?"
Draco let out an annoyed huff, "Because we might be alerted to it so why would he show up only to be stopped?"
Hermione looked away again. She understood his logic but she didn't want to wait. She didn't want this monster to have another chance to hurt these families, even if Monli... Hermione let out an outraged cry and covered her mouth to stop the disgust.
"Miss Granger, what's wrong?"
"Monli..." she felt sick, sicker than she did when she first heard the news of his magic use. Sicker than when she first found out that those woman were pregnant. The two others in the room waited patiently for her to compose herself.
"Monli used the imperious curse on those woman who bore his children."
Draco let out a long string of curse words, standing up abruptly and walking over to a window. "Are you sure?"
Hermione nodded. "Jasper said that his dad had used it on them."
"That sick bastard. If he wasn't already a rotting corpse in Azkaban I'd kill him myself."
Hermione saw the fire snapping behind the man's silver eyes when he turned to face them again. Hermione shrank back as fear flooded through her veins. She was reminded of the night that he trashed the classroom but that was nothing compared to now. Now, he was outraged enough that he could destroy a whole town in a single spell. He could obliterate all of London with just a glance and it terrified her to see that much raw anger swimming in him, ready to boil over. She jumped when he slammed his fist into the table nearby, tears pooling in her own irises.
"Draco..." McGonagall's soft voice cut through the silence like music.
He looked down to his feet but his body was still shaking, his hands balled into fists at his sides. Hermione had never seen this side of him and looked away, not wanting to witness his breakdown when he normally seemed so well put together.
"Those... those kids weren't from an affair. They were forced to carry his children, it's sick." he muttered, a look of pure horror crossing his features.
McGonagall gave a small cough. She looked equally as disgusted but composed herself. "I need to tell the ministry about these new developments. Keep an eye on Jasper to see if he has any contact with his uncle... I'll see you both in the morning."
McGonagall fled the room with one look back at the two barely of age adults sitting there with varying degrees of disgust and horror etched into their faces. Hermione was sitting still, trying to stop the bile from escaping. Tears were still in her eyes but they weren't falling. She swiped at her eyes before looking up. Draco had returned to looking out the window, and empty expression on his face. He was broken and Hermione could see that. The usual cocky demeanour that had always been present was gone, leaving a shell.
"I'm going to go check on Jasper." she said in a quiet voice. It didn't matter that she had practically whispered it. The room was silent and he had no problem hearing her.
"I'm going too. I.. I want to ask him a few things."
She ignored the hollow sound in his voice and lead the way back to her rooms. It didn't matter though. When they got there Jasper was back in her bed, curled up in a ball with Crookshanks hogging the foot of the bed. His face was still streaked with tears but a small snore was coming from the boy.
She let a small smile fall over her lips and patted the cat's head. She grabbed the blanket from the end of the bed and draped it over Jasper's small form. He snuggled deeper into it and she brushed his hair out of his face. He seemed so innocent when he slept. If not for the sticky streaks across his cheeks she'd think he was completely at peace but he had knowledge that haunted him.
When she entered her common room she found Draco sitting in a chair.
"So he's asleep?"
"Yes. You'll have to ask him tomorrow."
He nodded, staring into the fire that had lit itself when they entered the room. She noticed the small smirk on his face and felt a foreign emotion rise in her. She was glad that emotion was breaking its way back into him. She relaxed a bit knowing that he wasn't going to be a robot anymore.
"Do you want something to drink or eat?"
"No..." he trailed off, looking back into the fire. "I'm sorry for not telling you about my little... 'trick' earlier. I haven't even told the ministry, McGonagall was the only one who knew about it."
"It's alright. I'm sorry for attacking you back there."
"You... you were going to use the killing curse, weren't you?"
"Yes."
He looked at her for a second. "I thought so. For a second I thought I wouldn't have stopped it. I would have let you go through with it. After all, there's nobody left to really miss me besides Blaise. It's not like I wouldn't have deserved it. I'm not really much better than Monli."
She was taken back for a second. Was he being serious right now? He couldn't even begin to compare himself to that monster and yet here he was saying that he was no better. It was such a lie that Hermione was outraged with him. He had helped them this whole time in order to atone for his sins. Somebody would miss him. Jasper, McGonagall, even she would as the white blond man had grown on her.
His smirk came back as he stood up. "Well, I have to return to my rooms. Good night."
He was just walking through the portrait when she answered his confession.
"You're wrong."
He looked back at her and for a second she saw a genuine grin before the portrait closed.
Over 500 views since I last updated, you awesome people.
So, if you enjoy watching anime I recently found one you should all check out. I wasted my whole night watching it, oops. The Devil is a Part-Timer I really enjoyed it and so did my friend so watch it up.
Also, if possible, when you have any concerns about the story comment on your account so I can speak privately with you or leave a name so I can address you in an A/N. I don't really want to call out that Anon but it's more helpful if I can speak to you about those matters through private messages instead of through here. In regards to the guests' comments, I understand where some of them come from and I'll address each one individually.
-She wouldn't be arrested as Draco wouldn't say anything and nobody else was there to witness it. McGonagall also had that staff change very last minute and figured explaining this to Hermione in person would be easier.
-And yes, children shouldn't teach children. These guys were all selected because they excelled in an area and that's really all the criteria there is for a teaching job in the wizarding world. There isn't a college/university to go to teach them this stuff. As for how Hermione dealt with Jasper, she's under a lot of stress due to Draco's presence and the lack of comfort even though the war has ended.
-Lastly, I didn't think Hermione was being a bully, I'm sorry if she came off that way to you. She's freaking out over breaking the rules and the possibility of losing her dream job and stuff like that. It was all guilt over what she did, not further bullying behaviour. I happened to use that specific part of her character for that chapter and didn't find her to be a "murdered" character.
Now, I understand where you came with all of these and I hope I addressed them well enough. They're your opinion and you're allowed to stand by them but in the same light I'm not going to redo it because I happen to think that I followed the characters quite nicely considering all they went through. Keep in mind they're going to change a bit after such a life-changing event like the wizarding war.
Don't forget to leave a review for pathetic Draco c:
