Chapter Eleven: The Other Guy

Hermione's head was buzzing distinctly. Her face was flushed, and she wasn't sure if it was because of the gorgeous man standing in front of her, or the four glasses of champagne she had now downed in full.

"Hermione Jean Voulix." He said simply, grabbing her small hand in his and lightly touching his lips to it. Hermione shuddered with delight as his hand on hers sent warmth through her she could not describe. He was absolutely one of the most darkly handsome men she'd seen in her entire life. This was next to Draco of course, but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind quickly. She would not let Draco ruin this for her.

"Pleasure." Hermione said simply, managing to not hyperventilate all over him. His touch on her hand had been so quick, yet she could still feel the blood pulsating in it as if her hand were on fire.

"Well that's no fun." Pansy said from beside her, putting on a famous pouty face. "I was supposed to be the one to introduce you, but really what's the point if you already know her name."

"Relax, Pansy. You can still introduce Miss Voulix to me." He said charmingly, his hazel eyes never leaving Hermione's.

"Fine. Hermione, this is Sidney Cartwright." Pansy said.

"Call me Sid." He said simply.

"You can call me Hermione. This 'Voulix' thing is still fairly new to me, so I most likely won't respond if you call me from a distance." Hermione said quickly.

"You think I might need to call you from a distance at sometime in the future?" He asked jokingly.

"No! Um, no. That's not what I meant. I just meant that-"

"Relax, Hermione. I know what you meant. I was only teasing."

"I'm sorry." Hermione said moving her eyes from his gaze for the first time and onto the floor. "You fluster me."

Hermione could not help but be completely honest. Sid was creating disastrous effects on her, causing her mind to feel cloudy and muddled. She was sure it was just a mixture of the champagne and his intoxicating smell of musk and spice.

"I can see that. Perhaps you'd like to dance?" Sid said, smiling down at her as he gestured with his hand toward the middle of the floor where a few people were spinning around.

Hermione looked wearily at Pansy, whose eyes clearly suggested that this was the perfect mischievous step forward in getting Draco to notice the two of them together.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Pansy, as Sid grabbed her hand, leading her to the center of the floor.

"I have to warn you, I am not a great dancer. I mean, I enjoy it, but the last time I danced was three years ago and my partner was far superior in abilities." Hermione said nervously as Sid placed his arm around her waist and grabbed her right hand, leading her in a slow circle.

"Where did you dance last?" He asked curiously.

"The Yule Ball, in my fourth year at Hogwarts. My date was Viktor Krum."

"Impressive! I'm not a Quidditch fan myself, but I don't mind watching it every once in awhile. I certainly don't fly though, not that handy on a broom."

"Krum was a gentleman. But I think he preferred to just watch me rather than talk with me, to be completely honest." Hermione blushed at this statement, afraid she'd just made herself sound conceited.

"Who could blame him?" Sid said, and he laughed at her easiness to turn red since their meeting. Hermione smiled tentatively back, and no loss of affection seemed to be dimmed in Sid's eyes.

"Tell me about Hogwarts!" He said eagerly. "Your father is making me transfer there from my normal home schooling studies. He wants to use me as a lookout of sorts."

With the last statement, Sid winked then spun her in a simple twirl and brought her back into his arms.

Hermione's mind was far from Draco or the fact that she was fraternizing with the supposed enemy.

"Oh it's a lovely place. I think you'll enjoy it very much. There are four houses to be sorted in, a library that simply blows all others out of proportion, and the grounds are really what make it so wonderful."

"Yes, I've read about the houses in Hogwarts, A History. Which one are you in?" He asked.

Hermione went from a simple admiring of Sid, to an almost infatuation. He was handsome, he had read her favorite book, and he was a non-flyer.

"Guess." Hermione said, gaining some of her teasing confidence back.

"Well let's see, definitely not a Hufflepuff. I've heard you're smart enough to be a Ravenclaw, but I bet there's more to you than wit. You're a possible Slytherin with your background, but judging by the disgusted face you just made at the mention of Slytherin, I take it you're a Gryffindor."

Hermione laughed, enjoying his company immensely.

"I really give it away, don't I?" She said, moving with him to the classical music.

"Oh, not quite. You seem brave to me. From what I've been told you were raised by muggles. And then to be thrown into this new dark life, being the daughter of the Dark Lord and all. It's impressive you've managed to stay afloat."

"I think the key is to not think about it that way." Hermione said, considering the topic at hand. "I feel as if my father has always been my father, now that I know about him of course. It seems right, like it fits. I guess I'm just adjusting as of now. Ask me again how brave I feel come September when seventh year starts. I'm going to have to make some of the hardest choices ever, and probably challenge everything I know and all that I value. It won't be easy."

Sid simply smiled at her, and Hermione appreciated his ability to listen and let her speak her mind. He didn't pester her with more questions. She assumed it was obvious to him that she was still Harry Potter's best friend, and she appreciated that he let her deal with that fact on her own.

"Are you a death eater?" Hermione said suddenly looking at him.

Hermione expected the same reaction Draco usually had to his having a Dark Mark. It was something that he had, and it defined him. He was indebted forever to the Dark Lord. Draco seemed to not particularly like the circumstances that his family background had led him in. He believed in what Voldemort was doing, but Hermione got the impression that he would have gone about the process of his beliefs a lot differently. Possibly, with simple segregation, rather than violent death.

Sid's reaction surprised her. He smirked darkly at her, and pulled his left robe sleeve up to reveal his dark mark, which stood out in stark contrast to his porcelain skin.

"Of course, Hermione. I have been since I was thirteen." He said it with such conviction and pride, that Hermione knew what house he'd be sorted into when he reached Hogwarts.

"Thirteen!" Hermione exclaimed, choosing this to be shocked about rather than his reaction as a whole. She decided that in this new life, it would not be customary to shriek out loud every time she found out someone was a death eater.

"Yes. My mother regrets that I had to so young, but I was needed in the small town in North England where I grew up." He said, gliding her off the dance floor and over to the refreshments, handing her another glass of champagne. Hermione finally noticed his Yorkshire dialect. "I was recruited to gain the following of younger teenagers in the area. The hope would be that come today's time, I'd have at least twenty young minds ready to be shaped by your father."

"Did you succeed?" Hermione asked indifferently, but silently hoping the answer was no.

"Yes and no." He said finally, after a short pause. "There are about eight here today that I recruited from my area, but no more than that. Anyway, this fall we'll be classmates at Hogwarts. I'm thrilled to be going to a real wizard school finally."

"It will be nice to see a familiar face who doesn't loath me when term starts." Hermione said smiling at him.

They both stood in silence for a bit, Hermione fanning her face. The party was in full swing now; a few older adults were raising voices in laughter, an effect of the alcohol. Hermione's own body felt extremely warm and pleasant. She didn't mind at all when Sid place his hand on her back and rested it there, in fact she welcomed it a bit more strongly than she would normally to a man she'd just met.

"This won't be pleasant." Sid said simply, moving his grip on her back to fully encompassing his arm in her waist as Draco had done to Astoria earlier in the evening.

Hermione hated the thought that she and Sid were now positioned as Draco and Astoria had been earlier. She also suddenly felt uncomfortable with this outward display of affection so early into meeting each other. She looked rapidly around for Pansy, hoping to find some sort of familiar face. Before she could find her she saw Draco coming toward them quickly from across the room, and Hermione assumed that this was the not so pleasant situation that Sid spoke of.

She groaned into her glass of champagne and downed the rest of it in one gulp.

When Draco finally reached them, he was alone, no Astoria in sight. Hermione was suddenly reminded of the day's events. From talking outside with Draco, to gaining a kiss from him by the lake, and later he even picked her up for dinner, and they nearly discussed 'them' as an entity. They did not discuss her and then Draco, they discussed them together, and what it was all beginning to mean. How did they go from that to this in just a few hours? What was Draco even doing with Astoria, besides the whole marriage thing? Didn't he know it would upset her when she saw? Or was she just another girl on the side before he had to grow up and submit to her father's law?

"Draco." Sid said simply, nodding his head once at the blonde. Hermione was then reminded of Pansy's cryptic statement only a half hour before: "Simple, he and Draco hate each other."

Hermione thought that this was why Draco's gaze was fixed on Sid murderously.

"Hermione." Draco said ignoring Sid's greeting completely.

Hermione did not want to look at the fair haired man in front of her, but her eyes moved to stare into his.

"What?" She said quietly.

Draco seemed unsure of what to do next. It seemed as if he expected some sort of confrontation between them.

"Are you having a good time?" He asked, seeming at a loss for more important words.

"Definitely. Sid and I are having a great time. You and Astoria seem to be having a lovely time as well. So I'll let you get back to it." Hermione said. She quickly grabbed Sid's hand and lead them away from Draco, bumping into his left side as she swept away.

Hermione was fighting back tears. She hated that Draco made her feel this way after such little time spent together and after so many years of torment. Why was he having this affect on her? It was so unfair after everything she'd been through. She didn't need this too.

She was unsure where she was leading them, until they were out of the ball room and outside, standing aimlessly together in the exact same spot by the lake where Draco and her had kissed only that morning.

"I feel like I'm missing something?" Sid said, sounding unsure as he plopped himself down next to Hermione at the shore of the water.

"Me too, what's with the daggers between you two?" Hermione said, averting the subject from her and Draco to Sid and Draco.

"Oh…that." Sid said, as he watched Hermione slide her heels off and stick her feet in the water.

They sat in silence for a bit longer. Hermione felt cold. Where had her cloak gone? It felt like she had been outside for more than just a few minutes.

"You know, I owe you an apology." He said finally. Hermione guessed she wasn't the only one who didn't want to talk about a past experience with Draco.

"For what?" She said curiously.

"A month ago, you were out riding by the Malfoy boundaries. I was guarding the premises outside the property per usual. Wherever your father is staking his home at any point in time is a place where death eaters must patrol regularly. We take turns, of course. But this particular day I saw you. You were celebrating, some sort of winning in a race I guess. Anyway, I was watching you, and I was going to remove my hood and just tell you I was patrolling so I didn't startle you. See, I wasn't sure who you were. I assumed you were a guest of Draco's. Anyway, then you surprised me. You started screaming at me to help you, I wasn't sure if something was wrong in the house, which was my main duty to protect as guard so I apparated to the front entrance immediately, but no one was there. When I came back to the spot I left you in, Draco was lifting you unconsciously onto his horse. He saw me, and was not pleased. But I had no idea what to do, or who you were. I'm sorry. If anything, it was good for Draco to add that to a list of reasons to hate me."

Hermione was a bit taken aback at his story as she had nearly forgotten all about that incident, but it seemed to make enough sense.

"You're forgiven. Really, that seems so long ago it hardly matters anymore."

"How did you get hurt anyway? What did you want me to help you with?"

Hermione looked across the black lake, admiring the way the wind rippled small waves on the surface that the moon reflected into her eyes.

"I wanted out." She said simply. "The gate was enchanted to keep me in, and I freaked out a bit too when I saw you. I forgot about the gate and grabbed it fairly frantically. Anyway, it blasted me back into a tree and I lost consciousness for a few days. It wasn't too bad. I honestly don't remember much."

"Oh wow. Hermione, I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"It's fine, really."

"You're not a prisoner here still are you?"

"I don't think so. It was before my father had told me everything, so I think he was just trying to keep me from leaving before he could tell me." Hermione shrugged, dipping her foot into the water and making small splashes.

"Draco was very upset that you had been hurt." Sid said, glancing over at her to gauge a reaction.

"Hm." Hermione said simply.

"I'm guessing you're not going to tell me anything about him, are you?"

"I'm guessing you're not either." Hermione said teasingly at him.

"Fair point. I guess me and Draco's history isn't one that is horrible. We've known each other for quite some time, I'd say since we were eleven or so. I used to come here and take schooling lessons here in the summer with him."

"Schooling lessons? Why would you both need that? You were home schooled and Draco went to Hogwarts."

"It wasn't your average schooling. It was taught by Alecto Carrow, who was maybe twenty five at the time. He taught us dark magic. Stuff you can't learn from your mother in home schooling or from a place like Hogwarts. Draco and I didn't like each other from the start. He hated it that I was better liked on his own home turf than he was with the other five kids that were taught with us. That's my best guess anyway. It started with small childish rivalries, and silly quarrels here and there. I guess it was just some sort of deep embedded childhood dislike. I can't really explain it. Plus, I was much more naturally skilled in the dark arts than Draco was. I guess he just wasn't as passionate about it as I am."

Hermione understood the childhood enemy deal, and she even got that it was hard to let go of that as one got older. What she didn't like was that Sid used the word passionate to describe the dark arts. It was unnerving to be alone on dark unknown grounds, by a dark lake, with a death eater who had a passion for the dark arts. Sid even seemed to look more menacing without the glow of the ballroom around him. Hermione wanted to leave. Immediately.

She began to stand, but Sid caught her arm and pulled her back down.

"Let go." She said fiercely. She hated that she'd been man handled by people all evening. It was even more annoying to have it happen now, when she wanted nothing more than to leave the dark lake's shore.

He obliged immediately, dropping her arm. But he had put Hermione back into a sitting position.

"Sorry, but I thought it was implied that if I shared my back story with Draco, you'd share yours."

Hermione thought this seemed a rational statement, as she had all but implied that this was the case. He placed his hand over hers and Hermione felt the same warm, comforting feeling she had before inside. This time however, she was not in a hot ballroom, and she was no longer under the influence of alcohol. Sid seemed to be having some sort of effect on her, and Hermione wasn't sure she liked it. She took mental note to look into it later. However, Sid regained his light expression and Hermione felt a bit at ease once again.

"Oh right, yes. Um well there isn't much to say really. Draco's hated me his entire life. He's always thought I was a mudblood, called me so to my face on numerous occasions. We've always been enemies. But he's taken care of me this summer so far. We're no longer fighting, and things seemed to be going well."

"Uh oh. Past tense."

"Yes. Now things…are different, I think."

"How so?" Sid asked.

"I'm not sure." Hermione said her body seemed to move closer to his as she had spoken, but she was unsure of how that occurred. She certainly hadn't remembered moving. Sid took his hand off of hers and the night suddenly became chilled once again. He mind was no longer clouded. She felt strange. "I don't really want to talk about it, Sid. Can we go back inside?" Hermione said quickly, feeling uncomfortable.

"Wait, I'm not done with-" But Sid was cut off by Draco striding toward them for the second time that evening. Hermione lost all anger she had had at him earlier in the evening and stood up quickly, eager for his prescience, regardless of if she could have it for the rest of her life or not. She just knew it felt good to have him here now. She was scared; she was sure that if Draco hadn't shown up, Sid wouldn't have let her leave. She was weary of the effect he was beginning to have on her.

"Draco!" She said suddenly, moving towards his side.

"Hermione, what are you doing out here? I was looking everywhere for you. Everyone has left."

"Not quite everyone." Sid said darkly, obviously upset that Draco had interrupted.

"Oh I beg to differ. Let me show you the way out." Draco said pointing in the distance toward the front gate.

"You were never good with manners, Draco." Sid said, disgustedly.

He then was brought back to his charming attitude he had earlier with Hermione as he turned to her. He made to reach for her hand to kiss it goodbye, but Hermione quickly withdrew hers behind her back. She didn't want him touching her hand again. She wasn't sure how, but that seemed to effect her worse when he did so. She'd need to look in the library to see if something was going on with that. Until then, best to stay away from his hands. Draco did not miss this movement and looked at her curiously.

"Well, Hermione it was a pleasure spending time in your beautiful company tonight. I'll see you in a month at Hogwarts." He smiled at her and Hermione nearly melted again. He had such a nice smile when he wanted to, but it still could not shake from her the creepy feeling she had.

With that he turned abruptly and moved into the darkness.

"What the hell was that?" Draco turned to her and asked, the moment Sid left.