Chapter 14: The talk

"Granger?"

"Don't freak out Malfoy" Draco has his hands in his hair and is turning one side and then the other on his heels. If his mouth would drop any further his chin would touch the ground. For the first time she was able to make Draco Malfoy speechless. He tries to say something a couple of times but he gives up and let's himself fall onto the couch behind him. He is utterly shocked. He tries his best not to look at her. He simply won't believe it. She gets the feeling that he is convincing himself that it is a trick. Every time he looks at her that theory is proven false.

Hermione takes a step towards him. "Look, I know you didn't expect me but.." SHe couldn't get any further because Draco jumped up from her sudden movement towards him and is currently standing behind the couch. "You!" he points at her "You are the last person I expected! I won't tell you my problems! You're Granger for crying out loud!"

"I know very well who I am Malfoy thank you very much. I know we've hated each other before but surely you must have realized I'm not exactly who you thought I was. If you've learned anything from our letters it's that."

"I learned something alright! Never write to a complete stranger!"

"Look Malfoy, you may not like it but it's me who wrote you those letters and you specifically asked me to come to you. At this ridiculous hour I might add. You better tell me why or this whole thing would be a complete waste of my time!"

"I'm not telling you anything! You wouldn't know what I should do anyway"

"Try me. I've been told I'm quite clever for my age."

"I bet you have"

"So are you going to talk to me or what?"

"No way!"

"Fine, I wish I would have just gone to sleep. At least that would have done some good."

"Don't worry Granger, sleep or no sleep, you'll still be ugly" Hermione had started to walk to the door but hearing that statement made her turn around. She grabs him by his shirt with one hand and the other holds her wand at his throat.

"Don't you dare say nasty things about me Malfoy. I do not care what you think, I do however care about all the things I have to do tomorrow and it would have gone a lot better if I'd have slept tonight so right now I am very mad at you for ruining that for me and making comments like that would just be too much right now! I swear I'm going to hex you when you say anything like that again!" she pushes him away and makes him stumble backwards before he regains his balance. In the mean time Hermione has walked away leaving a stunned Draco behind. He sits down once more on the couch to think. Several thoughts are running through his mind. He still can't believe who his mystery girl turned out to be. Also he isn't sure what to do about the thing he came here to talk to her about. It may have been Granger but e still didn't get any advice.

I cannot believe it was Granger! How stupid of me to think I could actually talk to the girl behind the mask about this. I can't talk to anyone about this. Well if anyone would know what to do it's Granger. My friends would laugh at me and probably be a tatter tale and tell the dark lord about my plans. Potter and Weasley would never trust me and they would probably tell everyone too. Then there is Dumbledore. He actually scares me the old bastard. No. Granger is the only one who could handle this secret. She would know what to do and she wouldn't hesitate to help me, it's just how she is. The goodie-two-shoes can't help being everybody's friend. She just always has doing the right thing. Stupid girl. I really hate this! I can't believe I'm actually considering this.

Hermione sneaks into the Gryffindor common room and finds her two best friends sitting on the couch with their arms crossed over their chest. Great, just what I need.

"Where have you been?" Harry asks her.

"Um, well, the kitchen"

"You weren't in the kitchen! You hesitated" Harry states.

"Well excuse me Harry for being a bit embarrassed about this!"

"What happened to stealing food from the kitchen at night is bad?" Ron asks her.

"I'm sorry Ron, it really is but I was just so hungry"

"Well you haven't eaten anything at all at dinner, no wonder you're hungry. Take better care of yourself when we're gone Mione. We don't want to be worrying about you too!" Harry tells her.

"What time is it?" Hermione asks.

"Almost one A.M. We knocked on the girls' dorm and one sleepy Ginny told us you weren't in your bed." Ron tells her.

"Why would you knock on the door to the girls' dorm in the middle of the night?"

"We wanted to give you this" Harry hands her a book. "Dumbledore gave it to us this morning to give it to you but we totally forgot about it. We didn't want to just leave it in the common room with a note for everyone to find. Hermione looks at the book in her hands.

"Thank you Harry" there is a knock on the door.

"That must be Dumbledore"

"I think you're right Ron, its one AM now. He is always on time." Harry hugs Hermione after saying this. Ron quickly and awkwardly hugs her too while Harry opens the portrait. Dumbledore knew the password of course but the trio figures he is just being polite.

"Good evening. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes sir we are" Harry tells him.

"Miss Granger. You are supposed to be asleep. You are not going to make another fuss about this are you? It's been decided. Harry and Ron leave. You stay here."

"I wasn't going to make another fuss. I was merely saying goodbye to my friends."

"All right then. But we must leave now."

"Bye Mione!" The boys say in unison.

"Bye Harry! Bye Ron! Be careful!"

They leave and Hermione goes to bed. After everything it is surprising how fast she falls asleep.

The next day Hermione eats breakfast with Neville. He asks where Harry and Ron are but she tells him that they are practicing some spells on each other. Neville does most of the talking, Hermione is very quiet. She hasn't dared to look over at the Slytherin table. Not even once. If she would have she would have seen that Draco wasn't there, again. He hasn't been eating in the great hall for over a week now. After breakfast Hermione heads for Herbology. She is walking down the corridors of Hogwarts when suddenly someone pulls her in a deserted corner behind a statue of some great wizard from the seventies.

"Granger." It's Draco.

"Malfoy? May I ask what you think you're doing?"

"You may. I need to talk to you."

"You've had your chance and you blew it. Now if you don't mind I haven't got the time to exchange arguments right now. I have Herbology."

"I really, really need to talk" he blocks her way. She looks up at him. He is very tall. She never really noticed it but it's hard to miss right now. She smells his cologne again. She answers him just so she can focus on something other than that cologne that she is beginning to like, a lot.

"Fine, tomorrow at ten I have a free period."

"I can't wait until tomorrow Granger"

"Look Malfoy I really need to go now, I'll be late for class"

"I need to talk now Granger so stop trying to get away from me because you know I can keep you here if I want"

"Fine, but tell me first why this can't wait until tomorrow"

"Because I could be a death eater by then"