Un chat sur le toit

[A cat on the roof]

Hermione slid along the wall, landing on her bum without much grace. She hugged her knees and raised her eyes to the turquoise sky above them. Going back to Hogwarts had been quite the emotional journey. She had felt so safe back between the walls of the castle and then again, horrified in finding out Death Eaters now roamed within those corridors too. The memory of Zabini's forearm gave her goosebumps and sent a shiver down the back of her neck.

How could someone, a pureblood family nonetheless, let their kid be part of Tom Riddle's mad army? Hermione's parents might have been two Muggles, but they loved her deeply and would have never allowed for a crazy psychopath to control her every movement. They'd probably be against her being in the Order of the Phoenix as well, that is, of course, if they had known about it.

Upon cornering Zabini and learning about his situation, it had soon been clear to Hermione and Draco that trying to convince Zabini to work with them was out of the question as his family was completely under Riddle's control.

In the name of their friendship and feeling guilty for participating in Laurent's kidnapping, the dark haired Slytherin had told Draco the little he knew about Riddle's next move, giving them the date of Riddle's planned intrusion in the Department of Mysteries; Zabini hadn't been able to supply them with more details about it though, not without risking to compromise himself and his family. All they had been able to gather was that Riddle was going to act at night, probably next Friday, and that he was planning on taking Maya down the Ministry with him. They didn't know what Riddle intended to steal, or what he would use Maya for, nor how many of his men would have participated in the intrusion.

Hermione sighed out loud and her eyes fell on the boy sitting to her left. It felt kind of weird to just sit next to him on the small balcony on the roof of Grimmauld Place 12. The thought that Malfoy would have never allowed something like this back in the days when all he was to her, was a bully and a prat, filled Hermione's belly with butterfies, which she rushed to smother as quick as possible.

Many things had changed in the last three weeks and Hermione had yet to get used to their new dynamics, and to learn the extent of their newfound tolerance for each other. She had to admit that, despite the disastrous circumstances, she much preferred the Malfoy of now to the one she had known at school. Not that he had completely stopped insulting her, or constantly emphasizing the inferiority of her race, yet his insults had lost their bite and he seemed to use them, to remind himself, that they were not friends, but only people with a common goal. The fact that the contours of the relationships in that house had began to blurr confused everyone a bit.

In fact the whole Order of the Phoenix was quite the odd group, when Hermione thought about it. Most of the people it that house wouldn't usually stand each other. The easiest example coming to her mind, if she wanted to exclude herself and Draco, was the one of James and Lucius, who usually kept a distance of at least a couple of countries between them, and it had been like that since they had graduated Hogwarts. Yet now, call it hope, call it desperation, they were closer than ever and working side by side. It felt like being in some sort of enlarged family, with all his pro and cons.

Hermione was taking advantage of the long empty afternoons to learn as much as she could about ancient spells and charms and she had oddly found a good teacher in Narcissa Malfoy. When the woman wasn't too busy defending Malfoy from his father's anger and frustration, or forcing food into the boy's throat, she was happy enough to keep herself busy, helping Hermione with the basics of Healing Magic and reading ancient runes with her.

Among the tasks that Narcissa had given herself, there was also that of keeping Leonie Grindelwald and her depression as far as possible from Draco, since the poor boy already had so much to think about. He, however, would became very nervous whenever his mother would intervene against Leonie and her frequent crying, making her task increasingly harder. Draco's guilt made him think he had to take care of Leonie, to take responsability for her despair, because, as Lucius wouldn't stop repeating, the blame for Maya's kidnapping was his. Which was total bullshit, for all Hermione knew, but there was no way of convincing the boy otherwise.

Malfoy. He looked so lonely now without his Maya, without his friends. Hermione couldn't balme his mother for wanting to take some of the weight off his shoulders. How could he have survived till then under his father's expectations and with so many responsibilities? No wonder he had always been such an insufferable git. Now that Hermione had glimpsed at his family's dynamics, she was able to justify a few of his bad traits. Couldn't Lucius see, that he was just a boy? He was barely sixteen, could his family ignore that? Apparently yes, and to confirm it was Gabriel Laurent, who kept treating him like a grown-up, and drowning him in Firewhiskey and politics.

"Stop staring at me, mudblood" he muttered without turning toward her. Hermione blushed and went back to stare at the sky above, how was he holding it together? Draco Malfoy truly was the strongest person Hermione had ever met and she couldn't even scold herself mentally for thinking it.

"How are you?" she asked timidly, avoiding his clear grey eyes. Draco snorted loudly and shrugged.

"I should be allowed to get down there." He said, hinting to the next mission ordeal.

"No you shouldn't. Black is right. You are too involved. What if you're tempted to intervene?" she asked trying to talk some sense in the boy. But Draco just shook his head, he didn't want to hear that again. He had begged Dumbledore to add him to the team since day one, with no success.

Hermione couldn't really blame Dumbledore for his choice; Maya Laurent would have been within reach and yet they couldn't have taken her. Not if they still wanted to believe that Harry was alive, and if they wanted him to stay that way; that was the main reason members of the Potters, Malfoys and Laurents' families, had been categorically banned from taking part to that mission.

No one would have been able to keep Lily Potter from barging in Riddle's hiding place if she had wanted to, nor stop one of the Malfoys from jumping Riddle if they had felt like doing it. The mission had to remain a simple shadowing; they couldn't risk annoying Riddle too much. If everything had gone according to plan they would have been able to find out where Riddle's headquarters were and, possibly, what his general plan of action was.

Letting Draco go, knowing about his short temper, would have been madness. Too much was at stake.

"I'm not an idiot, I just need to see that she's fine." He muttered, rolling his sleeves up his shoulders. The weather was awfully good. It felt way to jolly for what was the general feeling in the house. It should have rained at least, it would have been more appropriate.

"It's still too dangerous. If Riddle could put his hands on you, he'd have complete control over Laurent." Said Hermione, avoiding the name of the girl, Draco hated when anyone of them said her name out loud. The blonde boy sighed loudly and stretched his arms forward.

Suddenly Draco moved on his heels, crouching on the spot. He quickly patted on the pockets of his jeans, but not finding what he was looking for, without turning to look at her, he opened his palm toward Hermione, "Pass the wand," he said. Hermione gave him a quick puzzled look but before she knew she was already handing him the wand. How had it become so easy to trust him to the point of handing him her own wand without questioning his intentions?

Somewhere deep inside, she knew the answer to that question. She knew she liked Draco more than she'd allow herself to acknowledge; she knew that her feelings had only grown stronger as she had gotten to know him a little better, to see more of his faces and expressions.

Despite knowing that, given their circumstances, and given who they were, Hermione refused to let that answer come forward from the back of her head and she just told herself, their situation was to be blamed for the sudden alliance between them. By the end of that war, Draco would have probably gone back to being his usual self, back to hate her guts, to make fun of her and her looks, and to avoid her mudblood self. This answer hurt her much more than the other one, but at the same time, it felt like the safer one.

Draco took her wand and held it toward something on the floor, Hermione leaned forward to check on what he was aiming it at.

"You're not supposed to use magic here," she warned him with her boring righteous tone, hating herself for being so uptight. She placed her hand on his back to balance herself in a similar crouching position to his and made it to retrieve it but, when she noticed he hadn't minded the contact, she left it there pushing herself over his arm to look closely.

"It's just a minor flow, you're such a mudblood…yours must have been a boring childhood…" he muttered but his tone wasn't harsh, he sounded quite amused instead. A small plant was growing from a crack in the floor, under Draco's focused eyes. Hermione was childishly staring with her lips slightly parted. She must have indeed missed a lot growing up in a muggle family, the thought tighten a small knot in her stomach and she didn't make any smart comeback.

When a few flowers finally sprouted, white and delicate, Draco stopped the flow of magic and gave Hermione her wand back. As she took it, she felt the last drops of his power in it and blushed furiously at that unfamiliar warmth. It felt something so intimate… how could he act so naturally?

"I knew it." he said with a pinch of excitement in his tone.

"What is it?" asked Hermione staring at those cute little flowers as he proceeded to pick them from the plant and, after a moment of hesitation, to hand her one.

"Honeysuckle," he said simply and then pulled the petals slightly apart and sucked on the flower briefly before throwing it away and picking another one. His eyes locked in hers and he blushed a little.

"Merlin Granger, just do it." He spat giving her his back. Hermione chuckled softly and placed the flower between her lips sucking it as he had done before. A small drop of sweet nectar filled her mouth and her eyes became big in surprise while her hand sprinted toward the boy asking for another one. Malfoy smirked and passed her a second small flower.

"She used to let this sprout in the garden all the time, I'd find petals everywhere… she's a sucker for sweet treats…" he said and Hermione's heart thumped loudly in her chest in both sympathy and envy. What wouldn't she have given to have someone like him in her life, and what she wouldn't have done to give him back his Maya? What a weird feeling it was to feel, and toward Draco Malfoy of all people.

"It must have been fun growing up with you." The words blurted out of Hermione's lips before she could do something about it. Malfoy's smirk got lost in a blank expression and his eyes stopped on the redness of Hermione's cheeks before filling up with a heartbreaking sadness.

"Oh no… I was no fun," he said diverting his eyes and gluing them on the tip of his shoes, "But she was. Even when I treated her like shit. And you know better than anyone how much of a prat I can be." Hermione was surprised by his sudden opening, Draco seemed so fragile at the moment and the words Maya Laurent had said to her and Ginny right before the Quidditch match, echoed in her head.

Hermione had left the door slightly open and there had come Malfoy, walking in like a cat. She smiled to herself hiding her face in her hair and nodded slightly.

"Looking at the two of you now, it's quite impossible to imagine you being a prat to her. Plus I thought yours was a special treatment for Mudbloods only." she chuckled. Malfoy snorted amused.

"I wish! Like..." he said sitting back again and leaning against the wall, "There was this necklace she used to wear all the time. A silly little thing, it had a small pendant in the shape of a D, D for Draco, she used to say it all the time. Lucius had given her the damn thing and she wouldn't stop showing it off to anyone who had a pair of eyes." It was fascinating to have a small insight on the Malfoys like that. Hermione smiled encouraging him to go on and so he did.

"It had become a game of mine to snap it off her neck, I'd do it suddenly, I'd slid my fingers under the light chain and pull until it would break. Her face…" his lips curled in a sad smile, "She hated that, she hated me, and it just gave me so much pleasure to see her disappointment each time, to see her dispise me and still fix the chain to wear it once more... knowing it'd be just a matter of time till I would break it again." He laughed bitterly to himself, "And then one day, she charmed the stupid thing." He showed Hermione's his right hand, there was a very thin scar on his middle and index fingers. He had beautiful hands, slightly stained in ink, why was she noticing this kind of things?

"She came to my room… and I was mad about something," he took a pause as if trying to remember the reason but after a while surrendered to his poor memory and resumed, "Well, I pulled the damn chain, but it didn't break. Instead it burned my fingers, Merlin, it felt like a hot blade cutting through butter," Hermione laughed softly while Draco caressed the scar with his other hand, "What she hadn't realized was that she'd get hurt along with me. You should see the back of her neck… what an idiot." He shook his head in disbelief at the memory.

"I was so angry, all the time. She could make my nerves wrack in seconds. What was I so angry about? I had the perfect girl… all I had to do was keep an eye on her, keep her safe. Lucius is right, I don't deserve her." his voice shook slightly, crushing Hermione's heart in pieces, she felt the sting of tears threatening to come out and tried to repress them.

"She'll be back soon." She said calmly and Malfoy nodded absentmindedly, lost in his memories.

"Malfoy, look at me," she said pulling his shirt slightly and Malfoy turned to lock eyes with her, those clear, innocent, sharp eyes of him, pierced through Hermione's soul. Had they ever been so close? Hermione felt like hugging him, but she knew better than do such thing, "She'll be back soon, and she wouldn't want you any different from what you are." She stated knowing how true those words were. For a few moments the only audible sound was the loud bird chirping getting lost in the spring breeze, which blew merrily on them moving Malfoy's platinum hair gently.

"Maya wouldn't have left Potter behind." He said suddenly and Hermione couldn't hold her tears upon hearing Harry's name, "He's alive." Said Malfoy seriously and she nodded sniffling softly.

"You said her name." Hermione pointed out and her jaw dropped a little when her eyes met the single tear sliding down Draco's cheek.

"If you tell Weasley I'll fucking kill you." he said, and Hermione burst in laughter at those words. Draco gave her a devilish smile, stood up and walked away sliding back in the house through the open window. He truly was a cat.