Chapter 25: Sneaking around

Hermione wakes up by the sunlight in her face and the birds singing outside. It's still winter so there aren't many birds but the ones that stayed are really doing their best to sound as lovely as possible. How joyful it all may be Hermione is not happy. Draco is still not there and she decides to talk to professor Dumbledore. He isn't much of a help. He doesn't know why the youngest member of the Malfoy family hasn't showed up. Hermione doesn't care what it might do to her schoolwork but she has made up her mind. If Draco isn't there by midnight she will go over to his place to find out why. Draco doesn't show so Hermione knows what to do. It's good to be head girl. It gives her the right to walk through the castle after curfew and she goes to the Gryffindor tower. She leaves a note for Ginny telling her she will be gone for a while and that she shouldn't worry. The reason that she didn't tell her where she will go and why is because she doesn't want Harry and Ron to know. Not yet. Her next stop is Dumbledore's office.

Even though nobody would think it's strange when they see her walking around in school that late at night she still looks like a burglar sneaking around. She keeps looking behind her and one time she stumbles over Mrs. Norris. The genitor's cat who screams like she's tortured giving Hermione a heart attack. Hermione hides behind a big pillar and waits to see if Filch will be coming to see what she did to his precious cat. But he doesn't show and Hermione continues her way to professor Dumbledore's office. She has no idea where the man sleeps and if it's even possible to sneak in and use his fireplace without him noticing. It's too bad she can't use any fireplace in the castle. It would be a lot easier if she could just use the one in her own dormitory. But if it would be that easy it would be no fun sneaking out is what Draco would tell her if he knew what she was thinking.

Hermione opens the door to Dumbledore's office as silently as possible and closes the door behind her in the same manner. "good evening miss Granger. I was expecting you"

Hermione nearly jumps a meter high by hearing the sound of Dumbledore's voice.

"professor, I, I," she stammers.

"take a seat miss Granger. I think we need to talk"

"yes, professor." She sits down and looks at her hands which she folded in her lap. She can't look at him from embarrassment.

"Tell me why you are here miss Granger"

"well, I, euhm, well"

"the truth miss Granger. Please. I won't get mad"

"actually I wanted to use your fireplace to go to the Malfoy manor to see where Draco is"

"I see. You two have gotten quite close am I right?"

"yes. How did you know I would be coming?"

"well you see miss Granger I might be an old man but I'm not insane. It was pretty obvious you would try to find a way to look for Draco and this is the only way out of Hogwarts"

"yes. I'm sorry professor but I'm really worried. We had a fight just before Christmas and I'm scared he will do something stupid."

"don't be sorry. It's only normal to want to protect the ones you love."

"but I don't.." Dumbledore gives her one of his famous looks. "yes. I guess you're right" Hermione looks at her lap again, blushing a bit.

"now, I would like to go to bed soon. I give you one week to find young mister Malfoy and bring him back."

"you're allowing me to leave school grounds to find him?"

"of course. You would be doing me a favor by finding a lost student don't you think."

"yes I guess so." She smiles. "thank you"

Dumbledore stands up and walks towards a closet near the fireplace and takes out a small bowl with flew powder and makes a gesture that Hermione should come to him. "It's time you get going but don't forget you have only one week. Hermione nods and with a flash of green lights she disappears.

She appears in the fireplace in Draco's room but he's not there. Hermione decides she will go look for him and try to avoid Lucius an Narcissa. She looks around. The room brings back a lot of memories. Like the time Draco whispered to her that he loves her when he thought she was asleep. She smiled but didn't react knowing that he would feel really uncomfortable if she did. That was the night before the handcuffs disappeared. Hermione walks to the door, opens it, quickly takes a look and then pulls her head back with the same speed. There is nobody there but she saw it in a movie once and she always wanted to try it. Hermione laughs at how silly she is acting and walks out. She looks in various rooms but all that she finds are some old books lying around that she will remember to ask for later when everything is alright between her and Draco. She turns around the corner and faces the slightly taller Lucius Malfoy. The person she hoped to avoid.

"look what we have here, Miss Granger. I didn't expect to see you here" Lucius gives her his most charming smile. It was the most hideous face anybody could ever make but she figured it was supposed to be a smile.

"Mr. Malfoy, how are you"

"let's skip the small talk shall we? We both know we can't stand the sight of each other"

"fine. Where's Draco?"

"In school of course where else would he be?"

"he never showed"

"that's not possible, I told him that he should attend to school even when he didn't want to. He always does what he is told"

"well I guess he is finally choosing his own path because he's gone"

"this is your fault! I knew you would be trouble! I knew from the start! That's why I tried to convince Dumbledore that you aren't Head girl material. Of course the stupid old man wouldn't listen to me. He never does. You will pay for this!" He draws his wand and points it at Hermione who draws hers too. "I send you a letter. Figured it would break the two of you up. Apparently it did but now he's missing you filthy little,,"

"you send me that letter?" Hermione practically explodes and shouts at him. He walks backwards. The little muggleborn witch sure is intimidating when she's mad. He suddenly feels a strange compassion for Harry and the annoying red haired one. "how could you! You stupid, selfish arrogant pig! You made me think my best friend send me that stupid letter! And how dare you sabotage your own son like that! You have no idea what he is going through! Where is he? Tell me!"

"how dare you talk to me like that" he said back with a look of disgust. He wanted to hex her but right when he said the spell she apparated and she was gone before the spell could hit her.

Hermione suddenly remembered how Draco told her about this place near London he liked to go when he was young. He went there when he tried to escape everything and when he wanted to be alone. He told her once when they were talking about the past and growing up. He told her and then quickly changed the subject. Clearly uncomfortable talking about it. Hermione is standing in front of an old family grave. It's dark and Hermione never liked to be on a graveyard, let alone in the middle of the night. She hopes Draco is there so she can stop looking for him and talk to him but she also wants to find him here because this place is creeping her out and she wants him to be around. Somehow the one guy that has always made her life like hell can make her feel safe. That thought still surprises her sometimes but she is getting more and more used to it. At first Hermione hesitates to go in, he might not want to talk to her if he is even there, but the cold breeze makes her go in anyway. You didn't come here to just leave Hermione Jane Granger. She tells herself and then opens the door that leads her into the tomb.

Sorry for the late update, I have been too busy with schoolwork to finish this.