Chapter Twenty-Five: Fears Unraveled Pt 2
"What in the bloody hell is the meaning of this." Harry hissed dangerously. He still had a strong grip on Draco's shirt-front.
Grey eyes flicked down coolly to assess the situation and Draco grimaced inwardly. The way Potter has the fabric clutched in his hold would surely leave wrinkles. That son of a damn Mudblood. Not to mention his nemesis was too damn close to him for comfort. The two of them were in such close proximity that Draco could feel Harry's angry breath on him.
Draco turned his head and gave one more quick glance at Tom Riddle behind him. The hissing sounds were still coming from his lips, and then it hit him. He finally realized that those sounds were not random hisses, Tom must be speaking in Parseltongue, the language of serpents. It would make sense, since Potter was the only one in the room that could understand the language.
That freak. Potter thinks he's all that just because he's 'The Chosen One'. And here he was, in the dark and not even understanding why Potter was so angry with him or what that monster was saying with all his hissing.
Draco narrowed his eyes down at Harry. Draco had grown over summer and was now a few inches taller than Harry. Potter didn't scare him, no matter how imposing he tried to appear, even if he were on his tippy toes. The startled expression from earlier was no longer to be seen on his features, and returned in its stead was his customary scowl.
"Get your filthy paws of me," he growled lowly. Roughly, he grabbed both of Harry's wrists and flung him aside forcefully. The scorn in his eyes spoke volumes as to how much he despised the boy-that-just-won't-die. To top it off, Draco followed up by straightening his clothes and made a show of brushing off the places where Harry had touched him.
Harry, being caught off balanced, sprawled forward and landed on the ground on all fours on his knees and elbows. He let out an 'omph' as he contacted the stone floor, getting a little bit of his breath knocked out of him. He then tried to scramble up a little too quickly, and the blood rushed to his head all at once, making him disoriented and his surroundings blurred and unfocused.
He shook his head and looked forward, his eyes latched on to the leather shoes in front of him as things came into focus again.
In the back of his head, Harry vaguely heard Professor Lupin call out, "Malfoy! Potter! Enough!" and then with a little more urgency in the Professor's voice, "Harry, get away from there!"
Harry was still confused and dazed as he looked up and soon connected with Tom Riddles eyes. Tom said again in Parseltongue, Together we will be one… But the image of Tom had begun to warp and the rest of his sentence trailed off as the Boggart transformed.
Harry heard the reactions from the class first, and there were sharp gasps and several students even screamed.
"Dementor! Dementor!"
"It's a Dementor!"
Where Tom was standing moments before was replaced with a looming, cloaked figure, its hood covering its face as it hovered ominously above Harry. To Harry's horror, it bent closer and closer down to him, and a chill ran down his spine that froze his very core. The room suddenly felt cold, so cold, and he was all alone.
He felt this before, that day on the Hogwarts Express, and he knew what was next.
The screams.
Oh gods, the woman was screaming. No, not this again. He needed to get out. He need to escape.
Someone, anyone, get him out of there. Help…anyone…
Hermione watched in dismay as Harry, who was rooted at the spot from his fall, appeared at first transfixed at the sight of the Dementor, before all color drained from his face and his face looked tormented. Within seconds, he was curled into fetal position, holding his head, muttering for help, to make it all stop.
Reacting even faster than Professor Lupin, who was trying to push past a few students from where he was standing, she rushed forward, shoving Malfoy aside in the process and jumped over Harry's crumpled form to put herself between Harry and the Dementor. As she leaped over Harry, she whipped out her wand from its holster in one fluid motion and when she landed on her feet, she was in a combat stance, with her wand pointed forwards towards the Dementor.
The second she was in front of Harry, the Dementor faded away and fizzled out. It was transforming again.
The Boggart was shifting again, and it appeared to be a person, since the figure materializing had both feet firmly planted on the ground.
"All hell," Seamus whispered to Dean, "it better not be You-Know-Who. If it were, I'd be telling me Mam that my classmates are disturbed and to get me transferred outta here."
"You got that right." Dean murmured, "But look, it's got to be transforming to another student. It's got the Hogwarts cloak."
The figure was indeed wearing a Hogwarts cloak and upon further inspection, a green and silver tie…
Slytherin.
The girls yelped and squealed again.
Draco's mouth dropped opened.
"You've got to be kidding me." Blaise mouthed and nudged his best friend in the side.
"Bloody hell…" Ron cursed, he was now by Harry's side, helping him move his weak body out of the way.
Standing tall and proud was an immaculate Draco Malfoy.
And he looked good.
Draco was at a loss for words. That was him alright, looking aristocratically delicious.
The Boggart turned into him.
Was Granger really afraid of him? He didn't know what to feel besides being surprised at the moment.
Shouldn't he feel flattered?
He glanced at Granger. She had a slightly stern, but bored expression on her face. What was she playing at? She doesn't look afraid at all. Was it all a front?
Suddenly, Boggart Draco's demeanor changed completely upon spotting Hermione. Its handsome face curled into a sneer and there was pure hatred in its eyes. Draco was slightly taken aback at how unbecoming he looked with that attitude. He didn't realize that he looked so… vile, ruthless, and downright evil when he spoke like that.
"Studying again? You filthy Mudblood." it spat venomously. "It's pitiful that you have to study ten times as hard to make up the magic that you lack in your blood."
Hermione was not good at all at hiding her expressions, and Draco caught the hurt look that fleetingly passed her features before rage took over and she icily shouted 'Riddikulus'.
Instantaneously, Boggart Draco spun in a whirl of colors and reappeared couching low and hunched over on the ground.
Draco silently wished to never see this sight again.
Boggart Draco was a far cry from the pristine version of himself just a few moments ago.
Dressed in an old, grimy and battered robe that has definitely seen better days, Boggart Draco was rattling an old mug in his pasty, bony hands, and the mug couldn't have had more than a few knuts judging from the light sound. His head hung low, his eyes hollow and expressionless, they were the eyes of one that was clearly dishearten with the world, ready to give up on life.
The bitter taste of bile quickly rose to Draco's throat, he was so angry. He gritted his teeth so hard that his jaw was hurting. He started to make a move for the witch but he felt an arm firmly tugging him back.
It was Blaise. "Keep your cool, mate. I get that you're angry, but this is a classroom. If you want to beat the shit out of her, do it later, out of sight." he said warningly.
The room was silent for a long minute, before the laughter broke loose.
The majority of the students in the room burst out laughing, with the Gryffindors guffawing the loudest. In no time, the Boggart Draco shuffled backwards, eyes finally alive and ignited by fear but before it burst into a million shimmering particles, it did something quite unremarkably human.
It smiled.
It was a bitter smile, a smile of relief. Relief that the torment that it was suffering under that situation would finally be over.
Hermione felt a pang in her heart. Her wand arm fell limp by her side and a moment of unadulterated sadness coursed through her. She hung her head low and thankfully her wild mane of hair was kept down today which helped shield her face.
"Erm, well done, Miss Granger." Professor Lupin said, his voice tight and his face serious. "Twenty points to Gryffindor."
Then he knelt down and put an arm around Harry and observed him. The boy was shaken, a little pale, but he would be fine. Wandlessly, he summoned some chocolate from a drawer in his desk, and pushed it into Harry's hands.
"Eat this," he said gently, and Harry nodded meekly.
He looked up again to address the class. With a relieved sigh, he said, "Good job today, Class. Remember, this is a safe environment-" he paused and changed to a stern, warning tone, "-no one is to divulge into what they have saw in this classroom unless they have consent. If I find out that anyone is using this information to make your classmates feel bad, House Points will be taken off."
The students looked around at each other and no one moved until he barked out, "Class dismissed!"
The rest of the class started shuffling out of the class room while Hermione and Ron stayed behind to help Harry up.
"Will he be okay?" Hermione asked, biting her lip from uncertainty. Harry still looked awfully pale, even after a few bites of chocolate. He was still weak at the knees and she and Ron helped him onto a chair.
"He'll be fine," Professor Lupin replied, "but as a precaution, I'll escort him to the infirmary. Don't you both worry. Go back to your Common Room. I'll take care of things here."
Ron and Hermione nodded and walked out of the classroom after one last look reluctant look at Harry.
The pair quickened their pace in the hallway heading in the direction of their Common Room. The rest of the Gryffindors were not too far ahead.
Ron turned towards Hermione. "Is Malfoy really your biggest fear?" he asked in an unbelieving tone.
Draco and Blaise, who were trailing behind the rest of the Slytherins, happened to be in earshot. Upon hearing his name, Draco's ears perked up and he kept his ear trained on the conversation between Weasley and Granger.
Hermione spotted Malfoy's blonde head a few paces in front of them and replied in a clipped tone. "Of course not, Ronald. Me, scared of that inbred albino?" She intentionally spoke a little more loudly than usual, hoping that Malfoy would hear her. "Most definitely not. Maybe I'm concerned about my safety when he gangs up on me with his cronies, but I'm hardly afraid of him."
Hermione couldn't see him, but if she could, she would've seen a set of pale eyebrows shooting up towards his hairline at her confession. Draco fists clenched together. He was sure her words were intended as a verbal attack.
Hermione continued. "I've done my research on boggarts already, as you can tell. Did some reading ahead during the summer. A boggart projects the immediate fear that you have in your mind when you confront it." She shrugged and said easily, "I just tricked it into believing that it was Malfoy. Simple really." She craned her neck a little bit to get better vision of Malfoy. "You reckon I embarrassed him?"
Ron laughed, "Pft. Absolutely! You should've seen his face! He was humiliated! You're brilliant, Hermione. That was the best payback. Blimey…I don't think I can ever get the image of ratty, tatty, beggar Malfoy out of my head."
Hermione cracked a triumphant smile on her face. "Good. I'm sick of letting the Purebloods walk all over us. If anyone of them tries to hurt me or my friends, I will fight back."
"That's why you're amazing, Hermione." Ron commented, causing a slight blush to creep up her cheeks. Hermione turned away from Ron and her eyes trailed downward, before looking up straight-ahead again.
And Draco choose that moment to turn around and meet Hermione's eyes. His lips had moved, but Hermione had no idea what he said.
Hermione froze, and it was like the world had stopped. The moment her warm honey-brown colored orbs met his cool quicksilver ones, her bottom lip relaxed and dropped down slightly. The emotions conveyed in his eyes were intense. Emotions were swirling in his irises like molten silver, it made looking into his eyes more mesmerizing than those Muggle kaleidoscopes that she was so captivated by as a child.
The moment, however, was brief and the people around her started walking again. Hermione didn't have the time to pause and wonder whether the moment was one that was shared by both herself and Malfoy, or if it was all part of her imagination. But one thing is for certain, Malfoy was still staring intently at her, but there was an odd look on his face… it made absolutely no sense to Hermione, but it looked to her as if he had a revelation of some sort.
Hermione laughed inwardly to break the nervous tension and she mustered a smirk at Malfoy's direction, silently questioning him. She will not let him have the satisfaction of affecting her.
Draco returned with a scowl that said it all, and she wasn't surprised when he mouth the words, "I hate you." Actually, it had left her strangely satisfied, since the feeling was mutual.
When Draco turned on his heel and continued walking, he heard Blaise chuckle besides him.
"What'd you say to her?"
"I said that I hate her." Draco muttered in reply.
"You hate her." Blaise echoed. Draco could tell that Blaise was grinning furiously from his amused tone, even without looking at him.
"You know, Granger is an interesting one." The Italian said after a long pause. "She's intelligent and feisty." And as an afterthought, he concluded quietly, "I think I might grow to like her."
Draco's head whipped to his left and gave Blaise an appalled look. "You've got to be joking."
As his reply, Blaise wriggled his eyebrows playfully. "Do I look like I'm joking?"
"We're going to need to talk about this, mate."
"What!? Why?" Blaise replied with an exaggerated pout.
"You bloody know why."
A/N: Thanks for patiently waiting for this installment. Did anyone guess Hermione's boggart correctlyly? Hope that was a nice twist and shows you how bright our Hermione can be.
Christmas will be up next! Hermione will be receiving a gift from an unknown person. Starting to weave in some teenage hormones as well. I'm nervous!
Appreciate the readers that added this story to their alerts and favorites. Special thanks for reviewers Guest "T", Grovek26, JuliSt, shiningarmourica, mega700201, sofisamu, Royal Dansk, and Vaneesa85.
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~Cookie