Detention seems to get longer and longer each year and for who knows why I always seem to be the one that gets detention. This time I did deserve to get punished for what I did, but I mean really, I thought that I had a pretty good excuse of why I did it. Draco was talking about me and was saying that he had done something to me, I overreacted, and he payed for it in the end. I wanted to know what he had done to me and was worried about it as well, but I mean, I over did it and I did kind of curse him. . . oh well. I'm should just be happy that I did not get expelled from the school because, knowing Lucius Malfoy and the things I could have gotten, two hours every night with Professor Mcgonagall is fair I guess. Though she has me doing everything under the sun to pay for what I have done.
This past week I have been cleaning all of the windows all around the school, doing Muggle things, and trying to keep an eye on me all at the same time. The week before that I had to re-arrange all of the books in the library to make sure they were all in order and what not. That was nothing to me, but it still seemed like a hassle and impossible to do without magic, that has become a part of my life now that I will never let go of. It seems like I will never get out of detention, ever, to just seems like when I feel like I have earned and regained respect back from her, she just throws something else in my face to do. All the time I have Draco looking down my back.
He seems to think that I do not notice him looking at me in the halls, the way that he tries to sit as close as she possibly can to me in potions, but I know he does. I am starting to believe Harry when he says that Draco is a Death Eater now, it seems like he is very stressed lately and it scares me to think that the Dark Lord has made his way into the students of the most highly respected wizardry school in the world. Draco has bags under his eyes, the ones that you get when you do not sleep for days at a time, he's very jittery as if someone is going to come and snatch him right up from his seat, and he watches me. . . looks at me differently then he used to, he seems to watch me like I have something to do with this whole plan. I wonder if he is trying to slip a potion into my drink, thinking of ways to cruse me like he did to Katie Bell, or what I have to do with this whole plan he has for me. I know that he has one for me, I just know it.
I stood, standing at the bottom of the astronomy tower, sighing and trying to clean this one window. Professor Mcgonagall could have magically cleaned these windows at any time, so couldn't any of the teachers at this school, but instead they keep certain windows dirty for detention students, like this one. My arm felt like it was going to fall off at any point and it hurt to move, but I still scrubbed and tried to rubbing and rubbing off the dirty. Damn dirt. It seemed like it was stuck on with super glue. Classes had all ended a long time ago, all students were in their common rooms, besides one class, astronomy, they were the only students allowed out to go to the class because it was supposed to be at night. . . well besides the bad kids with detention. . . kids like me. I could hear them getting out of their seats and starting to file down the stairs. They all walked by without even a look in my direction, I looked at the window and presence to work, but I could feel someone stop, I could sense them.
" What the hell do you want?" I asked, still pressing the rag against the glass.
" Do you need help?" He said barely over a whisper.
" Won't your friends be missing you soon?" I asked, looking around to find that everyone had left besides him and myself.
" No." He stated.
" Why?" Millions of questions fly through my head.
" Because, they don't understand me." He sighed. " They think that, just because their parents and my parents are friends and both of our parents think the same way, that I think like them and that I'm exactly like them. I'm not." He looked at the twin window to the one that I was working on.
" Then why be friends with them?" I asked, dropping the rag into the once luke-warm water.
" Because they are the only people that I can trust around here, ya know? They are the ones that I go to with anything because I need to have someone there. I wish that it could be anyone else, anyone. I wish that I could be like Mikey, ya know? Since he's the little brother he gets to have a little more advantages and gets to be friends with anyone. But these kids are the only ones that I trust, besides my house mates and I need them because they are- "
" Your only family. Yes I remember that line from the first day here as well. But I did not take it to heart like most did because I did not know anyone here as many people did, had no friends because I was a Muggle-Born. You know a lot about that wouldn't you, Way?" I asked and looked back at the pail boy.
Gerard looked like he was sick, like he was on his death bed, but he had always looked like that. Over the years he had grown his hair out and it was now all the way down to his shoulders and was black at the night outside. He had always reminded me of a vampire and I did ask Ron once if he was and all he did was laugh at me and told me ' The Ways have always been a powerful force in the magical world, but they never used their power for bad' Like many people do in these times. ' but no, Hermione, they are not vampires. Him and his little brother are just in the wrong place and the wrong time.' They were in Ravenclaw, his little brother Micheal was a part of the DA, but he had never shown up. Gerard was very well known for being around the Slytherin house and knew many things that most people would kill to know about that house. He stood there, pushed the silk fine hair out of his face, and smiling.
" I guess that I would know a lot about that. If you do remember, first year I had no one around as well, then Draco came and picked me up, allowed me to be friends with him." He shrugged. " Found better people since then, but it is always good to know who you can trust around here." He said, taking his robe off and resting it on the staircase railing. " So would you like help or not?" He said as he started to roll up his sleeves.
" I would love it, to be honest my arm is starting to feel like it is falling off. I think that it's just gonna snap off soon!" I laughed a little as we both drabbed some rags and brought them to the twin windows.
" Why help me Gerard? I mean you have never shown any kind of friendship to me in the past and now, all of a sudden, you seem to be my best friend." I asked, not looking him in the eye, but looking at the window.
" I just hear things that I thought that you and your little sidekicks would like to hear about." He said and looked around to make sure that no one was around.
" Sidekicks?" I laughed. " No, I'm one of the sidekicks, everyone knows that Harry is the ringleader." I sighed.
" No, he may be the bravest and the most famous, but everyone also knows that you are the brains behind everything that you three meddling kids get into. Believe me, without you, those two would be in the ground, six feet under, by now." He smiled. " You have the brains of someone twice your age, Hermione. And I do mean that in a good way."
" Well thank you, now please, tell me what you have been told. I promise that I will not tell anyone that you do not want me to tell. Promise." I made a little 'x' over my heart.
" Well okay then, I heard that Draco has been up all night, going to different places and someone said that he now has a tattoo on his forearm. Now, no making bets or anything about what it is, but some people are saying that he is up to something pretty big. That the tattoo isn't just something ti show off, if you know what I mean." I nodded and kept my eyes on the window. " People are saying that he is here to kill someone this year, maybe many people at that! I have asked Draco over and over again what it is about it, but he refuses to say a word about it. He seems to get a little annoyed at it, and I mean I have heard him talking about you a lot lately, like a lot more then he has ever said your name before." He looked over at me.
" What, as that Dirty Little Mud-blood." I whispered.
" No it's Hermione, but he's usually just talking to Crabbe or Goyle, sometimes Pansy, but that's really unusual. But I'm just worried that. . . well. . . you know. . . right?" He asked and looked me in the eye. His eyes spoke the words that he could not say out loud.
" You think that he is working with him, but I mean. . . why would they want me dead. I have done nothing to them! I mean there is nothing that I have done in the past! No!" I could feel my heart drop to the ground.
" Well you have been friends with the enemy." I looked at him in confusion. " You have been best friends with Harry Potter since first year. Now remember that all of this is just rumors that have been going around from class to class, but I mean it seems logical, knock out the friends and leave the boy helpless. Why not have it at the school, the place where the boy has the most protection, and have all of the kid be sent home. I mean where would Harry Potter go, his friends are dead, he hates his life at his own aunt and uncles house. Where would he go? It would be easy for he-who-must-not-be-named to find it and kill him. Epically with you out of the picture, you are the brains behind Harry Potter." He whispered.
" So you think that Draco is going to cry and kill me because I am friends with Harry?" I whispered.
" Could be, or maybe he just has a thing for you that he just doesn't wanna show to the world." He shrugged. " He will not tell me anything about it at all, I may be friends with him, but I'm not in the inner circle of friends." He went back to washing the window and he was nearly done with his!
We cleaned in the silence like that for a while, I thought that my hours were going to be done soon and we would be able to talk more, someplace a little more private so that Gerard would open up a little more. Professor Mcgonagall came and saw that I had help and said that she would be giving ten points to Ravenclaw for something, but I did not hear that much, I was still stuck in my thoughts. I thought that Gerard was going to give up, leave, and most likely go back to his common room for the night so I started to hurry up and he laughed over at me, looking at my arm and watching me try to clean the window that I had been working on for over an hour.
" What's so funny?" I asked, laughing a little as well.
" You really are going by the no-using-magic thing aren't you?" Gerard asked, watching me.
" Yes! I do not want to be expelled!" I smiled.
" Well then go back to you common room, I'll finish this in no time with a little magic." He smiled and pulled out his wand.
" Wont they be able to tell that magic has been used?" I asked.
" Yes, but your wand wont show a thing about cleaning, now will it?" Gerard questioned and smiled.
" You are amazing! Thank you so much Gerard, if there is ever anything you need help on, you call on me. Okay?" I smiled as I hugged him lightly.
" I will cash in on that one day, Hermione. But for tonight, go." He smiled as I made my way down the stairs and found a short teen at the bottom.
" Good evening Hermione." He smiled.
" Evening Frank." He was in my potions class as well, he was a Ravenclaw along with Gerard.
" Still up there?" He asked, looking up the stairs.
Frank was all of five feet six inches, if that and could be lost in a crowd because of that little fact. But he stuck out in every other way, he was one of the other kids in the school that had any piercings besides ear-rings, which was mostly with girls, but he had a lip ring, and from what I have been hearing he wanted a noise piercing as well. He liked to wear all black and seemed like he was a little vampire child. Seems like Gerard like to hang out with little vampire people to be honest. Franks hair and shaved into a Mohawk type of deal and the shaved parts were also bleached blond. He was one of the only male students- besides Gerard- that painted his nails black. Though all of these things scared most people away, he was a very friendly and open person that anyone could relate to. You could ask Frank anything and he would answer openly. He was also a Muggle-Born child and he seemed to get along with pretty much everyone, well everyone that accepted everyone as equals.
" Yes, he was helping me with my detention." I asked as he did.
" Always playing good guy." Frank sighed as he looked up the stairs.
" If you don't mind me asking, why are you waiting for him. You don't have astronomy, do you Frank?" I asked and he turned a bright shade of pink.
" Well... um. . . no. I really do not have it, but I wait here for Gerard. . . um we like to . . . um. . . well we like to. . ." It hit me then, last year Frank came out as being gay, I looked up the stairs and thought of Gerard. His parents would kill him if he came out of the closest.
" Oh! Oh wow. Gerard? Really? Him? I would have never guessed it, I mean really? Wow, would would have thought of that, I mean do his parents know? His brother? How long have you two . . . I mean are you two dating? Congrats!" I smiled as he did.
" We are and no they don't, Mikey does and very few others do. Now you do as well, but I mean it seems like he trusts you not to tell anyone."
" I wont! Promise!" I said.
" Good." He said and took a very steps towards the stairs.
" Now I see why he said he would finish those windows." I smiled as I moved away from the stairs. " Goodnight Frank." I smiled and left the whole hall as quickly as I could. Many different things flowing through my brain.
I rushed through the halls and made it into the common room where I could that Ginny was waiting for me, just starring. She did not seem to notice me and that worried me, she was usually on her game and knew when ever someone would walk through the painting and who they were by the sound of their feet on the wooden floors. Tonight she starred at the fire and did not even look up from it when I came and sat down next to her, she seemed as in a gaze as I was and I allowed it to stay like that for quite a long time. Trying to get my brain un-scrambled as I thought of so many things that I would need to tell Harry and Ron in the morning.
I highly doubted that Draco would try and take-out just on his own, he must have been trying to get the others in this inner group of friends to help him and try to track me down. That would also show why he had been following me and watching me so closely since we have gotten back into school. All of the things were adding up, all of the things that he has been doing were to be able to know where I liked to go, when I did, and why. As long as I was in detention and was being watched heavily by Professor Mcgonagall, then I was safe. But when the detention ended, I would be in a world of trouble. I sighed and placed my head into my hands as I thought all of this throw over and over again. Piecing more and more things together and trying to allow my brain to think that Draco Malfoy was being sent to kill me and most likely Ron as well! But something seemed very wrong about all of it, something seemed off and there was something about it and my brain refused to accept and I did not know why.
" Miss Weasly!" Someone shouted as they ran through the painted and shot the two of us right up from the ground and stood there waiting.
" Ah, so we will not have to have you go and get Miss Granger after all very good." Professor Mcgonagall stated. Crap they found out about the windows.
" What is it?" I asked.
" It's Ron Weasly. He has been poisoned last tonight, he is in the hospital wing. Though Mister Potter acted bravely and save the boys life, we would like loved ones to be around him for the night." Professor Mcgonagall stated and we followed her quickly.
My heart was beating on the floor as we followed her all around the school to get to the hospital wing as quickly as possibly. I could not breath, could not move anything besides my feet, I just wanted to run back home and curl into Fred's arms. Draco had tried to take out Ron and I guess he nearly succeeded in it. Now that Ron was atleast out for a few days all of the attention would be placed one me and trying to kill me. Draco Mafloy was out to kill me next.