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Omg this is the longest chapter i've ever written! I think i took forever to write it!
i was so very tempted to break this chapter too, but i just couldn't.
so please let me know if you prefer longer chapters or shorter ones!
you all are the readers's.. i'll do as you say!
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A/N : there is a little conversation between draco and hermione via the two way diary. so as to keep their dialogues separate, i am using the bold font for draco's words while hermione's remain in plain italics. Similar pattern shall be followed if i need to depict diary conversations again in the future.
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CHAPTER 36.
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Draco awoke the next morning to the hooting of a loud black owl that he recognised as a school owl.
He rubbed his eyes and instantly held his hand out for the letter. Only Hermione used school owls to contact him. And that too only when he wouldn't reply on the two way diary.
He gave a bertie bean to the owl that chewed it and happily flew off.
"Hmmm." Draco thought. "Must have been worm flavour."
He opened the letter.
Draco!
Where are you?
Just look at your diary.
I got worried when you didn't reply.
Please write back.
That was it. She hadn't signed it of course, in case the letter was intercepted.
Draco promptly got up and got his diary. Sure enough, there were frantic messages from Hermione.
She had thought that he would want to meet up after what happened. But when he hadn't replied she had gotten worried. Worried enough to almost march into a Slytherin and ask for him.
But she held back. If he didn't show up for breakfast, she would surely do that.
Draco hurriedly found a quill and wrote back.
Hermione !
There you are. Where have you been? I was worried sick you stupid prat.
I'm sorry. I should have checked the diary sooner.
All night I tried writing you.
I'm sorry. I just needed to clear my head. I went flying for a long time.
Yeah that's all right but ... I don't know.. I mean I'm not trying to be unreasonable, it's just...
It's ok Hermione. You're not being unreasonable at all. I wanted to meet you right after the meeting but I was so angry. I just needed to cool off.
I understand but Draco it's okay. Nothing's happened.
Yet.
Yet. I know. She will come up with something soon I know but till then don't worry.
She called you a ... She said that word, Hermione. How can I be okay?
Relax Draco. It's only a word to me now. It doesn't mean anything.
But...
It's fine. Besides, shouldn't you be the one comforting me? One conceited fellow you are.
Oh please. Malfoy's don't comfort!
Yeah right. They are only meant to be comforted.
I am not. Being comforted. I just was livid with Umbridge yesterday. As I said, I needed to cool off and I'm fine now. I'm sorry I worried you and I'm also sorry I wasn't there with you yesterday. That was utterly selfish of me.
Don't worry Draco. Harry and Ron and Ginny were there. And almost the entire DA. I wasn't alone.
But still. I wasn't there.
I know. But hey, you can make it up to me.
Anything.
Meet me behind Hagrid's hut after the last class.
What? Are you insane? That's practically at the forest's border.
Chicken, Malfoy?
You wish.
Then you'll meet me?
Ugggghhh. Why must choose such dangerous places?
Because they're deserted you idiot. Don't want anyone walking in on us do we?
Ooohhh Granger. That was hot! But please know, I'm a decent bloke. I do not go to deserted places with random girls, however much they want me.
Oh get over yourself Malfoy. I'm going to ignore that and go now. I need to shower.
You are on a roll woman! First the forest and now a shower! Are you trying to kill me?
Hermione's reply wasn't as fast or spontaneous as her other replies had been which made Draco think about how she was reacting to his statement. Had he gone overboard with the flirting? He hoped not. He didn't want to make things awkward between them. He face palmed himself and groaned at his stupidity. But he just couldn't control himself. She had started it. And even though her statements had been perfectly innocent, Draco being a member of the male species had to go and add all his double entendres.
He lifted his quill to hastily write an apology when he noticed that she had written back.
No I wasn't. But I think I will now. Unfortunately I can't do it through this book but I will when I see you.
Draco chuckled. So typical. He could even imagine her face and the expressions as she furiously wrote this. He was lucky he wasn't face to face with her.
Fine. If it's a death by you then I'm sure it'll be a sweet one. I'll die happy.
Eeew. Merlin! He was getting sappy. This was ridiculous. One moment he's retorting wittily and the other he's a complete mush.
See Draco, he said to himself. Love has destroyed you.
Oh come on Draco! How does one beat that? Just man up and fight evenly. Sap doesn't suit you.
Hahaha. I thought so too.
So now I really have to run for the shower. Don't want Lavender to get in before me. Merlin knows she takes ages to bathe.
I'll see you.
After class. Don't forget.
I won't.
Bye.
Bye.
Draco let out a huge breath of air that had been caught in his throat. Phew. That was close. He really needed to reign in his emotions. Of course Hermione took it all as a joke, but he didn't want to get carried away.
Promising to himself that he wouldn't repeat any such flirting, he too went for a shower.
Hermione, meanwhile shut her book and hastily hid it where she usually did.
She was glad that it was a diary conversation and not a face to face one because she was pretty sure that nothing would have been able to hide the pink blush that had crept up her neck and face judging by how warm it had become.
She didn't know why she was reacting this way. It was only stupid, harmless flirting on Draco's part which usually she would have fought in her usual Hermione Granger manner.
But today she found herself enjoying it and yearning for more from him. Especially when he said the dying a happy man line, she almost swooned internally.
What was wrong with her? What had started happening to her around Draco these days? This was so new. They had been hanging out for a long time now, but these feelings had only started in the last few months.
Wait a minute. Feelings?
What feelings?
Friendly feelings.
But they were always there, she argued with herself. Besides, Ron and Harry never evoked such feelings. And Draco and Ron and Harry were her best friends. All in the same league. Right?
Right?
Hermione took a bit long to think of an answer for that.
Lately she had been thinking about Draco way more than her other two guy friends. And his presence brought happiness in amounts too intense for normality. Also,she had not meant to sound like some worried, nagging girlfriend when she had told Draco off for not replying to her all night. She hoped she didn't come across as one.
She had analysed it before and kept her thoughts and feelings on the back burner but this was happening to often to ignore now.
What was it that made her feelings for Draco Malfoy so special? Why was he so much more special?
There! She had admitted it that he was more special. She was really loathe to admit that since she had felt guilty about putting Draco on a pedestal higher than Harry and Ron. They had been her friend's way before Draco had. Also they hadn't made her life hell for the first 3 years at Hogwarts. How was it possible that she thought more about the person who had once been her enemy and said and done such hurtful things?
Sure he was her friend now but how did he become more than that?
How much more Hermione? She asked herself hesitantly, scared of her own answers.
She groaned in frustration. She mentally knew what she was looking at. She was a logical girl and she came to conclusions swiftly. Although there was nothing logical about this situation of hers, she still knew what it meant.
But was she ready to acknowledge it yet? There were so many things wrong with the whole thing. So many reasons why this shouldn't be happening.
Her head was splitting at the end of this internal battle. She decided to just leave it at that and go for her long overdue shower.
Damn! That Lavender had already usurped the bathroom! Damn her over analysing. She groaned and decided she better catch a few winks since she had to wait. Anyway she had barely slept the night before.
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Draco was ready for breakfast on time thanks to Hermione's owl. He still had 15 minutes before the great hall served the first meal of the day and he decided that if he had to put his plan in motion he had to start now since his evening would be occupied by Hermione.
He didn't want to blow her off and make her even more suspicious. She was not supposed to learn about her supposed detention at all. So he had to act all normal around her.
Luckily for him, he loved Potions and he always kept stock of the potions they made in class. In fact he and Hermione often had fun competitions on their own.
When he had learned that Hermione had made Polyjuice potion all on her own in the second year, his competitive side had won and he strived to make the perfect polyjuice. Of course it took him two tries, but the second batch was perfect. Draco had tried it out in Hermione's presence and he had turned into a complete carbon copy of Snape.
Needless to say, the addition of Snape's greasy hair to the potion had raised the inedibility quotient of it to infinity but Hermione couldn't stop laughing as Draco paraded around foolishly looking like their brooding Professor.
Since then they had been challenging each other with new potions. Luckily Draco had saved the remainder of Polyjuice and he at least had stock worth 13 hours of impersonation.
Not that he'd need so much but it was reassuring to know that he had enough. Now all he had to do was procure Hermione's hair, which would be easy since he always made fun of it by messing it up. He would find a way to get one strand at least.
Next he had to make sure that Hermione was occupied on Wednesday evening. Infact, he had to make sure that she wouldn't leave the Gryffindor common room or her dormitory at all.
Since no one knew that they were friends, this would be tricky. Even if one person knew, he would ask them to make sure she didn't leave her dorm. But now that he was alone, he had to somehow trick her.
Maybe he could put some sleeping drought in her drink at that time that would make sure she slept through the night. That way she would be completely out of the way.
Good! It was all panning out well.
He looked through his trunk and found his stash of polyjuice. He poured some into an ampoule, enough to last 3 hours. He didn't think Umbridge would keep her for longer than an hour but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Glad that he had a plan, he now made his way towards the great hall trying to ignore the ball of metal that was weighing his stomach down with fear and dread.
As he made his way towards the Slytherin table, he passed Umbridge who stopped him with her fake smile.
"Well good morning Mr. Malfoy. How are you this fine morning?" She asked in her gratingly sweet voice.
"I'm fine thank you, professor." Draco said carefully.
"Good. And you're going to be better tomorrow. A live demonstration for you to learn from. I'm sure you're father will be pleased to hear this." She said smiling sickeningly sweetly.
Draco gulped but smirked outwardly. "That's right professor."
"Good. I shall see you tomorrow then." She squeaked as she headed to the teacher's podium.
Bugger it all!
Draco stood right in the middle of the aisle between his table and the teacher's table, desperately trying to piece things together.
"Draco, mate? What's wrong? Don't you want to eat?" Blaise Zabini asked him from his seat.
Draco looked at Blaise dazedly "huh?" He said. "Yeah. Coming." He said as he took a seat next to his best mate Blaise.
"Are you okay mate?" Blaise asked showing unusual concern for a slytherin. "You were barely around after lunch yesterday."
"Umm yeah. I had squad duty and then I went flying." Draco said trying to think straight.
"Okay." Blaise replied chewing his eggs and abandoning the topic since he figured that Draco clearly wasn't in the mood for conservation.
Draco lost whatever little appetite he had had when he walked into the great hall.
Umbridge expected him to be there while she tortured Hermione! He was so stupid! Of course she would think he would be there. He was the head of the squad, he should have thought of this earlier. How could he forget this important link?
But the question was that how the hell was he supposed to be there when he was impersonating Hermione?
This was getting harder by the minute. How was he going to be at the same place as two people? There wasn't any way he could ignore Umbridge's indirect order without making her suspicious.
He had to think of something else.
"Draco? Draco?"
He heard his name being called out and turned to find that Blaise was looking at him.
"Sorry mate. Didn't sleep well." Draco faked.
"You better make a move on. We don't want to be late for the first class." Blaise said as he indicated towards the now half empty hall.
"You're right. Thanks." Draco said as he got up to leave.
Blaise Zabini was his only real friend in Slytherin. They had been friends since the first year. His family had shifted to England when he had joined Hogwarts and so they weren't much into the usual Pureblood mania that the other slytherins endorsed.
Even though Draco and Blaise were brought up with different ideologies, they hit it off on an intellectual level and bonded over Quidditch. Of course they had their debates over pureblood vs. not so purebloods but it wasn't a cause for concern.
Draco would tell him how he was brought up while Blaise told him about the relaxed atmosphere he grew up in Italy. But when his mother married a pureblood wizard from England, they had to shift.
Turned out that Blaise's stepfather was an old friend of Lucius Malfoy. Needless to say he was extremely pleased that Draco had befriended Blaise, although he didn't approve the relaxed attitude of his friend's new wife towards muggle borns.
So even though Crabbe and Goyle remained Draco's minions and so called friends, in truth they were only following Draco around like some lost puppies but Blaise was genuinely his friend.
They weren't extremely expressive of each other or anything but they provided silent companionship to each other. Draco suspected that his change in feelings towards Hermione in the third year when she had punched him was probably aided due to Blaise's opinion about muggle borns.
Even though at that time he had disagreed with Blaise, he had respected his opinions. And when Hermione came along and broke his nose, things probably fell into perspective.
Blaise would be really glad to know that Hermione is my friend now. Draco thought. He wished he could tell him about it but Hermione and he had promised that for the sake of each other's safety they wouldn't disclose this to even their closest friends.
And although Draco never felt guilty hiding this from Blaise, he did wish that he could share it with him. Hermione, on the other hand felt hugely guilty for keeping this from Harry and Ron. But she knew it was for the best. Harry had enough troubles with Voldemort as it is and she didn't need to add more to his list.
"Draco? You're not quite fine? Is something wrong?" Blaise asked him again. "Can I help?" He asked before Draco could reply.
Draco looked at Blaise for a minute. He could help. Maybe. But it would mean involving him. But there was no other choice.
"Blaise?" Draco turned to him and asked. "There umm.. Actually there is something I want to ask of you."
"Sure mate. What is it?" Blaise replied.
Draco was wondering how to best ask him what he wanted from his friend. "You see, I need you to do something for me. But only if you think it's okay for you. I don't want to force you or anything."
"What is it Draco? You know if it's bothering you so much I will do anything to help out." Blaise said kindly.
"I know. But it's kind of a secret. I mean I can only tell you what to do. But I can't give you any explanations. I'm sorry I know after you do that for me , I will owe you some answers but trust me, it's not in my hand. I can't tell you anything. So if you're okay with only doing as I say without asking any questions then I can tell you to help me." Draco said rambling away.
Blaise looked at his usually cool and comfortable friend. This wasn't the first time he was behaving fishy. In the past too he had been acting funny and upon asking he had been extremely vague about it. Not that Blaise was curious to find out what was happening. He knew that if Draco thought it was important to let him know then he would tell him for sure. Besides, he had observed that Draco was a lot happier and a lighter person ever since he had started noticing these changes. He had stopped calling his classmates names and he also rarely insulted the Gryffindors. As long as his mate was doing well, Blaise was happy.
"Look Draco, whatever it is its clearly troubling you. And if you feel the need to talk I'm always here. But if you don't, even then I'm here. So just get on with what I need to do. I promise I won't ask any questions however bizarre your request might be." Blaise answered.
Draco grinned at his best friend. He was really glad that Blaise was the way he was. Sometimes Draco wondered how in the world he ever got sorted into Slytherin. He wasn't curious to a fault neither was he manipulative and selfish and conniving.
"Thanks a lot mate. I'm really counting on you. Needless to say, this stays between us. No one can know." Draco said.
Blaise nodded his head.
"I want you to take some polyjuice and be me tomorrow evening." Draco said.
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"How's the kid?" Draco asked as he leaned against a tree bark, looking at Hermione place a blanket on the forest floor and putting a picnic basket on it.
She sighed and plonked herself cross legged on the blanket.
"Colin's fine. In fact Madam Pomfrey just gave him some pepper up potion and told him to have a good night's sleep." Hermione replied.
"That's good." Draco said. "You do realise what you did yesterday was totally reckless, don't you?"
"I know Draco. But what was I supposed to do? Colin and I were escaping together. He's just a kid; he wasn't very good at hiding. I couldn't leave him like that." Hermione defended herself.
"I know. I know. But what the hell is a kid doing in the DA anyway? Don't you have an age limit or something?" Draco queried.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "That boy idolises Harry like no tomorrow. If Harry starts wearing a skirt, you'll be sure Colin will wear one too. There's no way we could keep him out. Besides, he's a fast learner. If Umbridge hadn't been hexing his back, I bet he could've protected himself."
"Hmmm." Draco mused.
"So what is she planning now?" Hermione asked tentatively, plucking the grass from its roots.
"As in?" Draco asked.
"Well, this is Umbridge we are talking about. After what I did and said yesterday there is no way she's going to leave it at that." Hermione reasoned correctly. "So what's she got in store for me?"
Draco looked at her trying hard to meet her gaze. He usually was a good liar and he could be very convincing and if he wanted even Hermione wouldn't be able to make out that he was lying. But he never wanted to lie to her. But there was no way out now. He had to lie.
"Surprisingly enough she said she's going to remember this incident but do nothing about it for now." Draco said trying to sound as normal as he could. "She's going to try and bait you all. She wants to catch Potter as well if she can."
Draco could see Hermione's eyes flash with anger. "That toad!" she exclaimed. "In her dreams. There is no way i will let her get us."
"I know." Draco agreed. "That's why i'm not too worried." He said casually even though his stomach was tied in knots; and not the good kind of knots that he usually felt with Hermione around.
The truth was that he was scared. Petrified actually. He had never really endured the Cruciatus curse before but his father had definitely threatened him with it. He didn't know if Lucius would ever act on his threat but he wasn't going to call on that bluff anytime soon. He had seen quite a few unfortunate people bear the brunt of his father's anger at wand point and he wasn't looking forward to it.
But even though he was scared for himself and the pain that was going to be inflicted upon him, he was more scared to think about Hermione going through it. That's when he realised that, somehow he would bear it but he would never ever let her go thruogh it if he could help it.
"We can't get too callous though." Hermione said, always the voice of reason and preparedness. "We have to keep our guard on all the time."
"Don't worry Granger." Draco said as he snuggled next to her on the blanket. "I'll keep an extra eye on that vile woman."
"Thanks Draco." Hermione said snuggling into him a bit more very consciously.
She wondered if she shouldn't have closed in the distance. It felt so natural. And so nice.
Well, he wasn't moving away was he? He seemed all fine and comfortable then why should she move?
Her internal musings came to a stop as he leaned in right across her, very very close. She sucked in a deep breath and involuntarily closed her eyes.
Nothing happened as he moved back and Hermione opened one eye slowly. He was munching on a muffin that he had just retrieved from the basket across from her.
Hermione let out a huge gust of breath.
What was that? She asked herself.
What else had she expected? They had come here for a picnic; obviously Draco would be reaching out for food. Why had she thought otherwise? And what had she wanted to happen anyway?
This was getting ridiculous, she chided herself. The more she thought about it and spent time with Draco, the more she felt antsy about it all. In truth, she knew what she was actually looking for but that one moment of realisation or admittance however relieving it would feel would only open up another can of worms and things could only get ugly from there on.
She decided to do what a mature young adult in her place would have done.
Ignore it all.
She picked up a muffin too and they had a good, uninterrupted picnic unless Hagrid coming out to feed the thestrals could be counted.
Luckily Hermione had placed enchantments all over their spot and Hagrid usually was quite oblivious to everything anyway so didn't have anything to be worried about.
It was quite amusing for them to watch him feed beasts that they couldn't see. Draco was convinced that Hagrid had lost his marbles; to which Hermione swatted his arm playfully and chided him with a full blown explanation about the breeding and birth and mating and life and mythological history of thestrals and the reasons why they were invisible to people.
Merlin! That witch knew everything. They didn't call her a know it all for nothing.
"Blimey Hermione!" Draco groaned. "Why in the world you be reading up on thestrals?"
"What?" She retaliated. "Of course it's important knowledge. It's the 3rd chapter in our NEWTS level potions." She claimed as if that statement alone explained her madness.
"Hermione?" Draco asked her carefully as if she was mental and he was trying to be very patient with her. "What the bloody hell do thestrals even come in potions for? I can imagine if they were in care of magical creatures but even then, it's a 7th year subject. Why are you studying it in 5th year?"
Hermione just rolled her eyes. "Don't you know me at all?" She asked bored. "And in chapter 3 they use thestral scales in the invisibility potion, so that's why I read a little on them."
"A little?" Draco asked astounded.
He chuckled. "You're quite the cute one anyway." He said out of the blue.
Hermione blushed pink when he said that and the moment the words were out of his mouth, Draco stiffened and looked carefully at her, trying to gauge her reaction.
He saw her blush and wondered why in the world Hermione Granger would be blushing. It's almost as if no one had called her cute before.
He continued thinking in silence when he realised that probably none of her friends had called her cute before. Harry was usually so wound up with the evil around him and Ron was in competition with being oblivious with Hagrid. How was it that no one had noticed how cute she was? Especially when she had that intent concentrating look most times and when she was completely carefree, her face was totally smooth and smiley and she gave you complete attention whenever she was spoken too.
Her eyes would go up in her head while she was listing her things to do or things to remember or when she was analysing something. Even then, she would be listening to you with one ear. She never forgot anything and often it showed in the little considerate things she did, like give random gifts with meaning behind it.
How could she not be cute? She was freaking adorable in his opinion and he decided that he didn't care if he had said it. That's what he thought and he would make it a point to tell her that more often.
"What?" Draco asked. "It's not bad being cute."
Hermione laughed. "Of course not. It's just a funny word to hear from the mouth of the bad boy of Slytherin."
"Hey!" Draco said indignantly. "I can use unused words and ... Fine... I am bad boy slytherin." He admitted it with a sigh. "But only because I've to keep up to the image my dear father has created for me."
"That's true." She said keeping her head on his shoulder. "If they ever need to know the real Draco Malfoy, you send them right to me alright? I'll tell them what a softie you are."
"Hey!" Draco almost yelled. "I am not a softie!" He insisted.
Hermione laughed musically. "Oh you so are."
"Am not."
"Are."
"Am so not."
"I have proof!"
"Damnit Hermione. You're too smart for your own good." Draco gave in.
"That," she said as she gazed up at him lovingly "is the second thing you're right about today."
"Yeah?" Draco quirked his eyebrow. "What was the first?"
"You calling me cute of course." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Draco just shook his head and laughed, savouring these moments.
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Hi!
Hello? It's almost dinner time. What are you doing writing here?
I have a proposal.
Yes...?
First accept it.
Draco, how can I accept something without even knowing what it is?
Come on, I'm not going to make you do something crazy like burn a library or something.
Draco! How can you even think things like that?
Hahah. So promise me.
Fine! But only because I'm hungry and want to head down to the great hall.
Hah! That's where my proposition fits perfectly.
?
I propose, we skip dinner and head on our own to the kitchens for a private dinner of our own!
What? That's ridiculous!
Firstly, you agreed and promised so it's non negotiable. And secondly, think about it; we both are hungry and all the elves will be busy with preparing for the great hall. We can have a secret dinner!
Hmmm
?
When you put it that way...
Come on.. You know you want to...
Fine!
Great! So I'm heading to the kitchens now. You follow exactly 15 minutes later.
Okay.
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Draco sighed in relief as he shut his diary. He needed to get the sleeping drought in Hermione's drink somehow and having dinner together was the only way he could think of.
It was 6 o clock right now. Hopefully they would be done by 7 and Hermione would head to bed on account of sleepiness by 7.15, leaving Draco ample time to drink his potion along with Blaise.
Everything worked to plan and by 7 itself, Hermione was yawning in between bites of her strawberry and almond crumble.
"You look tired Hermione." Draco offered.
"Yeah. I don't know why though. I still had a lot of studying to do." Hermione said worried.
"Bollocks." Draco said. "You're already 2 years ahead. I think you can afford to sleep early one night."
"Hmmm?" Hermione said, barely being able to register. "I think you're right."
Draco stood up promptly. "Okay then. Let's get you to your dorm before you fall asleep then."
"Thanks Draco. This was nice." Hermione said with a sleepy smile.
Draco looked at her warmly, glad that he had had a nice evening with her before he would be tortured. The fact that he was doing this to save her from the pain gave him strength.
"I know. We'll do it again. But you need to get going." Draco said.
They said good bye and Draco followed him to the Gryffindor tower to make sure she got in. Luckily all the students were dining so no one saw them.
He relieved a sigh of relief as he headed to his own dorm where Blaise was waiting for him.
He handed him the ampoule with his own hair in it.
"Mate, you need to have this at 7.50 and head to Umbridge's office. Just behave like I normally would. And it should last around 3 hours." Draco explained.
Blaise nodded. "Draco I know I'm not supposed to ask you anything but if.. If you need any help after this .. I mean I don't know what you're going to do but if there's any danger I don't know who to call for help or where to look for you."
Draco felt a sudden rush of brotherly emotions for his friend. He was sure Blaise must have formulated twenty different scenarios in his head about what Draco was actually planning on doing today. And obviously being the paranoid one that he usually was, 19 of them would have involved some serious injuries.
Draco smiled. "Thanks a lot Blaise. But don't worry. It's nothing that serious. Nothing that a good night's sleep won't cure."
Blaise seemed satisfied at the answer and Draco left with his own vial of potion with Hermione's hair. He headed to the prefects toilet where he would get privacy. Also coming out of there as Hermione wouldn't seem suspicious.
At around 7.45 pm, he drank the potion. It wasn't as bad tasting as Hermione had made it out to be. Sure, it wasn't hot chocolate, but it wasn't unbearable. Maybe because it was her essence in it, it didn't taste too bad. Merlin! He was turning into a total sap.
The unpleasant feeling of squishing and being squeezed and shrunk took over and in less than half a minute, the uneasiness left him and he stood there feeling slightly strange.
Luckily he had used the potion once and he knew the feeling so he wasn't totally surprised. He looked at himself in the mirror. Although he had expected to see Hermione there, when he really did see himself look exactly like Hermione, he still was surprised.
Wow. He thought. This is super weird.
He glanced at his watch. 7.55 pm.
Pushing aside everything, he hurried out towards Umbridge's office not wanting to be late in case she got cruel about punctuality too.
"There you are Ms. Granger. Welcome to detention. I take it that Mr. Malfoy has told you the nature of this class tonight." Umbridge said as the rest of the squad snickered.
Draco looked over at Blaise, who was doing a decent job of standing as the aloof and disinterested person that he showed himself to be.
The only off thing he caught was the look of minor confusion in Blaise's eyes but that was only because he knew what he was thinking. Other than that, Blaise was doing a good job.
"So Ms. Granger, will you tell me why you were with that little boy in the corridors when I came there?" Umbridge asked sickly sweetly.
Draco swallowed a bit. He hadn't spoken yet but decided to wing it. Hell, there was no way out now anyway.
"As I said earlier, I was just strolling around and I happened to see poor Colin." Draco said, trying to sound as calm as he could.
"Oh I see." Umbridge said. "So you plan on going along with that story only then? Well well. Then we must make sure you speak no lies. But embossing it will not help will it? Your friend Mr. Potter wasn't much affected by it. So let's try something different shall we?"
Draco could see the confusion growing in Blaise's eyes. But at that point he was bracing himself for what was going to befall upon him. He didn't worry about Blaise. He trusted him.
"Last chance Ms. Granger. What are you up to?" Umbridge asked menacingly.
Draco stood silent, looking almost insolent. He didn't want to do or say anything that would raise a doubt.
"Don't say I didn't warn you mudblood." Umbridge spat out. "CRUCIO!"
Draco's body crumbled instantly and he was prone in less than a second. He hugged himself tightly and tried to form coherent thoughts but everything left his mind as his body was being assaulted from thousand different angles all over.
It was a pain that was unimaginable and inexplicable. His tissues were screaming for release. It seemed as if he wanted to burst out of his skin, it was so constricting. But his skin held tight, allowing hex after hex to burn and poke and prod simultaneously. He didn't know if his body would show any physical manifestation of this because at the moment he felt like he was being repeatedly stabbed again and again relentlessly.
He forgot who he was. Who he was impersonating and what his motives were. All that he could remember was the pain. The agony. The howling and the red that he could see in front of his eyes. After a point he noticed that the stabbing had stopped. He was writhing and moving less and stationary by now. But his body wanted out and he couldn't even open his eyes. It was as if he had almost forgotten to breathe. When the colour started changing from red to black in front of his eyes and he started losing consciousness that was remaining, he jerked and remembered to breathe and the blacking out feeling started to disappear.
Just as he was getting to acknowledge his position, he heard another faint Crucio resonate the room. He went rigid and the little progress he had made was all lost. Although this time it didn't feel as horrid as it did before, he felt himself losing consciousness much faster.
He didn't hear or feel anything after that. He didn't hear Umbridge praise herself for maintaining discipline and treating mudbloods the way they were supposed to. He didn't hear the members of the squad whisper amongst themselves about how the great Hermione Granger had finally been shown her place. He didn't hear them all walk out. He also didn't hear Blaise coming gingerly to him and checking for any visible signs of torture or pain. He never felt Blaise check his limbs for obvious injuries and didn't see the shocked expression on Blaise's face when his eyes fell on the Malfoy ring that was currently on Hermione Granger's finger.
The last thing he saw for a fraction of a second before he passed out completely was a totally horrified Blaise that was a splitting image of himself, looming over him, with no clue about what to do.
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Blaise was panicking like no tomorrow. He had no idea what to think much less do. Why was Hermione Granger wearing the Malfoy ring? He almost rolled his eyeballs for even thinking such a stupid question. He actually knew the truth right away but it seemed so absurd even in his head that he had to think of all possible scenarios.
Draco never let that ring out of his sight. Ever since he was a teenager, his father had bestowed the family ring upon him and he wore it with pride. There was no way anyone could pry the ring off his fingers unless they were dead and cold.
The tortured person in front of him wasn't Hermione Granger. It was Draco Malfoy. His best mate Draco. Blaise sat down, exhausted from all the revelations. His brow had broken in beads of sweat and he clamped his hands over his face, covering his eyes and hoping that when he did open them it would all vanish like a bad dream. But it didn't. He was still there, sitting as Draco and Draco was still sprawled on the floor limply as Hermione Granger.
Of all the possible things he had thought that Draco may be doing today at this hour, this was certainly a far cry from it. Not even in his vaguest of dreams would Blaise ever imagine Draco Malfoy becoming Hermione Granger and serving her punishment. Why in the world would Draco commit such an act? A completely selfless and self harming act? That wasn't Draco Malfoy's style. At least it wasn't the Draco he knew.
Blaise looked at his watch. It was only 8.45 pm. There was a long time till they changed back into their true selves. There was no way he could take Draco looking like Hermione to the Slytherin dungeons and there wasn't a chance he could leave him here.
He didn't know if he could do this alone. But what choice did he have? Who could he trust? Draco had trusted him as last resort. It wasn't because he didn't trust him, Blaise was sure about that. It just must have been a sensitively guarded secret and since he had no out, he would have to use Blaise's help. Even now, Blaise had to be careful. He couldn't just ask anyone to help him. If Draco wanted to keep this a secret then it was important Blaise keep it too.
He looked over at the body of Hermione Granger. And he thought deeply. If Draco had cared enough to save Hermione, it only meant that Hermione was important to him and vice versa. And the fact that Hermione herself wasn't here meant that Draco had prevented her from coming here. So they were close. And the only person he could think of who could help him was Granger.
He had to contact her. Soon. But he had to move Draco out of Umbridge's office first. He cast a feather light and a disillusionment charm and took hold of Draco and walked towards the Room of Requirement.
Draco was still unconscious when they reached the room. Blaise opened his mouth a bit and tipped his wand pouring some water in. Draco reflexively swallowed a bit but didn't open his eyes. Blaise put him on a bed the room had provided and fluffed up pillows to keep him comfortable.
Thinking that he was safe for the moment, Blaise left to go to his dorm to send Hermione a letter. He didn't know what Draco would think once he knew that Blaise had summoned Hermione; but at this point he didn't really care. If Draco thought Hermione was important enough to save then she had the right to know what had happened.
Blaise wrote a quick letter asking her to come to the Room as soon as she could. He didn't sign the letter. He was using Draco's owl. He thought that would be sign enough for her. He told the owl not to leave till either Hermione replied or left for the Room.
And then he returned to the Room and waited.
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Blaise woke up to the sound of the extremely heavy door opening. He looked at his watch. It was 5am.
He instinctively dimmed the lights and raised his wand, ready to hex anyone who was unfriendly.
He heard soft footsteps come across. "Draco?" A small, uncertain voice called out.
Blaise's eyes adjusted to the dark and he recognised Hermione Granger. He lit up the room again and saw her startle.
Her eyes scanned the room. They fell on Blaise first. She stood shocked, eyes wide and tightened her hand around her wand the moment their eyes met.
"Ummm please. Don't be afraid." Blaise pleaded.
Hermione relaxed just a bit. She knew how close Blaise and Draco were. But it was all very puzzling. She looked around, wondering what he was doing here. She saw the bed and a huddled body on it. She stood on her toes a bit and came a bit closer to the bed to see who it was.
She gasped and dropped her wand and all but ran towards the bed.
Frantically she pulled at his yet unconscious body, trying to wake him. Sobbing freely now, she tried everything to get him to wake up.
"Draco? Draco? What's wrong?" She asked. There were no physical injuries but he looked paler than ever and almost lifeless. It didn't take an experienced Healer to say something was wrong.
Her vision was completely blurred with the flow of tears. She didn't know what she was looking at. Only she could feel no response to her trying to get Draco to move.
She turned hysterically towards Blaise. "You you were here?" She said between her weeping. "What's wrong with him? Why won't he get up?"
"Um Granger ... Hermione .. I think you should calm down first..."
"Calm down?" She all but shrieked. "My best friend looks like the life has been drained from him and you have the nerve to tell me to calm down?" She hollered her eyes bloodshot and hair all over, her clothes stained wet.
Best friend? Draco and Granger were best friends? Now he had heard it all.
She looked scary as hell but Blaise gripped his wand tighter and took a deep breath. "Look Hermione..." He said with difficulty. "I asked you to come to help. Not to create more problems. So if you can't help him you may as well go away." He said kindly but very firmly.
Hermione sniffed a bit at hearing Blaise's words. She really wanted to help but how could she if she didn't know anything? Also the sight of Draco lying so lifeless out there, a thousand possibilities ran through her head, one worse than the other.
She went up to his bed and sat next to him, holding his hand. "What happened?" She asked softly, still looking at the hand she held.
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Blaise had left after he explained to Hermione what exactly had happened. He didn't elaborate the torture part but the anguish and pain in Hermione's eyes told him that she knew.
All the while, she wept and wept, touching him all over, shaking him, willing him to wake up. His pulse was fast but feeble and he seemed to be breathing fine. Once, he had even grunted and even moved. The colour was slowly but surely coming back to his skin.
They kept giving him small sips of water, which he unknowingly swallowed. After an hour, when it was evident that he was becoming better, Blaise suggested that he should leave.
"I think his body just shut down for some uninterrupted rest." He said. "I think we should continue to give him water and check his vitals and let him wake up on his own."
Hermione nodded feebly.
"I think I need to go back and take some more potion." He said hesitantly. "Umbridge will expect you to be absent today but not Draco. I think its best if you stay with him till he's better while I go about the day as Draco.I'll come here by noon to check on you both."
Hermione looked up at him impressed and thankful. "That's a good plan Blaise." She said softly. "Thank you. For everything." She added.
He nodded and started moving towards the door. He turned back and Hermione raised her head to look at him. He wanted to say something badly but words didn't escape him. Hermione sensed it and just nodded her head in clear understanding. He then turned around and left.
Now alone with Draco, Hermione's fresh wave of silent tears started again and she slid herself against Draco's slightly limp body and covered it in a full body to body hug.
Holding him close to her such that there wasn't even space for an ant to venture through, she wept as she tried to imagine the horrors his body must have gone through only for her. She rubbed his arms and back, wondering if he could feel it or whether it was soothing. But she didn't care; she went on gently massaging him hoping that it would help relieve the stiffness when he woke up.
She fell asleep herself after sometime, not leaving any air gap between their bodies, her hands clasped tightly against his; protectively placed across his heaving chest that showed sign of him breathing, his rhythmic breaths like a lullaby for her.
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Draco felt stiff. Very stiff. But he also felt something warm against his back. And his hands. He stretched his neck and groaned internally at the kink that straightened itself.
He looked down to find his hand intertwined within another delicate one, but almost holding it in a death grip. In fact, it felt like his entire body was being held together by the slighter and warmer body that was pressed flush against his back.
He couldn't think clearly but he needed to sit up. He slowly prised his hand away from the one he was holding. The body against him grunted and moved. It sounded so familiar he thought. He looked down at the hand and memories of the very hand came to him. This was Hermione. He tried getting up but this time not without waking Hermione.
Hermione realised that Draco was trying to move against her. She released the grip on his hand but didn't let go completely. She backed up so that a bit of space could be created between them enough for Draco to sit up.
He sat up with some difficulty and he groaned. Hermione promptly sat up straight and looked at Draco.
He looked livelier than he had yesterday. Although he had seen better days, Hermione couldn't be more relieved right now.
Draco made a parched sound unknowingly and Hermione immediately retrieved her wand and motioned for Draco to open his mouth. She filled it with water and he drank thirstily.
When he was done, he finally focussed on Hermione and understanding started dawning into his eyes. The moment she saw that he was better, she clung to him and started weeping again, mumbling incoherently in between about being an overachieving stupid pseudo Gryffindor. She mumbled many more things, most of which sounded angry but the effect was lost in her crying.
When she was finally done, she pulled back and looked at him. "Why?" She asked.
"What would you have done?" He asked back.
"So stupid. So dangerous and irresponsible." She mumbled.
"Hermione please." He croaked and looked at her, unable to say in words what he wanted to but his face, his eyes screaming words at her.
All sense left her that very moment and she couldn't take his boring eyes anymore. Cupping both her palms gently on his cheeks, she raised her head to meet his lips with her own.
His initial shock gave way to the action and she allowed him to tell her everything he wanted to but couldn't in the form of this kiss.
There were no thoughts as both of them just spoke volumes through their lips moving silently against each other's, not hungrily or passionately but soothingly like therapy. Like he was healing from it all.
There was no desire, no hunger nor passion or raging hormones amidst all of this Inspite of the feelings they both harboured for each other.
Only 2 friends who unconditionally and so wholly loved each other that when words were lost to them, they found this the only way to get across what they felt.
The only other way to describe it in one word would be : innocent.
It was one of the most innocent and purest moments of their friendship.
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okay! its finally done!
phew! flashback over!
what did u think?
i would really appreciate if you could let me know how it went..
i don't expect everyone who alerts to review but at least the one's who have favourited can leave a small review for this chapter; it will mean a lot..
i'm nervous about this chapter for two reasons; 1) the length, i dont want reader's to feel its too overloaded and lose interest. so please give me your inputs on that . and 2) the detailed manner in which this chapter was written. trust me, every new information was intended and i didnt want to do thisngs half-heartedly and so the in depth description mattered.
so let me know your thoughts on the chapter in general and also my worries about it!
hope u had a nice read!
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