The Drawer Under The Mirror

20th December 1996

Hermione

The invitation lay open on the dressing table, unforgotten. Slughorn had invited Hermione, Ginny and Harry to his 'Annual Christmas Party', which promised to be attended to by many famous faces and successful witches and wizards. Sat in front of her mirror, Hermione brushed sleek-easy potion through her hair whilst Ginny lay on her bed talking about Blaise Zabini. "You are so lucky to be friends with him. He is BEAUTIFUL Mi', how to you study whilst that beauty of a human sits next to you? Merlin, I would walk through the Shrieking Shack just to talk to him. You have to introduce me properly this time Mi', you promised that you would" she sighed, turning her hair to catch Hermione's eyes in the mirror. Smirking at the redhead, she turned her attention back to her hair, fingering the curls in her hair until the natural frizz disappeared, leaving soft curls in their wake. "Yes Gin, I'll introduce you to him, although I can't see Ron being too happy about you flirting with 'the enemy'" she stated, giving a short laugh at the end of the sentence.

Ginny sat up on the bed and rolled her eyes at the Brunette, before jumping up and strutting over to the wardrobe on the other side of the large bedroom. Hermione sighed and turned in her chair to face Ginny, who was now pulling her dress and twirling around with it in front of the mirror. The dress was sleeveless, in a green and black laced pattern that ended just above her knees, the colours obviously chosen to attract a certain someone. Hermione's dress on the other hand, was a pale pink colour similar to her skin tone that cinched in slightly at the waist before spreading out into a pleated formation that was slightly shorted than Ginny's. Hanging the dress from the mirror, Ginny turned and walked over to Hermione, indicating for her to move before taking her place at the dressing table.

Standing behind her, Hermione pulled Ginny's hair from the plait updo that she had been wearing throughout the day and let the waved hair fall onto her shoulders, before clipping her fringe to the side with a butterfly clip that she had transfigured from a pin on her corkboard she had magically glued to the wall. After she was finished, she headed over to the wardrobe herself and picked out her dress before heading into her en-suite bathroom, leaving the door open so that she could chat to Ginny. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, Harry managed to secretly transfigure Ron's eyebrows this afternoon. Turned them a bright magenta for you. Payback from making us all vomit at breakfast all week" she sang, waiting as she heard running towards her from the other room.

Within seconds, Ginny had popped her head around the door and stared at Hermione with wide, unbelieving eyes. "You. Are. Kidding. Please tell me that you got a picture!" She shouted, before falling onto the floor in laughter. "No, unfortunately he saw his reflection in the bookcase before I'd gotten the chance. I should have been quicker to respond really" Hermione sighed, before undressing and slipping into her dress. Ginny stood up, face as red as beetroot from the laughing, before stepping forward to help Hermione with her zip. Hermione thanked her and wandered back into the bedroom, sitting on the bed and falling backwards. Another half an hour passed before Ginny finally announced she was ready, and pulled Hermione up. Slipping on a pair of pink kitten heels, she followed Ginny down the corridor where they were due to meet Harry, who was dressed in a maroon red shirt and tie with black trousers, shoes and a black cloak that was sizes too big for him. I'll have to take him shopping She thought, before smiling and linking arms with Harry's, Ginny taking his other side. "You both look lovely" he commented, before heading towards the main staircase. Slughorn had decided to throw his party in his office in the Dungeons, which was down five flights of stairs, which Ginny had complained about having to walk so far in her heels.

The room was nearly full to the brim when they arrived, with wizards from across the world, past students and other professors in attendance. Students were walking around the room dressed in white, who were passing out drinks and canapaes to guests. Grabbing three glasses of Gigglewater and handing them to Hermione and Ginny, Harry excused himself and went off to find Slughorn, whilst Ginny pulled Hermione over to one side of the room. "So, are you looking forward to Christmas? Mum is really excited that you're joining us this year. I know we're heading home tomorrow but I thought that me and you could go shopping? Ron is bringing Lavender over to meet mum and Dad and I do NOT want to be at home whilst she is there" Ginny said, obviously distracted as she whilst looking around the room, searching for something, or someone. "Yeah about that.." Hermioned started, before Ginny gripped her arm and pointed towards the entrance.

Blaise had just entered the room with the twins from Slytherin, greeting Harry and Slughorn who were stood close-by. Ginny bit her lip and grinned, before turning back to Hermione. "Sorry, what did you say Mi'?". "I'm going to stay here, I'm getting some extra tutoring from McGonagall, but I'll be there for Christmas Eve, I promise". Ginny gave her a skeptical look and crossed her arms, searching her eyes for any evidence of a lie, before shrugging her shoulders and smiling. "Okay, I believe you. But you have a promise to fulfil Mi'" She whispered, grinning, and pulled her towards the group stood at the entrance.

Draco – 30 minutes earlier

"Look, just because you didn't get invited to the Slug Club, doesn't mean I can't go and enjoy myself Malfoy. You have Crabbe and Goyle, go play with them" Blaise smirked, fastening his bowtie in the mirror. Draco was lying on his bed, one hand behind his head and the other using his wand to levitate balls of paper and fly them across the room towards Theo, who was batting them back using a potions textbook. Throwing his legs over the side of the bed, Draco sat up and send a dirty glare Blaises way. "Those two wouldn't know entertainment if it hit them in the face" Theo joked, before throwing an apple towards Draco, who caught it and took a large bite. "I can find better things to do. Besides, you're only going for the Weasley girl. Surprised you haven't defiled the lioness yet, or are you scared of Won-Won hexing you to death?" Draco teased, and took another bite of the apple before throwing it towards the metal bin in the corner of his room. Apparently being Head Boy gave the impression that the small amount of Slytherins in their year were welcome in his private dorm, and so he had found himself with Theo and Blaise in his room when he returned from the Library that afternoon.

Blaise rolled his eyes and turned towards the two boys, clicking his shoes together. "Just because I have the looks and talent to win over a Gryffindor, don't get too jealous Malfoy, it doesn't look good on you". Grabbing his dress cloak, he tipped his head and smirked before leaving the room. Theo sighed and stood from the Emerald Green sofa in the corner of the room, heading towards a cabinet on the other side of the room "Drink?" He asked, pulling open the door and grabbing a glass and bottle of Firewhiskey. Draco shook his head and stood from the bed. "I'm going to the library" he stated, heading towards the door that lead to the corridor, "don't drink it all" he said, letting the door shut loudly behind him.

Hermione – present time

"Dance Granger?". Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled a fake smile to her lips as she turned towards the intruder. Cormac stood in front of her, eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face, whilst holding out his hand, assuming that she would take it. She took a step backwards before rising onto her tiptoes and gazing around the room. There had to be an escape strategy, but where the hell can I go, she thought, before spotting Harry stood beside a curtain at the far end of the room. "Sorry, but as Head Girl I need to be alert at all times. No dancing for me tonight" she said quickly, before nodding politely and stepping past him and moving quickly towards Harry. Harry was stood in the background, trying to avoid the many people who just had to meet 'The Chosen One', swallowing his drink back as he watched Ginny flirt with Blaise. Amused, he chuckled as he noticed Hermione practically running towards him, trying to escape from Cormac. "He won't blood leave me alone Harry, it's not funny!" She whispered, punching him in the arm. "Okay, okay" Harry laughed, rubbing his arm as he feigned pain. Linking arms, they patrolled around the edge of the room, smiling politely and greetings people quickly as they continued walking. Harry had started talking about Cho. They were starting to talk again after the reveal of Umbridge using Veritaserum on her, and Harry had apologised for ignoring her and blaming her for revealing the DA. They were on their second round of the room when Filch burst into the party, dragging along Malfoy behind him. The room went silent as the music was cut off and everyone turned to watch the commotion. According to Filch, Malfoy had been caught wandering the halls after hours, on a night where he wasn't scheduled to be patrolling Hermione thought, and claimed he had been invited to the party, but hadn't been able to produce an invitation. "Alright, alright, I was gatecrashing, okay!?" Malfoy spat, as he turned and looked around the room. His silver eyes met Hermione's for a second, before Snape stepped in front and escorted him from the room.

There was no breath in her chest, and she felt as though she had been suspended in ice water. Her pulse slowed, and she could have sworn that she missed a beat. Sound became muffled, and Hermione realised that she was gripping her nails into her hands, drawing blood. She felt a shake on her arm and turned to see Harry watched her concerningly. She managed to smile and relaxed as the music started to play. "Are you alright 'Mione?" He whispered, holding her hand. Hermione nodded, and barely heard Harry as he excused himself and promised to be back soon. Clearing her mind, Hermione took the opportunity to speak to Slughorn. He had owled her earlier in the week to request her for tutoring the first and second years, offering extra credit, and she had promised herself that she would speak to him about accepting the offer as soon as possible. Time passed quickly during her conversation, as they had started discussing the possibility of extra potions lessons and using a private lab for practice. Scanning the room, Hermione noticed that most of the gusts had left or were getting ready to leave, except for a certain redhead and italian counterpart who seemed very cosy at the back of the room. Catching Ginny's attention, she motioned that she was leaving and smiled as she grinned back at her, sending her a thumbs up. Harry hadn't returned, so she grabbed his cloak and took it back to her dorms with her. She would take it to breakfast and hand it back to him then.

Draco

The corridors were eerily quiet as Draco ventured back towards the fifth floor private dorms. Even the portraits remained quiet, which was unusual; it was common to hear whispers and conversations from the witches and wizards that had attended Hogwarts through the years. No noises from Peeves, or even sight of a ghost. Turning onto the dorms corridor, his earlier conversation with Snape barrelled through his mind, forcing him to take a seat by one of the windows. The catacombs were cold, and he had been shoved up against the wall by his godfather. Snape gazed down at him, both hands gripping his forearms as Draco stared up into his pale face. "You are supposed to be working on the project, what on earth do you think you are doing wandering the halls like a stupid first year?"."I was looking for you! I'm not progressing, I need help! If I don't do this..if I don't, he'll kill her!" he cried, tears escaping from the corners of his eyes. Snape pulled him in and held him as he wept, for his mother, his freedom, his friends. He would lose everything if he failed the Dark Lord. "I can help you Draco, I promise, I'll help". Shaking his head, Draco left the hallway, wiping away the tears that had remained, and barrelled up to his door when he looked up and saw her.

Hermione was standing at her door, grabbing the handle, just staring into nothingness. He stood for five minutes at least, just watching her as she stared. He could see that she was working through something, the way she did in potions when she tried to discover whatever it was that Weasley had done wrong that day, eyebrows knotted together, like she did when she was completing her ancient runes homework in the library. Hermione Granger was complex. Standing in the hallway watching her felt perversive, but finding the energy to speak, or draw her from her thoughts was impossible. He noted how she bit her lip, and how her breathing had slowed to the point where he wondered whether she was even breathing at all. Her eyes were closed, she almost looked as though she'd been petrified. And he never wanted to see that again.

Deciding it was a good idea to move back to his room, Draco cleared his throat and moved forward heading towards his private dorm. The colour drained from Hermione's face as she heard him, and turned so quickly he was sure she'd gotten whiplash. He kept his head down, but watched her through the corner of his eye as he silently unlocked his door with a multitude of wand movements. A silent click could be heard and Draco pushed open the door, noting that it was covered in darkness; Theo must have left to go back to the dungeons.

Hermione copied Draco's movements, casting her own charms on the door, but again stood frozen, encountering the silence. He turned his head towards her, noting that she had again frozen, then moved to step into his room when she spoke. "Is everything okay?". Stepping backwards, he turned his gaze to her again and locked eyes, keeping a stone-cold expression on his face. "Leave it Granger, don't pretend that you care" he threw, looking her up and down with a hard glare. Her expression dropped as she recoiled and knotted her eyebrows together again before huffing and meeting his eyes again.

"A truce" she said, throwing her hand forward. He gave a questioning look and watched as she rolled her eyes at him. "I say we call a truce. You don't like me, and I'm not particularly fond of you either. But we are supposed to be a team. We are the Head Boy and Girl. Now you can either agree with me and make the next two years as easy as possible, or make everything worse and pretend that I don't exist. But the former is the better option, for everyone". Hermione folded her arms and tapped her foot on the stone floor, waiting for a response. As her words went through his head, he realised just how tired he was of all of the drama. Keeping her gaze, he raised his hand and took hers, giving a small shake. Electric shot through his arms, and by the expression he saw on his face, she had felt it too.

Letting go of her hand, he dropped his arm to his side and watched her. His heart was beating out of his chest. What was that. The tension in the air built as they both stood there, watching each other, waiting for the other to speak first. After a few moments, Draco realised that she wasn't going to speak and took the first step. "Truce" he responded. Giving a small smile, Hermione then turned away and left the hallway, closing the door quickly behind her. Bewildered, Draco remained frozen to the spot, watching the place where she had just been stood. Draco Malfoy had been raised to believe that the only people that he should concern himself with are pureblooded or powerful. Hermione Granger fit into neither of those categories, but he found himself perplexed, and wanting to know more.

5th January 1997

Hermione

The Christmas break had dragged on and on. The last few days at Hogwarts before Christmas had been extremely quiet, with most of the students returning home for the holidays. Hermione had undertaken extra training with McGonagall and Slughorn, practicing potion work and getting further ahead in the class schedule to ensure she was prepared for when the lessons and examinations finally arrived. Her parents had decided to go to Egypt for the holidays, so Hermione headed straight to The Burrow from the fireplace in her dorm. Ginny had dragged her along to Diagon Alley the moment that Ron had gone to meet Lavender, and they had spent the day shopping and grabbing lunch. Hermione had to beg Ginny to go to Flourish and Blotts; She had used up half of her spare parchment during her private lessons, and needed to restock all of her supplies. As a thank you, she let Ginny drag her into the Quidditch store, and found a chair in a corner where she could read one of her new books whilst she waited for Ginny to finish browsing. Forty minutes later, they were heading over to one of the Christmas stalls to grab a Hot Chocolate before heading home.

For the next few days, Hermione had to listen to Ron, Ginny and Harry talk about quidditch and how badly practice had been going since Fred and George had left in the previous year. She'd taken the opportunity to speak to Molly and start learning to cook. Baking with her mother was one of her favourite hobbies as a child, but over the years there hadn't been as many opportunities to continue. It was easy enough to buy cookbooks and make notes of recipes, but it wasn't the same as spending hours in the kitchen and pouring all of your hard work and effort into making a proper meal. Christmas morning was a busy affair, but Molly had put her to work as soon as she arrived on Christmas Eve, so they could all have a lie in the next morning.

Hermione had never been good with lie-ins. Waking before her alarm was something that came naturally, so she wasn't surprised when she looked out of the window on Christmas morning to find the sky still dark. The clock on her cabinet showed that it was 5.30am, and she could already hear the noises of pots and pans clanging together coming from the kitchen. Grabbing a book from her bedside cabinet and casting a quick lighting charm, Hermione was about to start reading when she noticed a small, black box at the end of her bed. Cocking her head, she moved the quilt and blankets from over her legs and crawled to the end of her bed, staring confusingly at the box. Sitting cross legged, she casted Aperecium, checking for traps or signs of tampering, and relaxed when nothing came back. The box was wrapped in a silver ribbon, which she undid slowly and carefully. Inside was a small piece of parchment folded into a square, which was blank, and a silver necklace with a small charm of an olive branch, green diamonds decorating the ends of the branches. Smiling at the charm, Hermione opened the note and was confused to find it blank. Casting the revealing charm again revealed nothing, leaving her perplexed. There were no indicators as to who or where this had come from, but the gesture warmed her heart. A loud snore came from Ginny, making Hermione jump, as she turned over in her sleep to face her, dribble escaping from her lip and dribbling down onto her chin. Chuckling under her breath, Hermione turned back towards the gift box and closed it as silently as possible, before slipping it underneath her pillow.

Hermione had chosen to return to Hogwarts with the rest of her friends on the Express, and took the opportunity to call a meeting with the prefects before directing Harry and Ginny to her carriage; Ron had been dragged off moments after stepping onto the Platform by Lavender. After settling into her seat next to Ginny, she rooted through her beaded bag to check that she had packed the small box, even though she had checked countless times before that moment. Focusing her attention on the fast-passing landscape, Hermione let the thought of the mysterious gift-giver and schoolwork leave her mind as Harry and Ginny started talking about the upcoming Quidditch tournament.

Draco

Voldemort dragged the tip of his wand along the shoulders of those sat at the dining table, Nagini slithering close-by on his left hand side. Draco swallowed the saliva that threatened to choke him and closed his eyes. He could feel the Dark Lord approaching him with every step that he took, and flicked his eyes to the corner of the room. Narcissa was inside a small metal cage that only reached three foot in height and width, forcing her to kneel down constantly, just how he wanted her; On her knees in submission to him. His eyes searched hers and she gave him a weak smile, willing him to stay strong.

Since Lucius had been put into prison, Narcissa had become his new pet. She had been locked up for weeks, forbidden to wash and fed scraps from the Dark Lord's plate. Her dark green dress flooded around her, torn and covered in grime from the floor. Specific instructions had been given that she was not to be removed until Draco had completed the task that was 'generously' given to him. Feeling a tingle of magic on his shoulder, Draco realised that all of the eyes in the room were now resting on him, waiting for his response to whatever Voldemort had asked. Hoping it was the correct response, he tipped his head in a 'yes' motion before turning towards his left shoulder, where a cold, think grey hand now rested.

"Good Dracoo" he hissed, "this is the last chance that I will give to your family. Now that your pathetic excuse for a father is home, he can take on your homely responsibilities, whilst you focus on the tasssk at hand". Cold eyes met grey as Voldemort twisted his mouth into a contorted grin, showing razorlike sharp teeth and a split tongue that slid across them, watching Draco as though he was his next meal. Shuddering, he nodded and returned his gaze to the table and the Dark Lord slid away towards the head of the table.

The rest of the meeting continued in silence, knives and forks scraping against plates as the guests ate their meals and drank. The meal concluded when Voldemort had finished, meaning that everyone else should finish too. He clicked his grey, bony fingers and slid his plate towards a house elf, who carried it across the room slowly before letting the food fall through the bars onto the floor of Narcissa's cage. Avoiding the amused glares from the head of the table and that of her own sister, Narcissa watched the scraps of lettuce and chicken bones fall at her knees. Draco send a dirty look towards Bellatrix, who was too busy laughing at his poor, who was now nibbling at the small amount of meat left on the chicken bone that she held in her hands. Waiting for the hall to empty, Draco remained in his seat until the last of the followers had left the room before quickly moving over towards his mother.

"It's okay mother, they're gone now, you're safe. Mother, look at me, please" He begged, tears forming in his eyes as he reached for her hand between the bars. His heart broke into a thousand pieces when she pulled her hands away and scrambled towards the back of the cage, out of his reach. Draco sighed and wiped his eyes, before looking back towards her. "I will save you Mother. I'll get you out of here, I promise."

"Now now, Draco. Plotting to flee the Dark Lord now, are we?" came the familiar drawl of his father. Draco stood and turned slowly on his heels; hands braced behind his back. Lucius Malfoy stood by the double doors that lead to the main hallway, a pained expression on his bruised face. "Not at all father. I wouldn't put her at risk, unlike yourself. Tell me, did you think of what your Lord would do to your wife before you failed him, or did you simply just not care." he growled; a darkened expression came over his face as he watched his father's fearless façade fall, replaced quickly by guilt.
Taking several steps forward, Draco found himself face to face with Lucius, keeping eye contact as his father's eyes shifted from Draco's gaze and the direction of Narcissa's cage. "You disgust me Father. I will make the Dark Lord proud, and once he wins this blasted war, I will take Mother far away from here. From you." He whispered, shoving past his father and apparating from the room.