Chapter Twenty-eight

Moment of truth

She ran off as soon as the class was over and, though Draco tried to catch up with her, he couldn't. He watched her going to another classroom and snorted with annoyance.

Draco saw her curly hair entering the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and grunted, feeling pissed off. He wouldn't see her again until lunchtime, but he wasn't going to give up. He had to get to talk to her that day, no matter what.

He retraced his steps to his next class, sitting down between Pansy and Blaise at the desk the three of them shared in Charms.

"What's with the long face?" Blaise asked.

Draco grumbled something under his breath and looked at his other friend, noticing her necklace.

"You were right" he whispered close to her ear.

Pansy raised an eyebrow and searched his worried gaze.

"About what?"

"About everything."

An amused smile appeared on her face.

"I always am... you should start listening to me, prat."

Draco gave her a grin.

"Maybe I will next time, but no promises."

Pansy looked around, making sure no one was listening to them besides Blaise, who was staring at them blankly.

"Is it true what that girl is saying?" she asked quietly.

Draco made a face, the whole bloody castle must have heard that stupid story.

"Only part of it. I tried to have sex with her but I couldn't, not because of what she says but because she wasn't... she wasn't Hermione" he admitted in a whisper.

Pansy put a hand over her heart in a dramatic gesture.

"I must remember this moment, I thought it'd never come" she murmured with a mocking voice.

McGonagall entered the classroom and all the students took their seats.

"I need that necklace back" Draco breathed, glancing at her again.

She sighed and unclasped it, leaving the rune on the table.

"I kept it so you could have it back. I knew that you'd regret it if you destroyed it."

He snorted slowly as he slipped it into one of his pockets.

"You think you're so wise, don't you?" he muttered.

McGonagall gave them a warning look and they both fell silent. For the rest of the morning, Draco couldn't stop thinking about Hermione, and the sad look on her face during Arithmancy class.

Draco ran towards the Great Hall as soon as the lesson was over, passing through the same corridor that Hermione would follow to get there.

He intercepted her before she went through the doors, next to Harry and Ron. Draco grabbed one of her wrists and, when she turned around with a shocked face, he took that opportunity to speak.

"Please, let me explain myself. I need to tell you."

Hermione frowned once she saw it was him, pulling away with a jerk.

"I'm not interested in anything you have to say" she answered grumpily.

"Hermione..." Draco started, but Harry and Ron stepped between them.

She pushed her friends aside and approached him, her eyes full of anger and pain.

"Haven't you hurt me enough? Bugger off with your new Hufflepuff friend and call me Granger. I'm warning you for the last time."

Without letting him say a word, she walked away with her two friends to sit at the Gryffindor table.

Draco clenched his fists and cursed under his breath. He needed to catch her when she was alone. As long as her friends were around, there was no way she would listen to him.

During the meal, Draco noticed Harry sitting next to Ginny. He even saw them exchange a kiss, and Draco frowned in anger. What about the love declaration to Hermione and the kiss? Had it been another one of Potter's jokes?

It looked exactly like that, and that only made him furious. What the hell was that four-eyed git thinking? That he could just go about teasing him and nothing would happen to him?

Unable to contain himself, Draco stood up and approached the Gryffindor table quietly, until he was behind Harry.

"Watch yourself at the next Quidditch match because I'm coming for you, you fucking liar" he whispered close to his ear.

Draco walked back to his table and, as he sat down, he could see Harry's green eyes fixed on him. They had an amused gleam, as if he had been caught in the act of mischief.

"Bloody Potter, he'll pay for this" Draco grunted.

"What's the matter?" asked Gregory, who was sitting at his side.

"When do we play against Gryffindor again?" Draco said.

"Next week, I think."

"Well, let the others know...we need to get Potter to bite the dust."

Gregory grinned wickedly.

"That will be a pleasure for our team, Draco."

Draco grinned back at him and looked down at his food, trying to forget what he'd just discovered. In a week he could get his revenge, it was best to forget about it for the time being.

Harry felt a shiver as he heard Draco's voice so close, but by the time he turned around, he had already moved away and was returning to his table.

"What did he say? I couldn't hear him" Ginny murmured, dead curious.

Hermione, Luna and Ron were also staring at him, waiting for his answer.

"It looks like he's on to me. He knows all that stuff about our break-up and my love for Hermione was a lie, and he's pissed" Harry replied, shrugging and glancing back to give Draco a mocking look.

He felt his grey eyes boring into him coldly and he looked back at his friends, snorting.

"He's going to try and get revenge during our next game against Slytherin... I'll have to be very careful" he commented calmly as he continued to eat.

"Did he threaten you?" Hermione asked, a little too loudly.

Harry put a finger on his lips, trying to calm her down.

"I can defend myself. You don't have to worry, it'll be fun to see what they try this time."

Hermione pursed her lips.

"He will hear me out, no one threatens my friends."

Ginny slipped an arm around her shoulders.

"Relax, we'll work this out together."

Hermione shook herself and stood up, feeling sad and angry.

"None of you understand! I need to stop thinking about him, and when you finally don't talk about it anymore, he comes and interferes in my life again, trying to annoy my friends. This whole thing sucks!" she shouted, shaking her head and walking out of the Great Hall with big steps, not looking back.

Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Why did he have to be in her life one way or another? That way, she'd never be able to forget him.

Luna sighed slowly.

"I'm going after her, you guys keep eating. Even if she doesn't say anything, Hermione's having a really hard time..." she said, getting to her feet.

Draco had seen Hermione almost running off with a very bad look on her face, so he decided to follow her.

He was just about to stand up when he saw Luna also going out of the Great Hall behind her friend. Draco closed his eyes and snorted, he wasn't going to stay calm if he didn't go after them to see what was wrong with Hermione.

"See you in the common room later" he warned his friends.

The violet-eyed mermaid was swimming near the surface of the lake. She had been furious for days, the human she had chosen months ago as her victim still hadn't removed the amulet that protected his mind from her influence. She needed to destroy that thing as soon as possible, she didn't want to wait any longer.

Suddenly, she felt something strange and pulled her head out of the water, looking around. She had just detected a heart full of pain, and at that moment the suffering of that human seemed to be greater than that of the prey she had chosen.

She swam silently towards the shore of the lake, searching for that heart. The mermaid put a hand to her lips when she discovered that it was a girl, walking towards the lake, and that she had not seen her because she was crying. Broken hearts harboured so much power, and hers seemed to have been recently shattered... her pain was fresh and her nostrils flared with pleasure.

The mermaid heard the screams of another human female, running towards the lake as if going after of the first one. She grimaced and made up her mind. She didn't like to enchant human females because it was more complicated... but, if she succeeded, that very afternoon she would be the new queen of all the merpeople in the lake.

She'd try with all her might, she was sure she could do it... and if not, she always had the option of continuing to stalk the human male she had discovered some time ago. The mermaid smiled wickedly and pulled half her body out of the lake, seeking the eyes of that human who was already only a few feet away from her, and had no idea what awaited her.

Draco strode through the corridors at a brisk pace, finding no sign of Hermione or her friend.

Where could they have gone?

She had told him a couple of times that, when she wanted to be alone, she liked to go to the area around the lake and sit in the shade of a tree to think. Draco redirected his steps towards the huge wooden doors to leave the castle, having a bad feeling.

He ran down the hill towards the huge lake with a great pressure in his chest. In the distance, Draco recognised them. They were at the edge of the lake, and Luna was tugging on Hermione's arm as she screamed.

Hermione pushed her blonde friend to the ground and continued walking towards the lake. Draco cursed between his teeth and continued running, it looked really bad.

"Hermione, what are you doing? Come back!" Luna shouted, seeing her friend going into the water.

Draco reached her and stopped, catching his breath.

"If this is another Potter prank, I swear I'll kill him" he said, panting.

"She's suddenly gone quiet and blank, stopped listening to me and started walking towards the water. Is this like what happened to you?" Luna asked with a worried face.

Draco's face paled, pulling his wand out of his pocket.

"Run! Find McGonagall or any professor and tell them that merpeople are attacking Hermione!"

Luna nodded and ran off towards the castle as fast as she could. Not being able to Apparate within the Hogwarts grounds had never bothered her before.

Draco untied the bracelet from his wrist and stepped into the lake, where Hermione was already with the water by her shoulders, still walking.

"Hermione! Don't go!" he shouted, but to no avail.

He saw the mermaid peek out and smile, disappearing and taking Hermione with her. Draco breathed in as much air as he could and dived after them.

He had to save her. After fighting in the war and all she had done to defeat the Dark Lord, Hermione couldn't die like that.