PART 2

Ch. 17- Dolores Umbridge

I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO HARRY POTTER

Dumbledore had barely commenced his speech when the small cough came from the women beside where he sat. She wore all bright pink and looked out of place among the professors.

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore, for that kind welcome." She began.

"Who's she?" Pansy asked in whispers. Draco leaned in closer to her.

"She works for the minister of magic. My father told me that she is here to keep a closer eye on Dumbledore." He told her. "I'm to stay on her good side." Draco rolled his eyes and Pansy smiled.

"She doesn't look like she has a bad side, that's a lot of pink." Pansy commented and the smile spread across Draco's face. They listened to her speech and Draco could see the astonishment coming from most students. He took a gander at Hermione's table; her back was to him, and she leaned across the table towards Harry. Draco's guess would have been that Hermione was explaining to him what Umbridge was doing here. She didn't need to guess; he knew she would be right.

"We'd better get started on that good side." He smiled at Pansy as Umbridge had walked towards their table. "Good evening Professor Umbridge, Draco Malfoy." He said holding out his hand to her. Her pudgy fingers wrapped around his.

"Ah yes. Lucious Malfoy's son. He told me to keep an eye out for you. Are you this year's prefect?" He nodded.

"Yes, and this is Pansy Parkinson. She's also a prefect this year." He told her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Professor."

"Yes, dear. I'm happy to have some support here at Hogwarts. The right sort of support." She said looking around the great hall. "Well, I will let you get back to finishing your supper. See you soon!" She spoke and they nodded her along. Pansy laughed the second she was out of ear shot.

"Really, she even smells pink." She laughed and Draco joined in.

"I think it's nearly time to walk the first years to the common room." Draco rolled his eyes and Pansy smirked.

"It won't be so bad." Pansy smirked. We have loaded more privileges this year." She told him. And he was looking forward to using up all of them. He wanted very badly to sneak off to the library now and do some research on the book, Rose had allowed him to bring. He sighed as everyone was dismissed and the first year Slytherin looked around confused.

"Come now!" he shouted. "First years don't dawdle!" he shouted at them, he and Pansy corralling them.

"Follow us! Keep up!" Pansy said.

"Gryffindor first years!" Hermione's voice sounded from across the hall. Draco forced himself to focus and steer the newcomers through the correct stairwell and down the dark corridor. He leaned in close to the wall and whispered the password he knew would work.

"Purity." He said and the first years gathered close and watched. When inside the common room, the first years filed in.

"Girls dormitories to the left and boys to the right." Pansy offered.

"Your things are in your rooms already. You'll find your names on the door and the new password written on the board." Draco motioned to the far wall. The first years were eager and filed out from the room. Pansy remained behind.

"I have to go see the girls, unless you need me." She asked eagerly but Draco was already shaking his head.

"I'm going to go walk the halls and be sure that no one was left behind." He laughed. Draco headed back outside. The corridor was deserted. He made his way back nearly to the Great Hall.

Draco walked to the edge of the corridor and ran into some third year Hufflepuff girls, followed closely behind by a single Slytherin girl only a year behind him. He didn't remember her name.

"No need to write me up, I'm on my way to bed." She said before Draco could speak.

"Like I care." He muttered, she didn't turn or stop as he walked past her.

"Like I asked." She said and Draco nearly laughed at the audacity of this girl. Before he could speak again, she was down the hall and probably inside the common room. He continued and only stopped when he came across Professor Snape, deep in conversation with Professor Dumbledore.

"We should continue this in my office Severus." Professor Dumbledore spoke softly, but Draco heard him as if he was right beside him. Snape looked back, angrily, but it quickly faded with the sight of him.

"Draco, why are you roaming the halls?" He asked him and Draco stepped farther into the light.

"Good evening professors, I was just making sure that there were no lost first years searching for the common room." Draco told them.

"Very good." Dumbledore spoke.

"Carry on." Professor Snape said to him and then he and Dumbledore walked away in a direction Draco had not been before. He made it nearly to the great hall when he turned back around. He stopped for a moment and thought about the book calling out to him from his pocket. He thought about the question the book continued to ask him.

What is mine, but only you can have?

"What is mine, but only you can have?" He whispered to himself again and again, as he slowly walked back towards his common room.

"Draco?" Her voice called out from close by and his heart thudded and skipped a beat. He had inadvertently run into Hermione, and he searched for where her voice had come from. She was leaned against a column on the closest steps of the staircase. He cleared his throat hoping words would not elude him. He had not thought he would find himself alone with her, in a deserted hallway at all this year, and certainly not their first night back.

"I didn't see you there." He spoke. Her hand reached up to her necklace and it took everything in him not to smile. "I'm sorry to interrupt." He turned on his heels, eager to keep his promise to her.

"You didn't." She said, but then her face reddened. "I'm waiting for Professor McGonagall." He said and he nodded, taking another step away from her. Hermione noticed. "Goodnight." She told him.

"Goodnight." He spoke. He took a few more steps.

"Wait." She called out, but her voice did not sound convincing. It was only the first day, why was this so difficult. Of course, he knew. It was because they had both professed their feelings before parting and now it was so awkward. What were they now? Nothing, he thought.

"Yes." He said, turning again.

"No, I'm sorry, it's none of my business." She said and turned back to her parchment.

"It's alright." He told her, giving up. She hesitated for a few seconds before speaking again.

"Did you say, 'What is mine, but only you can have?'" She asked and he looked embarrassed. He nodded. "Did you take up muggle stories this summer?" She asked and he looked back at her confounded.

"What do you mean?" He asked her, coming closer.

"It's from a story." She spoke. "It's a riddle." She told him and he waited.

"What happens in this story?" He asked and she scrunched her nose to think. He waited, watching her, and memorizing her features again.

"It's a version of Romeo and Juliet, I think. There is a woman who falls in love with a man, but their families keep them apart. When they meet in secret in a cottage outside of their town, the man knocks on the door and the woman asks him, what is mine, but only you can have?" She says and Draco waits.

"What does he answer?" Draco asked and Hermione looked at him for the first time, directly in his eyes. She stumbles over her words.

"The woman asks him this question to be sure it's him before opening the door. What is mine but only you can have it and he replies, your heart." She gulps and Draco's heart starts beating.

"Hermione, you are brilliant." Draco tells her excitedly, before his enthusiasm gets the better of him, he turns on his heels and heads towards his common room. He doesn't dare look back at her, he knows his will power was deteriorating. When he returns to the common room, it is empty. The chatter of the first years floating down towards him. He sits in the corner of the room and realizes the late hour. He would have to wake up early the next day, but he had to see if something came out of the information Hermione had given him. He opened the book and returned it to its normal size. The words appeared again, and he took a quill and wrote on the page below it.

Your heart.

At first, he looked upon the book defeated, but as the seconds ticked by, the words started to appear. Page upon pages of letters written by two people and Draco knew that he had found what they were looking for. Their first clue. He could not believe what he had done. He flipped through the pages and stopped towards the middle.

I would give my life to protect you. You don't have to run. Believe in me, trust in us and I am sure there is something we can do. I don't think I can do this without you.

The letter ended and Draco continued to the next page.

It's what best, it's what we need to do to keep what we hold most dear safe. When it is safe again, we will be together. You don't have to fear our time apart. My heart is and has always been yours.

Draco stopped reading. He felt as though he was intruding in on their private moments. In fact, that is what he was doing. Draco thought about Rose and how she must be hoping that this discovery would be made. This is what he needed to help her. This must be a book of love letters between Rose's mother and father. It was just a matter of learning his identity.

He closed the book, but curiosity gained the better of him. He opened it again and the riddle was back in place. He smiled, shrunk the book, and headed to his common room. The following day, during breakfast he would write Rose a letter. It would at least give her hope, that things would change soon.

Hermione sat at breakfast the following day going through her planner and jotting down a few notes. She had interacted with Draco the night before and it had left her more curious. It was different and she didn't know why. She took a chance while Harry and Ron hadn't come down yet and looked over at the Slytherin table. It was not difficult to find his light blonde hair. She watched him scribbling on a page furiously. Oblivious to those around him. Hermione looked back down reading her pages repeatedly. When Ron arrived, Harry was not with him.

"Where is he?" she asked but Ron shook his head.

"he said he'd meet us later. He's upset because people are giving him a hard time." He said eating. Hermione rolled her eyes. As if on cue the owls started to arrive. She watched as the owl swooped down and dropped the paper in front of her. She held out the payment and the owl took off with it. Before she looked back down, she looked back at the Slytherin table. Draco held his wand to the piece of parchment and then tied it to his own familiar owl. Their eyes met for a split second. She looked down at the paper and shook her head as she continued through.

"We have to show Harry." She told him.

"What does it say?" Ron says.

"Read it." She hands the paper over to Ron and waits impatiently as he reads through the article.

"Sturgis Podmore?" Ron asked and Hermione nodded. She took the paper from him and continued to read it. Harry joined them shortly after, with Ginny trailing behind him with a boy they did not recognize. As they filled Harry in on the events that occurred, Professor McGonagall made her way down the way with their new schedules. As Hermione read over her, she made notes in her agenda and encouraged the boys to do the same.

While Ron and Harry decided to do nothing, Hermione chose to go to the library while she could. She knew this year would be different. She walked inside and headed towards the back tables, away from everyone and started reading through her Transfiguration book. She was nearly done with her first two chapters when a ruckus occurred nearby.

"I'm so so-sorry." A terrified first year Hufflepuff was looking up at Draco. Draco's hand was outstretched, his wand calling back his things to him.

"Don't worry about it." He told him. The first-year boy smiled, but Draco did not return it. His head was already deep in concentration in the book. Hermione did not recognize the book's cover. Nor did she want to stare. She let her hair fall around her, creating a sort of curtain of protection from her curious eyes. She tried to concentrate on the third chapter of her book, but she could not. She exchanged it for history of magic and made notes as she read. An hour had passed, and Hermione had finally gotten into a groove of things, when she noticed that Draco had not moved. His eyebrows were scrunched together, and he held the book close to his face. Whenever someone would walk by, he would close the book ever so slightly and her curiosity peaked again. Just like last night, she wanted to speak to him, but she knew it was a bad idea. She gathered her things and left the library, without another look back.

Draco's eyes peeled away from the book and watched as Hermione left her seat and walked from the library. He had not noticed her there. He could easily get distracted in the mystery that was Rose's parents. Their relationship was so much like his and Hermione's, it could have been written by them. He read letter after letter and could not stop. If he had not spent the end of the summer getting prepared for his fifth year, he would fear failing all his exams already. As it was, he felt more prepared than ever. This mystery plagued him though. He had hoped would return his message immediately, but nothing came for him yet. It was getting harder and harder to comb through the book, teacher and students alike were always close by and as soon as he had gotten comfortable somewhere else, someone else would interrupt him. Finally, he went down by the lake, where he and Hermione used to study and be together. To his surprise, it was empty, and he leaned his back against the tree and opened the book and unlocked its contents. Draco could hear someone approaching and nearly screamed. He the noticed for the first time a small slit in the tree trunk. It was hollow and he pulled out his wand automatically. He attempted the undetectable extension charm, but it was advanced magic. Then and there he decided, weather it took him all year, he would create his own bunker. He needed to help Rose. No one approached him and so he sat back down, making notes onto the notebook he now carried. He flipped open the book again and unlocked it. His eyes fell upon the page, and he was entranced by its words once again.

You can't just ignore this. He's gone and you cannot pretend that you don't care. He's important to both you and me. Don't ignore this, please. I must know that at least he is safe. We just don't know with all that's happening. We just don't know with all that's gone wrong. You must find out. If I try to get more information, my brother will grow suspicious. He will not speak to me about it. Please.

I've cut all ties. I cannot go back. I'm sure he's fine. Deeper into that life than he suspected. It's not everyday you sign your life away to someone so dark.

Draco stared at the words, his mind flinging through the timeline. His father would have graduated by then. Who was left? Her brother must have been a death eater by then. Draco tapped his finger on the corner of the page. His mind contemplating the words. The sound of obnoxious laughter reached him, and he snapped the book shut. He turned away and headed back towards the library. He had this afternoon, before class began the following day to figure this out. A place where he could go and not be interrupted. It had to be protected from everyone else. It had to be safe to keep information he learned.

In the late afternoon, Draco sat with five books in front of him, each a different clue to what he wanted to accomplish. His cursive font, filling the parchment. He had found the extension charm and had managed in practice to exact his words and intentions with the motion of the wand. In another, he had found a disillusionment charm to hide it in plain sight. In the next book, he had managed to find the right barrier spell to protect it from prying eyes. Although he was unsure of what to expect when mixing such spells. Draco could not practice or put in place any of what he had worked on. He Had tried to make it back down to the lake, but others were nearby. It made him decide to change his placement for this. During dinner, he received a message from an unknown owl. As it was not morning, he did not know what to expect from this message. Draco opened the envelope and read through it quickly.

I will not be with my family. Do not write me again. We will speak soon.

Thank you.

R