Hello! I'm back from being out of town and wanted to get this chapter out. Thank you to everyone who commented and also those who took time out of their day to read this story. I really hope you enjoy :)
The day had finally arrived.
Hermione could hardly believe it.
Tonight, she and Draco would sneak into the southern greenhouse before midnight and finally cast the incantation. She felt like her body was full of buzzing bees. She was jumpy but not in a bad way.
When she glanced across the Great Hall during breakfast and saw the look on Draco's face, she knew he was feeling the same.
Her day seemed to fly by but also drag on. It was strange. Ginny made it her mission to distract Hermione and Neville gave her awkward encouraging looks all day.
The only place that seemed help settle her nerves was the library, of course, and she headed straight there after her last class. That's where Draco had found her.
He set his bag down on the table and sat across from her, Marauders Map in hand.
"Did you know Professor Flitwick leaves the castle in the evenings? Or at least, he did last night," he said, gazing down at the map.
Hermione set her quill down and blew on the wet ink on her Charm's essay. "I think he's got a girlfriend in Hogsmeade."
Draco blinked in surprise. "Really?"
"Yes. At least that's the rumor," she said. "There's a running bet it's Rosmerta."
Draco looked as if his world had turned upside down. "But...they're both so...old."
"Old people fall in love too, you know."
"Yeah, but it's weird."
"You're weird."
Draco gave her an unamused look then turned his gaze back to the map. "Anyway, this map is a treasure trove of information."
"What did I tell you about causing trouble, Draco," she said, exasperated.
"I gave you my word I wouldn't cause trouble and I haven't," he said calmly. "But you can't expect me not to be curious. For instance, I know that you woke up very early this morning and spent some time in your common room then headed to the owlery."
Hermione's mouth dropped open. "Are you spying on me?"
"Spying is a very strong word, Granger," he said. "I'm not eavesdropping on you or anything sordid like that. I'm just looking at dots on a map."
He had a point but Hermione glared at him anyway.
"Are you telling me you never kept tabs on me?" he said, clearly astounded.
Harry had in 6th year but Hermione would never admit to that. And as far as her watching over a dot labeled Malfoy, it really hadn't crossed her mind. She wasn't sure if she was the strange one or if he was.
"No," she finally said.
"Oh, Merlin, you should've been sorted in Hufflepuff."
"Well, since every Hufflepuff I have ever met is sweet and loyal I'll go ahead and take that as a compliment, thank you very much," she said primly.
"You would," he said and his voice was almost affectionate. "Anyway, are you ready for tonight?"
"Yes," she said, trying to put on an air of confidence. She deflated immediately. "And no. I'm nervous."
"Me too," he said quietly. He glanced down at the map again. "Oh, look. Theo is getting quite cozy with Luna Lovegood in the Restricted Section—"
"Shut up!" Hermione gasped before snatching the map out of Draco's hands.
"Where?" she whispered fiercely. Her eyes scanned the Restricted Section but there was no one there.
Draco snorted a laugh and Hermione's eyes flashed to his.
"You prat!" she hissed, trying and failing to glare at him. It was too hard when she was trying not to laugh.
Draco plucked the map from her hands and folded it carefully back into his robes.
"I bet you're not nervous anymore," he said with a smirk.
They had agreed to meet near the entrance to the secret passageway to the southern greenhouse. It was a good thing Neville knew about passage, otherwise she and Draco would have had to risk leaving the castle walls and tromping about school grounds in the dark.
Hermione had strapped her muggle watch on her wrist and folded Harry's invisibility cloak into her bag before planting herself on the couch in front of the fire with Ginny and Neville.
Slowly, the common room began to empty until it was only the three of them left. At 11:15—with Ginny and Neville keeping watch of the entrances—Hermione donned on the invisibility cloak and slipped out of the common room.
Her heart was pounding as she picked her way down to the ground floor and headed to the most southern point of the castle. The entrance to the secret corridor was nestled inside a tiny nook next to a massive tapestry. Hermione had never even noticed the tapestry before—a lovely rendition of a medieval-style garden—until Neville had showed it to her earlier that week.
She made it to the tapestry without incident, slipping inside the nook and waited for Draco to arrive. After a few minutes, she saw the soft light of a wand illuminating the corridor, then Draco came into view, his white-blond hair glowing in the darkness. He was walking slowly, his nose buried in the map.
Suddenly, he stopped and looked up, his eyes squinting in the dim light.
"Hermione?" he whispered.
He craned his head inside the nook, his eyebrows furrowed. Hermione had never been so tempted to jump out and scare someone so much in her life! In hindsight, she should've cast a Silencio first. As such, she didn't trust Draco enough not to scream and wake up the entire castle so, with great disappointment and restraint, she shushed him and slid out from underneath the invisibility cloak.
He jumped anyway but, fortunately, kept quiet. His expression was still blank with shock as she grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him into the nook. As soon as he was in the cramped space, she cast a Silencio as a precaution.
"Granger, what the bloody hell!"
"Relax." She held up the cloak. "It's just an invisibility cloak."
His stunned expression shifted into a petulant one. "Let me guess. It's Potter's," he grumbled. "He has all the cool stuff."
She sighed loudly. "We don't have time to deal with your Harry-envy right now." Illuminating her wand, she began counting the rectangular stones on the wall in front of them.
"What?" he said, outraged. "I'm not envious—"
Hermione gave him a pointed look and Draco clamped his mouth shut. Mercifully, he stayed quiet as she focused on the five particular stones Neville had shown her. It was a simple combination of wand taps but she didn't want to mess it up.
Once she was done tapping, the wall slid open and she and Draco slipped inside the narrow, dark corridor. It smelled of wet stone and damp soil and it was so dark, they both had to brighten their Lumos to illuminate the corridor—even then, the darkness swallowed up their light.
"Well, this is creepy," Draco said in a hush as they moved through the darkness.
Hermione brightened the tip of her wand a little more, shivering in the chilly, stagnant air. Thankfully, the corridor was short and they reached the end quickly. With another round of wand taps, the wall slid open to a larger corridor.
Draco glanced down at the Marauders Map. "We're all clear."
Gingerly, they both stepped out into the corridor.
"Wait, this is..." She glanced around, recognizing the hallway and something in her chest twisted. "This is the place where I attacked you."
He nodded and gestured down to the end of corridor. "That's where the greenhouse is," he said, unaware of Hermione's sudden change in demeanor. "Come on."
"Draco, I..." She swallowed hard, unsure of what to say.
Draco was already half way down the corridor before he noticed she hadn't moved. He turned to look at her. "You okay?"
"I could've really hurt you that day," she said tremulously. "I could've done worse than that."
"But you didn't," he said. "We've already established you thought I was attacking you. And then there's the fact that..." His expression turned dark. "My aunt's presence made it worse."
"I know but..." The thought of that day—the thought of hurting him, especially knowing him now, caring about him, made her feel ill.
He smiled at her then, his eyes soft. "Are you...apologizing to me?"
"I guess I am. Not very well, I'm afraid."
"It's actually," his smile widened, "the worst."
Hermione gasped. "You prat!"
His laugh was bright and clear and he grinned even wider when she stomped past him.
"I thought you would be great at apologies," he called after her. "I mean, with you having one foot in Hufflepuff and all."
"You are incorrigible!"
"Incorrigible? Who even uses that word?"
She stopped at the greenhouse door and crossed her arms, glaring at him as he sauntered over to her. "It's a perfectly acceptable word."
"Yes, if you're eighty," he said. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I heard McGonagall say it the other day."
"Says the bloke who wears suits and trousers!"
"Hey, I wore those muggle jeans that one time!"
She quirked her head toward the greenhouse and tapped her foot impatiently. "Are we going to stand here and debate who's the most geriatric or are we going inside?"
"By all means," he said, grabbing the handle to the door that led to the greenhouse. He opened it and bowed dramatically.
She rolled her eyes and swept past him into the greenhouse.
The sharp smell of peppermint hit her like a slap to the face, stinging the back of her throat.
Draco made a noise next to her. "Merlin, I don't think I'll ever have another stuffy nose again."
Hermione glanced around. One large table was crowded with little, terracotta pots filled with tall, leafy peppermint plants. Hanging from the top of each plant were sprays of tiny, white flowers which glowed against the deep, mauve foliage.
"This is only half the purple peppermint we potted," she said.
"Yes, Slughorn has been busy brewing nonstop. I think he's replacing some of his older potions."
"That's probably wise. Those older potions can turn a little weird," she said. "It looks like they're almost at the evaporation stage."
"Have you ever seen them do that before?"
She turned to him. "No, I only read about it. Have you?"
He nodded. "My mother always has a few pots of them growing in the greenhouse."
Hermione broke into a teasing smile. "Of course you have a greenhouse."
"What? She likes to have fresh flowers year round." He shrugged. "Anyway, a few sprigs of peppermint are quite nice in a flower arrangement. They make the room smell good and when they evaporate, they kind of burst into this shimmering cloud of purples and lavenders."
"That sounds lovely," she said, smiling.
He gazed at her then, his eyes unbearably soft. "It is."
The light shifted and Hermione peered up at the glass ceiling. The full moon was halfway visible through the fast-moving clouds.
She tapped her watch with her wand and dozens of glowing lines burst forth from her watch. The lines wiggled toward each other until they formed the face of a clock around the size of a dinner plate.
Draco pulled out his own silver timepiece and studied it for a moment.
"It's accurate," he said. "Clever witch."
She rolled her eyes and glanced at the glowing clock. "We have ten minutes until midnight. We should get ready."
Sweeping her wand in a wide arc, she cast a Confundus charm. Another sweep and she cast a simple warding spell to warn them if anyone was close to the greenhouse. After that was done, they placed their notes onto one of the empty tables and went over the logistics one last time.
Hermione checked the clock and took a slow, deep breath. Draco fiddled with his wand and recited the incantation under his breath.
"It's almost time," he said, holding his hand out to her.
Hermione turned to him and pulled up the sleeve of her jumper as her heart pounded in her throat. Her arm trembled as she placed it in Draco's awaiting hand. The gentle warmth from his touch calmed her a little. Carefully, he turned her forearm to display her scar.
The both stared down at the jagged mudblood, the edges of the word still raw and raised.
Draco scowled down at it. "Such an ugly, vile word," he said, his voice harsh. "I can't believe I ever said it. And to you, no less." He caught her gaze then, his expression pained. "Hermione..." His voice broke and his next words died in his throat.
"I know, Draco," she said softly.
Nodding once, he looked down at her arm again cradled gently in his hand.
He raised his wand and looked to the clock. Only a few more seconds left and Hermione could scarcely breath. The second hand hit midnight and Draco placed the tip of wand on the M of the scar and began the incantation.
His words filled the silence as he carefully traced the letters with the glowing tip of his wand. Hermione didn't feel anything except for the slight tickling sensation of his wand dragging across her skin.
Then, her scar began to tingle as each letter slowly lit up like sparkling, golden fireflies. Hermione sucked in a surprised breath. Draco looked stunned too but he continued the incantation and the slow tracing of his wand.
When he was done with the incantation, he lifted his wand and they both stared down at her glimmering arm. Then, very slowly, the glittering pops of light melted away.
"Did it hurt?"
She looked up to meet his worried gaze and shook her head.
"Just tingled a little," she said. "Does it look different to you?"
He bent down to inspect her scar. "Not from what I can tell. It doesn't look worse though."
Hermione couldn't help the little stab of disappointment. She wasn't sure what she expected but she certainly expected something.
"Well, one day down, another six to go," she said, trying her best to keep her voice level.
Draco still held her arm, his eyes slowly taking in each feature of her face.
"Don't worry, Hermione. It'll work," he finally said.
She slipped her arm from his grasp and pulled her sleeve down, hoping he was right.