"Is Pansy organizing a party? In the Slytherin Dorm? The world has gone mad." Ron mumbled as they walked into the Great Hall.
"And we are invited? Are you sure, Harry?" Hermione asked. Pansy could not stand them but right now Hermione was on her blacklist. She felt like prey in the snake's lair.
"That's what Blaise told me." Harry said nonchalantly. In fact, he was excited about this party, it would be a perfect opportunity to find out what was going on with Malfoy and what he was up to, plus his idiot friends.
"Did she go crazy?" Asked Ron. "We can't stand each other. Hermione slapped her the last time she spoke to her." Hermione smiled, still quite proud of her achievement.
Harry looked away to see that they were the only ones coming down the stairs at that moment and whispered to his friends. "It's a perfect opportunity," he said, grinning. "To prove Malfoy is one of them."
Ron and Hermione struggled not to roll their eyes and throw their hands in the air, giving up, which proved extremely difficult for both. Harry, irritated by the indifference of his friends, who made him feel increasingly foolish, began to speed up, leaving them behind. Hermione and Ron followed him calling attention.
"Harry… please wait," said Hermione, which surprisingly caused her best friend to stop the confident walk and face her with a look that was supposed to be threatening if Hermione had not known him since she was eleven. "Count with us. Do you have any plans? " Hermione asked and immediately got a giant smile from Harry.
Hermione had successfully avoided Draco Malfoy over the last week but unfortunately, her luck would change tonight when she had patrolled with him and they still had to discuss Snape's potion. She still considered saying she was sick and asking someone to replace her tonight, but that would make the arrogant git think he had control and power over her. Hermione had tried everything to forget her last conversation with him but even when she thought she had already forgotten; she was invaded by that memory at the most inappropriate moments. In the middle of classes, walking to classrooms, before falling asleep, upon waking up. Almost all day and she hated herself for it. There had to be a way to forget this… thing that happened. She needed to forget the inappropriate thought that visited her from time to time, that she thought Draco really was going to kiss her, and even worse, she did not move, she did not want to stop what might happen. A part of her wanted him at that moment and that was unforgivable. She did not recognize herself right now and could not tell anyone about this, probably her friends would think she was under the effect of some love potion.
She tried to make excuses to justify her behavior and could only find one: she was a teenage girl of seventeen and could not trust the hormones that made her feel and desire things that were not typical of her. Maybe she could talk to her mother, omitting Malfoy's name of course, but her mother would want to know who the boy was, and it would be an endless headache. For a moment she wished there was some new adventure with Harry and Ron so that she could disappear from the mess she created.
"Hi, Luna." Harry greeted the young witch with some funny glasses sat at their table during breakfast.
"Hi, Harry ... Hello everyone. Did you hear about Pansy's party?" she asked, looking curiously at Hermione.
"Bloody nuts, that's all I say." replied Ron, his mouth full as usual.
"Maybe it's some kind of trap against us, Harry." replied Hermione still a little afraid.
"Maybe, but we can handle them." replied confidently. Hermione liked to see her best friend confident in himself, which did not always happen since his ideas and suspicions were always being overthrown by others.
If Hermione had not been looking at Harry, she might have missed the shy smile that formed on his face when Ginny sat next to Luna.
"Are you talking about the snake party?" said Ginny.
"I heard that even the Hufflepuffs were invited."
"Must be a first time in Hogwarts history." Ron said still knitting a slice of bacon.
"In fact, they have a lot of parties ... they just don't invite the other houses." said Luna, as if it were a curious fact.
"Oh, that's ..." Ginny started, but quickly changed the subject. "Harry, isn't training in a few minutes?"
"Oh shit, it's true. Ron, let's go." Harry stood up abruptly.
Hermione intended to go to the library, read some chapters ahead but curiously it was a beautiful day after last night's storm. Maybe she could read a book on the bench while she saw her friends shouting names that Hermione did not understand and did not care to apprehend.
"Great, I'll go with you too." Hermione said getting up and packing her books.
"Maybe you would join us Hermione." Ginny suggested hopefully.
"Yea, be a little adventurous Hermione." agreed Ron wiping his mouth.
"No thank you. I will be fine with my book." She replied a little panicked because she knew this was her friends' dream and it was a matter of time before they were forced to ride a broom with them.
As they left, Hermione could not resist glancing at the Slytherin table, which chatted and ate happily. Malfoy was not there, which made Hermione more relaxed, but at the same time, she could not delay the inevitable and at night she would be with him.
The sixth floor of Hogwarts was deserted except for Hermione's slow steps. She slowly made sure all the classrooms were locked and there were no midnight walks through the castle. Normally she had finished her rounds forty minutes ago, but today she wanted to enjoy the first night of October without rain or without the freezing breeze in the hallways. On the first day of the rounds, they had decided to split the floors between them so that they could be close to each other as little as possible. Of course, if Professor Minerva discovered this method, she would punish them and give a speech about the importance of unity between the houses, but both made sure they were not caught. Still, they usually found themselves on the same floor and continued the next together in deep silence. Seeing that Malfoy was not on the same floor as her, Hermione decided to climb up to the astronomy tower for just a few minutes and feel the wind against her. The stars were alive and somewhere in the castle professor, Trelawney was cracking the code of the universe or whatever she calls it.
Hermione never believed in such things, hidden messages, a fate written in the stars. She believed in logic, in making rational decisions, and it was impossible to predict the future, but we could calculate various scenarios. That is why it has always been easy to drop divination classes, a lot of bullshit, and a waste of time when you could be studying advanced ruins. But as she stared into the great dark sky, brushed with bright patches and the wind striking her face and pulling her hair back, Hermione felt empty for not believing anything that was not logical or rational. As far as she knew, the war was not rational, it was random and cruel and she did not know how to navigate a world without logic, without any support.
Hermione did not need to turn to know he was there with her. The wind dragged Malfoy's colony and its scent hung over the air, intoxicating her, suddenly her head turned to mist.
"Have you finished your rounds, Malfoy?" Hermione asked bitterly, without turning back.
"Yes, unlike you I didn't spend all night on the same floor."
"Oh, sod off. The sixth floor is a giant one and we both know you don't check if it's all closed." Hermione replied furiously, but still did not turn around. She did not want to look at him, not after last night. But she could feel him slowly approaching her until he leaned against the pillar beside her. Hermione dared to glance at him.
He looked better today, the dark circles under his eyes not so creased, and there was even some color on his face, but his usual arrogant sneer was still there. Unlike Hermione, he was not wearing his robes, just wearing black pants and a slightly creased white shirt, his tie looses instead of tight around his collar. He seemed single-minded and careless, somewhat unusual for his aristocratic attitude, even his blond hair looked unkempt.
"So, your girlfriend is having a party, or is it just a plan to catch us off guard?" Hermione turned completely to Malfoy and prayed that he would not notice that she shivered slightly. It was just the freaking cold.
"Pansy is in a festive mood, let's say." Malfoy said uninterested looking away from her.
"I bet. If she tries anything against any of us, I swear ..." Hermione started defiantly to him.
"What, Granger? What are you going to do?" Malfoy interrupted her and looked her in the eyes for the first time tonight. Always the same tumultuous eyes.
"Something irresponsible." Hermione tried to mimic Malfoy's smirk as best she could.
"Is that so?" Malfoy asked approaching Hermione "I don't think you have it on you. Not even to your worse enemies. You are just a little know-it-witch."
"I intimidate you Malfoy? What you think about a muddleblood be the best in your class?" Hermione pointed out, trying to distance herself a little from him. "I suppose I wasn't foreseen in your stupid pureblood book."
For a moment, Malfoy's grey eyes widened, filled with anger and something else Hermione could not put a finger on it. He closes the tiny gap between them she practically felt his hot breath on her face. She never noticed how much taller he was than her. No doubt Malfoy could be a dangerous man if he uses all the fury in his eyes, yet Hermione was not afraid of him, never had. She hated him deeply, for all that he told her and what made her feel, for making her feel that she did not deserve to be at Hogwarts or have magic.
Malfoy's mischievous smirk faded as he noticed the barely visible scar on her neck that his father had left on her last year in the ministry. He knew who did this and unexpectedly his eyes darkened but not because of her or because he hated her. For some reason, she felt the need to assure him, even if his father was a murderer and a cruel man. Even if this was Draco Malfoy a possible death eater that abominates her.
"A little dispute. I barely felt it." She lied.
Malfoy looked into her eyes and the darkness and anger disappeared softly. Hermione was taken by surprise when he touched her neck, precisely on the scar. Hermione was overtaken by how gentle his hands, not rough or tough just like she always imagines him to be. Unconsciously she closed her eyes and felt the warmth emanating to her own body by this touch. She felt silly with her eyes closed like this and the only logical excuse she could come up with was that...She was going bloody nuts, that is what. She secretly hoped this moment would last if she kept her eyes closed, maybe she could see more of Draco's than what he appeared to be.
She opened her eyes, giving up that fantasy she was holding on to and Draco was looking straight at her, not taking his hand from her neck, and gently began to touch the scar with his thumb, almost marveling at what he was doing. Almost astound by her, by her lightly tanned skin. Hermione could not help but think he was touching something disgusting. A Muddleblood.
"What are you doing Draco?" Hermione whispered, not trusting her own voice or body.
"I'm sorry." Draco muttered fixing his gaze on Hermione's scar. "For this. For everything." He said softly as if it were a secret.
Hermione could not answer in shock. Draco Malfoy was apologizing for everything he has done to her for the past seven years. The boy that bullied her and made her feel awful was touching her gently and apologizing. Maybe someone put something on her drink, and she was having crazy dreams with the Slytherin boy.
"I ... I don't know what I think, but I no longer believe what I used to believe." Draco said this time looking at her.
"What has changed then?" Hermione gained the courage to speak. Her voice sounded fragile and for a moment she thought she was unable to speak.
Before Draco could respond they were surprised by a small cry of a bird that watching them intently, like a faithful messenger. Hermione recognized it immediately from what Harry had told her when he visited Dumbledore's office, that was his scarlet phoenix. It was indeed a majestic bird and one would expect a sorcerer like Dumbledore to possess something like this. Oh shit. Dumbledore bird.
"Shit." Hermione muttered lowering her head with the hope that by doing so she would become invisible to the bird. "It's Dumbledore's bird."
Draco took a few steps back, putting some distance between them. Fawkes kept his gaze on the two sorcerers and turned his head slightly to the side, watching them as if they were rare species.
"That thing speaks?" Asked Draco, suspicious of the bird.
"I don't know ..." Hermione said. Finally, the bird decided he had seen enough and flew away, without a care in a word, leaving two scared and pissed-off wizards behind.
Clearly, Malfoy realized what being seen by Dumbledore's bird implied. That stupid creature was going to tell the Old Bat that he saw him with Granger, it's not as if they were seen arguing like usual and that only raised more questions. Draco was sickened by the possibility that Dumbledore knew something about him, something private, that caught him off guard doing something that he did not even understand. He felt exposed and wanted nothing more than to catch that damn bird and kill it if necessary. Hermione was as shocked as he was because she had not moved yet and was biting one of her nails almost furiously. Probably thinking of something plan in that big head. he thought.
"I have to go." Draco said shooting out of the tower door.
"Bye…" Hermione answered, but Draco was already gone slamming the Tower door furiously.
Fuck. Soon she would receive a letter from Dumbledore, she was sure.