Description: The war was won, and now the golden trio returned to school for their 7th year. The castle was reconstructed and ready to welcome its students. With Voldemort dead, shouldn't Hogwarts be safe? What happens when all the students return to school, and danger returns to Hogwarts? Who's causing it? Will there be a new hero? And can the dangers truly be stopped this time?
Chapter 2: Duties
Minutes ticked by as Hermione waited by the Entrance Hall's staircase for Malfoy and McGonagall to arrive. The castle was quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the downpour of rain and rumbles outside. She sat down onto one of the softly padded armchairs beside the castle's giant oak doors, and closed her eyes, resting her head against the stone wall. She let the sound of nature's torture help her escape from reality.
The raindrops echoed in rhythmic patterns like the feet of marching soldiers. The thunder rumbled every so often, and every fourteen seconds a crackle of lightning would strike. When Hermione was little, she remembered that her father always told her that with every second that passed after each lighting strike that was how many miles apart the dangerous electricity was from you. She never thought to study her father's theory, because he was always right about anything, so she pushed aside the thought to contradict her father's words. It was one of the biggest memories she had with her father. Whenever she was younger, she remembered, they would sit in the sunroom of their house under a thin blanket, eat tea biscuits, and watch the rainfall.
She missed her parents, dearly. It'd been three weeks since the last time she had seen them, and it broke her heart to not be at St. Mungo's to help with the restoration of her parents' memories. She wished that things had never got to that point, but their safety was her priority. She wanted them to be protected from the dangers of the Wizarding World. Now that the danger was gone, she was going to do whatever it took for her parents to be the Grangers they truly were, not Wendell and Monica Wilkins.
The clearing of someone's throat brought Hermione back to reality like the shot of a bullet, making her jump up so quickly that she almost collided with Professor Rittle who stood before her. He stood there with hands-on his arms crossed, brow furled in confusion. Professor Jonathon Rittle was the new professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he was Hermione's most favorite teacher by far who had ever taught the subject apart from Lupin.
He was a very young man, only twenty-four years old. Dark brown hair, slate-colored eyes, and a slender, muscular figure. As far as his life story went, he told the students that he was adopted when he was three years old by a witch who was his mother's best friend. His father recently died and his mother was still alive, but they'd lost contact eleven years ago. He had a goatee growing at the edge of his chin, and he was stroking it gently as he stared at Hermione.
"May I ask what you're doing on the main floor this time of night, Miss Granger? You do know what time it is, don't you?" He asked curiously.
"Yes, professor. I was asked to meet Profe-" Hermione stuttered.
"Ah good, you're here," a voice interrupted coming from around the corner, and Hermione sighed in relief when she saw that it was McGonagall. "I was hoping that you'd already been here Miss Granger. Professor Rittle, is there a problem?"
Professor Rittle looked between them both with a slightly puzzled look but shook his head. "I assume not. I was wondering what Miss Granger was doing out of her dormitory this time of night, but my question seems to be answered now that you are here."
Professor McGonagall nodded reassuringly. "Oh, yes Jon. Miss Granger was asked to meet me here along with Mr. Malfoy at ten. The pair were selected to be tonight's patrolmen. I told them to meet me here so I could give them their potions before they began."
Rittle nodded understandingly. "Very well then. I was just finishing my round through the castle. You have a good night, and Miss Granger if you need anything, I'm on call. Don't hesitate to come to my office." He gave them both a smile before he disappeared up the staircase to his room.
"Professor Rittle is such a charming man. I'm glad that we've finally found a qualifying candidate for the Dark Arts position," McGonagall said with a cheerful smile.
Hermione nodded. "Not only does he know what he's teaching, but the subject seems to come naturally to him."
"That it does. Now we must wait until Mr. Malfoy cares to join us..."
"What about me?" Asked Draco as he walked unexpectedly into the Entrance Hall. He wore a gray long-sleeved sweater and a pair of dark jeans.
"Good timing, Draco. Now, time for both of you to get to work. Here," McGonagall pulled two vials of a violet-colored potion from the pocket of her robes, and gave one to each of them, "is your energy potion. Remember, eight hours is the only amount of energy it's going to give you. One minute after the potion is up, you both will experience severe fatigue, so I advise you to immediately retreat to your dormitories. Are there any questions?"
Both of them shook their heads, and with a nod and a farewell goodnight, McGonagall left them alone. One after another they uncorked their vials and drank them in one gulp. Hermione sighed, licking the leftover potion off of her lips. Mm, it tasted of tangerines.
"So…" she hesitated. "Which side of the castle should we patrol first?"
"You can patrol wherever you want, but I'm patrolling alone. I have to spend enough time around you in class, there's no way I'm going to be spending my night doing the same," Draco huffed.
"Look Malfoy, I don't want to spend all night in your uninviting presence, but I'm not going to let your sod awful attitude get in the way of me becoming Head Girl, so suck it up and let's get this over with."
He laughed sarcastically. "You think that I'm going to listen to you? I don't take orders from anyone, especially not a filthy Mudblood."
Hermione stood there for a few seconds, hands on her hips, her eyes glowering at Malfoy. "You know what? You're right." She nodded. "You can do whatever you bloody wish. I'm wasting my time here." She tossed the empty potion vial in a near rubbish bin and stomped off to the staircase that would take her to the first floor.
Just as she had expected, the first floor was as silent as it was any other night. The only sound was a portrait of an old witch sitting in an armchair sound asleep with a purring cat on her lap. She opened the doors of the classrooms, taking a quick peek before closing the door and continuing her journey. She didn't know why the school was under such strict security. She could have understood before, but now? Could there still be someone posing a threat?
A couple of hours passed since Hermione last saw Malfoy, and she was beginning to wonder if he'd just went to his dorm. What a prat. If he had, maybe she would get extra credit for being the only one to patrol throughout the night. "Perhaps I should go to the Common Room and see if he is there," she said aloud as she walked up the staircase to the sixth floor.
Hermione got to the Seventh Year Wing and whispered the password to the portrait and stepped inside. She was surprised at what she saw at once in the morning. There sat her four friends: Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Luna in front of the Gryffindor fireplace.
They were all playing Exploding Snap. They had a small table full of bowls of popcorn and what appeared to be several bottles of empty butterbeer, but what had immediately caught her attention was the smell within the room. Alcohol. Firewhiskey, to be exact. It was something she could never mistake. When she used to visit Hagrid he would always be sipping on a glass. Were they out of their bloody minds? Now wasn't the time to confront them, especially if they were drunk, but she'd make sure to do so tomorrow.
She shook her head and turned to step out of the portrait when she heard Harry's voice call after her. "Hey Hermione, over here!" He called, the others joined in as well, calling.
"I'm sorry, I have to go. I'm patrolling tonight and I was just coming to see if Malfoy was in here. But I see that he's not, so I'll just have to see if I will catch up with him later."
"Malfoy, you have to patrol with Malfoy? I feel sorry for you," Ginny laughed, shaking her head.
She shrugged. "It could be worse I suppose. I'm basically patrolling alone since Merlin knows where he is."
"Well, let me walk with you until you find him then. I'll be back in a few minutes Gin, okay?" Harry stood up and almost fell backward onto the table before Luna caught his fall. They all started laughing once again and she just shook my head. They'd lost their marbles. Drinking on school grounds, how immature!
He regained his balance and leaned down to kiss Ginny goodbye, and she swore to Merlin that it was the longest, most disgusting, wettest kiss she'd ever seen. They resembled dogs lapping their tongues together, it was completely absurd. Finally, Harry and Hermione stumbled out of the portrait. He threw his arm around her shoulder and they walked -she half-carried him- down the hall.
Harry was completely wasted, there was no mistaking that. He wreaked of butter and cinnamon, and every few seconds he kept belching which didn't help the smell. Out of the four, Hermione knew the whiskey had to have been Ginny's idea. As far as she'd ever known, Harry, Ron, and especially Luna had never drunk in their lives. Ginny was the wild hair out of the lot.
"You guys were drinking Firewhiskey back there, weren't you?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer. "You have gone absolutely bonkers, Harry. How can you be drinking on school grounds? You know if McGonagall catches you, you'll be expelled for sure!"
Harry laughed, shaking his head. His spectacles fell to the bridge of his nose. "Expel, me? The Hero of Hogwarts? Very unlikely. I came with you I wanted to see how you've been doing. You rarely speak to Ron or me anymore."
Hermione shrugged and the continued to walk. "You guys are just always so busy with Ginny and Luna, so I try to just give you your space. I've been trying to get more studying in as well. McGonagall said that if I could get my classes done in time, I would be able to graduate by early and that Minister Shacklebolt would assure me a position in his office at the Ministry."
"Well that's amazing, Hermione. Hopefully, by next year, the three of us will be working there." She smiled at the thought and he hugged her closer to him. They continued their walk, and just as they got to the landing of the third floor Harry's grip became firmer. His fingers rubbed against her shoulder, and one by one she felt them starting to slip under the neck of her shirt.
She brushed his hand away with the side of her face because his caressing became uncomfortable. All of a sudden, Harry came to a stop in middle of the hallway, and she stopped in front of him, his eyes were glazed, but showed a small amount of fear she thought, but couldn't tell. The whiskey was hiding his emotions. "Harry, are you okay? Are you feeling sick?"
He stood there, staring at her, his green eyes were shining like emeralds. The next thing she knew, she was shoved against the wall. His hands gripped against both of her breasts, squeezing them hard and his mouth pressed hard against hers, biting at her lips and his tongue immediately demanded access.
What on earth was he doing?! "Harry, stop!" She squealed. Her hands pushed hard against his face, and his head only moved enough for him to attack her neck. His teeth bit hard against her flesh, and sucked so hard against it that it made her scream.
"Get off me Harry, STOP!" She yelled, her voice echoed throughout the hall. "You're drunk, get off me!"
"Come on Hermione, you look just so bloody good to be having to patrol the castle tonight. We're you trying to attract Malfoy too by the way you're dressed?" Hermione grasped the second of space he'd given her walk back away from him, but before she got far enough she tripped and fell hard back onto the floor, and Harry followed on top of her.
Regaining his strength, Harry straddled himself over her waist and grabbed her wrists, slamming them on each side of her head against the stone floor. She withered underneath him, trying to push him off, but it just aroused him more. "What in the hell are you doing, Harry? Stop, this isn't you! I'm your best friend!"
"Just because you're my best friend doesn't mean I'm not able to want or do anything with you. Look at you, your bloody gorgeous!" He sighed in delight. He held her hands above her head with one hand and then quickly hooked his fingers into the neck of her shirt, ripping it down to send the buttons of her thermal flying into different directions. His teeth clenched hard against his lips, and within seconds he attacked her breasts, sucking and biting the tender flesh. She cried tears streamed down her face as she tried to push him off. She kicked and wiggled, and finally, her screams turned into screams for help.
He let go of her hands long enough to hook his fingers inside the waist of her pants. Just before they were completely off, the echo of someone yelling "Stupify" echoed through the corridor and Harry flew twenty feet away, hitting hard against a stone wall. He fell unconscious.
A muffled cry choked in her throat, and she scurried up quickly, pulling up the pants that were just below her behind, and wrapped her arms over her exposed chest. No sooner did she stand up, she saw Malfoy running down the hall. No, this couldn't be. Malfoy of all people, the whole school would know.
"Granger, what the hell is going on here?" Malfoy stared at her with heavy eyes, and the next thing she knew he pulled off his sweater and pushed it over her head. He had a casual t-shirt underneath. "Put this on. Was he trying to shag you?" She couldn't speak, she could barely move. Her hands covered her mouth trying to silence her terrified cries while tears fled from her eyes.
"Are you an idiot?" She finally managed, shakily wiping away her tears. "He was trying to rape me. Do I seem like the type of person who would lay in the middle of a corridor to shag someone?" She looked down at her trembling hands than met Malfoy's eyes. The Mudblood as he always called her, she finally felt like one. She felt dirty, disgusting. She felt as if her blood had finally been tainted.
"We need to tell McGonagall what happened. She'll want you to stop patrolling for the night." These emotions were new to Malfoy. How could he care about the well being of a Mudblood? If his father knew what he'd just done, he would have been whipped until he bled, but he couldn't help it. There was no way he could watch something like that happen again, and not do anything about it.
He remembered that night in his room at the Malfoy Manor... that night when his father, wasted from too many shots at The Three Broomsticks. He brought a young girl, no younger than sixteen to their manor while his mother was away. He shagged the girl, abused her, even asked Dolohov to join in, and Draco had been forced to watch it all.
"We can't tell her, she'll s-s-suspend him!" Hermione cried. This was unusual behavior for Harry. He would have never done such a thing.
"And your worried what will happen to him after what he was trying to do to you? Are you that thick?" He growled, his silver eyes brewed a stormy gray.
"He's drunk. Harry and the others were drinking Firewhiskey in the Common Room. He would never do anything like that. His drink must have been tampered with." Or would he? She questioned herself.
"Just let me levitate him to the Common Room," she said weakly. She wasn't even confident with her own words. She wiped away the steady flow of tears that fell from her eyes and stood up from the floor, taking out her wand. "By morning he won't even remember what happened. One because he's drunk, and two because I'm pretty sure he will have a concussion."
"Bloody prick deserved it," Malfoy muttered. Hermione nodded slightly catching Malfoy's eye. That was the first time they had ever agreed on anything in the past seven years she'd known him. They walked over to Harry's unconscious body and she just shook her head. What was going through his head when all of this happened?
"Reparo," she quietly repaired his broken spectacles, and then chanted the levitating spell "Wingardium Leviosa." His body levitated into the air, with her wand held high, she guided them through the halls as Malfoy followed behind.
The mixed emotions that were going through Hermione's head were becoming overwhelming. She wouldn't be able to control them much longer. Her body shook as if she was cold. They reached the Common Room and she navigated his body until he rested on a couch. She stared at him as he rested peacefully. His expressions didn't show any sign of what had happened only a few minutes ago. She accioed a blanket from an armory next to the fireplace and laid it gently over his body, and before she could contemplate anything else, she turned and walked out the portrait to join Malfoy once again. Malfoy didn't say a word once she joined him, and she was relieved. She didn't want to talk about what had happened.. She wanted the night to be over with.
The silence was peaceful to Hermione, it gave her time to think about everything that was going on in her life. But for Malfoy, it was the complete opposite. The silence didn't feel comfortable. It felt as if the silence was crawling up his spine and causing chill bumps to cover his body. He felt as if the two of them were being watched, but there was no one in sight. Perhaps it was the former Death Eater senses. Always alert and ready to attack.
His thoughts went back to what he saw earlier with Potter and Granger, and it made him sick to his stomach. Why it mattered so much to him, especially considering that it'd happened to a Mudblood for crying out loud, but just the idea of something like that being done to a woman was disgusting, at least it was to him. Most might consider him evil, incapable of love, untrustworthy, but he wasn't as coldhearted as people thought he was.
His father told him the last time he saw him in Azkaban to never forget where he came from, that he was a Malfoy, a pureblood. The time he spent with his Aunt Andromeda over the summer had made him soft, vulnerable. Something that he'd tried to avoid.
A true Malfoy would never fall to such a low level to help or even defend a Mudblood. That had been engraved into his head since he was a young lad. He was getting tired of being judged because of his father's mistake. He needed to gain the respect of the Wizarding World so that he could succeed with his empire even if he had to stay underneath the shadows of such a vile name.
Finally, the time came for their night to end, and Hermione and Malfoy came to a stop in their Common Room, a few minutes before six. "I'm going to be taking my report to Professor McGonagall once I get up. I expect you to have turned yours in by then as well. I also want to ask of you, if you'll please not say anything about what happened tonight," said Hermione.
Malfoy shook his head. "First of all, don't tell me what I need to do, what I'm supposed to do, or suggest what you want me to do. I will do whatever I want and I'm going to report it. That's why we're patrolling. We're supposed to report what goes on throughout Hogwarts while everyone is asleep, and that's what I'm doing. You mean Hermione Granger wants to lie to the Headmistress? Never thought I'd see the day."
"But Malfoy, he was drunk. You know he would have never done something like that if he hadn't been under the influence," Hermione pressed.
"I don't know what Potter would or would not have done, I'm not his fucking mate. But according to you what happened is okay because it was accidental? What happens if he gets drunk again and does it to someone else? You know what? I'm going to tell McGonagall either way. I could care less about what happens to Potter prick."
"NO! Malfoy, please," Hermione begged, grabbing his arm to stop him, but he pushed her away, almost knocking her down.
"Do NOT EVER touch me, Granger, I'm warning you. You're not going to stop me from doing what I believe is right, so sod off!" Malfoy exclaimed, and with that, he stormed up the stairs to the boy's dormitories.
What was she going to do? Was she going to stick up for her friend, or was she going, to tell the truth?
.:: /Green Eyed Shadow\\ ::.