Sign Your Name Across My Heart
Chapter Three: Expiscor Infirmitas
Proclaimer: Yes, I still own this story. No, I still don't own Harry Potter & Co. Yes, my name is Tanith Devika. Any more questions? :P
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Draco stayed in the Common Room after Hermione ran crying to her room. He could hear her still crying for the next hour or so, all the while he stared into the fire in front of him. Finally, her sobs started to slow down, and she seemed to finally be falling asleep.
He sighed. He had never known her to be wrong about anything, so when he found something that she was wrong about, he jumped on the opportunity to rub it in her face. Then she just kept making mistakes, forgetting things.. But forgetting a password must have been horrible for her.
He knew from personal experience that showing weakness could be potentially fatal. Thankfully, the one time his father caught him making a mistake, he was only warned, and given a small taste of Crucio. Ever since then, Draco always remembered to be extra careful around the Dark Lord, Lucius, and the other Death Eaters.
Then one day.. he had had enough. His father had just finished beating him for supposedly 'disrespecting' him, and Draco needed to leave the manor. He was still too young to apparate legally, but every dark pureblood family knew the loophole charm, so Draco had been apparating for about a year by then. He Apparated straight to Snape's small mansion and asked for help. At the time, he didn't know of his obedience to Dumbledore, so he was carefully guarded, and only asked for healing potions.
However, Snape slipped a bit of Veritaserum into his potion (he fixed it so it would still heal him, while also forcing him to speak only the truth).
"Tell me, Draco.. What do you think of your father?" Snape had asked when he saw the potion's effects taking place.
"I hate him, with all my heart and soul," he had replied without thinking. His eyes had widened when he said it, and he cringed, preparing himself for death, or at least a Crucio or two.
"And what of our Lord, what do you think of him?" Snape had continued, not bothered that Draco had just disrespected his own father.
"I wish he had died when his Avada backfired on Harry," he had again replied truthfully.
"How loyal are you to the Dark Lord and his followers?"
"Not at all," he had whispered, fear apparent in his voice.
"Good. Then I must tell you a secret.."
Ever since then, Draco had been a spy, like Snape. Draco shuddered as yet another memory crept into his head. Initiation would be coming up soon, and he still hadn't found a way out of killing Granger.
He didn't like Granger, that was for sure. But he didn't want to kill her either. He didn't want to be a Death Eater. He didn't want to be a spy. He didn't want to live this goddamn LIE he had been living. He hated it.
He heard the faint sound of Granger stirring in her sleep. A pang of fierce jealousy, indignation, shot through him, and his eyes narrowed as he stared into the fire. He kept his eyes locked on the hypnotising orange, yellow, red flickers of flame licking up the sides of the fireplace, as the anger coursed through him.
What right did Granger have to be sobbing? So what. She made a few mistakes. So what? She has friends, she has perfect grades, she has a boyfriend, she's in love-
Draco shuddered as two new emotions snaked through his mind; jealousy... and compassion?
Both were unusual to him; jealousy, as he was the Prince of Slytherin, the heir of the Malfoys, the richest, smartest, most attractive guy at Hogwarts; he was practically royalty; he was accustomed to respect, adulation, admiration. He wasn't used to being jealous of anyone. And especially not some dirt-poor common-blood Muggle-loving Gryffindor, just because they had a bossy Mudblood know-it-all chick for a girlfriend...
He shook that thought away as he cringed inwardly upon identifying the second feeling. Compassion? How weak could one get? Really. Compassion...
..towards a Mudblood...
Whose life was unarguably hundreds of times better than his own?
But don't you know, some inner voice replied, Her life is about to be the same hell yours is... or maybe worse...
"Shut up," he said aloud. These were thoughts he didn't want to confront-
...All because of you...
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A/N: Thanks again for reading! Sorry if this chapter is short, I thought all the Draco angst should be separate from everything else. This chapter tells a lot about the story, and about Draco himself. Hope you don't mind! Next chapter should be coming soon.
Naoko Ten'ou: Yep, tragedy. Something bad will happen. :P
DanishGirl: Yeah, perfectionists will break down over the slighest things.. Just too many things happened in one day, and the whole 'living with Draco' business.. She really did lose control. Thanks for reading! Hope this chapter didn't disappoint you!
ss: Hermione was just put off. When people like Hermione mess up once, they dwell on the mistake, thereby causing themselves to make even more mistakes. It really does happen. Trust me. And I suppose she didn't run to the library because she had a lot on her mind. And she has her handy Latin-english dictionary in her room. :D And diriter means abominably. It just popped into Draco's head. :D
Catmint: Yeah, Ron brought up the idea, and the other Weasleys all then forced her onto a broom. :P