The Language of Emotion
Disclaimer: All places, characters and recognised terms belong to J.K.Rowling. The Glacios curse and plot belong to me. :)
A/N: Wow – 329 reviews! Thank you to: Marie, Dark Rogue, Krissy1, Amythest-Angel462, shibbydragongirl, In Fair Verona, Edainme, KAOS, Alyssa, Madam Rose, JoeBob1379, Julia, hb, zumamoonlight, Rebecca, Elica Park, Akuma Kanada no Tenchi, angstluvnazn, damsalndistress-asif, VanillaStar, MoonDancerCat, googoo4you, Weasley Pride, Deanna, HPFre4K, Slytherin Angel, aries, Sayoran Girl, C, karla, Goddess-Isis-122, MoonTrail, CatalinaRose, Tasha, Arial, sailorruss, Chibi Videl San, Rebecca Anne, kaori, karla (x2) MoonlightDreamWeaver, firey fairy, f0xyness39, hyper_shark, JAMTillDawn, Crimson Firebolt, Pallida Mors, DemonBlade, aime, SophieBabe, Kimberlee, Deam Granger, wishing star, M-han, The-Almighty-NailBunny, kalariah, L. Meylan, hgranger-62191, AideeEight, Juliet-Potter246, Xtreme Nusiance, Nellie-chan!
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and everyone who read and didn't review (although I would appreciate your feedback!) I hope you enjoy the chapter!
~*~
The only cure for the Glacios curse is for the sufferer to touch the skin of someone they truly love.
To say that Draco was shocked would have been an understatement. He seemed to be caught in a never-ending moment, filled with a mixture of shock, surprise, and mixed into the numbing pool of emotions, an understanding. He couldn't deny it. It all made such sense.
'Draco? What does it say?' Her voice shattered the bubble of frozen time that had surrounded him. He glanced upwards, was startled to find himself looking into chocolate-brown eyes, filled with an innocent mixture of curiosity and childish excitement.
'It… it doesn't say anything.' Draco replied. 'Just goes onto the next curse.'
Hermione's face fell, like a light inside had gone out. But she still glowed, with a vibrancy that amazed Draco. It was as if all her secrets were written on her face, in the way she moved, in the way she laughed. She was an open book.
'Oh. Oh well.' Hermione looked disappointed. 'Just… you looked like you'd seen something.'
'I'm sure we'll find it in another book somewhere.' Draco tried to console her.
'I've looked in the library for hours.' Hermione's whole face fell. It was amazing just to watch her expressions change. The way her eyes shone when she was happy. The way her hair fell around her like a chocolate aura. Draco was seeing her in a new light. He blinked hard.
'For hours? You looked that long to find the cure?'
'Whenever I had the time. I guess I wanted to… to help.' Their eyes met, Hermione smiled and Draco was surprised to find himself smiling back.
'Thank you.' he said, and meant it.
It is one of the great Laws of human nature that such moments are always intruded upon. This time, it was by Madam Pomfrey, reminding Draco that his time was up, but Hermione would be out soon. Tucking the book under one arm, he left to return it to the library. And then do some serious thinking.
~*~
Quarter of an hour later, he lay on his bed in the Slytherin dormitories, the Malus Orbis in one hand. He examined its shifting patterns, seeming to mirror and mock his own thoughts. He couldn't deny that what the book said was true – he did love her. Love was a state he had never been in before. He had been, up to now, very self-reliant. He had never had friends, or to an extent parents. And as to girls? He had been brought up to consider every girl in three terms: blood, wealth, and allegiance to the Dark Lord. So love was a stranger to him.
The big question was what to do? Should he tell her, or stay quiet? What did she think of him? There was an irritating lack of knowledge that made forming a plan very hard. It did not help that love was something he had no experience with. It confused him, mixing up his thoughts.
His rational side told him that there was no way she could ever be more than tolerant towards him. But the inner voice, which he suspected belonged to love and its sidekicks, nagged at him to tell her. It was hard trying to cope with two personas, his 'head' and his 'heart'. He had always simply operated on a logical Slytherin cunning, deciding which choice would give him greater benefits at a lesser risk. His heart had been frozen somewhere within, he had never before had to consider compassion or love. The two parts of Draco did not understand each other, and he found himself trying to compromise with himself.
His head found it idiotic that he could even consider telling her – the risk was too great, and rejection wasn't the half of it. There was also the danger that Hermione might be in if his feelings for her were discovered, a point his heart agreed with. But, said the heart, what would happen if he didn't tell her? The heart wanted her to know, and it didn't present Draco with any logical reason. Its reason could not be put into words, for the heart speaks only the language of emotion.
~*~
Hermione, meanwhile, was still confined to the hospital wing, much against her will. Despite the many times she had told Madam Pomfrey that she felt just fine now, she still wanted to keep her in for observation.
'You've had a terrible ordeal,' she would tell Hermione, 'and I simply cannot let you out of my sight. Why, who knows what curses they've used!'
Hermione, from her extensive studying, had known what most of the curses were, and had been better able to cope with them because of it. It was at least comforting to know that the effects of that curse wore off gradually over the course of a minute, or that this spell was completely illusionary and nothing to be frightened of. There had been a few she hadn't recognised, and these had been the worst ones – not knowing what would happen was a torture in itself to Hermione.
She had at least had some time to speculate upon the extraordinary events of last night. Harry had told her of his worry that she had been kidnapped and hurt as bait for him, and she had had to concede that it was probable; although she had told him it wasn't his fault. It was one of the things she liked about Harry; he was open with his friends now more than ever after the events of fourth year. Harry and Ron were like brothers to her, sometimes annoying, always amusing, and she knew they thought of her the same way.
It was not surprising that they had come to rescue her, and although she told them that they had been idiots to come after her she had to admit she would probably have done the same thing herself. No, what surprised her was the third member of the rescuing party.
If she had been asked a year ago who was most likely to rescue her from mortal danger at the hands of the Death Eaters, Draco Malfoy wouldn't even have made the top thousand. And yet, sometimes the strangest things do happen. She had asked herself why so often her brain hurt, and she still couldn't think of an answer. Apart from the fact that he had changed.
What had irritated her most about Draco wasn't really the way he made fun of her and her friends. It had been more the way he had accepted his prejudices without question, had never even thought that maybe Purebloods weren't superior. It was, sadly, a state of mind not limited to the wizarding world. A million and one events in history had all occurred because someone thought they were better than the rest.
It was why she had asked him that particular question 'Explain why Purebloods are better than Muggleborns.' And how pleased she had been when he had failed to answer! It proved her point. She wondered whether it had been that question which had made him change, and hoped it was. It was pleasant to think she had made someone realise the error of their ways. And it was a refreshing change not to have Draco insulting them at every opportunity. Oh, sure, he still called her names on occasion, but they both knew he was only pretending to mean it.
She was glad, also, that the Glacios curse had been broken. She wished she knew the cure. And she wanted to know what Draco had read that had shocked him so. It must be something vitally important, from the look of disbelief on his face. If it had been something he had simply not wanted her to know, his face would have gone blank. She had worked with him long enough to realise this. But whatever he had read had been so surprising he hadn't even thought to hide it from showing on his face. She wanted to know what it was.
And so it was when Harry and Ron came in, she found herself telling them how the Glacios curse had been broken – something she wouldn't have told them if they hadn't known about the curse already, for it was Draco's business. And she told them about the book, and how Draco had seemed so shocked at what he had told her was 'nothing'. And before their visiting time was over, she had asked them to go find the book, read the entry, and tell her what it was Draco had found so shocking.
~*~
'Found it yet?' Ron asked Harry for the third time in five minutes. The two boys were hunting through the Defence Against the Dark Arts section, trying to find the book Hermione had told them of.
'No.' Harry replied from around the corner. The book wasn't in its place alphabetically, and they were beginning to worry that the book had not been returned to the library.
'We'll look for a few more minutes, then we'll have to give up.' Harry added. The library was almost deserted, and the afternoon sun slanted through the large windows, catching the dust motes in its amber light.
What could it be? They didn't know Draco as well as Hermione did, but they knew he didn't shock easily. It was as their own curiosity as much as Hermione's request that kept them looking.
Time passed slowly, until Ron made a discovery.
'I think I've found it!'
Harry hurried over. 'Dark Curses: A Guide. That's it!' The two sat at the nearest table, and hurriedly turned to the correct page.
'It doesn't say anything.' Ron said. 'Just a load of rubbish about how it works and who invented it.'
'It continues over the page.' Harry said absent-mindedly, reading the information more carefully than Ron in case there was something he had missed.
'Well turn it over!' Ron said impatiently. Harry read the final paragraph, and turned the page.
The boys read the cure with much the same degree of disbelief that Draco had done.
'It… Malfoy…what?' Harry spluttered. 'You do realise what it says.'
Ron nodded, rather white-faced, and closed the book. There was a moment of silence.
'We can't tell her.' Ron said. Harry nodded slowly.
'If she and him ever…' he waved his hands vaguely in the air, 'It would be a disaster.' He concluded.
'Would she ever?' asked Ron. Harry looked thoughtful. Some of the colour was slowly coming back to his face.
'They do spend a lot of time working together …' he said at last. 'Who knows?'
'We have to keep them apart.' Ron decided. And so began a frenzied fifteen minutes of planning.
A Slytherin would not have approved of their planning methods. They would require a more sophisticated method than notes untidily scribbled on a piece of scrap parchment. They would have despaired of their methods of keeping Draco from getting an opportunity to tell Hermione he loved her, deeming them incapable, in the long term, of working. They would most likely have torn up the paper in despair, muttering something about 'imbecilic Gryffindors', and made their own plan.
But after quarter of an hour, their plan was complete. The paper was covered with such important details as the times and places he could talk to her on their own, and more importantly what they could do to ensure that he didn't get chance to tell her.
'Are you sure this will work?'
'We can only hope.'
~*~
A/N: Personally, I don't like that chapter much. But I want to know your opinion!