~*~ Chapter 3 ~*~
"Now my dear son, it has come time for you to realize your responsibility to the family. The ritual is coming soon. If you don't have full control, you will lose your life. I can always make another one of you. So take care of business if you need to. Make yourself stable for the good of the family my son."
His voice faded after some laughing and the letter disintegrated. Draco was full of rage and the room's temperature seemed to drop about ten degrees. Hermione watch Draco's eyes turn blue again from the doorway. He turned his head towards the window and let out an inhuman scream. The room covered in ice and as he fell, the ice shattered.
When Hermione awoke from the blast, she was covered in shards of ice. Brushing it off, she ran over to Draco, who was still unconscious. She pushed a few stray locks of hair away from his face. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. "What…are you?" She whispered and Draco's eyes snapped open, they were still blue.
Draco jumped up quickly and glared at her for a second with his intense eyes. Then recognition set in and he calmed down. "I… Hermione… I'm not what everyone believes," he said in defeat and slumped down on his bed. His eyes were blue and fearful as he looked back over at her. "You… alright?"
Hermione was surprised at his fearful and apologetic tone. She walked over to the bed, but did not sit down. "Draco.. At this point, I have a right to know," she said and looked around the room for a moment, inspecting the evaporating ice questioningly. "I thought you were pureblood?" She spit the last word out in hate.
Draco shook his head. "Yes.. I am… but not wizard blood…" He was going to continue, when there was a knock at the door.
"Hermione! Its almost dinner!! Come on out for a bit!" Ron called and knocked again furiously.
Hermione shook her head. "I'm sorry. It will look odd if I don't go with them," she said and started to hurry away. Draco grabbed the edge of her cloak.
"I'm not always myself…," he said with a pleading look in his eyes. "Go…" His voice had grown stronger and he turned away from her.
~*~
Ron, Harry, and Hermione were all munching away at dinner. The house elves had done a great job on the food and Ron was mentioning it. Normally Hermione would have started a fight at this point, but she was a little withdrawn. She was eating but was very quiet.
"Hermione, are you ok?" Harry asked her quietly as he watched her play with her carrots on the plate. Ron was talking to Neville about something, so he didn't notice.
"Fine Harry. Just a little preoccupied. Why?" She said dully and took another sip of pumpkin juice.
"You didn't even respond when Ron talked about the house elves." He said in a worried tone, his green eyes staring at her.
"Oh… did he?" She said dully and ate a French-fry. Then she saw Draco enter the great hall. His usual smirk was on his face and his eyes were even darker gray than she'd ever seen them. Harry was calling her name and eventually she turned back to him. "I'm sorry Harry. I'm trying to remember this ingredient for one of the Potions extra credit projects. I think I'll have to go ask Malfoy," she said quickly and walked over to wear he was sitting.
Draco wasn't eating, but he was drawing a big crowd with some false story about what his father had been planning for him. He noticed her out of the corner of his eyes. It was unfortunate for her to come to him at this time. "Well, if it isn't the Mudblood. What can I do for you today?"
She brushed off the comment but would have a talk with him later about it. "I need to talk to you about something," she said quietly so the Slytherins wouldn't hear her.
"Well I'm sorry. You'll have to wait in line. I might have an opening at three tomorrow, unless I find something more important to do. Which I just might try." Snickering was heard throughout the area and Draco just smirked as Hermione walked away. She was very confused and hurt.
~*~
Draco returned to the room late that night. Hermione was up reading a book by the fire and trying to calm herself down. He watched her from the main doorway. She looked beautiful in front of the fire and he felt this was the scene from the other night. Trying not to disturb her, he walked as slowly as possible around the back of the couch. He felt something inside himself shift as she shivered. She jumped again as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't touch me Malfoy," she spat and him and jerked away.
He felt himself growing colder as the feeling in her words set into his mind. Something clicked and he walked around to the front of the couch. Draco's eyes were blue again as he spoke to her. "I told you… I'm not always myself…" His voice was weaker than normal as he spoke to her.
Hermione didn't care, she was furious. "Why is it that your room is completely dry?" She asked and ignored his first response.
"The ice… evaporates…" His voice was loosing all its cruelty as he spoke. Draco sat down on the arm of the couch and stared into the fire.
"Ice doesn't… what magic is it?" Hermione's voice was losing its anger as she spoke to him. She wanted to get to the bottom of this.
"Older than you could know… but I can't tell you now." He rose from the couch and started to walk towards his room. His eyes were fading back to gray with every step.
"Are we friends? Will you tell me?" She said quickly when she saw his eyes changing. Her voice was almost pleading as he turned to her.
"I'll let you know when I do," was his simple reply as his eyes set into the normal gray. His attitude returned as he stamped up the stairs and entered his room.
'He's so different when his eyes are blue. He seems caring and the blue makes him looks… good… very good… Ahh! Did I just think that?! Must be really late!' Hermione interrupted her own thoughts and rushed into her own room that was covered in the Gryffindor red and gold colors. 'I wonder what it would be like if he was like that all the time.'
(PS- I'll try not to make him too fluffy ^^; )