Suicide and Secrets
Chapter Five
Snape opened the door to find two figures lying on the ground. At first he
thought they were a couple of students, who had spent last night snogging
and he accidentally locked them in, but then he saw their faces, Hermione
Granger and Draco Malfoy. He definitely didn't expect this-let alone seeing
them lying there together on the floor, cuddling. He watched as Draco's
eyes opened, obvious shock at first at seeing himself holding Hermione then
his shocked eyes met Snape's. His mouth opened and closed rapidly, this
teacher had always been his favorite someone who never doubted him. Someone
he could trust and confide in, yet he couldn't say anything. Luckily
Hermione woke up, sensing something at first a little taken back-but then
that sharp-tongued mouth of hers' went into action.
"Professor Snape, I have a favor to ask you." Snape's stunned expression faded and a look of clear confusion crossed his face. "It is about a Dark Book, it has a lot of spells on the dark arts, we have a feeling someone may have stolen it while it was in Hogwarts." She stood up her figure still obviously small in comparison to Snape, he still towered over her even after two years of growing Hermione couldn't compare-but Draco now standing was almost equal in Snape's size, yet lanky considering he spent his years after Hogwarts in Azkaban.
"First explain to me exactly what you want with it, and how exactly you got here." Hermione opened her mouth to start her story-but Draco started. After they each explained their side of the story, Snape stood there smiling.
"I thought it would actually get out of here, Draco. England that is." He smiled again.
"So you paid that man to go and free Draco?" Snape nodded. "Why?"
"Because I knew he was innocent but there is no way for me to prove it. I lost the evidence."
"What do you mean-lost the evidence? What evidence did you have?"
"An Auror-he was guarding the grounds at the time he saw the murder of Dumbledore. He even had a Muggle device of evidence-a video tape." He looked a little solemn.
"Well-where is it?"
"The Auror went missing after Dumbledores death-into hiding. He was afraid- extremely afraid. He never came out-except a few weeks ago he had the courage to send me the tape he trusted me to hand it into the authorities, but I lo-lost the tape."
"You what?" Hermione gasped.
"Wait-was this around the same time the Auror's were here?"
"Yes-it was why?"
"Because they are Death Eater's."
"What-when I was a Death Eater and undercover I never heard anything about them."
"I did." Draco said. "Do you forget how much my father groveled also the Ministry did a good job of keeping their secret. If they got to the tape- then what about the book, the dark book?"
"What about it?"
"Does Hogwarts still have it-what if they stole it?"
"You right, stay here I'll go check." He went past them into the storeroom, removed on of the potions and behind it led to a dark room. They followed him in there to see a book on the table. "Good it's here."
"Wait a minute." Draco said walking up to it and opening the pages. "It's blank."
"What that's impossible." Snape said rushing to his sides.
"Someone has charmed it to look like the book." Draco said a little startled. "Well don't worry. They only have one book."
"What are you talking about Malfoy!" Hermione yelled looking at him in complete shock.
"Well, without both the books they won't be able to cause too much damage. They can only do a few dark spells. If they had both, and joining them together would lead them to the third book, the darkest of them all. Its dark power is all controlling no one has ever seen it before. Luckily my dad destroyed his in the fire." Draco grinned.
"That's not quite true Draco." Snape said looking a little worried.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked confused.
"Draco-the book it can withstand fire, it can survive almost everything."
"Oh Merlin, no! Then where is it?" Hermione cried.
"Don't worry, the Ministry are the people that took anything remaining in the Malfoy mansion. It should be safe." Snape said then his eyes widened.
"Carlos his brother is the Minister! He has access to the information." Hermione said a little more then worried.
"We better leave then-just let me get something." He went back into the storeroom grabbed a few bottle then quickly followed them out. Hermione went to grab Harry's broom but Snapes grabbed her hand. "Here. Use this instead." He handed her a bottle. "Just through it on the ground, say the place you want to travel to and jump into the void." She nodded.
"How about the Minister's office?"
"No that would be charmed, just go outside the building and we'll make our way in." Snape said. "Draco I suggest you cover yourself with that hood of yours someone might see you."
Hermione had already thrown the bottle on the ground and jumped into the void, followed quickly by Snape then Draco. They were spat outside the building to a few surprised looks from Wizarding passers by. They marched their way into the building Auror's immediately came at them, then Snape threw another potion on the ground. Everyone froze. "Quickly, let's go the potion doesn't last very long and this place is charmed. They ran as fast as they could to the Ministers office, the door was open and Carlos was just walking in. Hermione looked at him, he didn't seem to be holding the book. They went into the office as time came back and Carlos locked the door. He looked shocked as he met the gaze of Hermione, Draco and Snape.
"Ah, all the better for you to join us." He smiled.
"What is going on here? I demand to know!" He was cut of mid sentence as Carlos raised his wand and uttered a spell, knocking the Minister unconscious.
"I didn't want him getting in my way anyway. Suppose you've come here to stop me? Well you are too late, in a matter of seconds I will have the other book and then nothing will stop me."
"We will!" Hermione cried taking out her wand.
"Shadow! Drain them!" Carlos cried. The shadow appeared and grabbed them, with its touch draining their energy. Hermione felt herself get weak.
"Wait before you kill us-at least tell us how you did it." Draco asked looking at him. "I mean this is genius, I don't think even I could be able to something as clever as you have."
"Why thank you, young Malfoy. I think I will tell you. I mean considering that you have no escape, this room is sound proof and I have already got one of the books I will tell you ask a question and I will answer it." He smiled at Draco. "You can go first."
"How?"
"Their was once a wizard who had two sons. He made a hobby out of collecting dark spells. The people found out about this and had him killed.. You see this was during the Christian death grip on England, so because he was a wizard, they killed him and he wasn't allowed to be buried in the cemetery. His sons went and hid his body before the people got a hold of it and buried it in an unmarked grave. They then ripped the book into three parts, taken one each and putting one in the grave. They charmed it so their two parts when joined would lead them to their fathers hidden body, they were going to wait until everything calmed down and take his body to the cemetery, before they could they died, though one of them wrote this story down in his journal. It was passed around as a story, though when I found his journal I knew it was true I spent my adult life looking for this book of spells. I discovered that your father, Draco had one piece. I told him my plans, he agreed but after the Dark Lord's second down fall he became a coward and burnt his home down hoping to destroy the book. It didn't work, and the Ministry had a hold of it. I then tortured Carlos Rio hoping he would know, seeing as his brother was the Minister. He didn't, so instead I killed him and used a potion to steal his identity hoping to get into the Minister's office and get the files on where the book was. There I found out one part was hidden in Hogwarts by an Auror who gave it to Snape to give to Dumbledore. A few days later after your father gave information on you so that he didn't go to Azkaban. Dumbledore found out about it, and wanted to try and help you, he and the old Carlo being friends he asked if he could meet him so he could get you to give him information on other Death Eater's he actually tried to save you boy. Instead I knocked you out before you met him and tortured him, trying to get information out of him he didn't give me anything so I killed him and left. It was blamed on you so I was safe, for now. But I decided to wait a while, until everything about the Dark Lord died down. Then to my luck you were released giving me an excuse to send some old friends of mine to get the book out of Hogwarts. I did, yet I had to kill them so no one else knew. Then after that I decided to go and torture the Minister until he told me where the other half was, then after that I would leave. Everyone would be looking for Carlos I would turn back into myself then go get the other half so that while their looking for Carlos they wouldn't find me."
"But why kill all those other people, what about the Weasley's? Also how can you use a spell in against him." She said gesturing to the Minister.
"Well this office is the only office in the entire building in which you can use magic-I found that out while being Carlos. I have the Weasley's trapped down in my cellar; I was going to use them in black mail in case you found out about me. But you weren't as fast as usual this time Hermione. I killed all those other Auror's to try and scare you off the case. But your not scared off easily-I would almost think you have a thing for Malfoy risking so much for him. Did you really think the real Carlos would give you Draco anyway, the only reason I did is because anyone else would have gone straight to the Minister, but you were so sure of yourself. I was hoping that you would give up on the case, but instead you kept going. You're a lucky man Malfoy, to have her on your side. Too bad you may be innocent but you are going to die anyway." He laughed. He moved in close that's when Hermione realized he was standing above Harry's broom.
"Up!" She cried. For the first time in Hermione's life the broom listened it went straight up knocking Carlos and slamming him into the ceiling knocking him unconscious. Though the shadow still holding them because it was his last command, she looked as Snape reached into his pocket and pulled out a potion and drop it on the ground, it didn't break so he stepped on it, this strong smelling steam came out of the bottle. The shadow disappeared. "What was that stuff?" Hermione asked.
"Rose extract."
"What?"
"Rose extract, you know from roses. It kills shadows."
"How do you know?"
"You forget I had the book, I took a look in it before I handed it over to Dumbledore, on the first page was how to create and destroy shadows. It was the only page I memorized so I decided to take some protection in case he still had his shadow. Draco, why didn't you defeat it if you knew about them?"
"My Dad only told me about them, not how to defeat or create them. I wasn't allowed near the book, he used them to scare me saying he would send one on me if I ever disobeyed him." Hermione looked at the Minister, she took out her wand to try and awake him, he just starred in complete shock. Draco picked up the book and started looking threw it, suddenly he fell to the ground. It was Carlos; he was now awake with an extremely large lump on his head that was pouring blood. He was trying to get the book; instead he grabbed his wand and Hermione.
"Give me the book, or your girlfriend dies!"
Hermione watched frightened as Draco's face paled even more so then usual. Everyone kept quiet, Snape watched on too nervous to move. Draco began to hand the book over when someone yelled, "Arvada Kerdava!" As Carlos's body fell to the ground, it changed into a slightly younger mans body, black hair with streaks of gray, a slight tan and thin lips. They turned to see the Minister of Magic holding his wand with a bizarre look on his face. They backed away thinking he would attack them next not knowing exactly what was happening to him. "I have been sleeping, yet I heard the whole story. I will fix everything." He said looking a little pale at the body of the man lying on the ground. "In the mean time I would like it if you would please stay at Hogwarts, it seems to be the safest place at the moment. I will send you there with a letter, keep out of sight until I send for you." He said quickly scribbling on a piece of paper. "I don't know how I am going to be able to explain this."
A few days later Hermione woke in Hogwarts, she slept in a small room; it was linked to Draco's as well. They were allowed to stay in linked rooms for company sake, seeing as they were strictly forbidden to leave their joining rooms, joint by a bathroom. Hermione had just finished her paper work on this case and her hand hurt a lot. Draco either slept or ate; he deserved it spending two years paying for a crime he didn't commit, Hermione liked to go in and watch him sleep, occasionally he seemed to have nightmares, Hermione didn't want to wake him up he probably never had been able to sleep in Azkaban. Instead she just stayed by him until it was over, he never found out. One day he caught her crying like she usually did when she thought he was asleep. To her surprise he didn't walk away but came up to her and grabbed her into a hug. Hermione's heart skipped a beat, yet this time she didn't ruin it by opening her mouth. They just sat there like that until Hermione went to sleep when she woke up she saw Draco sitting by her bed he didn't say anything he just smiled.
"Nice to see you awake." He said a little tired. "I have a question for you though, how come you thought I was innocent?"
"Something inside me felt that you were, I knew you were somehow." She said looking at him, hoping he wouldn't press any future and he didn't.
"You remember what he said, Carlos or whoever that guy was, about how you risked a lot for me? Why did you do that for me?"
"I would do that for anybody, or anything. In a way you could say I did it just to prove that I was right. Also after I met the child you-I knew it wasn't exactly your choice to be the way you are. Also, after seeing your memories I saw you-I saw you see murderers of people, I saw you watch them be tortured, I saw you hurt them, humiliate them but not kill them. I may hate you but two years in Azkaban is enough redemption for what you had done. I also believe that now your slate is clean-you won't do that again, will you?" He was silent as if in thought.
"Well I still have a hatred for Muggle's but no where near as strong a hatred as I had. I will talk to one now without passing judgment, but doesn't mean I would talk to them in the first place unless I had to. As for Mudbloods, well they are fine by me after all one of them saved me. Although she will never know how grateful I am." He smiled at her then went to his room. When she woke up the next morning he was gone, though Snape was waiting for her a strange site to behold as you just wake up a smiling Snape that is.
"I found it." He beamed.
"Found what?" "The video tape, is that what you Muggles call it? I found it." He smiled at her, something she had seen him seldom do, maybe not even at all.
"Where is Draco?" She asked feeling a little uncomfortable.
"He left this morning. You two are allowed to leave now, he went earlier this morning."
"Where?"
"He said he was going to lie low for a while. Until things die down he said. I don't know where he went. All I know is he taken out some of his family's money and left. Well it is my job to update you on anything you ask." He said watching her as her eyes filled up with tears.
"Well then-how did that man become Carlos? How did he fool everyone, what happened to the Weasley's?"
"He used a strong potion like the Polyjuice one, his name was really Liam Smith. The Weasley's are fine they came back they want to see you, they asked if you could visit them again sometime later after everything calmed down."
"So does this mean Draco's name is cleared? Everything is fine now?"
"Yes, Draco's name is cleared, they are going to print a special edition in tomorrow's Daily Prophet. The Ministry has decided to start teaching children about this kind of magic, not how to do it but how to defend yourself against it."
Hermione left solemnly and alone, with the children of Hogwarts crowding around her smiling laughing. She felt like there was a whole in her heart, she couldn't describe it. Maybe it was from the loss of her parents, she missed them a lot but this whole felt fixable. She went home feeling empty hearted that's when she saw a figure waiting by her door, Draco.
"I came to say good bye. I am going to stay low for two years, maybe three. I came to say good-bye and thank you. For everything." He said he began to walk away.
"Draco wait!" He turned around a little shocked she had called him by his first name. "You know I like to prove that I'm right. Well I have a feeling in my stomach, one that perhaps you don't want to leave, and that you don't have to!"
"I really don't have much to stay for though." He said looking at her solemnly. "The only person I have is my mother and she doesn't look like she's coming for me anytime soon."
"Would you be willing to stay for someone, I mean stay with them and wait with them?" She asked a little afraid of rejection. He turned around and walked away then turned back again.
"I don't know it all depends really, who would this person be. Are they willing to be with me, or are they just doing this out of pity." He said looking into her eyes. Hermione couldn't answer him; she didn't know what to say. How did she feel about Draco? He nodded his head in understanding and turned away to leave.
"Draco-I want to be with you. I don't know if this feeling is love, jealousy or pity. All I know is that if you leave we won't ever find out." She said looking at him begging him to stay with her eyes.
"Maybe some things are better left undiscovered, I don't know if I could handle another rejection." He left down the road, Hermione went to turn back to her house, she couldn't do it. She ran down the road after Draco and grabbed him and kissed him.
"Please. Stay." He looked down at her and smiled. They walked back to her house together and that is how it is, for now anyway.
THE END
Thank you for reading my story. If you didn't like it too bad you were stupid enough to read it all! Thank you Nian for reading it first and giving it the seal of approval. Also to my trusted dog Misty, who kept my feet warm while I typed this story. All reviews are welcome.
"Professor Snape, I have a favor to ask you." Snape's stunned expression faded and a look of clear confusion crossed his face. "It is about a Dark Book, it has a lot of spells on the dark arts, we have a feeling someone may have stolen it while it was in Hogwarts." She stood up her figure still obviously small in comparison to Snape, he still towered over her even after two years of growing Hermione couldn't compare-but Draco now standing was almost equal in Snape's size, yet lanky considering he spent his years after Hogwarts in Azkaban.
"First explain to me exactly what you want with it, and how exactly you got here." Hermione opened her mouth to start her story-but Draco started. After they each explained their side of the story, Snape stood there smiling.
"I thought it would actually get out of here, Draco. England that is." He smiled again.
"So you paid that man to go and free Draco?" Snape nodded. "Why?"
"Because I knew he was innocent but there is no way for me to prove it. I lost the evidence."
"What do you mean-lost the evidence? What evidence did you have?"
"An Auror-he was guarding the grounds at the time he saw the murder of Dumbledore. He even had a Muggle device of evidence-a video tape." He looked a little solemn.
"Well-where is it?"
"The Auror went missing after Dumbledores death-into hiding. He was afraid- extremely afraid. He never came out-except a few weeks ago he had the courage to send me the tape he trusted me to hand it into the authorities, but I lo-lost the tape."
"You what?" Hermione gasped.
"Wait-was this around the same time the Auror's were here?"
"Yes-it was why?"
"Because they are Death Eater's."
"What-when I was a Death Eater and undercover I never heard anything about them."
"I did." Draco said. "Do you forget how much my father groveled also the Ministry did a good job of keeping their secret. If they got to the tape- then what about the book, the dark book?"
"What about it?"
"Does Hogwarts still have it-what if they stole it?"
"You right, stay here I'll go check." He went past them into the storeroom, removed on of the potions and behind it led to a dark room. They followed him in there to see a book on the table. "Good it's here."
"Wait a minute." Draco said walking up to it and opening the pages. "It's blank."
"What that's impossible." Snape said rushing to his sides.
"Someone has charmed it to look like the book." Draco said a little startled. "Well don't worry. They only have one book."
"What are you talking about Malfoy!" Hermione yelled looking at him in complete shock.
"Well, without both the books they won't be able to cause too much damage. They can only do a few dark spells. If they had both, and joining them together would lead them to the third book, the darkest of them all. Its dark power is all controlling no one has ever seen it before. Luckily my dad destroyed his in the fire." Draco grinned.
"That's not quite true Draco." Snape said looking a little worried.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked confused.
"Draco-the book it can withstand fire, it can survive almost everything."
"Oh Merlin, no! Then where is it?" Hermione cried.
"Don't worry, the Ministry are the people that took anything remaining in the Malfoy mansion. It should be safe." Snape said then his eyes widened.
"Carlos his brother is the Minister! He has access to the information." Hermione said a little more then worried.
"We better leave then-just let me get something." He went back into the storeroom grabbed a few bottle then quickly followed them out. Hermione went to grab Harry's broom but Snapes grabbed her hand. "Here. Use this instead." He handed her a bottle. "Just through it on the ground, say the place you want to travel to and jump into the void." She nodded.
"How about the Minister's office?"
"No that would be charmed, just go outside the building and we'll make our way in." Snape said. "Draco I suggest you cover yourself with that hood of yours someone might see you."
Hermione had already thrown the bottle on the ground and jumped into the void, followed quickly by Snape then Draco. They were spat outside the building to a few surprised looks from Wizarding passers by. They marched their way into the building Auror's immediately came at them, then Snape threw another potion on the ground. Everyone froze. "Quickly, let's go the potion doesn't last very long and this place is charmed. They ran as fast as they could to the Ministers office, the door was open and Carlos was just walking in. Hermione looked at him, he didn't seem to be holding the book. They went into the office as time came back and Carlos locked the door. He looked shocked as he met the gaze of Hermione, Draco and Snape.
"Ah, all the better for you to join us." He smiled.
"What is going on here? I demand to know!" He was cut of mid sentence as Carlos raised his wand and uttered a spell, knocking the Minister unconscious.
"I didn't want him getting in my way anyway. Suppose you've come here to stop me? Well you are too late, in a matter of seconds I will have the other book and then nothing will stop me."
"We will!" Hermione cried taking out her wand.
"Shadow! Drain them!" Carlos cried. The shadow appeared and grabbed them, with its touch draining their energy. Hermione felt herself get weak.
"Wait before you kill us-at least tell us how you did it." Draco asked looking at him. "I mean this is genius, I don't think even I could be able to something as clever as you have."
"Why thank you, young Malfoy. I think I will tell you. I mean considering that you have no escape, this room is sound proof and I have already got one of the books I will tell you ask a question and I will answer it." He smiled at Draco. "You can go first."
"How?"
"Their was once a wizard who had two sons. He made a hobby out of collecting dark spells. The people found out about this and had him killed.. You see this was during the Christian death grip on England, so because he was a wizard, they killed him and he wasn't allowed to be buried in the cemetery. His sons went and hid his body before the people got a hold of it and buried it in an unmarked grave. They then ripped the book into three parts, taken one each and putting one in the grave. They charmed it so their two parts when joined would lead them to their fathers hidden body, they were going to wait until everything calmed down and take his body to the cemetery, before they could they died, though one of them wrote this story down in his journal. It was passed around as a story, though when I found his journal I knew it was true I spent my adult life looking for this book of spells. I discovered that your father, Draco had one piece. I told him my plans, he agreed but after the Dark Lord's second down fall he became a coward and burnt his home down hoping to destroy the book. It didn't work, and the Ministry had a hold of it. I then tortured Carlos Rio hoping he would know, seeing as his brother was the Minister. He didn't, so instead I killed him and used a potion to steal his identity hoping to get into the Minister's office and get the files on where the book was. There I found out one part was hidden in Hogwarts by an Auror who gave it to Snape to give to Dumbledore. A few days later after your father gave information on you so that he didn't go to Azkaban. Dumbledore found out about it, and wanted to try and help you, he and the old Carlo being friends he asked if he could meet him so he could get you to give him information on other Death Eater's he actually tried to save you boy. Instead I knocked you out before you met him and tortured him, trying to get information out of him he didn't give me anything so I killed him and left. It was blamed on you so I was safe, for now. But I decided to wait a while, until everything about the Dark Lord died down. Then to my luck you were released giving me an excuse to send some old friends of mine to get the book out of Hogwarts. I did, yet I had to kill them so no one else knew. Then after that I decided to go and torture the Minister until he told me where the other half was, then after that I would leave. Everyone would be looking for Carlos I would turn back into myself then go get the other half so that while their looking for Carlos they wouldn't find me."
"But why kill all those other people, what about the Weasley's? Also how can you use a spell in against him." She said gesturing to the Minister.
"Well this office is the only office in the entire building in which you can use magic-I found that out while being Carlos. I have the Weasley's trapped down in my cellar; I was going to use them in black mail in case you found out about me. But you weren't as fast as usual this time Hermione. I killed all those other Auror's to try and scare you off the case. But your not scared off easily-I would almost think you have a thing for Malfoy risking so much for him. Did you really think the real Carlos would give you Draco anyway, the only reason I did is because anyone else would have gone straight to the Minister, but you were so sure of yourself. I was hoping that you would give up on the case, but instead you kept going. You're a lucky man Malfoy, to have her on your side. Too bad you may be innocent but you are going to die anyway." He laughed. He moved in close that's when Hermione realized he was standing above Harry's broom.
"Up!" She cried. For the first time in Hermione's life the broom listened it went straight up knocking Carlos and slamming him into the ceiling knocking him unconscious. Though the shadow still holding them because it was his last command, she looked as Snape reached into his pocket and pulled out a potion and drop it on the ground, it didn't break so he stepped on it, this strong smelling steam came out of the bottle. The shadow disappeared. "What was that stuff?" Hermione asked.
"Rose extract."
"What?"
"Rose extract, you know from roses. It kills shadows."
"How do you know?"
"You forget I had the book, I took a look in it before I handed it over to Dumbledore, on the first page was how to create and destroy shadows. It was the only page I memorized so I decided to take some protection in case he still had his shadow. Draco, why didn't you defeat it if you knew about them?"
"My Dad only told me about them, not how to defeat or create them. I wasn't allowed near the book, he used them to scare me saying he would send one on me if I ever disobeyed him." Hermione looked at the Minister, she took out her wand to try and awake him, he just starred in complete shock. Draco picked up the book and started looking threw it, suddenly he fell to the ground. It was Carlos; he was now awake with an extremely large lump on his head that was pouring blood. He was trying to get the book; instead he grabbed his wand and Hermione.
"Give me the book, or your girlfriend dies!"
Hermione watched frightened as Draco's face paled even more so then usual. Everyone kept quiet, Snape watched on too nervous to move. Draco began to hand the book over when someone yelled, "Arvada Kerdava!" As Carlos's body fell to the ground, it changed into a slightly younger mans body, black hair with streaks of gray, a slight tan and thin lips. They turned to see the Minister of Magic holding his wand with a bizarre look on his face. They backed away thinking he would attack them next not knowing exactly what was happening to him. "I have been sleeping, yet I heard the whole story. I will fix everything." He said looking a little pale at the body of the man lying on the ground. "In the mean time I would like it if you would please stay at Hogwarts, it seems to be the safest place at the moment. I will send you there with a letter, keep out of sight until I send for you." He said quickly scribbling on a piece of paper. "I don't know how I am going to be able to explain this."
A few days later Hermione woke in Hogwarts, she slept in a small room; it was linked to Draco's as well. They were allowed to stay in linked rooms for company sake, seeing as they were strictly forbidden to leave their joining rooms, joint by a bathroom. Hermione had just finished her paper work on this case and her hand hurt a lot. Draco either slept or ate; he deserved it spending two years paying for a crime he didn't commit, Hermione liked to go in and watch him sleep, occasionally he seemed to have nightmares, Hermione didn't want to wake him up he probably never had been able to sleep in Azkaban. Instead she just stayed by him until it was over, he never found out. One day he caught her crying like she usually did when she thought he was asleep. To her surprise he didn't walk away but came up to her and grabbed her into a hug. Hermione's heart skipped a beat, yet this time she didn't ruin it by opening her mouth. They just sat there like that until Hermione went to sleep when she woke up she saw Draco sitting by her bed he didn't say anything he just smiled.
"Nice to see you awake." He said a little tired. "I have a question for you though, how come you thought I was innocent?"
"Something inside me felt that you were, I knew you were somehow." She said looking at him, hoping he wouldn't press any future and he didn't.
"You remember what he said, Carlos or whoever that guy was, about how you risked a lot for me? Why did you do that for me?"
"I would do that for anybody, or anything. In a way you could say I did it just to prove that I was right. Also after I met the child you-I knew it wasn't exactly your choice to be the way you are. Also, after seeing your memories I saw you-I saw you see murderers of people, I saw you watch them be tortured, I saw you hurt them, humiliate them but not kill them. I may hate you but two years in Azkaban is enough redemption for what you had done. I also believe that now your slate is clean-you won't do that again, will you?" He was silent as if in thought.
"Well I still have a hatred for Muggle's but no where near as strong a hatred as I had. I will talk to one now without passing judgment, but doesn't mean I would talk to them in the first place unless I had to. As for Mudbloods, well they are fine by me after all one of them saved me. Although she will never know how grateful I am." He smiled at her then went to his room. When she woke up the next morning he was gone, though Snape was waiting for her a strange site to behold as you just wake up a smiling Snape that is.
"I found it." He beamed.
"Found what?" "The video tape, is that what you Muggles call it? I found it." He smiled at her, something she had seen him seldom do, maybe not even at all.
"Where is Draco?" She asked feeling a little uncomfortable.
"He left this morning. You two are allowed to leave now, he went earlier this morning."
"Where?"
"He said he was going to lie low for a while. Until things die down he said. I don't know where he went. All I know is he taken out some of his family's money and left. Well it is my job to update you on anything you ask." He said watching her as her eyes filled up with tears.
"Well then-how did that man become Carlos? How did he fool everyone, what happened to the Weasley's?"
"He used a strong potion like the Polyjuice one, his name was really Liam Smith. The Weasley's are fine they came back they want to see you, they asked if you could visit them again sometime later after everything calmed down."
"So does this mean Draco's name is cleared? Everything is fine now?"
"Yes, Draco's name is cleared, they are going to print a special edition in tomorrow's Daily Prophet. The Ministry has decided to start teaching children about this kind of magic, not how to do it but how to defend yourself against it."
Hermione left solemnly and alone, with the children of Hogwarts crowding around her smiling laughing. She felt like there was a whole in her heart, she couldn't describe it. Maybe it was from the loss of her parents, she missed them a lot but this whole felt fixable. She went home feeling empty hearted that's when she saw a figure waiting by her door, Draco.
"I came to say good bye. I am going to stay low for two years, maybe three. I came to say good-bye and thank you. For everything." He said he began to walk away.
"Draco wait!" He turned around a little shocked she had called him by his first name. "You know I like to prove that I'm right. Well I have a feeling in my stomach, one that perhaps you don't want to leave, and that you don't have to!"
"I really don't have much to stay for though." He said looking at her solemnly. "The only person I have is my mother and she doesn't look like she's coming for me anytime soon."
"Would you be willing to stay for someone, I mean stay with them and wait with them?" She asked a little afraid of rejection. He turned around and walked away then turned back again.
"I don't know it all depends really, who would this person be. Are they willing to be with me, or are they just doing this out of pity." He said looking into her eyes. Hermione couldn't answer him; she didn't know what to say. How did she feel about Draco? He nodded his head in understanding and turned away to leave.
"Draco-I want to be with you. I don't know if this feeling is love, jealousy or pity. All I know is that if you leave we won't ever find out." She said looking at him begging him to stay with her eyes.
"Maybe some things are better left undiscovered, I don't know if I could handle another rejection." He left down the road, Hermione went to turn back to her house, she couldn't do it. She ran down the road after Draco and grabbed him and kissed him.
"Please. Stay." He looked down at her and smiled. They walked back to her house together and that is how it is, for now anyway.
THE END
Thank you for reading my story. If you didn't like it too bad you were stupid enough to read it all! Thank you Nian for reading it first and giving it the seal of approval. Also to my trusted dog Misty, who kept my feet warm while I typed this story. All reviews are welcome.