CHAPTER 6
On Saturday morning, Hermione and Draco headed to the opposite side of the lake, in a clearing, where there first lesson would be taking place. Dumbledore was there, along with some teachers, and also some people they had never seen before. They were introduced to everyone and began their training.
They learned curses that couldn't be taught in school. The trainers would shoot hexes at them and wanted them to block them. Some were blocked, but most hit them and left them lying out cold on the floor or they had some sort of weird objects sticking out of weird places.
By the end of the session they were both sore, but they had gotten rid of all the extra parts. They were provided with chocolate to make them feel better.
Once they were in the common room, Draco laid down on his stomach on the closest couch.
"Draco, what's wrong?" Hermione asked.
"My ass hurts so I don't really wanna sit on it. That'll make it hurt more."
She began laughing and Draco whined, "It's not funny, it really does."
"Oh you're so adorable," she cooed.
"Shut up!" He threw a pillow at her and hit her in the stomach.
"You better watch it boy, or I'll smack that ass of yours and make it hurt even more!"
"As long as you don't do that today I'm all for it." He smirked at her.
"Oh my God, that did not come out right!" Hermione began blushing. "I totally didn't mean it that way! You're such a perv!"
"I know, but that's part of the reason why you love me so much." His smirked turned into an innocent smile that made him look angelic.
She just rolled her eyes. "You're sick!" she joked.
"No, but I'm really bored, extremely sore, and very hungry. Wanna do something?"
"Yeah, sure. What are you thinking of?" she asked.
"I dunno. Got any ideas?"
"I thought you already had something in mind." Draco saw her think for a moment, then she said, "Wanna sneak into Hogsmeade?"
"And how do we do that? We're not allowed off the grounds. We would never be able to get there." He eyed her suspiciously.
"Do you have an invisibility cloak?"
"Of course I do!" he said with an air of superiority. "Why?"
"Can you go get it? We're gunna need it to avoid the teachers and Filch."
Draco went upstairs to fetch his invisibility cloak from his trunk. He came down a minute later, and Hermione grabbed him and led him out into the hall.
They headed toward the statue of the one-eyed witch. Hermione stopped next to it and had to grab Draco to keep him from walking any farther.
"What are we stopping for?" Draco hissed.
Hermione tapped the hump and whispered, "Dissendium!" The hump opened and she turned to him and beckoned him to follow her.
Draco watched as she slid down the hump. He followed her down the chute. When he reached the bottom, Hermione had her wand out and lit. Draco followed her as she led him through a passageway and up the long staircase. He slowed down as Hermione did and watched her push open a trap door. It looked like a basement with loads and loads of boxes. The trap door looked just like the floor; if you didn't know it was there you wouldn't have noticed it.
Draco could hear muffled voices up the small staircase. "What store are we in?" he asked.
"Honeydukes," Hermione whispered.
They climbed the last staircase and through the door. A few villagers were there looking at the different candies and trying to decide what kind they wanted. When they were sure that no one was looking, they pulled off the cloak and bought tons of candy.
After that, they went outside into the streets of Hogsmeade.
"How'd you find out about that?" Draco asked.
"Ron's brothers, Fred and George told Harry about it, and he told Ron and me. We've been using it to sneak out since our third year, when we needed candy and stuff. Let's go to Three Broomsticks. I could use some butterbeer."
"Alright," he agreed.
They took each other's hand and headed toward Three Broomsticks. Madame Rosmerta greeted them warmly and gave them their drinks. They settled themselves down at a booth in the back.
When Draco sat down, he moaned and complained, "This really hurts."
"Well you should have blocked those hexes better. Then you wouldn't have fallen on your ass so many times." Hermione laughed at him.
"I fall on my ass 'cause I get hexed and my girlfriend laughs at me. It's nice to know that I'm loved. Thanks, Hermione; make me feel worse than I did when we were at the castle." He put on a fake pout and pretended to be concentrating extremely hard on his hands.
"Oh come on! I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you."
Draco smiled at the comment and began drinking again.
"Why do you have to be so adorable?" Hermione asked out of the blue after a long period of silence.
Draco smirked and said, "It's all part of my natural Malfoy charm."
"You know what you are?" Hermione asked in fake outrage. "You are a self- centered, self-obsessed asshole!"
"Of course I am. I wouldn't be me if I wasn't!"
"Sometimes I wonder why I love you so much, when I could be going out with someone who's nice and sensible, like a Gryffindor." She saw Draco clench his teeth and fists and added quickly, "You know that I'd never go out with either of them. I was joking they're like my brothers, and besides the fact that I'd never like them like that it would just be gross and disgusting!"
He relaxed a little and answered, "Yeah that would be gross. You wouldn't dare go out with them when you've got someone as hot and as charming and adorable as me around anyway!"
When they were done, Draco paid for the drinks, grabbed Hermione's hand, and pulled her out into the cool breeze. It was a warm day, and the breeze blew very lightly. Draco and Hermione walked hand in hand throughout the town and the villagers smiled at the young couple who were so in love.
Before the sun set, they headed back to Honeydukes and up through the secret passage. Once they were through the statue of the one-eyed witch, they took off the invisibility cloak and headed back toward the common room.
"Wanna go watch the sunset?" asked Draco once he put his cloak away.
"Yes! I haven't watched one since." she trailed off.
Draco put a comforting arm around her shoulder and said, "They're still with you, you know? The people we love never truly leave us; they stay and watch over us."
"I know, but I have no adult to get an opinion from anymore. I miss them so much." Tears began welling up in her eyes. "Let's go watch the sunset."
Together they walked down to the lake. They sat on a rock and just held each other silently. Neither of them said a word until it was pitch black and the moon was up and the stars shining brightly.
"You know, I'll never forget the day they died," Hermione said. "We all got mad at each other. My mom told me that I could stay at m my muggle friend's house for the night and when I was about to leave, my dad said, 'no.' After a while my mom agreed with him and told me not to. I started cursing and screaming at them and it was nearing sunset when I stormed out of the house. I was so mad and just needed some time to cool off. I drove around for a while and stopped off in a park to watch the sunset. I remember, it was beautiful that night. It calmed me down a lot and I decided to drive back home. The first thing I saw when I reached our street was a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth over my house. The police were all there, and they let me inside to identify the bodies. I knew what happened, but I couldn't tell the police because they would have sent me to the loony bin. I kept going over our fight in my head. The last thing I ever said to them was, 'Fuck off! Let me run my own goddamn life without you fucking assholes interfering! I can't wait 'til I go back to schools, then I won't ever have to see you assholes ever again. When I'm done with school I'll get a job and live on my fucking own!' I've felt so horrible ever since. And you've helped me so much, but when I'm alone I replay everything and it hurts so damn much! I don't know what I was thinking. I will never forgive myself." She began sobbing into his chest.
"Don't cry 'Mione. They'd want you to move on. No matter what, you gotta try. You loved each other. You'll be fine. I'll help you through this, okay? I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."
"I also told them that I hated them and that I wanted them to die! I grabbed a knife and slit of my wrists, but they stopped me before I could make it really bleed. I was so mad at them at the time, but I'm glad they saved me, because I fell in love.
Draco was shocked. He had never expected her to even attempt anything that would result in death. "Do you still wanna die?" Draco asked.
"Not anymore. Not since we became friends. You helped me to see that I've got so much to live for." She stopped crying, but her face was tear- streaked and Draco's robes were soaked. "Come on, Draco. Let's go back in. We'll be in trouble if we get caught."
They started walking back toward their common room. Draco's arm was around Hermione's shoulder and Hermione's arm was around Draco's waist. They were walking quietly when they heard a voice from behind them, "What are you two doing out of bed at this hour?"
"We're just doing our nightly rounds, Filch," said Draco convincingly.
"Well why don't you split up then, you'll get done faster that way," Filch suggested.
"Okay," answered Hermione slowly.
She walked one way and Draco went the other. Draco hadn't meant that he actually wanted to search for students who were up late. He wouldn't do anything because he snuck out a fair amount of times.
So Draco headed down to the dungeons to pretend that he was doing something. He heard someone call his name from behind a tapestry. "Hey, Draco."
"Who's there?" He asked suspiciously.
"It's Blaise. I've been meaning to talk to you."
"About what?"
"Well-everything really. How come you don't come down to our common room anymore? We miss you."
"I've been busy." All of his answers were short. He wanted to get back to Hermione.
"What's going on between you and Granger?"
"What do you mean?"
"I wasn't spying, but when I walked passed the Entrance Hall, I looked out the window and saw you guys out there. You were sitting really close. What's going on?"
"We're going out. Blaise, if you tell anyone, even your owl, I swear, I'll- I'll-I don't know yet but when I figure it out I'll let you know. Please, don't tell? If my dad finds out, I'm dead. If any of the Death Eaters find out, I'm dead!"
"I won't tell," she promised. "Aren't you a Death Eater?"
He started to feel a bit uncomfortable. "Well-um-I was, but I cut the Dark Mark out of my arm. I couldn't stand killing innocent people. I'm not my father."
"Draco, if You-Know-Who finds out-"
"He's not gunna find out if you keep your mouth shut!"
"I won't tell anyone," I promise.
"Thanks, Blaise."
"No problem. Just don't tell anyone that I'm out of bed."
Draco watched her throw her black hair behind her shoulder, and he said, "I won't, don't worry."
They both went of their separate ways. Blaise went farther down into the dungeons, and Draco went up a few flights of stairs.
When Draco got to the common room, Hermione was already there, and she was holding a letter.
"Who's that from?" he asked.
"I don't know, it's addressed to you. I haven't opened it."
Draco took the letter and read it to himself. It said:
Draco, Why the hell did you do that to Pansy? You and I both know that you're going to Marry her. She's very upset and thinks that There's something going on between you and That Mudblood Head Girl. There better not Be or there will be hell to pay! You also haven't Been showing up to the Death Eater meetings. I'll let that slide because of school, but after you're Out, I expect you to be at every one. Don't fail Me, you'll be sorry!
Lucius "That asshole!" Draco yelled.
"What's wrong, Draco?"
"My father wants me to marry Pansy. He also wants me to be at all the Death Eater meetings when school is over. We can't let anybody know about us either. He said there will be hell to pay if he hears that something is going on."
"Then no one can know. We can still be civil to each other, but we can't be all touchy, feely, giggly in front of other people," Hermione stated simply.
"I'm still sitting next to you in class," Draco said stubbornly.
"That's fine. I wouldn't have it any other way."
They both went to bed thinking about what would happen if Lucius found out.
On Saturday morning, Hermione and Draco headed to the opposite side of the lake, in a clearing, where there first lesson would be taking place. Dumbledore was there, along with some teachers, and also some people they had never seen before. They were introduced to everyone and began their training.
They learned curses that couldn't be taught in school. The trainers would shoot hexes at them and wanted them to block them. Some were blocked, but most hit them and left them lying out cold on the floor or they had some sort of weird objects sticking out of weird places.
By the end of the session they were both sore, but they had gotten rid of all the extra parts. They were provided with chocolate to make them feel better.
Once they were in the common room, Draco laid down on his stomach on the closest couch.
"Draco, what's wrong?" Hermione asked.
"My ass hurts so I don't really wanna sit on it. That'll make it hurt more."
She began laughing and Draco whined, "It's not funny, it really does."
"Oh you're so adorable," she cooed.
"Shut up!" He threw a pillow at her and hit her in the stomach.
"You better watch it boy, or I'll smack that ass of yours and make it hurt even more!"
"As long as you don't do that today I'm all for it." He smirked at her.
"Oh my God, that did not come out right!" Hermione began blushing. "I totally didn't mean it that way! You're such a perv!"
"I know, but that's part of the reason why you love me so much." His smirked turned into an innocent smile that made him look angelic.
She just rolled her eyes. "You're sick!" she joked.
"No, but I'm really bored, extremely sore, and very hungry. Wanna do something?"
"Yeah, sure. What are you thinking of?" she asked.
"I dunno. Got any ideas?"
"I thought you already had something in mind." Draco saw her think for a moment, then she said, "Wanna sneak into Hogsmeade?"
"And how do we do that? We're not allowed off the grounds. We would never be able to get there." He eyed her suspiciously.
"Do you have an invisibility cloak?"
"Of course I do!" he said with an air of superiority. "Why?"
"Can you go get it? We're gunna need it to avoid the teachers and Filch."
Draco went upstairs to fetch his invisibility cloak from his trunk. He came down a minute later, and Hermione grabbed him and led him out into the hall.
They headed toward the statue of the one-eyed witch. Hermione stopped next to it and had to grab Draco to keep him from walking any farther.
"What are we stopping for?" Draco hissed.
Hermione tapped the hump and whispered, "Dissendium!" The hump opened and she turned to him and beckoned him to follow her.
Draco watched as she slid down the hump. He followed her down the chute. When he reached the bottom, Hermione had her wand out and lit. Draco followed her as she led him through a passageway and up the long staircase. He slowed down as Hermione did and watched her push open a trap door. It looked like a basement with loads and loads of boxes. The trap door looked just like the floor; if you didn't know it was there you wouldn't have noticed it.
Draco could hear muffled voices up the small staircase. "What store are we in?" he asked.
"Honeydukes," Hermione whispered.
They climbed the last staircase and through the door. A few villagers were there looking at the different candies and trying to decide what kind they wanted. When they were sure that no one was looking, they pulled off the cloak and bought tons of candy.
After that, they went outside into the streets of Hogsmeade.
"How'd you find out about that?" Draco asked.
"Ron's brothers, Fred and George told Harry about it, and he told Ron and me. We've been using it to sneak out since our third year, when we needed candy and stuff. Let's go to Three Broomsticks. I could use some butterbeer."
"Alright," he agreed.
They took each other's hand and headed toward Three Broomsticks. Madame Rosmerta greeted them warmly and gave them their drinks. They settled themselves down at a booth in the back.
When Draco sat down, he moaned and complained, "This really hurts."
"Well you should have blocked those hexes better. Then you wouldn't have fallen on your ass so many times." Hermione laughed at him.
"I fall on my ass 'cause I get hexed and my girlfriend laughs at me. It's nice to know that I'm loved. Thanks, Hermione; make me feel worse than I did when we were at the castle." He put on a fake pout and pretended to be concentrating extremely hard on his hands.
"Oh come on! I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you."
Draco smiled at the comment and began drinking again.
"Why do you have to be so adorable?" Hermione asked out of the blue after a long period of silence.
Draco smirked and said, "It's all part of my natural Malfoy charm."
"You know what you are?" Hermione asked in fake outrage. "You are a self- centered, self-obsessed asshole!"
"Of course I am. I wouldn't be me if I wasn't!"
"Sometimes I wonder why I love you so much, when I could be going out with someone who's nice and sensible, like a Gryffindor." She saw Draco clench his teeth and fists and added quickly, "You know that I'd never go out with either of them. I was joking they're like my brothers, and besides the fact that I'd never like them like that it would just be gross and disgusting!"
He relaxed a little and answered, "Yeah that would be gross. You wouldn't dare go out with them when you've got someone as hot and as charming and adorable as me around anyway!"
When they were done, Draco paid for the drinks, grabbed Hermione's hand, and pulled her out into the cool breeze. It was a warm day, and the breeze blew very lightly. Draco and Hermione walked hand in hand throughout the town and the villagers smiled at the young couple who were so in love.
Before the sun set, they headed back to Honeydukes and up through the secret passage. Once they were through the statue of the one-eyed witch, they took off the invisibility cloak and headed back toward the common room.
"Wanna go watch the sunset?" asked Draco once he put his cloak away.
"Yes! I haven't watched one since." she trailed off.
Draco put a comforting arm around her shoulder and said, "They're still with you, you know? The people we love never truly leave us; they stay and watch over us."
"I know, but I have no adult to get an opinion from anymore. I miss them so much." Tears began welling up in her eyes. "Let's go watch the sunset."
Together they walked down to the lake. They sat on a rock and just held each other silently. Neither of them said a word until it was pitch black and the moon was up and the stars shining brightly.
"You know, I'll never forget the day they died," Hermione said. "We all got mad at each other. My mom told me that I could stay at m my muggle friend's house for the night and when I was about to leave, my dad said, 'no.' After a while my mom agreed with him and told me not to. I started cursing and screaming at them and it was nearing sunset when I stormed out of the house. I was so mad and just needed some time to cool off. I drove around for a while and stopped off in a park to watch the sunset. I remember, it was beautiful that night. It calmed me down a lot and I decided to drive back home. The first thing I saw when I reached our street was a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth over my house. The police were all there, and they let me inside to identify the bodies. I knew what happened, but I couldn't tell the police because they would have sent me to the loony bin. I kept going over our fight in my head. The last thing I ever said to them was, 'Fuck off! Let me run my own goddamn life without you fucking assholes interfering! I can't wait 'til I go back to schools, then I won't ever have to see you assholes ever again. When I'm done with school I'll get a job and live on my fucking own!' I've felt so horrible ever since. And you've helped me so much, but when I'm alone I replay everything and it hurts so damn much! I don't know what I was thinking. I will never forgive myself." She began sobbing into his chest.
"Don't cry 'Mione. They'd want you to move on. No matter what, you gotta try. You loved each other. You'll be fine. I'll help you through this, okay? I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."
"I also told them that I hated them and that I wanted them to die! I grabbed a knife and slit of my wrists, but they stopped me before I could make it really bleed. I was so mad at them at the time, but I'm glad they saved me, because I fell in love.
Draco was shocked. He had never expected her to even attempt anything that would result in death. "Do you still wanna die?" Draco asked.
"Not anymore. Not since we became friends. You helped me to see that I've got so much to live for." She stopped crying, but her face was tear- streaked and Draco's robes were soaked. "Come on, Draco. Let's go back in. We'll be in trouble if we get caught."
They started walking back toward their common room. Draco's arm was around Hermione's shoulder and Hermione's arm was around Draco's waist. They were walking quietly when they heard a voice from behind them, "What are you two doing out of bed at this hour?"
"We're just doing our nightly rounds, Filch," said Draco convincingly.
"Well why don't you split up then, you'll get done faster that way," Filch suggested.
"Okay," answered Hermione slowly.
She walked one way and Draco went the other. Draco hadn't meant that he actually wanted to search for students who were up late. He wouldn't do anything because he snuck out a fair amount of times.
So Draco headed down to the dungeons to pretend that he was doing something. He heard someone call his name from behind a tapestry. "Hey, Draco."
"Who's there?" He asked suspiciously.
"It's Blaise. I've been meaning to talk to you."
"About what?"
"Well-everything really. How come you don't come down to our common room anymore? We miss you."
"I've been busy." All of his answers were short. He wanted to get back to Hermione.
"What's going on between you and Granger?"
"What do you mean?"
"I wasn't spying, but when I walked passed the Entrance Hall, I looked out the window and saw you guys out there. You were sitting really close. What's going on?"
"We're going out. Blaise, if you tell anyone, even your owl, I swear, I'll- I'll-I don't know yet but when I figure it out I'll let you know. Please, don't tell? If my dad finds out, I'm dead. If any of the Death Eaters find out, I'm dead!"
"I won't tell," she promised. "Aren't you a Death Eater?"
He started to feel a bit uncomfortable. "Well-um-I was, but I cut the Dark Mark out of my arm. I couldn't stand killing innocent people. I'm not my father."
"Draco, if You-Know-Who finds out-"
"He's not gunna find out if you keep your mouth shut!"
"I won't tell anyone," I promise.
"Thanks, Blaise."
"No problem. Just don't tell anyone that I'm out of bed."
Draco watched her throw her black hair behind her shoulder, and he said, "I won't, don't worry."
They both went of their separate ways. Blaise went farther down into the dungeons, and Draco went up a few flights of stairs.
When Draco got to the common room, Hermione was already there, and she was holding a letter.
"Who's that from?" he asked.
"I don't know, it's addressed to you. I haven't opened it."
Draco took the letter and read it to himself. It said:
Draco, Why the hell did you do that to Pansy? You and I both know that you're going to Marry her. She's very upset and thinks that There's something going on between you and That Mudblood Head Girl. There better not Be or there will be hell to pay! You also haven't Been showing up to the Death Eater meetings. I'll let that slide because of school, but after you're Out, I expect you to be at every one. Don't fail Me, you'll be sorry!
Lucius "That asshole!" Draco yelled.
"What's wrong, Draco?"
"My father wants me to marry Pansy. He also wants me to be at all the Death Eater meetings when school is over. We can't let anybody know about us either. He said there will be hell to pay if he hears that something is going on."
"Then no one can know. We can still be civil to each other, but we can't be all touchy, feely, giggly in front of other people," Hermione stated simply.
"I'm still sitting next to you in class," Draco said stubbornly.
"That's fine. I wouldn't have it any other way."
They both went to bed thinking about what would happen if Lucius found out.