Draco unintentionally opened his grey eyes after releasing the curse on Voldemort and his followers; he heard movement from some sort of commotion in the room where he had left a very frightened Pansy. He had wanted to see what the outcome would be, but he shrugged the annoyance away by thinking that he'd probably see the outcome of the spell in his next dream. He wondered how Hermione had gotten on with Harry when she had returned the Cloak, and he decided with a sadistic smile that he would like to teach Harry a lesson if he took his jealous anger out on Hermione. Crabbe and Goyle noisily entered the room, which interrupted his thoughts of hurting his nemesis, and they strode towards him in what they thought to be a menacing manner. The blond youth stood up and defiantly stared his ex-henchmen in the face as they trapped him against a wall, and he did nothing to stop Goyle as he held him in place. Crabbe growled out a demand for him to reveal what had happened to Pansy, and Draco smiled back innocently as he said that he hadn't physically harmed her in any way (he hadn't; he had used magic instead of his body to cause the damage), but neither of his fellow students believed him. Crabbe took a savage swing at Draco's chest and all present heard a sickening crack as his hand hit against the solid wall behind the smaller Slytherin after going through Draco's body. He retracted his hand quickly as it began to burn a crimson red, and in shock Goyle tore Draco's robes open to see if any marks had been left from Crabbe's punch, but all he saw was smooth, unblemished skin that should have been hit. He backed off automatically when he saw that there was nothing that could have caused the peculiar phenomenon to take place. Draco cracked his knuckles one by one; when they could hear each pop that the cracking emitted from his hands, a large oozing boil sprang up on Goyle's face. He maliciously explained that it was payback for the curse that Goyle had left for him in the trunk as his old friends' faces bore expressions of horror. He rubbed his hands together that repeated the cracks as each bone returned to their original positions, which had the same effect on Goyle as the original cracks had. All Draco required to fix his robes was a mere glance down at them, and the material sprang to life as it re-stitched itself; the end result made it look like it had just been bought due to its quality. The older boys fled from the bedroom and Goyle headed off towards the hospital wing, only to be told that there was nothing Madame Pomfrey could do as she had never seen anything like them, and upon being asked what had happened to cause them to appear in the first place, Goyle remained silent and turned back towards the way he had come. He noticed an iridescent glow coming from the dungeon where their potions classes took place, and due to his curiosity, Goyle approached the door. Written on the door—no, hovering in front of the entrance—was a haunting message in a blood red substance, saying:
"Any member of a family that has a Death-Eater for a parent may want to send their sympathy home before their funerals take place, since you were too late to say goodbye when they were still alive"
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Hermione cautiously approached Harry in Gryffindor Tower as she saw that he was deep in conversation with Ron and Neville, and they abruptly silenced themselves when they noticed her presence. She handed Harry the Cloak and combined the gesture with a sincere apology, but he brushed it away as though she had just made a comment about the Dursleys. He stood up and snarled out that she might need to take it for another session with Draco again that night, so there wasn't much point in her returning it, and sorrowful tears filled her brown eyes as she was obviously hurt by his harsh comment. She turned and ran to the solitude of her bedroom and cried her heart out as Crookshanks jumped on the bed and rubbed against her body, and Hermione noticed that even her cat was acting differently towards her. Was it really that hard to find someone who wouldn't judge her actions? It apparently was, seeing that the ginger cat hissed furiously at her abdomen, undoubtedly from Draco's scent on her clothes, and Hermione wished that he was there with her since he appeared to be the only one who could remotely tolerate her at the moment. Much to her delight, an owl began tapping at the window and she gave it a small treat before it flew away after dispatching her letter, from Draco. She read it a couple of times to make sure she had gotten the details correctly, and it said that he really missed her and wanted to know if she'd meet him again that night, but without anything from Potter this time. She dried her eyes and sheer joy replaced her distraught expression as she fixed her appearance, and without glancing back towards her 'friends' in the corner of the room, she left through the portrait hole before curfew was in action. Ron immediately noticed this and he surreptitiously motioned to Harry at the Cloak, who understood the meaning of it perfectly. As Seamus Finnegan approached the corner through perfect timing, they excused themselves from Neville's company and they left through the portrait hole before either of the other Gryffindors could say anything about their unexpected exit. They pulled the Cloak over themselves before walking down a corridor; they were both hoping it to be part of the route Hermione had taken. They knew that they were in luck when they saw her standing alone at the end of the corridor, and they approached her stealthily so she couldn't discover their identities. They stopped when they were five feet away from her, and both of them realised how beautiful she looked when she was excited about something other than passing a test that everyone else failed.
It was hard for both of the Gryffindor boys to maintain their anger when they saw Malfoy meeting her a few minutes later, and both of them felt incredibly jealous when he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. He whispered quietly to her before sliding his hand inside her robes, and they both saw how nervous she appeared with his hand inside her clothing; what they didn't know was that his intentions were honourable and he unexpectedly pulled her wand out and shot a wingardium leviosa spell in their direction. The Invisibility Cloak floated high into the air and the action revealed the furious boys underneath it to Hermione, who looked at them both with a look of pure annoyance. Draco returned the wand to her robes before she screamed at how they were happy to blame her for everything whenever they felt like it, and happy to get her to do research on their behalf when the need called for it, and now they were happy to invade her privacy. The angry words hung in the heavy atmosphere that Harry and Ron's actions had caused, and to prevent any further fights, Draco led her away from the speechless members of her House without allowing the Cloak to drop. He waited until they were a good bit away from them before asking her if she wanted to talk about it, and the response he got was a refusal and an angry sob. He held her against his body and he whispered to her whilst he ran his hand along her back to comfort her a bit as she continued to cry heavily into his chest. A single ring of a bell echoed throughout the school, indicating to students that they were to be in bed with their lights off no later than in five minutes. Hermione cried even harder when she heard it seeing that she knew she'd need to leave Draco before the second bell rang, and she explained this to him when she managed to control her sobs. He kissed her forehead as she spoke, and when she was finished, he offered her the option of sleeping in his dormitory again, so she wouldn't need to face the other two until the morning, and she immediately jumped at the opportunity. He led her back towards the Slytherin Common Room, and this time they weren't worried about being caught by anyone as there were still a couple of minutes left before curfew.
After entering the Common Room, the first thing they both noticed how empty it was, and when they got to Draco's room, they saw that they were the only two there. They sat down on his bed together and he kissed her with less restraint than he had in the corridor—he had sensed the concealed pair the minute he reached Hermione, so he hadn't wanted to make her appear easy in any sense. She lay back on the bed and motioned for him to mimic her action without breaking their lip-lock, and she became more daring as they were plunged into darkness as the second bell knelled to signify curfew had started. She moved his hands back to where they had been the night before, as she was comfortable with the facts that they were alone, and in the dark so he couldn't see her initial sense of embarrassment. Their actions were becoming more heated when Draco suddenly sat forward and apologised to her, and she ran her fingers along his back when she said she wasn't angry; it was, after all, a perfectly normal male bodily function. He didn't say anything in response so she sat forward and trailed her warm fingers against his cool skin to the area in question. He initially flinched as she touched him, and she gently whispered that if she didn't have a problem with it, then he certainly shouldn't, and he revealed that he felt as if he lured her there just for a quick feel-up with him, as Potter had suggested earlier. Hermione saw how hurt he was actually feeling and kissed his cheek to make him feel better, and she argued that Harry had no idea what they got up to, and that he was under the impression that they had slept together. Draco quietly declared that she was making him want to do that to her as they lay together alone in the dark, and that he knew that they were the wrong feelings to have at this stage of their relationship, and that was how he felt he had let her down. She kissed him again before enquiring if he wanted her to leave if he was beating himself up because of her presence, and she teasingly chewed on his ear before easing him back on top of her. His 'problem' was far more noticeable than before, and Hermione had no idea what was making her act like this—she had never dreamed of doing this to anyone at Hogwarts, especially with someone who had acted like they hated her for five years. Although he could easily manipulate her into sleeping with him, all of her actions were originating from inside her own head and not due to his strange powers. The fact that she had opened his robes and shirt to make him half-naked was adding to their excitement, and they partook in what Harry had accused them of at an earlier point.
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Harry and Ron waited until three sets of faint snores and grunts were being emitted by their roommates to reveal they were asleep, and then they heatedly discussed how Malfoy had treated their closest female friend that evening, and more importantly, how she had failed to return to Gryffindor Tower after the second bell. They had heard the unmistakable sound of a train leaving from Hogwarts a couple of hours beforehand, which made them both worry why there was a mini-evacuation in place; if a student was required to leave Hogwarts on an urgent family matter (no other reason was accepted, bar expulsion) there was a portkey arranged for them, so for a train to suddenly leave there must be a number of people abandoning their studies. They were now discussing all of the actions that Malfoy had apparently done from a couple of reliable sources and one of his own Housemates. It was also hard to explain how he could have possibly known they were there when they had been deliberately silent for that very reason, and in spite of being angry at Hermione's betrayal, her angry words had hurt them both as they realised that there was some truth in the matter. It appeared to her that they took her friendship for granted, and the more they considered it, the more apparent it could actually seem to her. It had taken a while to get the Cloak down as neither of them had their wands with them, but when the initial jealousy had disappeared, both of them had though it wise to wait in the Common Room until she returned so they could apologise to her, perhaps even wish her luck with their foe, but now they felt betrayed again. After a Prefect had ushered them to the dormitory, they waited intently to hear a creak from the portrait that never came. That night, Ron fell asleep with tears in his eyes due to the agonizing knowledge that he could never have Hermione in any way that Malfoy had her.
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In the following morning, Draco kissed Hermione awake to remind her that they had Potions first thing, and the last thing he wanted was another night of writing just for being late. She sleepily agreed with him before kissing him properly whilst reaching for her robes, and she suddenly felt ill that her books were in Gryffindor Tower, and he calmly suggested that they went to have a quick breakfast in the Great Hall before it became too crowded, and then when people began to fill it up, they would wait behind a tapestry until her friends had gone into the hall, and then she could get her books safely. She grinned at his suggestion and kissed him one last time before getting up and starting to get dressed, and he half-grudgingly mimicked her actions. They followed out Draco's idea and it worked flawlessly, except for Nearly Headless Nick's head flopping down to his side after seeing the couple eating at the Slytherin table together—he had always assumed that Hermione was proud to be in Gryffindor. They were the first two to be at the dungeon, and Draco fell ill when he saw the crimson writing—he didn't remember doing it, and it meant that his father was dead. He covered his mouth with his hand in shock, and nausea didn't even cover the feeling that was sweeping through his system after reading it. He felt faint and dropped his books and leant back against the cold wall beside the writing as he realised what it meant, and he could feel his senses deteriorating as he wondered what might have written it there. Hermione was snapping her fingers in front of his eyes and asking him if he was all right, and she held him in her arms as he cried into her hair. Harry turned the corner with Ron and he was complaining that his scar was hurting before he made some debasing statement about the young lovers, and it was only when Hermione pointed angrily at the writing that Harry dropped his edge and realised why she was in his arms. Draco snapped back into reality when they heard the familiar sound of Snape walking towards the dungeons, and he picked up his books from the ground as their teacher turned the corner. Snape waved at the writing with his ebony wand, thinking it to be mere basic magic in a student's idea of a joke, and he was taken aback when he realised that he couldn't remove it. He told his students to ignore it as they entered the dungeon, and nothing could prepare Draco for the sight that lay before them all; Nagini hung from the ceiling with her skin torn open, and Draco noticed that one of her fangs were chipped from biting his arm. At Snape's desk hung another comment:
"One student has the power to complete what they started, and another the ability to destroy it. Voldemort, Nagini and indeed so do the Death-Eaters: Rest In Pieces"
Harry came to the realisation that the writing had formed when he had heard the miniature explosion, and Draco knew that his vivid dreams were somehow true on another plane of existence. The question was: who had written these messages?
That's all for this chapter, but for those of you who want to know what's going to happen, REVIEW! Many thanks to my unofficial beta-reader Lindsey, who has helped me with this so far, and no doubt will help again *or is that merely wishful thinking? * And thank you for the reviews girl, you lighten my day up!
Until the next (intriguing, to say the very least) chapter, take care all!
~TR~