Made of You Part 5
Disclaimers: I don't own any of these characters..
Damn it, Draco thought, I'm in for it now. By the look of shock and pure outrage on Hermione's face, he knew that she was not pleased to find out that he was the one behind the mask. Great, what am I going to do now? In his mind, he went over about a hundred things that he could've said to her at that moment, but each one seemed inappropriate to him. In the end, the only words that came out were "Yes Hermione, so you finally realized." Strangely, his voice sounded cold and indifferent.
"Draco? Draco Malfoy? How the hell could this be?" Her voice had a somewhat hysterical ring to it. Her eyes, which had gazed at him with such adoration just a few moments ago, had suddenly turned cold and suspicious. She took a few steps away from him, stumbling slightly. Somehow, it hurt him to see that Hermione still distrusted him as much as ever. But distrust was not the only emotion she felt towards him, because Draco knew for a fact that she also despised him. That knowledge hurt even more, but he was unwilling to admit it.
"Well, who did you expect it to be, Potter?" As soon as the words came out of Draco's mouth, he regretted saying them because Hermione's expression had suddenly turned from anger to hurt. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was hurt her in any way, but her apparent hatred of him had driven him to the edge.
"I see you're still your old despicable self, Malfoy." Even though Hermione was trying to sound strong, Draco had the impression that she was on the verge of breaking down into tears. "Five years hasn't changed you much has it? Having a new outer appearance won't be able to hide your true colors, because you're still just a cruel bastard on the inside!"
Grabbing her by the arm, Draco tried to stop the flow of her words, because each one was like a knife piercing his gut. "Hermione, I'm sorry about what I said…" But before he had time to finish, her hand came down, hard, on his face. "Don't touch me!", she cried, yanking her arm from his grip. "Isn't it enough that you've already humiliated me? Do you need another excuse to laugh at me even more? I guess you just don't know when enough is enough!" And with that, Hermione turned and began stalking away.
Just as he was about to go after her, Draco suddenly heard the sound of shattering glass. He snapped his gaze to the direction where the sound came from and was shocked at what he saw. About a dozen dark wizards on broomsticks had crashed through the ballroom's double glass windows, and were now looming over the terrified muggles. By the snake symbol engraved on the back of their black cloaks, Draco knew that these people belonged to Voldemort. They scanned the entire room, as if looking for someone.
"There she is!", one of the wizards suddenly cried. He pointed his finger down at a person in the crowd. Following the direction where the man's finger was pointed at, Draco's gaze suddenly fell upon Hermione. What the…? Why do they want her? But all thoughts escaped him when he saw the same wizard pulling out his wand and directing it at Hermione's chest. Without thinking, Draco ran towards Hermione, hurling himself on top of her. He felt a burning sensation sear through his left shoulder blade as they struck the wooden floor. Ignoring it, he scrambled on top of her, covering her body with his.
His shoulder hurt him like hell, but there was no time to dwell on that. Pulling himself and Hermione up quickly, Draco grabbed her by the arm and began running towards the door.
Behind him, Hermione struggled against his grip. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Draco? I can't leave my friend Carol here all by herself! I have to go find her to see if she's alright!"
Ignoring her remark, Draco continued to run towards the door, his grip on her tighter than ever. When they got there, he kicked the door open and pushed Hermione out first, then followed suit. Once outside, Draco took up her arm again and started running towards a dark alleyway on the other side of the street.
Behind him, Hermione stopped abruptly in her tracks, nearly causing Draco to stumble out of balance. Whirling around, he eyed her disbelievingly, wondering if her wits had escaped her. "Hermione, those guys are after you! What part of that don't you understand?"
"Listen Draco, I don't know what's going on here, but I have to go back and save my friend. I'm not leaving without her." There was a look of defiance on her surprisingly calm face.
Draco was incredulous. Even as they were talking, the dark wizards were probably gaining on them. "How stupid are you? Don't you get it? They're not after your friend, they're after you! Now let's get the hell out of here before they catch up!" But it was already too late. Behind him, Draco heard the sound of zooming brooms. Without another word, he took hold of Hermione's arm once again and ran towards the end of the alley.
"Draco, where do you think you're going? Its a dead end!"
"Just trust me on this one, will you, Hermione?!" When they reached the dead end section of the alleyway, Draco muttered something under his breath, and where there once was a wall, now stood a door. Pulling it open, he dragged both himself and Hermione inside, then quickly slammed it shut. Muttering the same incantation as before, the door disappeared, revealing a wall once again. They were instantly engulfed by total darkness.
"Draco, what is this place?" Hermione's voice could be heard somewhere to his right.
"You see," he explained, "the incantation I just used opened up this secret tunnel. It'll lead us to a hidden trapdoor in my room back at Malfoy mansion. I created this tunnel when I was ten years old, just in case of emergencies."
"Well good for you, but didn't you ever think to install some lights in here? I can't see a single thing." Her voice had just the slightest twinge of sarcasm in it.
"As you wish, my lady." Taking out his wand, Draco whispered "Lumos", creating a spark of light. Handing it to Hermione, he began leading the way down the dark tunnel.
As he walked, a sudden wave of dizziness swept over him. He had to grab onto the walls in order to steady himself. Draco knew that his dizziness was caused by the wound on his shoulder. Even now, he could feel the warm blood trickling down his shoulder, soaking his shirt and cape. He tried to ignore the dizziness, increasing his walking pace. But soon, another wave swept over him, this time, so intense that his knees buckled, causing him to fall.
Having seen this, Hermione rushed to his side, wand in hand, eying him with concern. "Are you alright Draco? What's wrong?" She put her hand on his bad shoulder, causing him to wince. When her hand came in contact with his sticky blood, she gasped in shock.
"Oh my god, Draco…you're hurt!" He was surprised by the actual concern in her voice. Surprised and pleased.
"No really, Hermione. As if I didn't already know that. By the way you've been acting the whole night, you seem as if you've lost all your wits during these past five years." Draco knew that he was being mean, but couldn't help it. He wanted desperately to get her back for her mistreatment of him during the ball. In other words, he wanted to hurt her pride in the same way she has hurt his.
Ignoring him, Hermione continued to study his wound. "Draco, now's not the time for games. I can tell you're hurt pretty badly. There's only one thing for you to do right now."
"And what would that be, miss know-it-all?"
"Well," she said smugly, " the only thing to do. Take off your shirt."
Well folks, the end of part 5. I'm sorry if this one wasn't as interesting or well written as the rest. Its just that I haven't had enough time or sleep lately. It's bound to get to a gal. I'll be busy for the next few days with all these back to school things going on, so there might not be a new part for a few days, but I promise I'll get to it soon. Please be patient. And as always, your comments are what keeps me going so keep reviewing! Adios =P