Chapter 9 - The truth comes out

When he woke up, he was surprised to see Hermione at her desk, scribbling furiously away. Draco started to call her, then stopped himself. Give her time, he told himself.

Hermione, who had obviously been crying, was exhausted. She kept thinking what would happen to her, to Ginny and her mind kept flashing back to the nightmare she had last night. She wanted answers. She wanted to know what had actually happened to Ron. If he really is dead, why? Why was he killed? There was only one way to confirm but there was no way she could go through with it.

Hermione's tear-streaked face turned around to look for Draco. She needed to ask him to let her go.

He was nowhere to be found.

Draco sneaked out of the bedroom while Hermione was still writing away. He knew she wanted to see Ron. And that's what he was about to do. Ask permission to let her go.

Draco stepped into the peaceful library, expecting to see Lucius. He did see him, but Draco did not expect to see a brown lady with astonishing raven locks with arms around Lucius. He glared at his father.

"Ah, Artemisia, this is my son, Draco," Lucius introduced. "Draco, this is Beliarosa's mother."

"I need to talk to you," Draco said forcefully, ignoring Artemisia.

Lucius smiled apologetically at Artemisia and walked towards Draco slowly, eyes flashing and frowning. "Why did you interrupt me?" he hissed. "This had better be good."

"Have you forgotten Mother?" he blurted out. "What did you do to her?"

Lucius' eyes held a dangerous gaze. "You don't want to know," he spat.

"I do," Draco insisted.

Lucius grabbed his son by the collar of his black shirt. "She is not dead," he spat.

Draco was stunned. All those stories that had came out of Lucius' mouth... all fake? "You lied to me?" he whispered incredulously.

Lucius smirked the traditional Malfoy smirk. "Yes, my son, I lied," he said calmly. "She is now at St. Mungo, unit number 13."

Draco's eyes grew big. "What?"

Lucius smirked again, much to the annoyance of Draco, shrugged and sauntered back to Artemisia, leaving Draco to stare after him.

"Wait."

Lucius stopped short and turned around impatiently.

"Why did you kill Weasley?"

The smirk disappeared from Lucius' face and he fixed Draco a stare. "I thought you love her."

Draco mused over his father's words. What did he mean? Draco looked up to ask Lucius... only to find he was gone.

Hermione paced around back and forth. Come on Draco, come back. I need to see you...

"Christ, Hermione, you are making me dizzy," said Draco, amused. He walked over to his walk-in closet and pulled out some clothes.

"W-where are you going? I need to ask you... something, Draco," Hermione called over to him.

Draco's head popped out of the closet. He looked troubled. "My mother's at St. Mungo."

Hermione's hand flew up to her mouth. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know..."

"Neither did I," Draco replied grimly, heading out of the bedroom, buttoning his white t-shirt.

In the rush, Hermione forgot what she had wanted to ask. "Be careful," she called.

Draco smiled and nodded.

Outside, birds were chirping cheerfully. Owls flying in and out of houses and the sun was shining brightly. It looked perfect, like a portrait.

But someone ruined it all.

"Malfoy?"

Draco took a deep breath. Not now! he thought frantically. "What do you want, Potter?" he drawled, noticing Ginny Weasley clinging to Harry and nodded to her. "Finally you're his girlfriend?"

"I'll see you at home," Ginny mumbled and quickly left them alone.

The two school rivals stared at each other.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked finally.

"Why do you care?" Draco shot back.

Harry actually looked hurt for a second.

"St. Mungo," Draco muttered before he could stop himself.

Harry simply looked surprised. "Can I go?" he asked without hesitance and Draco blinked at him.

Draco shrugged (He mentally hit himself on the head. Why did I agree?) and they walked in silence.

"Who are we seeing?" Harry asked curiously.

"My mother," Draco answered simply, debating whether to tell Harry about Ron. Oh yeah, that will go well, Draco thought sarcastically. Hey Harry, my father murdered Ron. By the way, that pink pants doesn't suit you. Want to borrow some of my leather jeans?

They continued walking in silence.

Inside the hospital was chaos. Far from the perfect weather outside. Patients could be heard screaming, crying, laughing manically.

Draco felt Harry shudder beside him. "Scared, Potter?" he taunted.

Harry narrowed his eyes. There was a certain amusement in his tone. "You wish."

They reached unit number 13. Draco stopped Harry. "I want to face her alone if you don't mind."

Harry nodded understandably and Draco stepped into the room, his hand poised on his wand. He didn't know what he would be facing.

A rugged-looking woman was sitting cross-legged at the right corner of the room, staring into space and muttering to herself. Draco's heart went out to her when he saw the sorry state his mother was in.

"Mother," he called out softly and the woman's head jerked up. Her eyes widened and her face grew soft.

"Draco..." she murmured with longing, her hand outstretched. Draco stepped forward with caution and felt ashamed of his actions. I'm afraid of my mother? he asked himself with ridicule. "Mother... how are you? How did you... end up here?"

Narcissa's eyes grew unfocused and she held a glassy gaze. "I told him you were not his child. That you were Sirius'. I wanted revenge..."

Draco stared at his mother. "Why?" he asked incredulously, forcing the one-word syllable out of his mouth.

"I don't know. Probably out of madness. I used to date Sirius, after the short breakup with your father. Sirius was so charming... I also dated him to get back at your father, to make him jealous. He was dating Artemisia.

"She was so gorgeous. Then again, she's a Veela. When your father begged me for forgiveness, I relented. I thought it meant they had broken up. I confronted him and h-he said, he said -" Narcissa broke down and cried.

Draco hid away his fear and hugged Narcissa fiercely, something he had not done in years. He remembered seeing Artemisia in the library and could not help but feel disgusted at Lucius. "Mother, he does not deserve you."

"He said, 'I am too good for you alone.' in his cocky way. I was so furious and hurt. I turned to Sirius -" her voice broke.

"He turned away from me, said he didn't want anything to do with me. He looked at me with those cold eyes and told me frostily that it was over. I couldn't take it -"

"Mother, I understand," Draco interrupted, not wishing to see his mother in tears and hated to see her mother relish her feelings about that day.

The door burst opened. An appalled Harry and a furious Lucius stood outside the door.