CHAPTER 14~ A Secret Room
DRACO'S POV~
"We're going to Dumbledore now," Hermione said sternly.
I nodded a bit dumbly and followed her through the corridors to Dumbledore's office. We knocked on the door and he beckoned us to come in.
"What can I help you with?" he asked.
Hermione looked at me, and I said, "A few days ago, I received a letter from Lucius. He wants me to go to the Death Eater meeting tomorrow night, and he wants me to take Hermione with me. I sent my response back that stated we weren't going to attend and I received this back this morning." I handed Dumbledore the piece of parchment, and he sat there quietly just staring at it for a while.
"Well this is a problem if I ever saw one. I want you both to stay where people can see you. This means no more late night sneak outs." I looked at Hermione in disbelief, but Dumbledore continued as if he hadn't seen me, "Make sure that you stay in hallways in which you can be seen and where Lucius would be a fool if he tried anything. Is that understood?"
"Yessir," we mumbled together."
"And as I requested the last time you were in here, I would like to see every letter that is sent to you. Do not write back unless you come to me first."
We nodded and thanked him, and then we were free to go to our classes.
"How'd he know about that?" Hermione asked me once we were in the hall.
"He knows about everything."
"But do you know how many rules we've broken so far this year. We should be expelled!"
"He wouldn't do that."
"How do you know that?"
"Because we're the smartest students in our year by a long shot. He won't expel us. Don't worry about it so much," I said. "I like seeing you every night, though. It's like-we're supposed to see each other now."
"I never said we had to listen to him. I've broken rules before, and I plan on breaking them again." She smirked wickedly.
"We shouldn't use the Astronomy Tower, though. That probably wouldn't be the smartest move."
"I found this secret room last year. That's what your surprise was gunna be-part of it anyway."
"So where is this room?" I asked innocently.
She took my hand and walked me down the corridors and up the stairs. I tried to remember every turn we made, but I was finding it impossible. She stopped suddenly and pushed me toward the wall. I closed my eyes expecting to hit it hard, but I fell through it and landed on the floor. Before I could ever get a chance to look around, she came through the wall laughing hysterically.
"What the hell was that?" I asked getting up.
"I saw that you weren't really paying attention to me. I was talking to you and you weren't answering me or anything, and we got to this passage, so I pushed you through. You should have seen your face! It was so funny!"
"Maybe to you." I looked around the room. There was a large bookshelf in the corner, and a bed in the center. There were couches and chairs scattered about. The walls were a light blue and the furniture was silver. The room was absolutely amazing. "How did you find this?"
"It was actually after one of our more brutal fights last year. I wanted to kill you, but fortunately I didn't. I started walking around to cool off, and I leaned against the wall and just fell through. So basically, it's thanks to you that I found this place. A lot of times, I come up here to just be alone. No one knows about it, not even Ron or Harry."
"Well that's a good thing." I smirked.
"It's a very good thing."
She put her arms around my neck, and mine went around her waist. I leaned down and touched my lips to hers. She pulled me closer and slid her tongue into my mouth. She pushed me back so I was laying on the bed.
"We have classes today," I said.
"Don't worry about it. It's Friday; we won't be missed."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
Before I could say anymore, she crawled on top of me and kissed me again. This time her lips were hard and fierce. She slid my robes off my shoulder and discarded it. I did the same with hers. She then started to unbutton my shirt, and even though her lips were moving fiercely, her hands were moving unbelievably slow. When she was about half way down, I began to do her buttons furiously. I was getting very impatient with her buttons since my hands were shaking so much, so I settled for ripping it off her.
I flipped her so that she was lying underneath me. I tore my mouth away from hers and discarded my shirt and her bra. I began kissing her neck and massaging her firm breasts. She let out a low moan and ran her fingers through my hair. Her hands slid down my shoulders and onto my chest. When her hands reached my pants, she unbuttoned them and slid them off me along with my boxers. I was having trouble undoing her pants, so she moved my hands and undid them herself. She was obviously more collected than I was.
Once the remainder of our clothes were discarded, I slid into her and we began moving to our own rhythm. I ran my hands over her body, which was sleek with the perspiration from our bodies. She flipped me so that I was once again on the bed. Her fingers dug into my shoulders as she began rocking back and forth in circular motions.
We were screaming each other's name, and I felt myself coming close to my release. She must have felt it too because she started rocking faster and harder. I let out a final scream as I filled her with my fluids. She laid down on my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her bare back. She was shivering uncontrollably so I pulled a blanket around the two of us.
"That was the other part," she said while panting heavily.
It took a while for me to register exactly what she was talking about, but when it finally hit me, I said, "That was the best surprise anyone has ever given me."
"That was what I was hoping for."
We laid like that for the longest time, and I could feel my heartbeat slowing down gradually. Our breathing became slow and even once again.
~
HERMIONE'S POV~
We stayed in the room all day. For the most part we just held each other quietly, but we did occasionally talk. When we were getting dressed to go back to the common room, Draco asked, "How come you didn't tell me about this place sooner?"
"I wanted to know if you truly loved me first. I needed that assurance. I don't know why, I just did."
"I understand. I was just curious, that's all. How do you make sure that no one's out there when you leave?"
I took my wand out and tapped the wall and said, "Revellium!" The wall became clear so we could see through it. Sure enough, no one was out there. "What time is it?" I asked.
"Eight. We missed dinner."
"Oh damn! Let's go get something from the kitchens. The house elves are always more than willing to give food away."
We walked to the door to the kitchens, and I tickled the pear. The door opened and the house elves brought us food right away. As always, the food was delicious and the house elves were more than happy to give us pastries to take back to our dorms.
We thanked them and took off. We walked up quickly to the Gryffindor Tower. As Draco was about to kiss me goodnight, I said, "You can't walk back down to the dungeons alone. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Well what am I supposed to do then? It's not like I can go anywhere else."
"You can stay in the Gryffindor common room," I suggested even though I knew he'd probably disagree along with the rest of the House.
"Did you get dropped on you head when you were a baby? They won't let me sleep in there! They all hate me, remember! They've hated me since the day we met. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
"You won't be fine! I don't trust Lucius. He could be listening to us right now for all we know. You are coming in there with me and I don't care what they think. I can't let anything happen to you. You know you mean everything to me."
He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. "I know. How do you plan on persuading them to let me stay?"
"I don't know yet. Let's just see what happens. Pumpkin Pie." The portrait swung open and I walked in with Draco right behind me.
"What the fuck is he doing here?! Get the hell out you Slytherin bastard! How the fuck could you let him in?! What the fuck are you thinking?! How could you let that git in here?!" were some of the pleasant things that were screamed when the Gryffindors saw Draco.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I yelled. That got their attention. Everyone became instantaneously quiet. "Thank you. Draco has to stay here tonight. If he goes back down to the dungeons he might be killed."
"Let him go then!" someone called out.
"Are you fucking retarded?" I asked. "He's not as bad as you think he is. I don't really care what you say, he's staying here tonight."
"Yeah I guess he can't be that bad of the best student in the school is fucking him."
I chose to ignore that particular comment. "If you don't let him stay, you're not true Gryffindors. Gryffindors do what's right even if that means taking a great risk. I know that you're all brave. If you weren't you wouldn't be in this House. He's staying here tonight."
There was a low murmur as some people were talking it over. "He can stay," Harry said over everyone else. "I know how much this means to you, and I know you wouldn't bring him in here if there wasn't any trouble. He can stay for tonight."
"Thanks, Harry," I said.
Some of the others were still glaring at Draco. "Maybe I should chance going back to the dungeons," he whispered to me.
"No! You're staying here."
"Fine, but I don't like the way they're looking at me. It looks like they're gunna kill me while I'm sleeping."
"I'll sleep down here with you then. Anyway, if they killed you I'd kill them." I turned back to the rest of the Gryffindors. "If any one of you tries to touch Draco, you're all dead."
After that, everyone went up to their dorms. I went up to mine and put on my pajamas, which consisted of a black t-shirt shirt with a silver dragon and green pants.
When I returned to the common room, Draco was lounging on the couch by the fire. I noticed that he had transfigured his school robes into pajamas. As I got closer, I realized that he was wearing the same thing as me. "Hey, you stole my clothes!" I said jokingly.
"It's just like you to wear the same thing as me." He smiled and shook his head.
"Whatever, I'm not changing."
"Neither am I."
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
We both started laughing, and he pulled me down on the couch with him and kissed me softly. "Goodnight," he whispered.
"Goodnight."
"Hermione?"
"Yeah."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
I turned on my side, and he put his arms around me, and we fell asleep.
DRACO'S POV~
The next day was Halloween, and I woke up on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. Hermione was curled up in my arms. She looked like an angel when she was sleeping. I noticed a few scattered people around, but they weren't talking very loud.
I moved my hand up to Hermione's cheek, and caressed it softly with my thumb. She stirred a little but didn't wake up.
She woke up about twenty minutes later. "'Morning," she said sleepily.
"Good morning."
"What time is it?"
"I have no idea."
"Check your watch!"
"I can't. You're laying on my arm. You're not made of glass, you know. I can't exactly see through you."
She smiled a little so I could get my arm out from under her. "Nine forty- three."
"Is it really?"
"Yup."
"Let's go eat. I'm so hungry," she mumbled.
"Alright. Go get dressed."
"Okay, I'm going." But she didn't exactly move.
"Uh, 'Mione, to get dressed you kinda hafta get up. If you want any food to be left, you should move a little quicker."
She got up slowly and started to walk slowly up the stairs to her room. I grabbed my wand from the table behind my head and transfigured my pajamas into baggy jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black sweatshirt. Hermione came down wearing the same thing. I saw her before she saw me, so I transfigured my sweatshirt to make it grey.
"Ready to go?" she asked me.
"Sure," I answered. She took my hand, and we walked out of the portrait together. In the Great Hall we went our separate ways. I sat down at the Slytherin table next to Blaise as always.
"Where were you yesterday?" she asked.
"I wasn't feeling too well," I lied. I felt bad lying to her, but I didn't exactly wanna tell her what really happened in front of the rest of the Slytherins.
"I know you weren't sick. You weren't in the common room, you weren't in your dorm, and you weren't in the hospital wing. Where the hell were you?"
"I'll tell you later," I hissed. "I can't tell you right now. I'll talk to you tonight or later sometime."
"Alright, but does this hafta do with Lucius?"
"Part of it-well-it's basically a result of him taking us last weekend."
She looked at me skeptically, but didn't say anything.
I met up with Hermione after we were finished eating. "Where do you wanna go?" I asked.
"I don't care. Let's go for a walk outside. I haven't been out there in a while."
"Alright," I agreed. "I haven't been out there much this year either."
We walked out the Entrance Hall, down the steps and toward the lake. I sat down on a large rock that was near-by, and pulled Hermione down onto my lap. For the longest time, I just stared out at the water and watched the squid dance joyfully across the water. Little ripples of water emitted out behind it. Everything looked so peaceful, and I was swishing that everything in life was as peaceful as the trees and the water, but nothing was and nothing ever would be.
Hermione laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. She had a small smile on her lips and looked so content just sitting there with me. I felt the same way. Hermione always seemed to brighten up every aspect of my life, even when it felt like things were going to hell.
"Draco?"
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"How come everything out here is so peaceful and quiet when our lives are nothing like it? Why doesn't the world reflect our lives?"
"If the world reflected our lives we would literally be living in hell. The sky would always be grey, there would always be fire, the trees and flowers would never bloom and the ground would probably be all gravel and black. That's probably why the world doesn't reflect our lives. We'd have nowhere to get away from things. There would truly be no peace for anyone."
She nodded. "I wish our lives could reflect the world around us."
"So do I."
As I said that, the branch from the tree above us dropped its last leaf into the lake, and it was washed away to the other side. ~ We went to the feast that night. I was feeling more than a little paranoid. I kept looking around like Lucius was lurking around every corner. During the entirety of the feast, I kept an eye on Hermione. I saw her every move-what she ate, when she laughed at what Potter or Weasley said, and when she looked at me. I was a wreck that night. Hermione and I agreed not to see each other after hours just in case Lucius was around.
I also noticed that Dumbledore was more paranoid than usual. His eyes kept darting around the hall. Most of the students probably didn't notice that anything was wrong with him because he was smiling as always.
Every time Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe, or Goyle tried to talk to me, I shrugged them off. I didn't want to get caught up in a conversation and miss Lucius sneak through the door.
Outside the Great Hall, I kissed Hermione goodnight and walked down to the dungeons with the rest of the Slytherins while Hermione walked back to the Gryffindor Tower with Potter and Weasley.
"Draco?" Blaise asked. "What's with you today?"
"A lot."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
I pulled her over to a secluded corner of the common room where no one would overhear what I was saying. "I'll start from the beginning. A few days ago, I received a letter from my father saying that Hermione and I were supposed to go to the Death Eater meeting that is taking place tonight. We answered saying no. He wrote back saying, 'Watch your backs.' Yesterday we skipped all our classes because she wanted to take me somewhere. We ended up spending the whole day together-if you catch my drift-and we're afraid that my father is gunna do something stupid tonight," I said quickly.
"Why are you talking so fast? That's not like you. This muggle girl is making you nuts. Why don't you just go for a nice pureblood girl?"
"She is a pureblood. Her parents fled to the muggle world years back to protect her. They had her grow up as a kind, caring, and studious muggle even though they were both in Slytherin. When she was accepted into Hogwarts her parents started beating her in hopes that she would become as cold as they were in school, but that didn't happen. She was sorted into Gryffindor and her beatings just got worse. Her parents were friends with Lucius and they've been in touch lately. Her parents have returned to Voldemort and neither of us want to join him. That's why Lucius is so mad at us."
"What's her real last name?"
"I'm not supposed to say."
"Come on, Draco. You know I won't tell anyone."
Just as I was about to tell her, she rolled up the sleeves to her shirt, and I saw what looked like a tattoo on her left forearm. "What's that?" I asked.
"N-nothing."
I grabbed her arm and looked at it. "You fucking bitch."
DRACO'S POV~
"We're going to Dumbledore now," Hermione said sternly.
I nodded a bit dumbly and followed her through the corridors to Dumbledore's office. We knocked on the door and he beckoned us to come in.
"What can I help you with?" he asked.
Hermione looked at me, and I said, "A few days ago, I received a letter from Lucius. He wants me to go to the Death Eater meeting tomorrow night, and he wants me to take Hermione with me. I sent my response back that stated we weren't going to attend and I received this back this morning." I handed Dumbledore the piece of parchment, and he sat there quietly just staring at it for a while.
"Well this is a problem if I ever saw one. I want you both to stay where people can see you. This means no more late night sneak outs." I looked at Hermione in disbelief, but Dumbledore continued as if he hadn't seen me, "Make sure that you stay in hallways in which you can be seen and where Lucius would be a fool if he tried anything. Is that understood?"
"Yessir," we mumbled together."
"And as I requested the last time you were in here, I would like to see every letter that is sent to you. Do not write back unless you come to me first."
We nodded and thanked him, and then we were free to go to our classes.
"How'd he know about that?" Hermione asked me once we were in the hall.
"He knows about everything."
"But do you know how many rules we've broken so far this year. We should be expelled!"
"He wouldn't do that."
"How do you know that?"
"Because we're the smartest students in our year by a long shot. He won't expel us. Don't worry about it so much," I said. "I like seeing you every night, though. It's like-we're supposed to see each other now."
"I never said we had to listen to him. I've broken rules before, and I plan on breaking them again." She smirked wickedly.
"We shouldn't use the Astronomy Tower, though. That probably wouldn't be the smartest move."
"I found this secret room last year. That's what your surprise was gunna be-part of it anyway."
"So where is this room?" I asked innocently.
She took my hand and walked me down the corridors and up the stairs. I tried to remember every turn we made, but I was finding it impossible. She stopped suddenly and pushed me toward the wall. I closed my eyes expecting to hit it hard, but I fell through it and landed on the floor. Before I could ever get a chance to look around, she came through the wall laughing hysterically.
"What the hell was that?" I asked getting up.
"I saw that you weren't really paying attention to me. I was talking to you and you weren't answering me or anything, and we got to this passage, so I pushed you through. You should have seen your face! It was so funny!"
"Maybe to you." I looked around the room. There was a large bookshelf in the corner, and a bed in the center. There were couches and chairs scattered about. The walls were a light blue and the furniture was silver. The room was absolutely amazing. "How did you find this?"
"It was actually after one of our more brutal fights last year. I wanted to kill you, but fortunately I didn't. I started walking around to cool off, and I leaned against the wall and just fell through. So basically, it's thanks to you that I found this place. A lot of times, I come up here to just be alone. No one knows about it, not even Ron or Harry."
"Well that's a good thing." I smirked.
"It's a very good thing."
She put her arms around my neck, and mine went around her waist. I leaned down and touched my lips to hers. She pulled me closer and slid her tongue into my mouth. She pushed me back so I was laying on the bed.
"We have classes today," I said.
"Don't worry about it. It's Friday; we won't be missed."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
Before I could say anymore, she crawled on top of me and kissed me again. This time her lips were hard and fierce. She slid my robes off my shoulder and discarded it. I did the same with hers. She then started to unbutton my shirt, and even though her lips were moving fiercely, her hands were moving unbelievably slow. When she was about half way down, I began to do her buttons furiously. I was getting very impatient with her buttons since my hands were shaking so much, so I settled for ripping it off her.
I flipped her so that she was lying underneath me. I tore my mouth away from hers and discarded my shirt and her bra. I began kissing her neck and massaging her firm breasts. She let out a low moan and ran her fingers through my hair. Her hands slid down my shoulders and onto my chest. When her hands reached my pants, she unbuttoned them and slid them off me along with my boxers. I was having trouble undoing her pants, so she moved my hands and undid them herself. She was obviously more collected than I was.
Once the remainder of our clothes were discarded, I slid into her and we began moving to our own rhythm. I ran my hands over her body, which was sleek with the perspiration from our bodies. She flipped me so that I was once again on the bed. Her fingers dug into my shoulders as she began rocking back and forth in circular motions.
We were screaming each other's name, and I felt myself coming close to my release. She must have felt it too because she started rocking faster and harder. I let out a final scream as I filled her with my fluids. She laid down on my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her bare back. She was shivering uncontrollably so I pulled a blanket around the two of us.
"That was the other part," she said while panting heavily.
It took a while for me to register exactly what she was talking about, but when it finally hit me, I said, "That was the best surprise anyone has ever given me."
"That was what I was hoping for."
We laid like that for the longest time, and I could feel my heartbeat slowing down gradually. Our breathing became slow and even once again.
~
HERMIONE'S POV~
We stayed in the room all day. For the most part we just held each other quietly, but we did occasionally talk. When we were getting dressed to go back to the common room, Draco asked, "How come you didn't tell me about this place sooner?"
"I wanted to know if you truly loved me first. I needed that assurance. I don't know why, I just did."
"I understand. I was just curious, that's all. How do you make sure that no one's out there when you leave?"
I took my wand out and tapped the wall and said, "Revellium!" The wall became clear so we could see through it. Sure enough, no one was out there. "What time is it?" I asked.
"Eight. We missed dinner."
"Oh damn! Let's go get something from the kitchens. The house elves are always more than willing to give food away."
We walked to the door to the kitchens, and I tickled the pear. The door opened and the house elves brought us food right away. As always, the food was delicious and the house elves were more than happy to give us pastries to take back to our dorms.
We thanked them and took off. We walked up quickly to the Gryffindor Tower. As Draco was about to kiss me goodnight, I said, "You can't walk back down to the dungeons alone. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Well what am I supposed to do then? It's not like I can go anywhere else."
"You can stay in the Gryffindor common room," I suggested even though I knew he'd probably disagree along with the rest of the House.
"Did you get dropped on you head when you were a baby? They won't let me sleep in there! They all hate me, remember! They've hated me since the day we met. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
"You won't be fine! I don't trust Lucius. He could be listening to us right now for all we know. You are coming in there with me and I don't care what they think. I can't let anything happen to you. You know you mean everything to me."
He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. "I know. How do you plan on persuading them to let me stay?"
"I don't know yet. Let's just see what happens. Pumpkin Pie." The portrait swung open and I walked in with Draco right behind me.
"What the fuck is he doing here?! Get the hell out you Slytherin bastard! How the fuck could you let him in?! What the fuck are you thinking?! How could you let that git in here?!" were some of the pleasant things that were screamed when the Gryffindors saw Draco.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I yelled. That got their attention. Everyone became instantaneously quiet. "Thank you. Draco has to stay here tonight. If he goes back down to the dungeons he might be killed."
"Let him go then!" someone called out.
"Are you fucking retarded?" I asked. "He's not as bad as you think he is. I don't really care what you say, he's staying here tonight."
"Yeah I guess he can't be that bad of the best student in the school is fucking him."
I chose to ignore that particular comment. "If you don't let him stay, you're not true Gryffindors. Gryffindors do what's right even if that means taking a great risk. I know that you're all brave. If you weren't you wouldn't be in this House. He's staying here tonight."
There was a low murmur as some people were talking it over. "He can stay," Harry said over everyone else. "I know how much this means to you, and I know you wouldn't bring him in here if there wasn't any trouble. He can stay for tonight."
"Thanks, Harry," I said.
Some of the others were still glaring at Draco. "Maybe I should chance going back to the dungeons," he whispered to me.
"No! You're staying here."
"Fine, but I don't like the way they're looking at me. It looks like they're gunna kill me while I'm sleeping."
"I'll sleep down here with you then. Anyway, if they killed you I'd kill them." I turned back to the rest of the Gryffindors. "If any one of you tries to touch Draco, you're all dead."
After that, everyone went up to their dorms. I went up to mine and put on my pajamas, which consisted of a black t-shirt shirt with a silver dragon and green pants.
When I returned to the common room, Draco was lounging on the couch by the fire. I noticed that he had transfigured his school robes into pajamas. As I got closer, I realized that he was wearing the same thing as me. "Hey, you stole my clothes!" I said jokingly.
"It's just like you to wear the same thing as me." He smiled and shook his head.
"Whatever, I'm not changing."
"Neither am I."
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
We both started laughing, and he pulled me down on the couch with him and kissed me softly. "Goodnight," he whispered.
"Goodnight."
"Hermione?"
"Yeah."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
I turned on my side, and he put his arms around me, and we fell asleep.
DRACO'S POV~
The next day was Halloween, and I woke up on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. Hermione was curled up in my arms. She looked like an angel when she was sleeping. I noticed a few scattered people around, but they weren't talking very loud.
I moved my hand up to Hermione's cheek, and caressed it softly with my thumb. She stirred a little but didn't wake up.
She woke up about twenty minutes later. "'Morning," she said sleepily.
"Good morning."
"What time is it?"
"I have no idea."
"Check your watch!"
"I can't. You're laying on my arm. You're not made of glass, you know. I can't exactly see through you."
She smiled a little so I could get my arm out from under her. "Nine forty- three."
"Is it really?"
"Yup."
"Let's go eat. I'm so hungry," she mumbled.
"Alright. Go get dressed."
"Okay, I'm going." But she didn't exactly move.
"Uh, 'Mione, to get dressed you kinda hafta get up. If you want any food to be left, you should move a little quicker."
She got up slowly and started to walk slowly up the stairs to her room. I grabbed my wand from the table behind my head and transfigured my pajamas into baggy jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black sweatshirt. Hermione came down wearing the same thing. I saw her before she saw me, so I transfigured my sweatshirt to make it grey.
"Ready to go?" she asked me.
"Sure," I answered. She took my hand, and we walked out of the portrait together. In the Great Hall we went our separate ways. I sat down at the Slytherin table next to Blaise as always.
"Where were you yesterday?" she asked.
"I wasn't feeling too well," I lied. I felt bad lying to her, but I didn't exactly wanna tell her what really happened in front of the rest of the Slytherins.
"I know you weren't sick. You weren't in the common room, you weren't in your dorm, and you weren't in the hospital wing. Where the hell were you?"
"I'll tell you later," I hissed. "I can't tell you right now. I'll talk to you tonight or later sometime."
"Alright, but does this hafta do with Lucius?"
"Part of it-well-it's basically a result of him taking us last weekend."
She looked at me skeptically, but didn't say anything.
I met up with Hermione after we were finished eating. "Where do you wanna go?" I asked.
"I don't care. Let's go for a walk outside. I haven't been out there in a while."
"Alright," I agreed. "I haven't been out there much this year either."
We walked out the Entrance Hall, down the steps and toward the lake. I sat down on a large rock that was near-by, and pulled Hermione down onto my lap. For the longest time, I just stared out at the water and watched the squid dance joyfully across the water. Little ripples of water emitted out behind it. Everything looked so peaceful, and I was swishing that everything in life was as peaceful as the trees and the water, but nothing was and nothing ever would be.
Hermione laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. She had a small smile on her lips and looked so content just sitting there with me. I felt the same way. Hermione always seemed to brighten up every aspect of my life, even when it felt like things were going to hell.
"Draco?"
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"How come everything out here is so peaceful and quiet when our lives are nothing like it? Why doesn't the world reflect our lives?"
"If the world reflected our lives we would literally be living in hell. The sky would always be grey, there would always be fire, the trees and flowers would never bloom and the ground would probably be all gravel and black. That's probably why the world doesn't reflect our lives. We'd have nowhere to get away from things. There would truly be no peace for anyone."
She nodded. "I wish our lives could reflect the world around us."
"So do I."
As I said that, the branch from the tree above us dropped its last leaf into the lake, and it was washed away to the other side. ~ We went to the feast that night. I was feeling more than a little paranoid. I kept looking around like Lucius was lurking around every corner. During the entirety of the feast, I kept an eye on Hermione. I saw her every move-what she ate, when she laughed at what Potter or Weasley said, and when she looked at me. I was a wreck that night. Hermione and I agreed not to see each other after hours just in case Lucius was around.
I also noticed that Dumbledore was more paranoid than usual. His eyes kept darting around the hall. Most of the students probably didn't notice that anything was wrong with him because he was smiling as always.
Every time Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe, or Goyle tried to talk to me, I shrugged them off. I didn't want to get caught up in a conversation and miss Lucius sneak through the door.
Outside the Great Hall, I kissed Hermione goodnight and walked down to the dungeons with the rest of the Slytherins while Hermione walked back to the Gryffindor Tower with Potter and Weasley.
"Draco?" Blaise asked. "What's with you today?"
"A lot."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
I pulled her over to a secluded corner of the common room where no one would overhear what I was saying. "I'll start from the beginning. A few days ago, I received a letter from my father saying that Hermione and I were supposed to go to the Death Eater meeting that is taking place tonight. We answered saying no. He wrote back saying, 'Watch your backs.' Yesterday we skipped all our classes because she wanted to take me somewhere. We ended up spending the whole day together-if you catch my drift-and we're afraid that my father is gunna do something stupid tonight," I said quickly.
"Why are you talking so fast? That's not like you. This muggle girl is making you nuts. Why don't you just go for a nice pureblood girl?"
"She is a pureblood. Her parents fled to the muggle world years back to protect her. They had her grow up as a kind, caring, and studious muggle even though they were both in Slytherin. When she was accepted into Hogwarts her parents started beating her in hopes that she would become as cold as they were in school, but that didn't happen. She was sorted into Gryffindor and her beatings just got worse. Her parents were friends with Lucius and they've been in touch lately. Her parents have returned to Voldemort and neither of us want to join him. That's why Lucius is so mad at us."
"What's her real last name?"
"I'm not supposed to say."
"Come on, Draco. You know I won't tell anyone."
Just as I was about to tell her, she rolled up the sleeves to her shirt, and I saw what looked like a tattoo on her left forearm. "What's that?" I asked.
"N-nothing."
I grabbed her arm and looked at it. "You fucking bitch."