Chapter 10 - Suspicions

Draco, Harry and Hermione's mother stood outside Ginny's apartment, waiting for Ginny to open the door. Draco cursed under his breath. "When in the world will they stop gossiping and open the damned door?" he muttered.

Harry turned over and gave him a look. He did not say anything though but continue knocking on the door. Although Harry himself had never experienced feelings like being ditched, like Draco did, he could fairly understand Draco's feelings. If Ginny had told someone that she had never loved him, he would literally strangle himself. But that's not possible, thank god.

Harry glanced around. On seeing there was no one watching them particularly, he swiped out his wand and pointed at the knob. "Alohomora!"

A sight stopped them. Ginny was lying on the floor, her hand around her throat and red hair all about. The couch was overturned, the fragile coffee table was crashed...

"Ginny!" Harry dropped his wand as his feet involuntarily carried him to Ginny. He touched her hand. She felt cold, so cold...

She's about to die, Potter.

Harry glared at Draco, who had his thumb pressed on Ginny's wrist and was checking her pulse. "She's not!"

Draco stood up, but Harry took no notice. He was too busy taking in the surroundings and Ginny to notice Draco slip out of the apartment with Pulcheria.

Hermione was in her room in Seasons Mansion when the door burst opened to show Draco. With her mother.

"Mum!" Hermione threw her hands around the older brunette who had least expected it. Draco watched the happy reunion with crossed arms.

"Hermione," Draco said quietly. "Can I talk to you?"

Hermione sensed the controlled anger in his voice and immediately stepped back from her mother. She told Pulcheria to lie down on her bed for a rest before turning to Draco. She waited expectantly.

"Ginny's dying," Draco said. An unreadable look came onto his face. "What did you do to her?"

Hermione was so surprised by the fact that her ex-best friend was dying that she nearly missed the next sentence. Nearly. She narrowed her usually passionate brown eyes at Draco. "Me?" she spat. "What did I do to her? Why don't you tell me?"

Draco seemed unmoved by her furious words. "You were last at her house," he stated. "Look, I know you saw her in my room but that doesn't give you the right to make assumptions and that certainly doesn't allow you to kill her whenever and wherever you like."

The brunette gaped at him. "You thought I was jealous of her," she repeated in disbelief. Of all the people, he thought it was Hermione? Sure, any living thing has got feelings, and that includes Hermione. But she was the least possible person who would show it! And jealousy, no less!

"I know you did a Spiritus Difficilis spell on her, which unfortunately my father didn't teach me the counterspell," he said, eyeing the brunette. "Give me the counterspell, Hermione."

Hermione shut her eyes and breathed deeply. Just hit me with the spell, Draco, Hermione thought as tears formed at the corners of her eyes. It would be easier to bear with.

He thought it was her. Her, Hermione Granger. She didn't know what to think. He didn't trust her. That hurt. It hurt worse when she broke up with him by Sempiterna Amor River. She felt as if there was a hand seizing her heart.

Hermione drew in a shaky breath and looked Draco in the eye. There was hardness and regret in those grey eyes she had fallen in love with when she was fifteen. He seriously thought it was her.

She slammed the door in his face.

It was late at night when Draco returned to the apartment. He opened the door and watched Harry pace. Under different circumstances, he would have laughed and taunted him. Draco closed the door wearily and said, "You called?"

Harry stopped his pacing and shot him a glare. "Yes! I yelled for you in my mind so many times that I was beginning to think I was odd," he said. There was no expression or amusement on Draco's face. "Okay, that was not funny," he mumbled. "So, where did you go?"

"Hermione's," Draco said quietly. "She did the Spiritus Difficilis spell. I could tell."

Harry gaped at Draco. "She didn't!" he exclaimed. "She wouldn't!"

Draco sighed exasperatedly. "Do you ever listen to what I say?"

The dark-haired man pulled Draco to the door. "We've got to find her!"

Draco didn't bother telling Harry he had already went there. Instead, he let himself be pulled. Maybe Harry would have more luck in persuading Hermione.

They summoned their broomsticks and mounted without hesitation.

"Hey!" Harry shouted over to Draco. "Where is she anyway?"

Draco rolled his eyes, but it was too dark to be seen. He flew in front of Harry, a way of telling him to follow the blonde.

Dodging the misty grey clouds that would slower them, they reached the Mansion in exactly eight minutes. Harry jumped off his broomstick without properly dismounting and nearly broke his leg. Draco was slower in getting off. What would Hermione say if she saw him again?

He sauntered in the direction to her bedroom, a room among the other thirty-three, which he had memorized where it was. Harry was standing at the doorway with his jaw dropped as he frantically looked around. What Draco saw stopped him too.

The room was perfectly tidy and neat, except for some things on the table. It almost seemed as though no one had been in here at all. Draco walked over to it and found the book of Counterspells II from their own library. It was flipped open to a certain page... Page forty-eight. The page was titled The Counterspell to Spiritus Difficilis.

A piece of parchment was on the page, held down by an ink bottle. A note from Hermione, he believed.

Draco opened it, his eyes scanning through the message.


Draco,
I can't believe you thought it was me. Why? What did I do to deserve this? To deserve your distrust? What happened between you and Ginny was none of my business. If I recall, the encounter in your room was after the breakup. I had no relationship with you at the time. So how did it led you to believe that I did it?
By the time you find this letter I would have already be gone. You don't have to go to the airport or the tube or anything. I won't be there.
Hermione Granger

"Gin?" Harry called out softly.

Ginny's eyelids fluttered opened. "Harry," she croaked. Her voice was hoarse. She sounded terrible. "It was Tom Riddle."

Draco and Harry leaned forward at the same time. "Voldemort?" Harry repeated. "But he's dead."

Ginny shook her head. She made it seem like the most difficult thing to do. "His soul," she managed to say. "I saw his soul. He floated through the door... He held up his hand and muttered something. The spell took up most of his energy and he simply... vanished." She paused to breathe. "Then I felt this closure around my throat, cutting my supply of oxygen..."

Draco did not process the rest. He could not. He had mistook Hermione for doing a horrible thing like murder. He didn't need to turn to know that Harry was giving him reproving looks.

When will he ever learn?

][ A u t h o r ' s N o t e ][

In the next chapter... Yeah. When will Draco ever learn? Alright, in the next chapter, a wild search for Hermione, apologies and more apologies. *sighs*

* ARGH!! I took the longest time to finish the chapter! Nearly 3 HOURS! I doubt I would get over 100 reviews. =( Next update on Thursday. Latest Friday.

** Okay, I was surfing these RPG (role-playing) websites for Harry Potter and was wondering if you guys like it. 'Cos I might open one... Well. What do you think? Would you like to help me? An empty website might as well be no website. Leave me a message and your email if you are up to it. Thanks.

*** Don't press the button yet! Make sure you read the above message first!