A/N - Hey people. I know, I managed to avoid an author note so far (I never
do disclaimers. I doubt J.K. Rowling would come on here and check every
story to look for a disclaimer. Then again, watch me get sued.), but here I
am. I just wanted to thank the two people that did review. I really
appreciate it. I don't think the first two chapters really do the story
justice, but I needed some way to break into the plot and that's how I
chose to do it, so.Anyway, I'll shut up now. Here's the third chapter.
The next morning the sun rose and spread a it's light pink blanket over Hermione's yellow room. "Hermione, wake up!" someone was banging loudly on the door.
"What do you want, Harry?"
"It's 9:55, Hermione. You have to start working at ten. This is the third time someone's had to wake you up."
"Oh my God, thanks Harry!" Hermione popped out of bed and ran for her trunk. "Where are my clothes?" she muttered frantically. In three minutes, Hermione was ready to go and rushed down the spiral staircase, nervously fiddling with her buttons.
"Oomph," she gasped for air as she ran into something hard on the second floor. She stood up and quickly recomposed herself as she watched Draco get off the ground. "I'm sorry!" she jumped to help him up.
"I don't need your help, thanks, just slow down next time. Come on, let's get to the room," Draco grinned slightly at her hastiness.
Hermione stood there, confused. He hadn't yelled at her. He hadn't sneered. He hadn't threatened her. Actually, Draco Malfoy had just shown Hermione the closest thing to human compassion she had ever seen from him simply because he hadn't been rude when she messed up. Normally, he jumped at that chance. Hermione snapped back into reality and hurried after Draco, who was now twenty feet in front of her.
"Are you going to come with us today?"
"Come with who where?" Draco held the door open and Hermione passed though it.
"Harry, Ron, and I are going back into the town. We're going to the Three Broomsticks and then shopping," Hermione took a seat in the front of the room.
"Again, I'm going to have to say I'll pass," Draco again sat in the red chair.
"Why?"
"In case you haven't realized, Harry and Ron aren't too fond of me and it does work the other way around," Draco looked at her like she was mad for not realizing that.
"You're going to spend all of your week in Hogsmeade locked up in that horrid little room simply because those two don't act like they like you? That's a waste. And, an observation, but if you want them to act nicely to you, maybe you should try making the first move on that."
"What makes you think I want them to act nicely to me or that I care what you and your friends think about me?" Draco's usual sneer returned. "I have six more days and then I'm out of here."
"And what happens when you get back to Hogwarts?" Hermione pushed. "The same horrible rivalry keeps on going and get us into even more trouble, unless, you do something to stop it."
"Please just hand me a book to read, Hermione. The children we are supposed to be watching are getting impatient."
Draco read a book and the children went through playtime, nap time, and hide and go seek easily. Soon, Suede had come in the room and dismissed them.
"The offer still stands if you ever want to take me up on it," Hermione swept passed Draco and down to the end of the hall where Harry and Ron stood waiting for her.
"So," Ron took a gulp of his butterbeer, "how's playing house with Draco coming along?"
"Horribly," Hermione sighed. "For just a second, he seems to be partially human and then he goes right back to being horrible."
"Evil is as evil does. There is nothing human hiding itself in Malfoy."
"What about you two?" Hermione pushed the topic away from Draco.
"We're not doing badly," Harry mumbled while he shuffled around in his pockets to get out the correct change for Madam Rosmerta.
"Yeah," Ron laughed. "Except for when the kid stole Harry's wand and chased him around the classroom shooting sparks."
Hermione hid her face behind her cup to keep from laughing. "It's okay, Harry. Draco and I fell asleep and the children colored things all over our faces on the first day."
Ron snorted out his butterbeer. "That's worse than Harry!"
"I have to go to pick up a book from the library. I suppose neither of you want to go, so I'll meet you back at Suede's later." Hermione stood up and placed her silver sickles on the table before leaving."Why do I even bother with those two?" she swung the door open to the local library.
The Modern-Day Witch's Clues to Bewitching by Linhope Lynx stood in the middle of the nonfiction section on the very top shelf. "How do they expect you to reach these things?" she mumbled as she climbed up on the bottom shelf and stretched to reach the book. She had to climb three shelves before she reached it. She jerked the book from its wedged position on the shelf and lost her balance, falling backward onto somebody.
"Ouch!"
"Bloody hell. What do I look like? A big pillow?"
"No, but you work well as one," Hermione pushed her bushy brown hair out of her face and looked across at Draco. "Sorry. Again."
"I'll live. Here's your book," he held The Modern-Day Witch's Clues to Bewitching out to Hermione.
"Thanks. So, I see you decided to venture from the house."
"Suppose so. Do you know where I could find the latest Nimbus handbook?"
"Right over here," Hermione led him two aisles over and plucked a book off the shelf. "Anything else?"
"No, that's all I'm getting today."
"You're welcome," Hermione muttered sarcastically. "Have you gone to Honeydukes yet? I want to go in there and pick up a few things for my parents if you would like to come."
"No, I haven't been there," Draco paused. "I guess I could stand for a sugar quill."
The two of them left the library and headed down the street toward Honeydukes.
"Hermione!" Harry's voice followed them down the street. "Wait a second." He ran to catch up with the two of them. After a curt nod to Draco, he turned back to Hermione, "Where are you going?"
"Honeydukes."
"Great, could you do me a huge favor? Could you pick up three boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans? Ron and I are doing a project with the kids in our class tomorrow and we need something to make eyeballs," Harry shuffled around in his robes, looking for a gold galleon.
"What are you doing here with him?" Ron looked suspiciously at Draco.
"Neither of us is here with the other, Weasley. She just helped me find a book in the library," Draco spoke up, spun around, and began towards Honeydukes.
"Look at what you did, Ron!" Hermione snapped at Ron, took the galleon from Harry, and rushed after Draco.
"And you ask why I don't bother trying," Draco turned to Hermione once she caught up with him. "You and your friends all think you're so much better than me because I'm rude and I'm Slytherin and I'm the son of a Death Eater. I didn't choose to be related to Lucius Malfoy, in case you haven't realized, but, still, the bad reputation his name carried has been passed on to me. There's no point in trying to be any different because everyone expects me to be like him!" Draco ranted.
"Excuse me, but I never once gave you any reason to believe that I think I am better than you. I have tried to be nothing but courteous to you, and, for a second there, I thought I had a breakthrough, but now you are right back to being that person they all expect you to be. Why do you do that? If you hate it so much that they expect you to be like your father, then why do you help prove them right?"
"Because.it's a lose, lose situation. I lose any chance of a good reputation or I lose the small bit of my father's good will I have managed to gain, and, trust me, my father isn't a man you want to be on your bad side. Especially when you have to go home for three months over the summer."
"Well then why do you bother being human around me?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Because, like you said, you didn't judge me until I gave you a reason to, not my father's reputation or your friends' opinions," Draco looked up and looked Hermione directly in the eye. "Plus, a long time ago you told me you cared when no one else did.
"I broke that promise. I haven't done a very good job of showing you I care, and I'm not really sure I've been making an effort to care at all," she whispered and pulled open the door to Honeydukes.
"Don't worry, I'm used to people breaking that kind of promise" Draco said solemnly. "Now can I ask you a question?"
"You can ask, I'm not sure I'll answer," Hermione laughed.
"Why did you bother trying to find out whether or not I was human?"
"I had an inkling that the Draco Malfoy everyone knew and loathed was, in fact, Lucius Malfoy. Not you."
"Of course," Draco smiled over his shoulder as he picked up three sugar quills, "the girl with all the answers does it again."
"Was that a hint of rudeness or a joke?"
"The latter."
"Wow," Hermione smiled, "maybe I did get through to you."
"Just don't go telling anybody. I can't make any promises that it will last"
"Please try to make it last, Draco," Hermione begged over the display of Cockroach Clusters.
Meanwhile.
"What do you think is going on between those two?" Ron asked Harry as they walked to meet Sirius.
"I don't think anything is going on between them," Harry sighed. "You're overanalyzing things, Ron."
"C'mon Harry, you saw how mad she got at me when I upset Draco."
"Maybe she's just sick of the constant bickering," Harry replied absentmindedly.
"Fine, since you seem not to care about the Draco/ Hermione thing, what are you so worried about?" Ron complained impatiently.
"I- ouch!" Harry's hand snapped to his forehead.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Ron grabbed Harry to keep him from falling.
"It's the Riddle house. Come on, let's keep moving," Harry stumbled forward with his hand still clutched to his head.
"I thought your scar stopped hurting around here once Voldemort left."
"I guess it still has enough of Voldemort in it to hurt me."
"Scary," Ron quickened his pace. "Did Sirius say why he wanted to see us?"
"No, he just said to bring him food because he'd probably be stuck in his cave for a while," Harry held up the bag of food from the Three Broomsticks. "I think we have enough food in here to last him a year."
"You never know, Sirius does eat a lot."
The two of them reached the base of the mountain and the next fifteen minutes were spent in silence as they struggled to get up o Sirius' cave. A black dog stood waiting for them at the entrance of the cave and they crawled in. The dog quickly transformed into an extremely skinny man with rugged black hair.
"Is that food?" Sirius nodded in the direction of the bag in Harry's hand.
"Yeah," Harry held out the bag to him.
"Steak, ham, potatoes, and . dog biscuits? Very funny, Harry."
"It was Ron."
Sirius dug into the bag and started shoving food in his mouth. Harry and Ron waited patiently as he finished a turkey leg and scooped the insides of a baked potato out of the skin and into his mouth. When he started on his butterbeer, Harry spoke up.
"So, why was it so important that we came here, besides that you obviously needed food?"
"I don't want to be the first to tell you this, but.Voldemort is back, Harry," Sirius looked up from the food in front of him and turned toward his godson.
"Back? As in Britain?"
"Back in Hogsmeade. I was walking around town the other day and I ventured up to the old Riddle mansion and Peter was there. I couldn't let him see me, obviously, so I went straight back to my cave and sent you an owl."
"Is he back for me?" Harry gulped. "I'm not sure, just be careful, Harry," Sirius warned. Ron still stood in his corner, completely shocked.
"H-have you told Dumbledore?" Ron asked.
"I sent him an owl, but he hasn't replied yet. You two need to get back to town. Just promise me you won't do anything stupid, like go looking for him, okay?"
"Promise," Harry nodded before heading to the exit of the cave. "Thanks for telling us Sirius."
"Be careful, Harry," Sirius called after him, "and thanks for the food."
"Do you think he's after you, Harry?" Ron called after his friend as they climbed down the mountainside. "I don't know," Harry sighed. "What about you?"
"Well, every other time Voldemort was around here, he was after you, so I'd think yes. But don't rely on me for that, I'm always wrong."
"Well, that explains why my scar hurt earlier."
"You think we should tell Hermione?"
"Yeah. If Voldemort is -"
"Harry, stop saying his name," Ron shivered.
"Fine, if you-know-who is after me, it's inevitable for Hermione to be involved so I think she should know."
"Good luck getting her away from Draco long enough to tell her," Ron sneered.
"Jealous?" Harry grinned.
"No, I just think it's a little traitorous to become such good friends with Draco all of the sudden."
"Like I said earlier, Ron, you're overanalyzing this."
"Sure I am, Harry," Ron rolled his eyes.
"Thanks for the sugar quill, Draco," Hermione sucked on the end of the delicately spun sugar in her hand.
"I bought too many. It's better to be used than wasted," Draco shrugged nonchalantly.
Hermione smiled. I think I was definitely right when I said there might be more to Draco than we thought, she told herself.
"Your parents are dentists right?" Draco asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"If they're supposed to tell kids not to eat sugar, why did you go into a sweets shop to get them things?"
"They love it. I brought back that gum that you chew and it whitens your teeth two shades last time I went home. They wanted me to bring them back more."
Hermione shook her head and tried to clear her mind. All of the sudden, her thoughts seemed to run together and then her mind went completely blank. A confused look swept over her face and she stopped dead in her tracks. A hot, sharp pain shot through her legs and she fell to her knees. Draco turned around and rushed over to her side.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
Hermione just sat there on her knees motionless. Draco reached out his hand to touch her and she started convulsing. "Somebody help," he looked around nervously. People were staring at them and began to form a circle, but none of them moved. It seemed like he just sat there forever, completely helpless and then, behind the crowds, Draco heard someone shout "Expelliarmus," but by the time the crowd had parted, all that stood there was a black dog with a bone in its mouth.
Hermione's convulsions toned down to shivers. Draco lifted her into his arms and headed back to Suede's, ignoring the throngs of witches and wizards gathered around them. Hermione dropped her head onto Draco's shoulders and he tried to reposition her so she fit easily into his arms. They still had about a half-mile to the daycare.
"Are you okay?"
"I- I-"
"Forget I asked," Draco silenced her. "Just rest until we get back."
Hermione mumbled her thanks and snuggled into Draco's chest, seemingly unaware of what she was doing or what was going on.
Harry and Ron were walking silently along the dirt road when the familiar form of a black dog came rushing toward them. In mid-step, the dog turned into Sirius.
"Harry, Ron, get back to the daycare, now. Voldemort attacked Hermione. She's okay, I think, but you need to get out of here. I'll explain to Dumbledore, just get out of Hogsmeade. Go to the Dursley's or Ron's an send me an owl once you're there."
"What - "Harry began, but was cut off by Sirius.
"Just go," Sirius transfigured back into a dog and ran to the mountains. Harry and Ron took off in the other direction at a full sprint.
Hermione lay in the bed with a cold towel on her forehead and a glass of ice water in her hand. "Draco, I insist you stop treating me like a baby. I'm fine now."
"Why are you so eager to get out of bed? Is there somebody waiting for you in town or an appointment you have to be to?"
"No, I just don't like being.pampered."
"Are all muggles and muggle-borns this stubborn?" Draco took the water form her hand and set it on the nightstand.
"Are all 'purebloods' this discriminatory?" she shot back.
"I must admit, most of us are."
Ron and Harry burst through the door a moment later, nearly running over Draco.
"Are you okay, Hermione?" Harry gasped for air.
"I'm fine now, though if Draco doesn't believe it, I doubt you will either."
"What happened?" Ron took a sip of the water on the nightstand, causing Draco to give him a disgusted look.
"I don't know. My mind went crazy and then all of the sudden went blank. I couldn't think at all. It was like I was in a trance and then my knees gave out from under me and I don't remember anything after that."
"What did you see, Draco?" Harry asked worriedly.
"After she fell she started convulsing and then someone behind all of the people yelled 'Expelliarmus,' but all I could see was a black dog. She stopped convulsing and so I picked her up and brought her back here."
"How did you find out about it, Harry?" Hermione questioned.
"Someone told us. We have to talk to you too, Hermione."
"So.talk."
"Alone," Ron shot a look at Draco, who politely stood up and left. As soon as the door was shut behind Draco, Ron began. "Hermione, You-know-who 's back in the Riddle mansion. Sirius told us. He was the one who cursed you and Sirius stopped him."
"Voldemort's back?" Hermione sat up in her bed. "Harry, you need to get - "
"I know. I told Suede. I'm leaving in the morning and so are you, Ron, and Draco."
"Is he back for you?"
"We don't know. The four of us have tickets for the 9AM train to London, I bought them earlier, so be ready."
"Okay," Hermione agreed and sat back in her bed. "We need to tell Draco."
"You want to tell him or should we all?" Harry looked uncomfortable.
"I think we all should," she got up out of her bed and went down the hallway to the boys' room. Draco was sitting on his cot absentmindedly scribbling on a piece of parchment. "Draco?"
"What are you doing up?"
"Er - could you come back to my room for a second?"
"Sure," Draco looked confused but followed Hermione back to her room.
"Draco," Harry began, "we get off work early. We leave tomorrow. Here's your ticket to London," Harry handed him the ticket.
"Why?"
"Something came up and Dumbledore said we get off duty early. Just be happy we get out of here," Ron answered snidely.
"Actually, I was beginning to enjoy it here, but if we don't have to work I suppose there's no reason to stay," Draco took the ticket. "Thanks for the ticket. I'll pay you back."
"Don't worry about it," said Harry.
"I'm going for a walk," Hermione got out of bed. "I'm just going around the block, I don't need you to worry about me," she said to the nervous glances surrounding her.
"Do you mind if I come? I need to get out of here." Draco asked.
"No. Come on."
Ron shot Harry a wary glance as the two of them walked out the door. "Nothing is going on between them, eh?"
"So we're really leaving tomorrow?" Draco asked as they walked slowly down the worn road.
"I guess so."
"Do you know why?" he looked over at Hermione.
"No," Hermione blushed under his gaze.
"I have to ask you not to write me once we leave because if my father found out I befriended a 'Mudblood' he'd be furious."
"What if." Hermione paused to think before smiling suspiciously, "I wrote in normal ink like I was Crabbe or Goyle and on the back in invisible ink from me?"
"You would go through all that to write to me?"
"Well I do need to keep getting through to you, don't I? If not, you might turn back to the evil carbon copy of your father."
Draco laughed lightly. This is really weird, Hermione thought to herself. "What's going to happen when we get back to Hogwarts?"
"I don't know. I guess I'll just have to begin by acting like the 'true' me and see where things go from there. You do realize though that I'm not sure if we can let people know that we're friends? I have no idea how they'd react except for that it would be negatively."
"I know," Hermione hung her head.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I've been fine, Draco. I told you, I don't even remember what happened."
"Do you want to remember?"
"What do you mean?" Hermione eyed him suspiciously.
"I know this charm that will help you remember. It's really simple. It's just like restoring a memory."
"You can do that?"
"Of course," Draco laughed. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, placed it at the temple of her head, and muttered "Scante pluerma." Hermione gasped for air and turned to Draco. "Do you remember?"
"I remember you have a very comfortable shoulder," she laughed. "Thank you, Draco."
"I was really scared when that happened," Draco admitted. "I was surprised at how much I cared about what happened to you."
"I'm surprised at how much I learned about you in two days and how wrong I was before this." Hermione looked up to see that they had already reached the daycare again.
"Goodnight, Hermione," Draco smiled at her and turned to go inside.
"Goodnight, Draco," Hermione sighed and sat down on the front porch.
The next morning the sun rose and spread a it's light pink blanket over Hermione's yellow room. "Hermione, wake up!" someone was banging loudly on the door.
"What do you want, Harry?"
"It's 9:55, Hermione. You have to start working at ten. This is the third time someone's had to wake you up."
"Oh my God, thanks Harry!" Hermione popped out of bed and ran for her trunk. "Where are my clothes?" she muttered frantically. In three minutes, Hermione was ready to go and rushed down the spiral staircase, nervously fiddling with her buttons.
"Oomph," she gasped for air as she ran into something hard on the second floor. She stood up and quickly recomposed herself as she watched Draco get off the ground. "I'm sorry!" she jumped to help him up.
"I don't need your help, thanks, just slow down next time. Come on, let's get to the room," Draco grinned slightly at her hastiness.
Hermione stood there, confused. He hadn't yelled at her. He hadn't sneered. He hadn't threatened her. Actually, Draco Malfoy had just shown Hermione the closest thing to human compassion she had ever seen from him simply because he hadn't been rude when she messed up. Normally, he jumped at that chance. Hermione snapped back into reality and hurried after Draco, who was now twenty feet in front of her.
"Are you going to come with us today?"
"Come with who where?" Draco held the door open and Hermione passed though it.
"Harry, Ron, and I are going back into the town. We're going to the Three Broomsticks and then shopping," Hermione took a seat in the front of the room.
"Again, I'm going to have to say I'll pass," Draco again sat in the red chair.
"Why?"
"In case you haven't realized, Harry and Ron aren't too fond of me and it does work the other way around," Draco looked at her like she was mad for not realizing that.
"You're going to spend all of your week in Hogsmeade locked up in that horrid little room simply because those two don't act like they like you? That's a waste. And, an observation, but if you want them to act nicely to you, maybe you should try making the first move on that."
"What makes you think I want them to act nicely to me or that I care what you and your friends think about me?" Draco's usual sneer returned. "I have six more days and then I'm out of here."
"And what happens when you get back to Hogwarts?" Hermione pushed. "The same horrible rivalry keeps on going and get us into even more trouble, unless, you do something to stop it."
"Please just hand me a book to read, Hermione. The children we are supposed to be watching are getting impatient."
Draco read a book and the children went through playtime, nap time, and hide and go seek easily. Soon, Suede had come in the room and dismissed them.
"The offer still stands if you ever want to take me up on it," Hermione swept passed Draco and down to the end of the hall where Harry and Ron stood waiting for her.
"So," Ron took a gulp of his butterbeer, "how's playing house with Draco coming along?"
"Horribly," Hermione sighed. "For just a second, he seems to be partially human and then he goes right back to being horrible."
"Evil is as evil does. There is nothing human hiding itself in Malfoy."
"What about you two?" Hermione pushed the topic away from Draco.
"We're not doing badly," Harry mumbled while he shuffled around in his pockets to get out the correct change for Madam Rosmerta.
"Yeah," Ron laughed. "Except for when the kid stole Harry's wand and chased him around the classroom shooting sparks."
Hermione hid her face behind her cup to keep from laughing. "It's okay, Harry. Draco and I fell asleep and the children colored things all over our faces on the first day."
Ron snorted out his butterbeer. "That's worse than Harry!"
"I have to go to pick up a book from the library. I suppose neither of you want to go, so I'll meet you back at Suede's later." Hermione stood up and placed her silver sickles on the table before leaving."Why do I even bother with those two?" she swung the door open to the local library.
The Modern-Day Witch's Clues to Bewitching by Linhope Lynx stood in the middle of the nonfiction section on the very top shelf. "How do they expect you to reach these things?" she mumbled as she climbed up on the bottom shelf and stretched to reach the book. She had to climb three shelves before she reached it. She jerked the book from its wedged position on the shelf and lost her balance, falling backward onto somebody.
"Ouch!"
"Bloody hell. What do I look like? A big pillow?"
"No, but you work well as one," Hermione pushed her bushy brown hair out of her face and looked across at Draco. "Sorry. Again."
"I'll live. Here's your book," he held The Modern-Day Witch's Clues to Bewitching out to Hermione.
"Thanks. So, I see you decided to venture from the house."
"Suppose so. Do you know where I could find the latest Nimbus handbook?"
"Right over here," Hermione led him two aisles over and plucked a book off the shelf. "Anything else?"
"No, that's all I'm getting today."
"You're welcome," Hermione muttered sarcastically. "Have you gone to Honeydukes yet? I want to go in there and pick up a few things for my parents if you would like to come."
"No, I haven't been there," Draco paused. "I guess I could stand for a sugar quill."
The two of them left the library and headed down the street toward Honeydukes.
"Hermione!" Harry's voice followed them down the street. "Wait a second." He ran to catch up with the two of them. After a curt nod to Draco, he turned back to Hermione, "Where are you going?"
"Honeydukes."
"Great, could you do me a huge favor? Could you pick up three boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans? Ron and I are doing a project with the kids in our class tomorrow and we need something to make eyeballs," Harry shuffled around in his robes, looking for a gold galleon.
"What are you doing here with him?" Ron looked suspiciously at Draco.
"Neither of us is here with the other, Weasley. She just helped me find a book in the library," Draco spoke up, spun around, and began towards Honeydukes.
"Look at what you did, Ron!" Hermione snapped at Ron, took the galleon from Harry, and rushed after Draco.
"And you ask why I don't bother trying," Draco turned to Hermione once she caught up with him. "You and your friends all think you're so much better than me because I'm rude and I'm Slytherin and I'm the son of a Death Eater. I didn't choose to be related to Lucius Malfoy, in case you haven't realized, but, still, the bad reputation his name carried has been passed on to me. There's no point in trying to be any different because everyone expects me to be like him!" Draco ranted.
"Excuse me, but I never once gave you any reason to believe that I think I am better than you. I have tried to be nothing but courteous to you, and, for a second there, I thought I had a breakthrough, but now you are right back to being that person they all expect you to be. Why do you do that? If you hate it so much that they expect you to be like your father, then why do you help prove them right?"
"Because.it's a lose, lose situation. I lose any chance of a good reputation or I lose the small bit of my father's good will I have managed to gain, and, trust me, my father isn't a man you want to be on your bad side. Especially when you have to go home for three months over the summer."
"Well then why do you bother being human around me?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Because, like you said, you didn't judge me until I gave you a reason to, not my father's reputation or your friends' opinions," Draco looked up and looked Hermione directly in the eye. "Plus, a long time ago you told me you cared when no one else did.
"I broke that promise. I haven't done a very good job of showing you I care, and I'm not really sure I've been making an effort to care at all," she whispered and pulled open the door to Honeydukes.
"Don't worry, I'm used to people breaking that kind of promise" Draco said solemnly. "Now can I ask you a question?"
"You can ask, I'm not sure I'll answer," Hermione laughed.
"Why did you bother trying to find out whether or not I was human?"
"I had an inkling that the Draco Malfoy everyone knew and loathed was, in fact, Lucius Malfoy. Not you."
"Of course," Draco smiled over his shoulder as he picked up three sugar quills, "the girl with all the answers does it again."
"Was that a hint of rudeness or a joke?"
"The latter."
"Wow," Hermione smiled, "maybe I did get through to you."
"Just don't go telling anybody. I can't make any promises that it will last"
"Please try to make it last, Draco," Hermione begged over the display of Cockroach Clusters.
Meanwhile.
"What do you think is going on between those two?" Ron asked Harry as they walked to meet Sirius.
"I don't think anything is going on between them," Harry sighed. "You're overanalyzing things, Ron."
"C'mon Harry, you saw how mad she got at me when I upset Draco."
"Maybe she's just sick of the constant bickering," Harry replied absentmindedly.
"Fine, since you seem not to care about the Draco/ Hermione thing, what are you so worried about?" Ron complained impatiently.
"I- ouch!" Harry's hand snapped to his forehead.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Ron grabbed Harry to keep him from falling.
"It's the Riddle house. Come on, let's keep moving," Harry stumbled forward with his hand still clutched to his head.
"I thought your scar stopped hurting around here once Voldemort left."
"I guess it still has enough of Voldemort in it to hurt me."
"Scary," Ron quickened his pace. "Did Sirius say why he wanted to see us?"
"No, he just said to bring him food because he'd probably be stuck in his cave for a while," Harry held up the bag of food from the Three Broomsticks. "I think we have enough food in here to last him a year."
"You never know, Sirius does eat a lot."
The two of them reached the base of the mountain and the next fifteen minutes were spent in silence as they struggled to get up o Sirius' cave. A black dog stood waiting for them at the entrance of the cave and they crawled in. The dog quickly transformed into an extremely skinny man with rugged black hair.
"Is that food?" Sirius nodded in the direction of the bag in Harry's hand.
"Yeah," Harry held out the bag to him.
"Steak, ham, potatoes, and . dog biscuits? Very funny, Harry."
"It was Ron."
Sirius dug into the bag and started shoving food in his mouth. Harry and Ron waited patiently as he finished a turkey leg and scooped the insides of a baked potato out of the skin and into his mouth. When he started on his butterbeer, Harry spoke up.
"So, why was it so important that we came here, besides that you obviously needed food?"
"I don't want to be the first to tell you this, but.Voldemort is back, Harry," Sirius looked up from the food in front of him and turned toward his godson.
"Back? As in Britain?"
"Back in Hogsmeade. I was walking around town the other day and I ventured up to the old Riddle mansion and Peter was there. I couldn't let him see me, obviously, so I went straight back to my cave and sent you an owl."
"Is he back for me?" Harry gulped. "I'm not sure, just be careful, Harry," Sirius warned. Ron still stood in his corner, completely shocked.
"H-have you told Dumbledore?" Ron asked.
"I sent him an owl, but he hasn't replied yet. You two need to get back to town. Just promise me you won't do anything stupid, like go looking for him, okay?"
"Promise," Harry nodded before heading to the exit of the cave. "Thanks for telling us Sirius."
"Be careful, Harry," Sirius called after him, "and thanks for the food."
"Do you think he's after you, Harry?" Ron called after his friend as they climbed down the mountainside. "I don't know," Harry sighed. "What about you?"
"Well, every other time Voldemort was around here, he was after you, so I'd think yes. But don't rely on me for that, I'm always wrong."
"Well, that explains why my scar hurt earlier."
"You think we should tell Hermione?"
"Yeah. If Voldemort is -"
"Harry, stop saying his name," Ron shivered.
"Fine, if you-know-who is after me, it's inevitable for Hermione to be involved so I think she should know."
"Good luck getting her away from Draco long enough to tell her," Ron sneered.
"Jealous?" Harry grinned.
"No, I just think it's a little traitorous to become such good friends with Draco all of the sudden."
"Like I said earlier, Ron, you're overanalyzing this."
"Sure I am, Harry," Ron rolled his eyes.
"Thanks for the sugar quill, Draco," Hermione sucked on the end of the delicately spun sugar in her hand.
"I bought too many. It's better to be used than wasted," Draco shrugged nonchalantly.
Hermione smiled. I think I was definitely right when I said there might be more to Draco than we thought, she told herself.
"Your parents are dentists right?" Draco asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"If they're supposed to tell kids not to eat sugar, why did you go into a sweets shop to get them things?"
"They love it. I brought back that gum that you chew and it whitens your teeth two shades last time I went home. They wanted me to bring them back more."
Hermione shook her head and tried to clear her mind. All of the sudden, her thoughts seemed to run together and then her mind went completely blank. A confused look swept over her face and she stopped dead in her tracks. A hot, sharp pain shot through her legs and she fell to her knees. Draco turned around and rushed over to her side.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
Hermione just sat there on her knees motionless. Draco reached out his hand to touch her and she started convulsing. "Somebody help," he looked around nervously. People were staring at them and began to form a circle, but none of them moved. It seemed like he just sat there forever, completely helpless and then, behind the crowds, Draco heard someone shout "Expelliarmus," but by the time the crowd had parted, all that stood there was a black dog with a bone in its mouth.
Hermione's convulsions toned down to shivers. Draco lifted her into his arms and headed back to Suede's, ignoring the throngs of witches and wizards gathered around them. Hermione dropped her head onto Draco's shoulders and he tried to reposition her so she fit easily into his arms. They still had about a half-mile to the daycare.
"Are you okay?"
"I- I-"
"Forget I asked," Draco silenced her. "Just rest until we get back."
Hermione mumbled her thanks and snuggled into Draco's chest, seemingly unaware of what she was doing or what was going on.
Harry and Ron were walking silently along the dirt road when the familiar form of a black dog came rushing toward them. In mid-step, the dog turned into Sirius.
"Harry, Ron, get back to the daycare, now. Voldemort attacked Hermione. She's okay, I think, but you need to get out of here. I'll explain to Dumbledore, just get out of Hogsmeade. Go to the Dursley's or Ron's an send me an owl once you're there."
"What - "Harry began, but was cut off by Sirius.
"Just go," Sirius transfigured back into a dog and ran to the mountains. Harry and Ron took off in the other direction at a full sprint.
Hermione lay in the bed with a cold towel on her forehead and a glass of ice water in her hand. "Draco, I insist you stop treating me like a baby. I'm fine now."
"Why are you so eager to get out of bed? Is there somebody waiting for you in town or an appointment you have to be to?"
"No, I just don't like being.pampered."
"Are all muggles and muggle-borns this stubborn?" Draco took the water form her hand and set it on the nightstand.
"Are all 'purebloods' this discriminatory?" she shot back.
"I must admit, most of us are."
Ron and Harry burst through the door a moment later, nearly running over Draco.
"Are you okay, Hermione?" Harry gasped for air.
"I'm fine now, though if Draco doesn't believe it, I doubt you will either."
"What happened?" Ron took a sip of the water on the nightstand, causing Draco to give him a disgusted look.
"I don't know. My mind went crazy and then all of the sudden went blank. I couldn't think at all. It was like I was in a trance and then my knees gave out from under me and I don't remember anything after that."
"What did you see, Draco?" Harry asked worriedly.
"After she fell she started convulsing and then someone behind all of the people yelled 'Expelliarmus,' but all I could see was a black dog. She stopped convulsing and so I picked her up and brought her back here."
"How did you find out about it, Harry?" Hermione questioned.
"Someone told us. We have to talk to you too, Hermione."
"So.talk."
"Alone," Ron shot a look at Draco, who politely stood up and left. As soon as the door was shut behind Draco, Ron began. "Hermione, You-know-who 's back in the Riddle mansion. Sirius told us. He was the one who cursed you and Sirius stopped him."
"Voldemort's back?" Hermione sat up in her bed. "Harry, you need to get - "
"I know. I told Suede. I'm leaving in the morning and so are you, Ron, and Draco."
"Is he back for you?"
"We don't know. The four of us have tickets for the 9AM train to London, I bought them earlier, so be ready."
"Okay," Hermione agreed and sat back in her bed. "We need to tell Draco."
"You want to tell him or should we all?" Harry looked uncomfortable.
"I think we all should," she got up out of her bed and went down the hallway to the boys' room. Draco was sitting on his cot absentmindedly scribbling on a piece of parchment. "Draco?"
"What are you doing up?"
"Er - could you come back to my room for a second?"
"Sure," Draco looked confused but followed Hermione back to her room.
"Draco," Harry began, "we get off work early. We leave tomorrow. Here's your ticket to London," Harry handed him the ticket.
"Why?"
"Something came up and Dumbledore said we get off duty early. Just be happy we get out of here," Ron answered snidely.
"Actually, I was beginning to enjoy it here, but if we don't have to work I suppose there's no reason to stay," Draco took the ticket. "Thanks for the ticket. I'll pay you back."
"Don't worry about it," said Harry.
"I'm going for a walk," Hermione got out of bed. "I'm just going around the block, I don't need you to worry about me," she said to the nervous glances surrounding her.
"Do you mind if I come? I need to get out of here." Draco asked.
"No. Come on."
Ron shot Harry a wary glance as the two of them walked out the door. "Nothing is going on between them, eh?"
"So we're really leaving tomorrow?" Draco asked as they walked slowly down the worn road.
"I guess so."
"Do you know why?" he looked over at Hermione.
"No," Hermione blushed under his gaze.
"I have to ask you not to write me once we leave because if my father found out I befriended a 'Mudblood' he'd be furious."
"What if." Hermione paused to think before smiling suspiciously, "I wrote in normal ink like I was Crabbe or Goyle and on the back in invisible ink from me?"
"You would go through all that to write to me?"
"Well I do need to keep getting through to you, don't I? If not, you might turn back to the evil carbon copy of your father."
Draco laughed lightly. This is really weird, Hermione thought to herself. "What's going to happen when we get back to Hogwarts?"
"I don't know. I guess I'll just have to begin by acting like the 'true' me and see where things go from there. You do realize though that I'm not sure if we can let people know that we're friends? I have no idea how they'd react except for that it would be negatively."
"I know," Hermione hung her head.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I've been fine, Draco. I told you, I don't even remember what happened."
"Do you want to remember?"
"What do you mean?" Hermione eyed him suspiciously.
"I know this charm that will help you remember. It's really simple. It's just like restoring a memory."
"You can do that?"
"Of course," Draco laughed. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, placed it at the temple of her head, and muttered "Scante pluerma." Hermione gasped for air and turned to Draco. "Do you remember?"
"I remember you have a very comfortable shoulder," she laughed. "Thank you, Draco."
"I was really scared when that happened," Draco admitted. "I was surprised at how much I cared about what happened to you."
"I'm surprised at how much I learned about you in two days and how wrong I was before this." Hermione looked up to see that they had already reached the daycare again.
"Goodnight, Hermione," Draco smiled at her and turned to go inside.
"Goodnight, Draco," Hermione sighed and sat down on the front porch.