Hermione stared at him in shock, speechless. Why did it have to be him, she questioned silently, why did it have to be a Death Eater to find her. He would probably kill her in a second. She thought frantically, attempting to find something to say to him. However he spoke first.
"May I sit down?"
He is polite, she thought, then mechanically answered, "Of course." Then he ordered a drink. They sat in silence, full of questions but with no initiative to speak.
Draco felt uncomfortable. He had seldom been unable to speak, but there was nothing for him to say. It would be easy to kill her, but doing so would pledge his loyalty to Voldemort, and anyway, he wasn't in the mood for killing. He still disliked her, but disliking someone didn't mean hexing her. Hermione wanted to ask so many questions, but was unable to. She had to at least show that she could be courteous, even to him.
Then, just when they were finishing their Butterbeer, both of them spoke at the same time.
"Are you a Death Eater?"
"How did you get here without magic?"
Both of them stared at each other in disbelief at their questions, suddenly realising the impact of them. Almost simultaneously, they stood up and walked out of Three Broomsticks together. They walked quietly, busy in their own thoughts, each cursing their luck and fortunes having met each other.
"Do you really want us to answer those questions?" Hermione enquired after a while. Draco pondered for a moment and said, "I believe so. I am curious as to why one who has such bad memories of this place would come back...especially after so long." "Then answer my question first. Are you or are you not a Death Eater?" challenged Hermione. Draco sighed, then pulled her into a nearby alley. "See for yourself," he said as he lifted his left arm. Hermione stared at him suspiciously for a while and began to roll back his sleeve. Soon enough she found herself looking at the Dark Mark, which branded his arm.
Suddenly a cry escaped her lips and she began to edge away from him, terrified and horrified. "Why haven't you killed me yet?" She asked fearfully. Draco merely leaned against the wall and looked at her. "Stop moving away and maybe I'll tell you." He snarled. Frankly speaking, he was quite perturbed. This was not supposed to have happened during his trip to Hogsmeade. When Hermione, feeling highly vulnerable and wandless, moved closer, he explained.
"If I kill you, I will be pleasing Voldemort, who I loathe and hate now. He's taken away every thing that was a part of me," Draco said, dusting off a few stray specks of dirt that had stuck to his cloak, "so I can hardly really count myself as having to do my duty as a Death Eater, Hermione." He spoke her name with a sneer, obviously for emphasis, but Hermione thought that it was probably an improvement for Mudblood anyway.
"All right, I'll trust you on that point. You can't expect me to adapt to the idea of you being good quickly, Mal...Draco." Even if she felt otherwise, this was neither the time nor place to tell him.
"Good," Draco said, with a small, somewhat cold smile on his face. "Then I suppose you wouldn't mind telling me how you got here." He suspected that she could not believe him. Hermione hesitated for a while, then answered. "I stored away some Floo powder before, then...then I broke into a wizard house to use the fire." "Tsk, tsk. I can't believe that righteous Granger would do such a thing," Draco remarked, folding his arms.
He expected her to retaliate, but Hermione had had enough. Meeting with a Death Eater who allowed her to live, then supplying him with information on her breaking into a house... she shuddered. Would that land her in Azkaban? "If you dare report this, I swear that there will be a cell reserved specially for you in Azkaban, Malfoy." "As you have said, I'm hardly in a position to do so, so why bother?" said Draco coolly. He enjoyed making Hermione flustered. It made him feel superior compared to her. But he had forgotten that she had changed over the years.
"I don't really care anymore," Hermione sighed wearily. She was not used to speaking long to anyone. Often browbeaten and hurt by others, she had become slightly introverted as well. She was disappointed with herself as well, for not being able to retort anymore.
Draco, for some reason or the other, suddenly felt uncomfortable. He did not really want to hurt her. "I'm sorry Hermione." After he had said that, Hermione looked at him, startled. The old Draco would never speak to her, not to mention apologise to her. Draco was also a bit surprised. He had not apologised to anyone before, yet it was so easy, so simple to say to her...
After a hasty farewell, they left the alley. Hermione was touched; Draco actually showed that he cared a bit, while Draco was sympathising with her. He only had a rough idea of what she must have been going through, but it was painful enough. As they travelled home, they had no idea that they were thinking of each other.
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A/n: Thanks to Angel, Fire Goddess, Mrs. Amanda Malfoy, Alanna Roseguard, mimi, tigerhawk567, tabitha, Midnight's Fear AKA LOTR'S Number One Fan, Drk_Drke, Juliet, Chloe Riddle, Lyra, selena, Magic Bunny, CharmedHPfanatic, ankle, hpfantasywriter and Scurvy Curvy! All your reviews mean so much to me. (Oh yes, hpfantasywriter, thank you for the compliment, but I don't think I'm as good as Charles Dickens or Jane Austen : ))