Keeping Secrets
Author: Goddess Storm
E-mail: thegoddessstorm@yahoo.com
Pairing(s): Hermione/Draco
Rating: G
Setting: Five years after "Goblet Of Fire".
Spoilers: No major spoilers.
Summary:"In times of war, secrets are of the utmost importance. Any bit of
information can mean the difference between life and death, victory and
defeat." Hermione has a few. Ficlet.
Warning(s): None.
Author's Notes: None.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling, Scholastic and
Bloomsbury Books. No infringement is intended.
In times of war, secrets are of the utmost importance. Any bit of information can mean the difference between life and death, victory and defeat. Hermione Granger had learned this very well over the past 5 years. She had become adept at keeping secrets, even from her two best friends. There were simply things they didn't know and didn't need to know as of yet.
One of these things was that the Death Eater who had secretly turned traitor and been been giving the resistance information against Lord Voldemort for the past 6 months was none other than Draco Malfoy. The other was that for the past 2 months, Draco had also been Hermione's lover.
Now, if anyone had suggested to her 5 years ago when they were both attending Hogwarts that this would be so, she would have probably have just put some sort of curse on the person or wondered about their sanity. Draco had despised her, looked down on her, and basically thought she was nothing because she was muggle-born, a "Mudblood". Hermione had despised him, too, for his cold-hearted, flashy, arrogant, and bigoted ways. But 20 years old is not the same as 15. Things change, and he had changed, too. If she had been shocked to find out out who exactly her contact was, she was even more shocked to see how he differed from the loathsome, manipulative person he'd been at Hogwarts. Oh, he was still Draco. She could vividly recall his first words to her at their initial meeting those months ago. "Granger," he'd drawled. "Still trying to play the hero, I see." But somewhere along the line, something had happened to turn him against his so-called birthright and a into a decent human being.
She once asked him what happened, why he was doing this. He had simply told her it was none of her business, really, and then she didn't ask again. Someday, maybe he'd be willing to discuss the details, but for now it was enough to know that the information he providing was helping to save lives and end the war soon. It was more than enough to know that he was risking his own life to do it and that he genuinely cared about her. And he did. She could see it when he looked at her. Sometimes, Hermione even wondered if this was love.
It must be, because she found herself longing for the end of this, for the time when she could tell Harry and Ron who it was that had helped them, and for a time when they could be seen out in public like any normal couple instead of sneaking around. She found herself wishing for the time when the constant knot of fear and dread in her stomach for the three men in her life would be no more.
Most of all, Hermione found herself wishing for a time when she wouldn't have to keep any secrets.
END