The Seventh Moon

Author: IcyFire

Rating: PG-13

VERY IMPORTANT A/N: Something will happen in this chapter of this story that will seem very cliché to you guys. However, I want to say that what you read today is NOT the plot. This is only one of the events (in a whole series of events) that will LEAD UP TO the plot. So don't hate me for making this kind of cliché because although it's rather important to the development of the plot (and yes, there is one), it's not going to be the sole focus of the story.

Thanks to my reviewers: ..., Ginnyrules890, dracohermioneshipper, ace2slayer, aku-neko, Alexia of Queenscove, pinked, DerangedCheshireCat, Nikki, tainted black, BlueBird, Angel of Music, Malfoy Twin, rabid-dragons, Wizzabee, sakura_angel90, Li-chan, Dragonfires, M1ssBlackNails, Yousei Kaijou, zali, Elfmoon87, Dragon Bad Faith, DrAcO'sGurL, A Friend, and anyone I missed although I hope I didn't.

Disclaimer: As much as I would like to believe that all of this is mine, unfortunately, it's not except the plot.

~*~

The Seventh Moon

Chapter Six

Hermione approached the bend in the road with steady, strong footsteps at a rapid pace; she didn't want to waste any precious time at all. To the left of the curve, she caught sight of a large willow tree standing in the middle of an immense patch of green grass. Taking a deep breath, she jogged the last few steps up to the tree, looking around for any sign of life.

He was late, she thought with disappointment. It had taken much skill and conniving to be able to leave Harry and Ron behind in Zonko's when she came out here to meet him. All her effort completely wasted! When he got here - if he got here - she would surely hex him.

She glanced around impatiently, her attention traveling from here to there. All that met her eyes was the assortment of flowers littered around the grass. Once in a while, she would see a rabbit or squirrel dart out of the nearby forest, but no sign of any human life. Her patience was beginning to wear thin and she walked back to the willow tree, using it to shield her from the harsh rays of the sun.

Thud.

Hermione screamed in fright - actually it was closer to surprise - as she felt something large and heavy pounce out of the tree and land next to her. The moment the shriek issued from her throat, she used her arms to cover her head and closed her eyes. What if it was a bear? Or mountain lion?

When nothing happened to her, and all she heard was laughter breaking out, she uncovered her head and looked to see Draco Malfoy standing by her side with his mouth opening, laughing.

"That's not funny," she shot with a look of absolute loathing in her eyes.

"Y-yes it is!" Draco exclaimed through bouts of laughter. Was he capable of laughing? She sure was surprised.

She threw him a disgusted look. "That was so immature."

He replied with a shrug. "It certainly scared you."

Ignoring him, she tackled the real reason as to why she was here. "So, what do we do now?"

"Follow me," he said simply, with his usual air of coolness, starting to walk off the road, in a direction that she had never ventured into.

"Where are you going?" she yelled at him, with her hands on her hips.

Draco stopped in his step and turned around. "Come and you'll see."

"No," she said stubbornly. "Tell me first."

"If you don't want to come, that's fine with me," he said shrugging, as he turned and started to walk off again.

"Come back here!" Hermione yelled with frustration and crossed her arms. He completely disregarded her and she seethed smoke.

Okay, so she knew she had two choices. Either to follow Draco Malfoy to wherever he was going to take her, or to fail her history essay. Well, she sure didn't want to go somewhere when she didn't know what that place was. What if he led her to a cave and tied her there and left her for the bears to eat? But perhaps that would be better than failing history class. She couldn't imagine getting a bad mark. What would that do to her reputation?

Sighing in defeat, she ran to catch up with him.

Draco's lips curled up in a smile as he heard her quick footsteps nearing him. He knew that she'd come along. She would do anything to pass Binn's class and besides, he knew that she was also curious. She had obviously been surprised when he mentioned Aurora the other day and he knew she was dying to find out everything he had to say. He liked the feeling - the feeling of having absolute control over her.

Hermione finally caught up with Draco who didn't bother to acknowledge her. She followed silently behind him at a swift pace to keep up with his long strides. They walked in an uneasy silence - at least to Hermione it seemed so. She didn't know what to say to him and obviously he didn't want to talk to her either. She didn't have the guts to start up a conversation.

After all, she was Hermione Granger, the pride of the Gryffindor house. She couldn't have anything to say to Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin prince. They didn't have anything in common. He was a Slytherin and she was a Gryffindor - that in itself made them worlds apart.

So Hermione let her mind wander off and enjoy the beauty of autumn. The orange and yellow leaves blazed like the sun as they drifted from their branches and landed on the fresh, vibrant meadow. She reached out a hand to catch a leaf.

She was so mesmerized in her own thoughts that she hardly noticed when Draco Malfoy stopped suddenly in his tracks. It was only after she walked about five meters past him that she finally realized he was no longer in front of her.

The fear of being deserted in the middle of the forest came upon her quickly. Her mind began to panic as she glanced around frantically to find him. She found him standing behind her and then realized what a complete idiot she had been to not notice that he had stopped. Blushing furiously, she hurried back to him.

"Here," he said, handing her an object that looked like a toothpick.

This was the first word he had spoken to her in nearly half an hour and it startled her. She reached out to grab the toothpick from his fingers. He wouldn't let go and she pulled harder. Didn't he want to give it to her?

"I mean for you to touch it, not steal it," he said calmly.

She was just about to ask him what he meant when she felt a jerk behind her navel that made her sick to her stomach. A billion colors swirled past her and she felt like she was ready to faint - or heave for that matter. To settle the deal, she closed her eyes, hoping that would cause her nausea to disappear, or at least get it under control.

She then felt that everything around her had stopped whirling and her foot landed with a thud on firm ground. She opened her eyes and felt too dizzy to support herself. She knew she was going to fall over and felt her body tilt to the side. Shutting her eyes, she prepared to hit the ground.

However, that never happened. Two strong arms caught her and helped her back into a standing position. Hermione's head was swimming and it was a while before she could open her eyes and steady herself. It took another period time before she felt she was ready to walk.

"I'm okay now," she said to Draco. "Just got a little dizzy."

"Sorry," he replied and she was startled to notice there was a note of care in his voice. "I didn't realize that you'd never used a mini-portkey before. They're usually harder to handle than regular portkeys and it takes a few tries to get used to them."

She nodded. "It's okay."

"Are you ready to go yet?"

"Yes, I think so," Hermione said uncertainly.

She finally looked up and took in the surroundings. She decided that she had never seen such a beautiful place before, even in movies.

Near them there was a roaring waterfall which fed into a large pond area of some sort. Around it there, lush green grass covered all of the soft soil. Beautiful leafy trees stood proudly by the pond-side, showing no signs of late autumn. There were mountains in the distance that towered robustly over all.

All in all, it the place seemed enchanted, almost as if it had some magical quality. It was too beautiful to take in at one setting, Hermione though as her eyes wandered around her. Too beautiful.

Draco had begun to make his way through the thick trees and was now more than twenty meters away from her. She rushed to catch up with him. She no longer felt sick - the fresh air and the sounds of water had eased her stomach.

She followed him silently, studying the forest with wonder and awe. The sweet melody of the chirping birds was music to her ears. The rustle of the trees added to that and the roar of the waterfall provided the background. It was a wonderful symphony.

The forest cleared as they arrived at a large clearing. In the middle sat a beautiful chateau. It was gray and made of stone. It reminded Hermione of the picture books she had read when she was young of King Arthur and Camelot. This castle looked like it was taken straight out of one of those books. It was gorgeous.

"What rich bastard owns that nest?" Hermione asked in awe, and then wished she could take it back.

"This one," Draco sneered, although it didn't sound like he cared much.

Hermione decided she would keep her mouth shut from then on.

"The Malfoy family built it hundreds of years ago," Draco explained, giving her a background on the chateau. "It is rather nice, isn't it?"

"Nice?" She stared at him open-mouthed. "It's absolutely gorgeous!"

He laughed warm-heartedly. "You should see my summer house in France! It's a hundred time more splendid than this one."

She gazed trance-like at the castle.

"So what does your house look like?"

Hermione had always considered her house to be beautiful. Her parents were famous dentists so of course they had loads of money. Their estate was quite big and they lived comfortably in the large mansion. However, it was nothing compared to this.

"It's quite big, but not as big as this," she said modestly. "I have a large bedroom, and I have a large library that's all my own, a study room and a very fine bathroom. My parents give me whatever I want. I'm quite spoiled." And then as an afterthought: "But not as spoiled as you."

He only smiled. "I get whatever I want because I have the money."

"And I get what I want because my parents love me to no end," Hermione said happily. "Although I usually don't ask them for much."

"Your parents must dote on you," he said, glancing at her.

Hermione sighed and shrugged. "Sometimes I feel like they treat me too much like a small child - it's like they don't want me to grow up. You know, I was their miracle child. The doctors told my mother that she couldn't have any children, ever, but she told me that she prayed and prayed and then I came along. I suppose that's why they love me so much. I'm the only child they will ever have. I guess that's why they don't ever want me to grow up - they want to keep me forever."

They had reached the outer walls of the castle already and now faced an iron-gate where the castle's moat should have been. The gate was open so Hermione, without asking Draco, took off from his side and skipped up to it like a small child.

"Wait!" Draco called as he quickly tried to catch up with her. If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed the note of panic in his voice.

However, she took no heed and made her way into the outer walls through the open gate. After getting in, she waited impatiently for Draco to catch up with her.

He was gasping for air now, and she suddenly realized that he had sprinted to catch up with her. What the hurry was, she didn't know. He didn't have to catch up that fast, in her opinion.

"Granger, I told you to wait!" he said angrily between gasps of air. "I should have known that a mudblood like you wouldn't be able to follow simple directions."

His words shouldn't have hurt, but they did. She had almost thought they were going to be civil to each other. But now, this. There was nothing between them - they weren't friends and they weren't ever going to be, she knew. This was just strictly a business deal, and nothing more.

"You could have died!" he said. "Do you honestly think my ancestors would have made it so easy to get into the Malfoy household?"

She was puzzled. "What?"

"They placed a spell on the gates to only give entrance to a select few, namely Malfoys and close friends whom they are taught to recognize. You aren't one of them," he said and then frowned. "Under normal circumstances, the ground should have opened and you would have fallen into a deep abyss and died. I should inform Father about it - perhaps the spell is weakening and in that case a new one will need to be put into its place."

Hermione looked stunned but recovered quickly and fingered the chain around her neck. "It was this that saved me."

"What?"

"My pendant - my lucky charm," she said as-a-matter-of-factly. "It gives me good luck and it's saved my life a couple of times."

He shook his head. "I don't know what could have saved you from a spell like that."

"Fine, don't believe me then. Harry and Ron don't."

Hermione wanted to enter through the main entrance of the castle, but Draco shook his head and led her to another door near the back. He told her it was because he didn't want anyone to know that they were there - this investigation was to be completely secret. That also meant that they couldn't run into anyone in the castle. Well, perhaps the house-elves he could bribe to keep their mouths shut, but they needed to avoid his mother.

The room that they entered was a pinkish maroon color. It was small and the only piece of furniture was a couch - not like anything else would have fit. Facing the couch, on the other side, was a fireplace. Although there weren't many furnishings, everything in the room was elegant and gave off a feeling of wealth.

The moment Hermione stepped inside, she received a feeling of warmth and love. It was quite a nasty shock for her and she voiced it.

"I never imagined your house like this," she said. "It's so warm and comforting."

"Oh?" said Draco, eyeing her. "What did you imagine?"

"I imagined you living in a dark creepy manor with cobwebs and spiders hanging from the ceiling."

His first response was to laugh, but then his face grew serious. "That's what you would think, right?"

She nodded absently, running her hand over the mantle over the fireplace.

"What do you think of us? The Slytherin families, I mean."

"You mean, what do I think about the Slytherins tampering with the dart arts and the Dark Lord?" She said. "I think it's horrendous to stoop down to that level."

"Oh, and why do you say that?" he seemed almost genuinely interested.

"You kill people, you bring destruction everywhere, you're trying to bring the Light side down so that darkness can take over the world," she said in repulsion.

He emitted a soft chuckle. "That's because you don't see it from our view. You were brought up to believe that the Light side is right and you have that embedded into your brain. For me, speaking on behalf of all the Slytherins, we were brought up to believe that what we do is right. Is there really a right and a wrong? It's just two sides battling each other."

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head. "You live to create destruction while we live to maintain peace."

"What is peace? What is destruction? You've been brought up to think that the Light side is good, and the Dark side is bad," he argued. "But if you saw it from our view, it would be completely different. You would see that everything we do is right. Light and Dark - they're only two words. Maybe one day you'll see it from our view."

Hermione shook her head furiously. "I can never - will never - see it from your point of view. You're wrong and you've got to realize it."

Draco only shook his head sadly. "One day you'll see."

There was an uneasiness between the two of them so Draco decided that it was time they stopped talking and got moving along. He motioned for her to follow him and she did so.

They hurried down a long hallway and down some stairs and then up some more and down another hallway. And then Hermione couldn't remember the rest - it all became a big jumble inside her head. She could swear, though, that it took more than half an hour to finally get to where Draco was taking her. When they arrived at the place he was leading to, he threw open the door.

Hermione knew exactly what it was.

"The drawing room, right?" She had remembered the polyjuice experiment in their second year and what information Harry and Ron had gotten out of it. The Malfoy family kept everything related to the dark arts under the drawing room.

Draco responded by nodding and then led her inside the polished oak door. He shut the door slowly behind him so that it wouldn't close with a click and attract unwanted attention.

Hermione glanced around, enjoying the beautifully decorated room. It was quite large, and the walls were painted in gold. Paintings and drawings hung from the walls - there were lots of them. A few sculptures also sat here and there.

Quickly, Draco grabbed Hermione by the arm, an action that surprised her, and practically dragged her to the royal blue carpet that spanned a small area of the room.

It was there that he knelt down and peeled the carpet out of its place and under it Hermione saw a hinge door. He whispered something to it and it clicked open automatically, revealing a dimly lit room underneath. There was a ladder leading from the top to the bottom and Draco motioned for Hermione to climb down it.

She didn't know if she wanted to. What if this was a trap? What if she went down there and then he slammed the opening back up and locked her in to die? She searched his face and found no sign of malice or anything of the sort and then she decided she would take the chance.

Hermione lowered herself into the opening and cautiously descended the wooden ladder, which she realized was very nicely polished and smooth - she had been expecting to get splinters. As soon as she landed on the bottom, she glanced up to see if Draco was coming, and sure enough, he was.

The room was surprisingly empty, Hermione noticed. She had been expecting to see lots of dark objects and such. Basically, she had expected this to look like a torture chamber of some sort.

And also, hadn't Harry and Ron told her back in second year that Malfoy had admitted that the room under the drawing room was indeed full of dark objects?

"You seemed like you were expecting something?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrow, almost as if he could read her mind.

"It's so...empty," she replied, looking around.

Draco nodded. "We kept everything relating to the Dark Lord down here. That is, until the middle of second year when we received notice from some spies in the Ministry that they were coming to our house especially to search under the drawing room. Apparently someone gave this place away."

Hermione tried very hard not to smile. Ron was the one who had spilled the beans on Malfoy's hidden loot under the drawing room.

"So now what? How does this in any way relate to Aurora Riviera?" asked Hermione, dusting her hands off and heaving a great sigh.

"There's a hidden room in here," Draco said as he felt along the walls with his hands. "I just have to find it."

Hermione prepared herself for a long wait, but it didn't take very long for him to find it. He tapped the wall three times in different places with his wand and suddenly, one side of the wall completely melted away.

There was a small chamber that was dimly lit, by a light source that Hermione could not determine. There was an elegant table at one end of the tiny chamber that almost took up the whole area. On the table were pictures in frames- pictures of the girl that Hermione had worked so hard to find out more about.

Hermione hurried to the chamber and carefully stepped inside. It was only after she had taken her first step in that she realized the floor was also scattered with pictures and that photographs covered every inch of the wall on the inside of the chamber. She had never seen so many photographs in her life.

"There's practically a whole shrine dedicated to her," Draco said, standing at the side, leaning on the wall and studying Hermione closely. "I stumbled into this place by accident when I was little and I begged my mother to tell me who the woman was in the picture." He paused, almost as if searching for the right words. "My mother has granted all the wishes I ever had in my life, but this was the one thing she said she could never tell me. Eventually I found out because I found a picture that had her name printed on the back."

Hermione gazed at the photographs and Draco continued. "I always wondered why my mother could give me everything in the world, but she just couldn't whisper one name to me. I think there's something in her past that she didn't want to remember."

"Malfoy, could we take all this?" Hermione asked, running her hands along the pictures on the walls.

"That's just what I was going to say," he said, conjuring up a large duffel bag. "We can't stay here for long. Take this and stuff everything into it."

The two worked hard to pick up every picture from the ground and to stick it into the bag. The frames were easy to collect off of the table, but the really hard part was removing the pictures from the walls. It was difficult to take them off without tearing them, and it took them awhile to accomplish it.

When they finally finished - the chamber was completely bare now with only the wooden table sitting in it - Draco mumbled a spell and closed the wall up again.

Draco climbed up the ladder first and Hermione followed closely behind him. Then he opened the hinge door just a tiny crack and then stopped.

"Shit," he said, whispering. "My mother's here."

"What are we going to do?" Hermione asked urgently.

"We're going to wait," Draco said.

So the two descended the ladder again and waited and waited. Periodically, Draco would climb up and see if his mother was gone. But they had no luck - she was just sitting on one of the couches and wouldn't leave.

Finally, they decided that something needed to be done. It was nearing seven o'clock and the gates to Hogwarts officially closed at eight o'clock. If they didn't get back soon, they would be locked out and probably would get into trouble. On Hogsmeade days, they were instructed to stay within two miles of the village and Hermione was sure that wherever they were was out of that two mile range.

"We have to go up," Draco said finally, "and face my mother."

Hermione nodded tiredly. As much as she didn't want to meet his mother, it was their last resort.

"Make up a name for yourself or something. You can't be Hermione Granger - she's seen the name enough in the Daily Prophet to know that you're a mudblood," here Hermione cringed, "and you have to pretend you're a pureblood, all right?"

Hermione agreed and the two of them climbed the ladder up again. This time, they didn't stop, and Draco opened the hinge door and the two of them stepped into the bright light of the drawing room.

Narcissa Malfoy was seated on the couch looking at a painting that she held in her hands. This was second time she had seen the woman - the first being at the Quidditch World Cup before fourth year. She had looked just another nasty blonde then, but now Hermione noticed how stunning the woman looked.

Her fine hair was in an elegant up-do and the robe she was wearing suited her perfectly and didn't look too over-done. What really caught Hermione's attention was that this woman showed no signs of being the arrogant cow she had seemed like at the World Cup. She seemed almost...kind.

When Narcissa saw them, her face showed her surprise and she set down the painting she had in her hand.

"Mother," Draco greeted as he hurried over to give her a peck on the cheek. "This is my friend - "

" - Lavender Brown," Hermione said sweetly.

Draco sent her a venomous glare and she only sent him a sugary smile. She knew he was sensitive to that name.

Narcissa studied Hermione very closely and the girl felt terribly uncomfortable under the scrutiny. What she really wanted to do was to tell Narcissa to quit staring at her, but then it would be a bit rude, she thought. She bit her lip and waited for Draco's mother's piercing stare to leave her.

"You remind me of someone I used to know," Narcissa said, taking her eyes off Hermione finally. There was a quality in Narcissa's voice that Hermione had not expected - she seemed almost sad.

"Mother, she's doing a research paper about Aurora," Draco said, and Hermione noticed how Narcissa's eyes grew wide at the mention of the name. "We came to find some information and we were just about to leave - "

"Wait," Hermione said. She was sure that Narcissa probably had a lot of information about Aurora - she seemed like she knew her well. "Mrs. Malfoy, do you know Aurora?"

There was a pause - and a long one at that. Hermione felt like she had asked the wrong thing. If Draco, her own son, had never been able to get anything out of his mother, she definitely wouldn't tell a complete stranger anything either.

"Yes," Narcissa replied, much to both of their surprise. "We were friends."

"C-can you tell me anything about her?" Hermione asked, hoping that she would get an answer.

Narcissa seemed to stare into the wall. "We were friends when we were young - even before the death of her parents."

Narcissa heaved a great sigh and Hermione could tell that a great burden had left her. The next time she spoke, there was a smile playing on her gentle features.

"She was my best friend, actually," Narcissa chuckled lightly, talking easily now. There was nothing restraining her anymore. "She believed she could do anything. She had this necklace, an old family heirloom that had been passed on generation to generation through the firstborn. Thought she could do anything when she had it. Always wore this necklace and said it gave her good luck." Suddenly, and without warning, Narcissa's face turned cold, which didn't compliment her features. "Too bad it didn't do her any good."

"What?" Hermione asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

Narcissa's melancholy eyes stared straight into Hermione's and her lips held a slight quiver. "There are some things that should never be spoken."

Narcissa rose from the couch and strolled briskly to the door and left the drawing room without another word. Hermione was terrified that she had said something wrong to cause such a reaction from her. What had she said? She felt terrible.

"Let's go," Draco said hurriedly, shattering her thoughts. "Or else the Hogwarts gate will close."

Hermione nodded but still couldn't take her mind off the subject. As they used another portkey and returned to the school, Narcissa Malfoy's last words repeated in Hermione's mind.

There are some things that should never be spoken...

~*~

As soon as they entered the Hogwarts grounds, the two of them made their way quickly to the library, eager to see what they had uncovered. However, they had to walk a slight bit away from each other. After all, they couldn't let anyone see them walking together. People would talk.

When they arrived at the library, they picked a table near the back that was covered by shelves so that they would not be easily noticed. Hermione unzipped the duffel bag and fished out everything that was inside. She laid all of the pictures on the table where she and Draco were seated. Then they began to sift through the photographs, categorizing them.

There were many photographs of the girl, Aurora. There were plenty of baby pictures of her and many of her when she was in her younger years. And then there were some of her when she was a teenager. However, none of the pictures went above her teenage years. Hermione thought that was terribly strange.

In some of the photographs, she was alone, and in some she was surrounded by people who Hermione assumed were her friends. She was laughing and smiling in those pictures, and Hermione noticed how much she stood out from everyone else. She was so full of life.

"There's my mother," Draco said, pointing out a pretty blonde girl in one of the pictures. The two were giggling and near the top were the words "Best Friends."

Hermione nodded. "It seems like she was happy - look at the way she's laughing and smiling in the pictures."

Draco picked up one of the framed pictures and studied it closely. "I guess that must be the necklace my mother was talking about."

Hermione glanced over at the photograph Draco was holding. "She's too far away from the photographer. All you can see is the shine reflected off of it from the sun."

Draco shrugged and then set it back on the table again. However, he wasn't careful and had only put the frame halfway on the table and the photograph slipped and fell to the ground with a crash.

"Malfoy!" she said, annoyed. "Look what you just did."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

Hermione sighed and shook her head disapprovingly at him. Then she bent to pick the broken crystal frame off the floor of the library. As she did so, she noticed something. There was another photograph hidden behind the one that they had seen in the frame. Curious, she turned it over.

Her breath caught in her throat. Draco noticed and bent over her shoulder to see what she was staring at.

It was a picture - a medium sized one. There was a beautiful background - a magnificent waterfall near the edge of the woods and a cabin somewhere to the left of it. The girl, Aurora was sitting in what looked like a large tree with the lovely scenery behind her. She was smiling - by far the happiest and brightest smile of all her pictures. She looked like a woman who had everything she could possibly have in life, and was completely content.

Then Draco saw what she held in her arms. She was cradling and holding up a young infant, who was also facing the camera. The baby was also smiling, and looked absolutely darling. Draco had never seen a happier infant. Perhaps the child was happy to be with its mother, he thought. The child and the mother both seemed to be joyful.

Then something else caught his eye. Around the child's neck there was a chain - whether it was silver or platinum, he couldn't tell. But he could see that there was a beautiful pendant suspended from it. It was a soft violet - almost lavender - color. It was cut in an exquisite shape and shone brightly in the sunlight.

Turning back to Hermione, he noticed that something about her was wrong - he could feel that something was wrong and he didn't know why.

"Granger?" he asked gently.

She only stared intently on the picture, and it was a while before she finally, and very agonizingly slowly, turned her gaze unto him. When he saw her eyes, he knew something was not right.

Hermione put a hand on the blouse she was wearing. At first he thought that she was beginning to unbutton her shirt, and thought he was definitely going insane. And then he realized that she wasn't unbuttoning it, but reaching for something under it.

As her fingers found what they were searching for and fished it from underneath her shirt, Draco caught the familiar gleam of a silver chain. And then he saw the pendant hanging from it - shining mysteriously, even in the dim light of the library.

Draco Malfoy found it impossible to mask his look of surprise. He stared at the pendant, and then back at Hermione, and then back at the pendant again.

It took a while before he could get any words out.

"What does it mean?" he asked, swallowing, although he knew exactly what it meant.

He didn't want to admit it, but the look on Hermione's face frightened him. It was as if all the liveliness in her character had deserted her. Her face was completely blank, or so it seemed. All that was left of her was a look on her face that he had never seen before - it was one of complete and utter despair. It confused him because he couldn't decipher it and he wanted to.

They were silent for almost an eternity. When she finally spoke, her icy cold tone sent chills down Draco's spine and stayed in his memory forever.

"It doesn't mean anything."

Her face still a blank slate, she swept past him, her robes brushing against his as she swept out of the place.

It was only after she had left the library far behind that she entered an empty corridor and finally broke down and cried.

~*~

TBC

~*~

ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT A/N: All right, so, now you probably know what I was rambling on about at the A/N before the beginning of the chapter. Yes, I know it's cliché, but it has to be done. Please don't hate me! It's VERY important to the development of the plot. Okay, think of the plot of this story as a very big, twisted, jumble of knots. This is only one of the knots. And each knot will lead up to another knot and then finally the whole big jumble of knots will be revealed. Okay, that was confusing. And do rest assured, Draco will NOT be like, "Oh look she's a pureblood, I'm in love with her now and I want to marry her." Well, until next time, ciao!