First, SORRY for not updating sooner!! I really, really couldn'ts with all these tests… besides, I've been busy with some other personal things, AND my computer wouldn't let me access the internet for a few days!! Believe me, it was HARD finding time to write this, so I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks to Ellie, Meryl and Silver Fawkes, Chocolat elf, willow, Kelsey, The Blue Flying Lunch Box, Winnie, TriGemini, Crystalline Lily, DMLvrMudBldHtr, Meg, SVZ, Joanna, GryffindorBabe, nina217, Jenna-chan, Steph, Dreaming One, FairyFloss, iris pollens, CindyLea, Tom*Feltons*Babe, Scarlett, ju, ash, Nikki, MusikLuver, Aindel Shivohnsongbreeze, a reader, Vixie Pixie, Elise Tucker, Eleanor Branstone, swimmingisSWEET676, SophieBabe, fb90, ex-jlo, RE16, Hatokirei, Crazee Coaky, pampers, Zeriae, xosuavisangelaox, willowwiccantara, Me123, EgyptianQueen17, flutterflyqt1, Ely-Baby, Seom, Starry, sb1, Nita, Ezmeralda, c, Fire Phoenix, Starry Skies, WaterDemon900, Desi Gemini 6089, draco'sfemmefatable, and Chit Chat for reviewing!!
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Just as expected, Hermione wasn't at dinner.
Draco missed her now more than ever.
Before she had been angry with him, they had always stole glances at each other. But now she wasn't even sitting there.
It really hurt Draco. He wanted to do something that could help her, but he couldn't think what. Maybe, if he had time to carefully think up a way to get her back…
But there was no time!
He looked at the Gryffindor table. Potter looked strange, probably wondering the cause of her sudden disappearance.
Draco knew he had to tell him, and Weasley too. Not only because they were her two best friends, but also because he needed them, ashamed as he was to admit it.
He, Draco, knew how to get to their manor, knew all the secret passageways, knew where everything was… but, to come out with a decent plan he needed both wits and bravery.
Not that Draco wasn't brave.
He just didn't know it.
So, when dinner was over, he walked over to Harry and Ron as quickly as he could. All the Gryffindors were going up the stairs towards their common room, but he managed to draw them apart from the group.
Harry looked strangely at him, and Ron simply looked away, too disgusted to hold Draco in his eyes.
"I need to talk to you, Potter," he told Harry. He really hated to do this, but, if it was for Hermione, then it must be done.
"Oh, no," Ron said, and took a step closer to Draco. "You're not going to curse him,"
Draco glared at him. "I had no intention of doing so, Weasley," he turnd to Harry again. "I know where Hermione is,"
That, of course, grabbed their attention.
"It was you!" Ron exclaimed, pointing an acusing finger at Draco. "You took her away! You filthy-"
"Ron!" Harry hissed. He looked at Draco with a face that clearly stated he was deadly serious. "Where is she?"
Draco found it hard to say, because it wasn't everyday you got caught in a book.
"She's strapped in a book,"
They stared at him blankly.
"My father," he started in an irritated sort of voice. "Came to Hogwarts today. He brought a book… the Malfoy Book,"
"What's the Malfoy Book?" Ron wanted to know. He wasn't really believing any of this.
Draco hesitated. He didn't really want to say this. "It's a sort of memory book. The Malfoys have had it for generations. Inside lay the most intense memories of each Malfoy ever to be born since the book was started. Including mine,"
"How?" Ron asked.
Draco glared. "It's magic!"
He turned to Harry again, who seemed to be the only one worth talking to. "The book is opened by a necklace, the necklace I gave Hermione. It's an M with a snake circling around it. Another Malfoy accessory. The lock has exactly that shape, so when Hermione saw it, she must've put the necklace inside the lock, and the book opened, and then sucked her in."
"Hold on," Harry said, thinking. "If the book suddenly sucked her in, then how is anyone to read it? It doesn't make sense,"
"Yes it does," Draco explained. "First the book opens to the index page, listing all the Malfoy names and their pages. So let's say you wanted to look up my father's memories in page a thousand and five. What would you do?"
"Turn to page a thousand and five," Ron answered instantly.
Draco shook his head. "If you're a Malfoy, you know that is not the way to do it. You have to talk to the book. You would say 'Show me page a thousand and five'" he paused. "It's to keep intruders away. Hermione, of course, knew nothing about it, so she must have turned the pages, and the book sucked her right in,"
"Why would Hermione want to read anything about the Malfoys?" Ron demanded.
Harry stood silent for a minute, looking thoughtfull, and then he muttered, as if to himself, "Because Draco's name was on the list,"
"What?" Ron asked.
"Nothing," Harry said quickly. He looked at Draco. "Fine, how do we get to her?"
"By me," Draco answered proudly. "I know the way. There's a problem, though. Only the person wearing the necklace may get inside,"
"Obviously," Ron said, trying to act like he knew everything.
Draco glared. "And where's the necklace, Weasley?"
Ron's smiled faded. "Hermione took it with her,"
"Exactly!"
"There has to be another one," Harry said quietly.
Both Ron and Draco turned to him. "What?"
"Think about it," Harry went on. "If an intruder got hold of the necklace and got sucked inside the book, then how was anyone else going to open the book? There must be another necklace. It wouldn't make sense if there wasn't. Maybe your father has one somewhere,"
"Yes, most likely," Draco drawled.
"So you know the way?" Harry asked.
"Yes,"
"What are we waiting for then?"
***
"I still cannot believe I teamed up with Malfoy," Ron said once again.
They were flying over some fields, each on their own broomstick. The moon was right ahead, the stars twinkled, there were no clouds in the air.
It was a beautiful night.
Except for the fact that it was very cold, specially when the cold air blew in your face.
"I would have never teamed up with someone such as yourself, Weasley," Draco informed him. He was flying in front of both Harry and Ron, leading the way. "But I might remind you that it's your friend we're talking about!"
"Yeah, Ron, stop complaining," Harry said. "We've got to get Hermione back, that's all that matters!"
Ron had to quiet then. Not only because Harry was serious, but because Draco was starting to descent into what seemed to be an enormous garden. Tall, thick walls protected it. There were shrubs in various shapes and sizes. It looked spooky in the moonlight. As if the shrubs were alive and protecting the enormous mansion behind.
Harry had heard Draco had a mansion, but he hadn't imagined this.
It had three floors, and at least a thousand windows. As Draco went down, he looked like nothing but a dot compared to the manor.
Down, down he went.
Harry started to do the same, and Ron followed.
"Stop," Draco told them. "There are many traps here. Don't come down until I tell you,"
Draco stopped just a few inches from the ground, and levitated there for a while, looking around.
Then he gently pricked the grass, and quickly flew up as a thousand spikes shot up at him.
"See what I mean? " he asked once he was level with Harry and Ron.
They nodded.
Draco looked down again, and saw that the spikes were going back into place, inside the ground.
He looked at Harry. "We have to be careful,"
Harry nodded solemnly.
Ron looked blank. "So, um…" he gulped. "Do you know how to take care of those… spikes?"
Draco tried to remember what his father had told him once, a long time ago.
"Remember, Draco," his voice echoed in his head. "When the traps go off, say who you are…"
Was that what he told him? But there was more… he knew there was! There just had to be!
"…say your name in front of the biggest gargoyle, only your voice will be recognized…"
That was it! Once again, he looked down, and scanned the garden. Past the hedges, there were some stone gargoyles hiding in the shadows, as if not wanting to be seen.
"Ok, I know what to do," Draco told Harry. "It's quite simple, actually,"
Then he flew down at great speed, and stopped only a few inches from the ground. Then he raced towards the Gargoyle, keeping his eyes fixed on it, feeling the urgency of the situation…
He stopped short, just a few inches from the Gargoyle's ugly face. "I'm Draco Malfoy,"
The Gargoyle suddenly bowed its head, and a few snapping sounds could be heard all around the garden, as if trapdoors were being closed, and magical devices being blocked.
The Gargoyle went back to its normal position, and Draco took that as a sign of accomplishment.
He looked up at the night, where Harry and Ron were still floating.
He gestured for them to come down, and that's just what they did.
They were safe now. Draco urged his broomstick to go faster as he flew towards the entrance.
He stopped before the marble staircases that led up to the door, got off his broom, and quickly ran up.
Now he stood in front of a great oak door with snakes carved on it. The knocker was twisted into the shape of a snake curling into a circle.
He waited for Harry and Ron to catch up. The sky had darkened, and a light drizzle was coming down.
Harry and Ron were now running up the stairs. Harry got there first, and Ron finally catched up to them, breathless.
Harry examined the enormous door. "It doesn't have a keyhole,"
Draco showed no trace of emotion. He simply put his hand on the door, and pushed it open slowly.
"It was open the whole time?" Ron was amazed.
"No, Weasley!" Draco was very irritated at this point. He had had to explain a lot of things to Ron, and he was getting tired of it. Not even Harry was asking much, and he had only been six years in the wizardly world! "Only a Malfoy can open it. If you don't have Malfoy blood, then you can't push it open!"
"Oh," Ron said under his glare. "Right… I knew that…"
Harry didn't say anything. He was busy looking around the room they were standing in.
It had a long green velvet rug running from the entrance and up the marble staircases in front of them, and possibly in all the corridors of the house.
The room was made all out of marble, including all the huge marble statues looking down at them. At the walls hung some tapestries in which moving scenes were taking place. Hanging from the ceiling was an enormous candelabra, with millions of candles that never seemed to waste lighting it up.
Ron shivered. It was cold inside, maybe even colder than out in the rain.
"So," Harry said, looking around at all the doors. "Where to now?"
Draco started climbing the staircases. "To my father's office,"
Ron and Harry started following him.
Draco suddenly turned around, and looked at them seriously. "Remember," he said. "Not a sound. Hopefully my father won't find out we're here… but he always knows when someone enters the manor. Always."
Ron gulped, and hurried closer to his enemy.
Draco moved swiftly, without making a sound. Ron was clumsier, though, and occasionally bumped into an armour, or into a statue. Then Draco would hiss at him to stop making noise, and Ron would get angry, so a fight would start.
Good thing Harry was there to solve the matter. He didn't like Draco at all, of course, but he had to admit that, if they wanted to get to Hermione, they had to stick together.
He also had to admit that Draco's manor was a bit spooky. The only light in the corridors were those provided by torches hanging on the walls, making their shadows stretch all the way down the halls. The corridors were lined with doors with silver handles, all of them twisted into the shape of a snake.
The portraits weren't all that friendly, either. They were all portraits of elegantly dressed people. Malfoys.
As the three boys passed by, the Malfoys peered down at them, occasionally raising an eyebrown, coughing, or whispering about these two strangers.
Not very friendly at all.
Finally Draco stopped before a big door. He turned the silver handle and stepped inside the room.
Inside was yet another impressive room. The walls were lined with shelves containing books, hourglasses, parchments, some potions, skulls, and… a necklace?
Draco ran over to where it was located.
He got the necklace and held it up to the window, where it glistened in the moonlight.
"Hermione…" Ron groaned.
Draco whirled around and found Ron looking at a book resting on his father's desk.
The book.
"Yes!" Ron exclaimed. "We found it!"
Nobody bothered to tell him to quiet, because both Harry and Draco were deep in thought.
"Easy," Harry said.
"Too easy," Draco agreed.
"A trap, do you think?" Harry turned to Draco.
"Defenetly," Draco said as he put the necklace around his neck. "But there's no time to think about it," he came closer to the book.
Then he turned to Harry. "Keep watch. Make sure my father doesn't come. If he does, I give you permission to hex him,"
"We'd do it without your permission," Ron informed him.
"Wouldn't it be easier to get the book and hide somewhere safe?" Harry asked.
Draco shook his head. "There aren't safe places in this manor. There are curses around every bend, every corner. The reason you weren't hexed on the way here is because you were with me. Stay here, and I'll try to get back with Hermione as soon as I can,"
Having said this, he put the M in the lock of the book, where it fitted perfectly. The book opened to the index page immediately.
Draco took a deep breath. His name was at the bottom of the list, as he was the last Malfoy.
"Page a thousand two hundred and twenty three," he muttered. "I'll go to the last pages, so I can meet Hermione there,"
Then he bravely held out his hand and turned to the pages until he was where he wanted. And then, suddenly, he was coming closer and closer to the book, until he entered it.
***
Meanwhile, Hermione was having a hard time, too.
As soon as the book had her trapped within its pages, she started to panic.
Why?
Because she seemed to fall into a house. A very big house. She was in front of some big staircases, with a green velvet rug running along it. The room was full of tapestries and statures. Everything seemed silent and cold.
She didn't know where she was, of course, or what had happened. All she knew was that this was strange.
Then she saw a boy coming closer.
A small boy, possibly seven years old. He was a pale boy with a pointed face and white-blond hair.
It reminded her of someone…
"Draco?" she managed to whisper.
The boy payed to attention to her whatsoever. It seemed as if he couldn't even see her.
The boy stood at the bottom of the staircases, looking up with determined gray eyes.
"Draco…" she held out her arm, with the intention of putting her hand on his shoulder. But that wasn't what happened. Her hand went through his shoulder.
Her heart started beating wildly. What was this? Where was she? Who was this boy? She was sure he was Draco! Was he a ghost? Or a… a memory?
Harry had told her about being in Tom Riddle's diary. No one seemed to notice he was there. So maybe, this was a memory, too.
Seven-year-old Draco started climbing the stairs.
Hermione followed.
They walked along what seemed to be hundreds of corridors in utter silence, until Draco stopped before a door. He seemed to hesitate before he knocked.
"Come in," a voice she recognized as Lucius' called out.
Draco opened the door, and Hermione slipped inside.
Lucius- a younger Lucius- was sitting behind a big desk.
Hermione looked around. The room was lined with shelves containing books, parchments, and other things.
"Come closer," Lucius said.
Hermione turned to him, and saw this little Draco walk closer to his father's desk.
"Now, Draco," Lucius started in a very serious tone of voice. "Do you remember we're having a death eater party tonight?"
"Yes, father," Draco's voice was high-pitched, not the grave one he had now.
"And do you know what that means?"
The young boy sighed. "Yes, father. Stay in the room with all the guests until everyone is gone,"
Hermione noticed he wasn't drawling. He wasn't talking in a bored tone of voice. Instead, he seemed to have some kind of feeling towards 'tonight'.
"Wrong!" Lucius yelled. "Stay in the room until I tell you to leave! Is that clear?"
Draco, instead of staying calm, as he would have done in the present, took a step back. "Yes father," he said with pure innocence in his eyes. "I'll leave when you tell me to,"
"Now get out and get ready," Lucius said coldly.
Draco nodded and obediently got out of the room.
"See you tonight, daddy," he said softly as he closed the door.
Hermione followed the boy sadly.
Draco seemed so innocent, so tender… not the Draco she knew.
He now seemed unreachable and cold. But, somehow, she had been able to see through the mask, and she had seen the little boy he still had inside.
Draco walked along some more corridors, and then opened a white door. "Mommy?" he asked softly as he peeked in.
Hermione peeked in with him.
Narcissa Malfoy was looking at herself in the mirror of her wardrove. "Yes, Draco?" she said in a somewhat bored tone.
"Daddy said I have to get ready for tonight," Draco said. He bit his bottom lip. "Could I come in, please?"
Narcissa shrugged. "If you must,"
Draco stepped into the room shyly, and drew closer to his mother.
She was wearing a black dress with silver trimmings all around it.
"You like nice in that dress, mommy,"
"Thank you, son. Now, your clothes are on your bed, so why don't you run along and try them on?" she asked. She seemed to want to get rid of him as soon as possible.
"Ok. I'll see you at the party then," Draco said sadly, and left.
Hermione started to follow him, but suddenly the walls started to twist, and everything went blurry and started to mix together in a black swirl.
Then, suddenly, she was standing in a big room filled with people in it.
It looked like a party.
Everyone was wearing fancy dresses and talking, not to mention drinking.
And Draco was right in front of her. He was still a small seven-year-old boy, wearing a fancy suit, and looking around.
Suddenly his face lighted up. "Pansy!" he called, waving to and fro.
Hermione couldn't believe it.
Draco? Calling for Pansy Parkinson? It couldn't be true.
But it was. Pansy came over, looking her usual obnoxious self, only in a younger-and shorter- version of it.
She looked kind of bored. "What?" she demanded.
Draco, much to Hermione's surprise, seemed happy to see her. "You want to do something?"
Pansy shrugged, and looked somewhere else. "Actually, I was just talking to Goyle, here…" she turned to go.
"No, don't!" Draco reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Please come with me. We could sneak around the house, like we did last year, remember?"
Pansy, though, didn't look interested. "My mom told me to never go around anyone's house again. She punished me! I never ever got punished before!" she lowered her voice to a whisper. "I still have the scars,"
Draco grinned mischievously. "I got punished, too,"
"And you think it's funny?" Pansy screeched. "Well, I don't think it is! I'm going to find Goyle…"
"But we used to be such good friends!" Draco complained, following her around the room.
Hermione went after them, not even bothering to dodge people, as she could simply go through them.
Pansy whirled around. "We were friends until you messed it all up! I was punished, and I don't want to go through that again!"
"Could we just talk, then?" Draco pleaded.
"No! Leave me alone!" Pansy said loudly, and ran away, leaving Draco behind.
Hermione stared at the small boy standing in the middle of a swirl of noisy people.
She wanted to hug him, to tell him it would be ok.
Then Draco turned around and started to walk away, towards the door. His head was down, but he didn't seem to be crying.
Had, Hermion wondered, Draco ever cried before?
He climbed the stairs once again, and then the walls started twisting again, and everything was blurry, mixing into a colorless swirl, and the scene changed.
They were again in that room lined with shelves, and again Lucius was behind the desk, and Draco in front of him.
"Yes, daddy?"
"Draco, you left the party before I told you to," Lucius said gravely.
"I'm sorry. I was tired and sleepy, and…"
"I'll show you to be tired!" Lucius bellowed. "You disobeyed me!" he took out his wand, and pointed it at Draco.
But Hermione didn't want to watch.
She didn't want to know what was going to happen next, because it was all just so cold and cruel.
Suddenly, without really knowing why or how she would do it, she started running towards the wall.
And went through it.
She ran and ran, and everything went by faster, as if she were skipping a lot of memories.
When she finally stopped for breath, she was in a familiar scene.
She was in front of the marble staircases, at Hogwarts!
That meant only one thing… by running, she had skipped a lot of memories. But this had happened recently… did that mean she was reaching the end of the book?
Draco was behind her memory-self. He got her by the wrist, whirled her around, and kissed her.
Hermione turned red. This was so familiar… why did she have to see it? It hurt her to see it!
She looked to her right, hearing herself talking to Draco, telling him to let her to…
When she saw another Draco.
He was standing at the door that led to Hogwarts grounds, staring at her.
She looked to her left. There was Draco, trying to explain something to her… and there, at her right, was another Draco.
"Hermione," this last Draco said, coming closer. "Is it you? Is it really you?"
Hermione stepped back. "Are you real?" she whispered. "Are you a memory?"
Draco held out his hand. "Touch,"
Hermione hesitated at first, but then brought her hand to his.
It was solid. He was real.
But how?
"What are you doing in here?" she asked, forgetting all the anger that was locked up inside her... forgetting how much he had hurt her. "Are we both inside this book? How?"
"No time," Draco said. "We have to get out of here,"
"How?" Hermione asked again.
"Look, this is a memory book that holds my most intense memories," Draco tried to explain quickly.
"Yes, I figured,"
"Well, we must be getting closer to the end of my memories, and, for that, to the end of the book, as I'm the last Malfoy,"
Hermione didn't get where he was going. "And?"
"Since the book ends here, we'll probably get out of it,"
"But how?" she asked yet again.
"I don't know, we'll be pushed out, or something. We can't travel the book's pages if there aren't any left!"
Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but just then the scenery around them started twisting, until everything mixed together in a swirl.
Then everything went black.
"Draco?" Hermione whispered.
He felt his hand hold her own. "I'm here. Don't move, just hold on to me. We'll probably get out soon…"
And no soon had he spoken those words that Hermione felt herself being lifted off the invisible ground and hurtled into the nothing-ness.
She couldn't see anything. She only knew that she was going faster and faster towards… somewhere. Far ahead, she could see a crack of light. And they were coming closer… closer… Hermione shut her eyes, as the light was blinding her.
Then she felt her feet reach solid ground again, and she opened her eyes.
They were in a room lined with shelves full of books and other things. Behind her was a big desk, on which rested a book… the Malfoy book.
And, in front of her was Lucius Malfoy, pointing his wand directly at Draco, with Harry and Ron by his side.
*****
SORRY for not updating sooner!! But, as always, I'm tied up with tests! Plus, my computer wouldn't let me acces the internet for a few days, so I really couldn't post this up! But, finally, I did!! Lol. Anywya, did you like it? Please review!!