Nothing is Ever Easy

Author: Renegade Moon

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are killed by the Dark Lord. But Draco is in danger too, Voldemort has vowed to kill every Malfoy so that he would be the one and only Slytherin heir. Draco has to change his identity, and that means a new appearance, a new name, a new life. Things will be hard for him. But then again, nothing is ever easy.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JK Rowling, except the plot.

Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm soooo sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out... I'll try my best to get back to a normal rate, one chapter a week. I also want to thank you, I really apreciated your reviews and I'm glad people are reading this, and liking it too! Thank you all so much!!

Thank you : max_220, alwayzluvxoxo, rei Tamashii, Gooey Gooey Coca Beans, Arial, atepogs (thanks twice, for your 2 reviews !!), The Slayer, f0xyness39, LadyNicole, Lena.

Chapter 5: SECRET identity??

It had been two months since Alex had arrived at Hogwarts, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were making their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was mid-December already, and it was getting cold outside. The trees had lost their leaves, and snow covered the Hogwarts grounds.

Harry glanced at Alex, who was walking beside them with his hands in his pockets, his head bowed. Harry couldn't explain what it was that bothered him, but he didn't quite trust Alex White. Something about him was familiar to Harry, though he couldn't get what it was. Alex hardly said anything to anyone, except to Harry, Ron or Hermione. Sometimes, he got a strange look in his eyes and looked about to say something, then thought better of it. He was always vague when talking about his family, and hardly looked anywhere except at the floor.

When he did look up, though, he looked at people straight in the eyes.

They entered the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindor table, and Alex sat next to Hermione. Harry had noticed that she, too, was acting strangely lately. She looked preoccupied with something, whatever it was. She kept trying to make Alex speak, asking him questions about him, his family, what he like to do or what kind of music he liked. And he always answered her, though when anyone else would ask him a question, they would only get a few words out of him. Hermione and Alex were becoming very good friends, and Harry couldn't help but feel a little jealous. The two had a lot in common: they were the top of the class, they both listened to the same kind of music, their favorite subject was arithmancy... And Harry knew that Ron was feeling the same, too, because when Hermione and Alex were having one of their very long conversations, he had a sad look in his eyes.

As they sat at the Gryffindor table, Harry saw Alex glance at the Slytherin table. No, he definitely didn't trust him.

********************

Later that day, Draco was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Harry, Ron and Hermione. They had thursday afternoons off, and were trying to do their transfiguration homework.

"The Slytherins are unusually mean lately," Ron said, already tired of working on his transfiguration essay. "Looks like Malfoy's death didn't bother them at all."

At these words, Draco abruptly looked up from his own essay, but he instantly regretted his reaction when he saw that Hermione had noticed.

"It's strange, though. I would have expected them to... I don't know, be angry or want to avenge him," Harry said.

"But remember what Dumbledore said," Hermione said. "You-Know-Who would kill even his most trusted followers. He must have had a good reason for killing the whole Malfoy family."

"Well, no one really liked Malfoy anyway," Ron said with a shrug. "I mean, even the Slytherins don't miss him. If he hadn't been such a jerk all his life..."

Draco was fuming. He decided to get back to work, or at least act like he did, so that the others wouldn't notice. He was turning bright red with anger, he knew it, but he wished they wouldn't see.

"He was so annoying!" Ron continued. He obviously hadn't noticed how furious Draco was. "We're better off without him. He just kept bullying us, that stupid git. And I bet he would have been You-Know-Who's most trusted death-eater, had he lived."

Draco bit his lip to keep from yelling. Hard. He could feel a bitter, coppery taste in his mouth. As Ron was going on and on about all the times he had hated Draco and when he had made fun of him, Draco had to try all his might to keep from exploding. He had made a great effort in these two months in Gryffindor to befriend Harry, Ron and Hermione, to keep from taunting them or insulting them. He doubted anyone in the world could understand how he had felt. For the last two months he had swallowed back his anger, his hatred, and now everything was threatening to burst out of him all at once.

Draco was biting his bottom lip so hard that a drop of blood fell onto his transfiguration essay, but he didn't pay it any heed. Suddenly, he felt eyes on him. He didn't bother to look up, he knew who it was anyway. Hermione. She always seemed to notice when he was angry or frustrated, though she never said anything. And she was always the only one who noticed, too. Strangely, it was with Hermione he had the most in common. Trying to be nice to her had somehow brought him to know her better, and she was the only one he could speak with now, without being tempted to insult her. She was a great friend. She, of all people. A mudblood.

Draco shot to his feet. He coudn't take it anymore. His eyes still on the floor, trembling from head to foot, he muttered, "I'm going to the infirmary," and stormed out of the common room.

********************

That night, Hermione decided to go out for a walk. It had stopped raining a few hours ago, but it was very cold. She didn't care, though, she needed to be alone for awhile. Everyone was sleeping, so she sneaked out of the Gryffindor common room, then out of the castle.

She thought about what had happened that day. Before, she had only doubts. At first it were only details, something strange here, something familiar there. Now, her thoughts were confirmed. She was almost certain she was right. It all made sense: why he always seemed to know where the classrooms were, why he seemed to know the castle by heart, why he never talked about his family, why he always threw brief glances at the Slytherin table at lunch.

Hermione threw her woolen cloak over her shoulders as she reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was very cold, but she was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't really notice. It all made sense. These words were echoing through her mind as they had all day, from the moment she had seen the small drop of blood fall onto Alex's essay that afternoon. Or should I say Draco Malfoy's essay, she thought with a humorless smile.

It all makes sense. It. All. Makes. Sense. This small sentence, such meaningless words that meant so much now. These simple words that she so wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.

But she wouldn't. She wouldn't, because she didn't want anyone to know. She wasn't stupid, she knew that if Malfoy had had to change his identity and fake his own death, it wasn't for the fun of becoming a Gryffindor. He must have good reason, and she would discover it.

She figured that was the reason why the Slytherins didn't look so sad about Malfoy's death. They must have known that he wasn't really dead. But what bothered her was Dumbledore: did he know, too, or had he been duped by Malfoy and the Slytherins? The second option seemed very improbable, Dumbledore wasn't feared by You-Know-Who himself for nothing.

Hermione decided she had to talk to him. She was angry at him, he had lied to her, lied to the entire world. She was beginning to like Alex, he was always so sweet and friendly and caring. She regarded him as one of her best friends, with Harry and Ron, but now, the thought that someone she thought was her friend was in fact her enemy made her want to throw up. And the thought that she was beginning to like him as a bit more than a friend was even worse...

********************

She walked for about an hour, then decided it was time to get back to the castle and ran back inside. But when she entered the Gryffindor common room, she saw someone sitting by the fire. It was Alex. She had to talk to him now, it was the perfect time.

"I know who you are," she said in a dangerous voice that surprised even herself. He started, then shot to his feet and whirled around. At his bewildered expression, Hermione folded her arms and repeated, more slowly this time, "I know who you are."

She was furious, and he knew it. She could tell by the look in his beautiful forest-green eyes that he was hesitating, probably, Hermione guessed, between pretending he didn't understand and telling the truth. Then he sighed and looked down at the floor, as he did whenever he didn't want to show his emotions. Hemrione was surprised at how well she seemed to know him, though they'd been friends for only two months. Alex—no, Malfoy— then looked up again, straight into Hermione's eyes. He looked terrified.

"Who knows?" he said urgently. "I mean, who knows, besides you? No one must know!"

She was shocked by how afraid he looked. It sounded like his own life depended on it. Then again, it probably did, but she was too angry at him to ask. "No one," she aswered, her tone menacing. "I'm the only one who knows, Malfoy. But I could tell anyone, I could just scream it out loud in the middle of the Great Hall when everyone's here and there's nothing you could do to prevent it."

"Hermione, you mustn't tell anyone, please—"

"Oh, so it's 'Hermione' now, is it?" she said sarcastically, cutting him off, anger rising inside her. "It's been a long time since I've heard the word 'mudblood'. But that's what I am, I'm nothing more than a filthy, unworthy, know-it-all mudblood. You said so yourself a little while ago, remember? That was when you were still alive."

"Hermione—" he began, but she cut him off again.

"Say it Malfoy. I want to hear you say it. Tell me how stupid I've been to believe your lies, tell me how proud of yourself you are, you've made us all believe you were dead! And you're right, I am stupid. Tell me what an idiot I have been to think you were my friend!"

He was staring at her without saying a word, so she continued, her voice trembling and tears in her eyes. "I hate you, Malfoy. I thought I had found a friend in Alex White, that boy who's so strange and only says more than three words when talking to me, that boy who looks at me straight in the eyes, who keeps staring at the floor when he's angry or afraid. But you're not worth my friendship Malfoy, friendship you wouldn't want from a mudblood anyway. You have no right to ask me not to say anything to anyone. If I want people to know, then people will know, and there's nothing you can do about it."

He waited until she had finished, then said in a flat voice. "You're right, there's nothing I can do about it. Go on and tell everyone if that's what you want. But there's one thing you should know: I'm not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of being killed. So if you want everyone to know, just tell me, so that I can kill myself before Voldemort kills me."

Hermione didn't say anything—she didn't know what to say. She would have expected him to yell at her, to threaten her, but all he did was answer calmly. Malfoy headed toward his dormitory, but as he walked past her, he stopped and put a hand on her shoulder and said, in that same flat tone, "Not all of it were lies." Then he walked away.

a/n: That chapter was so hard to write! Anyway, I hope it doesn't suck... Review!!!