woo hoo! chapter eight is out earlier than i expected!!!!!!! i shoul dhave chapter nine out by tomorrow, no promises though. After some stuff that happened this past weekend, I've become inspired to write more.......and what happens next might be unexpected. I dunno though. I guess we'll find out!!!!

Thanks to: Sam, Y, Elizabeth Frost/Angelic Ashley, Rachel M, Demetre Ironhilt, Dreamingone, mdemanatee, Sila, Ellie, TriGemini, ShortySC22, bassoon1_hotb51(jessica), SnOwAnGeL, Ash, Jessica, Adeline Wood, SuperXero, and Auntie Kirki for reviewing!

disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any such related things. the lovely JK does. I do own the D'Evereuxs, Drusilla, and anything else that JK hasn't created!

Chapter 8:

Draco sighed deeply. He looked down at Hermione, her eyes flooded with tears, her face stained with sadness and angst.

"Draco, tell me," she said, the tone in her voice was more demanding; she was clearly getting annoyed with the fact that he still hadn't told her yet.

Taking another deep breath Draco began. "Years ago, before you and I were even born, our parents were close followers of Voldemort. Your parents were closer than mine were though; they were right up there with Pettigrew. The only difference was that He liked your parents more than Pettigrew, so He used him for all of the dirty work. Your parents got all the 'good' stuff. They always helped him with plans, etc." Draco paused before going on. "Hermione are you sure you want me to tell you the rest?"

"Yes," she stated simply. She had been staring at the same spot on the wall since Draco had started, and her eyes hadn't moved or blinked since.

"All right then. Well, about seventeen years ago, four amulets called 'Elements' came into play. They had been missing for two centuries until they were unearthed by one of the Dark Lord's followers in the Andes Mountains. The Elements have been around for millenia, but no one really knows where they originated. The one thing everyone knows for sure is what they do. Each amulet controls an element: the crimson one controls fire, the emerald one controls earth, the crystal one controls wind, and the icy-blue one controls water. When a person possesses one of these amulets, they have the ablity to control that certain element and use it for whatever they want. It also enables them to be immune to whichever element they have, meaning if they have water they can't drown, if they have fire they can't be burned, etc."

Hermione turned to face Draco. "What happens when one has them all together?"

"They can control virtually everything, and mostly likely have enough power to take over the world. And that's what Voldemort was trying to do. But, much to his dismay, Dumbledore and everyone on the light side found out about his plan and tried to stop him. Voldemort discovered this just in time and hid the elements somewhere that not even Dumbledore could get them. They've been missing ever since."

"That's so weird. But, I really want to know more about my parents though."

Draco feared this was coming, but he wasn't going to lie to her. That was the last thing she needed at that moment. "What do you want to know?" he asked uneasily.

Hermione closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. "For starters, have they ever killed anyone?"

"Yes."

Hermione's breath shortened, but she quickly regained her composure and asked another question. "If they've killed anyone then why haven't they been put into Azkaban yet?"

"The Ministry has absolutely no evidence of anything they've ever done. Not one damn trace of evidence. It's obvious to everyone that's seen this whole story unfold that they're closely connected with Lord Voldemort, but nobody can prove it."

Hermione nodded. "I have one more question."

"What?"

"Are they still connected to, to Voldemort?"

Draco slowly nodded his head. "And so are mine."

Hermione's eyes started tearing up again.

"Hey, consider yourself lucky though," said Draco trying to cheer her up a little. "You've never had to attend any of his meetings, or balls, or dinners."

"You've been?" she asked curiously, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah, they're awful. The balls and dinners aren't too bad generally, just filled with loads of his kind of people. His meetings on the other hand, are a different story. New deatheaters are required to kill a muggle for initiations. There's one killed at almost every meeting."

Hermione thought of her muggle "parents" at one of those meetings, being killed by some wizard who was stupid enough to bind himself to Voldemort and his other followers. Little did she know that they actually weren't muggles after all...

The two sat in silence for a minute or so, before, "Draco, thank you for telling me everything."

"Well it's not necessarily everything, because I don't know much more and there's most likely more to all of what I just told you."

"Still, thanks. And, I'm sorry for what I did to you earlier tonight. It wasn't my place to do that, and I had promised you that I wouldn't."

Draco smiled. "Thank you, but don't worry about it. What's done is done."

"True," she replied. Something still wasn't quite right though. "Hey, why did you suddenly do a 180 last night?"

Draco's expression dropped and he suddenly became a bit nervous. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. Last night after I got that letter from Harry you got all angry, and then you were really rude this morning. And, this evening at Florish and Blotts, I've never seen you acting like such a prat. What the hell happened?"

Draco remained cold. "I still have no idea as to what on earth you're talking about."

"Yes you do!", said Hermione getting annoyed, "and I want to know what was wrong!"

"Fine," Draco said, the tone in his voice rough. "Do you want to know what was wrong? It was Harry and that stupid letter. Ever since I saw you at the D'Evereuxs I've wanted you. You've brought out something in me, I don't know exactly what. Your insults in the library that one night made me realize how much of an ass I had been, even though I kept denying it. You got me away from my father, which I can guarantee you no one has ever done that, and asked to be my friend. You are so unlike anyone I've ever met. Most girls practically throw themselves at my feet, but you didn't. You're different. You are so smart, and so beautiful, and just when I get the slightest feeling you feel the same way, Harry comes into the picture. It's killing me that you're still with him, but I can't do anything about that. He loves you, and unless I'm mistaken you love him too." Draco chuckled bitterly. "I don't even know why I'm even telling you all this, nothing I say is going to change anything."

He got up from the chair and walked over to the wall next to the desk and leaned his head against it. His face was filled with hate and rejection.

Hermione was speechless. She had no idea all of that had been building up inside of him. She guessed that he might've somewhat of a crush on her, but nothing at all like this. The more Hermione thought about it, the more she realized that she did feel the same way he did. She saw what no one else saw in him. She could see through the persona he had created for himself over the years and look deep within his soul.

She looked at him, his eyes were shining brightly under the dim light of the room and his hair, even though he had spiked it that day, looked so soft. She got up from the chair and slowly walked in front of him. She stopped, and then took a step closer to him. Looking down, she took each of his hands and grabbed them in her own before looking back up. Slowly, their faces moved towards each other until they were merely an inch apart. Finally, Draco did what he had been wanting to do ever since that night in D'Evereux Manor:

He kissed her.

Mwahaha....time to review! tell me what you think!!!!!!