Author's Note: A slightly longer chapter, yay! I never really intended the
story to go like this..but what can I say, it took up a life of it's own.
Please review! They fill me with joy and get my fingers itching to type
more!
Blood Lost
Chapter 5
"YOU!" Hermione banged on the door to Malfoy's room, with fury she had never felt before. Draco opened his door, and was trying to shut it again, but Hermione put herself in the way of the doorway.
" 'Oh, no, Hermione, don't worry, I'll figure something out.' Yeah, right! I told you that you couldn't do it alone, but no, you wouldn't accept my help. And now we're..argh!" Hermione ranted on.
"Let me explain, Granger."
"Oh, no." Hermione took a few deep breaths. "We are going strait to Dumbledore."
"We've got classes-" began Draco.
"Now."
****
"I'm terribly sorry, Miss Granger, but your parents signed the contract. You and Mr. Malfoy are betrothed under this magical contract." Dumbledore was seated at his desk, and spoke as calmly as ever. Hermione sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"My parents wouldn't sign my life away like that, Professor Dumbledore. Malfoy must have cast some sort of spell over them..or something. Can't we prove that with this letter?" Hermione held up the letter from her parents, and tried to smooth out the crinkles a bit.
"That letter is not proof enough over the status of Malfoy in the Ministry. They would say that is no spell to force someone to sign something, besides imperio, which would have been noticed by the Ministry."
"But they wouldn't.."
"I believe he made have used some other, lesser dark spell. And that we could not prove.
"I'm afraid there's nothing to be done with it, except that, I hope you will be able to use this for the cause of good. If I may, Mr. Malfoy?" Dumbledore turned towards Draco. He had been leaning against the wall, quietly, while Hermione had shouted and Dumbledore had talked in his calming voice.
"She may as well know." Draco' voice was low.
"What?" Hermione asked, turning towards Draco. His eyes caught hers and held them, though it was Dumbledore who spoke.
"Young Mr. Malfoy was a secret spy for the Order during the war, known only to me. Although he was not able to gather as much information as Professor Snape was, he could get into place that Severus could not, such as Malfoy Manor."
"You were working on the side of the Order?" Hermione asked, her mouth gaping open.
"Contrary to popular beliefs, I had no wish to become a servant to Voldemort, like my father. Even if Voldemort had one, I'd always be far beneath him, forever doing his dirty work."
"Then, this is good! Why doesn't everyone know about it, now?"
"Because if my father knew-" Draco seemed to not want to go along with this train of thought, and Hermione said instead:
"Oh."
"And speaking of Lucius Malfoy..Draco here has been keeping an eye on him for me. Lucius has always been lured by the darkness, and enraptured by the power of dark magic," Dumbledore said.
"You mean, he may try to become a dark lord?"
"As of yet nothing is for certain. However, the possibility is great. You see now, Hermione, why it would be a great advantage for you to be so placed in the Malfoy household. However, I cannot make you do this, no one can. If it is indeed, truly your wish, I would try to fight against the Lucius in the Council of the Ministry in this matter. At the heart of all paths, it is our own choices that create our destiny."
And then, Hermione said a most astounding thing: "I'll do it."
She could see Draco stand up strait, and the smile grow upon Dumbledore's face.
"Ah, well, then. That quite settles the matter," Dumbledore said, dismissing them. Then, before they could exit through his office doors, he asked: "Could I offer you a lemon drop before you leave?"
****
"Damn, I almost got away," Draco said, as they walked down the hallway back to their common room to grab their books for class.
"Excuse me?"
Draco seemed surprised, as if he had not noticed that he had been speaking aloud, or that Hermione was walking next to him. Whatever it was, he covered it up quickly.
"From those bloody lemon drops. Every single time I have a meeting with Dumbledore, he offers me one of those lemons drops. I thought for sure he had forgotten this time.."
Hermione couldn't help herself, she laughed. Out loud. At something Draco Malfoy had said.
He didn't laugh, but when she looked up at him, she saw amusement in his eyes, and Hermione looked at him as if for the first time. Intelligent gray eyes were set evenly between a strait and pointed nose; high cheekbones and pale skin marked his noble lineage. His white-blonde hair wasn't slicked back impeccably, but neither was it completely disheveled, and Hermione found the look more becoming.. Hermione couldn't believe what she had agreed to do.
Hermione put herself into 'plan' mode: "We have to decide how we're going to act in front of everyone. I have to think of something to tell Harry and Ron.."
"You can't tell them the complete truth."
"But they're my best friends.." Hermione said. "They can be trusted to keep a secret!"
"And if my father somehow found out -even if it wasn't the fault of Potter or Weasley- then both you and I would be most certainly dead."
Hermione dropped the matter. Something in Draco's voice told her that he wasn't using the word 'dead' lightly. "They won't be happy with you."
"Have they ever been? I'm quite used to it, Hermione."
Hermione was silent. Something struck her as odd.
"Listen, I'm not the only one who provoked and started all this-"
"No, it's not that. It's..you called me 'Hermione'."
"That is your name, isn't it?"
"But you always used to call me Granger, or.."
"I haven't used that word in a year at least, Hermione. And I've called you by your first name all this year, if you haven't noticed."
They were now in their common room. Hermione grabbed her bookbag and glanced at the clock.
"Right. Well, then. I believe we missed all of Charms. The bell will be ringing in just a few minutes. I've got Arithmancy next.." Hermione said quietly, as if to herself. She still wasn't quite sure if this had all been real.
"Goodbye," Hermione said.
"Goodbye," he replied, without moving. She realized it was the first time they had said that to each other, and it had been said without a trace of malice, sarcasm or hatred.
"Wait. You'd better take this," said Draco. Hermione stopped two feet from the stairs and turned to face him. Draco was rummaging in his desk for something. It was a small black box. "Everyone's probably talking about it, and it would odd for you not to wear a ring.."
He walked towards her and opened the box. Inside was a silver ring set with a rather large, dark, probably magical stone that flashed green, and with small diamonds embedded in the band.
Not daring herself to touch Draco, she carefully lifted out the ring and slipped it onto her left ring-finger. It seemed too large at first, but then it shrunk to fit her slender finger perfectly. Like magic.
"Thank you," Hermione said, not looking up. She could feel heat rising in her face, and she turned back around and moved down the stairs, out of the portrait doorway, and towards another normal lesson of Arithmancy.
This was certainly the weirdest year yet.
Blood Lost
Chapter 5
"YOU!" Hermione banged on the door to Malfoy's room, with fury she had never felt before. Draco opened his door, and was trying to shut it again, but Hermione put herself in the way of the doorway.
" 'Oh, no, Hermione, don't worry, I'll figure something out.' Yeah, right! I told you that you couldn't do it alone, but no, you wouldn't accept my help. And now we're..argh!" Hermione ranted on.
"Let me explain, Granger."
"Oh, no." Hermione took a few deep breaths. "We are going strait to Dumbledore."
"We've got classes-" began Draco.
"Now."
****
"I'm terribly sorry, Miss Granger, but your parents signed the contract. You and Mr. Malfoy are betrothed under this magical contract." Dumbledore was seated at his desk, and spoke as calmly as ever. Hermione sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"My parents wouldn't sign my life away like that, Professor Dumbledore. Malfoy must have cast some sort of spell over them..or something. Can't we prove that with this letter?" Hermione held up the letter from her parents, and tried to smooth out the crinkles a bit.
"That letter is not proof enough over the status of Malfoy in the Ministry. They would say that is no spell to force someone to sign something, besides imperio, which would have been noticed by the Ministry."
"But they wouldn't.."
"I believe he made have used some other, lesser dark spell. And that we could not prove.
"I'm afraid there's nothing to be done with it, except that, I hope you will be able to use this for the cause of good. If I may, Mr. Malfoy?" Dumbledore turned towards Draco. He had been leaning against the wall, quietly, while Hermione had shouted and Dumbledore had talked in his calming voice.
"She may as well know." Draco' voice was low.
"What?" Hermione asked, turning towards Draco. His eyes caught hers and held them, though it was Dumbledore who spoke.
"Young Mr. Malfoy was a secret spy for the Order during the war, known only to me. Although he was not able to gather as much information as Professor Snape was, he could get into place that Severus could not, such as Malfoy Manor."
"You were working on the side of the Order?" Hermione asked, her mouth gaping open.
"Contrary to popular beliefs, I had no wish to become a servant to Voldemort, like my father. Even if Voldemort had one, I'd always be far beneath him, forever doing his dirty work."
"Then, this is good! Why doesn't everyone know about it, now?"
"Because if my father knew-" Draco seemed to not want to go along with this train of thought, and Hermione said instead:
"Oh."
"And speaking of Lucius Malfoy..Draco here has been keeping an eye on him for me. Lucius has always been lured by the darkness, and enraptured by the power of dark magic," Dumbledore said.
"You mean, he may try to become a dark lord?"
"As of yet nothing is for certain. However, the possibility is great. You see now, Hermione, why it would be a great advantage for you to be so placed in the Malfoy household. However, I cannot make you do this, no one can. If it is indeed, truly your wish, I would try to fight against the Lucius in the Council of the Ministry in this matter. At the heart of all paths, it is our own choices that create our destiny."
And then, Hermione said a most astounding thing: "I'll do it."
She could see Draco stand up strait, and the smile grow upon Dumbledore's face.
"Ah, well, then. That quite settles the matter," Dumbledore said, dismissing them. Then, before they could exit through his office doors, he asked: "Could I offer you a lemon drop before you leave?"
****
"Damn, I almost got away," Draco said, as they walked down the hallway back to their common room to grab their books for class.
"Excuse me?"
Draco seemed surprised, as if he had not noticed that he had been speaking aloud, or that Hermione was walking next to him. Whatever it was, he covered it up quickly.
"From those bloody lemon drops. Every single time I have a meeting with Dumbledore, he offers me one of those lemons drops. I thought for sure he had forgotten this time.."
Hermione couldn't help herself, she laughed. Out loud. At something Draco Malfoy had said.
He didn't laugh, but when she looked up at him, she saw amusement in his eyes, and Hermione looked at him as if for the first time. Intelligent gray eyes were set evenly between a strait and pointed nose; high cheekbones and pale skin marked his noble lineage. His white-blonde hair wasn't slicked back impeccably, but neither was it completely disheveled, and Hermione found the look more becoming.. Hermione couldn't believe what she had agreed to do.
Hermione put herself into 'plan' mode: "We have to decide how we're going to act in front of everyone. I have to think of something to tell Harry and Ron.."
"You can't tell them the complete truth."
"But they're my best friends.." Hermione said. "They can be trusted to keep a secret!"
"And if my father somehow found out -even if it wasn't the fault of Potter or Weasley- then both you and I would be most certainly dead."
Hermione dropped the matter. Something in Draco's voice told her that he wasn't using the word 'dead' lightly. "They won't be happy with you."
"Have they ever been? I'm quite used to it, Hermione."
Hermione was silent. Something struck her as odd.
"Listen, I'm not the only one who provoked and started all this-"
"No, it's not that. It's..you called me 'Hermione'."
"That is your name, isn't it?"
"But you always used to call me Granger, or.."
"I haven't used that word in a year at least, Hermione. And I've called you by your first name all this year, if you haven't noticed."
They were now in their common room. Hermione grabbed her bookbag and glanced at the clock.
"Right. Well, then. I believe we missed all of Charms. The bell will be ringing in just a few minutes. I've got Arithmancy next.." Hermione said quietly, as if to herself. She still wasn't quite sure if this had all been real.
"Goodbye," Hermione said.
"Goodbye," he replied, without moving. She realized it was the first time they had said that to each other, and it had been said without a trace of malice, sarcasm or hatred.
"Wait. You'd better take this," said Draco. Hermione stopped two feet from the stairs and turned to face him. Draco was rummaging in his desk for something. It was a small black box. "Everyone's probably talking about it, and it would odd for you not to wear a ring.."
He walked towards her and opened the box. Inside was a silver ring set with a rather large, dark, probably magical stone that flashed green, and with small diamonds embedded in the band.
Not daring herself to touch Draco, she carefully lifted out the ring and slipped it onto her left ring-finger. It seemed too large at first, but then it shrunk to fit her slender finger perfectly. Like magic.
"Thank you," Hermione said, not looking up. She could feel heat rising in her face, and she turned back around and moved down the stairs, out of the portrait doorway, and towards another normal lesson of Arithmancy.
This was certainly the weirdest year yet.