The Enemy Chapter 10 (at last!)
I gasped as I watched Hermione tumble to the ground, clutching her forehead. I knew exactly what had happened—we were too late. "Hermione," I whispered as I edged closer to her, slightly terrified.
"Back off," she muttered. "I can't think…"
Taken aback, I stepped backwards and watched her, her facial expressions varying from disgust to shock to pain…I felt extremely sorry for her. What a burden, being Voldemort's heir and all that…it was enough to get you committed into St. Mungo's for sure.
"Draco," she whispered. "Can you help me up?"
Stunned, because just a minute ago, she'd told me to back off, I moved towards her and helped her up. She smiled and brushed a few pieces of library floor dust off her robe. "Are you okay?" I asked incredulously. She had just been writhing in sheer agony and all that and now she was walking around as if having the Dark Lord in your head was perfectly normal!
"Oh, I'm fine," she said seriously, giving me a flash of her teeth. "I don't know, he seems to be gone now, I can't hear him or anything."
A wave of relief flooded through me, but I knew that if anything, relief was what I should not be feeling. If she couldn't hear the blasted man, then he'd probably found a way to do it without having her know, or something. Or maybe he had really left her head, and was planning something even more drastic. "Okay, good," I said suddenly. "Well, do you want to continue researching for a way to block it?"
To my surprise, she shook her head. "No…" she said, her eyes getting a faraway look, "No, I think actually that Harry's got the perfect book…it's bound to be in there."
This time my smile was a lot more genuine—if she was thinking research and books, then she was all right. "Okay. Hey, it's almost dinner…I'm going to go and eat," I told her seriously.
She laughed, sending something related to shivers down my spine. "Boys!" she said playfully. "Okay, go ahead, I'm going to finish my homework."
Now I was sure she was back to normal. Instead of my usual smirk, I gave her a small smile as I walked down towards the smell of something delicious.
-------------------------------------------------------
I watched Draco as he left the library, his silvery blonde hair falling gently into his eyes. Involuntarily, my heart fluttered slightly, and somewhere deep inside my head I heard a cold, mirthless laugh.
"You want him, don't you," it hissed and I shuddered.
"No," I thought fiercely. "I hate him."
"That's not true, Hermione, heiress of the Dark Lord…I can read your thoughts, feel your emotions…you are almost in love with the poor boy…"
I bit my lip in frustration. He needed to get out—he had to get out, and the worst part was that he could make me do something and then block my memory, so that I wouldn't have any recollection of what I had just done. Like just now for example, I had been talking to Draco—and my mind completely blanked. I could not remember anything I had told him. My eyes narrowed dangerously as I asked Voldemort the silent question inside my head. "What did you tell Draco?"
"So it's Draco now…not Malfoy?" the voice asked tauntingly. "I did not tell him anything, Hermione…you controlled that conversation."
My mind began to spin, waves of utter confusion and misery washing over me. "I did?" I asked myself faintly. His words were weaving a web of wonderment upon me; I couldn't remember anything, what conversations I controlled, what conversations that he took power over…the only person that could help me was Draco, he was the only person I was allowed to talk to about it…
"No," the voice said, answering my thoughts. "You really can't tell Draco everything. You're just going to have to bear with me."
I sighed audibly, staring down at the parchment of homework that I hadn't touched for the last ten minutes. All my memories of the last two days were so haunting, and I was so tired…
I could barely think by the time my head hit the parchment, and I fell into a dreamy slumber.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I shook her awake, surprised to still find her there three hours after I'd left for dinner. Apparently, I thought to myself, she'd overdone it with the homework.
"Hermione," I whispered. "Get up!"
Finally she awoke, her eyes still full of sleep as she looked blankly up at me. For a second, I was struck with how beautiful she was. I had finally admitted it to myself, then, the fact that I found her beautiful. And conventionally, she wasn't beautiful. She was normal, decent, fairly pretty…but to me, she was gorgeous.
I couldn't help it as I pulled her into a kiss, a sweet kiss, a short kiss. I did not want to give her a passionate kiss when Voldemort was residing in her head. It was unnerving, really, and akin to kissing the Dark Lord…we pulled apart rather quickly, and I felt that maybe her thoughts were in the same direction as mine.
"What was that for?" she asked softly.
I smiled. "I don't know. What's wrong with a kiss every now and then?"
She laughed. "Nothing. I was just surprised."
I changed the topic, not wanting her to think that I'd gone soft or anything. "Well," I asked, in the usual, hardened voice of Draco Malfoy, "How's it going with him up in your head?"
She sighed. "He's ther—I mean, sometimes he's there, but only for a second or two. It seems like he isn't there all the time, like he goes away and then comes back but it's a very short period of time."
A little confused, I asked what she was about to say before she'd gone off on the little tangent. "Why'd you say he's there at first?" I asked, a little suspicious.
She smiled wanly. "Did I?" she asked. "I've just been so tired lately, I always use the wrong words. Anyway, he doesn't seem to be in my head right now."
I nodded crisply. "I realize," I told her softly. We both looked at each other, a little bit confused, a little bit excited, a little bit worried about the future.
"You'll beat him," I told her confidently.
All at once, her smiling expression changed to something hard and almost criminal-like. In spite of myself, I retreated backwards immediately.
"What did you say?" she asked softly.
"Er…that you'll…succumb to his powers," I said quickly, suddenly realizing that I had just confessed to Voldemort my lack of support for him.
"No, you didn't," she, or rather he, retorted.
Before I knew it, she was advancing upon me; I could feel her ragged breath against my neck. "Malfoy," she whispered malevolently, "You'd better watch it. You do realize I'm the heiress of the Dark Lord. And I can kill the whole bloody school if I want to."
A/N: Terribly sorry about the long wait! Well, I felt iffy about this chapter. Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, esp. Compellingold for reviewing constantly! Reviews for this chapter are most welcome. Hehe!