I've Been Living A Lie

~* Sorry about the wait on this chapter, I'm sure you're all wondering what's going to happen so I'll let you start reading. *~

Chapter 16 ~ Draco Black

It was quite a shock for all of Hogwarts to know that Draco had been denounced a Malfoy. Some people didn't quite know what to call him, seeing as they had always called him by his last name. They didn't want to start calling him Draco, because that would mean being nice to him. However, some students did pity him.

Harry was amongst the students who pitied Draco. Hermione also felt sorry for him, but Ron was happy to have his enemy humiliated in front of the whole school.

Lucius Malfoy stalked around the school like he had been teaching there for years. He had also made Draco and Miranda's denunciation official with the Ministry of Magic. The two siblings stuck with eachother, avoiding Lucius Malfoy, and most other people. Miranda kept her foster last name, Durshwood, while Draco took on his mother's family name, Black.

'I'm not calling him by Sirius's name!' Harry had bellowed when he found out.

'I agree, the Black name is way too good for him.' Ron said.

'No, the Black name is just like the Malfoy name… but I still refuse to call him by a name of which I would have called Sirius,' Harry said blankly.

All in all, the whole situation was a mess. On top of that, Ancient Greek Literature was becoming a failure. Those small amount of students who had chosen to take it on, were either failing badly, or wanting to drop it because of Lucius.

Hermione was one of the students who had taken it on. Only a few sixth years had taken this subject, Hermione Granger, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Pansy Parkinson, Andrea Newbury, Mandy Brocklehurst and Justin Finch-Fletchley.

Hermione sat with Parvati and Lavender, Pansy and Andrea sat together, and Mandy and Justin sat together. Andrea and Pansy, being the resident Slytherins, were Lucius's teachers pets.

After the double lesson of Ancient Greek Literature, Hermione was walking by herself on her way to the Great Hall where she was going to meet up with Harry and Ron. They planned to do some extra study for Potions.

However, before she could reach the ground floor where the Great Hall was, Hermione was intercepted by someone and dragged into a utility room. Before Hermione could see who had abducted her, she glanced around.

'Wow, I didn't know there were such messy rooms in Hogwarts,' She mused.

'Well maybe you should do some more exploring, plenty more of these…'

Hermione turned around to see Draco standing there.

'Hello, Mal- erm…' She stammered, not knowing what to call him.

'Either call me Draco or Black,'

'But then I'd get you mixed up with Cora Black,' Hermione said, referring to another sixth year Slytherin, friends with Pansy and Andrea.

'She's a relative of mine,' Draco said.

'Well, I'll just call you Draco then,' Hermione said.

'I don't like the idea of you calling me by my first name, just as you wouldn't like it if I walked around calling you Hermione all the time,' Draco said snidely.

'Look, I don't think you're in any position to argue, you owe me a favour, remember? And you're the laughing stock of the school, you and Miranda,' Hermione said.

'Leave her out of this will you?' Draco growled. 'She's going through enough stress as it is,'

'Sorry,' Hermione said. There was an awkward pause.

'Why is he so horrible?'

'Who?'

'Father…' Draco replied.

'Lucius Malfoy? He is an evil man, and I'm just glad that you had the guts to stand up to him for your sister, that was a very noble thing to do, very Un-Malfoyish,' Hermione smiled.

'No wonder he disowned me,' Draco mumbled.

'Yes, well aren't you glad that you're rid of that horrible family now?' Hermione said.

'No! That family was my life, and it's gone now, all because -'

'All because you care about your sister,' Hermione finished for him. Draco slumped his shoulders. 'That shows realness, something that I never would have expected from you,'

'Exactly, I don't want to be seen like that,'

'So why did you stand up to your father in front of the whole school?' Hermione asked. There was a long silence.

'I don't know,' Draco finally replied.

'I know,' Hermione said softly. 'Because you don't want to be horrible like your father, you want to turn out different,'

'You don't know anything!' Draco snapped. Hermione stayed calm and smiled.

'Then you tell me why you care about your sister,'

'I care about Miranda because she is defenceless against him,' Draco told her.

'That's what makes you different,' Hermione said firmly. The utility room fell silent. 'Can we go somewhere else? This place is a bit cramped,'

'Don't you like it in here with me?' Draco asked smoothly.

'Well, not really, it's beginning to make me uncomfortable,' Hermione said shakily, finally realising how small the space actually was.

'I really appreciate your help,' Draco said, inching closer to her. Hermione reached behind her back to find the door handle.

'Don't think we're friends because of it,' Hermione said as her hand firmly gripped the handle, ready to open the door quickly if needed. Draco stepped back and sighed.

'Off you go then,' He said indicating to Hermione's ready hand, resting on the door handle. Hermione looked suddenly guilty, but she flipped the handle and swept swiftly out, closing the door with a click behind her, leaving Draco in the dark.

~***~

'… and Snape just gave us this huge pile of homework, how are we going to get it - Hermione?' Ron lost his train of thought as Hermione walked in and took a seat, sitting stiffly and her eyes glazed over.

'Hello?' Harry waved his hand in front of her face, and she blinked. Shaking her head, Hermione muttered something under her breath before smiling and looking up at her friend and brother.

'Hi,' She said cheerfully.

'What was that all about?' Harry asked, placing his palm on her forehead to see if she had an abnormal temperature.

'Oh, nothing I was just thinking about someone - something,' Hermione blushed slightly at her blunder. Ron raised his eyebrows.

'Someone?'

'Yeah… don't worry, it's no big deal,' Hermione smiled again and turned to their Divination homework. 'Are you sure that Mars intercepts Earth at this date?'

'Don't change the subject now, Hermione,' Harry said warily. 'We want to know what's on your mind,'

'Please, don't worry about me, I'm fine!' Hermione urged.

'Fine, we won't care about you,' Ron said bitterly and went back to his homework, not giving Hermione a second glance.

~***~

The next morning, Hermione went down to breakfast to find Harry and Ron sitting away from all the other Gryffindors. This was a rare sight, as Harry was normally the person who everyone wanted to sit around. Hermione headed over to the two boys, but a glare from both of them told her to keep away. Stunned, Hermione slid into a seat next to Parvati Patil, and became overly absorbed in her piece of toast.

A regular morning routine was the Owl Post, and this particular morning was no different. The Great Hall was soon filled with the sounds and smells of different breeds of owls as they delivered mail to the various students.

Hermione, who rarely got mail other than the Daily Prophet, was surprised to receive a small envelope. It contained a letter which read as follows.

Granger,

First of all, do not look over at me during the course of breakfast ~ it would cause confusion. Secondly, I would like to see you.

Meet me in the Library at ten o'clock tonight, come alone.

I will not sign my name lest this be read by one of your friends, but I am positive that you know who I am.

Hermione could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head, yet she did not turn around to meet them. She knew that Draco Black was watching her.

Glancing down to the end of the Gryffindor Table, Hermione noticed that Harry and Ron were talking rapidly in whispers. She had no idea what they were saying, or if they were talking about her. They had no way of knowing about her meeting with Draco, how could they?

~***~

Classes went by quickly, and nightfall came earlier than Hermione was prepared for. She sat, nervously, in an armchair in the Gryffindor common room, with no knowledge of where Harry and Ron were. She figured they were off thwarting Voldemort's evil plans, or something dangerous like that, and that they chose to exclude her because she refused to tell them about Draco. How could she tell them? She had no way of bringing herself to tell them that she was developing feelings for their arch nemesis.

'Alright, Hermione?' Colin Creevey came and sat with her. 'You're looking rather on edge tonight,'

'Sorry, I'm just not in the mood for a conversation right now,' Hermione said quietly. Colin's smile faded.

'Not a problem,' He said, looking slightly taken aback. 'I'll just leave you to it then,' Colin got up and walked away.

Ten o'clock dragged closer, and Hermione finally excused herself from the warmth of the Gryffindor fire and headed out, on her way to the library. She swiftly stayed to the shadows, not wanting to be seen by Mrs Norris, Filch, or even Peeves.

Hermione reached the second floor, and slipped through the large doors which led into the Library. She quickly found Draco. He was sitting at one of the studying tables, staring into space. Hermione slid into the chair next to him.

~***~

'Ouch, your elbow just went into my stomach,' Harry grumbled. He and Ron were under the invisibility cloak, and they had followed Hermione to the library. She had gone in, yet the boys had stayed outside.

'What's the bets she's meeting someone,' Ron said bitterly.

'Yeah, and I'll bet it's the same person she was thinking about yesterday afternoon when she came back well after classes finished,' Harry agreed, in the same bitter tone that Ron had used.

'Shall we go and find out who this mystery person is?' Ron suggested.

'Yes, good idea,' Harry said, and they slipped through the library doors. As soon as they spotted Hermione, both boys' jaws dropped. She was with Draco Black. Ron looked about ready to break free of the invisibility cloak and create a scene, but a look from Harry said that they needed to see what was about to take place.

'Thanks for coming, I was worried that you might not show up,' Draco said.

'How can I resist putting myself in a position to get a detention,' Hermione smiled. 'After all, I'm friends with the two biggest troublemakers since Fred and George,'

'I wouldn't call them troublemakers, more like trouble seekers,' Draco said thoughtfully.

'So, why did you want to see me?' Hermione questioned.

'I was thinking about our encounter yesterday afternoon,' He replied.

'What is there to think about?' Hermione asked nervously.

'Not much, but I just realised that I missed you,' Draco said with a small hint of a smile. Hermione dropped her eyes.

'We can't do this,' She said.

'Do what?'

'Sneak around to see eachother, pretend that we hate eachother,' Hermione replied.

'Who's pretending?' Draco joked.

'It's just that if Ron and Harry found out that we weren't at eachother's throats, who knows how they would react,' Hermione said, looking up into his eyes.

'Who cares how they would react? Honestly, Hermione, don't live under other people's opinions,'

'A bit rich coming from you, don't you think?' Hermione said, a little more harshly than she had intended. In retaliation, Draco did something quite unexpected. He firmly grabbed Hermione's shoulders and pulled her towards him, planting a kiss on her lips. That was too much for Harry and Ron, who sprung out of the invisibility cloak in a fit of rage.

'What the hell do you think you're doing Malfoy?' Harry roared. 'Oh, you're not a Malfoy anymore!' Ron let out a noise which sounded like a cross between an angry bull and a howling wolf.

'Keep your filthy hands off her!' Ron bellowed.

'Keep the noise down please!' Hermione hissed. 'We'll all get found!' That made Ron and Harry keep their rage to small hissing noises, making them sound rather like kettles boiling.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' Harry demanded. 'My own sister, with that… that thing!'

'Sister?' Draco asked, somewhat puzzled, somewhat mortified.

'Yes, I'm Harry's sister,' Hermione confessed.

'Were you planning on telling me about this?' Draco demanded.

'We aren't even together!' Hermione cried. 'And already you're demanding to know about my personal life!'

'Don't worry, Black, you are Hermione's personal life,' Ron spat viciously.

'Everyone please, just calm down!' Hermione said, brushing her hair out of her face.

'I cannot stay calm with that image stuck in my head! It will haunt me for the rest of my life!' Harry said through his teeth, which were now grinding in no particular pattern.

'You kissed him!' Ron blurted out for no particular reason.

'Look, it's been a long night, I'm going to bed,' Hermione said, and got up to leave. Ron and Harry moved uniformly to block the library doors.

They said nothing, the looks on their faces said it all. Harry and Ron were not letting Hermione leave without a proper explanation.

'Please just let me leave,' Hermione pleaded, but the boys showed no signs of moving. Draco stood up and pushed past the three Gryffindors without so much as a glance. 'You let him leave!' Hermione argued.

'He isn't our friend, we don't care whether or not he goes behind our backs to date our sworn enemy!' Ron growled.

'It isn't my fault that I started to develop feelings for Draco!' Hermione cried. This stopped Ron and Harry with their mouths open.

'You what?' Harry demanded. Ron couldn't seem to find words, so he just stood in rage. 'He hasn't spoken a decent word to you this whole time we've been going to Hogwarts!' Harry continued.

'Well he's probably grown up, I wish I could say the same about you two,' Hermione huffed, and pushed past them, leaving the library.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

~* Once again, sorry for the wait, I hope it was worth it, and I hope that people are still reading! *~

~Gryffindor Gal~