Chapter six- Human Transfigurations.

Draco stood in front of the mirror as he fastened his cloak about his neck. The silver serpent of the Slytherin emblem glistened as the morning sunlight shone through the high window and reflected off it.

Since it was a Saturday morning, Draco decided he would go down for an early breakfast, then examine the journal that he had pocketed the night before.

He walked out of his room, which he had shared with Crabbe and Goyle for the past seven years, and down the corridors of the castle. He reached the Great Hall just as the tables were filling with the food so carefully prepared by the kitchen's house elves. Draco ate a stack of pancakes and sculled a glass of pumpkin juice before making his way outside to sit by the lake.

The sun was out, but the wind was chilly and pale gray clouds filled the sky. Draco pulled out the small maroon book and examined it again, hoping that the names might have changed overnight, but that was not the case. If the Malfoy and Granger who had signed this journal so many years ago were related to Draco and Hermione then it would mean something that Draco wasn't able to accept.

In all of the Malfoy's family history, they never once associated with muggles. For Derek Malfoy to have put his thoughts together with Esmerelda Granger, it would mean that Hermione is not a muggle born. She must be at least a half blood witch.

Draco tried to open the journal by grasping the front and back cover in separate hands and pulling with all his might, but the side's only dug painfully into his fingers. "Bloody thing." He muttered in irritation. He pulled out his wand from the inside of his robe and pointed it at the front cover. "Alohomora!" he tried without really believing that such a spell would work. He was right. The journal remained stubbornly closed.

'There must be something very interesting written inside here' Draco thought. 'Maybe there's a clue as to how to open it hidden in that damn cabin somewhere. Granger will probably go back there tonight, so there's no way that I'm going. If she finds anything of relevance, she'll have to ask me for the diary back before she can put it to use…so I'll let her do all the work.' Draco concluded smugly.

Draco slid the diary back into his pocket and rested his chin on his fist, which was propped up by his knee. His icy blue eyes stared out across the lake pensively. Draco thought about showing the cabin to Crabbe and Goyle, but quickly dismissed the idea. He realised they would tell every one and it would soon become known by the teachers and he would be unable to visit and search it whenever he wanted.

He scowled when he thought of Granger telling Potter and Weasley. Surely they would make it their little secret and have little fun adventures and little tea parties in it on the weekends. He smirked, realising that he was in no danger of Granger telling them. For if she did they would find out that she had been with Draco, and for that, she would be reprimanded badly.

Draco also wondered why the cabin had gone out of its way to not be noticed by him. When he was approaching the cabin last night and the night before, an invisible force had pushed his eyes away from it. It had taken a certain amount of effort to keep focussed on the cabin. Draco decided that he would have to solve that small mystery within time too.

Draco seated himself at the back of the Transfiguration classroom with Pansy and Goyle as the rest of the class filed in. He glanced up as Hermione scuffed in through the door between her two best friends. She slumped down at the table beside Draco's and rested her face between her hands in drowsiness. By the size of the bags under her eyes, Draco guessed that she had spent the nights of the weekend out in the Forbidden Forest searching the cabin from head to toe.

She looked lazily over at Draco as she felt his eyes upon her. Her whole aurora changed within seconds. She sat straight up in her chair and her eyes widened. Then she quickly peered around the room to check if anyone would notice her conversing with a Slytherin. Potter and Weasley were having an intense discussion with another Gryffindor on the other side of her so she returned to face Draco again.

"I need that journal back." Granger whispered quietly.

"Why?" Draco answered childishly.

Her eyes flared up in anger instantly. "None of your business why. I found it, and I want it back."

Draco smiled inwardly at how easily he could anger her. "Um…maybe later. I'm not finished with it yet." And he turned his back on her and began to talk with Goyle.

Professor McGonagall began the class a few minutes later. "Can anyone tell me what transformation is completely banned in the wizarding world?" She asked, looking in Hermione's direction to save time. Hermione's hand was immediately in the air. "Miss Granger?"

"For hundreds of years, wizards and witches have been warned about turning any creature or object into a human. This is because long ago, it was attempted and went terribly wrong. To function properly as a human you must have basic knowledge, so to put a fish in a humans body would cause it instant death. It wouldn't know to breathe, to stand or even to remember things. It couldn't live." Hermione answered perfectly.

"Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor." McGonagall turned and began writing notes on the blackboard for them all to copy down. After half an hour, the class was interrupted by Draco.

"Professor?" Draco inquired loudly. "Can we try turning an animal into a human? We could always use Granger's cat. It's so ugly it deserves to die."

Hermione instantly picked up her Transfiguration textbook and whacked Draco over the head with it. "Prick, we could always use you. It's not as if you're fully human. Your part beast."

"That will do Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall sternly. "Move to the front of the classroom."

Draco glared at Hermione for the insult she had so easily come up with about him. He grabbed his books and stalked passed Hermione to the front of the room. He sat sullenly in his chair and faced the blackboard.

"We will not do any experimentation in this classroom, especially when it is illegal." McGonagall said to Draco. He ignored her. He had known very well that they wouldn't be allowed to, but had jumped at the opportunity to offend Hermione.

The other classes of the day passed uneventfully and before long Draco was walking back to the Slytherin Common Room from dinner. He descended the stone steps leading to the dungeon and walked down the cold corridor.

"Malfoy." He heard his name being called quietly from not far behind him. "Malfoy, don't ignore me. Stop walking." He did, and turned to see Hermione advancing on him.

"What do you want Granger?" Draco sneered.

"You know what I want. I want that journal back." Hermione said.

"Well, that's just too bad." Draco said unemotionally. "Because I don't have it anymore."

"You do so! Now hand it over."

"I don't. If you don't believe me, you're just going to have to search me." Draco spread his arms wide out to the sides. He secretly wished that she would be revolted by this gesture and walk away. If she did decide to search him, then she would find the journal tucked away in his pocket.

She was much more determined then he had originally thought. She narrowed her eyes and walked slowly over to him.

Hermione felt his pockets on the outside of his robe. They were empty, for the journal was hidden in one of the inside pockets. Hermione pulled back and looked Draco in the eye challengingly. She then reached inside his robe and into the pocket so carefully hidden from sight. Her mouth curved into a victorious smile as her hand found the corner of the journal.

"I knew you had it." She retrieved it from his pocket and almost had it out of Draco's reach, before he thought he'd better act quickly so as not to miss his chance. Draco snatched the journal from her hand and held it high above his head.

"Hey! Come on, Malfoy. That's not fair and you know it." Hermione said, looking him in the eye.

"If I give it back to you, you have to promise to tell me what you know about it. My family's name is on it as well as yours. I have as much right as you to read what it holds."

"Fine." She held her hand out.

"Good." Draco slowly lowered the journal and held it out to her, face down. As Hermione made a reach for it, her eyes locked on the back cover and her hand froze in midair. Draco looked down to see that he had placed his thumb into one of the two grooves on the back cover. His thumbprint had been instantly outlined in gold ink and somehow, his signature was scrawled underneath.

"What the..?" He breathed, dumbfounded. He looked up at Hermione, whose face had paled and was backing away slightly.

"Is that your signature?' She asked shakily.

Draco nodded, and then a thought hit him. If his thumbprint had been a show of identity for the journal, maybe if Hermione were to do the same thing, it would be the key to open the journal. He told her this. "Put your thumb in the empty groove next to that one." He added.

By looking at her face, Draco could tell Hermione was fighting an inner battle. Her curiosity as to what information the journal held was ever present, but a new emotion played across her face. She was scared. Draco had no idea why, but he could tell.

"Hello? Granger, I'm waiting." Draco said impatiently.

"I…I can't. I don't want to." She started shaking and backed away further.

"Don't you want to open this bloody thing? Come on, you know this will work. Just do it." Draco insisted.

"No. I don't want to read it any more. I don't want to know what a relative of mine was doing with one of yours. I couldn't bear it if…I just can't." She turned and fled down the corridor.

Draco's look of confusion was present as he walked to the Slytherin Common Room. What was with her? Surely she wanted to know just as much as Draco did what the journal contained?

Draco shrugged his shoulders and decided to try her again tomorrow. Now he was fairly certain how to open the diary, so he was a step closer then he was this morning. Even if Hermione wasn't willing to participate, he was sure he could find away to get her thumb placed in the groove next to his. Even if he had to threaten her.

By the time Hermione had reached the library she had stopped shaking. She walked quickly to the far end and sat down with her back against the wall. She wrapped her arms around her legs and placed her chin on her knees.

Hermione had had a lot to think about the past couple of days, but this topped the lot. She had accepted that she was somehow not a pure muggle-born witch, for if she were, she would have no relations who were witches or wizards. She had written to her parents about the recent discovery of Esmerelda, and had received a letter in return from her father. It had read:

Dearest Hermione,

I apologize for this secret that I have kept from you. I knew that you were going to find out one day with the Prophecy, but I had no idea it would be this soon.

You are a half-blood witch. I am a wizard, or a squib more like it. As a child, when I found out that I had no magical talent to speak of, I decided that I would marry a muggle so I wouldn't have to live with the shame in the wizarding world. I fell in love with your mother, and adapted easily into the muggle lifestyle. To this day, she has no idea of my magical background. Please help me to keep it that way.

I'm sorry if you not being aware of this connection has hurt you in any way.

Your mother and I look forward to seeing you over the Christmas break.

Love dad.

The letter had confirmed her status as a witch, but had confused her even more with talk of a Prophecy. What on earth had he meant? She decided to leave that question until her stay at home over Christmas.

Now a new idea had planted itself in Hermione's mind. The Malfoy's had always been associated with the Dark side, as long as they have lived. For Hermione's relative, Esmerelda, to have been working with a Malfoy must mean that she was on the Dark side. Hermione didn't know if she could handle her family, no matter how long ago, working for evil purposes.

If she helped Malfoy open that journal, it may contain evil potions and spells that their relatives had created. Hermione decided that she would take no part in helping Malfoy get his hands on them.

She would never open that journal.

Never…