First, let me apologize for taking so dang long to get up the last chapter.
What it really boils down to is me being really busy and having lots of
issues. Not horrible issues, but issues nonetheless.
Second, does any one out there have a yahoo account and can tell me how to change the font? After they updated it, everything went to curlz and I can't read a dagded bit! I also use safari if that changes anything.
Third, On with the show!!
The Truth
A few minutes later, Draco sat on the grass in the Quidditch Pitch looking at the small brown box in his hands.
He could hear the cheers in the stands coming not from the green section, but the red; hell it came from the blue and yellow sections too. They were happy so long as his team didn't win. The school hated him for being a Slytherin, The Slytherins surely hated him for losing the game, and Hermione certainly hated him for being such a prick. Add that to his fan club outside of school, and Draco was on the receiving end of tons of hate.
He crouched there in the grass as he heard the crowds dissipate and the teams go into the locker room for showers. When he was certain that he was alone, he set the box down and opened the lid.
Still kneeling, he muttered the incantation that would return Hermione to her rightful size. He knew she couldn't have fully understood what had gone on being inside the box; but he would truly been surprised if she couldn't read it on his face.
Hermione stood towering over him about to speak, but when Draco looked up, there was a look to him that she couldn't place, but also one that struck her speechless. The two teens kept eye contact the whole time it took for Draco to stand up and walk past Hermione leaving her alone on the field.
Draco walked past the doors and into the locker room, immediately running into Blasie's fist.
Draco grabbed his face where the blow had hit him. "Bloody hell!" He heard the locker room door slam knowing Blaise had made and exit that would have done her Potions Master proud.
Gathering himself, Draco headed towards his locker and sat on the bench in between Crabb and Goyle who both immediately stood up and left. One by one the other players followed suit until Draco was once again left entirely alone with nothing but his agonizing thoughts to keep him company.
It was at dinner when Hermione first realized Draco's absence. He wasn't there sitting across the great hall where he usually sat. Odd she noted and tried to focus back on what Ron was saying.
"And there they were, neck and neck, both reaching out for the golden snitch. It was as if it was all going in slow motion, would Harry get it? Would we win? And they were still neck in neck and the distance between their hands and the snitch was getting smaller. And"
"And Draco was the stupid ferret he was and swerved leaving Harry to catch the snitch" Ginny cut in. "Jeeze Ron! It isn't as if we all weren't there!"
"Wait what?" Hermione asked before Ron could reply to his sister. "You mean he just went the other direction?"
"Yup," Ginny said as she scooped up a fork of mashed potatoes. "Turned to the side and flew like his life depended on it. One of the oddest things I've ever seen in a match."
The words 'like his life depended on it' ran through Hermione's mind. She remembered the feeling of falling faster and faster and not knowing when you would hit the ground. She had been certain that day she was going to die. She had finally gotten used to the twisting and turning of flying in Draco's pocket, but the plummet was entirely different.
He must have seen her, and dove to keep her from crashing full speed into the ground. But why would he do that? What about everything he said that morning? He made fun of her for thinking they could ever be anything except enemies. Then why would he sacrifice a game to save her, his enemy? There was something Draco was not telling and something Hermione was determined to find out.
Severus Snape sat at the teachers' table eating dinner when he noticed the headmaster staring at a student with a certain twinkle in his eye that Severus knew all too well. Following the gaze, Severus Snape realized that Hermione Granger was part of the headmaster's latest scheme.
"Did you do what I think you did?" he asked approaching the old man.
Albus looked up innocently at the younger man and remarked, "If you mean did I make Hermione Granger fall in love with Draco Malfoy, then no, she did that on her own."
"And what then did you do?"
"I just helped them along a little."
The potion's master sat down and supported his head with his hands. "The conscious unconscious potion?"
"Precisely!"
Snape let out a groan.
"I say! Do you feel all right their Severus? You are moaning something awful! Maybe you should go visit Pompy."
Snape fixed Dumbledore with a glare that could freeze over a flame. "I am alright sir, just indigestion!"
Albus watched as the man stood up and left in a fury. "I wonder what's gotten into him."
That night Draco hadn't returned to his dorm. Hermione was pacing back and forward in their small room trying to calm a screaming Caitlyn. Nothing seemed to be working, nothing at all. Hermione made up her mind to hex the living daylights out of that accursed Malfoy whenever he got back. Hermione's heart went out to all those single mothers who had to do this every day.
Feeling that this unsatisfied infant was not merely her problem, she decided that she would allow Draco to partake in this fortune. She promptly decided to place a silencing charm on the baby and made a quick run to the Gryffindor tower.
Harry heard a muffled scream along with a thud and his hand immediately flew to his wand, which he kept under his pillow. In less than half a second he stood ready and armed looking around for the offender.
A laugh soon broke through the room. "Paranoid much?" asked his best friend Hermione Granger.
"What, uh......" he blushed at the fact that he had prepared himself to be ready for an attack whatever the hour. Ron, it would appear from the way he was now jumbled on the floor rubbing his backside, was not as prepared as Harry.
Sighing Harry lowered his defenses. "What are you doing here? And in the middle of the night?" he whispered.
"Calm down alright, I just need the map..... and maybe the cloak too."
"What would you need that for?" Ron asked glancing up at her suspiciously from the floor.
"There is an arse that needs kicking, and I have to find where it is." Was her answer. "I'll give it back to you first thing tomorrow, please?"
Sighing, Harry threw her his invisibility cloak and the marauder's map.
"Later boys," Hermione called with a smirk leaving the two teens to get back to their sleep.
Hermione went back to her dorm to figure out where exactly Draco Malfoy was hiding.
After searching all the obvious places, Hermione found him next to the Forbidden Forest. Stuffing the map in her pocket and grabbing the silently screaming baby, Hermione threw the cloak over her and headed off.
Draco Malfoy was leaning up against a tree on the edge of the forbidden forest not really feeling like being anywhere or speaking to anyone. He wasn't upset or sad or let down even, in fact he wasn't much of anything at the moment except for confused. A jumble of thoughts and feelings had pushed their way into his brain and all began acting at once so that he had to finally scream "Shut up!" to make them all stop.
A few hours later, he was merely leaning up against a tree neither thinking nor feeling. It was as he stood here that he saw a figure materialize out of thin air. Being a wizard people showing up that weren't there a moment before was entirely normal. What wasn't normal was appearing out of nowhere at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; there were too many wards against that sort of thing.
After a moment of watching the mysterious shadow, he realized that it was none other than the Gryffindor know-it-all Hermione Granger, and she was walking straight towards him.
Almost before he knew what had happened, Hermione was inches away from him, and he had been slapped once more across the face. Three slaps in one day! Draco was beginning to feel more than a bit angry. Not touching his face, least Granger realize that her slap did hurt, he snapped his head up and focused his eyes on the girl.
"What the crap did you do that for?"
"What did I do that for?" she almost laughed as she repeated his words. "Well Draco, you so conveniently left me with this, by not showing up in the dorm tonight."
After speaking she took the silencing charm off the baby who was still screaming.
"Gods Hermione," Draco shouted with his hands over his ears, "Can't you shut that thing up?"
Hermione's laughter was both incredulous and manic as she thrust the baby at Draco. "She's all yours!"
Draco's eyes went wide as he tried to hold the squirming screaming form in his arms. Not feeling very kind at the moment, Hermione watched as Draco struggled to keep the baby from falling. After finally getting a good hold on the baby, Draco began to look at her as a doctor examines his patient.
"You say she's been crying all night?"
Hermione's snort was all the confirmation he needed. He whispered a few soft words, and within a minute, the baby had become calm and quiet.
Hermione's jaw dropped. "How did you? But she..... and you..... and....."
"Who'd have ever thought, Hermione Granger speechless."
Hermione, gaining her good temper back now that she could actually hear herself think, punched Draco lightly in the arm, but this punch was different, not like those other slaps earlier that day. Draco couldn't explain it exactly, but there seemed to be a fondness in the slap that was only there between friends. Stealing a quick glance at Hermione, he wondered if underneath all that had happened, she might not entirely hate him.
As Hermione stroked the head of the almost sleeping babe, she asked Draco how he had managed to subdue the child.
Draco laughed and scratched the back of his head, "It's easy really when you aren't used to dealing with muggle babies."
Hermione shot him a glance that he knew meant she was offended.
"No not like that," he immediately amendment, "Baby witches and wizards, when in an environment where magical energies are high, go through a period of, well, 'magical teething' for a lack of a better term."
"Magical teething?"
"Yes, they are beginning to realize that they have powers, but they don't know how to use them. It is almost as if the power controls them at times. It can be both frustrating and painful for the baby."
"And the spell you cast?"
"It helps to ease the pain and mind of the child. They don't know what is happening to them. Unfortunately, it can't control all the symptoms."
By now, both teens had made themselves comfortable sitting on the ground leaning on the same tree Draco had been in front of earlier.
"I never thought raising a witch would be so different from raising a muggle, what about muggle borns?"
"What about them?" Draco asked.
"Why don't they go through the same thing?"
"Well, they do, sort of," Draco paused to think of the right words to explain the process. "They still realize that they can do things, but cannot control the power, however, since their parents are muggles there is not much magical energy that they can put to use, and they lack the proper training to do it themselves. They are still cranky and uncomfortable making them whine a lot."
"Hermione laughed, that explains things. By using power, do you mean they actually do magic?"
"In a sense, yes."
"And any that the muggle borns might do, is dismissed as an oddity merely because the repetition is less."
"I think your catching on," Draco said.
It was then when they locked eyes that both teens realized that they had been smiling and talking normally. They broke their gaze quickly each becoming transfixed on the ground.
Hermione rubbed her bare arms noticing now how cold she was. "It's chilly out here," she muttered. "We should get back upstairs before Caitlyn catches cold."
Draco agreed and stood to leave when Hermione threw the invisibility cloak over him. "I knew it!" he said as Hermione herself got under the thick cloak too. They made their way slowly up to the castle.
Back in the room Hermione sat on her bed and watched as Draco gently laid down the baby he was carrying in his crib.
"I'll never understand you Draco Malfoy," Hermione said absent-mindedly, "Sometimes you can be so caring, and other times......" her voice trailed off leaving Draco to muse at what she had been thinking.
"And other times what?" he asked gently.
Hermione seemed to be struggling with something deep inside her before she answered, "Sometimes I think you have no heart." She turned around so that he was no longer facing him, his words from that morning fresh in her mind and still stinging.
Draco, still not sure about any thought of feeling he had crossed the room to her bed sitting behind her and placed a hand on her back, which she immediately shrinked away from. Draco felt as if someone had cut his soul in half with a knife. He struggled with leaving her well enough alone, and enveloping her entirely in his arms. His thoughts cut back and forward form one to the other until he became so mixed up he was fairly certain that he would never think straight again.
All of a sudden Draco stood up, "I can't take it anymore!" As he spoke, Draco crossed the room and banged his fist against the wall, ignoring the shock of pain that racked through him.
Hermione had turned now so she could see him, and even though his back was to her, he could feel the concern in her look as she watched him.
After a few deep breaths, Draco said the only thing he could think. He was too tired, too confused to lie anymore. "Gods I hate you Hermione."
He could hear Hermione gasp and see the tears that came to her eyes without even seeing her. "I hate you because of what you do to me. Before all of this, I knew exactly who I was, what I was supposed to do and be. Now, now I'm not even sure what my name is any more. You've got me so mixed up. I don't know any thing, I can't think properly."
The bed creaked and Draco knew she was now standing up and would be walking towards him, but he could not stop the emotion that poured out of him.
"I'm scared Hermione. Because as great as I can feel when I am with you, I just think of my father and I know what would happen if he knew..... I am afraid for you Hermione. What I feel for you taints you. It will haunt you, it will hurt you."
Hermione laid a hand on Draco's back which was all too much for the boy and he turned around and grabbed he firmly by the shoulders, and as he spoke he walked forward in turn pushing Hermione back as his talking turned to frantic yelling.
"No Hermione! It's not that easy! It's never been that easy! If this were any other place, any other time, but it's not it's here and now! We are on the eve of the biggest battle in the history of the magical world, and you are Harry Potter's best friend, and I am a Death Eater! A Death Eater!"
Hermione had by this time backed up against the bed, and as Draco sank to his knees, Hermione sat upon the bed. Draco placed his head in her lap. After whipping a tear from her cheek, Hermione began to run her fingers through the blond hair as Draco did something that he had not done in all his memory: he cried.
next chapter in a few days I promise!
Father's Day I have to go!
Thank you for reviewing!
Love you guys!
Atiannala
Second, does any one out there have a yahoo account and can tell me how to change the font? After they updated it, everything went to curlz and I can't read a dagded bit! I also use safari if that changes anything.
Third, On with the show!!
The Truth
A few minutes later, Draco sat on the grass in the Quidditch Pitch looking at the small brown box in his hands.
He could hear the cheers in the stands coming not from the green section, but the red; hell it came from the blue and yellow sections too. They were happy so long as his team didn't win. The school hated him for being a Slytherin, The Slytherins surely hated him for losing the game, and Hermione certainly hated him for being such a prick. Add that to his fan club outside of school, and Draco was on the receiving end of tons of hate.
He crouched there in the grass as he heard the crowds dissipate and the teams go into the locker room for showers. When he was certain that he was alone, he set the box down and opened the lid.
Still kneeling, he muttered the incantation that would return Hermione to her rightful size. He knew she couldn't have fully understood what had gone on being inside the box; but he would truly been surprised if she couldn't read it on his face.
Hermione stood towering over him about to speak, but when Draco looked up, there was a look to him that she couldn't place, but also one that struck her speechless. The two teens kept eye contact the whole time it took for Draco to stand up and walk past Hermione leaving her alone on the field.
Draco walked past the doors and into the locker room, immediately running into Blasie's fist.
Draco grabbed his face where the blow had hit him. "Bloody hell!" He heard the locker room door slam knowing Blaise had made and exit that would have done her Potions Master proud.
Gathering himself, Draco headed towards his locker and sat on the bench in between Crabb and Goyle who both immediately stood up and left. One by one the other players followed suit until Draco was once again left entirely alone with nothing but his agonizing thoughts to keep him company.
It was at dinner when Hermione first realized Draco's absence. He wasn't there sitting across the great hall where he usually sat. Odd she noted and tried to focus back on what Ron was saying.
"And there they were, neck and neck, both reaching out for the golden snitch. It was as if it was all going in slow motion, would Harry get it? Would we win? And they were still neck in neck and the distance between their hands and the snitch was getting smaller. And"
"And Draco was the stupid ferret he was and swerved leaving Harry to catch the snitch" Ginny cut in. "Jeeze Ron! It isn't as if we all weren't there!"
"Wait what?" Hermione asked before Ron could reply to his sister. "You mean he just went the other direction?"
"Yup," Ginny said as she scooped up a fork of mashed potatoes. "Turned to the side and flew like his life depended on it. One of the oddest things I've ever seen in a match."
The words 'like his life depended on it' ran through Hermione's mind. She remembered the feeling of falling faster and faster and not knowing when you would hit the ground. She had been certain that day she was going to die. She had finally gotten used to the twisting and turning of flying in Draco's pocket, but the plummet was entirely different.
He must have seen her, and dove to keep her from crashing full speed into the ground. But why would he do that? What about everything he said that morning? He made fun of her for thinking they could ever be anything except enemies. Then why would he sacrifice a game to save her, his enemy? There was something Draco was not telling and something Hermione was determined to find out.
Severus Snape sat at the teachers' table eating dinner when he noticed the headmaster staring at a student with a certain twinkle in his eye that Severus knew all too well. Following the gaze, Severus Snape realized that Hermione Granger was part of the headmaster's latest scheme.
"Did you do what I think you did?" he asked approaching the old man.
Albus looked up innocently at the younger man and remarked, "If you mean did I make Hermione Granger fall in love with Draco Malfoy, then no, she did that on her own."
"And what then did you do?"
"I just helped them along a little."
The potion's master sat down and supported his head with his hands. "The conscious unconscious potion?"
"Precisely!"
Snape let out a groan.
"I say! Do you feel all right their Severus? You are moaning something awful! Maybe you should go visit Pompy."
Snape fixed Dumbledore with a glare that could freeze over a flame. "I am alright sir, just indigestion!"
Albus watched as the man stood up and left in a fury. "I wonder what's gotten into him."
That night Draco hadn't returned to his dorm. Hermione was pacing back and forward in their small room trying to calm a screaming Caitlyn. Nothing seemed to be working, nothing at all. Hermione made up her mind to hex the living daylights out of that accursed Malfoy whenever he got back. Hermione's heart went out to all those single mothers who had to do this every day.
Feeling that this unsatisfied infant was not merely her problem, she decided that she would allow Draco to partake in this fortune. She promptly decided to place a silencing charm on the baby and made a quick run to the Gryffindor tower.
Harry heard a muffled scream along with a thud and his hand immediately flew to his wand, which he kept under his pillow. In less than half a second he stood ready and armed looking around for the offender.
A laugh soon broke through the room. "Paranoid much?" asked his best friend Hermione Granger.
"What, uh......" he blushed at the fact that he had prepared himself to be ready for an attack whatever the hour. Ron, it would appear from the way he was now jumbled on the floor rubbing his backside, was not as prepared as Harry.
Sighing Harry lowered his defenses. "What are you doing here? And in the middle of the night?" he whispered.
"Calm down alright, I just need the map..... and maybe the cloak too."
"What would you need that for?" Ron asked glancing up at her suspiciously from the floor.
"There is an arse that needs kicking, and I have to find where it is." Was her answer. "I'll give it back to you first thing tomorrow, please?"
Sighing, Harry threw her his invisibility cloak and the marauder's map.
"Later boys," Hermione called with a smirk leaving the two teens to get back to their sleep.
Hermione went back to her dorm to figure out where exactly Draco Malfoy was hiding.
After searching all the obvious places, Hermione found him next to the Forbidden Forest. Stuffing the map in her pocket and grabbing the silently screaming baby, Hermione threw the cloak over her and headed off.
Draco Malfoy was leaning up against a tree on the edge of the forbidden forest not really feeling like being anywhere or speaking to anyone. He wasn't upset or sad or let down even, in fact he wasn't much of anything at the moment except for confused. A jumble of thoughts and feelings had pushed their way into his brain and all began acting at once so that he had to finally scream "Shut up!" to make them all stop.
A few hours later, he was merely leaning up against a tree neither thinking nor feeling. It was as he stood here that he saw a figure materialize out of thin air. Being a wizard people showing up that weren't there a moment before was entirely normal. What wasn't normal was appearing out of nowhere at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; there were too many wards against that sort of thing.
After a moment of watching the mysterious shadow, he realized that it was none other than the Gryffindor know-it-all Hermione Granger, and she was walking straight towards him.
Almost before he knew what had happened, Hermione was inches away from him, and he had been slapped once more across the face. Three slaps in one day! Draco was beginning to feel more than a bit angry. Not touching his face, least Granger realize that her slap did hurt, he snapped his head up and focused his eyes on the girl.
"What the crap did you do that for?"
"What did I do that for?" she almost laughed as she repeated his words. "Well Draco, you so conveniently left me with this, by not showing up in the dorm tonight."
After speaking she took the silencing charm off the baby who was still screaming.
"Gods Hermione," Draco shouted with his hands over his ears, "Can't you shut that thing up?"
Hermione's laughter was both incredulous and manic as she thrust the baby at Draco. "She's all yours!"
Draco's eyes went wide as he tried to hold the squirming screaming form in his arms. Not feeling very kind at the moment, Hermione watched as Draco struggled to keep the baby from falling. After finally getting a good hold on the baby, Draco began to look at her as a doctor examines his patient.
"You say she's been crying all night?"
Hermione's snort was all the confirmation he needed. He whispered a few soft words, and within a minute, the baby had become calm and quiet.
Hermione's jaw dropped. "How did you? But she..... and you..... and....."
"Who'd have ever thought, Hermione Granger speechless."
Hermione, gaining her good temper back now that she could actually hear herself think, punched Draco lightly in the arm, but this punch was different, not like those other slaps earlier that day. Draco couldn't explain it exactly, but there seemed to be a fondness in the slap that was only there between friends. Stealing a quick glance at Hermione, he wondered if underneath all that had happened, she might not entirely hate him.
As Hermione stroked the head of the almost sleeping babe, she asked Draco how he had managed to subdue the child.
Draco laughed and scratched the back of his head, "It's easy really when you aren't used to dealing with muggle babies."
Hermione shot him a glance that he knew meant she was offended.
"No not like that," he immediately amendment, "Baby witches and wizards, when in an environment where magical energies are high, go through a period of, well, 'magical teething' for a lack of a better term."
"Magical teething?"
"Yes, they are beginning to realize that they have powers, but they don't know how to use them. It is almost as if the power controls them at times. It can be both frustrating and painful for the baby."
"And the spell you cast?"
"It helps to ease the pain and mind of the child. They don't know what is happening to them. Unfortunately, it can't control all the symptoms."
By now, both teens had made themselves comfortable sitting on the ground leaning on the same tree Draco had been in front of earlier.
"I never thought raising a witch would be so different from raising a muggle, what about muggle borns?"
"What about them?" Draco asked.
"Why don't they go through the same thing?"
"Well, they do, sort of," Draco paused to think of the right words to explain the process. "They still realize that they can do things, but cannot control the power, however, since their parents are muggles there is not much magical energy that they can put to use, and they lack the proper training to do it themselves. They are still cranky and uncomfortable making them whine a lot."
"Hermione laughed, that explains things. By using power, do you mean they actually do magic?"
"In a sense, yes."
"And any that the muggle borns might do, is dismissed as an oddity merely because the repetition is less."
"I think your catching on," Draco said.
It was then when they locked eyes that both teens realized that they had been smiling and talking normally. They broke their gaze quickly each becoming transfixed on the ground.
Hermione rubbed her bare arms noticing now how cold she was. "It's chilly out here," she muttered. "We should get back upstairs before Caitlyn catches cold."
Draco agreed and stood to leave when Hermione threw the invisibility cloak over him. "I knew it!" he said as Hermione herself got under the thick cloak too. They made their way slowly up to the castle.
Back in the room Hermione sat on her bed and watched as Draco gently laid down the baby he was carrying in his crib.
"I'll never understand you Draco Malfoy," Hermione said absent-mindedly, "Sometimes you can be so caring, and other times......" her voice trailed off leaving Draco to muse at what she had been thinking.
"And other times what?" he asked gently.
Hermione seemed to be struggling with something deep inside her before she answered, "Sometimes I think you have no heart." She turned around so that he was no longer facing him, his words from that morning fresh in her mind and still stinging.
Draco, still not sure about any thought of feeling he had crossed the room to her bed sitting behind her and placed a hand on her back, which she immediately shrinked away from. Draco felt as if someone had cut his soul in half with a knife. He struggled with leaving her well enough alone, and enveloping her entirely in his arms. His thoughts cut back and forward form one to the other until he became so mixed up he was fairly certain that he would never think straight again.
All of a sudden Draco stood up, "I can't take it anymore!" As he spoke, Draco crossed the room and banged his fist against the wall, ignoring the shock of pain that racked through him.
Hermione had turned now so she could see him, and even though his back was to her, he could feel the concern in her look as she watched him.
After a few deep breaths, Draco said the only thing he could think. He was too tired, too confused to lie anymore. "Gods I hate you Hermione."
He could hear Hermione gasp and see the tears that came to her eyes without even seeing her. "I hate you because of what you do to me. Before all of this, I knew exactly who I was, what I was supposed to do and be. Now, now I'm not even sure what my name is any more. You've got me so mixed up. I don't know any thing, I can't think properly."
The bed creaked and Draco knew she was now standing up and would be walking towards him, but he could not stop the emotion that poured out of him.
"I'm scared Hermione. Because as great as I can feel when I am with you, I just think of my father and I know what would happen if he knew..... I am afraid for you Hermione. What I feel for you taints you. It will haunt you, it will hurt you."
Hermione laid a hand on Draco's back which was all too much for the boy and he turned around and grabbed he firmly by the shoulders, and as he spoke he walked forward in turn pushing Hermione back as his talking turned to frantic yelling.
"No Hermione! It's not that easy! It's never been that easy! If this were any other place, any other time, but it's not it's here and now! We are on the eve of the biggest battle in the history of the magical world, and you are Harry Potter's best friend, and I am a Death Eater! A Death Eater!"
Hermione had by this time backed up against the bed, and as Draco sank to his knees, Hermione sat upon the bed. Draco placed his head in her lap. After whipping a tear from her cheek, Hermione began to run her fingers through the blond hair as Draco did something that he had not done in all his memory: he cried.
next chapter in a few days I promise!
Father's Day I have to go!
Thank you for reviewing!
Love you guys!
Atiannala