Rating: R for future sexual content/mild language
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling. What do you think I am, rich?
AN.- I would just like to thank my reviewers personally.
Oreo69not96--Thankyou for waiting and being patient...I write this story for you!
Sarah--Thanks for being supportive, and I'll try to update more often.
Ariel S—Thanks and I hope you enjoy it still in the future.
Queen of Serpents—Thanks!
A.AN. - I'm so sorry for not updating as soon as I should have but I'm preparing to move into another state and no one is helping, and it's been so hard. I hope you guys can forgive me. I will be updating weekly, so I won't be disappointing you. And thankyou guys for being so patient. Okay now, onto the story!
Chapter 3
Hermione ran all the way back to the Gryffindor tower, not stopping to take a breather. She reached the painting of the fat lady and stopped, breathing heavily over her run from the Great Hall. The fat lady looked upon her with sympathy.
"Dear child, are you alright?"
Hermione looked up to the painting and nodded, still trying to catch her breath. "I'll be fine, just give me a moment."
"Alright dear. Whenever you're ready." Hermione just nodded, panting a bit. Once she caught her breath, she straightened up and said the password. The fat lady let her pass through without another comment. She reached the common room and found a few students still lingering about.
She then spotted Harry and Ron sitting on the couch playing chess. She went to go sit down next to them on the floor and just watched them.
"Hermione, hey! So how was the meeting? What was the discussion about?" Harry asked as he noticed that she was just sitting there.
Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "Same thing that Dumbledore announced to us all at dinner. He was just asking us to put our differences aside and work together in protecting the school and everyone."
"He had to repeat all of that with you? That's drastic," Ron chirped in, still playing the game. "You sure did take a long time down there, though. What took you?"
"Oh, I ran into Malfoy. Literally," she said irritably.
Both Harry and Ron turned quickly towards her. "What!"
"What do you mean literally?" Harry asked.
"Well, after I had a brief, private conversation with Dumbledore I...Oh my." Hermione's eyes widened and she stood up abruptly. "I hope he didn't hear my conversation with him. That conniving little leach!"
"Whoa, Hermione! Calm down. What in bloody hell are you talking about? Give us some details, will ya?" Ron asked, demandingly.
Hermione, still fuming over her realization, sat back down on the floor at their feet. "It doesn't matter now, but I have to tell you guys something. Something that had happened over the summer..."
Harry and Ron both looked at her confusedly. "Okay Hermione. We're listening." They straightened up in their seats and waited patiently for her to speak.
Hermione sighed and looked at them, though they looked a bit hazy and blurry. She looked back down at her hands in her lap and started to tell them about what had happened. The accident, her father's death, her brother's condition; everything. They both listened intently as she went through every detail, how she felt, how her family was doing, what she planned on doing afterwards. They just sat there stunned and shocked.
After Hermione was finished with her telling, she sat back and breathed out a huge breath. She sniffed back a few tears and still looked down at her hands, which were fiddling with her skirt. She now felt that a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders and that she could rest a little easier.
"I'm so sorry Hermione that you had to go through that. I understand your pain a little. I mean, I never knew my parents, but Sirius was the only parent I knew and that I had. And after... you know, what happened, I felt as if a part of me died also." Harry stayed quiet after that. Ron looked upon both of them sympathetically.
"I'm sorry too. I mean, I have no idea of what you're going through, either of you, but know that I'll be here for you guys. Always." Hermione finally looked up at both of them and smiled. A real smile. She rose up to her knees and pulled each of them into a bear hug, holding them closely and tightly.
"Thank you so much," she whispered softly, silent tears falling down her cheeks. Both Harry and Ron rubbed her back and her hair.
"No problem Hermione," Ron said.
They released each other from their hug and retreated back into their places. "I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner, but it seemed as if it was too much for me. It was too much of a burden and I didn't want to bother you guys with it just yet. I'm just glad that someone talked some sense into me."
"Who talked sense into you. Was it Dumbledore?" Harry asked curiously.
"Yes. I'm just glad that he did or else, who knew when I would have told you guys. He's very mysterious at times you know." She smiled softly to herself and then looked them both in the eyes. "I don't know what on Earth I were to do if I didn't have best friends like you," Hermione stated. Ron waved his hand as if to dismiss the matter.
"Oh you would probably be on the bottom of a dung hole, crying out for someone to help dig you out... I mean, we don't know where you would be, Hermione. Let's not think about it for now," he said, laughing heartedly as he saw the priceless look on her face.
"What I think Ron means to say is that," Harry said, giving Ron a disapproving look, "You would do the same for us in any situation that we're in. You've proven it to us since our first year," Harry commented. Hermione nodded and smiled at them.
"And again, thankyou. You're the best friends anyone can ever ask for." Harry beamed and Ron blushed. Hermione giggled at them and then stood up. "Well, thankyou once again guys, but I must be heading off to bed. I'm extremely exhausted from the day's activities, and I don't know if I can stand a moment longer. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning."
"Okay, Hermione. We'll see you tomorrow. You go and rest now. I hope you feel better," Harry told her.
"Oh, I do now that I've told you. I feel more relaxed. Thankyou for concerning yourselves with me."
"No problem. You go now and rest."
"Goodnight, and pleasant dreams." With that Hermione turned and walked towards the girls' dormitories. Before she can take one step onto the staircase, Ron had called out to her. She turned with a curious frown on her features.
"What happened with you and Malfoy? What did he do to you?"
Hermione blanched and went pale for a moment when Malfoy's words rang in her ears. 'Mudblood. Disgrace to the Wizarding world. Not worthy of even speaking to a Malfoy. You're no one of importance. I can and will hurt you if you get in my way.' Hermione shook her head and felt that a single tear trickled down her cheek.
"Hermione? Are you alright?" Harry asked concern etched in his voice.
"You look pale, Hermione. Are you okay?" Ron asked.
Hermione nodded slowly and tried her best to place a smile on her lips. "Nothing...just a disagreement. Good night," she said unconvincingly. She turned back around and walked up to her room.
The next morning Hermione woke up to find the sun shining down on her face through the opening of the window across the room. She stirred and tried to turn over to resume sleeping, but to no use, sleep would just not come to her. She groaned loudly and sat up in her bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and then looked around the room.
The beds were still occupied with the attendants, obviously still sleeping. She groaned again and lifted herself up from her bed and walked into the restroom to get ready. She took a quick shower, handled her necessities, and changed into her school uniform.
It fitted her nicely now. The skirt just sitting on her hips; her white blouse curving in the right places, accentuating the valleys of her upper form. She still wore the knee-high socks, which accentuated her long, slender legs very much. She was still getting used to the fact that she was attractive to the opposite sex.
She fixed her hair into a loose bun in the back of her head and walked out of the restroom to find the girls barely getting out of bed. She rolled her eyes and walked to her bed and grabbed her bag and left the dormitory to go down to the common room. No one was there, realizing that they were also, most likely getting out of bed. She shook her head and walked out of the tower to go to the Great Hall to go to breakfast.
"Mmmm..." Draco turned over onto his back and mumbled. Sleep was leaving him and the coming of the new day was taking over. He slowly opened his eyes; pain already running through his head as the bright light from his window was hitting upon him. He looked around his dormitory and noticed that no one was in the room. Even the two blockheads were missing from their un-made beds.
Draco looked over to the window and noticed that the sun was slowly getting higher and knew that he only had a little time left to get dressed if he was wanting to get some breakfast. He slowly rose out of his bed and walked over to the restroom, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes and groaning from having to get up at all. He took a quick shower and dressed quickly into his school robes. He wore black slacks with the white dress shirt covered over with the gray pullover with the Slytherin emblem placed on it. The striped tie that was silver and black looked dashing on him. He slicked his hair back with some gel and gave himself a once-over look in the mirror and left.
He made his way to the Great Hall to catch some last minute breakfast when he ran into the one person he was not very thrilled at the moment to see.
"Pansy! Why don't you watch where you're bloody going next time!" Pansy looked upon, shock and embarrassment written on her face.
"I'm so sorry, Draco. I didn't see you there. I was just coming out from there to come look for you. I missed you last night," she pouted; her lip sticking out too much. Her dirty blonde hair was tied into a loose ponytail behind her, she had a bit touch of make-up on her face. He noticed that her clothes fitted her too tightly. He wondered if she put a charm on her clothing to make it look like a second skin. He smirked at her and asked her why she was looking for him.
"Well, since you didn't want to join me in my bed last night, I was just thinking of what we can do tonight. That's if you won't blow me off tonight, too," she added a little airily. Draco just smirked at her.
"Well Pansy, how about we meet up tonight in my dorm. I need to let go of some of this stress I have." And with that he strolled off into the Great Hall.
"But...Draco! What about your housemates? I don't want to do anything if they're going to be there," Pansy gawked at him.
Draco simply said over his shoulder, "Eight O'clock tonight Pansy. Be there." He strode into the
Great Hall and walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down. Crabbe and Goyle were obviously stuffing their faces with food. The sight of it just made him sick to the stomach.
"What's wrong Malfoy? You look like yeh going to be sick." Draco turned to see that he was seated next to Blaise Zabini. He looked crossly at him and smirked.
"Yea, when you look over at them and see how they eat, I think you would be too." Blaise looked over at the two blokes and laughed to himself.
"Yea, I guess I see what you mean." He stated. "So how was your summer? Most likely as bad as mine, I suppose? Seeing as both of our fathers are now in Azkaban." Malfoy was mildly surprised but didn't let it show when he looked over.
"What do you mean both of our fathers? I know for a fact that my father is in Azkaban, but yours? How? What happened?"
Blaise simply waved his hand as if dismissing the whole subject. "Oh, he got caught over the summer by blabbering his mouth. I swear you would you think that the half-witted idiot would know better." He looked around to see if anyone was listening, convinced that no one was, he turned to Draco and lowered his voice. "He's one of the employees that work down in the Department of Mysteries and, what do you know, he lets it slip that he's working with You-know-who and that he's a deatheater. Told me himself that he would rather be in there than having to face seeing the Dark Lord after what had happened earlier this summer." Blaise looked as if he was flabbergasted and couldn't believe it even though he was retelling the story.
"That's completely despicable of your dad. I can't believe he would do such a thing," Draco spat out.
"Tell me about it. I'm completely ashamed by it, but I'm not him. I won't make the mistake he did." By this time he lowered his voice even more and had a strange look in his eye. "I won't make the same mistake my father made by turning his back and betraying the Dark Lord. I won't do that!" Blaise then sat up and went back to eating his breakfast.
Draco contemplated this news inside his head. He somehow felt the same way that Blaise did. He would never betray the Dark Lord. He wanted him to come back to power. And we wanted to be the one to help him. He knew that it was possible. His father was the Dark Lord's right-hand man. He was the son of Lucius Malfoy. He would be the one to help the Dark Lord back into power, and he would be going along in the ride.
Hermione looked up from the table as she heard the cries and hoots from the owls swooping in from the windows, coming to deliver mail and to deliver the schedule of their classes. She couldn't wait to start her classes; it gave her an excuse not to dwell too much of the thoughts of her father. She immediately looked up as an owl dropped by next to her carrying a letter. She was confused; she hardly received mail, unless it was the Daily Prophet. She removed the letter from its leg and smiled softly.
"Thankyou," she said. The owl hooted and flew off. She looked down to the letter in her hands and opened it up slowly.
It was from her mother.
Hermione closed her eyes and held back her tears. She couldn't believe that the string of emotions that she was able to keep down were coming up at the sight of this letter. She couldn't let them out, now that she was able to let everything go. She took a deep breath and started to read the letter.
"Oy, Hermione. Watcha got there?" Someone cried out behind her. She turned in her seat to see who the person was. It turned out to be Ron, followed closely by a smiling face, none other than Harry. She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help feeling the smile creeping onto her face. She stood up and properly greeted her friends.
"Hey guys." She gave them both a hug. She lowered her voice a bit. "I want to thank you both for last night. You know...I really needed that." She smiled sincerely.
Harry shook is head and waved his hand as if dismissing the matter. "Don't worry about it Hermione. It was nothing, I mean you really needed to talk we were there to listen. We're your friends, are we not?" He shot a look at Ron and he nodded his head in agreement.
"Well I still want to thank you for it. Will you at least grant me that much peace?" She asked coyly.
Harry laughed. Ron smiled at her. "Sure Hermione. You're welcome. Now can we please sit down and eat. I'm starving." While he said this he was already sitting down in the seat.
"Are you really? We ate a pretty big dinner last night. Are you sure you're not full from that?" Hermione asked as she took her seat.
"Nope. I'm starved. Let's eat." Ron started piling up stacks of food onto his plate. Hermione looked at him disgustedly as he stuffed waffles into his mouth and managed to show her a toothy grin afterwards. She shook her head and then remembered what she had in her hand. She looked down and stared blankly at the letter. She was now getting nervous onto reading it.
"Hey Hermione? What do you got there?" Harry asked her. Hermione looked up, seeing the curiosity in his green eyes.
"A letter from my mum," she spoke quietly. Harry stiffened, and she noticed that Ron stopped eating for a moment, as if they both froze in time. She looked up at both of them and smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, but I would really like to read this on my own, if you don't mind."
Harry shook his head, concern clearly etched in his expression. He brought up his hand and placed it onto of hers, which was holding the letter. "Of course we don't mind. Take the time you need. We won't rush you. Just tell us when you're ready. We'll be here when you're done."
"Yea Hermione. Just go ahead and read it and tell us what's up when you're done," Ron said, swallowing the food that was in his mouth.
Hermione couldn't help but smile sweetly at them both. "You guys are the best. I can't believe how lucky I am to have best friends like you." She sniffled back some unshed tears and rose from her seat. "I think I'll go read this out in the hall, just for a bit of privacy."
"Sure go ahead," Ron insisted.
"Okay." Hermione then walked out of the hall and stopped at the doorway, leaning her back against it. She scanned around the area to make sure no one was around, realizing that the coast was clear she began the letter.
My dearest Hermione,
I'm sorry that I didn't walk with you to the train station to wish you off, or going with you to Diagon Alley to purchase your school supplies. You know how hard it is. I couldn't leave your brother alone.
'Oh mum, you know it was the least of my worries that you didn't come with me. I knew what you were going through. We're all going through it too.'
Michael is doing much better since you left, even if it was just yesterday. He misses you so much and wishes the best for you. Oh honey, I miss you so much and I want you home. But that is very selfish of me to even ask this of you. I know that you need to finish school and your studies. It's just so hard now that your father is gone.
'Oh mum. Why? Why are you doing this to yourself? You're the strong one in the family. Why are you beating yourself up so much?'
I miss him so much, Hermione. I miss him so much. It's so hard knowing that he isn't there anymore and that he never will be.
Hermione stopped reading and clutched the letter to her chest, letting the small streams of tears fall down her cheeks. She couldn't read on; not if her mother was just going to keep on going about her father. She just couldn't. She suddenly felt the letter being snatched from her hands and she looked up to see Malfoy sneering at her.
"What's this mudblood? A love letter from the Weasel, or maybe from Pothead, eh? Let's see then."
Hermione panicked and tried to snatch the letter back. "Give me back the letter Malfoy. It's not a love letter for your information and it's none of your concern what it contains. So give it back!" She reached for it, but he pulled it away instantly.
"Touché. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Granger you disappoint me. I thought that you would have learned from our previous conversation last night. Guess I was wrong." He started to read the letter.
"Malfoy! Give me that letter now!" Hermione was getting very upset now.
"You know Granger? I don't think so. I think I'm quite enjoying reading this for you. Do you want me to tell you what it says?" Malfoy asked while still reading the letter.
"No I don't think I want you to, I can do it perfectly fine myself. Now I will not ask you again Malfoy. Give me the damn letter before I hex you into your next birthday!" This time Hermione pulled out her wand and pointed it at his throat. "Hand it over. Now!"
Malfoy stood rock-solid in his place. He didn't dare move. Hermione held her other hand out, expecting him to place the letter there. She kept her eyes locked on his. His gaze dropped down to her hand and then came back up to her eyes. He slowly handed the letter back to her. She snatched the letter and shakily stuffed into her robe pocket. She then realized that she was crying. She furiously wiped away at her tears and started walking away back into the Great Hall.
"Well at least I read some good news in that letter," said Malfoy.
Hermione stopped in her tracks. She turned around very slowly and glared at him. "What are you talking about? What are you playing at now, Malfoy?"
"Oh nothing, Granger. Just good to hear that there is one less muggle to worry about, eh? Your dad, right?" He started laughing. "He's dead now, isn't he? Too bad. I'm sure we would have a lot of fun seeing him suffer when the time would have come." Hermione's breath caught in her throat when she heard those words come out of his mouth. She wasn't expecting that retort at all. She looked down to the floor and closed her eyes, trying to regain her normal breathing. She started to slowly walk towards Malfoy and raised her eyes to meet his.
"How dare you!" she whispered. "And you talk about me, speaking above my station as if I'm not worth a Knut. You're even lower than I am, Malfoy, and you're worth nothing. Your life means nothing. You depend on everyone else because you can't even support yourself. You expect everyone to always be there at your beck and call? I don't think so. You're on your own now, buddy. No one is going to be here for you.
"You think you're better than everyone is because you're pureblooded? Please! What does blood have to do with anything anymore? You serve a half-blood, didn't you know? Or are you so ignorant that you didn't even notice that; and look where it has got you. Your father in prison...and your mother—last time I heard, she was actually becoming an alcoholic, right? Drinking herself to the point where she can't even remember a thing." Hermione was so angry now that she couldn't control the words streaming out of her mouth. She was frightened by the look on Malfoy's face, but she wasn't going to back down now.
"And you. You Draco Malfoy...you are a complete mystery to me that I wish never to solve. You're not worth the time. Now, I don't want to hear another word out of your mouth about my family or you will face the consequences. I don't care about rules anymore. I will hurt you if you get in my way.
"Oh, I know about your little phase that you don't care about things, heard it all last night with your little conversation with Dumbledore."
Hermione stiffened. "So, you were listening in our conversation. How d—"
"Yes, yes. I know. How dare I? I dare, plain and simple. I was curious on what you were discussing with that old Professor, making sure that you weren't snitching on me of what happened last night."
"Oh please! Like I would snitch on you. I can handle you pretty well myself on my own."
"Oh!" He took a step closer to her. "Really?" Hermione had had enough. She couldn't take it anymore. She aimed her wand, pointing it right at Malfoy's heart. He paused in his step and looked right into his eyes. "Really, Granger. Are you going to hex me like you said, to my next birthday?"
"I will if you don't take a step back and leave me alone. I'm warning you Malfoy..."
"Ah, you're warning me, Granger? I don't think so. You leave that job to me. I'm warning you now, Granger. Don't ever lay your hands on me again. I don't want your dirtiness to be on me. Just your presense humiliates me."
"If I recall correctly Malfoy, you were the one that came up to me and started manhandling me." Hermione turned away and started walking into the Great Hall. "Besides, I don't want to touch you in the first place," she said over her shoulder, "your dirtiness might come upon me." She set out straight to the Gryffindor table and sat down and buried her face in her hands.
"Hermione, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Harry asked.
"Did your mum write something in that letter to make you even more upset?" Ron asked.
Hermione shook her head and rose it away from her hands and wiped away at a few tears. "No. No, well yes, but...I haven't even read it all before Malfoy snatched it away from me. Oh it was so awful." Ron starting turning red with anger.
"Malfoy has your letter! I'll kill him!" Ron rose from his seat, but Harry snatched his arm and pulled him back down.
"No, Ron! He doesn't have my letter," Hermione reassured him.
"Calm down, Ron!" Harry said.
"It's just what was written in the letter that got me upset, and then with Malfoy being...you know, just bloody Malfoy, he was just playing games with me. It's fine now, let's not dwell on it too much." Hermione looked around the table and noticed that her classmates were looking over some forms. "They passed out the schedules already?"
"Yes, I have yours here," Harry said, handing over Hermione's schedule. Hermione took it and scanned it over.
"Well, it doesn't look to bad, now does it? Let me see your schedules?" Both Harry and Ron gave them to her and she looked over these, too. "Well, we have Care of Magical Creatures, then History of Magic. I see you both have double Divination afterwards."
"Yes, but I wonder who's going to be teaching it this year...Firenze I hope. I don't want to be sitting in another session with that old bat Trelawney, even though it was wrong how that Umbridge woman treated her, but you know... she is a bit of a fraud, you know." Ron spoke out.
"I agree with you, but it's not our choice, right?" Harry said.
"I guess you're right. So then what do you have, Hermione, if you're still not going to be in Divination with us?" Ron asked.
"Oh, I'm still going to be studying Ancient Runes. After that it's Arithmancy. Oh, we won't have DADA until Wednesday, so don't plan on seeing Professor Lupin anytime soon. Well we better head off for Hagrid's, just in case he may need some help with something. Who knows what creatures he's brought in now."
A.NHey guys...do you know what I just found out? That the new Harry Potter Book is going to be called 'Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince'? That's amazing, I just heard it on the news when they were discussing about J.K. Rowling. Anyway, just thought that you should know, if you didn't already. Also, I apologize once again about updating, but I've been so busy with work and getting ready to move. It's just plain awful when no one is volunteering to help. It's just so difficult at times. But don't worry I know that I'll be updating the next story sooner than the others. TTYL!
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