Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story.

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Chapter 7: a lesson learned.


A new day meant new obstacles to face. More pain, frustration, and confusion. Well at least for one young Gryffindor. She rolled over in her bed thinking about last night's rendezvous with Malfoy.


Hermione congratulated herself for a job well done. It was surprising how she built up all the courage to do what she did, knowing what could happen.

She hadn't known Malfoy for too long but she heard stories. When that bastard promised himself revenge he got it and this made Hermione a bit uneasy.


She knew her little stunt had pissed Malfoy off. How could it not? She had simply.... (For the lack of a better word) played him. The best thing to do now is stay away from him. Thank God today was a Saturday. ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Groaning, Draco sat up in his bed. The bright sun poured into the room making it hard for Draco to go back to sleep. Slowly Draco began to recap last night's events: the showdown with Lucius and the fiasco with Granger, both of which bothered him.

Lucius was the type to make life for others a living hell if it threatened his reputation. That's all that mattered to him, the family name.


Draco could distinctively remember his childhood, detail by every miserable detail. Life at the manor wasn't pleasing at all, especially with Lucius around. He had no clue as to how much pain he caused his son and wife, both mentally and physically.

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It was a dreary and damp day. The bright skies were clouded over with depressing gray clouds, but who cared. It was always that way in the Malfoy Manor.


Draco, sullen faced, climbed the long marble staircase leading to Lucius' study. He had no clue as to what mistake he made but surely he would be punished.

When Draco reached the door he stopped before entering. He needed to prepare himself for the worse. Finally building up all the courage necessary, Draco knocked then waited.


From inside Draco heard Lucius grumble. This must have been his response, so Draco entered the room. The first thing he saw was his despicable father sitting in the large green armchair.


"Good evening father." said Draco.


"Good evening to you too, son." With a wave of his hand, Lucius signaled Draco to take a seat and he obeyed.


"Have you made your decision?" continued Lucius


"Yes I have."


For a moment Draco could see Lucius' eyes light up with joy. It would be the first and the last time he would ever see Lucius in such a state. Now he saw what Lucius would look like if he made him proud, but that would never be. No matter what he did, Draco was always a failure in his eyes. But in his own eyes he wasn't.


"And what have you decided?" Lucius asked anxiously.

He was at the edge of his seat waiting for the response he wanted to hear all his life from his son. This would be the day that Draco would make him proud instead of sorely disappointing him. And if Draco happened to do so again then he would pay the price.


"I've decided....." Draco paused to look into his father's face before continuing. Lucius was now out of his seat. There was a heavy black whip in his hand, which he had beaten Draco with a million times. Lucius looked at Draco, then at the whip as if daring him to say no.


"I've decided not to join you father." Draco finished bravely. He could see the disappointment in Lucius' eyes, but that was soon replaced with mischievousness and malevolence.


If Lucius was furious at the moment, which Draco knew he was, he didn't show it. Lucius circled Draco's chair silently, before stopping right in front of his son.

"Tsk, tsk Draco. You have disobeyed me once again," he paused looking at the boy before him, who severely disappointed him. It wasn't the first time he was disappointed and it sure wouldn't be the last.


"CRUCIO!"


Draco felt a bolt of light hit his chest. It was the most painful thing he had ever experienced. He felt as though every last fiber in his fifth teen year old body was on fire.


His heart was pumping so fast that he felt that at any moment he would have a heart attack. His muscles contracted violently and fiery blood pushed it's self through his veins. There was blood pumping in his ear. His head was throbbing. Draco felt himself hit the cold floor....and then it was over. All the energy in him had been drained.


"Now Draco is your response still no?" spat Lucius in a menacing tone.


Draco gathered up all the energy he had left and replied, "Yes." Before Lucius could pick up the whip Narcissa stepped into the room.

"What in Merlin's name have you done Lucius?" She cried running toward her weak son. She threw herself on the floor trying to help Draco recover, wiping away the sweat that gathered on his forehead.


"Draco, dear, it's me. Can you hear me?" she whispered.


Draco opened his eyes to meet Narcissa's deep blue eyes and tear stained face. Lucius stood over her with a whip in his hand.


"Narcissa, leave the room now!" he said through clenched teeth.


"No," she replied still tending to her hurt son.


Lucius let his anger get the best of him. Picking up his wife, he flung her across the room. Then he raised the whip above his head and began to beat her despite her cries for mercy. This is what Narcissa had dealt with night after night. This is her retribution for protecting the only person she loved, Draco.


Draco could hear the whip slice through the air then rip his mother's delicate skin. Although he didn't have that much strength left, Draco was determined to save his mother. She didn't deserve that type of treatment.

The young Malfoy got up, using all the strength he had left, and staggered toward Lucius who had his back turned. He lunged at Lucius, punching him mercilessly.

He brought his hand to Lucius' throat cutting off his air supply. Then dropping that slime ball's limp body, he picked up his mother and left the room, never looking back.

************* *****************************


Those were the type of visions that raided Draco's dreams night after night. There were simply too many of them. He needed a place to store all these distressing memories.

For his sixteenth birthday his Grandmother presented him with a helpful little gift. This useful mechanism helped Draco register all his thoughts, both pleasant and disturbing.


Draco's little gift hid confidential information that needed to be kept a secret. Therefore it was always hidden. He lazily rolled out of his bed. Running his hand through his messy hair, he walked over to his desk. He slightly opened the largest drawer letting a patch of silvery light shine through.


Draco picked up his wand before completely opening the drawer. A bright silver-white light lit up the dark corner that the Slytherin was in. The light lit up his dangerous gray eyes, giving him a sense of superiority.

He stood over a shallow stone basin with a carving of a dragon along with unusual runes and symbols. The source of this bright heavenly light was more like a whitish-silver liquid that rippled slightly as thought the wind was blowing.


Draco took his wand and placed the tip to his temple. He closed his eyes and reflected on the recent fight with Lucius and the conversation with his mother.

After a few seconds Draco removed the wand from his temple. At the tip of his wand was the silvery white substance that filled the shallow bowl. Draco placed the wand over the basin and the liquid spilled out the tip.


He looked down at his reflection once the substance stop moving. It was quite unfortunate that he bared a striking resemblance to his father. Luckily, it was only in appearance and not in character.


He could hear Lucius' voice echoing in his head "My, my Draco. You look just like me as a young man." He knew it was true and there was nothing he could do about it.


"Yes father, aren't you overjoyed. I'm the mirror image of your sorry ass." Draco whispered to himself, bitterly.


Disgusted, Draco snarled at his reflection and angrily walked away from his most prized possession....... his Pensieve.

*** ** * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * *


When she was completely dressed, Hermione left the Head Girl/ Boy chambers making the least bit of noise. She looked left, right, up and down. There was no sign of Draco, which was a good thing.

Walking quickly, Hermione made her way to the Great Hall in less than five minutes. When she arrived there was a rowdy mob of students all gathered by the door looking at something posted on it. In the midst she saw a petite figure with bright red-orange hair. It was the youngest Weasley, Ginny.


Hermione pushed her way through the crowd trying to reach Ginny. When she finally did she tapped her, making the red headed Gryffindor shriek.


"Hermione. You scared me."


Chuckling softly Hermione replied. "Sorry Gin. What's all this commotion about?"


"Oh, right. The Quidditch captains are announcing who made the team. We heard from the other houses. All we need to hear is Gryffindor's captain and........oh here comes Harry now."

Hermione spotted her tall, handsome, successful friend. Successful, yes indeed. He was Quidditch captian for the Gryffindor team for three years and he had been working miracles with them. Each year they won the Quidditch House Cup.

He stepped in front of the crowd and looked into the mass of awaiting fifth and sixth years. He saw Hermione and Ginny and sent them a heart warming smile before proceeding.


"Good Morning. Ok. We are filling the spots of beater and chasers The new players for the Gryffindor Quidditch team are Gregory Wood and Marcus Livingston as beaters...," the crowd went up into a rowdy cheer as the cousin of Oliver wood stepped up next to Harry.

"Our chasers are Jonathan Codwell, Lisa Fudge, and Colin Creevy."


The crowd went up into another rowdy cheer as the remaining team members stepped up. Hermione was busy clapping until she saw a shock of blonde hair. Could it be? No it couldn't. Maybe Ginny had forgotten to mention the fact that the Slytherin Quidditch captain didn't make his grand entrance yet.


As Harry exited, Draco took his place in front of the crowd. He, too, took a glance over the crowd. From the corner of his eyes he could see Granger. Draco stood their mischievously thinking "perfect".


Clearing his throat he started.," The fifth and sixth years that are filling in the positions if chaser, beater, and keeper on the Slytherin team are Henry Meyer, Mark Sevell, and John Hunt as chasers; as beaters, David Flint and Reginald Winifred, and our new keeper is Arthur Salisbury."


As the new players took a step up next to Draco, the crowd hissed and booed beneath their breaths. No one would dare to do it in front of Malfoy. Draco sent a glare towards Hermione, making all the hair on her skin rise.


Hermione noticed that Draco was coming towards her. Was he that brave to confront her in the presence of others? Draco was unpredictable and Hermione wasn't taking chances. She turned in the opposite direction and began to push her way through the people. She glanced back and Draco was doing the same.


Hermione started to panic. "I need to get out of here," one side of her brain yelled. The other side said, "No let's stay and mess with Malfoy's head again".


There was no way Hermione was going to do that so she continued to push her way through the students. Finally getting through the mob, Hermione began to speed walk. She had no idea where to go but one thing was for sure. It would be very far away from Malfoy.


The halls were silent. With each step she took she heard another, and it wasn't hers. Malfoy was definitely following her. Hermione broke into a run towards the staircase on the left of the marble staircase to the first floor. She entered a poorly lit corridor, which was freezing cold. Despite the cold, Hermione kept running.


Draco was quite pleased when he saw that Granger had ran in the direction the Slytherin common room. She was like a mouse running right into the snake pit and didn't even know it. This was Draco's territory and he knew it inside out. All he had to do was take a little short cut.


Hermione slowed down when she realized that her footsteps were the only ones she heard echoing through the halls. She turned around and Malfoy was gone. Now all she had to do was find her way out. Hermione realized that she was in the dungeons when she passed the Potions classroom.

It was freezing cold in the dungeons. The deeper you went the colder it got. Darkness started to swallow you and eerie things started to happen.

As Hermione walked she turned back every second, thinking that she heard a child's malovent laugh or footsteps. Hermione took the route she usually took to get out of the Dungeons after Potion's.


She drew her cloak closer to her body thinking how creepy it was in the Dungeons. In the distance Hermione could see a shadow of something moving.


"Hello," she called, expecting an answer. There was no reply.

"Hello," Hermione called with a little bit more confidence. But she still got no reply.


Hermione continued to walk, but a little faster.


She was getting close to the stairway that would lead her to the ground floor. Hermione walked around the corner and came face to face with Draco Malfoy.

She tried to run off in the opposite direction but Malfoy was much quicker. Draco grabbed Hermione by the arm and covered her mouth then he dragged her to the nearest classroom.

He opened the door and flung the kicking and screaming girl onto a large, dusty desk. Malfoy locked the door and put a silencing charm on the room. Coughing uncontrollably, Hermione sat up and dusted her self off. Malfoy was leaning on the door looking very mischievous.

"So did you enjoy last night's session?" he started


"Matter of fact, yes. I found it quite amusing."


Arching his eyebrow in amusement, Draco responded. "Yes it was quite obvious that you enjoyed your self, but however you got a bit too excited and decided to take this...ah, let me see what shall I call it, this little game into your own hands."


"Oh so we're playing a game?" thought Hermione aloud.


"You're a fast learner, Granger."


"Yes, indeed, I am" she said. This comment made Draco twist and turn inside with spite.


She wasn't trying to be vain, she was just trying to come up with remarks that she knew would piss Draco off.


"And I damn good actress." He spat. His anger was now starting to show its ugly face.


"What the bloody hell do you want from me Malfoy?!" she screamed.


He pushed himself off the door and walked over to the sputtering Gryffindor. In an acid tone he spat.

"Listen here Granger, and listen good. It's a man world and there's an everlasting game that we play called romance. Yes Granger, romance. It's for useless females like you who we can pretend to love then break their hearts. Last night was nothing more than that. Don't go about getting the wrong ideas."

She looked into his cold gray eyes. That's all she was, a little game piece. It's not like she would want to be a part of his pitiful life. His lover....never, but it broke her heart to know that she was being used. Hermione was raging inside. She looked up into Draco's steel gray eyes and spat back.

"Is that so?" Draco was a little surprised at her comeback "Well Malfoy, I've learned how to play the game. Not only play it, but master it as I proved last night"

Draco was seething with anger. She was the only girl who could make him explode at certain times. The only one who could reveal his true colors. He decided to end this before he exploded.

"You think very highly of yourself, Granger. However last night's performance isn't what I would call extraordinary. I've had better."

With that said Draco turned to exit the room leaving behind a raging Gryffindor lioness waiting to attack.


"How dare he?" thought Hermione. Draco Malfoy had insulted her once again. Picking up the nearest item, she hurled it towards the door. It flew past Draco's head and hit the door before he closed it. Draco looked at the pieces of glass on the floor and turned to Hermione.


"Granger you should really control that temper of yours. Someone could get hurt" he stated in mock concern. Then he winked and exited the room, pleased with his work.


A/N: Guess who's back......back again..yeah im bac tell a friend. Ya. That was chapter 7. hope you liked it. I hit ya'll off with two chapters. Go read chappie 8 and review.