PART EIGHT

In the Arms of Solace

It was too much. Why was I being haunted by these images? None of which I could understand at all? My mind was too full…I was too tired. I remember exactly how I had felt then when I saw the fourth vision. It was different from the rest. I was still standing in front of the forest, yet everything was spinning and I could hear names being cried out from everywhere around me. Salazar Slytherin…Tom Riddle…Quirrell…Peter Pettigrew…Bartemius Crouch…and finally…Lucius Malfoy. And it was all I could take. Soon, I was gritting my teeth and covering my ears with my hands, trying to shut my eyes to everything, trying to squeeze my head, if that were possible. Everything was still spinning…it was all too confusing…it tortured me…until I gave up—and finally screamed.

***

Malfoy woke up the next day with pain all over his body, feeling more exhausted than ever, yet feeling like he was in heaven at the same time. There were no nightmares that haunted him last night; for once, he had a good night's sleep.

He opened his eyes wearily and suddenly felt cold. The fire had burned out, and from the looks of it, he didn't have a trace of clothing on him.

He looked at the lady sleeping soundly beside him, and was mesmerized once again by the heavenly look on her peaceful face, as he felt the steady beating of her heart next to him. He gently brushed his fingers against her cheek, marveling at her softness. She had always been so gentle and fragile…even last night…

He smiled. But he was glad that she'd allowed him to be the first one to break her fragility. It was truly an honor.

He shook his head, seeing that she'd hogged the blanket she'd brought from her common room all to herself, and shifted despite his aching body, fumbling around the scattered pieces of clothing on the floor for his robes. But a gentle hold on his arm stopped him.

"Hey…" Hermione whispered sleepily, smiling with her eyes half-open at him.

He smiled back at her. "Good morning."

She blinked a few times to focus more clearly, then looked at him with a peculiar expression. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find my robes that you conveniently removed," he replied, grinning. "Since you practically snagged the blanket away from me, I'm feeling colder than ever."

She chuckled and pulled him back beside her. "That's okay…I'll keep you warm if you like…" She snuggled closer to him and threw the blanket over the both of them.

He kissed her forehead and put his arms around her, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair. He sighed and never felt more at ease than ever. He knew it was wrong, he knew there would be a lot of consequences and problems that would come because of what they'd just done, but he didn't want to think of that just yet. As of now, all he wanted to do was lie here like this, cuddling her in his arms, forever.

He closed his eyes and remembered how wonderful last night was…how amazing she'd been…and how she'd cried out his name breathlessly over and over again…that was truly a moment he'd remember for the rest of his life.

"Draco…?"

He looked down at her. "Yes?"

"About…about last night…" she stuttered uncertainly. "I…wasn't really too sure about what happened…I mean…why did we…?"

She trailed off, but he knew exactly what she meant. She was wondering why they'd done what they did, without even thinking and trying to contain themselves. He knew she was scared, scared that they might regret what they had done sooner or later. He wanted more than anything to be able to soothe her fears, to tell her that they'd done it because they cared for each other…and they loved each other…but…he couldn't.

Because he didn't know why himself. Did he really want all this to happen? Or was he merely upset last night because of his father's doings that he just wanted a momentary pleasure to get away from it all? Had he really meant everything he'd said to her last night…? Sure, he was attracted to her…very much attracted to her…but perhaps that was all there was to it—attraction and lust.

"I…don't really know," he replied honestly. She then looked away from him sadly. He smiled and lifted her chin to face him. "But we'll figure this out, okay?"

Still she didn't seem convinced. "But…what happens now…? What becomes of us…and surely there will be a price to pay for what we did…"

His face moved close and he kissed her again, making her close her eyes and feel the passion rising up inside of her again. He let go a little too soon, and she opened her eyes into his.

"Whatever happens, whatever penalty may come, we'll face them together; I promise." He smiled soothingly at her.

Finally, she smiled back and started running her fingers on his chest. "You know…I never really got around to finish treating you…" she shifted in her position and began making butterfly kisses across his chest. She stopped and kissed especially the bruises and cuts on his skin. "Do they still hurt…?"

Yes, his whole body ached, in fact. But he closed his eyes and bit his lip, enjoying what she was doing to him. "No…they don't hurt at all."

He felt her smile against his skin, and then she began to sit up. "C'mon, Draco; we need to get a move on or we'll be late for class. Not to mention Harry and Ron might be going ballistic by now—"

She clutched the blanket against her bosom and sat up, but she froze when she felt his fingers reach out to gently run them down her spine. He sat up beside her and kissed her nape, and she found herself closing her eyes again.

"Forget the class," he breathed into her skin. "We can afford to be a little late today."

***

Professor McGonagall walked over to Harry and Ron's seats and handed each of them a knapsack. She then raised her eyebrows at the empty seat beside Ron, supposedly occupied by Hermione. Harry and Ron shrugged, and Professor McGonagall gave them a look of disbelief.

"Make sure you all hand in a furry feline by the end of this class," she announced to everyone as she moved on to another table to provide them with more knapsacks.

Ron jerked his head towards Hermione's empty seat. "What's the deal with Hermione? She would never be late for class unless she had another subject she had to take at this exact moment." He paused to think. "Hang on, that had already happened, hadn't it?"

"Yeah, but it had never stopped her before. She had even got that Time Turner just so she could attend all her classes on time. Diffindo," Harry pointed his wand at the knapsack on his table and its bottom split up with a small tearing sound.

"What are you doing? You're ruining your cat," Ron said wonderingly, staring at Harry's ripped bag.

"Mine still has some school stuff in it and its zippers are stuck. I can't turn it into a cat if it's still got some load," Harry replied, shaking the contents out through the hole and onto the table. Torn parchments and used quills fell out.

"Blimey, that bag must be really old," said Ron, this time pointing his wand at his own knapsack. "Engorgio!"

"And what are you doing?" Harry asked after getting rid of all his bag's contents.

"Getting an A," Ron grinned, patting the now bigger backpack on his table. "I reckon the bigger my cat is, the higher McGonagall will mark me for."

Harry grinned as well and returned to his own bag. He knew McGonagall was just trying to see if they still remembered everything she'd taught them in the past because this exercise was far too simple for the seventh year, but still, he found that he actually couldn't remember how to Transfigure his bag into a cat.

He opened his old copy of Intermediate Transfiguration and started reviewing, when something among the pile of old school equipments scattered on his table caught his eye. It was a roll of parchment with a red ribbon tied around it, bearing the Gryffindor seal—only it was a lot simpler than the current seal. It must have been an un-revised version. Harry could tell by the brownish spots on the paper that the parchment was very much old, but from the way it was neatly rolled, he somehow knew that the parchment had never been opened before. And whatever was written inside was obviously not known to anyone just yet.

He skeptically took the roll of parchment and started untying the ribbon, but then he heard Ron let out a yelp beside him, and he turned.

What he saw was by far the weirdest creature he'd seen in Transfiguration. Perched atop Ron's desk, was a cat about three feet tall, with bag straps as whiskers, eyes the size and shape of pockets, and a large mouth with a set of zipper-like fangs. It was baring its teeth and wagging its long leather tail, stretching its leather-clawed paw angrily towards Ron. But, considering it had a round furred body as large as a Quaffle, no legs or anything whatsoever and only one paw, it couldn't reach Ron as he tried to lean further and further back into his chair. "Harry!" He called.

"Reducio!" Harry yelled, and the cat-like thing shrunk the size of a spider.

Ron blew out a breath of air. "Er…I was going to do that, you know. You just—er—beat me to it." He flushed a deep shade of red and pointed his own wand smugly at the miniature cat-bag. "Reducto!" And it was blasted away. He grinned in spite of himself, but soon faltered when McGonagall walked towards his table, towering over him with a frown on her face.

"What in heavens do you think you're doing, Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall looked down at the floor around her and spotted the small creature. "My word…" she frowned at Ron again. "Five points from Gryffindor! You ought to take a leaf out of Mr. Longbottom's book! He's already Transfigured his backpack into a Siberian tiger!" And she stalked away from the two of them.

Ron glanced at Neville's table, where he was pointing his wand and shouting "Impedimenta!" in attempts to tame the tiger currently making minced meat out of the desk. The girls around Neville were all scrambling towards the walls away from the tiger. And to think that McGonagall was actually pleased.

"Nice work, Ron. You were saying about getting an A?" Harry snickered, and Ron frowned at him. "I don't see you getting any nearer that A either," Ron said indignantly.

"I was getting to it," Harry replied. "But I was rudely interrupted."

"I swear that should've worked!" Ron cried out exasperatedly. "I read that spell once in Transfiguration Today!"

Harry chuckled. "Guess that was a pretty old and outdated issue of Transfiguration Today, huh?" He grinned, stuffing the roll of parchment into his robe pockets and pointing his wand at the bag again. For some reason, something inside him was telling him not to let Ron know about the parchment just yet. He'll just have to feed his curiosity at a later time.

***

Malfoy leaned against the wall near the entrance inside the study later that morning, crossing his arms against his chest. He was late for thirty minutes in Potions a while ago, and he got twenty points from Slytherin, but still he was thankful that he didn't get detention, and that Snape didn't ask any questions at all.

I wonder what McGonagall did…he mused, and looked up when he heard Hermione's voice say the password outside and then step in. He left the wall and greeted her with a small kiss.

"So, how did it go? McGonagall too hard on you?" he asked her, as they both walked towards the desk.

"She took forty points from me. Forty points! I was only late for twenty minutes! I figured she was mad at Ron about something when I came in. Honestly," she complained crossly. "I sure hope Snape gave you what you deserved."

He grinned. "Snape took twenty points for being thirty minutes late."

"What? That's totally not fair!" she cried out, dropping her books onto the desk and taking a seat.

Malfoy shrugged. "What can I say? He favors me," he grinned, sitting beside her.

"Kiss-up," she accused and punched his shoulder playfully.

"Watch it! My body still hurts."

They laughed and started getting down to business. Hermione was thankful that Malfoy was a whole lot more cooperative and serious now, and she wondered whether it was because of what had happened between them last night, or if his father had anything to do with it. Which reminded her that she didn't really know what had happened to Malfoy yet.

A few minutes after McGonagall had checked up on them, she rested her chin on her hand and took a glimpse of him beside her. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched him turn the pages, then bite his lip thoughtfully, tapping the quill against his book. She couldn't believe that the same person, the one and only Draco Malfoy, had actually slept naked on the floor with her last night. She swallowed as she got all tingly just thinking about the hot intimacy they'd shared.

Malfoy turned another page and caught her gazing at him, and he cocked his eyebrows at her, grinning. "Can't get enough of my incredibly good looks?"

Hermione laughed and threw her quill at him. He ducked and put down his quill as well. He reached for her hand and rubbed his fingers on her skin. "What are you thinking?" he whispered.

"A lot of things," she replied. "I'm thinking about you and how gorgeous you are…I'm thinking about us and how much things have changed between us…I'm thinking about Harry and Ron and Ginny and everyone else, who'd all have different reactions if they knew what had happened…I'm thinking about my parents and your parents and about where this would all lead us…"

Malfoy's eyes softened as he listened to her thoughts, and he raised her hand and kissed it.

She smiled and continued. "I'm thinking about the future and how you and I will turn out to be…I'm thinking about that perfect body of yours and how much I'd like to have you naked in bed with me right now," she winked teasingly at him and leaned closer. "And most of all, I'm thinking about what on earth you ever did to deserve the suffering you'd just experienced when you walked into this study last night…"

He looked down at her last words, and she reached out to cup his cheek in her other hand. "Draco…what happened to you last night…?"

He looked at her and she once again saw the agony in his eyes. It was clearly reflected even in his voice. "My father. He…made sure I would never fail anything again."

Tears filled Hermione's eyes as she completely understood between the lines of what he said. She pulled him close and hugged him tight, and neither of them said anything else for the remainder of the session.

***

I couldn't tell anyone. I felt the urge to say what I had been seeing for the past nights, but I couldn't. I had tried to put them all together…and figure out the meaning myself, but nothing made sense at all. I still couldn't understand them. I knew that the Dark Lord Voldemort was behind all this; I knew that this concerned him. But nothing odd was happening at Hogwarts just yet. Everything was normal…everything was fine—until that day.