Chapter 8

"Explaining?" Hermione said weakly. "Well, you see, Mr. Malfoy was just checking to make sure I was fine-"

Dumbledore chuckled slightly. "No, that's fine by me. But, you could tell me why you two were rushing around the school like madmen this evening?"

"I'll explain-" Hermione said.

Draco interrupted her abruptly. "No, I will. There's more to it than Hermione knows."

Dumbledore raised one white eyebrow. "That would be a first."

Draco smiled faintly, while Hermione blushed.

"How about you two sit down, and just explain what's going on," he said gently, motioning to two chairs. He muttered something and Fawkes' cage righted itself. The bird swooped over to its perch and watched them with interest.

Draco helped Hermione to her feet, and they both sat down. Hermione folded her hands in her lap and bit her lip. Draco took a deep breath and began.

"It all started before I was born. My father promised his children into the Dark Lord's service, so that the Dark Lord would have followers after his Death Eaters died. Well, the Dark Lord did not forget about this promise, and when he came out of hiding, he confronted my parents about their promise.

"So, they asked me to become a Death Eater. But first, they wanted me to kill a mud- I mean; they wanted me to kill a muggle-born. They had a specific one in mind."

Hermione's breath caught in her throat.

"It was Hermione Granger."

"I thought you were going to kill Dumbledore!" she exploded. "I was wrong again!"

He smiled. "Well, at first I thought I could do it. I mean; Hermione and I had never gotten along very well before. They said she was meddling and needed to be killed to teach Potter a lesson.

"But then I had the potions accident. And Hermione came to see me every day in the sick ward, and I couldn't help but not want to kill her. And then she told me she thought of me as a friend, and I realized that I did too.

"Then my father started sending letters pressuring me to take advantage of her kindness and…" He trailed off. "You know."

"Yes, we know, Draco," Professor Dumbledore said kindly. "Please continue."

"Well, I made myself sick to put it off as long as possible. It didn't really work, because my father showed up to yell at me. And, something happened.

"Hermione and Potter figured it out. My doppelganger was taken over by the Dark Lord to ensure that I would behave myself, and do what he wanted. My doppelganger is the thing that has been giving me these scars over the last year or so.

"I hid the scars with a spell I found in my father's mansion. But Hermione's spell destroyed the spells completely, leaving me looking like a torture victim.

"Anyway. Hermione found a spell that could destroy my doppelganger, and that was what we were doing this evening. Unfortunately, Hermione freaked out, and couldn't do it. The reason we're in your office is because she came up here to the place she figured she could get the most help."

He sighed in relief, as if he had gotten something terrible off of his shoulders.

Dumbledore stroked his beard and watched Draco with a silent understanding that Hermione could not comprehend.

"You seemed to have redeemed yourself rather admirably," the Headmaster said with a quiet smile, his hands making a temple, each finger touching.

"And you two seemed to have decided that friendship is wise," he continued, leaning forward to look at the both of them over the top of his glasses. "Now, Draco, I suggest you return to public life, and I'm sure that Madame Pomfrey will find something for those scars."

"Though, personally, scars can often become part of who you are. For example, Mr. Potter's scar, without that scar he would not be the same man. He probably would not have it removed. Maybe you will choose to keep them." His eyes twinkled.

"Besides, I'm sure that Hermione will attest that they make you rather dashing."

He stood slowly and smiled at them benevolently.

"Now, we must put all of this behind us. Mr. Malfoy, I will call you out of class sometime tomorrow to discuss your situation."

"Can Hermione come?" he asked, his voice wobbling slightly.

"Of course," he replied, smiling. "Now I'm sure that the two of you have much to talk about."

They walked down the phoenix staircase and out the door, past the grumpy gargoyle and out into the hallway. Being a Friday, everyone was still awake, and milling around.

"Let's go to the room of requirement," she whispered. "You go one way, I'll go the other."

He nodded, and they separated.

Hermione arrived a few seconds earlier than Draco. She stood outside the room, tapping her feet.

He ran up, slightly out of breath.

"I ran into Pansy Parkinson on the way here," he said with a grimace. "She can be such a harpy."

She opened the door, and pulled him inside.

The room was quiet. There were couches in the corner and a cozy fire going in the fireplace.

"We just need to talk," she said, sitting down on a beanbag chair. "Not about the doppelganger, or Voldemort, just about us."

He nodded, and sat down beside her on a bright pink beanbag chair. "I agree."

"We need to decide what we want out of the relationship-"

He interrupted her. "Hermione, you can't spell plan out relationships like you could a spell."

"But I want it to be perfect," she whispered, turning away from him, looking at her hands.

"Not everything is perfect," he said quietly, taking her hands in his. "I'm not perfect. You're pretty close, but even sometimes you're wrong."

"I know."

He smiled, and smoothed her hair back from her face. "Have I ever told you that you're beautiful?"

"Well until an hour ago I thought you hated my guts," she said with a wry smile. "I said a lot about you being hot, but you never said anything about me."

"Well I said it."

She grinned. "Well, then, kiss me."

"Wow, you sure jump into relationships head first, don't you," he said, slightly shocked by her impish smile.

"Fine then, if you don't want to…"

"It's not that I don't want to…. It's just that-"

"What, you're afraid of what your friends will think?" she said quietly. "I know. I'm a little afraid of what your friends will think as well."

"They're not really my friends," he said, running a hand through his pale hair. "They would like you if they were my friends."

"But apparently, their opinions matter a lot," she said matter-of-factly, standing up and smoothing out her skirt. "I have to go now."

He grabbed her arm. "Don't go."

"I have homework to do."

"It's a Friday, for lord's sake, Hermione."

She watched him coldly, and then turned away. "Unlike you Draco, I have to have a career. I can't fall back on family money."

"Now I can't either."

She looked back at him. He was silent and still, watching her with such intensity it was frightening.

She reached up and traced one of his scars, her cold fingers sending a chill down his spine. "Draco, we'll have to decide where we stand in this relationship tomorrow. I don't want to argue with you anymore."

She walked out of the room, her shoes clicking down the hallway.

Draco buried his hands in his head and wondered what he was getting into. First off, Draco Malfoy, who was infamous for making girl swoon over him, was letting a girl, let alone a mud-blood, walk all over him.

He knew that he was making the wrong decision for the right reason for the first time in his life.

Fine, he reasoned. He'd let Hermione walk all over him. He'd just find a way to get her just as annoyed at him.

A/N: Well, that can't bode very well, can it... Well, I am at a loss for what's to happen next. Most certainly, this story is far from over, but what will happen next? Hmmm. I need to meditate upon this disturbing turn of events... Leave a review, especially if you hate this chapter or the last one. Thanxs!