Parcheesi

Chapter 4: Smoke + Mirrors

By: Keiko

Disclaimer: Check the last two chapters, I don't like repeating myself.

For someone so young, and naïve

It's hard to know what to believe

Still I thought I'd try it for a while

But turning round' and giving up's not my style

On my own, on my own way

Bottled up is where my fears go, my fears go

I will never show my fears

They'll tear me up until my tears show, my tears show

Smoke and mirrors

Just try hard, don't give in

Keep it up

And you win

Don't let them know they get to you

Put on a brave face and you'll get through

On your own, on your own way

Bottled up is where your fears go, your fears go

You will never show your fears

They'll tear you up until your tears show, your tears show

Smoke and mirrors

This journey of ours never ends

We will always pretend

Fighting not to let them in

And not falling into our own illusions

On our own, on our own way

Bottled up is where our fears go, our fears go

We will never show our fears

They'll tear us up until our tears show, our tears show

Our smoke and mirrors

Smoke and mirrors

Damn. Just damn. It was already eleven forty-five and Hermione hadn't even finished her book. She usually read at least one book a day, the average number of pages being three hundred fifty.

Hermione slammed the book closed, irritated, and anxious about the way the rest of her night could turn out. Earlier in the day it hadn't really bothered her, but as the day grew old and the sun began to rest, she became panicky. Troubling thoughts plagued her mind, and she couldn't seem to stop them. 'What if he really does try to hurt me? Uggh, no, he wouldn't. But wouldn't he? He is a Death Eater after all…No, no. If he does I'll just scream. But we are all the way up in the Astronomy Tower. And Screaming has never helped me much before, has it?'

Hermione was desperately trying her best to calm her nerves. She had cut already twice before. Once after one particularly stressful Astronomy class where she had forgotten to bring in a very important homework assignment, and then again, right after detention where she'd had to clean a room with Parkinson, with no teacher on watch. If she cut too much in one day, her arm would begin to feel exceptionally sore, and then they would be harder to conceal and much harder to heal so she could do it again the next day.

Hermione absentmindedly rubbed the lower part of her arm, and stood up slowly, gathering courage, and assuring herself that her wand would suffice if Draco tried anything.

She hurried to the Tower. It's not as if she was in a hurry to get there, she was just in a hurry to get out of there. She could only take but so much torment in one day.

"About time mudblood." Draco stood in his usual spot, by the window facing The Forbidden Forest.

Hermione jumped in fright. She wasn't aware of his presence. "You're early."

"No, I'm on time." He responded, calmly.

He turned around to gaze outside of the window. Hermione took this moment to stick her tongue out. She quickly retracted it though, realizing how immature it was.

"Let's just get to work, already. I've been waiting for twenty-five minuets." Draco said, quietly.

"Fine, who's testing, and who's observing?" Hermione asked

"I tested last time, so you test."

"But, why me?" Hermione asked, worried that he might try something during her state of impairment.

Malfoy must have sensed the reason why she was hesitant because he said, "Relax, mudblood, you haven't pissed me off. I have no reason to hurt you. Yet." He chuckled under his breath when he saw her flinch at the word 'yet'.

Draco and Hermione settled on the pillows that had been placed there (most likely by house elves, in which Hermione was much unpleased with. It's an outrage!), and got down to business.

"Wait, I know how to do this potion," Draco said aloud while he studied the piece of parchment.

"Yeah, then how?" Hermione challenged him,

"Easy. All we need is a thin piece of sale parchment, Burtano weave, Theysaino extract, and an apple."

"Unusual combination. Are you sure you know what you're talking about?" Hermione doubted, and looked up at Draco.

Draco glared at Hermione, and then spat, "Unlike you, I've been doing magic since I could speak, so the answer is yes, Granger, I know what I'm doing."

"Sorry!" Hermione responded, rolling her eyes at him, and muttering a barely conspicuous, "Merlin, people these days."

"Shut up, and get the cauldron, Granger." Draco said, prominently annoyed.

"Alright, alright." Hermione crossed to the opposite side of the room, and picked up the medium sized cauldron, and brought it back to where she and Draco were seated.

They made the potion rapidly, but cautiously, making sure that each step was carried out correctly and to perfection.

"Finally." Hermione wiped her brow, and stood up to stretch her legs.

"We're not quite finished." Draco held up a sample of the potion and said, "Testing."

"Oh, yeah." Hermione said, dreadfully.

"It says that you're supposed to think of something that makes you happy. It can be an object, a place, or in your case-Weaselbee, Potty, or books." He said with a laugh.

Hermione gave a sarcastic laugh, then grasped the sample with one hand and held her nose with the other. "Geese, this smells like sh-"

"Just drink the damn thing, Granger!" Draco sneered, clipboard and quill in hand.

Hermione glared at Draco, and then gulped the potion down. Instantly she fell into a sleep like trance, except she was still standing, and her eyes were still open. A yellow-ish orb, outlined the form of her body, and she stayed like that for another three minuets.

During those three minuets, Draco looked into her eyes, where her daydream was visible, and clear. He saw that she was dreaming of clouds, and little people with…disks above their heads, and a closed casket next to the little people and clouds, and a big book. It took Draco a second to realize that the little people with disks above their heads were angels, that there was nothing beneath the clouds, that the big book was supposed to be the 'who's good, and who's bad.' Book, and that the place Hermione was dreaming about was heaven. (He'd learned about it in Muggle Studies. He learned that it was in reference to GOD, who was an object of faith that the muggles tended to worship, and that heaven was a place that the muggles believed they were sent if they were good after they died. It all seemed pretty foolish to Draco.)

Heaven. That's where Hermione wished she were at that very moment, huh? Before he could ponder it more, Hermione awoke and Draco totally forgot about the significance of the fact that Hermione wished she were dead.

Hermione gave an immense yawn, and rubbed her eyes as if she were actually asleep, and blinked up at Draco. "Oh. Well, I guess that was a Sleeping Draught, right?"

"Wrong." He replied, glad that Hermione was wrong and he was right. "It's actually a Piacevole Sostantivo potion, meaning pleasant dreams."

"How'd you know that?" Hermione asked, surprised that Draco knew something that she didn't.

Draco laughed, and then scoffed "I do know how to read, Granger."

Hermione blinked up at him for a second, and then turned around to face the wall.

Draco saw her actions, and wondered if the potion had somehow made a re-occurrence. "Granger?"

Hermione lifted her head from the wall, and turned back around with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Oh, I'm fine. Just one of those memory thingies…"

"I don't care, I was just asking to see if you were awake." Draco chuckled after realizing how mean he was, and how much he was loving every minuet of it.

Hermione glared at him, but made a motion with her hand as if blowing him off. She honestly didn't care that nobody else cared. It was like…nature to her now. Something she could never escape. Hermione knew that Harry and Ron and Ginny cared, but they didn't really care, did they? It seems sort of paradoxical, but it was how she felt. As if they only cared because it seemed right. Not because they wanted to, and it's not as if they did a good job at it, either.

"Are we finished here?" Hermione asked, eager to leave.

"No, we're not finished here, Granger. We still have to record the information, and seal it." Draco said, annoyed at Hermione's temporary daftness.

"Any side effects?" he asked, quill at the ready.

"Um, a little fatigue, that's it." Hermione said, hurriedly.

Draco noticed Hermione's anxious state, and decided to play for a little while. "Aww, is our favorite little mudblood ready to run away from the mean, evil dragon?"

"I'm surprised at how intelligent you are, Mr. Dragon." Hermione said, with a scoff.

"You know, you should be careful. My name means dragon, and for all you know, I could breathe fire." He said, with a confident smirk on his face.

"For your information, Draco doesn't mean dragon. In French the word is dragon, in Spanish it's dragon, in German it's Drache, and in French it's Drago. So ha."

"Okay then, what is it in Latin? You don't know? Because it's Draco." He said

At first Hermione was slightly flabbergasted, but then she just became angry. She glared at him and then said, "Can I leave now?"

Draco said "No. You cant. We're having a conversation, here. Why would you want to leave?"

Hermione began to collect her belongings, and move towards the door. Draco saw this, and stood in the doorway, blocking Hermione from exiting the room.

"Leaving so soon?" he asked, menacingly.

"Malfoy, let me pass." Hermione said, as calmingly as she could manage.

"No," he said, "I want to talk."

"I'll scream for Harry and Ron…"

"Puh-lease. Those brutes are as far gone as a dead leaf."

"No they're not."

"You are really pathetic, do you know that?"

"Malfoy, let me go."

"What if I don't feel like it, huh?"

"Look, I'm really tired and I need to go."

Draco looked down at her, and laughed.

Hermione glared at him evilly, and said, "You're a right ass. I don't know how anyone can stand being around you. You make me sick. You're pompous, and arrogant, and you think everyone should bow down to you. You hurt everyone you meet, and you're so like your father it's unbelievable! You could probably switch places with him if he wore a shrinking spell, and nobody would know the difference!"

Now, THAT made Draco mad. "Do you know why your parents are dead, Granger?"

Hermione drew a sharp breath when he said this.

"Death Eaters killed em'. They were walking along peacefully through the park and a Death Eater in disguise heard them say your name. So he followed them in an invisibility cloak and blew up their muggle carriage. As simple as that." Draco snapped his fingers for amplification.

"And you know what else? It's all your fault-"

"Shut up." Hermione pleaded helplessly,

"It's all your fault because you're always in those battles with Potter-" he continued,

"You don't know what you're saying-"

"You're always trying to be some kind of hero every time The Dark Lord returns-"

"Shut UP!"

"If you would have just kept your nose out of other people's business, no one would know your name."

"SHUT UP!"

"You'd just be another lonely bossy bucktoothed bookworm mudblood-"

"NO! THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

Tears were now streaming in fountains down Hermione's pretty face.

"And your parents would still be alive!" He yelled,

"No…"

Hermione slid down the wall and hugged her knees to her chest, crying helplessly, and hoping it would all end, just like she did back home.

"It's all your fault." Draco repeated once more, then looked down at her crumpled form and smiled darkly.

"I told you not to make me angry. Nobody likes me when I'm angry."

With that, he spat at her feet, turned sharply on his heel, stormed out of the room with his robes billowing behind him, and left Hermione there to weep for lost souls.


A/N: Hmmph, who would've known. Kokey used a quote from an annoying cartoon! Lol. I liked this chapter even more than I did the last. Oh, yeah. I promised I would do this. This is a shoutout to all my people out there who have me on their favorites list, author alert, and who have reviewed me. I don't have your names on hand right now, but I promise in the next chapter I will definitely post you. And another shoutout to my people who love me!  I love you too! Namely, Prissy, Raddy, Star, both Dominique 's, Franny, Steph, Marlly and Elsie. Oh yeah, and Ronel, and Rakiim. Love you guys! I have a question though. Do you guys think I should make them friends first, or make them fall in love? Tell me in your reviews, but either way I have an idea for each choice. The name of that song was Smoke + Mirrors, by Skye Sweetnam, if anyone wanted to know.