Chapter 5
Hermione threw on her pajamas and jumped into bed, closing her eyes as soon as she was underneath the covers. It seemed that their relaxing vacation had turned into a war, and Hermione was very vexed over the situation. Draco plopped down beside her, groaning something about his feet.
"Draco," Hermione said suddenly. "It seems like everything's going wrong, you know what I mean? I was hoping this would be a chance to get to know each other, and instead, you and Luc are duking it out, you're intensely jealous of Blaise, and I'm stuck in the middle of it all, trying to forget about what happened just last month, and everything's going horribly wrong."
"Is this new?" he asked grumpily. "Everything's always been horribly wrong for us!"
She nodded grudgingly. "True, but it isn't supposed to be like this! I thought we had escaped all of our problems."
Draco shrugged tiredly. "Well, both of us have been avoiding what happened last month, as if it will hurt us to talk about it. The fact is, Hermione, it happened, and we can't just forget about it."
She rolled over, and looked him straight in the eyes.
"You're right," she said finally. "But, talking about it won't help, at all!"
"You're wrong," Draco said firmly. "You should express your feelings. I don't want to sound like a pychiatrist, but telling me how you feel will lessen the pain."
Hermione nodded slowly. "Okay, well. I feel trapped by our circumstances. I've basically sold my soul to the devil; I'm worried about you. Harry is avoiding getting killed, and Ron is pining away for Harry. Luc thinks that you're going to kill me, and is convinced that Blaise is a supporter of You-Know-Who."
"Interesting," Draco said, nodding sagely. "How does that make you feel?"
She grinned and hit him over the head with her pillow.
"You tell me about what's troubling you, now," she said after the feathers had settled.
"Well," he started slowly. "My dad wants to kill me, my girlfriend is apprenticed to the devil, one of my best friends has no idea why I'm estranged from my family, and I have this funky scar on my stomach-"
"What?" Hermione said suddenly, bolting up. "Show me."
Draco hesitantly drew up his shirt and revealed the snake scar that curled across his stomach maliciously.
"Good lord," she said, sitting down heavily, sending a fluff of feathers through the air. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
He shrugged. "I didn't think it was important."
Hermione shook him by the shoulders. "Don't you understand, you dolt? That means that Hades has marked you as his own, and you're just as screwed as me!"
Draco scratched his head. "Well, I guess that means we're both screwed together, huh?"
She scowled at him. "Don't be so crude."
He looked up at her innocently. "I wasn't being-"
"Don't even start, Draco Malfoy."
"Fine, fine," he finished weakly. "I'll be quiet now."
Hermione nodded, satisfied. "Now, continue with what is troubling you."
"Like I was saying," Draco said, eyeing the pillow nervously. "You're not going to hit me over the head with that, are you?"
When she shook his head, he proceeded again.
"My scar hurts quite frequently, I haven't been in contact with my mother in a month or two, Dumbledore knows more than he's willing to tell us, and-"
"You're right!" Hermione crowed triumphantly. "He knows more about why Sirius is back than he would tell us, I remember seeing this kind of shifty look in his eyes, like he knew something, but wasn't ready to tell yet!"
Draco nodded reluctantly. "But it just doesn't seem like Dumbledore to withhold information from us. He's been so open before, I just don't understand why he'd suddenly not trust us."
Hermione shook her head emphatically. "It's not that he doesn't trust us, he wants us to have a good summer break without burdening us with more bad news, I know that's it."
Hermione awoke the next morning with a bit of a headache.
"Argh," she muttered loudly. "My head…"
"Hey
Hermione," someone said, leaning over her. She shrieked, and Draco
yelled at the top of his lungs.
"What'd you do that for?"
he said, holding his nose.
"I'm so sorry," she said, covering her mouth so he wouldn't see her laughing. "Did I punch you?"
He grinned, and tried to mop away a bit of the blood with a tissue. "Yeah, you did. But that's okay, it means you love me."
"In a sort of second grade way," she said wryly. "I'm sorry, darling."
"Whatever," he said with a shrug. "I brought up breakfast!"
After Hermione had dressed, she sat down at the small table next to Draco. He had bought four chocolate covered croissants, and a steaming cup of café au lait.
Hermione bit into the fresh croissant and sighed loudly.
"Like it?" Draco asked with a smile, picking up his.
She kissed him instead of answering, and moved on to finish her croissant. When she had drunk the last dregs from her cup, she turned back to him, wiping her mouth on the back of her sweatshirt sleeve.
"So, what do you want to do today?" she asked as soon as he had finished his coffee.
"I'd like to see the Louvre, but I don't know what Blaise wants to do. He might want to take us somewhere else, and we could do the Louvre another day," Draco said.
Hermione swept the crumbs off the table into her hand.
"Definetly," she said, "Let's go downstairs."
The elevator door swung open, and the two of them stepped out into the lobby. They couldn't see Blaise, so Hermione assumed that he was waiting outside for them.
"Do you think Luc is out there with him?" Draco asked, his tone guarded, yet unmistakably hostile.
"I don't know yet," she said, craning her neck. "We'd best just go check."
They stepped out onto the pavement, and there they saw Luc leaning against the wall, smoking. Next to him was Blaise, wearing a rather mutinous expression.
"Hey guys," Hermione said breezily. "What are we doing today?"
Luc looked up at her, and Hermione's heart froze. He looked sad, as if something dreadfully wrong had happened.
"What's wrong?" she asked falteringly.
"I'm sorry Hermione," Luc said quietly. "It didn't have to be this way, but I had no choice."
"What do you mean?" she asked fearfully, knowing without having to ask, but refusing to admit to herself that Luc had betrayed them. "What have you done?"
"Hold still," someone said, and she felt the sharp jab of someone's wand at the small of her back. "Do not move, and do not speak. This is a sting operation; you Hermione Granger, Blaise Zabini, and Draco Malfoy are all under arrest by the French Magical Ministry. Will you quietly step into the car?"
Hermione looked up at Luc, as the agent pulled her arms behind her back, and she could not summon up hatred for him.
"I'm sorry too Luc," she said simply, seeing herself reflected in the wizard's anguished grey eyes.
A/N: Hey everyone! please please please review! I don't mean to beg, but your opinion means a lot to me... XOXO anglachel
