Hey, thank you so much for those nice reviews, here is the next chapter of my story Of Darker Skies (I know it's not the best title but it was all I could think of). Anyway, this chapter should be longer than the other one and I hope you enjoy it. No flames please.
Of Darker Skies: Chapter 2
TickTockNelly
Summary Chapter 2: In this chapter the trio has a talk with Dumbledore about Draco.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They all belong to J. K. Rowling.
Harry, Hermione and Ron made their way to Dumbledore's office after dinner; all wondering silently what was going on.
"I think that it has something to do with Malfoy," Hermione said.
"Nah," Harry responded indignantly, with a proud sniff, "He just wants to congratulate you on becoming Head Girl in person, and he invited us because he knew that we'd come anyways."
"I agree with Harry on this Hermione," Ron said as they neared the great stone gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office. "Who cares why that bloody git isn't here anyways."
Hermione didn't answer as they stopped at the gargoyle. "We have to try out some passwords."
"Fizzing Whiz bees," Ron tried. Nothing.
"Chocolate Frogs," Harry said. Nothing.
"Smarties," Hermione offered. That was it; the gargoyle started shaking and moved to produce a staircase. They used this staircase to get to Dumbledore's office.
The door was already open and they let themselves in to the empty room. Mere minutes passed before the door opened and Dumbledore came in, with an expressionless look on his face, and sad eyes.
"I would just like to congratulate you, Miss Granger, in person for becoming this year's Head Girl, and a fine one I'm sure you will make," He said with a smile as he sat down at his desk.
Harry shot Hermione an I-Told-You-So look which elicited an evil glare from his friend.
"But, sir," Hermione started, biting her lip, "I was just wondering where Malfoy is. I mean, he is Head Boy."
Dumbledore's happy face turned sad and back to happy in mere seconds, like he didn't want to show what he was thinking.
"I am quite sure that young Mr. Malfoy will show up sooner rather than later, Miss Granger. And as he is Head Boy and you shall be sharing room, I think that you would be happy not to have him here."
"I am," Hermione said, "But I'm just worried. I mean, sure I hate the guy, but I can't stop wondering what his home life is like with a father like his. It makes me wonder when he doesn't show up for school whether or not he can." Harry and Ron were shocked at her thoughts and sat there dumbfounded whilst the professor answered.
"My dear Hermione," he said with a small sigh, "It is said that we cannot see the signs of abuse in a home unless we look in through the window, that we cannot understand the pain of the victim unless we are the victim, but in young Mr. Malfoy's case I believe that even the tiniest hint he could give anyone about it would only elicit more from his father."
"You see, Miss Granger, not everyone has a good home life, and some people don't like to talk about it at all. There are some that really act as though there is nothing sacred in their life and that all is not well when it is. I do believe highly, and I have for a while, that young Mr. Malfoy endures much pain at home."
"You see, my dear, I have known Draco his whole life, and whenever I see him when there isn't anybody around that could tell his father, he is the most charming and caring person I've yet to meet. I know that at times Draco is under the Imperius curse and I know that Draco only acts mean because of fear of what his father would do to him if he didn't. But what I do not know, is exactly what Mr. Malfoy does to his son."
"So what you're saying is that Mr. Malfoy, he really does hurt Malfoy then?" Ron asked.
"Ah yes, of that I am sure. I have seen him when he is hurt and I can tell you that it is one of the saddest things I have seen in my life. Such a nice child, Draco is, if it weren't for his father." Dumbledore told them looking at each of them in turn. "You see, many times we believe what we think and pay little to no attention to what it is that we might know if only we paid closer attention."
"So what you're saying is that sometimes we can be completely blind to those signs that we could have seen have we been paying attention." Harry said with interest. "But we weren't paying attention, so the signs that would otherwise be hard to see were impossible."
"Correct, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said. "As a great Wizard Philosopher once said: You cannot view what lies in front of thyself until you view what lies within thyself; that would mean that you cannot see things of others until you truly understand yourself, but you also need to be paying attention."
"I feel really horrible," Hermione said sadly, "I mean, sure he's been a git to us, but we haven't been much better. I just can't believe what his father does to him. How come he never looks like he's been hurt?"
"Young Mister Malfoy has a lifelong prescription to what is known as a concealment potion. He drinks some and you cannot see any signs of the abuse at all."
"Does Malfoy know that you know about it?" Ron asked interestedly.
"I think that young Mr. Malfoy has a feeling that I know about it, but whenever I try to bring it up, the poor boy begs me not to tell anyone and not to talk about it. The fear he has from his father I think is almost turning into complete paranoia whenever senior Mr. Malfoy is present."
"Wow, that's a lot to take in in three minutes," Hermione said, rubbing her temples. "I find this almost completely unbelievable, yet believable at the same time."
"Ah, Miss Granger, the things that are said to be such easy things to believe is also often the hardest." Dumbledore replied. "You should never judge a book by its cover, or a person by their actions, you should always judge foremost on the little things that show who that person really is. With young Mister Malfoy, I find it to be his eyes. Whenever he's doing something mean, something that he doesn't want to do, his eyes have sparks of guilt and sadness in them. It was his eyes that first showed me the signs of his abuse, and it is his eyes that will first show you who he really is."
That was the end of their conversation with Dumbledore. They left his office not speaking any words and contemplating his kind words. As much as they each tried to tell themselves that Dumbledore was lying and that Draco was none other than the mean kid he pretended to be, they all knew in their hearts that Dumbledore was not lying. And the only thing that each of them were thinking of as they made their way into the Head common room was what Lucius Malfoy had done to Draco to make him not able to come to school.
"Is anyone else finding this a little unbelievable?" Ron asked as they all sat around the fire. "I mean, I know that it's true, I can totally believe that Mr. Malfoy does that, but I just can't believe that Malfoy is able to just hold it in, hide the pain, and never show anyone what is happening. I wonder what it must be like to wake up afraid of what your father can and will do to you, you know?"
"It must be completely terrifying," Harry said, "To wake up and wonder whether your father was going to kill you that day."
"Now, now, boys," Hermione said sternly, "We mustn't overanalyze this, I have to see if I can speak to Draco when he comes back to school and see if he'll tell me anything. If Professor Dumbledore is correct, than Draco should be nice to me if I promise not to tell anyone about it that can pass the news on to his father."
"So, what then," Ron asked, "We just wait until Draco comes to school?"
NEXT CHAPTER:
"Do you realize how bad of an idea this is?" Harry hissed at Hermione as they stood outside the gates of Malfoy Manor under the guise of the Invisibility Cloak.
"I don't care," Hermione huffed, "We have to get Draco out."
Hey, I hope you all enjoyed reading this and I'll post the new chapter once I get some more reviews. I was going to put what is above in this chapter but then I thought it would be better to have its own chapter. TickTockNelly
