Disclaimer: Last time I checked I was still me, and therefore not J.K. Rowling, which means that I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: Sorry about the delay, I had a bit of writers block with this chapter, I hope you're not mad. I also hope the chapter managed to come together alright because I was really frustrated with it. Anyway, WOW so many reviewers to thank, I love it! You all are the greatest!
Zuvalupa – Yeah, it's definitely difficult for him, would be easier if he had someone to talk to about everything wouldn't it? lol thanks for the review!
comedy gal – wow thank you so much! I don't want it to end either, but every story must come to an end sometime I suppose. There are still a few more chapters left in this fic though, so it's all good for now. Thanks for the review, and I hope you like this chapter!
Crstalline Sacchrine – lol I have turned another to the DM/HG side! I'm so happy to hear that you have enjoyed the story thus far, and I hope you continue liking the rest of it. Thanks a lot for the review!
Danik, Sunflower18, Chantal J – Thank you for the reviews! I'm happy you all like it, and I hope everyone likes this chapter as well.
Ginny-W13 – phew! I'm so glad to see you're still alive, I only hope that despite the longer wait this update came fast enough as well. lol Thanks for the review!
Scorpiogrrll – you're very welcome! I'm only to happy to thank you and all the other reviewers before each chapter, cause all the reviews really do help me see what I am doing well at and what I need to work on. And don't worry, nothing you said sounded lame. I'm glad to know that you think the emotions are portrayed realistically cause that means I'm succeeding at something. Thanks for the review, and I hope you like this chapter!
anIme-prYncess – lol things definitely would have been easier if he accepted the Head Boy position, but as we all know, Draco's never one to make things easier. Thanks for the review!
Unknown – Thanks for the review and I'm glad you liked it! I hope the wait wasn't too long. And speaking of Ron finding someone . . . . .
Melia – lol yeah, Draco could definitely do with a hug, the poor guy. Thanks for the review!
Lee – hmmm have Draco beat the crap out of Ron, that certainly sounds like a nice idea. I wasn't planning on it, but if the opportunity presents itself for them to get into a fight I'll definitely consider it. Thanks for the idea and the review!
Gabsadd – and I would like to answer your question, but that would definitely spoil the end, so I'll leave it unanswered. Just know that the end is coming, I think there are only a few more chapters left, and then you'll know if they end up together or not for sure. Thanks for the review!
Sayaku-chan – thank you! I thought I had writers block too (until I started writing), but apparently I had it more for this chapter than the last one. Oh well, as always, I hope you like it, and thank you for the review!
Steelo – I'm happy that you're so happy with it. And I hope the suspense didn't kill you too much, cause that wouldn't be good. Lol. Thank you very much for the review, and I hope you like this chapter!
jesska-14 – lol while it's flattering to hear that I could persuade any plot, you are correct, that it not what is going to happen, that would be much to simple after all this drama. I just hope you like what I do decide to do. Thanks for the review!
I wish your heart was mine – lol the energizer bunny! I'm glad that you liked the chapter even though it couldn't keep going and going, I hope you like this one too. And thanks for the review!
Southernsweetdevil – Thank you very much for the review! I would love to answer your question, but that might spoil something, so I'll let you read the answer in the story instead. Anyway, I hope this update came fast enough.
SharkAttak – First off, I hope your exams went well! The wall that Draco has built up around himself will definitely play a big part in the upcoming chapters, so I'm glad you liked the introduction of it. All of your questions are excellent, and I am rather embarrassed to say that I never really thought about what exactly Voldemort is doing right now (although he is definitely furious). But you definitely gave me stuff to think about, which I must thank you for because I'm kinda stuck at the moment, so I'm hoping that thinking about some of those things might get the ideas flowing in my head again. So thanks a lot for the review!
Elektra30 – I'm glad you liked the emotion, because I know this chapter wasn't as exciting as the last few. Yeah, Draco just can't seem to catch a break can he, maybe he will in this chapter . . . . .then again maybe not. Thanks for the review!
Openhearted – lol you're welcome, thank you for reading this story! I'm sorry the update took so long, but I hope you still like it!
SweetSummerSun31 – wow, thank you so much for the compliments! I'm very happy that you like my story so much. Thanks a lot for the review!
Now, finally, on with chapter 24!
Chapter 24: The Yearbook Ceremony
The next morning, Hermione awoke with an inexplicable eagerness to get to breakfast. It took her a while to realize that deep down she was hoping to see Draco in the Great Hall. Her heart was fluttering much in the way that it had when she first became interested in him last year. It was an exciting feeling of anticipation, and while a last year the feeling had frightened her, now she eagerly welcomed it.
She was waiting in the common room for Harry, and did her best not to hurry him along. She knew she was ready earlier than usual, and she should try not to get her hopes up. She couldn't even explain why she was so excited, it's not like she was expecting to talk to him or anything, although that would be nice too . . .
After what felt like hours, Harry entered the common room and the two left together for breakfast. Normally they would have met up with Ron and Ginny along the way, but Hermione was still rather sore at Ron for what he had said to her the night before.
From the moment she stepped foot into the Great Hall her eyes darted over to the Slytherin table in search of Draco. But he was nowhere to be found. With a slight sinking feeling in her chest, she sat down, frequently glancing at the door for Draco, but to no avail. By the time breakfast had finished, he was still nowhere to be found and Hermione felt immensely disappointed as she got up to go to class.
She tried to remain optimistic because the first class of the day was Arithmancy and Dumbledore had said that Draco would be returning to classes today. She entered the room, and immediately looked towards Draco's usual seat, but he was not there. With a sigh, she shuffled to her usual seat, and half-heartedly took out her books. She knew that they would only be reviewing for N.E.W.T.s, but she still brought all her materials to class, because she just didn't feel right without them.
Shortly before the bell rang, professor Vector walked in carrying a small stack of parchment, she proceeded to walk passed her desk towards the back of the room. Hermione followed her and had to do a double take when she saw where the professor was headed.
There, seated in the back corner of the room, was Draco! He could have been there all along and she would not have noticed, an odd feeling entered her chest. She thought she would be relieved and excited to see him, however part of her was scared and unsure of what to do. Professor Vector handed Draco the parchments and said something to him, to which Draco nodded. Professor Vector then returned to her desk at the front of the room, but Hermione could not tear her eyes away from Draco.
Finally, after several long moments of staring at his pale face, Draco's eyes turned upon her. She was visibly startled, but she was also rather disappointed because what she was not what she had hoped for. She had to focus all her effort into turning away from him and breaking eye contact. She had been so happy to see him again, but his complete lack of emotion had unnerved her. It reminded her of what he had been like before they had fallen in love, a barren wasteland lacking any true feelings. As she copied notes onto her parchment, she wondered had Azkaban stripped him of all ability to feel. Did he even have the ability to love anymore? Or had he just buried it all inside him again? He certainly was an expert at masking himself off like that. Suddenly, she found it much harder to concentrate on her note taking with her thoughts plagued with concern for Draco.
- - - - - - -
The first morning after his return to Hogwarts, Draco woke up so early that he got breakfast and returned to his room before most of the rest of the school was even awake. But that was just fine with him; he was in no mood to see all the other students again anyway. He was beginning to regret agreeing to return to Hogwarts, he wasn't sure if he had the guts to talk to Hermione, and he could already tell that he wasn't going to like going to classes. But nevertheless, he was here, so he was going to deal with it.
He arrived in the Arithmancy classroom long before class was to start, and at first he went to his usual seat in the front. However, upon consideration, he decided he would rather keep himself as low profile and invisible as possible to avoid annoying looks from the other students.
Draco had nearly drifted back to sleep in the back corner of the room when he heard the sounds of footsteps and voices entering. He watched the other students with narrowed eyes, as he'd hoped, none of them even took one glance in his direction. He was sneering at the whole lot of them until he saw Hermione. She caused the sneer to fall right off his face and made his heart leap up into his throat. She couldn't see him, but he could tell from her body language that she had looked for him where he usually sat.
Before class, professor Vector gave Draco notes of what they had covered in his absence. "If you have any questions, just ask," the professor instructed.
Draco nodded and shuffled through the parchments as professor Vector began the review. He began taking notes, but found he was distracted by an awkward feeling that was surrounding him. He ignored it as long as he could, but when it got to be too much, he finally cracked and looked up. To his surprise he found Hermione staring at him. He looked back at her, but was unable to read her expression. Was it shock? Longing? Anger? He had no clue.
He stared back at her for quite a while, though he was sure to maintain a blank expression on his outside. On the inside his heart was racing and he felt his muscles tense as he stared into those chocolate brown eyes that he had been longing to see again for so long. If he had obeyed his lusty impulses he would have leapt up across the room and pulled her into a sweet embrace, and kissed her tender lips. But of course he didn't do that, he didn't show any emotion. He was afraid of how she would react if he did, and he couldn't stand risking breaking his own heart anymore than it already was.
Throughout class he found himself unable to resist sneaking quick glances in her direction every now and then. Since her back was to him, she had no idea that he was looking at her, and he couldn't see her face, but he looked anyway. He never stared for longer than a couple seconds, and even that was enough for the despair to overwhelm him even more.
- - - - - - -
Hermione did her best to ignore Draco's lack of acknowledgement of her by focusing on N.E.W.T.s. Since the whole seventh year was fiendishly studying, that wasn't much of problem. As usual, Hermione studied with Harry and Ron, however since she flatly refused to study in the Gryffindor common room, Ron came to the heads common room instead. They didn't talk much during these extended study sessions, unless it was to ask Hermione a question.
And that's the way things pretty much went on every day, with the study time seeming to increase and the days seeming to become shorter the closer N.E.W.T.s came. The three friends would always make their way to the heads common room after dinner. Well, almost always, a couple times Hermione and Harry went alone, while Ron went off somewhere else. At first Hermione didn't notice Ron's absences from their study time, but then, after he'd been M.I.A. for three days in a row, she finally took notice.
She and Harry were in the process of taking out their Transfiguration notes when Hermione raised the question "do you know where Ron is?"
Harry looked at her quickly, and then returned his attention to his bag where he was pulling out a book, "oh yeah, he's not gonna come by today."
"Where is he? He hasn't come for the past few days."
"Well, he's err in the library," answered Harry sounding rather awkward.
Hermione was confused, "why's he studying in the library instead of here with us? It's got to be very crowded in there."
"I know, but he's studying with Luna," answered Harry.
"Luna Lovegood? But she's only a sixth year, she's not taking N.E.W.T.s."
"I know but," Harry huffed, "look Hermione, I don't know how you're going to take this, but last week he and Luna kinda started dating."
"Ron and Luna!" Hermione half laughed at the thought.
"Yeah. He was still pissed after everything that happened with Malfoy coming back, and apparently one day he was sitting alone in the Great Hall, and Luna came over and talked with him. He said she was really understanding of what he was feeling, and he really liked that, so he asked her out. They've been seeing each other ever since."
"Oh, wow . . . that's a surprise." Hermione felt rather awkward, "but Harry, why would it matter to me who Ron is dating?"
"I don't know, I guess I just . . . well, I don't know" Harry shrugged.
"Well, I think it's good for him, and for Luna to, I hope they're really happy together." Hermione smile, and added in her thoughts, 'if he's dating her, then he doesn't have any right to be angry with me anymore.'
- - - - - - - -
Now that she knew they were a couple, Hermione began seeing Ron and Luna together practically all the time. In fact it amazed her that it had slipped by her unnoticed before. Then again, she was rather preoccupied with many other more important things, so perhaps it wasn't much of a surprise. She wished she could say that she and Draco had gotten back together as well, however things were pretty much the same between them in the days leading up to N.E.W.T.s as they had been the day after Draco had gotten back. Both Hermione and Draco seemed to have too much pride than to be the first to confront the other, and their stubbornness was killing them. She wouldn't admit it, but she was becoming rather jealous that Ron and Luna were getting along so splendidly while she and Draco were not even speaking to each other.
As the days passed, Hermione found herself getting angrier and angrier every time she saw Draco in class. He seemed to be completely oblivious to her presence, and she never saw him anywhere other than the few classes that they had together. He never came to the Great Hall, and he somehow managed to disappear in the hallways after class so that she couldn't find him to talk to even if she wanted to (which deep down she really did.) The worst part was that even though his behavior was angering her, every time she saw him and did not speak, she felt the pit in her heart grow deeper, and she felt as though she were sinking further down into it each day.
The N.E.W.T.s were set up pretty much the same was as the O.W.L.'s, except that they took place a week earlier. The tests covered everything from their magical education, though they focused mostly on the more advanced information which they had learned in the past two years. The entire seventh year class was studying like crazy once the tests began. Many students could be heard repeating bits of information to themselves as they walked through the hallways.
Hermione, as always, felt that she had under studied, what if there was some line in her notes that she had overlooked or one fact that she had somehow missed during a class lecture? Their first test was Defense Against the Dark Arts, which Hermione was thankful for because with all she had been through and helped Harry with, she was sure she would have no problem on either the practical or the written.
Draco on the other hand was not happy about having Defense Against the Dark Arts first. Since he had gone through most of his Hogwarts career under the assumption that he would never be defending himself against the Dark Arts, he had never bothered to pay much attention. As a result, the two days before the exam he spent holed up in the secret library room. The third day after he had returned to Hogwarts, Draco was already becoming so crazy with all the other Slytherins that he had gone to Dumbledore to request permission to use the secret library room for studying and resting with totally privacy. Dumbledore had granted him permission, and also assured Draco that no one would know where he was.
Draco had not slept all night, nor had he gone to breakfast. He had all his Defense Against the Dark Arts notes and his book out in front of him, making sure he knew the spells, and defenses that were most likely to be on the test, which was to begin in an hour. Draco knew he probably should have tried to sleep, but since his sleep offered no more relaxation than being awake did, he had spent the whole night cramming instead. With all the work he'd done, he figured that as long as he didn't draw a mind blank in the middle of the test, he should do just fine. . .at least that's what he hoped.
With five minutes to go before the exam, Draco finally abandoned his notes, and stomped through the halls to the Great Hall. When he got there, most of the seventh years were already assembled and seated. They were all facing towards the professors table, so no one noticed Draco as he silently slipped passed the doors and took a seat at an empty table in the back row.
An official from the Department of Magical Educational Testing was moderating the exam. At precisely nine thirty, she tapped her wand which caused the test and anti-cheating quills to appear in front of every student, "Begin!" she called, her voice echoed through the otherwise silent room. The echoes were quickly replaced with the shuffling of parchment, and the scratching of quills as the students began their test.
Two hours later, the witch called the test to a halt, and with a wave of her wand, everyone's quills were swept from their hands. There were several groans throughout the room from people who apparently hadn't finished the whole test, but most remained silent. With a second wave of her wand, the witch collected all of the tests into a neat pile at the head table. "Thank you very much," she announced, "Just a reminder, your practical exam will begin precisely at one o'clock. You are dismissed."
There was a collective sigh of relief followed by the scraping of chairs as all the students got up to leave. Hermione turned around beaming and searching for Harry and Ron. But before she saw them, she saw a flash of platinum blonde in the very back of the room, and it was already moving swiftly to the door. Forgetting about her previous desire to discuss the test with her friends, Hermione began attempting to push her way passed everyone in an effort to reach Draco before he disappeared again. But her efforts failed, for when she finally reached the Entrance Hall, there was no sight of him.
She furrowed her brows and crossed her arms over her chest, but was not allowed time to think because Harry and Ron had finally found their way out of the room, and were calling to her. "Hermione I don't think I've ever seen you in such a rush to leave an exam, what happened?"
"Oh nothing, the exam was fine, I guess I was just a bit claustrophobic with all the people crammed together" she lied easily.
Harry and Ron accepted this explanation with no questions, "that wasn't so bad was it?" began Harry, with a smile on his face.
"No it was rather easy if you ask me," added Hermione.
"Well, I wouldn't say easy, but not as hard as I bet the rest will be," said Ron.
Sure enough, the other N.E.W.T.s all seemed much more difficult to the trio than the first on had been (not that that meant Hermione did any less than perfect on any of them). Harry and Ron especially had found the final test, potions, to be truly 'nastily exhausting'. Draco however, found that the rest of the tests were easier than the first on had been, especially the potions test. Overall he thought he did rather well, as good as he could expect given the circumstances he'd been under at least.
- - - - - - -
Once N.E.W.T.s were finally over, all the 7th years felt that they deserved something special, which they got. The day after the final test, was when the yearbook ceremony was scheduled to take place. Everyone was eager to see how it turned out, but perhaps no one more so than Hermione. She was practically skipping with anticipation the entire day before the ceremony.
When it finally came time to set up the Great Hall, Hermione anxiously supervised the prefects, who were stacking all the yearbooks onto two long tables positioned on either side of the entrance to the Great Hall. On the opposite side, on two other long tables, the house elves were sending large assortments of snacks up from the kitchens. All their best sweets, deserts, fruits and vegetables were being sent up for the ceremony. Hermione's heart was beginning to beat faster with every second that passed. Finally, with only five minutes to go until the ceremony was to begin, Hermione shooed the prefects away and began frantically running around perfecting everything. Harry had to yank her away from the books with a surprising amount of force in order to get her to stop
"Hermione! Calm down, everything looks perfect, the yearbook is amazing, just relax, everyone will love it."
"I know, I know, you're right. I'm just so nervous!"
"What's to be nervous about? Everyone will come here, sign yearbooks, eat food, have fun and leave."
In the distance, several voices could be heard steadily growing louder. "Oh my god, here they come!" cried Hermione. She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as she watched the doors like a hawk waiting for the first arrivals.
Parvati, Lavender, Padma, and a couple other Ravenclaw girls were the first to arrive, and they were quickly followed by a group of Hufflepuffs. Everyone grabbed a yearbook as they entered, and immediately began flipping through the pages. Hermione eyes lit up at all the positive reactions she saw.
The ceremony was in full swing and Hermione was standing in the center of the room in a semi-daze when Parvati and Lavender rushed up to her, "Hermione!" they cried, "these are so amazing!"
Hermione blushed, "thanks guys."
"Can you sign ours?"
Oh, yeah sure," Hermione took Parvati's book and opened it to begin writing her message. Parvati's was already filled with signatures and little notes from all her friends. She was about to start when Parvati interrupted.
"Well, don't you want us to sign yours?"
"Oh! Yes, of course, please" Hermione blushed deeper as she handed her book over to Parvati. She was slightly embarrassed by the fact that hers didn't have any messages in it yet.
Parvati grabbed it and almost immediately began scribbling something. Hermione signed Parvati's, Lavernder's. Hannah Abbot's, and Padma's before she realized that she had completely lost track of her own yearbook. Parvati had passed it along once she was finished with it, and now Hermione had no clue who had it.
She searched around the room for Parvati, but there were so many people continually stopping to ask her for signatures that she quickly gave up. After she had signed what felt like her hundredth signature, she spotted Harry and Ron, "hey guys!" she called with a wave.
"Hey Hermione, where's your yearbook? I want to sign it," said Ron, glancing around for Hermione's book.
"I don't know, I lost track of it. I'm sure it will turn up eventually though," Hermione shrugged.
The trio chatted for a bit, but after Harry and Ron left to continue signing yearbooks, Hermione drifted to the side to watch her peers. She was very proud of how successful the yearbooks had turned out, yet something seemed to be nagging at her none the less.
It took her quite a few minutes to realize that she was not just absently watching her classmates, she was systematically scanning the room. She was looking for Draco. The ceremony was nearly over and she hadn't seen him at all. 'He's probably not coming,' she thought with a sigh, 'I don't blame him either.
Hermione had been sure not to include anything regarding the trial in the yearbook supplements, but Draco didn't know that, and she was sure that he would not want a memento of this year. Not after what he had been through. Plus, Draco had never been that interested in the yearbooks anyway. Hermione sighed and tried to find Harry and Ron again instead.
- - - - - - - -
Draco was pacing by the fireplace in the library room. The yearbook ceremony had started over half an hour ago and Draco was still debating over whether or not to make an appearance. If he was honest with himself, he didn't give a shit about the stupid books, nor did he care about getting any bloody signatures in it. But the more he dwelled on it, the more he remembered all the planning he and Hermione had done on them. He recalled the way her eyes had lit up when Dumbledore had first told them the idea. The way she would bounce around excitedly whenever they came up with a good idea. So in the end, with the hope of seeing Hermione's eyes light up that way again driving him, he made his way to the ceremony.
Once he arrived, everyone was so busy mingling and writing meaningless dribble in each other yearbook that no one took any notice of him, which Draco was only too happy with. He took one of the last yearbooks off the tables and retreated to the shadows by the wall. He prowled around the room, wondering more and more with each step what the hell he was doing here. Seeing all his mindless peers mingling with each other was making him sick. Just when he was deciding to leave, he caught glimpse of Hermione. She was standing all alone in the center of the room. Draco froze, she was not mindlessly signing yearbooks, nor was she talking to anyone. She was just standing there, with a look of pride and satisfaction on her face. A rare smile crept onto Draco's face, even from across the room; he could tell that her eyes were sparkling. As he gazed at her, he felt a desperate longing, a need to have those eyes shining back at him.
Draco continued to watch her with a strange feeling of both contentment and sadness until Patil and Brown interrupted Hermione's solitude and got in the way of his view. He sneered, and watched as the girls exchanged yearbooks. Hermione was busy signing other peoples as her own book got passed from person to person. Draco watched and was suddenly struck with an impulse. His eyes remained glued to Hermione's yearbook and he began walking along the wall, following the book's progress. Finally, when it was being signed by one of the Hufflepuffs, Draco stepped out of the shadows, and asked for it. The Hufflepuff absently handed it to him without even looking at him because he was already focusing his attention on another student's yearbook. Draco took the book to the corner of the Hall, removed his quill from his pocket and turned to the last page. Luckily, no one had signed the back yet, so Draco would easily be able to do what he planned without trouble. He took a deep breath, loaded the quill, touched it to the paper and began to write.
It took him a considerable amount of time because he kept pausing to be sure that it was worded in just the right way. It was a rather long note, although at first glance no one would ever know that. No one would know because Draco, upon finishing his message, had bewitched the words to disappear. The only indication that he had written anything at all was a small image of a snake curled up in the bottom corner of the page. Before getting up, Draco touched his wand to the snake to test out the spell. Just as he'd planned, the snake grew, slithered across the page and gradually faded into words to form Draco's message.
Satisfied, Draco wiped the page clean so that once again, only the snake was visible. He moved along the wall towards the entrance and before leaving, placed Hermione's yearbook on the edge of the table so that she could find it again.
- - - - - - - -
"I know!" But I can't find it!" Ron had just asked Hermione for her yearbook again, but she still had no clue where it could be. She was getting rather worried because the ceremony was almost over, and she had expected to find it by now. Wild thoughts of what happened to it were flying through her head. Most centered on the fear that the Slytherins had gotten their hands on it and were playing some sort of cruel joke on her.
"Hey guys, can you all sign mine?" Dean Thomas called over to them from one of the tables by the door.
"Not now, we're helping Hermione find her yearbook!" Harry responded.
"What are you talking about? It's right here!" Dean picked up the book he'd just finished signing and brought it over to Hermione, "it's been sitting on the table for people to sign all night."
"Really?" Hermione couldn't understand why someone would leave it on the table instead of simply giving it back to her.
"Yeah, so can you all sign now?" Dean repeated.
It was only when professor McGonagall came in to shoo everyone back to their common rooms that the ceremony finally ended. Hermione beamed all the way back to the common room because of the success of it. She couldn't wait to read what everyone had written to her. She was so excited, that she barely said goodnight to Harry before she bounced into her room and settled herself into bed in her pajamas. She allowed Crookshanks to settle into her lap as she opened her book.
Reading the notes made her both happy and sad. They reminded her all that she and her friends had gone through, and how much everyone had changed since they first set foot on the Hogwarts Express seven long years ago.
Of course, the person she had witnessed the most change in, hadn't come to the ceremony at all, so there was no message from him. She hadn't really expected to see Draco there, however that didn't prevent her from looking for him occasionally, and it didn't stop her disappointment in not seeing him.
It was rather late now, her eyelids were growing heavy, and her mind was telling her to put the book away and get some well deserved rest. But instead, she was skimming through the notes again, looking at all the names, and rereading her favorites. That's when she noticed it, in the bottom corner of the back page there was a small drawing of a snake. 'What on earth?' Hermione's eyebrows furrowed as she looked closer at the drawing. 'Who would put a snake in my yearbook?' Thoughts of Slytherins hexing her book returned to her mind.
She knew the logical thing to do would be to put the book away and return to it in the morning, but she was so tired that curiosity overcame logic. She lifted her wand from the bedside table and touched the tip to the snake. Almost instantly the spell began to take effect. Hermione jumped and tossed the book out in front of her as the snake grew and began to slither across the page. Her sudden movements had startled Crookshanks, and he grumpily jumped onto the floor, giving Hermione a disgruntled look after he landed.
But Hermione wasn't paying attention to the cat; she was staring at the book with rapt attention. The snake seemed to push the other messages out of its way as it progressed. And then, once the page was clean and all the other messages were jammed to the side, the snake melded into a message. Hermione gasped. It was written in a pristine handwriting that she hadn't seen in ages, but recognized in an instant. "Impossible," she breathed. But before reading the message, her eyes jumped down to the signature, and sure enough it was signed Draco Malfoy. She blinked as if afraid to believe what she was seeing was real.
With a sudden desperation, she seized the book and began to read;
Hermione,
I wanted to thank you for what you did. You saved my life and my freedom, and I'll never be able to properly repay you. You have helped me become so much more than I ever thought I could be, you have truly made me into a new and better person. I only hope that someday you can forgive me for all I have put you through, I know you deserve better.
There is so much more I could say, yet so much that cannot be put into words. But I can see you looking around, and I'm guessing you're searching for this, so I'll leave it before anyone sees me and causes a stir. It just wanted you to know that I sincerely thank you for all that you have done for me.
Draco Malfoy
Hermione could feel her heart thudding in her throat, and hot tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. While she was on one hand thrilled that he had written to her, on the other hand she was pained. She knew Draco well enough to read between the lines. In between his thanks you's she could sense the feelings of hopelessness and dejection.
Hermione reread Draco's message and then bit her lip and furrowed her brow. "Enough of this!" she finally burst aloud. 'This is ridiculous tomorrow I am going to find him, I'm going to talk to him, and tell him how I feel!"
Thank you everyone for being so patient with my slow updates. I'm working hard to make sure that you don't have to wait so long for the upcoming chapters, cause I know everyone hates waiting too long (including me lol). So anyway, I hope everyone liked this chapter, and as always I love getting everyone's feedback so please send a review. Thanks so much!