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CHAPTER FIVE
HOGSMEADE AND HALLOWEEN
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The silence in the Runes Room was so oppressively heavy that Hermione felt she couldn't breathe properly any longer.
She put down her newly cleared parchment and looked up.
Draco and Theodore had been determinedly avoiding her every waking moment – in class, during meals, in the corridors. She had not even seen them by accident in the library or met their eyes even once ever since the eventful Saturday. Granted that she had no desire to be near them longer than she had to, but it was getting increasingly difficult to keep it all away from her mind when they were so apparently reminding her of the whole thing with their efforts.
Presently, they didn't even give the slightest indication of realizing that they were being gazed at.
Sighing, she got up and went to the window.
It was only then that they exchanged a confused glance behind her.
"Tomorrow is the Hogsmeade weekend," she stated, not turning around to face them.
There was silence for quite some time.
Eventually, Theodore said, "It is Halloween, so there's nothing new about it."
"I was wondering if we could go down to the site."
Another exchange of confused looks – she willingly wanted to be with them? Wasn't she scared?
"But… we don't know what we are looking for – we haven't begun translating the parchments."
"Of course we don't, but it won't hurt to have a look around."
Draco steadily ignored her. She wondered why the fact was getting on her nerves.
"Well?" she snapped, turning round and walking up to them.
"I guess…"
"Right – tomorrow at nine o'clock sharp."
She slung her bag over her shoulder and was about to exit when Draco spoke up at last, "Make some other day – I don't want to be seen in the village with a… Muggleborn."
"I wasn't aware of inviting you along," she shot back furiously and banging the door exceptionally loud behind her, went out.
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"She's got a temper, that one," observed Theodore, relaxing for the first time since he had come here.
"It will get her in deep trouble," said Draco darkly.
"So, are you coming?"
"No."
"It will be nice to get out once a while. We could start ahead of the Mudblood."
"No."
"Stop being so scared of her, Draco!"
"I am not afraid of her!"
"Tell that to someone who doesn't understand you. I do."
Draco ran his fingers through his hair.
"I just can't stop thinking that I would have… killed her… Every time I see her… I see death… I see myself as a Death-Eater."
"I don't think she minds the fact any longer," said Theodore quietly.
"Yeah, right."
"Try looking in her eyes some time. You might not top the list of her favourite persons at the moment but she does not hate you. I… I told her… some things…"
"YOU WHAT?" Draco glared at him.
The darker boy shrugged. "It evoked her 'sympathy'. Else she would have gone complaining to one and all."
"You have no idea of the number of ways she would use it against me, do you?"
"Well, look at it this way – she's a girl and she's a Gryffindor. That has got to count for something, has it not?"
The blonde checked his reflection in the window before going out.
"Maybe."
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Hermione tentatively fingered the fading bruise on her neck. It was still some time before it would be completely invisible. She had cast a few Glamour Charms to deflect questions. However, she had felt Professor Snape look shrewdly at her neck and then glance up during her last Potions Class. Honestly, that man gave her the shivers sometimes.
At first she had doubted what Nott had told her. It seemed strange that Malfoy feared death above all things. But the way he acted around her only confirmed Nott's explanation. Malfoy didn't even look up at her and flinched every time she was near. It annoyed her to no end. Wasn't she the one who was supposed to behave like that? One would think she had attempted to take his life…
Looking at how badly it had affected him, she decided it was punishment enough that he had still to bear her company. The suggestion of visiting Hogsmeade had been quite impulsive. The only thing worse than having those two aggravate her was to have them recoil and look away when she was nearby. In some ways, it felt worse than being called a 'Mudblood'.
Nott wasn't so bad – she supposed he only followed Malfoy.
It was the blonde who made her want to hit him.
She wasn't sure why it was bothering her so much. But it was. It was damned irritating and distinctly annoying. She had to do something about it before she ended up screaming her head out.
Realizing her train of thought, she stopped suddenly.
Since when had Malfoy's reactions become so important to her?
Pulling the covers about her, she rolled her eyes at herself. She was just spending too much time in Slytherin Company.
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"You are seriously in your right mind?"
"Yes, Ron," she said for about the hundredth time that morning. "Harry, stuff something in his mouth before he asks that question again."
"I know you like your work, but…" Harry was looking at her as if her Animagus form was Blast Ended-Skrewt and she had just turned into it.
"You could come with us and enjoy – and go with them some other time," said Ginny. "After all, you are allowed to go to Hogsmeade just any time, right?"
Before she knew what she was saying, Hermione said, "Malfoy said the same thing…"
Ginny looked at her half-embarrassed-half-angry.
"Sorry," she muttered hurriedly. How stupid of her to say that!
"That's right - you are allowed to go some other time, aren't you? How much will it hurt to spend some time with your friends?"
"Please?" insisted Ron, attempting his puppy-dog eyes while munching on the bacon with half-open mouth. The effect was ugly.
"All right, I guess… just for an hour or so."
She glanced towards the Slytherin Table but couldn't find either Malfoy or Nott.
"Great! Fred and George will be in Hogsmeade – just especially for today!"
Hermione tried to look excited but the result was as bad as Ron with puppy-dog-eyes and food-in-open-mouth.
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The trip to Weasley's Weird Wheezes wasn't very bad. In fact, Hermione found that most of their inventions involved quite an advanced form of magic. She wondered why they didn't get as many O.W.L.s as Mrs. Weasley expected them to.
"Draco Malfoy, Hermione?" asked Fred after he finished explaining the workings of the newest Shield Objects to her.
Hermione found herself repeating one of Ginny's most used statements, "Whatever Ron has been telling you are lies!"
"So you have jinxed him, then?" he grinned at her.
"Ummm… No."
"Ron said you hadn't – I wonder why."
"Because she isn't stupid. Why can't I have this Love Potion, Fred? I will pay…"
"No," said George, snatching the bottle from his baby-sister.
"Sell some to Hermione, then!"
Hermione pretended not to hear that. There was no way she was going to buy Love Potions!
"I've got to meet up Malfoy and Nott," she muttered and slipped out of the room.
The twins turned to look at Ginny, slightly bewildered.
"Don't ask me."
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Hermione pulled her cloak closer about her after casting a Water-Proofing Charm on it. It had started raining heavily. Hence her first view of the site was somewhat unclear. There were magical protection wires marking the area. She went along it, trying to find an entrance.
She had not gone far when she thought she could spot two persons dressed in black some yards away.
She hastened her pace.
The rain fell harder and heavier. She closed her eyes as some curls irritated them.
When she looked up, the two figures weren't there anymore – nor was there an entrance at the place she had seen them.
Puzzled, she continued walking. Had she really seen them? She was quite sure…
Finally, there was a break in the wiring and she cautiously stepped inside.
The wiring repaired itself once she was inside.
It seemed impossible that she could survey the open sites in this weather. It would be best to see the cave.
"Granger!"
She stopped short at the mouth of the cave.
A fire was burning quite brightly and the two Slytherins were lounging about it.
"Took you long enough," said Nott, gazing at her lazily from his half-reclining position.
"So it wasn't you two after all…"
"What?"
"I saw somebody out there," she explained, coming inside. "Who else came here?"
"You've been imagining things."
"I haven't – and why are you burning a fire in here? You could destroy so much evidence!" she cried angrily.
Malfoy snorted and pushed a log further in with his foot. "You'd think we'd have thought about it before creating that fire."
"Did you find the place from where they had dug out the tablet?"
"Maybe you don't register the fact, Granger… it is the weekend. Let your hair down for a moment."
Hermione stamped her foot impatiently. "There's so much to do!"
Theodore regarded her with an annoyed look.
"You might be superhuman who needs no rest. We are different. Spare us! And if you want to… By Salazar!"
He stood up quickly and pulling out his wand, came up to the mouth of the cave, where she stood. Hermione turned, her own hand reaching for her wand in her robe-pocket. Moments later, she felt Draco Malfoy come up behind her.
Just outside the magical wiring, stood eight hooded and cloaked figures. There was little doubt as to who they could be.
"Bloody hell," muttered Draco. Theodore and he exchanged worried looks.
"What could they want?" asked Hermione, glancing at them.
Draco had gone pale and Theodore looked undecided.
As the Death-Eaters attempted to enter, the wirings burst into great flames of greenish-orange fire in spite of the rain pouring down heavier than before.
"We can't go out – unless we don't want them to come in. There's only one way left now," said Hermione, turning towards the interior of the cave. "Unless, of course," she continued acerbically, "I am the only one who needs to be scared of them."
"Do have to say that after… everything?" snapped Malfoy angrily. "For all I know, my father is among them – just waiting to get a chance to kill me."
"We're just wasting time," said Nott, rubbing his forehead. "Let's put off the fire and head inside."
"We'll be lucky not to meet a dead end," remarked Malfoy darkly.
"We'll be lucky not to meet unknown… creatures or spells or curses and jinxes…"
The boys stared at Hermione. "Stop making this worse than it is, Mu… Muggleborn!"
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The cave had a gradual slope, which, Hermione suspected, would bring them underground. None of them had spoken a word.
Theodore was the only one who had a small, blue flame at the top of his wand – which gave just enough light so that they did not bump into walls and were able to see where they were going. There had been no signs of anything strange until then – no creature or spells or curses and jinxes. Plus, in the tiny amount of light they had, they couldn't distinguish much around them, anyway.
Once they had gone for about half a mile, everything became eerily quiet – there was no sound except that of their footsteps.
It was then that they came to a fork in the path.
"Left."
"Right."
Hermione glared at Draco. "Left."
"Since when have you become an expert on choosing ways? Right."
"Just about a year before you did. Left."
"If I were the Headmaster, I would think twice before making you two the Heads – and not assign you the posts after all." Theodore received two nasty glares.
"That," hissed out Draco angrily, "comment does not solve the problem."
"Flip a coin," said Hermione sarcastically.
The purebloods stared blankly at her. She rolled her eyes. "Muggle thing – something like left will be one side of the coin called heads and right will be another side of the coin called tails. Then you flip the coin and go with whatever it says on the up-facing end. Honestly, one would think you purebloods would know something as simple as that."
"That," declared Nott, "is the first intelligent thing you must have said in your whole life."
"You're bonkers," muttered Hermione as Theodore proceeded to do that.
As the coin clinked and finally came to rest on the ground, he crouched over it with his wand.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I really can't decide whether Hermione should win or Draco. Everything depends on you guys now. Please vote to tell me in your review who it ought to be. The story shall proceed based on the result of the poll.
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