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Flames Of The HeartChapter Two: Completed with complications
Hermione looked at the huge hall surrounding her. Every wall was covered with photographs and or paintings of the earlier students. She could recognize a few faces, like Lucius Malfoy, and some of the death eaters. But many of them were unknown to her.
"Pansy, dear, I am so glad to see you're back." A painting of a pretty witch said.
Hermione just nodded and smiled, what else could she do? She didn't know this person. "I have to get going. Za... Blaise is waiting for me." She said when she saw Blaise in the end of the hall, waiting impatiently with his arms crossed.
"Okay sweetie. I'll talk to you later then." The painting said, and went back to whatever she was doing
Hermione hurried to Blaise, trying to avoid other uncomfortable situations with paintings of persons she didn't know. "Let's go." She said when she reached him.
He looked at her. Really stared at her face for several minutes. Then he broke the silence that had built up between the two of them. "You look different, Pansy. I don't know what it is, but you don't seem to be like you used to."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked a little bit too sharp, trying to control her fear of being exposed.
"I don't know," he said quietly, looking down. "Do you think I need to polish my shoes again? I mean, I did it last week, but I think they look less and less shiny for each day that passes. Draco says I'm just being silly, but you will give your honest opinion, I am sure."
She would have liked to know what was so un-Pansy like with her, so that she could hide it from the other Slytherins. But there was something about Blaise that made her drop it. "Yes, they do look somewhat less shiny than they did last week." She said impatiently.
Blaise nodded, like he totally agreed with her. And he should be, it was he, after all that had made the comment about less shiny shoes. "Shall we go then?" He said, and something in his voice made her think that he had forgotten all about that comment he had made about her not being like the usual Pansy.
She nodded, happy she hadn't been exposed. Then she hesitated for a moment, looked back to where she had come from, and a question formed in her mind. There was only one entrance. If the mission would succed, and she would manage to come this far without being seen, how would she get out? The question lingered in her mind while she followed Blaise through a series of corridors, and doors. She tried to remember where she went, so that she would be able to get out again. But remembering seemed less possible for each painting, and picture they passed.
The Slytherin common room seemed to had based it's interior upon Gothic castle style. But Hermione didn't get much time to look at the room, because Blaise quickly dragged her to the fireplace, where all the older students have seemed to gathered.
"Pansy, Blaise." A girl with long, silky, blond hair greeted them.
"Blaise, come sit over here will you?" Another girl with short brown hair, and deep blue eyes offered him.
Blaise looked at Hermione, who was settling down beside a handsome sixth year boy, and a somewhat pretty seventh year girl. The girl looked at her with disgust for a couple of seconds, then decited it would be better just to ignore her. Blaise knew why the girl disliked Pansy, but he did not understand why Pansy (Hermione) had decited to sit there. Maybe it was some kind of mock, however, his thoughts did not come any furter as Draco entered the room with a girl that probably was just a fourth year.
Hermione did not see Malfoy entering the room. She first noticed him when he casually sat down in an available chair. He nodded at Hermione, to greet her, when their eyes met. She didn't nod back, because she didn't know what was expected of her. Luckily, Blaise started speaking at that moment.
"Fellow Slytherins. You all know I'm not much of a speaker," This cause some of the Slytherins to smirk, because they knew he was an excellent speaker, but Blaise never bragged about it, he'd rather make jokes. "So I'll make this as short as possible; Over the last seven years, Gryffindors have been more annying than ever. Why, you ask. Well, there are a series of answers to that question. But the most important answer is 'The Golden Trio'." Blaise took a dramatic break. "With that, another question rises. What will we do about it? Surely the answer is quite simple. We do nothing. Not yet anyway. We wait for Potter, Weasley and Granger, to screw it up for theselves. They will expect something from us, they think it will happen soon. Now that the rumour has it that Lord Voldemort has arisen again." No one whimpered or made squeals when Blaise mentioned the name Voldemort. Hermione could do nothing else but smirk when she thought about what would have happened if she mentioned that name in the Gryffindor common room. Not anyone seemed to notice her smirk, no one except Malfoy, that looked questioning at her. She just leaned back and formed the word 'Later' with her mouth.
"So we wait. Till they come close to paranoia. That would be, around some time after christmas, I believe. So unntill then, we do not do anything to provoke the Gryffindors. No name calling (some seemed to be disappointed at this) and no 'accidents' with cauldrons tipping over and 'accidentally' falling over some Gryffindor." Blaise took a pause and smirked. "We ignore them, as often as we can. That is, to christmas. That's when we make our move. I haven't quite worked out the details yet, but I will inform you all when I do."
Was it the end? It had sounded like the end. Almost an hour, and Hermione still didn't know what their plan was. 'What a waste of time.' She thought to herself, and was about to go back to the Gryffindor tower, when she saw Malfoy looking piercing at her. She had forgotten they were supposed to meet later. But when was later? Maybe she had time to sneak up to Pans, put the forgetting-spell at her, and get back to her own dorms. But it looked like Malfoy ment that later was now. She sighed. She would have to take the disgusting potion once again. And she still didnt know what Malfoy would want to do with her. An alarming feeling that she was right about her suspicions, chose to appear at that moment.
Malfoy came towards her. She felt sick and disgusted. Maybe there was a way out of this. "Ma... Draco, I don't feel so good." Hermione said, trying to look as sick as possible, but she had never done this before, and Malfoy was not easily fooled.
"Really? Well then perhaps it is better that we continue this conversation in my room?" He drawled.
Hermione gave up that moment, she knew she wouldn't do well, but she had to try at least. "Fine." She snapped, and walked towards some random stair.
"Pansy, it's this way." Hermione looked back at Malfoy who pointed in the exact opposite direction towards a hallway. "You know I have one of the private rooms. Not the boys dormitory." He sent her a funny look.
"Fine." She snapped again, but with less will this time. The common room was nearly empty, only she, Draco and a snogging couple seemed to have lingered. Hermione did not know where the others have gone, and nor did she care.
Draco walked down the hallway, and in another one. Hermione started to get pretty bored with following him, and luckily it seemed like he had stopped. But she could not see any door, just a brick wall. She was at the verge of saying something when Draco stepped closer the wall and said loud and clear: "Draco. Open." 'A voice activated spell. Not easy to perform, not even for those who knew it.' Hermione thought impressed.
First it seemed like nothing was happening, but then suddenly some of the bricks moved, and a hole came in sight. It was small, but just so big that a average person could climb in. Draco somehow crawled into the hole, and Hermione could hear him say that it was clear for her to come in. She sighed, and crawled in after him.
The first thing she noticed when she entered, was the massive bed covered with silky sheets. Hermione was in awe, but couldn't show it, she was supposed to have been there before. She looked carefully to the right, where she saw a door, probably leading to the bathroom. Hermione suddenly had the feeling that something was not how it was supposed to be. She could nearly feel her skin move at her left arm. 'The polyjuice potion' she suddenly realized with horror. "I.. I... have to go to the toilet." She said clearly, and stormed in the door she had seed to her right. Luckily for her, it actually was the bathroom. It would look rather stupid and suspicious if it was a locker or something.
She locked the door behind her, looked for the pocket inside her robe that she had put her potion in, found it, and drank. Her skin and hair stopped changing, and when she looked in the mirror, once again it was Pansy's face that she was looking at. "That was a close one." She said, calming her racing heart. Then she fixed her hair, and went out to an impatient Malfoy.
"Sit down." He ordered, and nodded towards the bed.
"Don't you order me anywhere." Hermione snapped at him, but sat down nevertheless.
Draco smirked as though he had known how she would react. "Now, I have a serious issue I wish to discuss with you." He sat down on a chair that was right by his desk.
Hermione was stunned. "So we're not gonna... You know..."
Draco looked at her like she had three heads or something. Then it looked like he realised what she was talking about and laughed a genuine laugh. Hermione sat in silence while he finished his laughter.
"Pansy, you know we're not gonna do that. Unless you really want to." He smirked. "But I'm ready if you are."
She felt slightly shocked. Where excactly was this leading? "What are you...?"
The next thing Hermione knew, was Malfoy standing close to her, she could feel his breath on her neck, and their fingers binded together. Something inside her told her that this was all wrong, but the other, and more clearer voice was telling her that this may be wrong, but that it felt so good, so why refuse? So she allowed herself to be captured in the moment.
He kissed a sensitive spot on her neck, and she whimpered. 'What the hell am I whimpering for? It's just Malfoy after all. He's just a boy. A BOY. Goddamnit.' But her thoughts were interrupted so rudely by Draco taking off his robe and shirt.
"I want a massage. It has been a long, hard day." He laid himself on the bed.
"You want a what?" Hermione was on the edge of anger.
"A massage, Pansy. You do know what that is, don't you?" Draco drawled and looked over his shoulder at Hermione.
"I know perfectly well what a massage..."
"Then, what are you doing over there, questioning me?" Draco sneered.
"I... you... How dare you?" She asked infuriated. "You better watch yourself, Malfoy. Or I will punch you like I did in the third grade!"
"What did you just say?" He turned over and sat up in bed. His piercing eyes placed opon her face, like he was trying to read her mind.
Hermione panicked. She had said to much. 'Oh, nevermind, you have gotten what you came for. The plan, remember. Flee now, and he wouldn't catch you.' A voice in her mind said.
But another voice disagreed. 'Yes, yes, you've heard the plan, and what a plan it was, they aren't going to do anything to the Gryffindors yet. Do you not think that they will change that plan when Malfoy tells them what happened here? That he discovered that you weren't really Pansy. And you told him you punched him in the third grade, now how long do you think it will take for them to find out it was you? No, you have to stay here, and cover it up as good as you can. Use your fantastic mind.'
Hermione, luckily, knew for a fact that Pansy had actually hit Malfoy. But that was in the fifth grade, not the third. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I must have forgotten. I hit you in the fifth grade, not the third. Granger punched you in the third grade, she can get all the fame and glory for that."
Draco looked dead serious, and Hermione was actually frightened by the look on his face. Then he smirked, to her great relief. It looks like he bought her explanation."Well, yeah. Granger punches harder than you do."
Hermione was flattered, this was probably the closest she could get to a compliment from Draco Malfoy. Of course, he'd never know that she actually heard it, but she would know.
"Right then. Since you seem serious about this whole 'punch-Draco-if-he-gets-too-rude' thing. I will ask politely; Pansy, would you mind giving me a massage?" He smiled. A genuine, happy smile. It suited him, and Hermione could do nothing else but to return his smile.
"Allright then, but ony because you ask so politely." 'And look so gorgeous.' She added in her mind. It was about then she saw it. "What is that, on your arm?" He didn't even try to cover it up, and she got a better look at it. It was like a bucket of ice and freezing water had been thrown right in her face, reality quickly followed. Somewhere in her mind she realized that the potion would soon stop working, and she would be discovered. But this didn't seem so important at the moment. He had the mark. She slowly backed away from him, fear in her eyes.
"You've seen it before." Draco raised his eyebrow. "Why do you fear it now?"
"I'm not... I'm not..." Hermione stuttered, but whatever she was going to say, never came, for she quickly turned around, and stormed out the door.
"Women," Draco muttered. "Can't live with them, can't live without them." He didn't suspect that anything was out of the ordinary. Perhaps he was a bit naive, but when it came to women, the only thing he knew was how to seduce, when it came to feelings and thoughts, he was completely blanc.
A/N:
I've been away, on holiday, with no internet, so I couldn't update till now, so I am really sorry about that. And, yeah, I know that in the HBP Draco was shocked at Voldemort's name, I can't help it though, it's how I picture him.
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