Message in a Bottle

Chapter 10

When they got to the head compartment, they found McGonagall there waiting for them. "Well hello you two," she greeted them. "Please, take your seats and we'll get started." They took their seats right across from her and she began.

"Congratulations on making Head Boy and Girl. Now along with this prestigious title, you have certain duties to fulfill. You are in charge of dividing the patrol duty between all the prefects. I want you to make sure that you don't let anyone patrol alone. It's not smart, even with Hogwarts being the safest place. Next, you are in charge of the Halloween feast, the Yule Ball, and the seventh year ball. You must get the food, entertainment, and decorations prepared. Check with me before you do everything. Also, you will have certain assignments, just to keep you on your toes. These assignments will be given to you by the headmaster so I do not know what they will be yet." She continued on for a while but Draco tuned her out.

He couldn't get something out of his mind. Those marks on Granger's neck. It was a widely known fact throughout the school that she was a virgin. In fact, it was a known fact that she had never even had a boyfriend. So where did those marks come from?

Then his thoughts ran to Stranded. Where was she at this very moment? Was she okay? Was she hurt? He needed to know.

Hermione was having very similar thoughts. She hoped to God that no one had seen the marks. They were just embarrassing. She didn't want anyone to know. She didn't even want them to get the wrong idea, thinking she had been with some guy over the summer. It wasn't true. Her summer consisted of her staying in her room, hiding from HIM.

And what was up with him stealing her mail? She hadn't received a single letter, not even the one from Hogwarts telling her what books she needed. It was a good thing she had memorized the book list last year before school ended so she could ask Dragon to get her the books.

Speaking of Dragon... she wished so very much right now that she could talk to him right now. He always seemed to care so much about her. And she wondered how he was doing. She was sure that his father would let him go to school but probably not without putting him down first. She only hoped that Dragon didn't listen to him. From what she could tell, he was too nice for anyone to ever make him feel bad.

She was brought out of her thoughts by McGonagall standing up. "Well now that I've got that said, I'll be off. You two sit in here and work things out. I understand you two have never been the...best of friends, but as Head Boy and Girl, you'll have to get along so you might as well start now."

And so she left them alone but neither one wanted to "work things out". Instead, they sat in silence for most of the ride, finding little to say to one another. Each was lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, about half way through their ride of silence, Hermione said, "So can we just call it a truce, Malfoy? I really can't be fighting with you all year. Let's just...put the past behind us."

He thought about it for a moment and then came to his decision. "I don't think so Granger. You're still nothing but a filthy little mudblood." Now the truth was that he didn't mind muggle borns let alone muggles, but the way he saw it was that his father already hated him enough. Why add on the fact that he was being civil to a mudblood? And not just ANY mudblood, but Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter and the only person in the whole school who could always get better marks than him even in his best class, Potions.

"You're so immature," she muttered underneath her breath. Why couldn't he just give in? She didn't understand him.

"At least I'd have enough common sense to get rid of my hickeys!" he screamed at her. And as the words left his mouth, she began to looked panicked, as if he had discovered some big secret. For a reason beyond his understanding, he took pity on her and performed a simple charm to make them disappear. "There you go! Now you owe me, Granger."

She couldn't say anything. The whole thing had horrified her too much. All she knew was that he had gotten a good glimpse at her neck and probably saw a lot more than he should have and so the rest of the ride was finished in silence.

When the train came to a stop, she left the compartment as soon as possible, not wanting to be in there for a second longer. But she didn't go by Harry and Ron. Instead, she found her own carriage and rode up to the school in peace, all by herself. As soon as she got in, she took out a piece of parchment and began to write.

Dear Dragon,

I'm miserable. I came to school but now that I'm here, I feel like running back. I was forced to tell my friends today about everything. Don't ask me how because it's a long story but after I finished speaking, they took me in an embrace. It felt awkward and weird and I just wanted to run and hide but I allowed them to hug me. I don't want to alienate myself.

I wish so badly that I could talk to you in person, have you take all my pain away. Gods I hate this life so much! My friends, they're trying so hard to be understanding, as if they know what I'm going through, but no one understands. They just don't get me like you do.

Stranded


As soon as she was done writing the message, Damion flew into her carriage with a note. She read it and gave him her note, giving it some owl snacks for his troubles.

Once she got to school, she met up with Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table. They asked her where she had been on the carriages and she made up a lie about having to go to a Head Compartment. How would they know if she was lying?

After the feast, which was rather pointless and boring unless you were a first year, she followed Professor McGonagall to the Head Tower where she would be staying with her counterpart, Malfoy. They reached a portrait with a burly man standing in its frame. He was about 6'5" with rather grotesque muscles. He had a short brown beard and a long mustache. "Halt, who goes there?" he asked in a grouchy voice.

"I'm...Hermione Granger," she said with caution, afraid to annoy him. "I'm...head girl."

He looked between her and Draco and then back to her. "You'll be needing a password, missy!"

Without even thinking about what she was doing, she mumbled, "Superman," and walked in.

Draco in all honesty didn't know what to think. It would make sense for her to be Stranded, all the signs were there. A muggle born, liked to read, taking all the advanced courses ...SUPERMAN! Why hadn't he thought about it before? But he wanted so badly for it NOT to be her, for it all to be a big misunderstanding.

So he went up to his room and laid down on the couch as Damion flew in the window. "Got a letter already?" he asked while taking it from his pet. As soon as he was done, he scribbled down a note and sent it out to her. Then he headed downstairs for a late night snack. The Head Tower after all came with its own kitchen.

Hermione had gone straight to the living room and sat down with a good book. The room would be there later for her to look at. Right now, she needed to relax. As she was reading, she heard a hoot coming from the window. She walked up and opened it, anxious to find out what the noise maker was, sure that it was not Damion so quickly and she was right. She found Hedwig as the culprit. He came in and perched himself on the arm of the couch. She took the note and read:

Dear Hermione,

We're so sorry about EVERYTHING! We can't stress that enough. We feel like dirt for not realizing that you were in trouble earlier. Our only hope is that one day you can forgive us.

Ron and I know that it will be a tough path for you, healing and getting better both emotionally and physically, but we want you to know that we'll be right by your side through the whole thing. We love you, 'Mione.

Love,

Harry and Ron

She was about to respond when she saw Damion fly through the already opened window. The two birds looked at each other with disgust and hatred in their eyes. She figured that they must have met in the owlery and enver got along. They began circling one another and Hermione hurried up with her response, hoping to get one of them out of there quickly.

Harry and Ron,

Don't worry about me. I'm fine. See you in the morning and thanks for your care and concern.

Hermione

As fast as she could, she tied the letter to Hedwigs leg and gave him a snack, sending him on his way. Then she took out Dragons note and read:

Dear Stranded,

I think I know who you are. I'm not quite sure what to say because I don't want to lose you as a friend. There's no way around this if you are who I think you are.

I'm sorry you're having such a tough time getting back in to the routine of school and 'friends' but it'll get easier with friends like yours. Its obvious they love you.

I have to go. This is hurting my head,

Dragon

She had been so engrossed in the letter that she hadn't even realized Draco standing at the kitchen counter, watching her read the note with his jaw dropped open, knowing his suspicions had been confirmed.

She wrote back a letter and gave it to Damion while patting his head. "Take this to him and don't you dare leave him alone until he responds." She kissed the top of his head and watched him fly away. She found it rather odd when he didn't fly out the window and instead, flew to the kitchen.

Now it was her turn for jaw dropping. She was mortified as Draco took the letter from Damion and began to read.

Dragon,

I think it's time we met, regardless of what the repercussions might be. I know there's a possibility of it not working out but I have to believe that there's a chance of it working. I NEED you as a friend and I'll be damned if all I can ever be with you is pen pals. So if you want to meet, write down when and where and send Damion back. I'll be there whenever and wherever you want to meet.

Stranded

He didn't know what to do. His best friend turned out to be one of his worst enemies. They weren't allowed to be civil with one another. But then again...now he knew that she wasn't really a mudblood anymore...Father might not mind so much. In fact, if she is a pureblood, he might be quite pleased. But that didn't change the fact that she was still Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter, the boy that Draco hated most.

Hermione was sitting there allowing her thoughts to go crazy as well. She was going to lose her best friend all because of their true identities. She wanted to bang her head against a wall. 'I should have never written that damned letter in the first place,' she thought to herself in sadness. 'I should've just kept everything to myself and stayed at home and lived out the rest of my pathetic life there, with that asshole. It would have been better than being here, with Malfoy, having him know my darkest secrets.'

Malfoy was standing there letting his thoughts run wild when all of a sudden, Damion started pecking at him, demanding that he respond. He didn't know what to do so he wrote on the same parchment that she had just sent and allowed Damion to return it to her.

She was shocked that he actually responded. And his response...well it was not what she expected.

Meet me in the Head Tower Common Room IMMEDIATLEY! I'll meet you on the couch.

When she looked up from the letter, there he was, making his way to sit beside her. "Is this seat taken?" he asked, pointing the cushion right next to her. She shook her head and he sat down.

"What does this mean?" she asked nervously.

"I don't know."

A/N...Thanks for the reviews. I've gotten an overwhelming response and I'm just so happy that I could jump for joy. You guys are the best. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint. It's a lot longer than the rest and I was seriously contemplating dividing it up into two chapters but then I remembered your lovely reviews asking for longer chapters so here you go. This one wound up being a full five pages on Microsoft Word where as most of my other chapters have been 1-2 pages. So I was really trying to satisfy you guys. Hope you like it. Please r&r!