Chapter Four

A Tale of A Forbidden Love

Harry Potter

~starjade~

Pair of Silver Eyes

Hermione woke up blurrily, her eyes tired and worn. She rose from her bed and stumbled towards the washroom , quickly taking a shower and changing into her robes. As she was putting away her stuff , she looked out the small window , looking out over the forbidden forest.

Her heart fluttered. Memories rushed back at her.

The dragon....

The moonlight that fluttered against his scales...

And those silver eyes....

Last night , she had pelted him with questions. He seemed a bit aloof with her , but as the night wore on , he grew more comfortable with her questions. All she asked him was what kind of a dragon he was and whether he had any more family , questions like that.

He took a long time answering these questions , but Hermione was sure that he was just never talked to another human being before.

It gave her a warm feeling. She was the only one in Hogwarts who knew about a talking dragon in the forbidden forest!

He told her that his kind was the Darkleaves , or something like that. And he came from BushyMane country , or something like that. He sounded really uneasy with her questions , which was understandable. Hermione didn't feel uncomfortable at all. She felt as if....as if the dragon was a friend , or something...

Hermione laughed. A dragon....as a friend? That was ridiculous!

Still....she knew that she would go back and talk to him again. Even if all she needed to know about dragons was already given to her....she'd find another reason to go back.

~~~~~~****~~~~~

" What's wrong , Hermione?" Ron asked as they walked down the hallway towards the most dreaded subject for all Gryffindors.

" You seem so tired these days....what's up?" Harry asked, a concerned look clear in his emerald eyes.

Hermione fought back a yawn and blinked at them through sagging eyelids. " Nothing's wrong! I just studied really late yesterday..."

Ron groaned. " God , Hermione! You really need to stop studying that much! It's only the beginning of the year and your already slaving over the books like it's exam time , or something!"

" Speaking of exams , you guys should be studying-"

" Pretend I didn't say anything!" Ron quickly said , before Hermione could get too far in her lecture.

Hermione glared at him and Harry laughed as they started to turn the corner. At that same moment, Malfoy was turning the corner and SLAM , the two ran into each other with enough force to make them both stumble and fall.

" What the hell?" Malfoy sputtered.

" Oww..." Hermione moaned.

" MALFOY!" Was all Ron and Harry said.

Malfoy got up , his eyes narrowed. " Watch where your going , Mudblood."

Hermione got up as well and opened her mouth to say something, when she caught the look in his eyes. They reminded her of someone else's eyes. Those silver shining orbs....that revealed nothing , yet held so much.

Ron growled, " Your the one with the dirty blood , you pureblood ferret!"

Malfoy smirked. " Shut up , Weasel. I didn't ask any mudblood lovers to come into this conversation."

Ron sputtered , " You little piece of-"

Malfoy glared at Hermione. " Next time , Mudblood ,try not staining my robes with your dirty hands."

Hermione didn't say a word. She hardly even heard him. All she did was stare into his eyes. Something....something was there....

Ron , however , heard exactly what Malfoy had said. And he was going to do something about it.

" That's it , Malfoy , your going down!" Ron yelled and swung a fist at Malfoy. His fist landed smack on Malfoy's cheek. Malfoy growled and aimed a blow at Ron's stomach but Harry tackled him from behind. It was two against one and Malfoy was going down.

" Stop!!" Hermione yelled.

Ron and Harry froze.

" What?" Harry asked.

Hermione stared at them. What was she saying?

" Just stop it alright? We're already late for Potions and I really do not need this!" Hermione quickly covered up and picked up her robes.

Malfoy was picking himself up as well and stared at Hermione. This was the first time she had stuck up for him. He stared at her. Something was different about her.

Hermione avoided looking into Malfoy's eyes once more and huffed. " We'd better go , boys. Who knows what kind of punishment Snape will dish out today."

With her shoulders lifted , she walked down the hallway , away from the three , confused boys. Her own head was confused. She knew there was something else that made her stop the fight. It had something to do with...Draco Malfoy's eyes.

~~~~~~****~~~~~~

Draco Malfoy sullenly walked into Potions after Harry and Ron. They were five minutes early and Snape looked disappointed that there was no reason to yell at them for being late.

Draco glared extra hard at Ron , who stuck his tongue out at him. Draco smirked. Immature brat , he thought. All Weasleys were like that...poor in absolutely every part of life.


Professor Snape yelled , ritually at Potter for messing up his homework , pointedly ignoring the fact that Draco hadn't brought his homework in either. Besides , Draco always took advantage of this...privilege. He let out a ringing laugh as Potter sat down , ashamed.

That scrawny potty is going to get it one day , Draco thought , sneering at Potter. Ever since HE came into Hogwarts , life had been hell. First by embarrassing his ego and then acting all heroic...

Draco's attentive silver eyes moved their way to the mudblood , who sat quietly beside Potty. His eyes narrowed.

It was her....

He wanted to moan , groan , punch something. How could this filthy blooded girl find out his deepest secret!?!

Sometimes, those nights when he...changed, he wished there was someone he could talk to. But the only people who knew about the...changes was his father , mother , and-

Hermione Granger.

" I'll go away....but I won't , until you answer my questions..."

The sentence had shocked him. First , when she had found him in the forbidden forest , a changed state , he thought it was a joke. He could scare Potter's friend , make her seem insane at Hogwarts for insisting their was a talking dragon in the forest.

But now....it just wasn't a joke anymore....

" Time to get into your groups!" Snape announced , smiling cruelly at the class. " I hope that you'll get some work done in this class. Not leaving on another trip to the Hospital Wing and receive a detention from ME!" He stared pointedly at Neville , who squeaked.


Draco jumped at Snape's voice and then realized , horrified , he'd been staring at Granger for the whole time Snape had been talking.

He quickly glared at Granger to make it look as if he was looking at them to see if a plan he devised to make their lives hell would work. But Granger was walking towards him-

What the hell??!?

Finally , Draco realized once more , that Granger was his partner. He blinked as Granger plopped down beside him, yawning a bit as she did so.

It was silent for a bit as he just sat there , staring unbelievable at the bushy headed mudblood beside him. Finally , he opened his mouth to say something biting and mean and cruel.

" Why'd you stick up for me back there?"

Nice , Malfoy. Nice.

Hermione jerked , as surprised as he was at the question. " Pardon?"

Draco nearly flushed with the embarrassment. Malfoys never flush. " You heard me."

Hermione coughed a bit and turned to the cauldron that sat in front of them , waiting to be attended to.

" We were late for class, alright. That's why."

Draco smirked. " No , we weren't. We got here five minutes early."

Hermione turned red and shuffled some parchments. " Look , Malfoy , we cant just stay here all day , fighting about when the class ended."

Draco pointed out , " That's not what we were fighting about-"

" Enough!" Hermione snapped , her cheeks red. " Lets start some work , got it?"

Draco sneered , " You can't order me around , Mudblood. It's me who should be ordering around low caste parasites like yourself."

Hermione ignored this biting remark. " So , if we add the lizard tails before the poison ivy , would the mixture boil into a red potion or a green potion?"

Draco yawned. " Thought you were the smart one , Granger." He grinned as he watched her clench her teeth.

This was going to be fun.

~~~~~~~*****~~~~

Hermione quickly grabbed her cloak , her heart tight with fear. She shouldn't be doing this , she knew she was forbidden to go anywhere near the forest , but she couldn't help it!

Those silver eyes , the lonely orbs called her , beckoned her that it was unbearable to refuse. She sighed with remorse as she recalled the events of today.

It was a dinner and the three of them were talking cheerfully as they always did. Until Ron remarked , quite casually , " You know , Hermione , I thought I saw you go into the Forbidden Forest , yesterday."

Hermione had froze. Even though the chit chat of people around them continued as always , it seemed as everything had stilled.

" Wh-why would you think that , Ron?! You kn-know I would never go against H-Hogwart rules!" Hermione stuttered out.

Harry smiled. " Of course he knows that , he's just being a doofus as always. I think you may need glasses too , Ron!"

Ron guffawed. " Let me try those on!" Quickly , he grabbed Harry's glasses and shoved them on his nose.

As the Gryffindor table burst into hearty laughter at the sight of Ron with Harry's glasses , Hermione had left quietly. And here she was , ready to break the rules once more , all because...

All because of the dragon....

The dragon in the moonlight.
He must have come there for a reason. He might have family that he's looking for , maybe he's the last one of his kind and the dragon needed her help. He needed her!

Hermione slipped out of the Gryffindor portrait , ignoring the fat lady's protests. It was earlier than the other times she had gone , but she didn't care. She scurried down the silent , dark hallways , and out the secret passageway.

Quickly , scared of her own shadow in the darkness , she ran through the school grounds towards the dark forest. Now she knew the way. She jumped over the twigs and logs , and bushes , as fast as she could. She was eager , eager to see those silver eyes once more.

Finally , she burst through the bushes into the clearing. The moonlight poured through the trees , providing a luminosity in the centre of the clearing , but she was looking for the dragon.

All of a sudden , she heard a grunting nose far off in the distance. Coughing , sputtering noises reached her ears and a horrible crunching sound was heard. It sounded as if it was coming from something , someone only a hundred or so yards.

She squeaked , fear gripping her heart like an icy hand. She stumbled away from where the grunting sound was coming from. A boy's cry broke through her fear and she gasped. That sound was coming from a human!

One step at a time , she walked towards the area where these horrible sounds came from. One step at a time , one foot before the other , she walked slowly , carefully , fearfully. She took hold of the green bush with trembling hands and in a quick motion , pulled it apart.

Only to meet a pair of silver eyes.

" Dragon?" she whispered. Her heart swelled at the sight of the glorious creature.

" You again?" the dragon growled.

Hermione giggled, relieved. Her heart beat returned to normal and she let out a sigh. " I was so scared! I thought I heard a boy back there! Was it only you?"

The dragon glared at her and grumbled , " That's none of your business."

Hermione sighed once more and backed away , letting the dragon walk his way through the bush and into the beautiful clearing.

Hermione stared at the dragon. " You know , you really are a magnificent creature."

The dragon stared back at her. Though instead of answering he pelted her with another question. "Why do you keep coming back?"

Hermione blinked. " What?"

The dragon shook his head and settled on his haunches. " I asked you a question. Now I want the answer. Why do you keep coming back??"

a/n: What's up? COME ON PEOPLE , REVIEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW! Is there only a handful of people reading my story?? Please review and tell me that your reading it too , alright? I need support , lol!

I hope you liked this chapter , keep reading and reviewing , peeps!