Chapter Eight

A Tale of A Forbidden Love

Harry Potter

*starjade*

Tears of the Truth

Hermione hung her head in the darkness and tried to think, tried to push away the darkness that was threatening to cloud her mind. What to do? What could she do?

Suddenly, she realised that Malfoy must still be standing behind her. Great. He was probably laughing at her tears and her sorrow.....She turned around slowly , but all that met her eyes was empty air.

Hermione's eyes widened.

" Malfoy?" She breathed into the cold night air.

No response met her question.

But....but how could he disappear like that without making a sound, without-

Suddenly noises beside her shocked her to the bone. Startled, she let out a yelp and fell back , as a bush rattled with movement. Something was under that bush!

" Wh-Who are you?" She squeaked.

" Hermione??"

The voice caused relief to flood through her body. It was only Ron!

Then she came to her senses. Ron! That must mean..

" Hermione? What are you doing out here?"

Out of the bush came two bodies, both of them pushing each other to get out of the tangle of leaves and twigs. Hermione racked her brain for an excuse as Harry and Ron brushed themselves off. Harry's eyes were on her but all Hermione could think about was, did they find Drake??

" O-Oh, I...I well, I finished my w-work early , yeah, I finished my work early and decided to come out and help you find this monster!" Hermione said, attempting a cheerful tone.

Harry's eyes narrowed but before he could say anything, Ron butted in. " Really? Too bad , but we didn't see anything! I bet that monster is really near the heart of the forest because all we've done is skim the outsides."

Hermione let her shoulders sag. Thank the goddesses! They hadn't found Drake! If they had...god, what would've happened? Hermione tried to put on a sympathetic face, but a huge grin was fighting to reveal itself.

" Oh, that's too bad, we'd better go back inside, maybe Neville was just seeing things-"

Suddenly a distant roar shocked all three of them and Ron tripped and fell to the ground. Harry's eyes grew wide and Hermione inwardly winced. Oh no...

" The monster..." Ron breathed.

Harry nodded, his glasses flashing under the moonlight. " Neville was right, Hermione. There really is a monster...we should find it! It's probably eating up all the inhabitants of the Forbidden Forest!"

Hermione opened her mouth indignantly, but shut it quickly.

Ron gasped. " Oh my god."

Harry glanced sharply at his friend. " What?"

Ron squeaked, " Look up there!"

Hermione twisted and gasped. A great shadow was flying over the Forbidden Forest. It was far away , but Hermione knew who it was.

Drake..

*********

The rest of the day, all Ron and Harry could talk about was the monster in the Forbidden Forest. They wanted to leave tonight, but Hermione persuaded them that it might look suspicious if all three of them were gone in the middle of the night.

People already knew that Hermione, Ron and Harry seemed to find trouble wherever they went, and people kept an eye on them always. It got quite frustrating after a while.

Hermione nearly wore herself out with worry. It was getting tiring, keeping this secret away from them. Now, it was about to get more complicated. Now she had to keep the secret away from Malfoy as well....

She winced as the threesome walked into their Potions class. She walked uncomfortably to her desk , avoiding Malfoy's whole area at the opposite side of class. He'd want to know what she was crying about, or why she was out, and of course she wouldn't tell him, which would push him into spreading rumours once more..

Snape walked in and took a glance at the Gryffindor side of the room. " Why are you all staring at me, fools? Get to your work stations, quickly! You have a week left until your potion and essay is due! 10 points from Gryffindor for not listening to the teacher."

" What a git.." She heard Ron mumble as Hermione picked up her cauldron and trudged over to Draco's desk. She plopped it down, and tried not to flinch as she felt his eyes on her.

What was he thinking in that evil mind of his, Hermione thought worriedly, as she grabbed the ingredients needed and took out some parchment to record the developments. She could hear Pansy giggling with one of the other girls, clearly not caring about their assignment. She heaved a sigh. Why did all this have to happen to her?

" Granger."

Hermione felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. She turned around slowly, meeting those ice cold silver eyes. " Malfoy."

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her seemingly calm exterior, but always a reader of human emotions, caught the fearful look in her eyes and smirked. " Well, well. I caught you in a rather...uncomfortable position yesterday...right?"

" Shut up, Malfoy.." Hermione growled through gritted teeth and set about chopping up a green oozing root of an indescribable. plant.

Malfoy leaned back in his chair, watching her with a sneer. " It was quite obvious to me what you were doing after curfew...now why not make it easier and tell me?"

Hermione gripped the knife tighter. " Get to work Malfoy. I really do not need this. If you could shut your mouth and get to work, I might not tell Professor McGonagall that I saw you after curfew as well."

Malfoy snickered. " What's more shocking.....me out of bed after curfew, or you, Hogwarts smartest mudblood?"

Hermione's eyebrows knit together, trying to calm her emotions. Her knuckles were white as she chopped the root with anger.

" Look, Malfoy, get your pug faced girlfriend and start working on something!" Hermione snapped.

Malfoy laughed, a taunting sort of laugh. " You just don't want to admit you were spying on someone...shall I say who?"

Hermione felt her heart plop and her eyes turned on him, flashing with anger. " You look here, Malfoy,-"

" You were spying on the great Harry Potter, dear mudblood. You were watching him.....was he with his girlfriend, Granger? Was he smooching her under the bushes while you looked on, wishing you were in that girl's place?"

The knife clattered out of her hand and she swore a silent oath under her breath as Malfoy continued, relentlessly.

" It's like you, Granger, to try and find someone who's above you. Potter, though I hate to admit it, is slightly above your rank, mudblood. He doesn't notice you cause your the non-existent girl who trails after him with puppy eyes. Instead he went for that Weasley girl...prettier than you and a pureblood! Wow, a two in one package! Ah, but you, no looks, dirty blood...who would want you?"

Hermione felt her blood boil to its reaching point and explode. She turned around , brown eyes furious and slapped him straight across the cheek.

The class was silent and Hermione screamed, " LEAVE ME ALONE, MALFOY!"

With that, she grabbed her bag and stormed out of the classroom, past Snape's sputtering face and the shocked eyes of the classroom. She ran as fast as she could to the Gryffindor common room and up the stairs to her dormitory where she collapsed on her bed, sobbing.

It was true. No one would ever want her. Harry didn't want her. For some reason, deep down, it hurt her even more to know that Malfoy was the one who had spit those insults at her. Malfoy, with his silver eyes, so deep and icy.

He was the one who had driven her over the edge and it hurt even more than it should.

**********

Draco watched as she stormed out of the classroom, a bright red handprint on his pale cheeks. He stared after, and shook his head with amazement. So, he had finally pushed all her buttons.

He tried to ignore a feeling that bubbled in his chest, a indescribable feeling that made him feel...guilty. A feeling that was rare, for Draco hardly felt guilty...but now...

The class was silent for a few more seconds before it erupted. The Gryffindors started yelling at Draco and Pansy squealed and grabbed onto Draco, patting his cheek and the Slytherins were yelling obscenities and-

" STOP!" Snape shouted. The class quieted. " GET ON WITH YOUR WORK! TEN POINTS OF GRYFFINDOR! GET TO WORK!"


Shooting glares at each other, most of the glares coming Draco's way, they got back to work. Draco chopped up some leaves and tried to ignore the simpering Pansy. Why did he say all those things? Was it because of the way he felt when he saw her last night? He had almost let his cover go, but had recovered quickly.

She was watching Harry and Ron, who were creeping around the forest. He had seen in his dragon form and he knew he risked much if he had been seen, but he wanted to know what they were saying. He had exceptional sight and hearing skills and he had seen Hermione talking to Harry. It made him red cheeked with anger, even though he didn't know why. Probably because that little threesome of theirs got away with everything, even staying after curfew.

Damn wonder boy...

Ron had somehow found walked over to Draco and spit out, " What the hell did you say to her, you bastard?"

Draco glanced up quickly and his eyes narrowed. " What is it to you, Weasel?"

Ron growled, " You asshole ferret, I swear, when I find out what you said to her, I am going to kick your ass all the way to-"

" MR. WEASLEY! TEN POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR! GET BACK TO YOUR SEAT!"

Draco smirked. " Aw, poor Weasely. Literally. Get back to your seat now!"

Ron flushed red, his skin colour matching his hair and he stomped back to his seat, fume nearly wafting from his ears. Harry shot him a glare full of loathing and Draco smirked back.

His mind carried him back to Hermione and he wondered not for the first time when she would find out that he in fact was the dragon she met every night..

***********

Hermione walked through the forest paths, her heart full with worries. It swelled at the thought of meeting Drake again and she wished he wouldn't be angry at her since she had missed meeting him last night...but why would he be angry?

She didn't even know why he let her come back again and again...maybe it was for the company. All these days without any company...but maybe the centaurs kept him company. Who knew?

She walked out into the moonlit clearing and smiled at the sight of the gleaming dragon. He rose his head to acknowledge her and she trotted over to him.

" How's it going, Drake?" Hermione said happily, wondering why the sight of him put her into a better mood.

The dragon grunted. " Your still coming back?"

Hermione laughed. " Uh huh. And you'd better get used to it. I wonder why you keep letting me come back."

" If I thought you would listen, I would've banned you already."

Hermione giggled and settled down in the grass in front of him, as all of today's troubles came rushing back at her.

" I got in big trouble , today......Really big trouble," Hermione said, her voice serious. Drake turned his head towards her, his silver eyes looking her over, making her hair rise at the eeriness of the blue grey scales that reflected against the light and those piercing eyes.

" What kind of trouble?" Drake asked, his tone surprisingly interested.

Hermione shrugged, laying back against the grass. " Big trouble. I walked out on one of my classes...and not just any old class, Potions. Yah, Professor Snape is one harsh teacher. It was all because of this one git, Malfoy. He...He.."

Hermione's throat closed up with remembered anger and her hands curled into fists.

Drake prodded her gently with a claw. " What did he say?"

Hermione sighed. " He said all this stuff, insulting me about my blood and my looks and how...how...Drake, I was coming last night and Malfoy saw me. Then Harry and Ron came along and he probably spotted me with Harry and made up all this stuff about me spying on Harry and how I couldn't get him because Ginny was prettier and pureblood, and how I could never get anyone, because no one would want me...And then I thought, what if that was true?"

Drake was silent. " So you saw truth in this boy's words?"

Hermione hung her head. " Yes."

Drake cleared his throat , a puff of smoke wafting in the air.

" Granger...what were you doing out there?"

Hermione shivered. She suddenly was struck with a strange sense of a deja-vu, but ignored it.

" Actually, Drake, I wanted to tell you something. I was coming to warn you..."

Drake's eyes looked surprised. " Why?"

Hermione looked uncomfortable. " One of the boys at my school spotted you flying about. He told Harry and Ron and they came out to find you. Then they saw you flying in the sky last night and that confirmed their suspicions."

Drake let out a huge blow of fire and Hermione squealed in fright as he straightened up to his full height. " WHAT?"

Hermione shivered and remembered again that this dragon could crush her in 2 seconds if he wanted to. He could burn her to a crisp or eat her or claw her to death, or, or-

" Drake, calm down. They think your some monster, they don't know your a dragon. And for some reason, I think they'd be much more compassionate when they find out your a dragon. They aren't coming tonight, because I convinced them not to, but they are coming tomorrow. So please, try and hide yourself. Please."

Hermione's eyes pleaded with him and Drake went down once more, until his eyes were once more level with Hermione's. " Why, girl, do you care so much if I get caught?"

Hermione froze. The silence whipped around the trees as the leaves got caught in the whirlwind. Little animals croaked in the night and the moon flashed in rays of luminosity down on the clearing. " B-Because, your-your one of the o-only , actually, the only one I can talk to...you know stuff about me my parents, my best friends don't know and I-I, well , I trust you."

Drake's eyes grew clouded and suddenly, he rose up on his feet and spread his wings. Hermione fell over with the wind as he flapped his wings, about to lift off.

" Can I see you again?" Hermione shouted.

The dragon spurted out a ball of flame and then took off, flying towards the moon. Hermione took it as a yes. With a smile on her face, she turned back to Hogwarts, thinking deeply about the question he had asked. Why did she care so much? Why did she care about his well being, what he thought, what he felt , where he was, what he was doing...He was a dragon, for heaven's sake and...

" Hermione?"

Hermione let out a squawk and her eyes opened wide. She had reached the edge of the forest and Harry was staring at her, his head floating in the sky, for he was wearing his invisibility cloak.

" H-Harry?"

" HERMIONE??" Ron shouted, appearing as well, beside Harry.

Hermione felt herself burn with fear. Oh no...

a/n: I am soooo sorry about the late update, my computer shut down and I lost all the files and I had to retype this chapter three times, cause it crashed again and I was so stupid I didn't save it on disk....I really have a bad memory. I never learn from mistakes! lol....Well, thank you soo much for your reviews! I LOVE THEM! OMG! You guys are so nice, but I NEED MORE! need a lot more! Otherwise, my self confidence will lower and lower and lower....REVIEWS!!!!