Chapter Twenty

A Tale of A Forbidden Love

Harry Potter

starjade

The Secret is Revealed

He KISSED her.

And yes, this was one of the biggest occurrences of her life, because this was DRACO MALFOY we're talking about. Yup, the same guy who taunted her all through her years, called her mudblood and gryffindor bookworm, teased her friends, insulted her heritage, tried to get her teacher fired, fought with the dark side-

And the same guy she had spent weeks worrying about, because he had supposedly gone missing. But now he was back, without a hair out of place and acting as if he had never gone missing at all-

AND THEN HE KISSED HER.

Hermione groaned in frustration, gripping her head as she sat bent over her book. She had no idea why she was mulling over this. Why she was replaying that moment over and over in her head. How...

He could bring up such feelings...such a flash of warmth and passion to rip through her veins...

" Okay...stop thinking about him...now...now...NOW..." Hermione mumbled to herself.

" Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity, dear Granger," A voice behind her remarked, smugly.

Hermione froze up and her knuckles turned white as her fingers squeezed the book even tighter. Without turning around, she hissed, " What are you doing here, Malfoy? Come to make fun of me? Come to give me another plea for help, disappear for weeks and then show up and molest me?" Her voice went screechy at the end as she turned around, her eyes blazing with fury and frustration.

Draco didn't look a bit fazed. His grey eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement as he walked around her and hopped onto the desk, sitting a bit too close for comfort. With a drawl, he replied, " Maybe. Or maybe I just came to talk."

" Talk!" Hermione spouted with utter disbelief. " The day you come to only " talk" to me, Malfoy is the day Snape hands out valentines to every Gryffindor student in Hogwarts."

Draco looked at her, his eyes studying her. Hermione shifted, nervously as the silence stretched on. Finally, Draco got up and stretched. " I wasn't lying, Granger," He said, quietly. " I need your help. It has to do with...my disappearance. And you're the only one..." He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and smirked.

" So, mudblood, what do you say? Gonna help me?" He asked, standing close to her and staring her straight in the eye.

Hermione gaped at him. Did Draco Malfoy ask her for help...AGAIN? What the hell was this boy on? Her mind recalled the note that fell to the ground after Draco's disappearance and her blood ran cold. No, this was serious. Draco Malfoy was serious.

But years of taunting didn't make her as trusting as he wanted her to be. Suspicion shone through her eyes as she crossed her arms. " We'll see, Malfoy."

He looked at her and sneered, " Astronomy tower, tonight. Eight o'clock."

He turned around and left, with her eyes trailing him as he left. Unbidden, flashes of the emotion in his eyes as he leaned in and kissed her the night before came ripping through her mind and she banged her head on the cover of her book once more.

Everything was so confusing. Draco managed to rip up anything stable in her life and she was still...missing Drake.

Her fingers tightening into fists, she got up and left the library. She would help Draco. And she would get over her stupid infatuation with the dragon.

Darkness had gripped the room in a tight fist, squeezing and sucking every stray tendril of light. Clouds shifted overhead through the glass ceiling and a pale faced man with a snake wrapped around his body stood in the middle of the room. On his arm rested a pitch-black owl.

" It's true master. Enough evidence points towards Malfoy's connection with this girl. He would do anything we asked him to if it was for her sake," A short, stocky man blubbered in front of the dark man, his head bowed low in respect.

" Are you absolutely sure," Voldemort said quietly, a slight hiss to his voice that was enough to make every person who was present in the room's blood run cold.

" I'm...pretty sure-"

The snake had launched itself off of Voldemort's body and was now wrapped around the man's neck, slowly squeezing with increasing pressure. The man's eyes were wider then saucers, and a purplish tinge touched his complexion as he struggled for breath.

" I want certainty. I want to know FOR SURE. Will he do what we say if we acquire this mudblood?" Voldemort said slowly as if he was talking to a dumb person.

" Y-Y-Yes, y-you can stak-stake my life o-on it!" The man choked out.

" That was already part of the deal," Voldemort said coldly. Then with a look at the bird, he gave it to a death eater, who attached a note to the owl's claw and sent it off into the night sky.

" He will be on our side," Voldemort told the occupants in the room. Silence met his ears and he roared, " HE WILL be on OUR side!"

A loud agreement echoed through the room and Voldemort looked out into the sky, his narrow eyes piercing through the night sky. It was all falling together.

Hermione slunk down the corridor, hidden in Harry's invisibility cloak. She felt bad about taking it, but she really needed it...and later on...much later on, Harry would understand.

Wondering for the thousandth time that day what she was doing and why she was doing it, she headed down the corridor towards the astronomy tower only to be stopped by voices.

Harry!

" I'm worried, Ron. She isn't acting like herself at all.."

" Obviously! She was actually worried about Malfoy! And can you believe he's back?" Ron let out a squawk of indignation. " Honestly, he should've stayed wherever the hell he was and never should've come back."

Hermione remembered the moment Draco had walked into the great hall this morning, a smirk residing permanently on his face as the students hushed into silence. Then shrieks arose from mostly the Slytherin table, as he was welcomed in with great gusto and noise.

Draco had shot her a look, an almost challenging look for what, she didn't know. The Gryffindor Table all seemed to groan with anger that Malfoy was back but Hermione kept silent and ate her breakfast quietly.

" Ron! That really isn't what I'm worried about. It's that dragon in the forest that she's so obsessed over," Harry stated. " She would never go against the rules and risk expulsion for just any old thing. She's like...I dunno, in love with the thing or something!"

Hermione froze, arm hairs rising. How close to the truth they were...A sharp, jagged pain ripped through her as she recalled the dragon's words at her confession to him. She didn't even know rejection hurt so much...when she had found out Harry's true feelings, it wasn't as bad as the reaction she had towards the dragon's true feelings.

Was she meant to be unlucky in the game of love? Or maybe she was just so undesirable that she was destined to be a virgin prude for the rest of her life-

" -why is that git back anyways?"

" He just leaves and comes back, acting like nothing ever happened. Dumbledore isn't even doing anything about it, I would have thought Draco Malfoy would be expelled or something for leaving and just returning without any reason."

" I don't get it either. And do you see the way he watches Hermione?"

Hermione's eyes flew open at the words. Harry sighed.

" Yea, Ron, I know. He literally smirks at her every ten seconds, staring at her as if he knows something she- we don't know."

" Well, he won't be staring any more if I box his face in-"

" Ron, we have to get back! If Snape finds us here, we'll be in big trouble."

" Alright, alright, let's go.."

Hermione heard them slink off and she let a breath go, quietly. Her fists clenched as she recalled their words...do you see the way he looks at her?

She had never noticed. Maybe he did know something she didn't know..

Maybe he knew about the dragon..

Something at the back of her head was nagging at her, trying to get her to realize something but she had no idea what that thing was. Shaking her head, she went the rest of the way to the astronomy tower, climbing the stairs with rising apprehension.

As soon as she stepped onto the top floor of the tower, she felt the breeze surround her with an eerie calmness that she hadn't felt in a long time.

" You came."

She jerked and whirled around and gasped. He was standing nearly nose to nose with her, grey eyes lit up with evident triumph.

She stepped back from him, uncomfortable, visibly remembering the night before where he had kissed her. He rose an eyebrow at her and crossed his arms.

" So? Aren't you wondering why I called you here?"

" Obviously!" Hermione squawked. " I'm really confused. You disappear, I get this random note probably directed towards you, and I get all these feelings-"

She stopped. Too far, too far, Hermione reprimanded herself.

Draco, however, pounced on her words. " Feelings?" He smirked. " What, finally realized how much you love me?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, almost nervously. " Ha! As if that would ever happen!" She glared at him and felt like wiping that smug smile straight off his face.

He leaned back against the wall and studied her. " You're a smart witch."

" Is there any reason to question that?" Hermione said, pompously.

Draco snickered. " A mudblood witch, at that." He grinned as he saw the rage in her eyes and continued. " I...I'm being targeted."

" Targeted?" Hermione repeated.

" For...something I have that they want. And so...they killed my father. Not like I cared, but he did have something...that kept me alive. They thought that it would ruin me...but somehow, something happened and I'm still here. So, I need a way...to make me normal and so they won't come after me anymore," He said in a big rush, looking as if he'd rather not be saying any of this.

Hermione stared at him. Then she let out a, " WHAT!" That made him roll his eyes.

Hermione put up a hand, shaking her head. " Okay, I didn't get a single word you said. Obviously, the people after you are Voldemort. But then what do you have that they want? And why would they kill your father, I thought he was a valuable person to them?"

Draco shot her a look. Then he laughed, sinisterly. " You know, for one of the smartest witches in centuries...you are seriously dim witted."

" DIM WITTED?" Hermione screeched. She huffed, crossing her arms. " For a guy who needs my help, you sure know how to flatter me."

Draco bowed. " It's my specialty."

Hermione glared at him. " First, you disappear all mysteriously. Then you come back. Then you literally molest me. Then you ask me for help so cryptically that I don't even think your SANE anymore!" Hermione yelled, angrily. Frustration was building up in her and she could hardly breathe, she was so wound up.

Draco glared at her and grabbed her chin, painfully. " Shut up, you filthy little mudblood. You don't understand a thing, shockingly. So shut up."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. His digs at her intelligence enraged her." Honestly, I don't even know why I felt so guilty that you were gone! You should've stayed missing!" She spit out, furiously, not knowing why she wasn't able to keep her cool around him. Something about him made her fly into a rage every second..

The darkening sky surrounded them and rays of the setting orangey-red sun were shooting through the room in small rays of light. Hermione glared at Draco, making sure to keep her eyes trained into his, lest he think her weak. Then the strangest thing occurred.

His eye colour...changed. It was as if the grey irises...lightened. They gleamed and shone and familiarity seemed to seep into every crevice of her body and then..

" CRUCIO!"

Draco's eyes widened and he screamed, " Watch out!" As he grabbed her body and they went tumbling to the floor. The ground rumbled beneath them and he was panting hard, as Hermione screamed in fear. Her hands fumbled for her wandin an almost reflex movementas she whirled around but the sun had set and darkness was surrounding them, making it hard to see.

Then she heard Draco scream in pain. She turned to Draco, eyes wide with surprise and shock and reached out to him, crying, " What's wrong?" But he had pushed her away but his push seemed to draw blood on her arm...

Draw blood?

Then someone grabbed her from behind and she struggled against him, stomping on his feet and shouting curses at her attacker. Confusion and bewilderment was filling her to the top and she instantly thought of Dumbledore and Harry. She had to get word out to them...she had to notify them t hat they had finally broken through the spells, Voldemort was attacking! She saw her attackerfall to the ground but two more once again grabbed her painfully.

Hogwarts is under attack, she thought desperately. Hogwarts is under attack! She opened her mouth to scream but one of them clamped a hand over her mouth, jutting their fingers over her lips so that she wouldn't be able to bite down on their skin.

Desperation was filling her and she could hardly breath. Stay calm, she tried to force a mantra in her head. Stay calm. Use your intelligence. Get out of this and warn Harry..

She struggled wildly, murmuring curses but one of them hit her arm so hard she could almost feel it snap. Her wand clattered to the ground and she could hear one of them moaning in pain. Satisfaction tore through the feeling of pain in her arm but she couldn't say a word.

Then she felt heat. Heat, as if the place was on fire. She heard her attackers scream in fright and then a low voice yell, " If you want her to live, then don't you dare attack! Come with us. The Lord wants to speak with you. If you do anything to harm any of us, she will die!"

Tiredly, she wondered if they were talking about her. She wondered where Draco was. And she wondered why the room had shrunk and she could feel scales and fire and...

Silver eyes blinked at her and she whispered, " Drake," Before falling into a curse-induced sleep.

All of Hogwarts was up and running.

" The Astronomy Tower is on fire!" People yelled and Dumbledore was up with eyes fiery, racing up the stairs and yelling curses left and right. The fire died down and all that was left was bodies.

Students in pyjamas crowded around the astronomy tower as Professors tried their best to calm them down and send them back to their dorm rooms. Harry and Ron were desperately trying to force their way through the crowd but even they were sent back to the Gryffindor dorm room.

Snape knelt to the ground and checked the pulse of one of the fallen men.

" They're dead," Snape remarked, coldly. " Burnt to death. They were hit with intricatecurses, probably that Granger girl. This tower burst apart, probably from Draco's transformation. They must have been able to develop a spell to get over the wards against apparating in Hogwarts and the guard system that we've applied here. They were able to take her and Draco!" Snape cursed, his eyes stormy.

Dumbledore nodded, already knowing the facts before Snape had stated them. McGonagall looked shocked and the rest of the professors looked around the destroyed Astronomy Tower, wondering what would happen now.

" We have to get them back," Dumbledore said, quietly. " Call the Order. We must get them back. Under no circumstances, will we leave them there to die. Voldemort has gone too far...Using Hermione to lure Draco onto their ranks...I would've never thought.."

Shaking his head, he murmured a few spells that began the reconstruction of the tower before walking out. The Order was to be called and Hermione and Draco would be rescued. And maybe now was the time for Voldemort's reign to end.

Finally..

Hermione opened her eyes, feeling pain race through her body as she let out an involuntary groan. She placed her hands on the ground, trying to pull herself into a more comfortable position but ended up screaming in pain as she felt jolts go through her broken arm.

Darkness was all around her as she looked around the very large cell room. Cement walls and a dirty ground was all that met her eyes and she felt the memories of the last few hours race through her.

Her head hurt and her body ached. She could hardly breath as she tried to pull herself together. Keep calm, keep calm, keep calm...

" Draco?" She croaked, painfully.

Silence responded to her plea and she looked around the room. Then she gasped in shock, wondering why she hadn't noticed him.

It was Drake. Drake, the dragon whom she had met every night in the forbidden forest...Drake, who had rejected her, Drake who had betrayed her, Drake...

He had folded into himself, almost painfully...most likely to give her room, and his beautiful scales seemed to look dirty, rusted. Then she saw the blood, stripes of blood racing across his back in painful lashes. It seemed as if someone had whipped him. His head was tucked into his wings and he looked absolutely pathetic.

It nearly broke her heart.

" Drake?" She gasped out. She got up, shakily. Pushing all the thoughts about the Astronomy Tower, Draco, Dumbledore, Hogwarts and Voldemort out of her mind, she struggled over to Drake, holding her arm tightly to her chest to keep the pain away. She collapsed in front of the dragon and raised her unhurt arm towards him.

She touched the horns on the top of his head almost fearfully. " Drake?" She repeated. " Drake, can you hear me?"

He didn't respond to her and she felt hot, tears well up. What was he doing here? How did Voldemort capture him? They had hurt him...they had hurt him and she didn't care what the hell happened other, she would walk to the ends of hell to make sure Voldemort died a slow and painful death-

" Drake, please. Talk to me! I'm sorry for telling you I love you, I'm sorry if I got you involved in this, I promise I'll make sure that they don't get their hands on you, did they find out that your intelligent? If they did, then it's alright, I know a few handy curses, and I can get us out of here! All we have to do is-" She blabbered, fearfully as the dragon's silence continued.

" Drake!" She yelled, frustration and fear whirling together until she could hardly bear it. " Answer me! Please!"

Then he whispered something. She couldn't hear him and she leaned closer.

" Hermione..." He was whispering. Blood was now sliding down his back and she could feel the tears trickling down her cheeks as she felt some blood drip on her face. How could they treat him like this? How could they...

" Yes? Yes, I'm here, I'm here!" She said, relief flooding through her.

" Hermione...I'm sorry..." He said, croakily.

She kissed his head, lightly, shaking her own head furiously. " You don't have anything to apologize for! I just have to get you out of here and we'll find Draco and save him too and then we'll leave-"

Then he raised his head and she moved back to give him room..and then she gasped in shock.

" Hermione...You know, for one of the smartest witches in centuries...you are seriously dim witted." He croaked out, his silver eyes connecting straight with hers.

Shock.

She was frozen in place.

She couldn't move.

Everything just seemed to stand still as she stared at him, eyes wide.

" Wh-what?" She choked out.

Fearand shock was envelopingher quicklyand she couldn't breath, she couldn't! Her hands began to shake and she backed a way from him fast. Memories began to pound through her head, the strangeness, the familiarities, the recognition, the eyes, the words, the knowing looks, the smirks, sneers, rejection-

How could she be so dumb.

How in all of seven hells could she be so dumb.

" Draco..." She whispered, in absolute dead shock. " Draco Malfoy...you're...you're Drake..."

a/n: Yuuuuuuuuup, finally she found out. Wow. TOok her long enough. lol. anyways, yea, the next chapter will be up soon and you guys will find out stuff...and yea. And how Draco will finally turn fully back human, if he does, and if Hermione will still love Draco/Drake.