Disclaimer: see chp1
Hello all you readers, heres another chap for you to devour. Hehehe, ok yah so I'm hungry right now. Hope u liked the last chap, please read and review, thx.
Chapter 11-
"Harry! Please wait!" Hermione called, earning irritated glares from other students.
Harry couldn't hear her, he had already turned the corner and went into his first class.
Draco sat through class, gazing at the black board, only pretending to listen to a dawling proffessor Flitwick. He twirled his quill around his fingers, tapping his note book occasionally. His thoughts dwelled on the dream he had. It had seemed so real. He could see the blood pour out of him, and he felt the pain all over his body. He really thought he was going to die. He had been positive he heard Hermione's voice telling him not to give up. He figeted with his quill, and his gaze drifted off to watch Hermione writing furiously in her notebook. He stared for a few minutes watching her write profusely in her book, noticing how the sunlight highlighted her facial features.
"Mr. Malfoy, Will you kindly offer your opinion to what Ms. Brown has just stated?" Proffesor Flitwick squaked.
Draco immediately tore his eyes away from Hermione, seeing her look up. He wasn't paying attention, and didn't even know people where talking. He had been too into watching Granger write in her book to notice anyone else in the room, let alone answer a question.
It was a good thing that Draco had practiced reacting quickly every time he wasn't listening to the teacher. He decided to use a "quick escape" answer; one that would buy him time to figure out the question, and give a chance for another student to elaborate.
"Actually, I agree with Ms. Brown. I think she was quite on the mark about that," He said in a relaxed tone, as if he had been interested and listening to the Proffessor the entire time.
"Alright then, would anyone else care to offer their opinion?" Flitwick offered.
The class nodded, not wanting to drag on the dull discussion.
"Very well then, 5 points to Gryffindor and Slytherin! Well done Ms. Brown, and Mr. Malfoy,"
Draco grinned. He wasn't paying attention to a word the Proffessor had said, and yet he had managed to snag 5 points for Slytherin. That answer he gave worked everytime. The class was dismissed and Draco couldn't help but steal a glance at Hermione. She looked gorgeous to him. She was picking up her books, and had stuffed her bag full. She had her hair in a partial pony tail, and had looked as if she was ready to go and host some award show. She looked up realizing someone had been staring at her, but Draco looked away just in time. She walked over to another Gryffindor boy sitting behind Draco and stabbed her wand in his ribs. She was obviously annoyed and felt almost violated.
"I told you, its NOT going to happen!" she hissed, digging her wand further into the boy's ribs, making him wince and almost cry out.
Draco heard her and couldn't stop a chuckle coming out of his mouth. She was extremly mad at the boy. He had probably tried to make a move on her before. Draco turned his head around, and saw Hermione looking disgusted, yet still somewhat triumphant. After she left the room, Draco simply smirked at the boy behind him.
"What?" the boy snarled.
"She's out of you league, pervert.." Draco muttered, grinning. He snickered, and patted the boy on the shoulder.
He could tell the boy was probably ready to hex him, but he walked out of class confident he wouldn't jump him because Flitwick was at the door watching them.
Draco rounded a desserted corner near a large stone statue when a small piece of parchment with something scribbled on it caught his eye. Curious as to what had been written, he leaned over and picked it up. He carefully unfolded it, not wanting to tear the old paper to shreds. Just as he started to read the first line, an invisible force pulled him backwards into the wall, making him disappear through it. Draco screamed, but it couldn't be heard. He landed heavily on his back with a thump, swearing to himself. He seized his wand in his pocket and kept his hand inside just incase. He looked back and forth, but he couldn't see one speck of light. He thought he had gone blind. His heart began to race. Small chills ran down the back of his spine, making the hairs on the back of his head stick straight up. He hardly dared to breathe, feeling as if his heart was swelling and about to explode any minute. He gulped, praying there wouldn't be anything in the dark corners ready to strike and kill him. Cautiously, he took a step forward and pulled out his wand. In the smallest voice he could muster, he said,
"Lumos."
Hermione sat in class, alone and early as usual, waiting for the class to start. She was deep in her thoughts as she held her head up with one hand and played with her hair in the other, twisting it between her fingers. She felt disgusted, worried, furious and worst of all, unprotected. She wondered what kind of story Ginny told about her to get that brown-haired boy to keep gawking at her in class and everywhere else she went. She felt like someone had invaded her privacy, watching her every step, constantly breathing down the back of her neck. It was unnerving to say the least, and she hated the feeling of being watched like a zoo animal.
She wondered why so many boys at Hogwarts had suddenly been paying more attention to her. She knew she didn't dress suggestively like the other girls who would purposely unbutton an extra button down their necks, or pull their skirts up higher. Perhaps it was because of always having Ron and Harry by her side.
They had always been protective of her, acting as her two personal body-guards. They were always there to ward off the other boys, as she had noticed. Although they didn't think she knew, when ever another boy had been interested, or even seemed interested in her, either Harry or Ron (mostly both) would corner the poor boy. At times, they threatened them, or sometimes asked them thousands of questions to scare them off. One time, an odd, drug-dealing, muggle-born wizard had almost asked her out on a date. It was a good thing Harry didn't know about him though; he might have killed him. However, Ron had known that the boy might try to corner her, and Ron had even gone so far as to tell the boy, using muggle terms, that he thought Hermione might be "a lesbian". His story had been so convincing that it automatically scared the boy off. She nearly strangled Ron to death of course, but at least the boy didn't get her into any serious trouble, or spread rumours.
Her was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of the bell ringing. She hadn't noticed the class had already came in the door, and that Ron was sitting next to her. Ron waved a hand infront of her face until she grew irritated and replied by waving her middle finger infront of his face. Ron sank back in his chair having had his head bitten off again by Hermione in a more subtle way.
Hermione looked around the room feeling as if something was missing. She gazed from the Gryffindors, to the Slytherins, and lastly over at the Hufflepuffs. An hour had passed fairly quickly in class, but the proffessor had forgotten to take attendance, and hastily called out names.
" Neville!"
"Here,"
"Rodger!"
"Here"
"Hermione!"
"Here"
"Draco!"
"Draco Malfoy?" The proffessor repeated, his eyes scattering around the room.
That was it! Draco had been in Hermione's last class; she was sure of it. She had seen him sitting infront of the perverted boy. She wondered why he wasn't in class. It was awfully peculiar of him, because he never missed a class, and he was rarely late.
"What are you looking for?" Ron asked, a look of concern on his face.
"Its odd,..Malfoy isn't here..He's never missed a class before,"
Ron snorted, earning a look of disgust from Hermione.
"Well if luck exists,...the bastard died," Ron said simply.
Hermione glared at Ron. She hated every fibre in Malfoy, but it wasn't nice to hope that someone died.
Ron looked taken aback, and said,
"Oh come on, don't tell me you miss Ferret-Boy," he scoffed.
"Of course not, but still," She said exasperated.
It troubled her as the day wore on, that Draco Malfoy wasn't in any of the classes she was in. She tried to brush it off, telling herself that he was probably ill, or just decided to skip a day of school. Besides, if she had gone missing, he wouldn't be bothered by her not being in class, he'd most likely enjoy it. However, all throughout the day, something kept nagging her that Malfoy was in trouble somehow.
She flung her bag down on the dinner table. It landed next to an unsuspecting, preoccupied, Ron who nearly jumped out of his seat from the noise.
"Bloo-y 'ell 'He ione!" Ron grumbled, food nearly spilling out of his mouth.
He swallowed, and glared at Hermione, but she chose to ignore him.
"I want to know why you were practically holding hands with Harry the other
day," She said gravely.
"It's a long story, and if you want to hear it, you had better not interupt me," He warned. Hermione nodded and swindeled her fork around her plate.
(flashback)
Harry and Ron rushed to Dumbledore's office as fast as their legs would take them. They were out of breath as they reached the golden statue, barely managing to say the password.
" Le..Lemon.D..Lemon Drop," Harry gasped, as he bent over holding himself up by his knees.
"Choc..Choc...Chocolate...whew,..Chocolate..Frogs.." Ron wheezed as he held his hand to his waist to support himself.
After a few minutes of frantic guesses to the passwords, and naming all the candy they knew of, the statue allowed entrance.
"Proffessor Dumbledore!" They called out.
The headmaster's chair spun around to face them, but it was not Dumbledore who was occupying the seat, but rather Proffessor Mcgonagall. She looked as stern as ever, but also had a look of confusion and concern on her face.
"Please, do sit down. I'm afraid Proffessor Dumbledore is away on business and I do not know precicely when he will return. Until then, I will be taking over for the Headmaster. Now what is it that seems to be bothering you?" She said in a business-like tone.
Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Worry spread throughout both boys' minds. They knew that with Dumbledore gone, their chances of surviving the rest of the year were slim.
"I've..I've bbeen hearing things...inside my head. I know who it was..It was," Ron stammered. He paused, looking deathly pale, before he continued on.
"It was You-Know-Who," Ron said in a barely audible whisper.
Mcgonagall's already stern face turned grim; her wrinkles deepened, and her eyebrows nearly touched.
"Please continue Mr. Weasley," She said firmly.
"well, he was telling me to do things, controling me, only I could see everything I was doing, and I remember it all. It wasn't like when Ginny had been possessed when she couldn't remember a thing," Ron said quickly, as if he was a defendant on trial for murder.
"I didn't want to! I tried to resist, I couldn't control my body,.. and..and.."Ron stuttered.
"And what did he make you do Mr. Weasley? Its alright, we know it wasn't your fault," Mcgonagall reassured.
Ron's pale face flushed to a brilliant shade of tomato red. He concentrated on looking anywhere but at the proffessor. His heart-rate increased, pounding loudly. Ron thought it might explode in his chest any minute. Heat crept up his shirt to his collar, making his ears burn. He'd never be able to live this one down. It was extreamly embarassing to be telling your teacher how you had kissed your best friend, and his best friend being Mcgonagall's teacher's pet. In his mind, this was the worst form of torchure anyone could inflict upon him; even Voldemort's curses and hexes were no match for this form of torchure.
"I ...sort of made-out with Hermione when Harry was at the door watching.."He finished quickly, staring down hard at his feet, feeling his neck and back burn.
Harry looked back at Mcgonagall, wondering how she would react. She had looked surprised and had a glint of amusement in her eye, but quickly snapped back to her grim frown.
"Was Ms. Granger forced?"She continued.
She sounded like she was trying to get a business contract signed instead of dealing with life and death situations.
Harry almost burst out laughing at Ron. He was trying his best not to, but the corners of his lips kept twitching, trying to form a grin. He knew it wasn't a funny situation, but Ron had turned an even brighter shade of red, matching his hair. He was now shuffling his feet, and staring down at them, as if he was fixated on some insect on the ground. His hands were deep in his pockets, and he looked very ashamed. It took every ounce of willpower in Harry not to roll on the floor pointing and laughing hysterically at Ron.
"Er..well no...She just sort of...went along with it..." Ron said quietly.
"Go on," Mcgonagall said, writing something onto a piece of parchment.
"Uh...that's when Harry walked in and he just sort of went...crazy and punched me..."
It was Harry's turn to look down at his feet. Mcgonagall glared at Harry, nearly piercing a hole through his head with her death glare. Ron looked back at Harry,
"Well,... given the circumstances, I would have socked him one too if it had been my girlfriend..." he stammered, trying to explain and defend Harry.
Mcgonagall stared incredulously at Ron.
"Continue," she said in a disappointed tone, still glaring at Harry.
"But Harry threw his wand down before he did anything rash and just ran off...that's when I was finally able to shut my mind to Vold..You-know-who..." Ron explained.
"Was Ms. Granger hurt?"
"No,..Harry would never,"
"I'd die before I harm her." Harry said in a dangerous tone.
He shot daggers at her, and felt insulted by Mcgonagall asking him if he hurt Hermione in some way. She should know that even if he was under the control of another, he would kill himself before he even touched a hair on Hermione's head.
"Very well" Mcgonagall leaned forward, and looking quite royal, said
"I will notify the Headmaster at once, and for now, I want you to be very cautious of your surroundings. From now on, I recommend you not go out on the grounds alone, that means in the day, and during the night ( she glared at Harry) and do not go to Hogsmeade without notifying a member of the Order. I think it would be a good idea to clear your minds of everything every night before bed,(she looked directly at Ron) and please notify Ms. Granger at once. For now, arrangements will be made for a few members to come and stay in the castle as protection. Thank you for notifying me. You may go Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley,"
Ron and Harry nodded and headed for the door.
"And incase you were wondering Mr.Weasley, everything said today will not leave this room." Mcgonagall said.
Harry could have sworn he saw a tiny grin and gleam of amusement in his proffessor's eye but it was hard to tell because Mcgonagall's scowl was pretty hard to see through. Ron nodded, breathing a sigh of relief as he followed Harry out of the Headmaster's office.
(end flashback)
"Well that's what happened," Ron said plainly as he finished off the last of his pumpkin juice.
Hermione said nothing. She was shocked, and relieved. She hadn't really kissed Ron afterall. She had wished billions of times that she could have just pushed him away. At the time, she remembered her mind going numb, and every muscle in her body going limp.
"I finally managed to tell Harry the truth, and that's why we were playing chess the other night,"
Hermione wanted to grab the textbook next to her and smack herself over the head with it. For a supposedly intellegent witch, she had been incredibly stupid, cold, unfeeling, and an an all-around bitch to Harry. He had forgiven Ron and was probably willing to start being on speaking terms with her, instead she turned around and shot him in the head. She hated herself. She felt tears begin creep up and wet her chocolate brown eyes, but before one drop of her soul came out, she got up from the table and fled to the Gryffindor tower. She needed to be alone.
Hermione didn't know where she was walking to, but trusted her legs as she walked through the castle, following no particular path. She brushed past a boy in the hall, accidentally knocking into him. His shirt sleeve was lifted when she bumped into him and she caught sight of many scars; many that looked as if they had been burned into his skin. She could tell the boy's skin would otherwise be perfect. Hermione looked up to apologize and nearly fainted of shock. It was Harry. He seized his shirt quickly pulled the arms down. He glared at her. She couldn't recognize the Harry that was infront of her. The extra something that she loved, that gave his eyes that piercing glow was gone. It had been cut out, replaced by terror, and depression. Her guilt trippled.
(adding a song in here-called"Days go by" by "Not by choice" ---sry if I got some lyrics wrong but I think this song fits pretty good here, if u wanna listen, Much music plays the video a lot, its on "mega hits" and the "count down")
Would you wait for me today?
Tomorrow I was going to try and say goodbye, but your heart won't let me go.
Harry gazed down at Hermione, and felt a wave of mixed emotions pouring down on him. He was disappointed, bitter, and furious, but at the same time he felt a sense of longing.
If you took it all away,
I doubt that I
would be ok,
I'm tired of wasting all this time,
On things I know that won't be mine...
He wanted to have her smile at him again, to forgive him and to help him. He felt like he all alone in the world; naked and crawling around pityfully in the dark searching for the smallest ray of light. In his heart, he knew the light he was looking for was standing right infront of him.
Did you think that I could let you go?I know that I will never know,
All I know is I can't let you go,
Everytime I think I'm getting close,
I know that I will never know,
All I know is I can't let you go.
Harry knew she had seen his scars and knew that she would come to the right conclusion, as always.
"Harry I'm sorry," Hermione said quietly.
Harry couldn't say a word. He wanted to scream and humiliate her, but he also yearned hold her in his arms again. He didn't know what to think, or how he should feel.
Would you tell me how you feel to fall in love, participate?
And you had given up,
But your heart wont let you go?
"Please, let me help.."
Her words rang in his head, and swam through it. It took him forever to regisiter what she had just said.
I remember the days when you would smile and softly say,
"I'm tired of wasting all this time, on things I know that I have left behind,"
She did want to help, but his rage got the better of him, and before he knew it, his mouth had opened and spat out spiteful words.
"You want to HELP?? You may not have physically slashed me, but you tore me apart inside! YOU WOUNDED ME! Ron wasn't the one who wanted that kiss, YOU DID!! And you were happy about it werent you? YOU PRETTY MUCH SHOT ME IN THE HEAD HERMIONE!! AND NOW YOU "WANT TO HELP"?!?" Harry roared.
His breathing became quick and sharp. He could feel his heart racing, about to explode inside him.
"Harry,..." She managed to sputter.
Tears flowed freely down her face splattering onto the floor and her robes, infusing into every fibre of her clothes.
Did you think that I could let you go?I know that I will never know,
All I know is I can't let you go,
Seeing her cry made Harry's heart rip in half. He felt a stab of guilt go through him. His mind flashed back to when he brusquely interupted Mcgonagall. He said he would die before he hurt Hermione.
Everytime I think I'm getting close,
I know that I will never know,
All I know is I can't let you go,
And I know,
His body went numb. He wanted to kick himself. He had done the one thing he promised he'd never do. Hermione abruptly turned on her heel and ran away from Harry. She couldn't take being under the heat of his glare any longer.
Only time can heal this broken heart again...I could never let you go,
I could never let you go,
Away from me...
Did you think that I could let you go?I know that I will never know,
All I know is I can't let you go.
Everytime I think I'm getting close,
I know that I will never know,
All I know is I can't let you go,
And I know,
I could never let you go,
I could never let you go,
Away from me...
"Hermione...wait!" Ron shouted after seeing Hermione running past him. He looked down the hall and saw Harry standing alone, smoldering.
Harry began to walk as fast as he could past Ron. He didn't need to hear anything from him at the moment. He was sure he would hurl a fist at him if he opened his mouth.
He walked past Ron, who was glaring at him. He didn't say a word until Harry was several metres away.
"You promised her." He said gravely.
His tone was sharp and final.
Harry stopped for a minute, contemplating on whether or not he would reply. He decided against it, and walked on not wanting to do something stupid.
Hermione thought her tears would never cease. She ran where her feet took her, until she arrived at a statue. She leaned heavily on it to catch her breath, hiccuping and sniffling. She saw the scars on his arm. He had been cutting himself because of her. He now had nothing to hold onto, and it was her fault. His malicious words echoed in her mind, tearing her heart apart into millions of tiny scraps.
She thought she heard whimpering. She looked up and scanned the area around her. There was no one around. She shook it off, telling herself it was just her imagination.
"help.."
She heard it again. This time, it was more distinct. It was as if she was listening to the radio back at home. The voice was scratchy and unclear. Although it seemed very faint and distant, she was sure she had heard someone call for help.
"Accio Marauder's Map!" She said firmly.
Hermione brushed away her tears with her fingers, not wanting to wet the map. Within moments, she caught the flying map.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,"
The map revealed itself. Her heart began to race, wondering what it would tell her about the distant voice. She saw that Ginny and Dean were messing around and her face wrinkled in disgust. She opened the map further and it showed Ron and Harry relaxing in bed. Finally she found herself, and curiously enough, Draco Malfoy's name not to far from hers. He was through the wall.
"Draco?" She called out hopefully. She listened intently for any signs of the voice.
"Ferret Boy! I know you are in there!" She said impatiently.
She still couldn't hear anything, so she put on her best "Mcgonagall scowl" and pushed at the wall. It caved in and caught Hermione by surprise. She shrieked, and fell face first onto the frigid dirt floor. Hermione gropped for the door she feel through, but when she looked back, the door had been sealed shut. She was terrified. She longed for Harry to be there with her, even though he probably hated her. She knew she would be safe with him. After what seemed like an eternity of throwing and screaming out all the spells she knew, she hastily brushed herself off and cursed. If Malfoy was playing a trick and was laughing at her as of now, she would really turn him into a ferret.
"Lumos Maxima," She whispered.
A bright light instantly invaded the room from the tip of her wand. She cautiously took a step forward and surveyed the room. It was tiny, and obviously a passage way leading somewhere. Jagged rocks surrounded her, and she could hear water droplets splashing onto the ground, making puddles. Every droplet that hit the puddles seemed like a ticking clock, counting the seconds until something happened.
Unexpectedly, Hermione heard the obscured sobbing again. It was still faint, but it sounded grave; it sounded like someone in dire need of rest. Hermione's heart pulsated as she drew in quick breaths. Her eyes grew wide in fear of who or what could have called to her. She could no longer control her legs. They were like lead weights, bringing her closer and closer to the small door of the passage-way. She swallowed, praying that she would be able to react on time to whatever was on the other side. Her heart was thumping wildly now and she hardly dared to breathe. She gripped her wand tightly and slowly turned the handle.
At once, a familiar sensation tugged at her navel, pulling her into a small tornado. Every part of her body felt as if it had disintigreated, and as quickly as it had began, it had ended. She landed on her stomach, nearly crushing her arms as she instinctively held them out before her. Hermione scrambled to her feet, not wanting to be seen, just incase danger was lurking nearby. She learnt to be nimble and had inadverdantly trained her senses to be as quick as they could from all those years of nearly getting killed alongside Harry and Ron.
She muttered a disillusionment charm, and to her great surprise and satisfaction, it worked. She managed to make herself invisible on her first try at disillusionment charm. Hermione grinned ear to ear. The charm was to be taught in their seventh year and could have been quite problematic for her if she had used it incorrectly.
She scanned the room looking for any signs of life when her eyes caught sight of something golden. Hermione squinted to get a better look, and she nearly fainted at what she saw. She had never seen someone in such pain before.
The person was lying on a steel bed, bound by searing, magical ropes. The wizard was barely clinging to life, and looked as if he yearned to let go and sleep for all eternity. Hermione could see everything that he felt clearly through his troubled grey eyes. She could feel everything he felt; the distress, pain, misery, wretchedness, torchure. Everything was written in stone; the stone color of his eye.
The wizard that lay before her, hanging onto life by a thin thread, had tried his best to make her life a living hell the past years at school. He was the one who always lowered her self-esteem;the one who made her feel impure for being a muggle-born, the one she had known that she would probably murder someday, was the pityful wizard who had called out to her for help. That wizard was Draco Malfoy.
OOOHH....did u like dat chap? WHAT WILL HERMIONE DO NEXT? WILL DRACO AND HERMIONE HOOK UP? WILL HARRY EVER GET THE THORN STUCK UP HIS ASS OUT AND REALIZE THAT HE STILL LOVES HERMIONE? I loved writing this chap! PLEASE REVIEW, and I'll try to update soon. And by the way, if ur thinking that I'm slowly turning my story into a musical, (cuz of all the songs I put it here) I'm not. I just like the songs,thought they'd fit pretty good. I like to picture my story as if its a movie, so yah, its kinda like backround music u hear. About the lyrics on the last chap, yah I got some of that wrong, but its corrected, and if thers sumthin wrong with the song I put up in this chap, sry. Neways happy reading!