Hermione turned her head abruptly towards the door as she heard Izzy come in. The Aengel's violet eyes flashed up as she felt Hermione watching her with curious anticipation,
"He's upset." Izzy told her, almost guiltily, settling herself deep in the sofa, "He blames you." The brunette's heart sank, although she had expected something of the sort. But, despite her disappointment, Hermione simply shrugged,
"Understandable, I guess."
"I told him it wasn't." Issabella continued, her long, black hair covering her features, "That it wasn't your fault, I mean." Hermione gave her a small smile of gratitude,
"Thanks. Do you…do you think I could go up and visit him?"
"You could." Izzy replied uncertainly, "Although I wouldn't advise you to." But the muggle-born had already risen to her feet,
"Don't worry. I'll try not to upset him."
Draco lay on his side, staring listlessly into the darkened space between him and the drawn curtains. He felt worse now than he had ever felt before: More confused, more helpless, more pathetic…
And it infuriated him.
Draco had assumed that after he had taken the potion, Snape would take him somewhere secret, where no one else was, to hide him away.
The last thing that Draco had expected was to be in a weird place, full of the people who he was supposed to hate. The people he had been warned against the most. And now these exact same people had been let into his head and knew his darkest, most dangerous secret.
Draco knew that he ought to grateful that the people who was supposed to hate him and everything he had been brought up to believe in, were risking themselves to help him, protect him.
'People are weird…' Draco decided, miserably.
The almost inaudible sound of his bedroom door being pushed open made Draco turn reluctantly over, hoping it would be Snape, whom he hadn't seen since last night when he was still six.
But instead of his godfather, it was the person he least wanted to talk to right now, heading purposefully towards him- A person by the name of Hermione Jane Granger.
"Go away Granger." Draco growled, "Leave me alone." But Hermione was not to be put off,
"No, we are going to talk. You can't just avoid me you know!"
"I'm a Malfoy." Draco retorted, "I can do what I like." Hermione raised an eyebrow,
"That one doesn't work any more." She reminded him, "Neither will the 'My father' one." Draco flinched slightly and turned away from her,
"There's nothing to talk about." He muttered, an annoyed edge to his voice, "Go away!"
"You think that I can just walk away, after everything that's happened?" Hermione asked him quietly, her voice sad and pitying, "I can't do that, Draco-"
"Don't call me Draco!" The boy yelled suddenly, turning to glare at her, unnoticed tears sparkling in his eyes, "It's Malfoy! You're supposed to call me Malfoy!" Hermione blanched at these angry words,
"You don't mean that." Draco sneered at her,
"Oh don't I? Don't you dare try and tell me what I do or don't mean! You don't know shit about me, Granger!"
"Or maybe you just don't want to admit to yourself that I know." Hermione retorted, her chocolate eyes glistening with pent up anger and frustration, "How can you say that I don't know? I've seen what your really like, Draco, so stop trying to pretend that everything's back to how it was before all this happened! Stop trying to force yourself to hate me!" This was too much for Draco, he sat bolt upright and threw his pillow at her, catching her across the head,
"Leave me alone!" He yelled, jumping to his feet, "Just get out my life! I don't need you anymore! I'm not a child!"
"Then stop acting like one!" Hermione snarled back, "Why are you so afraid of getting close to me?" The blonde gave a derisive snort,
"I'm not afraidof you-"
"Then your afraid of something. I think I know you well enough to tell by now." Draco watched her warily for a moment, trying to decide whether she was bluffing or not.
"Why do you care?" He whispered, "What am I to you? How did you get involved in the first place?" Hermione bit her lip guiltily and shuffled her feet. She had seriously hoped he wouldn't ask that question, knowing for sure that he wouldn't like the answer given,
"I umm…noticed something was up at the beginning, you know? So, you remember when he asked you to stay behind?" Draco nodded slowly, bowing his head slightly at the memory, ""Well…well, I kind of stayed and umm, listened…" Draco froze in horror, not wanting to believe that she just said that,
"So," He said slowly, "So you're the one who told. That's why Snape knew. How…how long did-did you stay for?"
"Oh, not long." Hermione quickly reassured him. Draco visibly relaxed, "I-I heard him hit you and then he kept calling you Dragon, but I left after that." The boy nodded and slowly sat back down on his bed, holding his head in shaky hands,
"I-I hate him…" Draco whispered, "I never…I never want to see him again. I never want to go back there." He hesitated before going on, "I thought that if I took the de-ageing potion, I could go back and change some of the things that happened to me when I was little." He gulped, "But it didn't work…worse things happened and-and he'll be looking for me now…I wish I hadn't taken that potion. I wish things would go back to how they were before."
"No you don't." Hermione said softly, sitting down next to him, "If you hadn't taken that potion, he'd still be at school, nobody would know and nobody would be trying to help you. Do you really wish things were the same?" Draco shrugged helplessly,
"I don't know…It was…horrible, when I went home. In that cupboard, half hoping he'd let me out, but being terrified of what he'd do when he did. You have no idea, Granger. But-but, I don't want him at school either 'cause…well, you know."
"Yes." Hermione murmured, resting her head against his shoulder, "I understand."
"What do you want, Narcissa?" The hooded woman raised her head, grinning mischievously,
"Draco's Christmas present." She said, handing Severus a piece of paper, "I wanted to see what you think." The potions-master frowned as e read it, but soon his expression was one of surprised,
"Are you serious? You really think this would be a good idea?" Narcissa laughed lightly at his reaction,
"Or course! I can do at least one good thing for my son, can't I? And I thought he'd like this."
"I'm sure, but don't you think it's a bit dangerous? He'll find out, you know."
"Yes. But, hopefully, by then it will be too late." Snape ran a hand through his hair, still utterly unable to believe it,
"I-I really don't understand you sometimes." He managed to get out. Cissa winked at him,
"Coffee does amazing things." She told him earestly.
A/N: Hello people! Heheh, I think this was my longest chapter yet...hope you liked it:)
Ahem...Am I a 'Trashy aurthor'? Because according to MadamWhitBrook I am... And I would just like to say to her, BLAISE CAN BE A GIRLS NAME TO CAUSE THERE WAS A GIRL IN MY MUSIC GROUP CALLED BLAISE, SO DON'T YELL AT PEOPLE FOR MISTAKING BLAISE FOR A GIRL. AND WHAT IS THE POINT OF ONLY READING FICS IF THEY'RE EXACTLY CANON? tHE WHOLE POINT OF FAN FICTION IS THAT YOU CHANGE THINGS! THAT'S THE WHOLE FUN OF IT!
Sorry, but all this has been building up in me and I haven't been able to say this to her cause she's disabled the PMscause apparently she's been getting 'vicious' replies to her 'truthful' reviews. I wonder why... Sorry...
Any hoo...chocolate ice-cream cake to...
Dark Princesses, KatieMalfoy19, Tamika DanarDraco, Natural-181, lindylulu, PerfectPureBlood, LadyBidgitte, Sailor Hecate, -addicted-2-hp-, lollenk, Hogaboom, elfcat, sweetsacrafice, blueeyedchibi, TimeMage0955, Pprincess17, pinkalarmclock, GoldenAngel71, cody, Obnoxiously Peachy Twit, 2008, Madam WhitBrook (My plot linedoes work!), shining bright eyes, 13BlackAngels, the look of lve, Matthies LightBane, bluejade, Ilya of Smeg, Eranim, Nikki's Evil Doppelganger, DracoMchick ,forkslover1.
Luv ya all!
Lily xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx