It had been two days since the " ton of snow incident", and Hermione miraculously hadn't given it much thought. She was too busy on homework and other various projects. It was a chilly day as the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff classes took down notes on various 'temporary healing curses' afflicted by dark magic. Of course, Hermione had already read and memorized the book, but she felt she had to take notes as an extra precaution, knowing Ron would fall asleep again in class.
Defense Against The Dark Arts Classes had gone well enough, as it was handled by a competent woman named Professor Adara Talon, a spinster in her late forties. Snape had gone on a rampage, after hearing he had been cheated out of his coveted position once more by an ex-auror, and a woman at that.
" Well, as you can see from these images, all of these injuries were afflicted by the Cruciatus curse- "
Ron flinched as he saw the images, even Hermione couldn't help it. She stared sideways. Draco remained expressionless, as if to say 'so what's new?'
" Now, " Professor Talon said. " Does anybody know what restoratives are used for the Cruciatus? First aid, dears, first aid! " she said with a smile.
Hermione opened her mouth, but made no effort to raise her hand. And she kept quiet. Draco raised an eyebrow, surprised that she made no effort to answer and be recognized as the usual smarty-aleck Granger.
Harry glanced at her. "Okay Hermione…what's wrong?" he thought.
Talon stood in front of Hermione and smiled. Hermione took a deep breath and remained as quiet as she had been during the entire time.
" Anyone? " Talon looked around. She looked at Hermione expectantly. " Miss Granger? "
Hermione blinked. " I- I- one of the known first aid treatments are the spells 'Occlusia desimenus' and 'Epdiermia lichenificus'—the prior is to stop massive blood clots and the latter is to heal the surface of the skin from superficial wounds caused by the said curse. If magic cannot be done, a muggle form of first aid may be used, in the form of a tourniquet. " Hermione finished calmly.
Talon gave a clap. " Brilliant! Just wonderful! 15 points to Gryffindor! "
The Gryffindors burst in applause, and a few Slytherins grudgingly gave theirs. Draco was silent. His arms were crossed. Pansy looked sour a few seats behind her.
As Talon proceeded to talk more about the first aid treatments for Cruciatus, Draco couldn't help but envy Harry and Ron who were seated beside her.
Pansy glared at Draco, noticing him glance at her once in awhile. Watch out, she told him through her eyes.
Don't worry, his eyes replied coolly. Like she would ever know.
Pansy crossed her arms and scowled. Oh sod it, she thought angrily.
" The Cruciatus was the first successful unforgivable curse performed, done in the south of Romania, somewhere near Wallachia, where Vlad Tepes reigned…" Talon droned on.
Draco looked bored. Everything in the Defense Against The Dark Arts seemed so repetitive already. Draco had this bad habit of seeming quite an airhead at Hogwarts. He rarely bested Hermione Granger and all the other insufferable smart arses in any subject. He did have one forte and he kept it close to his soul, not telling anyone else, even Blaise, who had been a family friend way before he had gone to Hogwarts in his first year.
His father had drummed all those accursed things into his head after he had just learned how to read. His memories of his father torturing him were very much vivid. His memories of his mother protecting him were vague, and he only remembered them in his dreams. He was too young back then. Narcissa Malfoy wasn't a very loving mother, she was cold and quiet, but she made up for her lack of emotion by trying to protect him even now, from Lucius' fanatical displays of loyalty. His mother was a beautiful woman, and he used to like watching her from afar, seeing only wavy blond hair and an aristocratic aura, an embodiment of female purebloods who were born into the world of silver and gold.
He had never seen any display of love from his parents at home. Christmas was as cold as snow. Birthdays were just birth dates, but they did receive expensive gifts to keep up with the 'silly tradition'. There were the occasional balls and parties, gracing the Daily Prophet and adding more tidbits to high society wizard gossip. His wandering thoughts were cut off.
" Ah and one more thing, the Cruciatus first came about because of scorned love- " Talon gave a short laugh. " Ah, the things wizards do when scorned! " The class gave appreciative laughter.
" But seriously; class, a legend goes to say that the wizard who procured the Cruciatus was once very much in love with a witch, who like him, had a high position in the wizarding world. The two fell madly in love and planned to get married as soon as he had completed an experiment on healing spells. The wizard was a member of a newly formed sect of experimentalist wizards and witches.
He had disappeared into Transylvania, leaving his lover behind Ireland, for a few months. And the months turned into years. His lover had heard no word of him and his whereabouts. He was declared dead. But he came back, on the day his lover got married to a commoner in the muggle world- "
A gasp was heard from a few girls.
" It was a miserable affair, and he watched as they came out of a chapel, looking blissful, while he looked like he had just gone through seven years of war, wearing tattered clothes, his face sallow and emaciated. When the witch saw him, she instantly burst into tears, as though she had seen a specter she had never wanted to see again.
It turns out that he had been captured by practitioners of dark magic and tortured, but he had gone through all of it, with hopes of seeing his lover again. Now all the love had turned into hate, and he felt it grow inside him everyday. Thus began his conversion towards dark magic. It took him years they say, to come up with his first successful curse. And guess who he performed his first successful Cruciatus on--? "
She didn't wait for an answer from the class.
" That's right…his lover, " she added with dramatic flair. " And her muggle born husband, of course. So you see, it definitely wasn't a happily ever after. "
" That's so sad…" one girl said.
Draco grinned. It sounded good enough a fairytale for him.
" That love story was harsh, " Lavender Brown said with a pout as they exited the classroom after forty-five minutes.
" Harsh? " Ron snorted. " It wasn't even a love 'love' story. " He laughed and so did Harry.
" What's so funny? " Lavender asked. " It WAS a love story! Aren't I right, Hermione? "
Hermione smiled and shrugged. " I'll tell you when I've tried that. "
Lavender pursed her lips. " Oh you people are so unromantic! " She left with a huff and headed for an animated chat with the rest of the Gryffindor girls.
The hallways were filled with students, coming out from their last classes of the day, heading for the Great Hall for dinner.
" I'm not so hungry yet, " Hermione said with a slight frown. " I'll just go back to the common room for awhile if that's okay with you guys? "
Harry shrugged. " How come you're not hungry? "
" Don't know. I'll catch up. I just have to put a few books away. " She held up her drooping with weight canvas bag.
" Want me to accompany you? " Harry asked.
She shook her head. " I'll catch up. See you in a few. " She quickly walked away.
" What's bugging her? " Ron asked as they stared at her figure walking down the torch lit hallways with her canvas bag bumping at her right hip.
Harry shrugged. " Beats me. "
And it bothered him till he sat inside the Great Hall.
Hermione frowned. She hated having to lie to her best friends, but she couldn't give any other better 'stupid' explanation.
What bothered her were Draco's constant glances. Well of course she had noticed it! She was observant anyway! She didn't even pay attention to the story that much, although she had to admit that the story was rather sad.
" But the best things come inspired from pain, " she thought as she walked the lonely hallway, heading for the staircase toward the Gryffindor common room. She began imagining what it was like to actually create a curse born of pain, or hate, or any negative emotion. " If I hated someone that much, would I create a spell that would join the ranks of the unforgivable curses?"
She had to smile. She just loved to let her imagination take her away sometimes, or most of the time.
Harry and Ron didn't really mind this, thinking she was too practical all the time. But they did acknowledge with fierceness that Hermione was a girl, and showed the most unconventional sweet ways of protecting her from anything they deemed was dangerous to her.
Draco Malfoy would be considered dangerous. And she had no intention of telling them that he had just kissed her in the lavatory a week ago, or that he had just given her a rose a few days ago (and she kept it inside her 'Hogwarts, A History' book), or that he had just controlled his temper with her.
" If I tell them this, they'd go bonkers. Harry may deal with this in a sensible manner, probably beat the crap out of him in Quidditch, but Ron might do worse…like transfigure him into a ferret. Oh what the bloody hell am I thinking! If I hadn't been so stupid in Moaning Myrtle's restroom- Oww! "
She felt herself stumble backwards from the wall. A hand shot out to grab her arm. It wasn't a wall! It was-
" Are you blind? " he began.
His grip on her arm was rigid as his cold eyes stared at hers. Then she felt his grip loosen. And his eyes began to thaw.
" I didn't- I wasn't looking- " she stammered looking down.
There was an uncomfortable silence. Hermione could actually hear water dripping somewhere, despite the comfort rooms being far from the area. Or perhaps it was her imagination, to quell the awkwardness of it all?
" You should be more careful next time, " he added after a few seconds. Then his eyes froze over again and his shoulder slightly brushed against hers, and she could hear his shoes treading over the stone floors. She did not move until she was certain that the sounds of his shoes were gone.
Draco stood, secluded behind the wall, staring at Hermione's back as she walked away.
It was just so hard...
A/N: you may notice that they're apparently not getting anywhere except by bumping into each other and stuff like that, but if you're patient enough for the next chapter, I promise something yummier! )