Hey readers!
THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS! Has encouraged me to update as often as possible – although I am having a bit of a problem with the internet server at the moment, grrr!
Keep reading and reviewing, wanna know what Draco's up to? Here's chapter 13…
Watch The Sunset With Me
It was almost midnight when Draco arrived outside Snape's dark, damp dungeon. "Lumos" he whispered after he had decided he was alone, and he slipped into the dungeon, praying that he wouldn't get caught.
He would never have seen himself taking these sorts of risks for good marks, he was always to proud to consider the fact that he might need to resort to cheating. Over the past week, a plan had come together in his mind, though he had never expected that he would have to go to these measures to fulfil it.
It seemed like months ago that he had found the recipe for Scientserum in Moste Potente Potions. Knowing that he needed help, Draco had sneaked into the Restricted Section and had found the dusty volume by chance. Scientserum promised that it would give the drinker an hour of pure knowledge – just what Draco needed to scrape through his exams. The potion, however, was very difficult to make, and many of the ingredients were not readily available to him, but he knew where he could find them…For days he had wrestled with himself over whether to go through with it – whether to take the risk of getting expelled for a few potion ingredients. But Draco also knew that if he didn't pass his exams, he'd loose his pride, his respect and his father.
And this is how Draco Malfoy ended up in Snape's dungeon at midnight on Wednesday night, with Harry and Ron hot on his trail.
"Why's he gone into Snape's dungeon?" Whispered Ron looking blankly at the map as Malfoy's dot disappeared into the dungeon.
"I don't know, do I? You're pulling the cloak off me, Ron, slow down!" Harry hissed back, pulling the cloak over his head.
"So, should we sneak in after him, then?" Ron asked when the reached the big, mossy oak door which was slightly ajar.
"Yeah, we'll have to slip through the gap though, or Malfoy'll notice the door opening." Said Harry, pressing himself up against the door frame and squeezing through the gap left by Malfoy followed by Ron.
"What do you think he's doing down –"
"SHH!" Harry hissed, but still burning with curiosity. They couldn't take the chance of getting caught by Malfoy when they needed to find out what he was up to.
They could see the light from Malfoy's wand tip advancing towards the other side of the dungeons – to Snape's store cupboard. The boys gave each other sidelong glances as they remembered sneaking into that very same store cupboard to steal ingredients themselves for the Polyjuice Potion. If Malfoy was trying to get in there, they knew he must be brewing something very dangerous.
Draco, however, was having a bit of trouble penetrating the cupboard. It seemed that Snape had put some sort of charm on it, and the doors were jammed shut. Draco racked his brains, trying to remember some sort of spell or charm that might open the doors – and then he remembered. Last year, he and his father had undergone a search from the ministry, and therefore had had to hide some of their less…orthodox possessions. Draco had a suspicion that the same spell may have been used on the store cupboard. Concentrating hard, Draco cast the counter-charm smoothly.
"Ouventru." He murmured, and to his surprise and joy, the doors burst open, revealing the odd assortment of plants and fungi inside. Quickly grabbing a particularly poisonous looking pink toadstool and a strand of unicorn mane-hair he needed and packing them into a small brown pouch, Draco swiftly turned to leave the dungeon.
Harry and Ron watched in shock as they saw Malfoy take the ingredients from the cupboard. They couldn't imagine what he might be trying to brew – and why he needed to sneak around to make it. Although they were both burning with questions they both kept silent, fearing that they might get caught. Just as Malfoy was leaving the dungeon however, Ron broke the silence with a badly stifled sneeze.
Draco stopped in his tracks, frantically tucking the little brown pouch into his cloak pocket "Who's there?" he hissed. His heart beat wildly as his eyes and his wand raked the room, looking for a shady figure lurking somewhere in the shadows. Draco couldn't see anyone, and didn't want to stick around to check, so left swiftly through the doors, desperate to leave the dungeons. He left in too much of a hurry, however, and forgot the close the store cupboard properly, Snape would know by daybreak that someone had been in his cupboard.
"So, what do you think he's up to?" Ron whispered to Harry the next morning in Transfiguration
"I dunno…looked pretty shady to me." Harry replied while pretending to take notes on McGonagall's lecture on trans-gender transfiguration.
"Yeah…bet it's something to do with Hermione too…" Ron murmured resentfully.
"Give it a rest, Ron, not everyone's lives revolve around Hermione, least of all Malfoy's." Said Harry sceptically.
"I see the way he looks at her, and I don't like it…we should look into this." Said Ron, looking at Harry meaningfully.
"Uh oh."
"Please, Harry, what if he's doing something illegal? What if he's trying to hurt Hermione – or anyone at all? It's our duty to find out." Ron argued ardently.
At the word 'duty', Harry's auror/hero mentality took over. "Ok, we'll keep an eye. But I'm not going to start following Hermione around too." Said Harry, before Ron could suggest it.
Hermione was becoming increasingly anxious, with the stress from exams and the stress from Ron being more possessive than ever. Her hair had become such an untameable fizzy mass that she could barely see through it all sometimes. Everywhere she went she seemed to just get more and more stress added – whether in lessons, whether with Ron and Harry, or sometimes both. The only sanctuary and peace she got was in the Head Quarters, or the vast grounds and the bank by the lake.
On that particularly warm spring day after all the lessons and work of the day had finished, Hermione sat contentedly in the pleasant evening sunshine, the sky pink with smatterings of purple as the sun began to disappear below the horizon, reading Hogwarts: A History for the 106th time. With her feet in dipped in the lake, the clear blue water lapping around her ankles, and the book in her lap, Hermione was in heaven, until a shadow crept up behind her, blocking her light. A tall gangly shadow. Ron.
"Hey Herm - why don't you leave the book for a while and talk to me instead, you've read it enough times after all." Ron requested, flopping down on the grass beside her, trying to subtly pull the book off her lap.
"Hello Ron." Said Hermione, who hadn't really listened to what Ron had said.
"How are you?" Hermione shrugged "How are things?" Hermione shrugged "How's Malfoy?" Hermione looked up, eyes wide.
"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to sound innocent, but her heart had begun to pound violently, although she wasn't sure why she felt guilty.
"You spend enough time together." Ron replied resentfully tugging at a tuft of grass.
"He's Head Boy. I'm Head Girl. We have to spend time together." Hermione retorted coolly, turning her attention back to the large volume in her lap.
"You're my girlfriend. I'm your boyfriend. Why don't you spend time with me, too?" Ron snapped, glaring at her, but she refused to meet his eyes.
"We're spending time together now."
"What's he done to you?"
Hermione slammed down her book on the bank beside her, squashing a bunch of poor unsuspecting daisies. "Quit with the whole Malfoy thing, will you? He's not doing anything to me!"
"Then why are you so touchy?"
"If I'm touchy, it's because of YOU! I'd rather spend time with Draco than with you, at least he has some MATURITY!" Hermione roared, feeling a chance to end it with Ron come up.
But before she could do or say anything else, Ron had decided he had had enough, and got to his feet slowly. On his way back to the castle, he realised something.
"She said Draco." He muttered, his heart rate slowing to a mournful pace. In his mind, he knew it was over. But whether he was prepared to accept this in his heart, whether he was prepared to allow things to end with Hermione, this was a different case altogether. Like Draco, Ron had problems with accepting the truth.
Hermione, however, stayed by the lake, but felt a lot less euphoric than she had. The sun had almost completely disappeared behind the trees in the forest, and the water in the lake was suddenly icy cold, bathed in midnight blue. She was just about to get up and leave, when a second, taller more substantial shadow skulked up behind her.
"Hello Granger, what's with Weasley? Finally give him the boot?" Draco asked scornfully, a slight note of resentment in his voice.
"It's not really any of your business, Malfoy." Hermione replied frostily, putting down her book.
"Remind me Granger…why are you with him?" Draco inquired, his grey eyes staring into her hazel ones.
Hermione could remember exactly why she was with Ron. It was pretty much to annoy Draco, to make him jealous…but she couldn't admit to that so simply said. "I just am." And tried to look away from his gaze.
Draco chuckled to himself. "That's not an answer, Granger. If I were you, I'd end it. He'll get over it."
Hermione thought about this for a second, yes, she wanted to end it, and it would be a load off her mind…and she was just about to conquer with him, but before she could do so, she realised something. "Why do you care so much?"
Draco wanted to say 'I don't', he really did, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to say it, because he knew that it was a lie. So, instead, simply said "It's just sad when people waste their lives I suppose."
"But you hate me!" Hermione protested, although her heart leapt slightly.
"I hate Potter. I hate Weasley." Draco replied simply.
"Me too, you hate me, you call me mudblood all the time."
"Yeah, I do." Said Draco, his tone not wavering at all as he looked straight into her eyes. Hermione was surprised to note how close they were to one another; and she noted, with alarm, that she couldn't quite bring herself to pull away.
"Um…so doesn't that mean that…um…" As she stumbled over her words, she could feel herself moving closer and closer to Draco, she could feel his warm breath tickling her cheek as he began to lean in closer. Like they were both hypnotised, everything around them swirled into strange darkening shapes, except for their faces which were bathed in the pale pink light of the setting sun. Like they were hypnotised they fell closer towards one another in silence.
Suddenly Hermione realised what she was doing and jerked her head back from Malfoy's, who had also come to the same shock and jerked back too, awkwardly. He shook his head abruptly and sprang to his feet, dusting off his robes.
"Where are you going?" She asked immediately pulling her feet out of the water and drying them on her cloak.
"Where do you think? Slytherin Common Room." Draco replied in an unnecessarily sharp tone, and with that, stalked back to the castle. Hermione flinched a little at his snappiness, but then remembered who she was talking to.
But despite her knowledge of how much Malfoy did, indeed, hate her, she couldn't help thinking why was he sitting on the bank, watching the sunset with me?