The Hidden Secrets
A Hermione/Draco Romance
Qùëëñ øƒ thë Çårïßßëåñ
I am not JK Rowling, nor do I have anything to do with Harry Potter besides fanfiction. I am not making any money out of this story, and I am not worth suing, trust me!
Chapter 3

Draco had left the study room soon after Hermione had fallen asleep. She was exhausted, and it wasn't just because of what they'd done. He was willing to bet that she hadn't had a decent night's sleep for months - since her two best friends had disappeared. He didn't know the whole story, but knew that Hermione was somehow tangled up in it all.

He whistled softly as he headed for his room. Gregory was standing on the top of the steps with an angry look on his face. "Have you seen Hermione? She's got an urgent owl that can't be delivered for some reason... apparently her study room was locked." Draco glared at the Hufflepuff prefect. "You ever think she's in the bloody room?"

Gregory paled, he was terrified of the Slytherin as he was only a half-wizard. "Right. I'll send it on again."

When he was gone, Draco wondered why the owl was so urgent. Perhaps it was directly from Potter or Weasley? He knew that the disappearance of her friends had left an unstable young woman, but he had no idea just how unstable until later that day...


Everyone knew about the Saturday afternoon parties thrown by Hufflepuff, but very few Slytherin's had ever attended one. Today was different. Almost every Slytherin 6th year and older was there... including Draco.

He'd arrived late, when the party was in full swing. Looking around, he'd seen something that had made him exceptionally mad. Hermione was dancing with another Slytherin! He didn't make a move towards them, telling himself that he'd only been another notch on the bedpost for her, but it wasn't sinking in.

The last straw was when she tried to walk away from her partner and he pulled her roughly back. "No... let me go..." She cried desperately, but the partner wasn't listening. He was rough, and it shook Draco to the core when he heard his response. "No way, I've heard you're pretty damn good in bed - let's see for sure, eh?"

They were headed towards the doorway when Draco stepped in. "What do you think you're doing, Servus?" Servus glared at Draco. "What does it look like, Malfoy? I'd be willing to bet she hasn't had a Slytherin yet... it's about time that was changed."

Draco looked at Hermione, who was staring at him with dull eyes. She seemed to have lost all will to keep going. "Let me be, Malfoy. I can take care of myself..." And with that, Servus pushed past Draco and out the door, slamming and locking it as he did so.

Draco ran towards the door. He pushed it as hard as he could, but it wouldn't budge. Through the door he could hear Hermione screaming, then silence. He panicked. Why had she stopped crying? Was she all right? What had the fool done to her? He searched through his clothes looking for his wand. It took him longer than usual to find it, but when he did, he mumbled the spell to unlock doors.

The heavy wooden door swung open and he saw Servus slap Hermione hard enough to bruise her face. Anger welled up inside, and he ran towards the bully. He lined up a punch, and let it swing with all his strength. Servus swung around from the impact, hit his head on the edge of the bed, and slumped to the ground.

Hermione stood up from where she'd been thrown, and ran towards Draco. Mascara ran down her cheeks, one of which was beginning to turn a deep purple colour. She was unable to do anything but sob silently, and Draco didn't know what to do. He glanced around the room, looking for another way out, and saw a door half hidden by a suit of armor.

He looked down at Hermione, and saw she had trouble standing, let alone walking. He swept her up into his arms, and headed for the door. He had a feeling she was sober, but didn't want to take the risk that she wasn't by going to the hospital wing.

He looked around the corner, hoping to god that there was no one around. When he was sure that no one was, he headed for the prefects common room.

When he entered through the portrait hole, he noticed that he wasn't alone in the room. Iris and the other three were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, which had been enchanted to burn cool air instead of heat. They all looked up to see Draco hurrying into the room with a barely conscious Hermione.

He laid her out on her couch before he spoke up. "She went to the Hufflepuff party... and a lot of Slytherin's were there. Servus, the bully, basically bashed her... We gotta help her - I knew she was self-destructive, but I've never seen her this bad before..."

Iris moved so she was standing behind him. "I think she'll be all right... We'd better get her to bed, though. Does anyone know the password to get into her room? It should be the same as the one for her study room..."

Draco turned to look Iris in the eye. "Her study room password is Butter Beer... I heard her this morning... Do you want me to carry her up?"

Iris nodded and turned to the Ravenclaw prefect. "Marcia, go an open Hermione's room, now. Draco, bring her upstairs, and Gregory, go and get a cold cloth." All scampered off to do their jobs, and Head Boy, Colin from Hufflepuff, went to make sure the doors and portraits were all locked.

Upstairs, Draco laid Hermione out on her bed. She was shaking, but boiling. The bruise on her cheek seemed to be getting worse by the second, but she hadn't stopped crying. Tears ran down her cheeks silently, and Draco felt helpless.

Iris placed the compress over her forehead, and looked at everyone else. Slowly, they all moved outside, leaving Iris, Draco, and Hermione alone in the room. Iris turned to Draco. "Can you tell me why she was even at the party?"

Draco stood up and walked towards where Iris was standing. "Last year, when Harry and Ron disappeared, she really took it bad and basically tried to kill herself. She drank a lot, slept around, and tried to kill herself with studying. Her grades never went down, but... she did. I thought she'd stopped that, but..."

Iris nodded. "What could possibly have set her off again?" Draco started to shrug, but then remembered something. "Gregory said something about her getting an urgent owl this morning... could that have had something to do with it?"

Iris looked at the now sleeping Hermione and slowly nodded. "I think it could have. I'm going to see if I can find a charm to get her physically better..."

Soon after Iris left, Draco headed towards the door. A muffled voice made him turn, and he saw Hermione, now asleep, reaching out for something. "No... don't take him... it wasn't meant to be like that..."

Draco walked over to her and took her hand from where she was holding it in midair. He took a seat next to her bed and just sat there, holding her hand, until he realized they'd not only missed dinner, but it was close to lights out.

Iris walked up into Hermione's room, armed with a simple spell book and wand, and cast the charm. She looked at Draco, who looked worse than Hermione, and held out the small plate of food she'd managed to salvage at dinner. Draco simply put it on the bedside table.

Sighing, Iris left the room again, hoping that Hermione would understand just how much she meant to the Slytherin King, as was his nickname. She knew that inside, Draco was a regular person, but couldn't admit that to himself.


It was very dark. No light other than the moon through the one, small window, set very high up. He didn't know how long he'd been there, or for how much longer he would be there. He knew at the moment, he was alone, but that wasn't always the case. The other one... the one he knew, but couldn't remember... he was there sometimes. And sometimes he wasn't. Like now.

Now, screams coursed their way through the building. How big was this building? It was huge... and built like an Egyptian pyramid, all twists and turns. He guessed that the screamer was the other guy. They hadn't started on him yet... he wondered how long before the other guy would die... how long before he would... how long...


Hermione sat up, screaming. The darkness of the room surprised her. She'd just been at the Hufflepuff party, hadn't she? The dark shape on the side of her bed moved, and she jumped, surprised.

A deep voice spoke, and she relaxed slightly as she realized it was Draco. "You all right?"

She nodded, and remembered the party, the Slytherin, Draco helping her... "Why did you stop him? Why do you care what happened to me? You were just the first Slytherin notch on the bed post, why didn't you let me get a few more?" she spoke, regretting the words as soon as she'd spoken them.

Draco looked away, but Hermione couldn't find the words to apologize. They simply stayed that way, in the dark, until Hermione found her voice. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean that..."

Draco spoke, barely a whisper. "Then what did you mean? Why did you go and do that anyway? You haven't been in the party scene for ages now... what made you go and do that again?"

Hermione felt tears well up in her eyes. "I... Maybe I'd better start at the beginning..." Draco shifted, waiting for her to continue.

"L...last year, when there was the, um, big thing here at the school, Harry, Ron, and I went to Hogsmeade. We... we weren't meant to... Ginny tried to talk us out of it, but I said... I said, 'no, we'll be alright, what's the worst that could happen?'. Well... This black cloaked guy froze and levitated Harry away, and Ron took off after them... I couldn't do anything to help! I should have gone after them..." And with that, she broke down into tears.

Draco didn't move, just spoke softly, "If you had gone after them, you would have disappeared as well."

Hermione nodded, but the tears continued to roll down her cheeks. "I... I know. But I didn't just lose two of my best friends in the world... I lost three. Ginny Weasley hasn't said a full sentence to me since... and I don't blame her. It's my fault they're gone... I tried to make it up to her, I sent owl after owl to everywhere. Even to the Artic circle... they've disappeared off the face of the earth... but if someone doesn't keep asking, they'll stop looking... The... the owl I got this morning... it... it was from Ron... but it was dated from the day after they disappeared..."

Draco moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Hermione automatically leaned over and hugged him, cried onto his shoulder. "It told me not to go looking for them... because he didn't want me to get caught as well... that I should get on with my life because there was not much chance they'd be found a... alive!"

She pulled her head back to look into his eyes. "I just broke down. I cried all day... then I remembered that Hufflepuff always have a party on Saturdays... I needed something to take my mind off the owl, I guess I took it too far, huh?"

Draco pulled her back into a hug and nodded. "I guess you did. And I still hold by what I said about them being alive. Lord Voldemort hasn't attacked Hogwarts yet, and that would be his first target after Potter."

Hermione and Draco stayed that way until the room began to fill with light, and only then did Draco feel it safe to leave her alone.

He went to the banquet hall and gathered some food on a plate before retreating to his study room. it was going to be a long day.


A/N: I know, I know, Malfoy's way OoC... but I did warn you that he would be! I'm going to leave it there, even though I don't think the chapter ended very well, but it's getting too long. And I don't like long chapters very much! (I love long reviews though!) Anyway, please Review, tell me what you think, flames are welcome...