Wednesday morning dawned bright and clear, Hermione rose early. She looked out of the window and sighed at the sight of the rising sun, probably the last nice day for a while she thought as she picked up her towel. She was showered and dressed well before Lavender or Pavarti had even stirred. She tiptoed her way through their room and down the stairs to the Common Room, not surprised to find it deserted. The house elves had already been through this morning, a merry little fire burned in the hearth. 'At least someone else is awake.' She yawned, she hadn't slept a wink all night, not because she wasn't tired, no it was all because of Harry and Ron and their stupid male bravado.
'Damn you Ron Weasley,' she thought to herself, dumping her bag onto a table and sorting through her books and notes for the day. What was their problem? There she was, trying to stop them getting into trouble and did they thank her? No, they bloody didn't. Instead neither of them were talking to her, she had even managed to distract Professor Snape long enough for them to retreat to the Common Room undetected and all they could do was accuse her of interfering. She shook her head, 'to hell with them then, let them get into as much trouble as they want to,' she thought. Her eye caught on a bundled up scrap of parchment in the corner of her bag. She pulled it out and unfolded it, scowling as she read,
'Kiss me Draco!' in her handwriting. She had thought she'd destroyed all that rubbish. Grumbling a rather nasty swearword under her breath, she scrunched up the parchment again and tossed it into the fire. Her eyes stayed on it, watching it burn. She watched as his name was consumed by the flames – 'Draco…' – she shook her head, 'No, he isn't Draco, he's Malfoy. He's as bad as the rest of them, still the same pompous git with an ego the size of a small country,' she searched the rest of her bag, checking to see that there were no other stupid notes hiding in the corners before she finished packing. A noise from above her told her that someone in the boy's dorm was awake, she could hear them using the shower. She turned to leave but hesitated, where would she go? It was far too early for breakfast, the house elves wouldn't even be finished cooking it yet, and the library would still be locked at this hour. She heard more noises from above, the sound of someone opening one of the boys' dorm doors. Not wanting another argument with Harry and Ron, she decided not to wait to see who it was. She grabbed her bag, pulling it closed as she exited the portrait hole. "Now where?" she asked herself quietly,
"That's not for me to decide," she jumped and spun round as the Fat Lady answered her,
"What?" the Fat Lady covered her mouth as she yawned,
"I said I don't know where you're supposed to go," she yawned again, "this is far too early for you to have woken me,"
"What? Oh, I'm sorry," the Fat Lady leaned her head against a railing in her portrait and closed her eyes,
"Oh, don't you worry about it dear," she said sleepily, "It is…my…job…after…" she fell back to sleep. Hermione tried not to wake her again as she quietly headed off down the stairs. She stepped off at the third floor level, 'maybe the library is open this early.' The corridors were deserted, they seemed almost eerie. Every sound echoed and reverberated off the walls. Even the quiet click of her heels on the tiles sounded like a snare drum. She reached the library and tried the door, to her utter surprise it opened. Without making a sound she walked in and threaded her way through the tables to her favourite spot. As she reached her table a thought occurred to her, 'What am I being quiet for?' She looked around, the place was deserted, there was no real need for silence, there was no one to disturb. Still this was a library. Libraries had always brought an automatic sense of comfort and quiet respect to her heart the second she stepped inside. Being silent in libraries was what you did, it didn't matter if no one could hear you. She sat down and pulled out her potions book, 'might as well re-read the material for today,' she thought to herself. She dumped the book on the table and yawned as she idly flipped to the correct chapter. It seemed to be taking ages, 'how big is this book?' She rested her head on her hand and yawned again.
Her head spun round, she thought she heard movement in the library. She sat upright and scanned the room, searching between the shelves for the source of the noise – nothing, there was no one there. Turning her head hurt, everything hurt, she was absolutely exhausted. She opened her mouth and yawned again, stretching as she did. The movement brought a sharp stab of pain in her stomach making her wince. Beside the pain in her gut, she felt a general ache throughout her entire body, she was stiff all over. She tried to lift her arms to stretch her shoulders but the wait of the tiny bundle in her arms stopped her. Confused she turned her head to look down at her arms. As she turned her head, she caught the full glare from the window, the light from the sun blinded her. She lifted her right hand to shade her eyes, squinting in the bright sunlight. The light vanished as the curtains were drawn across the window,
"Is that better?" a gentle voice said. Blinded again by the sudden loss of light, she looked up at the shadow of the person who had drawn the curtains and smiled,
"Much better, thank you," her eyes adjusted, the sunlight streamed in through the rooms other window, reflecting off the golden paint that covered the walls giving the room a gentle warmth. She had always felt safe here. A tiny movement near her heart caught her attention, followed by a quiet gurgling sound. Hermione looked down and adjusted the crook of her left arm to move the baby's head to a more comfortable position. With her right hand, she carefully pulled the blanket down to let her breathe. An overwhelming sense of joy filled her heart as she looked down at that tiny face. She fought down the tears of happiness that welled up inside her, how could something so small be so perfect?
A hand rested on her head, gently pulling the hair out of her eyes. She looked up as the person standing next to her bent down and kissed her on top of the head. They pulled back, Hermione recognised her mothers face as she sat down. She looked strange, flushed and puffy, her eyes were red from crying. Their eyes met and she smiled as she spoke,
"You did good honey," there was the slightest tremble in her voice, she lifted her hand and wiped away a tear from her eye, "she's beautiful," Hermione looked back down at her daughter, she lifted her finger and touched her lips,
"I know, she's perfect," looking at her daughter asleep in her arms, Hermione's mind raced, and an icy fist closed around her heart. She imagined her first word, her first step, her first spell – all the things she would never get to see. Thinking of her daughter growing up without her broke her heart. The tears welled up inside her again and this time they broke through as a wave of agony slammed into her. Her teeth ground together and she shut her eyes as she fought to suppress the pain. Her mother jumped to her feet and put her arm around Hermione's shoulders,
"Are you alright?" she reached down and took hold of Hermione's hand, "Do you want me to take her?" Hermione shook her head, the pain started to subside, she fought to keep it from her voice,
"No, not yet," she looked up, her mother was crying as she looked down at her, biting her lip, "Just let me hold her a little longer," her mother didn't answer, she covered her mouth with her hand and nodded. Hermione looked back to her baby. She smiled as she opened her eyes and looked at her. She had the most beautiful brown eyes, she frowned,
"Aren't babies supposed to have blue eyes?" she asked, she didn't mean to say it aloud. Her mother leaned over her, running her fingers through her hair, she took a slow, shaky breath before she answered,
"I…I think they do," her voice was throaty and hoarse, "but this one's special,"
"Yes," Hermione laughed as the baby reached out and grabbed her hand, "she is," The baby gurgled as she tried to pull Hermione's finger into her mouth. Hermione cooed at her as she felt the tiny tug. Her mother reached down and stroked the baby's head,
"Do you have a name for her?" Hermione frowned as she looked up at her mother,
"Name?" she hadn't even thought about a name, her mother smiled,
"Yes, she needs a name," Hermione looked at her daughter. A name? Maybe that was the one thing she could give her, her only gift she would ever be able to give to her daughter. She smiled, there was only one name she could give her,
"Hermione," she said quietly,
"Hermione?" her mother asked, she sounded amused,
"Yes," Hermione looked up at her mother. Their eyes met for a moment before she smiled, tears dropping from her eyes again,
"I like the sound of that,"
"Me too…" a fresh wave of pain stabbed into her. She groaned as it burned its way through her stomach.
"Here," her mother sounded urgent, "Let me take her," Hermione nodded, she turned round and leaned down. The pain nearly overwhelmed her as she kissed little Hermione's forehead as gently as she could manage before her mother took her away. She leaned back and watched as her mother walked to the far side of the room and lowered the baby into her crib. The pain surged through her abdomen again, she shut her eyes and fought to prevent herself from screaming.
"Hermione!" she heard her mother call her name as she crossed the room. She felt her lay her hand on her shoulder but she couldn't speak, the pain was too much.
"Hermione," she could barely hear the voice. The pain jarred in her stomach as she was shaken. Her eyes opened, she got a brief vision of a wooden surface rushing toward her before her head slammed into the tabletop.
A loud thud resounded through the library as her head bounced off the table. She sat back, stars flashing before her eyes as she looked up. Malfoy was standing over her, looking shocked,
"What? What are you doing here?" he frowned at her,
"What do you mean, what are you doing here?" Hermione looked around, trying to get her bearings. She was in the library? Yes, that was where she should be, she was here studying. But…was that a dream? She shook her head again, it can't have been a dream, it was too real. She remembered it all, the room, the baby, the pain, everything. "Are you alright?" Malfoy echoed her mother's words, 'it can't have been just a dream, can it?' She looked up at him,
"What?" Malfoy sat opposite her at the table,
"I said are you alright?" she shut her eyes, 'Reality Hermione, this is reality here, you don't have a baby, you're sixteen for heaven's sake.' She looked up at Malfoy,
"Yes, I…I'm fine. I just fell asleep is all," he nodded,
"Ok then, but I'm surprised at you," he leaned back, lifting his chair onto its rear legs and smiled, "You surprised Snape too when you didn't turn up for class,"
"What?" she shouted jumping to her feet, Madame Prince shushed her sternly from behind her desk but she didn't care. Malfoy's grin faded,
"You missed Potions," Hermione's mouth dropped open, she grabbed and pulled at her sleeve, trying to uncover her watch. It was nearly half past ten! Her knees buckled, she dropped heavily into her chair. 'How could I fall asleep like that? I missed class!' She hung her head in her hands,
"Shit, how stupid am I?" Malfoy righted his chair,
"Hey, so you blew off a class, it isn't the end of the world," she glared at him,
"I didn't blow off any class, I fell asleep," she stood up and grabbed her book. Draco stood up as she jammed it into her bag, tearing the fabric along the seam. Books and parchment flew all over the place. "Shit!" she said again, louder this time. Madame Prince stood up and barked at her to be silent. Malfoy moved around the table and joined her in clearing the mess. He laughed quietly, she looked up at him,
"What's so funny?" he smiled at her,
"Nothing, it's just that this is the second time in a week that you and I have been here, and it's the second time we have somehow managed to end up knee deep in your schoolwork," she didn't return his smile, she didn't see the humour in the situation. After a moment he shrugged, "Well, it seems funny to me. Where were you running off to in such a hurry anyway?" she scowled at him,
"To see Professor Snape," she sighed, "I need to apologise for missing class," Malfoy picked up the remnants of her bag and tossed it onto the table, he looked at her and raised an eyebrow before shaking his head,
"I don't see the point in that. Snape isn't big on grovelling, he probably won't take it well," she grabbed the handful of parchment he was holding and dumped them onto the table,
"I have to do something, I missed class," he smiled at her,
"I know you did, so does Snape. But you aren't the first person to skip class,"
"I didn't…"
"I know," he cut her off, "but that is what he will think, and it is certainly what he'll say. Do you want that?"
"I have to explain, I need to find out what I missed so I can catch up," Malfoy laughed again,
"Catch up? Hermione, you're already ahead of the rest of us. How about you give us the chance to catch up for a change?" She sighed,
"Whatever," They finished clearing up Hermione's stuff, she took out her wand to repair her bag then started to pack it again.
"What did I miss?" he paused, and then shrugged,
"Nothing much, we just did the preliminaries for Fracken's Potion. It's used to…"
"To relieve pain and reduce the nerve damage caused by the Cruciatus Curse I know," Malfoy stared at her, he raised his eyebrows in a fair impression of 'I told you so', she sighed, "What do you mean by 'preliminaries'?" he shook his head,
"I mean exactly what you think I mean Hermione. We went through the procedures for brewing the potion, how to prepare the ingredients, what to add and when etc. Oh and we brewed up a salve that forms the basis of the main potion. It has to sit and settle for a couple of days before it can be used," he paused and picked up her potions book from the table, "but of course you know that,"
"Yes, I know what has to be done to make the potion. So, I do have to talk to Snape then, I need get hold of the ingredients for the salve so I can make it before the next potions lesson," she bit her lip, thinking of what she would say to Professor Snape when she asked him for the ingredients. Malfoy dug inside his pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag which he held out to her,
"Here…" he paused, looking awkward, "I…I took too much, you might as well have the extra," she took the bag and looked at it, it appeared to have all the ingredients she needed,
"Thanks," she said quietly, there was an awkward pause, which Malfoy broke,
"Yeah well…" he shifted on his feet, "Just don't make a habit of it, you mightn't be so lucky next time," Another pause, another awkward silence. This time she broke it, she looked at her watch,
"I em, had better be going. I don't want to miss any more classes," he nodded. She stuffed the potion ingredients into her bag and shouldered it, he followed suit and they headed out of the library under the glare of Madame Prince.
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Etean strolled down the corridor, paying no attention to the eyes that were following him. He didn't like it, but he was used to people staring at him, he had long ago learned to ignore it. He fixed his gaze dead ahead, watching the empty wall at the end of the corridor. Then she was there, she stepped right into his line of sight. He paused, it was little more than a half step but he paused. 'Damn it!' The anger rose in him again. He drew back into himself, this was getting out of hand. He needed to deal with this and soon before it became a real problem. He shut his eyes, clenched a fist with his right hand, feeling the pain of his fingernails digging into his palm. The sensation focussed him, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He was surprised to see Draco standing in front of him, 'How did I miss him?'
Draco's attention wasn't focussed on Etean, he was staring down the corridor to Etean's right. Confused, Etean reached out to see what he was staring at and bit back a curse as the mental image of Hermione flooded into his mind. Draco still didn't notice him as he stopped in front of him. He stood there, struggling to control his temper and waited for him to snap out of his reverie. In the end he nudged him to get his attention, glaring at Draco as he turned to face him,
"What?" Etean shook his head,
"This is getting annoying Draco," Etean moved past him, headed for the stairs, Draco turned to follow him,
"What is getting annoying?"
"You! Every time you get within five feet of that…girl you turn into a dithering idiot,"
"I do not!" Etean paused and turned round,
"Yeah? How long was I standing beside you just now before you noticed me?" Draco opened his mouth, but it was clear that he didn't know the answer, Etean waited for a moment, leaving him hanging before he spoke again, "Exactly, you don't know," he turned and marched down the stairs,
"What does that matter?" They reached the ground floor, Etean turned and headed toward the Entrance Hall, he didn't turn round as he reached out to communicate with Draco,
'It matters Draco, because you need to be focussed on your…our mission here. You cannot afford to be distracted by anything,' he turned and rounded on Draco as the reached the main doors, 'or anyone! Do you get that?' Draco paused, staring at Etean. Even without extending his senses, Etean could guess the thoughts bouncing around behind his eyes. Draco stepped forward, meeting Etean's gaze head on,
'Yes, believe me, I get that! I have gotten that since this started. And, I know that Hermione is…a distraction. But it's not like I have all the time in the world here is it? Now, I like being around her, I have no fucking idea why or where this came from but there it is. I can't help it,' Etean scoffed,
'You know what you sound like? 'I can't help it.' Grow up Draco, this is a serious situation. Your best chance, no your only chance to survive this is if you give it everything you have.'
'Everything I have? What do you think I have been doing? This is my life we are talking about, you know as well as I do that I haven't a hope in hell of surviving this 'mission',' Etean glared,
'Ok Draco, I'm going to spell this out to once and for all and it's important that you listen to me because I am being deadly serious. You need to stop believing that you are going to die, that is the best way I know to make sure that you do. I'm not going to try to convince you that it isn't a possibility, but I guarantee you, if you don't snap out of it you will die, and what's more you will fail before you do. You will fail and Voldemort will succeed, do you understand me?' Draco nodded, 'Good, I hope you do because, even though you claim to understand this situation, it seems to have escaped your feeble little mind that the fate of the ENTIRE WORLD is riding on whether or not you succeed.' Etean turned and started to walk away, increasing the distance between them. Behind him, he sensed Draco pause. He took a deep breath and followed his thoughts for a moment before he rounded on him, cutting off whatever he was about to say.
'Listen to me Draco,' he took a step closer to him, 'This situation is far from what I wanted it to be, but this is how it is. Whether we like it or not, our choices have been stripped away from us one by one and now, here we are. Here I am,'
'You?'
'Yes, me. I am the one to whom The Circle entrusted the responsibility to see this plan through. I am the one that has the job of getting you ready to do what you have to do. I am the one who has the responsibility of determining if you are capable of doing this. And I am the one who has to decide if you can or…'
'If I should die,' it wasn't a question, Etean paused before answering,
'Yes, you know what's at stake, we cannot fail. The Circle never takes a risk as big as this without a backup plan. If you cannot complete this task then…I have been ordered to kill you. Kill you and lose our chance to defeat Voldemort, but we remove the threat of him ascending, it's that simple,' Draco shut his eyes and lowered his head, Etean took another step toward him. 'Now, that is a decision I have agreed to make, I gave the Council my word that, if I had to, I would make that choice. And I never break my word Draco. But you know what? I don't want to have to make it. Against my better judgement Draco, I actually like you and I want to help you,' he paused and set his hands on his hips, sparing a glance around to ensure that nobody was watching, 'So, I'll make you a deal, I will let you make the decision. You choose whether you want to continue or give up. But if you want to continue, if you want to more than a snowballs chance in hell of survival, you have to stop fighting me at every turning, stop believing that you are doomed to die. Do that and in return I will guarantee you that I will do whatever I can, whatever it takes to get you ready to face what's coming,' Draco looked up, about to answer. Etean interrupted him again,
"Don't," he said aloud, "Think about it and make your mind up. Let me know when you make a decision," Etean stormed off, the anger still boiling inside him, leaving Draco standing in silence on the steps.
A/N: OK guys another noodle scratcher for ya. Trust me though, this will make sense eventually.