Draco Potter?

Chapter 4: What's Up With Malfoy?

The hour in the Hospital Wing almost passed in silence. Sometimes Hermione and Malfoy glared at each other, but didn't say anything. Hermione looked at Malfoy again. She noticed something. His hair was black.

That's impossible, she thought, this morning his hair was still entirely white-blond. Or was it?

"What, Granger?" Malfoy asked, "Finally noticed how stunningly handsome I am?" He smirked.

Hermione noticed that she was staring at him with her mouth open. She quickly closed it. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Denial", Malfoy was still smirking.

"Don't flatter yourself, Malfoy", Hermione spat, "Did you do something your hair?"

"No", Malfoy said, still smirking.

"What are you smirking about? I just thought that it was weird your hair suddenly was black", Hermione said. Malfoy is so full of himself, she thought, but there was some truth in what he said.

"Are you blind? My hair isn't-", Malfoy looked in the mirror at the other side of the room and started. "My hair", he said, shocked.

Hermione's mouth fell open again at the look on his face.

Madam Pomfrey came in again. "Hour is up. You can go back to your classes now". She saw the looks on their faces, but didn't say anything. She left the room.

Hermione stood up, but Malfoy was still looking in the mirror. The door was at Malfoy's end. She walked towards him.

"We have Care of Magical Creatures together you know", Hermione said as she reached the door.

"Right", Malfoy said standing up. He even forgot to say something insulting or sarcastic.

He walked towards Hermione. She just stood there waiting for him. He walked past her. Hermione gasped. Oh my god, she thought, When did he get so short?

"What now Granger?" Malfoy sneered. He turned around to face Hermione.

"Y-you used to be t-taller than me", she stammered. Now that he was standing right in front of her, she saw it clearly, he was just a little shorter than her. Last night he had been a foot taller than him. Something very weird was going on.

"I am taller than you. Are you blind?" Malfoy sneered.

"Then why are you looking right at me?" Hermione said, "And not down on me?"

Malfoy started again. They walked to their Care of Magical Creatures lesson in silence.

"Why are you two so late?" Hagrid asked when they reached his cabin.

"We were in the Hospital Wing", Hermione said. She still had the same look on her face. She silently walked over to Harry and Ron. Malfoy walked towards Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked, seeing the look on her face.

"Look at Malfoy", she replied. For the first time she didn't pay any attention to Hagrid.

Ron glanced at him. "What's wrong with him? I mean except, you know, everything", he said. He glanced at Malfoy again. "Whoa! Since when is his hair black?"

"Thank you", Hermione said.

"Wasn't it horrible?" Pansy asked Draco, "I had to spent a whole hour without you. I missed you so much". Draco rolled his eyes. He absolutely didn't miss Pansy. An hour with Granger was a lot more bearable than an hour with Pansy. At least she was so busy saying all kinds of rubbish so she didn't notice that Draco was shorter and his hair was black.

How could he not notice that he was shorter than everyone? And when did his hair turn black? Lucius was right, Potter's genes were starting to kick in. Dammit. It was only a matter of time before everyone noticed that he started looking like Scarboy. That thought really creeped him out. He was related to his arch-enemy for godsake!

Hopefully nobody would notice. Oh right, nobody would notice that the good-looking tall blond Draco Malfoy suddenly became a lot shorter and had black hair. And absolutely nobody would notice that he never went home or didn't have any contact with his "family". He looked at his reflection in the window of Hagrid's hut. At least I'm still good-looking, he thought.

"Draco!" Pansy said.

Draco came back to his senses. "What now, Pansy?"

"I just asked how an hour with the Mudblood was".

"Oh", Draco said, "Not horrible". Why did I say that, he thought, I was going to say that it was the most horrible hour of my life!

Pansy looked disgusted and, surprisingly, didn't say anything back.

Finally the bell rang after what seemed like one of the longest half hours Draco had. He walked back to the castle as fast as he could, avoiding Granger. He needed answers. Why was this happening now? He had looked like a Malfoy all his life, but why was he suddenly starting to look like Scarhead?

He walked through the front doors. But who could have the answers? Nearly everybody had forgot that Scarhead had a brother. Unless...

Draco stopped for a moment and then he headed towards the Dungeons. Lucius told Snape everything. Hopefully he also told him about the adoption. Draco reached Snapes classroom and saw that he was inside. He opened the door and walked towards Snape, who was still sitting in his desk.

"What now, Potter?" Snape sighed as Draco came towards him. His mouth fell open. "Malfoy?"

"Yes, Professor Snape", Draco said, "My so-called father didn't happen to say anything about this to you, did he?" he asked hopefully.

"About what?" Snape asked.

"You don't know?" Draco's heart sank. My only hope, he thought hopelessly. "Forget it", he muttered and walked out of the Dungeons, leaving a surprised Snape behind.

I really thought Snape knew all this, Draco thought, I thought Lucius told him everything. Great, after lunch double Transfiguration with the Gryffindorks.

Draco walked towards the Entrance Hall. Hopefully nobody would pay attention to him. He walked inside and quickly walked to the Slytherin table, avoiding as many people as he could.

Where is Malfoy, Hermione thought, lunch started 15 minutes ago. Oh there he is.

Malfoy just came into the Entrance Hall, running to the Slytherin table.

How could nobody notice, Hermione thought, he was a foot shorter and had black hair. What is going on?

"Hermione!" Ron said.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Aren't you going to eat anything? You're not on a hunger strike again are you?" Ron asked.

"No!" Hermione sounded insulted, "I'm just not hungry"

"That's no surprise, we still have the rest of the day with the Slytherins", Ron groaned, "How can they do this to us? Is this a punishment or something? We haven't done anything".

Harry and Hermione stared at him.

"OK, OK", Ron said, "We haven't really been that innocent, but they can't punish us for it now, could they?"

"Umbridge could", Hermione sighed.

"Speaking of that evil toad", Ron said, "What happened to her anyway?"

"I heard that she was so traumatized after the thing with the Centaurs, that she ended up in St. Mungo's", Hermione said.

Lunch and after that Transfiguration passed in a blur. Hermione kept glancing at Malfoy, but he still looked the same. After Transfiguration was over McGonagall told Malfoy and Hermione that they had to go to the Forbidden Forest at midnight for their detention. When Hermione, Ron and Harry were walking to their DADA class, they started wondering who their new teacher was going to be. They didn't see anyone new at the staff table last night, just an empty seat.

"I heard they couldn't find anyone so Snape is going to teach us", Ron said disgusted.

"Snape?" Hermione repeated. That's exactly what she needed to make this year worse.

"That's what I heard" Ron sighed. Please be wrong, Hermione thought.

They reached the classroom and went inside. A young familiar-looking witch with long pink hair was standing at the front of the classroom.

"Hi", she said. Most of the class said "Hi" back.

"I'm your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. My name is Tonks. There's no need to know my first name or to call me Professor", she said, "Just Tonks is fine".

Hermione smiled. Now she knew why she had looked familiar. Hermione was glad that Tonks was their teacher. At least it wasn't Snape and she already knew Tonks. She saw that Harry and Ron grinned at each other. The three of them had met Tonks two summers ago.

"You all know that Lord Voldemort is back now", Tonks said. Most of the class winced at that name "So it is important to be able to defend yourself. Today we're going to practice Stunning, but I know some of you can already do that".

45 minutes later the Gryffindors left, looking very pleased with themselves. All of them could already perform the Stunning Charm, thanks to Harry.

"Isn't it cool that Tonks is our teacher?" Hermione said to Harry and Ron.

"Yeah, I never thought she was going to be it", Ron said.

"Me neither", Harry said.

"I thought we were going to be stuck with Snape or another Umbridge", Hermione sighed "I hope she stays longer than this year". They went to the Common Room.

Hermione fell onto a couch near the fire. Harry and Ron sat into a couch beside her. They were talking happily about their DADA class. They were all really surprised that Tonks was their teacher. Suddenly Hermione stopped talking and scowled.

"What's up?" Ron asked.

"I still have detention", Hermione mumbled. She really wasn't looking forward to that. She wished she could just stay in the Common Room with her friends.

"With Malfoy", Ron added. Harry and Ron both burst into laughter.

Hermione stared at them. That's easy for them, Hermione thought, they don't have detention with the hottest guy in school. Did I just think that?

"S-sorry", Ron gasped, "I feel your pain".

"Me too...", Harry said seriously. They both burst into laughter again.

"Yeah. Go on. Laugh", Hermione said. Harry and Ron laughed even harder. Why do they always pick the worst time to listen to me?, Hermione thought.

She looked at her watch. She had to be there by midnight. Why midnight? She had to go into the Forest again. Great. In the Forest. All alone. With Malfoy. Again. And two whole months more of detention. Could this get any worse?

Hermione opened her bag. She would get really behind on homework if she had detention so long. She started on her Transfiguration essay.

"Wake up!" Ron shouted.

"What?" Hermione groaned. Her Transfiguration essay was sticking to the side of her head. Hermione sat up straight and looked around. She was still in the Common Room and obviously fallen asleep on her homework. Ron was staring at her. Harry was gone.

"You're going to be late for your detention", Ron said softly.

"What?" Hermione stood up and looked at her watch. It was ten minutes before midnight. She pocketed her wand and ran to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "See you later", she said over her shoulder before the portrait closed.

At the same time, Snape and Dumbledore were talking in Dumbledore's office.

"What?" Dumbledore asked surprised.

"He's alive. It was Malfoy all along. What does this mean?" Snape said.

"Hm...", Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

"Hm? What hm?" Snape said.

"Nothing".

"Are you going to tell Potter?"

"I have to. He has to know. It's his right. But he probably doesn't want to know".

"Of course he doesn't. Daniel is his third worst enemy".

"Third? Who's the second?"

"I am".

"Of course. Who knew that Daniel did survive? How did he survive? He's not part of the prophecy".

"Will you stop with the prophecy. But Daniel can't interfere with the prophecy, can he?"

"I don't know".

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the things you haven't read in the books. Do I have to say this in every chapter?

Authors Note: I'm sorry if it took so long to upload, but there was something with the phone line so I couldn't go on the net for a long time.