The next morning, Hermione found that Draco was not in his room. He was not even in the Great Hall. However, she was slightly comforted by the fact that he was still in Hogwarts after seeing him rush into the Ancient Runes classroom, jarringly late by twenty minutes. Unlike usual, he sat alone at the back of the classroom while Hermione had claimed her seat at the other end. Throughout the whole day, he was silent. The only occasion when he spoke was to apologise to the various teachers for being late for all their classes.
Perplexed, Hermione had decided to go up to him and question his strange behaviour. She never got the answer, though. Just like he was the last student to arrive for lessons, he was also the first to leave the classrooms. Every time Draco skulked past her without so much of a glance, Hermione grew more worried.
She told all of this to her friends. Ginny and Harry seemed equally concerned but Ron shared no such feelings. After hearing that Hermione and Draco was now a couple, he had lost all cheeriness. Sullen, sharp words were used to fire criticism at Draco at every chance he got. If compiled, his list of foul ranting on Draco would have tripled Hermione's worry.
"I don't know what's wrong with him," Hermione was clearly upset. "We were looking at his family tree – the Blacks in particular – and I was simply talking about Tonks when he went all gloomy on me."
Ron sneered, "You must have enjoyed studying his family line. At your last count, how many of his family members are Death Eaters?"
"Ron, stop it!" Hermione bristled furiously as she blinked back tears. "Why can't you understand? Why are you being so unreasonable?"
"Unreasonable?" Ron thundered. "What's bloody unreasonable about making you realize that he doesn't really love you? He's just trying to gain your sympathy!"
"You have no right, absolutely no right, to talk about him like that," Hermione said quietly. "If you don't like him, just say it. I won't let you disgrace him in any way."
"Of course I don't like Malfoy!" he blurted out angrily. "How can I, when in truth, I like you, Hermione!"
She stared at him coldly. "If you had admitted it earlier, I'd probably accepted you. I won't deny that I used to like you very much. But you never said anything and I got over it. But I love Draco, and that's why he's my boyfriend. Ron, I don't care how many people you want to besmirch, bad-mouth or embarrass; that's your business. You're my friend and I don't want to do this, but I'm warning you. Don't you dare desecrate my boyfriend."
Hermione's dark reminder stalled any words from reaching Ron's brain. Looking away, possibly out of shame at how much his words had stung Hermione, he inched away from the group and briskly walked off, leaving Ginny and Harry to stare after him. Hermione could not help but feel a slight pang of guilt.
"Was I too hard on him?" she asked out loud, almost ruefully.
"Never mind him," Ginny quickly dismissed. Hermione has had enough on her mind right now. "He's just being very immature; he'll get over it, don't worry. Just put Phlegm's sister in front of him for the next two weeks and he'll be fine."
A small smile twitched Harry's lips as he imagined the scene. "Somehow, I don't think Mrs Weasley would like another Fleur in the household."
"I don't think I'll like it either, seeing Gabrielle flitting around with her French accent," Ginny said thoughfully, shaking her head. "Zat will be 'orrrible, to quote Phlegm."
At that, Harry and Hermione burst into laughter. For a while, Hermione forgot all about her worries and guilt as she pictured Mrs Weasley's reaction at having another of the Delacour's sister in the house. She would certainly hunt for some other girl, just like she had done with Bill. Of course, Tonks's presence did not deter Fleur from getting married to Bill. The whole plan looked hilarious now, especially since Tonks was in love with Lupin.
Somewhere at the back of her mind, Draco's image still persisted. Hermione sighed exasperatedly. She would find out what caused Draco to change drastically overnight. Nobody would suddenly be very cold towards you the next day for no reason. Something was definitely wrong.
Draco was perched on a stool he had conjured out of nowhere in the boys' bathroom, absently flicking his wand at the toilet bowl in the cubicle facing him. He filled it with soap, transfigured it into a turtle, a sponge or played around with colours. It should have been entertaining but Draco felt no such thing.
"You're making me all confused," a shrill yet melancholic voice complained.
"Hello, Myrtle," Draco addressed the voice, not looking up.
Moaning Myrtle floated in front of him, peering curiously at him from behind her glasses. She studied the sleek blond hair and the pale complexion. When she finally recognized him, she gave a scream of delight.
"You came to see me!" she said happily. Then her smile faltered as upon seeing his troubled face. "You came with problems again, didn't you? Just like last year."
"The problems are still there," he said softly. His wand slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor. Bowing his head, he absorbed himself in his thoughts. "They've never gone away."
Perhaps he was too immersed in his feelings to actually think about what he had gone through. He had almost forgotten why he had decided to come back to Hogwarts. It was not entirely to complete his education; it was more for protection. Professor McGonagall had accepted him back into the school more for the latter. She was not too delighted with the idea of having a student being killed by Voldemort. Hogwarts was safe enough for him.
But Draco's fear just increased. He had run away from Voldemort, and there was no doubt that Voldemort was hunting him down. Although he was not Marked yet, he knew too much about Voldemort and his Death Eaters. What they have done and who were classified in his legions of followers.
"He'll find me," he whispered, utterly terrified. "He'll hunt me down … he'll find me here … he'll take her from me …"
This interested Myrtle and prompted her to say, "He'll take who from you?"
Draco appeared not to hear what she was saying. "No … I'm not going to lose her!" Myrtle flinched as his pained voice had risen sharply. "I love her … I can't lose her! I've lost my family … I'm not ready for another loss. I don't even want anymore deaths!"
"Are those people still bullying you?" Moaning Myrtle stage-whispered. Pursing his lips unwittingly, Draco nodded. He looked helplessly at her, as if hoping that the ghost could offer him a solution. Shaking her head, she floated towards the toilet bowl Draco had been transfiguring earlier on. "How much longer do you want to be bullied?"
She gave a loud wail of anguish before exiting the bathroom through the toilet bowl with a loud splash. How much longer? Draco thought grimly. He sat and stared at his reflection in the mirror, simultaneously indulging in his vanity and deciding what he was going to do. By the time he was satisfied with the way his white-gold hair fell above his eyes, he had made his decision.
Harry, Hermione and Ginny continued their banter as they walked along the corridors. Both Fleur and Gabrielle were not spared as Ginny incessantly mocked their French- accented English. Not only that, she thought of pretending to saunter like the Delacour sisters but decided against it.
"It doesn't look human," she had reasoned.
The trio was in the midst of laughter when the door of the boys' bathroom they were walking past flew open. A boy hurried out of it but stopped short upon seeing them. Or rather, upon seeing Hermione. Without warning, he rushed up to her and bent down his head to kiss her on the lips. In between those kisses, he murmured over and over again, "I'm sorry. Hermione. I'm really, really sorry. Forgive me."
She pulled away from his kiss but did not break away from his embrace. Pretending to be angry, she said, "Well, you should be! If you have problems, Draco, tell me. Don't leave me in the dark. Don't make me worry."
Draco held back a laugh as he traced his fingers along her cheeks. Gripping her in an even tighter embrace, he brushed his lips against her brown hair, breathing in the strawberry scent of her shampoo.
"I promise," he said more firmly now. "It's just that … when I saw my mother's picture, I suddenly remembered … well, you know what. Only then I realized how precocious our relationship is. I love you, and I don't want to lose you like how I lost my mother. And also, I'm pretty scared that he'll hunt me down and eventually, kill me."
He kissed her one more time before turning to Harry. "Listen. I know you're going to destroy Voldemort," Draco said matter-of-factly, draping his arm around Hermione's waist. "You're in the process of finding the Horcruxes, aren't you? You can't do it alone. No way. You don't know what goes around in his circle."
"But you do?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"I've never liked you, Potter. But I'm helping you out for the first and last time in my life. Before your head balloons up and you think that I've admitted you my superior –which will never happen, of course– you ought to know that I'm only doing this for myself. I've got a score to settle with him."
Harry gritted his teeth. Draco Malfoy might have been more human now, but his ostentatious, haughty self still remained. His words were patronizing; Harry felt that Draco was making him out to be the inferior being. Accepting Draco's help would only mean that he also accepted Draco to be his superior. Harry was not very happy with this but he still had enough logic to agree with Draco's stand. To defeat Voldemort, he would need all the help he could get.
"Consider it a done deal," Harry agreed to Draco's help. Then he lowered his voice dangerously, "But if I ever find out that you betray us, Malfoy, I swear I will track you down and kill you."
Draco smirked. "You know, I'm not that stupid, Potter."