Chapter 2: An Old Enemy
As the clock struck eleven times, the moonbeams found Hermione walking around the Hogwarts grounds, breathing in the crisp air and relaxing herself. Wondering how much longer she could keep enjoying the peace and quiet of Hogwarts, before Voldemort could amass his forces for another strike at the wizarding world…sighing, she turned on the path and followed the edge of the lake. On her left was the Forbidden Forest, dark and menacing as always, and on her right was the unnaturally calm surface of the sleeping lake. It's almost like a mirror, Hermione thought to herself as she stopped and looked into the depths of the water, studying her reflection and smiling sadly at her herself. Where could Harry and Ron –
Crack.
The noise split the night calm and pumped adrenaline through Hermione's veins in a fraction of a second as she spun around, pulling her wand out of her pocket and pointing it at the looming trees that faced her in all their grotesque and mysterious beauty. The sound had come from those trees – she had been certain of that – but she could not see anything, for the moon had gone to hide behind the clouds. "Lumos," she whispered, and a light came on at the tip of her wand. Hesitatingly, she took a step forward into the shadows. The darkness seemed to be an almost tangible curtain of black velvet in front of her, sucking up the light from the wand; Hermione took a gulp of air and stood there, her senses sharpened and alert. Her first patrol as Head Girl and something dark was already lurking in the shadows. Swallowing hard, she took another step forward and whispered, "Who's there?" Instantly she berated herself for giving out a sound. Had she learned nothing from the DA or Harry? Harry….if only he were here…she could remember being in the same location with him in third year, but this wasn't a dementor, but then, what –
CRACK.
Her thoughts were broken off abruptly as this noise, much closer, came out of the blackness in front of her. Almost panicking, Hermione raised her wand and was about to throw all the hexes she knew at the trees when a call sounded.
"Miss Granger!"
Hermione spun around to find Professor McGonagall in emerald green robes striding towards her from the castle. She could hear noises retreating into the forest, but she could see nothing when she turned back; meanwhile, the Headmistress had reached her.
"Miss Granger, I suggest that you do not venture into the Forbidden Forest just yet. It is dangerous in there…as you probably know already." A stern smile appeared on her face and Hermione was reminded of the many time she had been in the Forest – of course, breaking the rules savagely in the process. She smiled back tentatively, a light blush creeping into her cheeks. They reached the castle without speaking again, and by the time they reached the great doors, Hermione was in agony. Should she tell McGonagall about the noises that she had heard, or was she merely being paranoid? Thus debating with herself, she did not notice where they were going until they stopped in front of the portrait of the goblin. No, there was no way she could burden McGonagall with yet another sign of danger that might not even be consequential…but the dark Forest and its whispers invaded her dreams that night.
The next morning, she woke up and took a long, hot shower, then hurried down to the Great Hall for breakfast with the rest of the Gryffindors. Glancing around, she noted that the students were far more relaxed this morning than they had been the previous one, but that the Slytherins seemed to be even more anxious and jittery than usual. They know something's up, she thought to herself. Even since their leader Malfoy disappeared…Hermione had not told anyone, but she sincerely thought that Draco Malfoy had been innocent – Harry had seen him falter at the moment of truth, and he had been dragged out of the castle by Snape – but no one would have believed her if she had told anybody of this conviction, and she was not about to jeopardize her position at Hogwarts by declaring her belief in the innocence of a person who was practically universally denounced as a dark and evil creature and moreover feared by all the Hogwarts students. Still, she was not about to complain: his absence meant the absence of the jeers, the smirks and the taunts that had plagued Harry, Ron and her for the past six years. But then, everything had changed….Harry and Ron were no longer there either…
After breakfast, they hurried to Potions with Slughorn, where Hermione took her usual front row seat, determined to show the rest of the school that no matter what dark magic was brewing outside the castle, the classes inside would carry on in the same fashion. The rest of the day went by fast enough, and soon she found herself walking out of the Great Hall after dinner straight to her dorm, where she worked on her homework (even the first day of classes were bound to finish with homework assignments). At exactly ten o'clock she strolled down to the grounds for her nightly patrol. The memories of the previous night flooded back to her and she slowed down as she approached the spot where she had heard the cracking noises the night before. Hermione had almost convinced herself, during the day, that the noises had originated from a branch snapping. But as she came closer to the same place, her heart pounded and she could feel her senses heightening. After ascertaining that there were no more alarming noises from the Forest, she turned and walked toward the lake.
Right behind her, someone cleared his throat.
Hermione screamed and spun around to confront an unidentifiable creature in the moonlight, which on a second look revealed itself to be a human, caked in dirt and dried blood and dressed in tattered rags. At first she was absolutely convinced that she was facing a werewolf, but it was not the full moon, so that wasn't it…as the creature took a step forward, she screamed again, louder, but all the spells she had learnt went flying out of her head as the terror jumped in and paralysed her. Finally rousing her legs enough, she turned and started running, but a hand suddenly shot out from the creature and grabbed her, swiftly pinning her to a tree. Hermione thought she was going to die as she stared up into the face of the person that was holding her prisoner, speechless, terror radiating from every pore in her body and mind blank of spells. When she was already wondering why she was not dead, the person shook back his dirty, matted hair and Hermione could see that he had bluish-silver eyes that bored through her. A flash of realization came over her, and she stammered,
"Dra – Malfoy?"
He stepped back from her and dropped his hands; Hermione shoved him away, anger and fear building up within her, and pointed her wand at him, shaking.
"Son of a bitch," she murmured just before hurling a binding hex at him. Malfoy did not even flinch as the ropes curled themselves around him; he simply looked at her – a chill ran down Hermione's spine. If only he would say something…and then he did.
"H – help me," he croaked dryly.
It did not sound like Malfoy's voice at all; it was pleading and his eyes looked searchingly into hers.
"Please," he added softly.
Hermione stared at him, mistrust overtaking her, yet a strong protective feeling surfaced within as she let her eyes run over his cut and grimy body. Vainly trying to repress this, she could only lash out at him.
"Did you think you could trick me into taking you back to the castle, Malfoy?" she asked with a sneer. "You – you killed Dumbledore, you foul, loathsome creature…if your so-called 'friends' could see you now, the proud, wonderful PUREBLOODED Draco Malfoy, how they would laugh…my, my, you look a sight..." She levitated him into the air and saw a flash of something so akin to hurt in his eyes that she almost dropped her wand. "McGonagall's going to deal with you," she said, walking back to the castle with him floating behind her.
"Granger, you don't understand," he said urgently. "I'm not – I'm not on the Dark Side – "
"Yeah right Malfoy, tell that to the Minister of Magic, I bet he'll believe you." With a bitter laugh, she added, "Maybe if it were Fudge, always influenced by your pureblood daddy, but Scrimgeour's not that daft, and anyway, your dear sweet daddy isn't here anymore, is he now, Malfoy? No one here to protect you – think about that."
"I just escaped from them! From the Deatheaters – why won't you believe me, Granger? I managed to escape the Dark Lord and you want to hand me over to Scrimgeour? This is serious, I swear I'm not lying – "
"Will you shut up! As if we all didn't know who you are, who your parents are – "
"You know nothing," he told her, furious. "I'm not like my parents. If I were I would have killed you tonight or last night. But I didn't, did I? I need help, I'm not a Deatheater and I never was! Believe me, I never wanted Dumbledore to die, I loved the man, I never wanted to leave Hogwarts with that pile of filth – "
"You didn't touch me because you knew you had no chance," Hermione retorted, but she could not help a slight feeling of discomfort from creeping into her mind. It was true; he could have killed her, she had been vulnerable to attack, petrified by terror…but he hadn't.
"All I need is some food, I haven't eaten in two days, and a bath, and then I'll just – I don't know, go away or something. They think I'm dead. I'll just leave and start a new life somewhere else, but don't turn me in for something I didn't do and that I would have given my life to prevent." Glaring at her impassive countenance, he added, in a voice of soft venom, "You're enjoying this immensely, aren't you Granger?"
Unable to stop a sly smile from forming on her lips, she answered, "More than I can say."
Meanwhile, they had reached the castle gates, where Hermione paused and looked at Malfoy, a new resolution forming in her mind.
"I'll give you some food and a bath, Malfoy," she told him. "Then you will tell me your entire story with no embellishments, and I'll decide what to do with you. It's life or death, Malfoy…think carefully." After a moment she added, "I still hate you with every fiber of my being."
"Believe me, the feeling is mutual," he replied, and she thought she saw the infamous Malfoy smirk on his face, underneath the blood and the dirt. "I haven't eaten in two days, and I'm starving."
"And stinking."
There was almost a smile on his face as they entered the gates of Hogwarts.