A/N: After all the serious chapters focusing on the Voldemort storyline, I really wanted one focusing more on Dramione, with some fluff in it. I really hope you will like it!
On Monday, Hermione found Draco sitting near the lake by himself during lunch time.
After the meeting in the Owlery on Saturday, Draco had stayed in his common room during most of the day and always with his friends when outside of it. Hermione was sure that he was really mad and the next day, she had met him just before breakfast. He had acted like nothing had happened, even if he had looked distracted. She had tried to talk to him about his argument with Ron but Draco had changed the subject almost directly, saying that he wanted to stay in a good mood, that day. So, Hermione had let it go and had just explained to him that after he had left, they had gone in the kitchens to see Dobby.
And after explaining Dobby's situation to him, she had started to tell him about Winky who, clearly drunk, had let something slip about Crouch having some kind of very important secret. She had told him that she and Ron had argued all afternoon long, which seemed to cheer her boyfriend up, and that even Harry hadn't stayed with them. And for her relief, Draco had talked a bit more as they had tried to think about what could be Crouch's secret. Clearly, Draco was more relaxed and the day had gone by pretty smoothly.
The next day, she had seen Pansy coming in the Great Hall with Theo and had wondered where Draco could possibly be. So, she had eaten quickly and got up to talk to Pansy. A few Slytherins had glanced nastily at her but she didn't mind and she asked the duo if they knew where Draco was.
Then, she had left the Great Hall and went out of the castle, walking quickly towards the lake. Only a few students were outside and she looked at the huge ship as she approached the tree Draco was leaning against before she sat down next to him. She quickly noticed the magazine on his other side as well as a letter, they were both on his cloak.
"Read the article, did you?" She asked, rolling her eyes as she removed her own cloak to put it next to her. She heard Draco chuckle and she was relieved to see him smile at her. He wasn't mad about it.
"Of course I did, everyone's talking about it in the common room." Hermione grimaced at those words.
"Are they bothering you?" She asked as she took the magazine in her hands, opening it at the page of the article again. Draco shrugged.
"It's the usual, you know. Well, now they're just adding a few things but they're not very original," he said before taking a more high-pitched voice. "Not only you betray us for her but you can't even keep her around," he first said before he spoke with a deeper voice, this time. "I hope you're ashamed of yourself, Malfoy, you're pathetic." He shook his head and spoke normally again, rolling his eyes dramatically. "God, they're useless."
Hermione frowned a little, staring at her boyfriend's face, trying to read his expression. But he gave her a little smile again.
"It's fine, I'm telling you. I've heard worse. I've said worse, really," he added.
"Still, they're really cheeky. If I remember correctly, not even three months ago, they were still following you around," she said as she shook her head.
"Yeah," Draco snorted, "Well, what can I say? They're cunning, they know what to do to protect themselves. They're not going to risk anything by hanging out with me just because of my name anymore." Hermione pursed her lips.
"But weren't they your friends? Even Crabbe and Goyle... I don't like them, I really don't, but... You told me you guys grew up together." Draco shrugged.
"I don't care, give it a rest," Draco said more quietly, looking at the lake. She knew he was caring, no matter how dumb those two were, no matter the change in their behavior, Draco had indeed grew up playing with them. But at the same time, he knew it would happen. And he knew it even more when it came to the rest of his House. He had always been talking loud enough for everyone to hear him but not to listen to him. They never really cared about him like Pansy always had, they liked seeing him humiliate others, they liked seeing him show how better the purebloods were. He was fine without them, even if their bullying was hard to handle. But even that he wasn't showing.
Hermione looked down for a moment before glancing at him again.
"Are you sure it's worth it?" She asked quietly. Draco frowned a little but still didn't look at her. He was focused on something that she couldn't see. She was aware that his eyes were moving, following something, but she didn't know what. Maybe he was only thinking.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Us," she said. This time, Draco turned his head a bit suddenly, frowning even more. "By that, I mean, for you? Are you happy with the situation?" She added quickly.
"Are you saying you'd be willing to break up if I wasn't ha-"
"No!" Hermione said as she hit his shoulder. "Now that I have you, I keep you." Draco smiled a little, reassured and he took the hand that had just hit him to hold it. "But I know you're lying. And I don't want you to be hurt so much just because of me..."
"Just? Just?" Draco asked with the same amused smile. He then shook his head as he sighed before he turned his body to face Hermione. "You're so much more than... Just. You've been more than that for a long time, now. Of course I'm happy with the situation, because you're making me happy. And I'm sure you know it. Maybe you just like to hear it?" Draco asked as he tilted his head and Hermione smiled a little as she looked down. After a moment, she looked up again and she smiled, feeling her cheeks being warmer.
"I love hearing it... Say it again." Draco couldn't help but laugh a little as he leaned to get closer.
"I love you, Granger," he said more quietly, almost in a whisper, before he softly pressed his lips against hers. As he broke the kiss, he felt Hermione's hands on both sides of his head and he felt her mouth suddenly meeting his harder and he directly kissed her back. He could feel that she was smiling and she could probably feel that he was smiling too.
"I love you, jerk," he heard when she finally broke the kiss and he chuckled quietly, letting his forehead rest against hers.
"I know you do, who wouldn't?" He whispered, still very amused. He felt Hermione's fingers on his cheek as she pushed his face away and he laughed again, gripping her wrist to remove her hand. She tried to get it back, laughing as Draco leaned to kiss her again and she couldn't help but accept this contact once more. But it was short and she put a hand on his chest to push him away again.
"Let me go," she laughed but he shook his head and leaned again. Hermione quickly got on her feet, finally getting her arm back. Draco smirked as he stood up.
"You come here right now," he said as she started to walk backwards, her right hand against the tree.
"I don't listen to you, Malfoy, who do you think you are?" She asked playfully and Draco raised his eyebrows for a second. Hermione moved faster as soon as she saw Draco approaching her quickly. She didn't know how but they ended up running around the tree, then near the lake until she finally felt his hand on her arm again. Laughing, she let him pull her against him, her back meeting his chest and she soon felt his arms around her, lifting her from the ground for a second and turning round as she laughed. But she didn't feel the grass under her feet when Draco finally let her stand by herself again, she felt the water of the lake above her ankles. She hadn't even noticed and when she turned around to look at Draco, she just passed her arms around his neck before pecking his lips. She felt his arms getting tighter around her waist and she ran her fingers through the soft hair on the back of his head.
"I'm your boyfriend, that's who I am," he said before kissing her quickly again. Yes, he was, and hearing him say that made Hermione grin even more than before. She loved when he was in such a good mood. They weren't worrying about anything, they were just enjoying this free time together. They knew everything could change soon, they knew that they had those few minutes, maybe this hour, to enjoy each other company freely before getting more serious again. So, they didn't want to think about it. They just wanted to be young. Young and in love, they wanted to be silly and be able to hold each other.
"We shouldn't stay in the lake," Hermione said, still smiling though and looking at Draco's face, her other hand going on his cheek before she gave him a soft kiss again.
"Why not, you're afraid the giant squid is going to catch your leg?" He asked, amused. And with that, she felt his hands gripping her wrists as he started to walk backwards, pulling her with him.
"Stop that! Draco, stop that!" But she was laughing, trying to stop him from walking further. Soon, the water was above their knees and it was getting difficult to walk. They were slower and Draco stopped to pull her in his arms again. "You'll stop laughing when you're going to be freezing," she said and Draco raised an eyebrow.
"You're the one who's going to end up totally in the water, not me," he said. Right after this, and as he tried to pull Hermione a bit more, they both ended up falling in the water in a loud splash. And even though they ended up laughing, Draco sitting where he had fallen while Hermione was on her knees, they soon decided to get out of there. Their clothes were heavy, soaked with the cold water and Draco helped Hermione get on her feet before they tried to walk towards the bank again. The sun was high in the sky and would warm them up a bit but when they reached the grass again, Draco quickly removed his sweater to stay only with his shirt and he ran towards the tree. He quickly grabbed his cloak as Hermione approached and he turned, opening it. "Put this on," he said, panting as Hermione slipped her arms in the long sleeves. When she faced Draco again, he approached, putting it properly on her shoulders as she stared at him.
Hermione smiled, seeing him breath rapidly, his mouth slightly open. His cheeks and nose were red, contrasting with the rest of his pale face and finally, his gray eyes met hers. He smiled and used two fingers to remove one strand of wet hair from her cheek before he cupped her face with his hands, leaning to exchange a soft but long kiss, drops of water dripping from their faces. They interlaced their fingers as they broke the kiss and Draco bit his lower lip as he met her eyes again. He then cleared his throat, looking down at the cloak.
"Green suits you," he said quietly, looking at the Slytherin robes, the inside of the cloak showing his House's color. Hermione chuckled and Draco looked up at her again.
"This is too big for me," she then said quietly. And she was right, the sleeves were hiding the hands Draco was holding but he didn't mind. She looked cute.
"I don't care," he just said. "You're beautiful either way."
"Stop that," Hermione said as she looked away, trying not to giggle as she felt her cheeks being way warmer. "Aren't you cold?" She then asked, looking at Draco's soaked shirt. He shrugged, shaking his head slowly.
"Nah... My body... My body's warm," he just said before giving her an awkward smile. Then, he only freed one of her hands as he turned, walking towards the tree with her. He sat down and was surprised when she sat right between his legs. He felt her back on his chest and he let her lean there as he passed his arms around her waist, blinking. Hermione took a deep breath as she put her hands on his wrists. She was having such a good time. She didn't want the break to end, that day, she wanted to enjoy the sun with him, be in his arms. He was indeed still quite warm, while she was sometimes feeling a shiver going down her spine and that her hands were cold. She could feel it under from under his shirt, his body temperature was already changing to get back to a more normal one.
Draco wanted to roll up his sleeves, it wasn't very comfortable once wet. But he didn't dare, he didn't like his arms and he didn't believe he had ever done it since his fight with Lupin. He kept his eyes closed for another minute, thinking about it, before he opened them at once.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, having felt his body move slightly like he had been startled by something.
"Nothing..." He said quietly, his heart beating fast in his chest. He blinked, almost certain about what he had just remember. He had the unpleasant impression he had actually rolled up his sleeves once since his first encounter with Lupin. Just two months before, actually. After the Yule Ball, in the common room. He didn't know why this thought had struck him this way, maybe it wasn't even real. He would have realized if he had done it. No, he would have simply never done anything like that. Not knowing what was under his sleeves. He couldn't have... He closed his eyes again, thinking about Theodore.
If this memory was true, if he had actually done it, maybe Theo hadn't noticed anything. Knowing his way of talking about anything whenever he wanted, he would have said something, asked about it. Surely, Theo hadn't noticed... Or he had simply never rolled up his sleeves around him... And still, Draco couldn't chase this memory away.
"You don't believe the article, do you?" He heard Hermione ask. He opened his eyes again, decided to think about something else.
"Of course I don't, it's just a pile of lies," he said as he glanced at the magazine on the grass.
"Exactly, I'm sick of this Skeeter woman! I don't even know how she was able to get here... She's banned from the grounds!" Hermione exclaimed as she took the magazine again. But Draco quickly removed it from her hands, stretching his arm to keep it away from Hermione.
"Look at this article again and I burn this thing," he said. Hermione raised an eyebrow, clearly ready to try to grab it again. "Do as you want, Granger, but if I burn Pansy's magazine, she's going to strangle me and this you will have to live with."
"But really... It's so... I'm so- It's-"
"You're pissed, I understand. I mean, I wouldn't like being associated this way with Potter either," Draco said as he rolled his eyes. He felt a soft tap on his knee and he looked at Hermione. "But people will forget about it, they will get tired of it. Right now, if they use it against us, it's only because they have nothing else to say. Because we're doing no harm and that's what is pissing them off. If they didn't have this article... They'd have nothing to mock us," he said more calmly. Hermione looked down as she thought about it. He wasn't wrong, after all, they were always doing and saying the same things. But now that there was this article, it was all they could talk about. It was ridiculous.
"But it's so stupid, it's not like one word of it was true..." She mumbled, still angry at Rita Skeeter. "You know that it's not, right? That there's nothing between Harry and me, that there never was anything and that there will never be an-"
"Hermione, hey, I know, don't get all upset again, come on," Draco said, frowning a little. He had never been jealous of Potter, he knew that he wasn't interested by Hermione in this way. He was sure of it. If he was, he would treat his friend differently, sometimes. And he knew that them being close didn't mean they were in love. He was more than close with Pansy and he had never loved her this way. Hermione let out a long sigh as she leaned on Draco again. She then felt Draco's lips on her still humid temple and she tried to relax. "Do you really think I would believe what she's saying?" He then asked. Hermione shrugged. Draco put the magazine on the ground again before passing his arms around Hermione again, soon feeling her hands on his own.
"I don't know, some people really believe it..."
"Alright," Draco said, looking up at the branches above their heads. "Are you in love with Potter?"
"No! Of course not!" Hermione let out suddenly, opening her eyes again.
"Are you in love with Weasley, then?" He asked. Hermione frowned as she turned a bit her body, her hands on Draco's forearms. He looked down at one of his arm as Hermione looked at him.
"What? No, Draco-"
"Who would, am I right?" He heard this familiar tuh that Hermione let out and that made him smile. He would annoy her all day long for her to make that sound with this reproachful look on her face. It was amusing him a lot and he couldn't help but find her adorable. As well as intimidating, but that was a whole other story. "My point is, there's nothing going on between you two because you're really close. People believe a lot of things... Theo even thought I was going out with Pansy when he came to ask her for the ball but he wasn't sure because we never did anything in public. You should have seen his face when I told him it wasn't like that at all. They don't know anything, they just like to run their mouth..."
"I have to say," Hermione said quietly as she looked away, like she was embarrassed. "I did believe that too. I mean, that you and Pansy... Everyone did." Draco chuckled.
"I know, it's normal," Draco said as he slightly shrugged, an arrogant look on his face. "We are both really attractive beings, for some it'd make sense for us to end up together. Plus, we'd have really cute babies," he said with a little smile on his lips. Hermione raised an eyebrow, shaking her head slightly, smiling too. "Meanwhile, Potter and Weasley are... Gne. You're totally our of their leagues." Hermione sighed, like she was doing so often around Draco and she turned again as Draco smiled even more.
"You're such an idiot."
"But a very cute idiot, right?" He asked, resting his head against Hermione. She smiled as she closed her eyes again.
"Very cute," she finally said quietly, patting Draco's arm. He chuckled, hugging her a bit more tightly for a second.
They stayed there a few more minutes before Harry walked past the tree, surprising them. He was himself a bit taken aback as he saw them sitting this way, with their clothes still wet as well as their hair. He had gathered all his courage to go and ask Pansy where the couple was, since she had been the one telling Hermione where Draco was in the first place. Surprisingly enough, Pansy hadn't sent him away, she had answered. She hadn't looked very interested by talking to him, though, she hadn't looked at him once. Theo had smiled to Harry without saying anything, but that was it. So, Harry had left the Great Hall too to go find the couple.
"Hi..." He said to Draco, clearly uncomfortable. Draco only nodded before glancing at Hermione again, not removing his arms from around her. "I'm not going to be long, I'm sorry, I just... Did you tell him?" Harry asked Hermione and Draco raised an eyebrow, clearly not aware of what he was talking about.
"About what?" He asked, curious, as he glanced at Harry again.
"Right," Hermione said as she wrinkled her nose. "I got distracted, I'm sorry, Harry," she just said with a little smile. Harry shook his head with the same smile to say that it wasn't a big deal. The fact that he had been able to smile so easily, without forcing himself, had surprised him. Maybe that it was becoming more natural to see Hermione and Draco together, maybe it was becoming easier because he knew that they were happy together, and that Draco wasn't totally bad. Maybe making efforts with him would be easier because he was slowly realizing that he could be something else than a pain in the ass.
Like Hermione had said, maybe they would be able to talk, some day. Find things they had in common, even. Harry knew it would take more time for Ron because his relationship with Draco was even worse. Harry had made his peace with what had happened in the past because he knew more, he had seen more, he had talked to Hermione more than Ron had ever talked about their relationship. But Harry thought that if Ron was seeing that he could do it, that if even he could have a normal relationship with Draco, then his friend would make efforts to. And everything would be better. They'd stop arguing with Hermione and she'd be even happier.
Harry approached a bit more.
"Can I sit?" He then asked, looking at Draco again. Hermione turned her head to try and look at her boyfriend, feeling his arms becoming tighter around her once again. But Draco was smiling.
"Would you look at that... Potter, asking me if he can sit," he said, amused. Harry opened his mouth before closing it, looking away.
"I just don't want to bother-"
"You're not bothering us, Harry, sit," Hermione said with a bigger smile. Harry cleared his throat as he finally sat down on the ground, glancing at Hermione's cloak. He frowned a little, his eyes staying on the Slytherin crest.
"Don't you think this suits her?" Draco asked, capturing his attention again.
"Stop bothering him," Hermione said with the same smile, elbowing Draco who just let out a quiet laugh, shaking his head as he kept looking at Hermione. Harry blinked but smiled a little. The situation was so weird, but Hermione was so happy.
"Anyway," Harry just said to change the subject. "I talked about it to Hermione and Ron yesterday and we thought that we should find a place we could meet at," Harry explained. Draco looked at him again.
"What for?"
"Well... To talk about stuff," Harry said, shrugging. "About what's going on... You know why." Draco only nodded, thinking as he looked at the lake again. "We can't risk being heard by anyone and you can't meet us in our common room."
"I thought about the library but there's still a lot of people going there everyday and if we talk too much, Madam Pince is just going to throw us out. I don't really want that," Hermione said and both Harry and Draco smiled a little when she said that. Then, Draco sighed.
"I would have proposed to meet in the Shrieking Shack but... It's not possible. Even if we all use your cloak to go down there without being seen," he said as he nodded at Harry, "We're not going to have the time to walk there every time we want to discuss something."
"Yeah, it would take too long..." Harry said quietly, thinking about it. He wasn't sure that Draco was annoyed by that, though. He probably didn't want to go to the Shrieking Shack with other people too often. It was his hiding place, he had personal stuff there, like they had seen near the mattress... He had lived some really intense things up there. But Harry understood that he would have been willing to let them all go there if they had really needed to.
"I thought, maybe... Up the Clock Tower," Hermione said quietly too, glancing at her boyfriend. Draco grimaced and Harry raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?" He asked Draco, narrowing his eyes for a second. Draco only shrugged.
"We used to meet there," Hermione explained, looking at her friend again. "Before the ball... During the first months of the school year," she added. Harry opened his mouth a little, like he was about to say something, but apparently, no words were coming out. He only nodded before closing it.
"When you and Ginny were telling us you were going to the library or somewhere else?" He then asked as he met Hermione's eyes. Draco snorted and Hermione felt her cheeks becoming warmer before she nodded.
"Yeah... Sorry about that," she then said, her grip on Draco's wrist becoming tighter. Harry shook his head, looking at the grass. He took a twig that was on the ground and started to reduce it in little pieces as he stared at it.
"It's alright," he said. "It's not like you had a choice."
"Still, we're easily heard in there. We had to shut up every time someone was walking by. Remember that guy who asked a girl for the ball? We heard him from where we were because everything's opened. It's still risky, don't you think?" Draco said as he shook his head. "What we need would be... A disused classroom or something." Hermione straightened up a little, her hands leaving Draco's wrist to go on his knees. She had been suddenly struck by an idea.
"Like classroom 6B!" She exclaimed, turning to look at Draco. He nodded directly before looking at Harry.
"What'd you say?" He asked. Harry, his eyebrows raised, stared at the both of them.
"Classroom 6B?"
"On the sixth floor," Draco said.
"We have Study of Ancient Runes in Classroom 6A, next-door to Classroom 6B. This class has not been used for a long time," Hermione explained.
"Are you sure about this?" Harry asked. Draco nodded.
"Yeah, Pansy told me it was when I found her-" He stopped himself, blinking as he frowned a little. He shook his head before he shrugged. "Back in second year, she told me it was disused. That it was already like that during our first year. We don't even know what they used to teach in there. It should do it, don't you think?" He then asked, glancing at Hermione who nodded.
"Ok, then, I trust you," Harry said as he glanced at both Hermione and Draco, nodding. "If we need to meet and that you're not around, we'll send you a note with the time or something. It'll make things easier." Finding each other in the castle all the time wasn't the easiest thing to do. Even if Harry had the map, being able to contact Draco and make him come to them instead of going to him to then go to the sixth floor would be easier.
Then, there was a little moment of silent. It was a bit awkward, they clearly didn't know what to say to each other. So, after a minute, Draco took a deep breath.
"So, any idea of what the third task will be?" He asked Harry.
"Er- No," Harry just said, shaking his head. He hadn't even thought about it with everything that was going on.
"Don't procrastinate like you always do, Harry," Hermione said. "What if this time, you're not as lucky as you were for the two first tasks?"
"I'm not going to procrastinate!" Harry said, frowning. Well, he didn't know how he would find out about the task at all, actually. They didn't receive a clue, after the lake. "Anyway," he said to stop talking about it. "The break is almost over, we have Herbology after, Hermione, you guys should... Dry yourself or something," he just said as he stood up again. "I see you there," he then added to Hermione before he left the couple for a last moment alone.
The days were going by and sometimes, the four of them were meeting in the disused classroom. Draco had soon got an answer from his father, unlike Ron who was still waiting. This created their first meeting. Lucius was only able to tell his son that Crouch was indeed absent from the Ministry and that he had been for a while. People were handling everything there and he was only sending a few owls. They didn't have much more information about it nor for Bertha Jorkins. But Lucius had clearly stated that he was hardly believing she was lost in Albania, no matter how stupid that woman was. Not when she had disappeared for so long. Either something had happened to her, either she had chosen not to come back, which would be quite odd and that was probably why the Ministry was creating excuses for her disappearance. What had happened, he couldn't tell. But something was fishy. Harry took care of sending a letter to Sirius to keep him updated, as well as some food.
The Easter holidays were approaching rapidly and they had so much work that Draco and Hermione were barely able to spend some free time with each other. Plus, when Hermione wasn't doing her homework, she was trying to discover how Rita Skeeter was able to listen to people's conversation when she wasn't supposed to be on the grounds. Fortunately, she didn't ask Draco for his help. Instead, she let him work on his own homework near her in the library and often sleep next to her as the cycle was approaching and that Draco was getting more and more tired.
Then, and almost at the end of the holidays, which Draco had spent in the castle, surprising both his parents, Ron finally got a letter back from Percy. They didn't got much more than what Draco had received and the boy was glad Ron hadn't told him anything about it, after the argument they had had in the Owlery. They were both trying really hard to not argue with each other, not wanting Hermione to be mad at them. So, instead of fighting, they were simply not really talking to each other. They could handle having the other around when they were meeting, but they were most of the time not talking directly to the other, they were usually talking to the whole group.
.
Draco was becoming more relaxed as time was passing. Nothing was happening, nothing was changing, everyone was waiting for the third task to take place very impatiently. But they still had time. So, he was able to work hard to achieve better grades than he had the year before and he was dealing with the cycles like he could, but he was definitely in a better mood. Hermione could see his face brighten every time he was getting a letter from Lupin or from his parents, he was more talkative and often teasing her, showing that he was definitely feeling better.
It was only at the end of May that something new happened. They didn't know, at first. Harry had to go to the Quidditch field at the end of the day to be told about the task. Draco had gone to Snape's office to take his last potion before leaving for the Shrieking Shack and Ron and Hermione had stayed in the Gryffindor Tower, waiting for Harry to come back. What they didn't know was that during this time, Crouch had reappeared while Harry was talking with Krum about Quidditch, near the Forest, and he was acting mad.
Draco was walking with his professor when they heard someone shouting in the hallways. Snape had stopped, stretching his arm in front of Draco to make him stop too as he listened. They clearly recognized Harry and Draco directly followed his godfather to discover the Champion in front of a gargoyle. He had been about to leave when Snape had shouted his name.
"What are you doing here, Potter?" He then asked, approaching Harry. Draco was staring at him, looking sick and tired. And Harry was looking very nervous. He only met Draco's eyes for a second before he talked quickly, saying that he was looking for Dumbledore.
"Mr. Crouch turned up in the Forest, he's asking for Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed. Draco's heart skipped a beat and he looked at Snape who just narrowed is eyes.
Of course, Snape wasn't believing him. Draco wanted to shout to just give him the password, as Harry was asking, and then leave him alone, but Snape didn't seem to be about to do that. It's only when Dumbledore himself appeared as Harry was saying that Crouch had lost his mind that the situation changed. Dumbledore left directly with Harry, leaving Snape pretty bitter.
"What if he's right?" Draco asked quietly as he looked at his godfather. He only got a side-glance from Snape before they started to walk again.
"Right about what?"
"What if what he's saying is true? What if Crouch's down there, crazy?" Draco said even more quietly. "After all, a lot of weird things have been going on and-"
"What do you know?" Snape asked as he turned to face Draco, meeting his eyes and making him stop abruptly. Draco shrugged, finding it easier to lie to Snape than to lie to his parents by letter.
"Nothing. Am I supposed to know something?" He then asked, confident. Snape narrowed his eyes but didn't do anything to see if Draco was lying. If he wanted to try, it would probably be very easy. But he wouldn't do that to Draco, especially not after everything that had happened that year. And Draco knew it. Maybe that's why he was lying easily. "I'm just saying... With what happened at the World Cup, Bertha Jorkins... The guy's not even showing up for his own event..." Draco muttered. Snape narrowed his eyes once again before he turned around.
"Nothing is going on, Draco. Come, now, you don't have any more time to waste," Snape just said before he started to walk again, Draco following him. He was still staring at his godfather, noting that he was lying to him. But Draco knew that it was only for his own good, probably because like his parents, Snape didn't want Draco to be even more anxious than he already was, so he didn't exactly mind his godfather's lie.
.
"But why would Crouch attack Viktor? What if it wasn't him? What if someone attacked them both?" Hermione asked quietly. She was sitting on Draco's hospital bed, facing Harry and Ron who were sitting on the bed next to it. Draco was lying behind Hermione, on his right side, trying to keep his eyes open. When he had arrived in the hospital, Hermione, Potter and Weasley were already there and the situation was explained to him. Harry told him in details what had happened the night before. He had told Hermione and Ron about it already, mentioning that he had crossed path with Draco and Snape, and they had talked during most of the night about it. They all looked really tired, but not as much as Draco who was simply exhausted.
As soon as they had woken up, they had decided to go down to the Great Hall to take some food before going in the hospital wing to talk about it with Draco too. They had to be really quiet not to be heard by Madam Pomfrey who was in her office.
It had taken some time because she had been there when Draco had arrived and she had insisted to check his injuries. But Draco had maintained that he wasn't hurt, that day, and only after making him eat some of the food the trio had, she finally left. He had directly lay down but his curiosity was making him try to stay awake. So he had listened, feeling Hermione's hand going up and down his arm, making him want to sleep even more. But for some reason, he wanted to discuss it with them, he wanted to participate to this meeting. He wanted to share his thoughts.
"It must have been Crouch," Ron said, "And then, he ran away."
"I don't think he had enough strength to Disapparate," Harry said, shaking his head.
"I told you a thousand times that you can't Disapparate on the Hogwarts grounds," Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. Draco slightly smiled as he slowly closed his eyes for a second.
When he opened them again, he was a bit startled and he noticed that he had missed a part of the conversation. He had been falling asleep, he wasn't listening anymore but when Harry had said Voldemort's name, he hadn't been able to suppress his feelings. He had noticed that Hermione had looked at him for a moment before staring at her friends again.
"If only Snape hadn't acted like that... "The Headmaster is busy, Potter... What's this rubbish, Potter?" Seriously, why couldn't he have just left? Weren't you two in a hurry?" Harry asked as he looked at Draco, meeting his tired eyes.
Draco couldn't help but sigh as he shrugged.
"He's just... I tried to talk to him, actually," he articulated slowly, also catching Ron's attention. "Kept saying that nothing's going on. Of course, I haven't told him anything about what we know... But I said that some stuff was weird, that it looked like something was happening. Lied to my face." Hermione squeezed his arm for a second and Draco glanced at her, trying to give her a weak smile to tell her that it was fine.
"And... He didn't leave you, right?" Ron asked Draco who looked at the redhead. "I mean, he didn't tell you to go to the Whomping Willow alone after that, right?"
"No, he did not," Draco said shortly. "He came with me all the way down there."
"We should go talk to Professor Moody," Hermione said just in case Draco would be annoyed by Ron's accusations. "We should try to find out if he's found Mr. Crouch."
"Well, he had my map," Harry said.
"Your map?" Draco asked before he yawned, barely hiding his mouth behind his hand.
"It's magical," Hermione said, looking at Draco and resisting the need of putting her hand on his cheek and to move his hair from his forehead. She knew her friends were still uncomfortable with them but Draco was looking so miserable that she just wanted to be loving. "He got it last year... It's a long story but basically, it shows everyone in Hogwarts. It also shows some secret passages. I have to admit, it's quite useful."
"And to think that you wanted him to give it back to Filch when he got it," Ron laughed. Draco slightly smiled as he looked at his girlfriend. It wasn't surprising. If Filch had it to begin with, it was probably something forbidden. But indeed, it sounded quite useful. Draco frowned a little, thinking.
"It shows secret passages?" He asked quietly. Harry nodded.
"Yeah, there's seven of them. Filch knows about four of them. It also shows the one under the Whomping Willow but I didn't know where it was leading to, the map only shows what's on the Hogwarts grounds," Harry explained. Draco slightly nodded, interested. "That's actually how I was able to go to Hogsmeade, last year," he then confessed, staring at Draco who frowned again. Then, he seemed to understand.
"Under your cloak, yeah... Then you attacked me," he said with a little smirk. Harry snorted.
"And because of you, Snape confiscated the map, and Lupin got it back. He didn't give it back to me until the end of the year, when he left, because I told him about Peter Pettigrew," Harry explained. Draco opened his mouth for a second, glancing at Hermione before looking at Harry again.
"That map... It's just a blank parchment?" He asked.
"Until you say the right words, it looks like it, yeah. You've seen it?"
Draco nodded again. It was the thing Lupin had been looking at one day when Draco had gone to talk to him. It was during the time Lupin had paid a bit less attention to him. He had wondered about it only for a moment, but it got out of his mind pretty quickly, he was too upset at the time.
"But if Crouch was already outside the grounds, it was no use to Moody," Ron said.
"Then, we're going to talk to him," Hermione said.
After deciding that it was too early and that they didn't want to take the risk of waking him up, just in case they'd end up injured or dead, they decided to go send a letter to Sirius to inform him about the situation. Ron and Harry were the first to leave the hospital and they waited for Hermione outside.
"Now, you should get some rest," she said as she smiled at Draco who only nodded a little, blinking slowly before keeping his eyes closed.
"Yeah..." He let out quietly.
"We'll go see Professor Moody and I'll come tell you everything we know in due time, alright?" Draco nodded, showing that he was still awake but she could see his body starting to relax. She softly smiled and finally, her fingers came to move his hair from his forehead and she let them on the back of his head. "Do you want me to take notes for you during History of Magic?" She then asked more quietly. Draco swallowed his spit, taking a deep breath to be able to talk.
"Don't worry," he said, his articulation being a bit more sloppy, "Pansy's been doing it for me since last year..." Then, he yawned, moving his head a bit. Hermione frowned and cupped his face with her hands.
"Wait," she said quietly. Draco barely opened one of his eyes as she turned his head on the other side.
"What is it?" He mumbled. He felt Hermione's fingers softly touching the skin on his forehead, near his right temple. He felt an unpleasant sensation that made him close his eyes a bit more harder as he frowned.
"Just... Sleep, ok? Get some rest... I'll come back in a few hours," she just whispered with a sad smile before she leaned, kissing his cheek softly. Draco smiled a little and turned his head, weakly gripping her wrists.
"Kiss me goodnight..." He said, too tired to care that it was the morning. Hermione smiled a little before leaning again, pressing their lips softly together. She left Draco with a cute little smile on his face and she was sure that he was asleep already when she reached Madam Pomfrey's office. She knocked before walking in.
"Madam Pomfrey, I hope I'm not bothering you," she said quietly. The nurse looked up at Hermione.
"What is it?" She asked, removing the glasses she was using to read the piece of parchment she had on her desk.
"I saw a cut on Draco's face," she said, glancing behind her. "We probably didn't see it because of his hair," she then said, touching her right temple, near her hairline to show where it was. "I'm not sure how he got it, it's not really big so I'm not sure he did it himself... I thought you'd like to know, just to check. I didn't touch it but it seemed to hurt."
She only left the hospital wing after this, looking a bit distracted when she joined Harry and Ron who were sitting on a bench near the doors. Even she wasn't focused on History of Magic. Not only because of how tired she was -she couldn't even dare imagine how tired Draco was after such a night, seeing how having only a few hours of sleep was affecting her-, but also because she was thinking about this scratch on Draco's forehead. He had seemed so sure he hadn't hurt himself during the night, he probably just hadn't noticed it. Even if it was hurting, he had probably thought it was because he was tired. He was often complaining about having headaches when the cycle was approaching and that he was getting really tired.
She could remember how he had become tense just by feeling her fingers near it. She was hoping that Madam Pomfrey would be able to ease the pain quickly. But knowing her talent, she probably would.
They only went to find Moody after that class. They had hurried to be able to talk to him before going to their next class. Unfortunately, they didn't learn anything helpful. Apparently, Moody hadn't found Crouch and he just wanted Hermione and Ron to help Harry practice for the last task. After that, they just went back to class and later that day, Hermione went to see Draco again, who was sitting on his bed, leaning against his pillow and chatting with Pansy and Theo who were on chairs near the bed. Theo had still no clue about what was going on with him, but he had been very eager to go to the hospital wing with Pansy to make sure Draco was alright.
Hermione smiled to Pansy and Theo when she walked towards them. Theo gave her a big smile while Pansy only nodded. Hermione had never talked to Draco about it but she and Pansy were still quite uncomfortable around each other. A bit like Draco and Harry were. At least, it wasn't like Draco was when Ron was around, so it was something already.
"Are you feeling better?" She asked. Draco was still looking very tired and she was sure he was, but he had slept a big part of the day and she knew he would sleep again once they would be all gone. She felt his fingers on her hand and he pulled her closer, wanting her to sit next to him.
She sat on the edge of the bed, looking at him and letting him lean to peck her lips. She smiled shyly and glanced at his forehead. She could see the dressing under his hair and she met his eyes.
"Better. Thank you," he added, pointing at his head.
"What for?" Hermione asked as she smiled, holding his hand a bit more tightly.
"That's what you were checking, weren't you? You told Pomfrey about it, didn't you? I didn't know why my head was hurting so bad... I thought I was just... Tired. So, thank you. It's better, now."
"Do you know how it happened?" She asked. Draco understood. She couldn't ask directly if he had done that himself because of Theo, but he got it.
"Yeah... Yeah, I know."
Giving the sad and strained smile he gave her after saying that, she understood that he had indeed done that to himself. She felt like climbing on the bed to hug him, and keep him in her arms for a while. She kind of knew how he was probably feeling like. But she also knew that if she was doing that, it would be worse. If they were leaving the hospital, it would be worse. He would be alone and be obsessed with it. He was already really self-conscious. Fortunately, it really wasn't a huge scratch and there was only one. But it was there and it would stay there. And even if the other students might believe he had bumped his head against something that had cut him, he would always know that he was the reason he had this scar.