Chapter 12
Hours after Draco and Hermione had eaten the stale, mealy muffins, Hermione had managed to make a small camp fire. The sun had set on them, leaving them engulfed in a dark and lonely blackness, as heavy as a woolen blanket during the heat of summer. They hadn't said much to each other after their altercation, which suited Hermione just fine. She had no clue what to make of him anymore, and felt as though she were somehow betraying Ron and Harry by extending any kindness and consideration to the youngest Malfoy. She knew that was ridiculous, of course, but the feeling was there just the same. She mentally juxtaposed this new Malfoy with the many variations of him she had the great displeasure of dealing with in her Hogwarts days. He actually pushed Luna out of the way of a curse. That's something. He was fighting along side us, against the Death Eaters, that's something too. Hermione had always pictured Draco as a bit of a coward, always hiding behind, or riding on, the coat-tails of better witches and wizards. The disalusioned prat waltzed around Hogwarts wearing his fathers name like a sheriff's badge, She had thought with , the days of Hermione having to hear "Wait till my father hears about this!" were long gone, just as dead and rotted as her dreams of running a charity organization directed towards house-elves.
"I think we should avoid aparating for a little while," Draco said, pulling Hermione out of her thoughts. "I vaguely remember someone mentioning to me that they were working on a way to track aparition, much like they began tracking the floo network. I didn't factor that in when I aparated us here."
Hermione shuddered to think of all the times she had apareted all over England lately. She hadn't known they were working on that, but she should be smart enough to factor in the possibility of anything. Idiot girl, Hermione mentally chided herself.
"Than I agree," She answered slowly, staring into the fire. It was very warm in England for late April, and she felt her self sweating. But she didn't want to move a way from the fire, having no desire to be hidden from view in the unrelenting darkness. "How many Death Eaters are there now? I would imagine you have a lot of people joining out of fear..."
Draco seemed to mull the question over very carefully before answering.
"I can't be sure. I was not permitted to leave the Manor much over the past year, and I wasn't important enough to be kept in the know on The Dark Lord's business. About half a year ago they stopped including my father and I in meetings. Meetings they were having in my own fucking home," Draco said bitterly. "I did see a few new faces around the Manor, Tiberius McLaggen being one of them."
"Cormac McLaggen's uncle?" Hermione asked, wincing to hear the name.
"Yes and I can assure you's he's just as big of a prat as his sod of a nephew," Draco answered in a serious tone, causing Hermione to snort with laughter, the sound of which made Draco's mouth twitch into a small smile.
"Who was the grey-haired Death Eater back at Grimmauld Place? I recognized Dolohov, Lestrange, and Goyle." Hermione asked, cheeks red from laughing.
"That was Waldorf Greengrass, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass' father," Draco answered with a sigh, looking away wistfully. "The other one was Cassius Parkinson, Pansy Parkinson's father."
"I can see where Pansy acquired her grace and intelligence from," Hermione said, now her turn to make Draco laugh. Someone who didn't know us would think we were just two friends, on a camping trip together. The thought made her cringe inwardly. That same feeling of guilt surfaced, drawing Harry and Ron's faces into view. 'Mione whatcha doing cozying up to this worthless git? She could almost hear Ron asking indignantly. She wouldn't know how to answer him.
"Is Pansy a Death Eater, too?" Hermione asked, fearing she already knew the answer.
"Yes, and ever since my aunt Bella passed, Pansy sees it as her job to fill that void. She's just as creepy and deranged as Bella used to be," Draco responded, looking uncomfortable.
Some how, Hermione was not surprised. She remembered Pansy as a petulant, and needlessly cruel girl, who would attach her self to any one she viewed as powerful.
"What about Daphne and Astoria?' Hermione asked.
"No," Draco shook his head.
"Well if Pansy is one i'm sure they'll be next," Hermione mused out loud.
"You don't know anything about them, Granger," Draco retorted acidly, and his abrupt change in tone startled Hermoine. "I said no, that's a solid no, they aren't Death Eaters and they aren't going to be Death Eaters you absolute git." Draco continued, voice rising a few octaves.
"You're so fucking moody Malfoy and I can't keep up," Hermione retorted, feeling her patience wear thing. One minute he's cracking jokes the next he's calling me names. What an arse!
"You're such a know-it-all! You think you have everyone and everything figured out. I think I would know Daphne and Astoria a tad bit better than you, so I would fucking know it if they were going to become Death Eaters or not, and you wouldn't! But you just have to go interjecting like you are so fucking sure of everything you say! But you don't know shit, Granger!" Draco shouted at her, balling up his fist, his facial features looking cruel and sharp in the flickering fire light.
"If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, chances are it's a duck," Hermione replied coldly, the old muggle idiom coming to mind easily.
Draco smirked at her. "You look like a know-it-all, you walk like a know-it-all, so you must be a know-it-all," he said condescendingly, smiling smugly at her.
"Very mature Malfoy," She shot, back rolling her eyes. "You're just impressing me so much by how different you are from the lot you don't want to be associated with."
"Oh grow up the fuck Hermione. How can you be so dense after I rescued you from a Death eater attack? I should have left your ungrateful arse at that disgusting shanty!" Draco yelled, smug smile dropping off his face like a an under cooked souffle drops when it's pulled out of the oven too soon.
"I wish you would have, you fucking coward. I wouldn't have abandoned my friends to be captured, and/or killed like you chose to," The words flew out of her mouth before she had a chance to filter them, and as they reached Draco's ears she realized she had gone too far.
"Coward? Coward?" He roared at her, jumping to his feet. He was in front of Hermione in an instant, reaching for her wrists. He yanked her into a standing position, causing Hermione to cry out in pain and shock. "SHOW ME WHERE I'm A FUCKING COWARD YOU IGNORANT BITCH!" He screamed in her face, spit flying onto her face in his rage. "Was I A COWARD WHEN I RISKED MY PARENTS LIFE, AND MY OWN LIFE TO GIVE THE ORDER INFORMATION? WAS I A COWARD WHEN I KILLED MY OWN BEST FRIENDS FATHER? OR WAS I A COWARD WHEN I PROTECTED YOU AND THE REST OF THOSE BLITHERING IDIOTS AND YOU ALLOWED MY MOTHER TO DIE?!" He barked in her face, dropping her wrists and pulling his fist up. Hermione flinched away from him, but his fist was already flying towards her face. Her skin prickled when his fist passed by her face, and landed with a loud "Thwack" on the tree that she had been sitting against. He pulled his fist back and stared into her eyes, breathing raggedly.
Her wand was out in an instant, and she re-climbed to her feet to face him.
"Don't you ever lay another hand on me," She spat at him, leaning in close to his face. He didn't respond back, just looked at her with grey eyes full of rage and hurt. He backed a way a few steps, and as the fire illuminated his face, she watched as a lone tear pooled in his eye and escape down his cheek.
He backed up a few more feet, than fell to his knee's with a thud, pulling his hands up to cover his eyes. Hermione stood absolutely still, breath baited, as she waited to see what he would do next. But he did nothing. He remained, unmoving, in that position for a long while, breathing gradually evening out.
Hermione did not know how to feel. She felt offended at the names he had called her, and rage at his audacity to grab her and yank her up. She felt disgust at his display of punching the tree behind her, to accomplish what? To scare her? She felt shame at the names she had called him. She felt pity, for clearly the wizard in front of her was hurting, and unsure of himself, just like she was. She also felt a new weariness surfacing in her mind. He's violent and impulsive. That could be very dangerous for me...