By now, Hermione was no longer thinking about her break up with Ron; as said McGonagall, she had to go on. She had no time to cry over him, there are more important things. She didn't know if she was still feeling something for him, I mean, isn't so easy to forget the crush of your whole teen years; she was hurt, but that's what the world wanted, so she decided to ignore her feeling, lock them up, and manage to go on. They weren't going that bad: since that day, nothing strange happened, Ron hadn't been horrible at her, but they didn't pay much attention to each other. At list they didn't keep fighting every time they meet. It was going all quite well.
It was a sad Wednesday afternoon a week after the meeting; Draco and Hermione were back in the library for the translation of the books, and today more than usual the tension was really heavy and no words dared to break the silence. They haven't said anything to each other since Malfoy insulted Hermione a few days earlier.
"Malfoy." Hermione called coldly, while the other raised his head from the book bored but surprised to be called. "I need help." Malfoy leaned over to see what the problem was. Hermione points to a rune. "I couldn't find it in the book. Do you know how it's translated?"
Malfoy jumped at the mere sight of that rune. This did not escape Hermione, who had learned to look attentive and every little detail. "em .. yes, I think so. It's a particular way to write dr. gr." he explained hoping that the beaver hadn't noticed anything, and that he would not begin to conduct investigations, and instead... "thanks. How did you know that?" -you wished, Malfoy!- he thought, rolling his eyes worriedly. at first he didn't want to tell her, but then he thought it wasn't wrong, and Hermione wouldn't say anything to anyone, why should she? "once the death eaters wrote to each other in ancient runes to reduce the risk of being "caught", and they also used these runes, they are even older than those we study, and they come from other areas of the world."
Hermione seemed thoughtful then asked: "If I can ask, Malfoy, how has it been going with your family since Voldemort fell?" Malfoy blanched instantly while Hermione wondered why she had asked it. It was a personal thing! Malfoy would never answer her. "doesn't matter." He tried to conclude, but let alone if Hermione would have given up.
"I care, please answer me." -Wait, what?! Did I just insisted with Malfoy for answering one of my questions?! Most of all, a PERSONAL question!- Hermione repeated in her head, cursing herself for what she just said.
Malfoy seemed to stiffen and began to heat up a lot. "And why should you care about that?!" he snapped angrily. He took his notebook throwing it in his bag, then pulled up that too and ran to the prefects' (now head's) bathroom, because it reduced the risk of being found.
Hermione stood there dazed, thinking that she must have asked for something really terrible, touched a bare nerve, if he had run away like that. She decided that even though he was Draco Malfoy, her nemesis, who had insulted her for the duration of her years at Hogwarts, and a person that she actually hated; he didn't have to suffer that way either.
She took all her courage, didn't even bother to put the books in order, and went looking for Draco. It didn't take long, she knew he didn't want to be disturbed, so after a while she decided it was almost sensate go searching for him at the prefects' bathroom. As soon as she arrived she found the door ajar, and decided not to enter, but to listen and see what was happening. From the crack between the door and the wall she managed to see Draco leaning against the sink throwing water on his pale face, the splash echoing in the marble room.
He stopped abruptly lifting up his head staring at his reflection in the mirror, almost seeming not to recognize himself. "I'm a monster." he said to himself, his shoulders shivering furiously. He trembled even more and started to sob silently, as holding back everything.
"if they knew, if someone knew what I went through, they wouldn't be pointing at me saying "death eater, death eater!" he sobbed again. Then he raised his left sleeve and with his wand he began to hit the mark with various spells until he bleed. "that's enough! I can no longer." he sighted sitting on the ground with his head between his knees as the blood came out of the mouth of the skull tattooed on his arm, sobbing-hitching silently.
At that point Hermione didn't hold back anymore. She was shaken, a bit shocked; she had never seen him cry. He has always been so superior, cold, aloof, cruel... Without making any noise she opened the door just enough to let her pass, and sneaked up to sit next to Malfoy, then side-hugged him, without thinking about it. Maybe because he seemed a while beast in that moment, and Hermione knew (from the experience with her cat) that was the only way to not being attacked.
She didn't exactly know why she was doing that. He needed help, and she was ready to give him that, after all that stone heart, there was still the heart of a human, to protect. She hadn't forgiven him yet but she was there to help.
"What are you doing here, Granger?!" he asked warming up again. He desperately needed someone to help him. Even if he didn't want to admit it, this time Draco Malfoy, couldn't do everything alone. Or it would succumb to the dark side... again.
"How long have you been here..." Draco continued pointing to the door. Hermione answered immediately, knowing what he was going to say. "since you've arrived. I... I didn't want to... I'm sorry... ." she whispered.
"I don't need your pity Granger! You don't know/"
"how it feels to be broken?! Believe me, I do. I've faced a war, loosed everything; I know." *Drama stop. Hermione looked at him and then frowned, got up and started walking in circle slowly and gesturing like a crazy.
"Draco Malfoy! I hate you! I hate you! I REALLY HATE YOU! and I have not forgiven you for what you did to me yesterday, and for all the past years; but if you believe that I will stay silent, while you cut your veins and you're devoured by remorse, you can forget about it! You will also be my official nemesis, but you are a human in difficulty, and I, as another human, cannot remain indifferent to all this." Hermione snapped at him.
"they have done it so well until now." he whispered, but Hermione heard him anyway. And scolded him with her eyes.
"Oh shut it! Listen here: I know a Draco that's far way better than the one you like to let other see. The Draco that helped me that day in the forest. And even if I've non forgiven you yet, I believe in you. I believe, and I'll never stop to, that you can be better than this. It's just your decision." She looked straight in his eyes to see if he had listened.
"come on, your arm." she said sitting down in front of him. Draco was a little wary at first, but then he let his forearm in the hands of the girl who made a grimace of pain by narrowing her eyes. Then she took the wand from her pocket and with two strokes she healed the cuts that covered the mark.
"Thanks." he had to force himself to say. Never in his entire life he would have expected to say thank you to the girl who was there to support him at the time. "duty." Hermione replied without thinking.
Malfoy made a sad, doubtful expression, but answered the question that had made him freak out: "well... my father is in Azcaban, my mother lives alone in the manor getting depressed, and I answer to all effects of being the son of a death eater, a death eater in my turn, and I suffer all the words of hate about my mistakes." he said, but then he didn't hold back he started a list. "a coward... a person not to trust... a monster." he concluded sadly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't thought ..." Hermione stammered. "don't think about it. Nobody does." "Don't say so." "Everyone has always seen only mistakes, never pain, never tears, or never the reasons of my choices. Why should it be you, a mudblood that I insulted for seven years, the first to notice that there is something else under the mask of the Death Eater?!"
Hermione looked into the eyes of the boy. She no longer saw coldness and hatred; but pain, only pain, regret and sadness. Hell reflected in his iris. Frozen eyes, without joy, the tempest; and for a second her heart constricted at the thought of the boy who had neither help nor choice.
Hermione knew, however, that she hadn't been told everything, just what wasn't exactly shameful or very personal. But it was a step forward, she thought, going from insults to confessing at least a minimum, it was a BIG step forward.
"Come on, you don't want to be seen around with a filthy mudblood" Hermione said encouraging Draco to get up after she got up too.
"Do not tell anything to anybody. Seriously. It's not like that as soon as you get to your room you tell Ginny who tells Parvati who tells Harry who tells Ron who tells Seamus, and in half a second the whole Gryffindor tower knows."
Hermione frowned. "not I am not one of those geese like the Greengrass."
"better for you." Malfoy said going towards the door.
"Absolutely nothing happened." Malfoy stated as if it was an order. "We will get out of here and go in two opposite directions, forever, except for the translation of the books, and like, okay?" he proposed to Hermione thinking it was the right decision.
The girl nodded thoughtfully. "perfect." and with this Draco Malfoy went out of the prefects' bathroom and turned left.
"Perfect." the girl whispered, exiting and turning right. They walked just a bit and then Hermione turned around.
"Malfoy!" she called. with Hermione's surprise He turned around as he heard his Name. "what?" He questioned walking towards her. "just want you to know that I'm here... if you wanna talk. I would enjoy to talk with the Draco of the forbidden forest. We could have been friends." "As if I wanted to be friend with a-" he took a deep breath. "mudblood." This costed him much more than he thought it would. Memories come flashing through his mind and he had to walk away quickly, as far as possible from her.
Next week after the lessons on that rainy Thursday ended, Hermione had to go over to see Morgan, Luna and Ginny, at the library, for homework and study for the herbology test. Being in the previous year, Ginny did not have it, but she wouldn't have missed an opportunity to study with three of the most brilliant witches in all Hogwarts.
After the last lesson of day, All the Gryffindors of the last year were ready to leave D.A.D.A. classroom, which had become an opportunity for them to sleep a lesson. "bye guys, for the next lesson you have to bring me a five-parchment text on today's topic." professor Anemonaeris ordered with severe voice. the students looked at her stunned with wide eyes. they didn't expect their new favorite teacher to do something like this to them. "i'm joking. two-parchments will be okay. and don't forget to study!" she warned as the students' faces relaxed.
Gryffindors exited the room with the Slytherins, then Hermione said goodbye to the others and turned to the library.
When he entered silently she saw Madame Pince sitting behind her desk, who did not pay the slightest attention to Hermione, since she had started coming there every day just like when she studied there some years ago.
The girl instead, go on a few lanes until she found Luna placing her herbology books and notes on a table. "Hey Luna!" called her. "oh, hello Hermione?" Luna replayed a little lost.
"Are you feeling alright?" asked Hermione seeing that her friend was a little pale, and honestly she didn't have a beautiful wax.
"sur\" Luna's eyes widened and the pupils became twice the size of what they were, clinging to one of the tables, and as if she was in a trance, she spoke: "the destinies... will turn... it's time..."
She threw herself on a chair that was near her, which creaked and almost fell by the push she had received. Hermione approached her worried.
"Luna! Are you fine?" she asked screaming. "emm... yes. What happened?" asked Luna bringing a hand to her head in an expression of pain and confusion. "You don't remember?" Hermione asked, still shocked. Luna shook her head. "You just- I don't know how to explain you this..." she mumbled rubbing the back if her neck thinking about what Luna just said, and the dream she had a little time ago.
"well... some days ago, I had a strange dream... a voice told me things, very strange things... I decided to get over it. But now, you said exactly the last words of the prophecy, if it was a prophecy... . You said: "destinies will turn, it's time..." Hermione continued under the careful eyes of Luna.
"and what did your dream say?" Luna asked.
"oh, i don't really remember... maybe something about nemesis and friends that change places, eternal nemesis struggling at the mirror... helped by an unsuspected ally... Saving but loosing... forgiving... past with preset founding together for the descent... defeat evil forever... in a battle without place or time. now that i think about it, maybe i have wrote it on some paper... ." Hermione mumbled after having tried to remember as much she could about her dream.
"ah, interesting." Luna answered her widening her eyes and raising her eyebrows. "are prophecies ever boring?" Hermione asked.
"Do you think we should tell the others?" Luna asked. "naaaaah, they would freak out, too panic... it's just a dream... ." Hermione took a piece of parchment and wrote down every single word she could remember about her dream, that was actually almost an exact copy of the "prophecy".
"...but first I have to tell you something... ." Hermione whispered. "in the prophecy, i can remember this clearly, there was also something about the ancient nemesis, which fought internally... which was helped by those who least expected, who could give what he received..." Hermione began, but was interrupted by Luna "stop, stop, I don't know what you're talking about... but I think you do."
"Yeah... Draco Malfoy." sighted Hermione softly so that absolutely no one heard her apart from her friend. "I think so." Luna replied trying to please Hermione, because she didn't remember, but it seemed sensate. "Except for one thing: who would be the unlikely ally?" she asked pretending not to know, because she knew everything.
"I don't know, I thought I could help him, but it only hurt me more..."
"Forgiving is one of the most difficult challenges of human existence, but the path to redeem yourself, to remedy your mistakes, is even more difficult. For this you need to be two. You can't erase your mistakes if you haven't been forgiven."
Hermione was initially petrified. Then she relaxed for a moment. Now it seemed almost logical to her that Luna had just done what she did... yeah about that... simil-prophecy thing... .
"Yeah, maybe you're right." she replied softly staring at the void for some time.
"sometimes I hear him." Luna said thoughtfully, breaking the silence. Seeing Hermione's confused expression, she added: "Draco." "In what sense?" Hermione frowned. "when he is possessed, it really seems to be captured by his inner demons, by remorse. He cries, he gets angry with himself..." "i know..."the brunette sighed.
"I think he would like to kill himself." "Kill himself?!" Hermione interrupted. "yes Hermione, kill himself." Hermione made a worried face; even if she hadn't forgiven Malfoy yet and she didn't want to have mercy, or pity him, death was too much.
"you see, he was casting spells to cut his mark. I couldn't resist, I went to him and tried to calm him down. It came naturally to me, don't know why... ." Hermione sighted again.
"I know: you are human. We are the most evolved species, the one that reigns over the others. We distinguish ourselves from animals for a single thing: the ability to understand others, the ability to love, to forgive. It is the only thing that distinguishes us from others; only one, but the difference is big don't you think? Without it, we would be just beasts."
Luna was truly a philosopher. She knew how to find an answer to everything, sometimes it was rather strange and very complicated to understand, but other times, come in this case, there is nothing to understand, only two ears to listen.
"I would like to help him, but I don't know how to do it." "No need to know how to do it, just let yourself be, the rest will come by itself." Hermione nodded slowly to Luna's advice.
"Please, help him by youself, I tried, but I was not able, when I found in the heads' bathroom, I tried helped him, really, but he severely imposed not to talk about it again, and repeated that nothing happened, that I was still a mudblood..." said Hermione, who was sitting in a chair in front of Luna squeezing her hands.
"giving advice is one thing, putting it into practice is another. Believe me, I tried, but I wasn't able, it is something that goes beyond my skills. I think some Slytherin girls and boys who know Draco had tried, but is needed for someone very intelligent, literally intelligent from Latin means to deepen, and to get to his stone heart you need to deepen a lot. Maybe it will take time, you've been fighting for years, and I don't think he's used to receiving affection, but he needs it a lot. You must hurry before it is too late." said Luna, settling better in the chair.
"I don't want him to fall. I will try, I promise you. Even if I hate him. Believe me Luna, I can't help but I still hate him." Hermione tried to cheer her friend by putting a hand on her shoulder even if her tone was anything but warm and comforting.
"I wouldn't be so sure... there is a fine line between love and hate..."
before Hermione could argue they heard the library door open and immediately after slamming shut, they also heard the librarian's voice urging the hasty student not to make all that noise. Then, a tornado of red hair and a black storm, appeared near them taking deep breaths, after running to the library.
"Hey girls, sorry we're late." Ginny panted. "Yeah, we've been held back." Morgan apologized as she placed her books on the table. "Oh, Ginny doesn't matter." Luna reassured her while Hermione was still trapped in the previous argument.
"Hermione, why are you so thoughtful?" Ginny asked, noting the lost eyes of her friend. "Nothing." Hermione replied thoughtfully. "oh, okay." Ginny replied too tired to start investigating.
"How beautiful your herbology notes are." Morgan commented watching carefully the notebook open near the pile of books she had just put down on the table. Hermione woke up abruptly from the trance in which she found herself. "Thanks." she answered still out of the current situation. Ginny came over to see what the notes were talking about too. "But it's not your handwriting!" she said very sure.
"I borrowed them because that lesson was so boring that I didn't even take notes." "so whose are they?" Ginny asked in a teasing and curious tone. "It doesn't matter." Hermione replied evasively. "And I also know who they are." Ginny commented. "then why did you ask me?!" Hermione asked annoyed because she couldn't find an escape. "just to play a bit!" Ginny replied laughing. Hermione snorted.
"they're of the boy of the library, isn't it!?" Ginny asked hopping around. Hermione snorted again. "This was a yes!" Ginny said even happier.
"Ah, the boy from the library? I did not know anything about that." Luna said staring at Hermione who looked guilty. "hey, I want to know too!" Morgan said sitting down next to Luna.
"Ah I don't know much either, she didn't reveal anything to me, I found out for myself that she invented something and sneaked here with him." Ginny said that she couldn't resist the urge to tell what she knew to other friends.
"Well done Ginny! Do you want to go and tell Parvati too? Or maybe Pansy Parkinson?!" she scolded her. "For this time I forgive you; just because are Luna and Morgan: friends that I can widely trust, but if it had been someone else, you wouldn't have received a single piece of information from me, or about me forever." Said Hermione at Ginny who had guilty puppy eyes.
"however there is no emotional involvement in all this, I really had just to do things for school!" Hermione justified herself. "yes, of course." Ginny commented, distrusting the words of her friend. "We'll see, we'll see...".
Still no one knew anything about the fact that the boy he met in the library was Malfoy, but Hermione, meeting Luna's gaze, had the feeling that she already knew everything she wanted to hide.
The eyes fixed on her by Ginny, Luna, and Morgan, made her uncomfortable, and also all that topic, so she got out with a: "so?! What have you to look at?! Weren't we here to study herbology, today?!"
The others quickly looked away and took quills, ink and books from their bags ready to revise all herbology, and also quickly if they hoped to be able to go to dinner.
But they had learned one thing: never harass Hermione about the boy from the library, or in any case, in the emotional camp.