Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me in anyway.

Chapter Seven

Madness in Me

"Just one spark,
Is all it takes,
I tried so hard,
But it all goes up in flames,

Tried to get,
But all I got,
Was more insanity,

I can't get away…"

Madness in Me by Skillet

Saturday September 21st, 1996

Almost midnight– Hallway beside the Hospital Wing

With his back pressing into the cool wall of stone behind him, Draco huffed, looking around to make sure they were alone while adjusting Granger in his arms. The rush of cinnamon made him slightly dizzy, causing him to swallow thickly and shake his head in order to keep thinking. Staring just down the hall from the Hospital Wing, he contemplated his choices, only thinking of the ones that would lead to less attention, but also giving him a hint as to who had attacked the two of them while on patrols.

Ignoring the stupid smell of Granger, he thought about one of his choices, which was to bring her inside to make sure she was not badly hurt, but that choice would also end in having to explain what exactly happened to Madam Pomfrey. Explaining what really happened was not an option for him if he wanted to figure out who attacked them, and the attacker, which Draco assumed was a girl, was obviously there to attack him, not Granger.

If his assumption were correct, that would mean it was someone who knew exactly where he was, and that 'she' possibly knew about his task as well as him being a death eater. Saying that this could potentially be a problem for Draco was a gross understatement, and it was rather worrisome to say the least. He paused that thought about the attacker, sighed taking three diminutive steps in the direction of the hospital wing, then stopped again.

Thinking about the other choice he had, he almost smirked to himself, the thought of putting Granger down upon the ground near a wall or something, and leave her there, if asked he could say he left her outside the prefect's room after the patrols. Even if she were to talk about what she saw, or attempt to explain the attack in any way, he could play it off saying he has no idea what she on about.

Looking around once more, he decided the latter was indeed his best option, and then bent down to gently place her upon the cold stone floor, as he noted her dress robes were definitely askew. Looking upon her still features, he blinked twice, noticing the small freckles dusted upon the pale smooth skin of her somewhat defined cheeks and across her nose. It was obvious Granger had a definite distinctive beauty about her, not that he would ever say it aloud, or let himself to think of it again, but it was still true nonetheless.

With one last look, he stood, fixing his robes, looking around once more to make sure no one was watching him, and then started towards the dungeons needing sleep rather badly. Walking away from Granger as quickly as he could, he pointed his wand muttering a dim lumos to light his way. Ignoring the paintings telling him to put the light out, he turned the corner fallowing the stairs downwards, and could not help but feel a little off, almost guilty.

'It was my best option to find out who was after me, and why…' He thought to himself, fallowing the corridor down towards the Slytherin's common room while attempting to convince himself that it was for the best.

Stopping once in front of the opening of the common rooms, he mumbled the password, walking inside then in the direction of his room, he stopped when he realized he was not alone. Looking to his right, Draco saw none other than Blaise Zabini, sitting upon a black leather couch with a look of certain curiosity aimed at him.

"I would presume you were out late because of patrols, but then I would remind you they end around a quarter after ten." Zabini said briskly with an irritated click of his tongue while he lazily crossed his legs and for a second he lifted his lip slightly over his teeth into an almost sneer, but then dropped it. "Out of curiosity may I ask why you are always coming back rather late, in the middle of the night actually and usually long after most of us have gone to bed?" Draco scoffed aloud in annoyance, looking at his mocha friend while shaking his head lightly at what Blaise was asking.

"What are you on about Zabini?" He snapped, thumbing the cool metal of his Malfoy ring for a second then reaching to undo his tie as he gave Blaise an annoyed sneer. Watching his friend uncross his legs, standing with an exasperated sigh, Draco knew Blaise was determined to find something, anything. "Whatever you think, I am doing, I can assure you it would be in your best interest to stop now, stay out of it, because it is none of your business, now is it?" he started towards their room about to leave when he heard his friend speak.

"Look mate, I know when something is going on with you, it's rather obvious and for the past two weeks, you have not been the Draco I have known…" he paused as Draco turned to look at his friend with a huff. "As a friend, I have noticed, hell, Pansy pointed it out the first day back on the train and everything that has happened over the summer for you, I may not understand what you are going through, but you're not alone…"

Even after listening to what his friend had said, Draco could not help still feel alone, because even though his two friends told him they were here for him, they did not understand. Neither of them would ever truly understand. Just when he was about to tell Zabini there was nothing going on, the entrance door to the common rooms swung open. There stood Pansy for a second as she then stormed inside stopping just before them, and proceeded to eye both of them.

"Where, have you been?" she hissed venomously at Draco, as he gritted his teeth in annoyance while she almost completely ignored Blaise. Staring down at his fuming friend, he could not help but feel like the two of them were watching him too closely for his comfort. "Patrols ended almost two hours ago, and I waited at the prefect's room for you. You know, where you are supposed to sign your name after patrols and lock up the room. Good thing I was there, because I had to do that for you so you don't get in any trouble…" She gave him a pointed look, stepping closer towards him while raising her eyebrows at him probably in order to elicit some sort of explanation.

Sneering to himself for a second then switching to a stoic expression, as he stood there obviously annoyed and rolling his eyes with a sigh. When will everyone just leave him alone, and let him do whatever he needed to do without drawing any attention. Grabbing his face for a second, looking between the two friends, with frowning brows, he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I do not have to explain myself to either of you, but if you must know, Granger told me she was going to write our names and lock up the room, so I went for a walk around the castle for a little bit in order to clear my head." He gruffly lied, in order to silence the two of them, just hoping that they would both believe him, if only until he could come up with a better lie. Trying to avoid looking Pansy in the eyes, Draco glanced towards Blaise who was currently shaking his head.

"I want you to know, whatever, you want to it keep to yourself that's fine. As you told me before, it may be none of my business, but I can assure you, I will find out eventually. I will not sit here knowing you are probably in some sort of trouble." Pansy bit at him lifting her hand to give his chest a hard singular poke, as he still looked elsewhere annoyed by her pestering. "Who knows what could have happened to you tonight…" she added almost haughtily and that caught Draco's attention rather quickly causing his steely eyes to snap in her direction.

"What exactly, do you mean by, 'who knows what could have happened to you tonight', Parkinson?" he growled to her under a hot huffed exhale of his breath.

'What was she doing waiting for me outside the prefect's room anyways?' Draco wondered as she closed her lips tightly, with a raised brow, and a rather terse shrug, and then walked past him towards the stairs. He wanted to make her tell him what had been talking about, but he also knew no one, made Pansy do something she does not want to. It was one of the reasons he was so surprised she accepted Weasley as her lab partner without a fight.

With one short look at Blaise one last time, he sharply spun in his leather dress shoes, to go up the stairs into his dorm room and towards his bed for the night. Once changed into black silky pajamas, he slid into his bed as his head began racing with several thoughts.

'Could Pansy have been the one to attack Granger and I? If so, why?' he wondered thinking about what happened, recalling the girl voice shouting spells at him down the long narrow corridor. He thought about the attacker, who defiantly directed the spells towards him, and not at Granger, which is not what Pansy would do. If Pansy had a chance to hurt Granger, she would have without any hesitation at all, but even so, he had to make sure.

Draco then remembered Granger, who currently could probably still be lying on the hard cold ground hurt while he was inside his warm comfy bed. Yawning slightly he knew he should have taken her to the hospital wing, but decided it was too late to take it back. Then, he fell into the darkness, as sleep claimed him.

"Feeling my way through the darkness,
Guided by a beating heart,
I can't tell where the journey will end,
But I know where to start…"

Wake me up by Avicii

Patrols- Quarter until Ten at Night

Friday September 20th, 1996

"Why are we stopping?" She whispered harshly, a little worried by what he was doing; she then took a step closer to him raising her wand. Watching Malfoy closely as he paused and she waited for him to answer while he narrowed his eyes looking towards her. "Malfoy, honestly, will you-" she started to talk, but he just shushed her, waving a hand dismissively at her. Then she heard a scuffling sound, coming from behind her, as he turned to look towards the sound.

Then out of nowhere, a bright light started to glow from the other end of the corridor, as Hermione turned, hearing a spell suddenly shouted, by what sounded as a girl. She was about to block the spell herself when Malfoy roughly shoved her out of the way and into the cool wall of stone. The second she hit the wall, she had the air knocked out of her, with a gasp, she then looked at Malfoy to see him throwing up his wand to block the spell. He then looked towards her, as she pressed into the wall, with her wand missing.

"Damn it Granger… Stupefy!" Malfoy snapped aloud, as she watched him throw the spell at the shadowy figure that then blocked it, and threw a second curse that went flying through the air at him. Feeling around on the ground for her wand, he then abruptly yanked her upwards and pulling her to her feet. Looking down the hallway for the attacker, she then saw yet another spell flying towards the two of them, and she panicked.

"Malfoy- look out!" She shouted yanking him towards her and around the corner with her. In slow motion, he fell on top of her with a grunt as she felt a sharp pain the second her head hit the stone cold flooring, while the ball of magic flew into what she assumed to be the wall, just missing them. Rolling to his left side off her, she listened to him stand up with a huff. "My wand… I- need my wand…" She whispered to him faintly, her voice was breathless, and her head felt heavy.

She attempted to get up, her head started to spin and she reached for something to help her, as she felt Malfoy bend down, for some unknown reason. Giving him a dazed expression, she opened her mouth, trying to say something while she grabbed at the wall, trying to stand.

"We need, to tell, Professor- that-" she took a step forward forwards, trying to walk but ended up stumbling into his warm toned chest, his musky scent was not helping her head to say the least. Feeling him help steady her, she tried to push off of him, but could not bring herself to do so. "Something is- going… On…." she continued to talk to him as everything began fading quickly, as she felt the darkness grabbing at her...

Eleven in the morning- Hospital Wing

Saturday September 21st, 1996

A dull throbbing pain settled in the back of her head and hushed whispers tugged Hermione awake only enough to know she was not in her familiar bed. It was too hard; the smell of bleach was strong, too clean smelling, and the material was rough against her skin. While she attempted to move, she then realized she was also still inside her dress robes, and not in her normal pajamas. Her muscles ached, feeling stiff, as her eyes felt heavy and her mouth felt dry.

'Where am I? What, happened?' she thought to herself as she weakly tried to feel around, trying to understand what was going on. Several different questions raced through her mind as she tried to swallow.

"Bloody 'ell Harry, do you ever-" the familiar voice started to speak loudly, but then was shushed thickly. Hermione found it a little odd, but brushed it aside with a soft groan, as she licked her dry lips opening her eyes once to a bright light. Blinking at the warm sun bathing her face she squinted to see her two friends standing before her with similar worried expressions. " 'Mione?" she looked towards Ron who gave her a small smile, and sat down upon a chair next her.

"Ron?" she whispered hoarsely, shifting in the bed to sit up slowly, then looked towards Harry who pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Harry?... What, happened?" she added as her two friends looked at one another, then back towards her. When she finally sat up, she touched the back of her head, and with a little wince, she realized she was in the hospital wing.

"See, that's the thing Hermione, we donno… someone found you early this morning, passed out in the corridor. Ginny told us Snape put you with ferret, for patrols because Snape did not think you, were paying attention. He has always hated us, so it's not a surprise really…" Harry huffed reaching to fix his glasses yet again, then continued talking. "Anyways, it looks like you and, Malfoy, finished patrols on time. The room was locked and you both signed out… Zabini and Parkinson said they were with him from eleven until one when they went to bed." Harry said, obviously annoyed, and Hermione noted that he sneered in disgust when he said Malfoy's name.

"I reckon he did this to you 'Mione. It has Ferret's name written all over it…" Ron snarled in a heated anger then scoffed while he shook his head. Pushing what Ron said, she thought about last night, and realized everything was a bit off and fuzzy. Then thinking about walking in the hallway with Malfoy , she remembered them talking about the note he had given her earlier yesterday, but after that it all went blank. No matter how hard she tried to remember what happened, all she ended up doing was making her head hurt more, and she still could not remember anything other than the vague bits and pieces of patrols.

"What do you remember 'Mione?" Ron asked her softly, reaching for her hand in order to comfort her, she assumed. Feeling his rough skin on hers made her feel a little awkward, as she cleared her throat and pulled her hand away to adjust in the bed.

"I barely remember anything about last night… I know I missed dinner because I was studying, then I was late to the meeting…" she said somewhat softly, her voice was almost normal, as she looked towards her two friends. Trying to ignore the slight pang of guilt she felt for letting go of Ron's hand, she looked at Harry and started to talk again. "I remember a little about patrols, talking with Malfoy, but then after that everything goes blank..." she sighed harshly, reaching to rub her head softly, feeling the start of a headache.

"We should go get Madam Pomfrey to come have a look at you…" Harry said softly with a sharp inhale fallowed by an exaggerated sigh. At the sound of her friends retreating footsteps Hermione's gaze drifted towards the window as an owl flew past, as the stream of sunlight grew smaller from the dark clouds moving to cover the sun. Slipping her hand into her pocket to feel the cool smooth paper of the note from yesterday still inside her pocket, she swallowed thickly thinking of Malfoy. Whatever happened, she could not help but feeling like there was something she needed to remember about last night, and to do that it looked like she had to talk with him in order to figure out what.

"I heard the Angels call again

I stopped the screams inside my head,

And just because I fight,
Don't mean that I never learned how to love,

You know devils don't fly,
So don't expect me not to fall…"

Devils Don't Fly by Natalia Kills

Half past five at night- In the Hallway near the Owlery

Saturday September 21st, 1996

Sitting on a stone ledge inside a tuck in the Hallway, Draco looked down at his right hand, tracing his still somewhat tender burnt stretch of skin with his left thumb. His auntie Bella really was insane, because there were plenty of other ways to make sure, only he could read the stupid coin, without, causing him some sort of pain. Rolling his eyes, he reached for his pocket watch to see what time it was, as he shifted in his spot.

When he realized it was almost dinnertime, he slowly stood up, reaching for his leather bag upon the ledge and then slung it onto his shoulder. Gritting his teeth as he thought about this morning, he walked down the hall towards his common room, remembering being questioned for over half an hour by several professors, then questioned by Pansy for another half an hour, yet again. It was exhausting to say the least. Fortunately, the professors bought his story, unfortunately, Pansy knew him rather well, therefore the second he said it, he knew she could tell he was lying.

Whatever was happening with Granger in the hospital wing, there were rumors that she could not even remember what happened last night, and when Madam Pomfrey looked at her, it was noted magic was not involved. Draco knew she had most likely hurt herself when she pulled him on top of her and around the corner. He had no idea why she had pulled him out of the way of a silly stupefy in the first place, but it was also the only time she could have possibly gotten hurt.

'Always have to be the hero, don't you Granger. You just had to be reckless and help… Gryffindors, are so predictable…' he thought to himself with a sneer as he made his way down the corridor, making a right then descending a set of stairs. He knew he needed to talk to her before Monday, which left tomorrow, and she would ask about what happened. It would be annoying, yes, but if he just stuck to his story, he would be fine.

With a huff, he thought about his task with an internal wince, and a tensed jaw. In hopes of finding the room of requirements tonight, Draco decided that he had to miss dinner, and while everyone was there, he would try to find it. He needed to attempt to ready the cabinet for his aunt, because tomorrow night was the night she wanted to work and see if he could pass anything through to her. It would be tricky, and that's why he wanted to practice, for it once at the very least.

Turning down the abandoned hallway, he passed by where it said it should be in that stupid and rather useless book, Hogwarts: A History. The book had said the door would appear if one was truly in need , and at this moment, Draco really needed it. Huffing as he made a complete circle, he looked back at his watch noting dinner was going to end in a half an hour. With a scoff he closed his eyes, trying to will the door to show, he thought to himself. 'I need the room of requirements… I need, the room…' Slowly opening his eyes, for a second he looked back towards the wall of stone before him, and saw nothing.

In a surge of frustration, he growled aloud, and stormed down the passageway towards the stairs. His thoughts were all jumbled together, while he gritted his teeth together and stopped walking. Looking back at the wall, he thought about how he could get inside the room. Then a sudden rush of cinnamon filled his senses as he whipped around half expecting Granger to be standing behind him, but was met with the still empty hallway.

Looking back towards the wall, he saw a small door in front of him, the scent of Granger still lingering in his mind, as he walked to the door. Slowly grabbing the cool brass handle, he pulled open the door, to see endless stacks of random things. With boxes, old books, cloth-covered furniture stacked around the room and aside from his mind playing tricks on him with the smell of cinnamon, it smelt rather musty and distinctively old.

Draco shut the door behind him, as he made his way fallowing a path, looking around the room for a cabinet of sorts, and saw a dusty cream-colored sheet lying on top of exactly what he was looking for. With a raised eyebrow and a stoic expression, he walked over to it, reaching to toss the sheet off and on to the floor. As he pulled his wand from his inside robe pocket, felt rather relaxed as he thought.

'Found it…' he thought coldly.