A/N: I don't really have much to say except for that I am loving getting to see into the reader's thought process while reading my fic through your kind reviews! Just as a reminder, I am very open to constructive criticism as long as it is constructive! Also thank you so much for 100 reviews? That's crazy?! Anyways, here's Chapter Nine!
Oh! Here's something! A reader (MoonLitCelestial) suggested that I have Hermione give Draco a pen, and what do you know? Hermione's giving Draco a pen ;)
Hermione decided to try going to the Room of Requirement for her and Draco's next meeting. Grabbing her Runic texts, some parchment and a warm cloak, Hermione set off that next Monday, hoping to see him there as well.
After walking up to the wall where the door appeared, Hermione waited for about fifteen minutes before giving up and returning to the Common Room. Harry and Ron were busy with something, so the Common Room was relatively empty as Hermione snuck into the Boy's Dormitory to retrieve Harry's map.
Pulling the parchment from his trunk she opened the map and searched for Draco. After a few moments of searching, she found him. He was on the Quidditch Pitch, it seemed, yet no one else was there.
She gave a determined sigh, closed the map, and returned it to Harry's trunk before departing the Common Room to walk down all seven flights of stairs for what felt like the thousandth time that week.
When she finally arrived at the door to the path that led to the Pitch, Hermione realized that she'd forgotten a hat and mittens. Not about to turn back, she transfigured her socks into mittens and pulled the hood of her cloak over her head.
The wind was blowing harshly, picking up the powdery snow and throwing it around the grounds. In the distance, she saw Draco sitting on his broomstick, high in the air. She cast a quick Warming charm and casually ran toward him.
"What are you doing?" Hermione yelled against the wind, looking up at Draco, who was staring at the clouds, not bothered by the harsh breeze.
"Thinking," Draco yelled back, not looking down.
"Can you come down here?" she called, getting tired of yelling against the wind. "I-I need to talk to you!"
Draco grabbed his Nimbus 2000 and, with precise speed, flew down to the ground, hopping off gracefully and holding his broom over his shoulder.
"What?" Draco asked, the snow from the wind melting on his eyelashes.
"Can we talk inside? It's about Runes," she said carefully. Well, that and she needed to know what he thought about Muggleborns now that she'd given him a few days to process her words.
Draco glanced at his watch and nodded. Rather than store his broom in the broom shed, he held onto it, probably going to stow it safely away in his dormitory out of concerns for its safety. Harry was the same way with his Firebolt.
Once inside, Hermione led him into the deserted Great Hall to talk.
He adamantly refused to sit at the Gryffindor table, so the two sat at Slytherin's.
"Look, Draco," Hermione started, "I understand that you're probably busy with other… classes, but I need some help with Runes. So I want to continue the meetings. We can split the work 70/30 if you think that would be better."
Draco nodded, "Fine, I'll go to your stupid meetings. But don't expect me to do Runes during all of them because other, er, classes take priority over that."
Hermione agreed, "That's reasonable. Technically, this is supposed to be a meeting and we have," she checked the clock, "over half an hour left."
Draco rolled his eyes but stood up, "Whatever; I'll go."
In an awkward silence, the two climbed up seven floors, both thinking about their fiery conversation about blood supremacy they had a few days ago. When they arrived in front of the room, Hermione let Draco open it.
A tall, black door appeared and Draco pushed the door open. Hermione trailed behind him and peered inside.
Dark green walls were lined with large windows, a stained glass Hogwarts crest in the middle. A small table was surrounded with red, plush chairs, and a small bookcase was behind the desk.
Hermione took a seat cautiously and watched as Draco set his broom down and sat down across the table. "So, I've started to decode it, and so far, it's a factual account of Hogwarts' history. Luckily, I've read Hogwarts, A History an abundant number of times. The essay should be easy enough."
Draco leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on the wooden surface. He asked, "Well, why don't we just skip to the end of the text, find the question and answer it?"
Hermione sighed, "I tried. The Rune is enchanted so you have to decode everything before it to continue on. Also, we wouldn't know what is in the text to use in support of our essay."
Draco dramatically groaned, letting his head hit the table for added flair. Hermione rolled her eyes and asked, "If I translate, could you write?"
She remembered the last time they had this conversation with feelings of disgust, nervousness and hope. Perhaps he had started to change his thoughts.
Draco raised his head and made eye contact with Hermione, and it was obvious to her that he had similar thoughts at the mention of writing. He shook his head slightly and went to grab some ink and parchment before realizing that he didn't bring his book bag.
"I don't have my things," he said.
"It's fine," Hermione replied, digging through her bag for something, "You can use this."
She grabbed a ballpoint pen and placed it in his hand. He looked down, about to object before closing his mouth and giving her a curt nod of thanks.
After giving him some parchment to write on, she began to translate, referencing her ancient runes textbook a few times.
"Rowena Ravenclaw," she said as Draco scribbled furiously away, "was best known for her brands- wait, no, that's not it," Hermione paused, squinting at the ruin, "Ah. Brains. Rowena Ravenclaw was best known for her brains."
Draco smirked at her mistake, causing Hermione to glare slightly at him before she kept reading.
They continued on like this until the bell rang, which they luckily could hear from in the room, when they packed up.
Draco stacked the papers into a neat pile and handed them to her to stow away in her bag. He clicked the pen shut and reached out to give back to her, but she refused.
"You can have it; I have too many. Besides you could probably use it," she stood up from her seat.
"I-" Draco began, about to refuse. He looked up to meet Hermione's eyesight and nodded, accepting the Muggle contraption, "Okay."
Hermione smiled slightly and began to leave the room. She paused to say, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."
Draco, crossing his arms, nodded and sat very still, deep in thought. Hermione left, closed the door gently and began walking to meet her friends for lunch. She had been curious as to why Draco wasn't eating, but she supposed that he had likely prioritized his mission over necessities like food and sleep.
When she sat beside Harry and across from Ron, they were discussing Katie Bell and Quidditch.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," Harry moaned. "We're short a chaser and we play in a month!"
Hermione had an idea. "Say, Ron," she asked casually, "How are you at chasing?"
Ron looked at Hermione with a confused expression. Although he still didn't talk to her much, he responded, "I'm alright. I mean, I'm better than the average person, but nothing too special."
Harry perked up. "Hermione, what are you getting at?"
She smiled, "What if Ron replaced Katie? That way he could play on the team and you don't have to go through the process of holding re-tryouts."
Harry exclaimed, "Brilliant! Ron, I'd say with some practice, you'd do just fine!"
Ron looked delighted at the idea and glanced at Harry, "Do you think so? Honestly?"
Harry nodded enthusiastically.
"This is great!" Ron exclaimed, "Bloody Hell, Hermione, thanks!"
Hermione could have cried. She was so relieved that she had regained a bit of Ron's trust. "Of course! Ron, trust me. I know you will do great."
Ron smiled as the trio finished their lunch in light spirits.
"Patrols?" Ron complained to Hermione after dinner later that night, "Why don't they just make the fifth year prefects do that?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, trying to concentrate on the game of Wizard's Chess that she was playing with him. "Because, Ronald, it is important that Hogwarts has role models that will keep it's students safe and in line. Besides, it won't be that bad. I mean, just be thankful that they didn't start them until October this year."
"Yeah," Ron grumbled, moving a piece angrily, "well I think it's bloody stupid. It's not like anything ever happens on patrol nights."
Hermione scoffed, "What about when you two opened the Chamber of Secrets past curfew? Or when we found the Sorcerer's Stone late at night? Or finding Pettigrew and Lupin in the Shrieking Shack? Or-"
"Alright, alright," Ron jokingly surrendered, putting his hands up, "I'll stop complaining."
Hermione smiled and moved a new piece. Harry, sitting in an armchair and flipping through the pages of the Half-Blood Prince book, grinned at his two friend's banter.
After noticing what Harry was reading and realizing that she had never switched Draco's copy of Advanced Potion-making, Hermione felt an oncoming sense of dread. So, due to her forgetfulness, Draco and Harry both had access to the Half-Blood Prince's horrid advice.
On top of that, it was much too late to return the original copy of the book to Draco, so Hermione would have to live with her mistake and it's possible consequences.
"Checkmate."
Prefect Schedule, read the announcement board in the Gryffindor Common Room, For The Week of October 14.
Monday: 10:00-12:00
Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger (Floors B-3)
Pansy Parkinson, Ronald Weasley (Floors 4-7)
Hermione didn't bother to read the rest of it, as this meant that Draco would be her Patrol partner, at least for the time being.
"I don't want to spend two hours with Parkinson," Ron complained after seeing the list.
"At least you don't have to patrol with Malfoy," Harry teased, also reading the schedule and elbowing Hermione lightly.
She laughed and crossed her arms defiantly.
Her watch read 9:50, meaning that curfew was about to end and that Ron and Hermione would have to start Patrols soon.
She said her good night's and goodbye's to Harry and trudged into the hallway next to Ron.
Stopping at the staircase that she would have to go down, Hermione turned to her friend with a small smile. "Have fun with Pansy Parkinson."
Ron scoffed, "Right. At least it's not Malfoy."
Hermione laughed and descended down the stairs until she reached the staircase leading to the dreary, cold dungeon. She hated going down there for Potions class, and she hated going down there at night and alone even more.
Lumos, she thought, brightening the horrid hallway.
She stood outside the Slytherin Common Room, waiting for Draco. When he failed to appear, Hermione crossed her arms and approached the stone wall.
"Tradition," she tried, hoping she hadn't missed a password update. As a prefect, she had access to all houses' passwords, but that was assuming that she checked often enough to have the correct one.
Apparently, it was correct and she cleared her throat lightly before stepping into the Slytherin Common Room.
Nox, she countered the Lumos spell silently.
When she entered the green, dark common room, all voices ceased talking and all heads turned to face her.
Blaise Zabini, a sixth year in her Potions class stood up and eyed her suspiciously.
"What do you need, Granger?" he asked, crossing his arms.
She didn't answer. "Would you go get Draco Malfoy from the boy's dormitory for me, Zabini?"
He narrowed his eyes, "Why?"
"Prefect business."
Blaise nodded and strolled into the dormitories.
Hermione stood impatiently by the door, waiting for his return. While waiting, she didn't miss the comments given by the two third years sitting by the windows with a view into the lake's aquarium.
"I heard she's a mudblood," he whispered to his friend.
"Don't be ridiculous," the other, a girl with dark hair and a doubtful expression, scolded, "Her and Malfoy were talking out on the Quidditch Pitch earlier today and he wouldn't dare talk to one of those people."
The boy nodded and Hermione was grateful to see Blaise return, Draco trailing angrily behind.
"What the fuck, Granger?" Draco asked, his tone groggy and his hair thoroughly disheveled. Wearing trousers, a white top, a tie and a green sweater on top of it, Draco looked tired. He had obviously been sleeping, which Hermione found strange since it was only ten o'clock.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at his appearance and replied, "We have patrols."
Draco began to turn around, ready to go back to his dormitory and continue sleeping, but Blaise, sensing this, grabbed him and pushed him forward.
"Just go, Draco," Blaise rolled his eyes, "so Granger gets out and leaves us alone."
Draco made a face at Blaise as if to say, Seriously? but Blaise shook his head and folded his arms.
"Fine," he grumbled, "Accio shoes."
An expensive pair of shoes came flying out of the boy's dormitory and landed in Draco's waiting hands. He slipped the black Oxfords onto his feet quickly and left the dreary common room with Hermione, but not before he shot a final glare toward Blaise.
"Did I wake you?" Hermione asked with a smirk after they were in the hallway.
Draco growled, "Bugger off. Lumos."
Hermione copied him and the two were off. Silence consumed them and they walked next to each other but alone in their thoughts.
"We have this floor to the third floor until midnight," Hermione said after a while.
"Who has 4 through 7?" Draco asked, peering around.
"Ten points from Hufflepuff," Hermione scolded two Hufflepuffs that were giggling and trying to sneak around. She replied to Draco, "Ron and Pansy."
Draco turned toward her with his eyebrows raised, "That ought to be a… fun patrol."
Hermione chuckled, "I suppose that's one way to put it."
Draco scoffed and continued walking.
"So," Hermione tried, desperate to find out what he thought about blood status now that a few days had passed. She knew that she couldn't just outright ask or he wouldn't answer truthfully, so she decided to try having a normal conversation, "What do you think of Slughorn?"
Slughorn? God, Hermione thought to herself, why did I say that?
Draco raised his eyebrows and shook his head at the strange question but replied, "Wanker."
"Care to elaborate?"
"Even though he's a Slytherin, he so obviously favors Gryffindors."
"How?"
"He gave at least thirty points to you after you answered a few questions. A reasonable professor would give five, maybe," Draco explained as he took five points from a student trying to get upstairs.
"Please," Hermione replied, "The reasonable professor you're describing sounds remarkably similar to Snape. And Snape is, by no means, reasonable."
"Is too!" Draco exclaimed while beginning to climb the stairs to the main floor. "Just because he doesn't molly-coddle Potter doesn't make him unreasonable!"
Hermione shook her head, "No, he just molly-coddles the Slytherins instead, right?"
Draco shot her a glare but didn't comment.
"So I'm right, like always," Hermione declared teasingly, pretending to brag.
He made a face and said, "Granger, you are not always right."
Hermione could see this turning into a blood conversation and prompted, "Okay, when was I wrong?"
Draco raised his eyebrows as though it were obvious and said, "Well, for starters, Rowena Ravenclaw was not known for her brands, despite what you claimed earlier while working on Runes."
"On the contrary," Hermione smiled, "I think that Rowena Ravenclaw could very well have had brands."
Draco shook his head at her joke. "But there are plenty of times when you're wrong."
Hermione took a deep breath, "Was I wrong about our conversation we had earlier?"
And there went her plan to be subtle.
Draco's expression hardened, his jaw clenched and he kept walking, not looking at her. "Depends who you ask."
His tone was clipped and his face was unchanging.
"Okay," Hermione exhaled, "If I was asking you…"
"Granger," Draco stopped walking to turn and face her, his eyebrows deeply furrowed, "Stop it."
"Stop what?" she asked, feigning innocence and ignorance.
"Stop trying to get me to question everything. Stop trying to make me into some bad-Slytherin-turned-good mascot for your cause. Stop it," he asserted.
Hermione felt anger begin to boil and retorted, "I'm not trying to do anything! I'm giving you the facts and you're forming your own opinions on the matter. Is it really so bad to have your own ideas that aren't your father's?"
Draco growled, "You don't know anything about my father. Drop it."
Hermione was about to reply when she heard noises from nearby. She shined her wand toward the source of the noise, revealing a Gryffindor snogging a Slytherin.
"Out," she instructed, "both of you."
The two students tumbled out, the girl giggling and the boy smirking.
"Ten points from Gryffindor and ten points from Slytherin. Romilda, why are you laughing?"
Romilda Vane bit her lip and stopped laughing. The boy, someone Hermione was familiar with but couldn't pin a name on, raised his eyebrows suggestively at Romilda.
"Really, Nott?" Draco gestured to Romilda, "A Gryffindor?"
"Draco," Hermione scolded. "Stop it."
Draco rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Okay, Romilda, you will have detention tomorrow at 9 with McGonagall. And," she turned to the boy, trying to remember his name-
"Theo Nott," Draco supplied.
She nodded, "And, Theo, you will have detention tomorrow at 9 with Snape. Go back to your common rooms."
The two of them left, going in different directions and Hermione sighed angrily.
Draco and Hermione continued their patrols in silence. Hermione hadn't replied to Draco, despite wanting to. When they reached the fourth floor and their patrol was nearing its end, she couldn't contain it any longer.
"Just answer this," she said, not looking at him, "Do you honestly believe it? Or are you restating your father's nonsense?"
Draco's mouth pressed into a thin line and he kept walking, not answering. Hermione bit her lip and continued walking as well. Even if he didn't respond, at least she had given him something to ponder.
They kept walking in silence until her watch beeped, signaling that it was midnight and their patrol was open.
She stopped and turned toward him about to say something when he interrupted her, staring at something on the ground, "I don't know what I believe, Granger. I will admit that some of the things you said… resonated with me. But I can't just change everything I've believed in for my entire life because you said so-"
"But you can, Draco," Hermione encouraged, "Just look at-" she stopped herself from saying Snape's name, knowing that Draco couldn't know that information, at least not yet. "Just look at me. I grew up Muggle and thought wizards to be child's fairytales and witches to be Halloween costumes. But somehow, I changed my mind after learning about what I really was."
"That's different," Draco met her eyes. "The circumstances-"
Hermione looked at him with desperation as she implored, "Stop saying that! It's not different! You can try and say that the circumstances are different and that it changes things, but I think that you know those are just excuses. Is it because you're scared to stray from your family's opinions?"
Bugger. That was too confronting.
"Granger, I…" he trailed off, looking at her eyes with a curious expression, almost pained. He shook his head and stated, "I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight."
He turned around, leaving her and her pleas behind him as he walked away.
Hermione sighed, unhappy with the lack of conversation.