Chapter Four
Two hours later found me running late to defense against the dark arts. I'd lost track of time trying to get Riccarda to talk to me again between classes. The woman was driving me mad with her silence.
"Must you always be late?" Ginny teased as I joined her, Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus in the classroom. I wasn't sure why they weren't all waiting outside the door like normal, but I didn't question it. It felt nice to sit down after pacing for half an hour trying to think of ways to get Riccarda to say something.
"It seems so," I returned, smiling.
"What were you doing?" Dean asked.
"Reading," Harry and Ron answered before I could even open my mouth. I shrugged to hide my wince as I let the lie slide.
"I refuse to be ashamed." Before any of them could reply, the door in front of us opened.
"Hello, everyone," a voice said from the front of the classroom. A voice I knew. A voice I'd heard at least once a week in Italy. The voice of Leonardo Monetti De Fiore, my cousin. My eyes snapped up to find his light blue eyes staring at me. They were smiling at me like he thought I should be happy.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head. The light in his eyes faded, replaced with confusion. I stared at him as questions flooded my brain. What was he doing here? How had he found me? Why hadn't he told me he was coming? Why wasn't he using his actual last name? What was going on in Italy? Had he been sent? Did he come to watch me? Were my siblings okay? How was my dinastia faring in the war? What were the Serpe and Lupo planning? Could I go home yet?
"Hermione? Are you okay?" Harry asked, looking at me with concern. I blinked, coming out of my stupor as I looked into his bright green eyes.
I gave a forced smile. "Yeah. Sorry. Just thought of something." Harry nodded, though he didn't look completely convinced.
"My name is Leonardo Monetti." I had to bite my lip to keep from interrupting as my cousin continued talking. He was using his middle name, his mother's maiden name. My dead mother's maiden name. I wanted to punch him. "Today, I'd like to get a feel for what you all can do. So, if you would split off into pairs and practice non-verbal jinxes and shield charms, please."
I followed his orders without looking at him. If I could just get through this class and make it back to my dorm I could think up a plan for how to deal with this.
"Ready?" Ron asked, moving to stand in front of me. I nodded, my mind not really on task. I reacted to his stinging hex without thought, sending it bouncing off the wall behind him and instantly throwing a jelly-leg jinx back. Ron barely managed to get out of the way before it hit the bookcase behind him and broke it in half. The resounding crack managed to bring me out of my thoughts.
"Merlin, Hermione! Why didn't you ask if I was ready?" Ron asked from the floor, staring up at me in shock.
"I'm sorry, Ron. I was just, uh, lost in thought."
"Perhaps you should pay more attention," I froze as Leonardo approached from behind me. "Hermione, was it? Hermione Granger?"
"Yes," I answered through clenched teeth. I hated the sound of that name on his lips. It made me feel dirty.
"Well, Ms. Granger, as impressive as it is that you can do non-verbal magic without focusing, perhaps it would be better for the safety of your friends if you try to keep your mind in the moment."
I glared at him, unable to keep my anger and frustration out of it. "Of course, Professor Monetti." I bit out the name.
"Ms. Granger—"
"What?" I snapped as I swirled to glare at him, daring him to say what I knew he wanted to. He blinked at me, obviously taken aback. If he'd expected for me to happy just to see a friendly face, he'd been dead wrong. If he was here then something had gone wrong at home. That was the only reason Riccarda would send someone here. Not to mention that he hadn't come to me the moment he got to England. He'd hidden behind my dead mother's name.
"Never mind," he finally said into the silence that had permeated the room. His eyes were sad, but his voice was firm, "Get back to work everyone." The students did as he asked, though all of them kept throwing glances my way. Ron was wary of me for the rest of the class, but I was careful not to do anything stupid. As soon as the bells tolled I ran out of the classroom, not even bothering to get my bag. I went straight to the Heads' dorm, needing to be alone.
"Riccarda!" I yelled, both out loud and in my mind, "Where are you? What's going on? Why won't you talk to me? Why the hell is Leonardo here? Did you send him? Talk to me, Riccarda! Talk to me!" I collapsed onto the ground, tears flowing like they hadn't in a long time. I couldn't hold back the body-racking sobs. I let them consume me.
A few seconds later I felt arms come around me, pull me close to a warm body. The arms themselves were unfamiliar, but the magic was not. I buried myself into his chest, passed caring who was holding me and just caring that someone was. I knew I shouldn't; Riccarda had taught me to hold in emotion, but it felt too good to release. Eventually, my tears stopped and I found the courage to look up into the face above me.
"Malfoy," I murmured, rubbing the last of the tears away as my eyes met his.
"Surprised, Granger?" he asked with his trademark smirk. But it was different, somehow. Less sharp — kinder and gentler. He smelled good, like cinnamon and snow. And his eyes were soft molten silver that made my heart skip a beat.
"Not if you've decided to be Nice-Malfoy."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Nice-Malfoy?"
I shrugged the best I could in his tight hold. "There's Nice-Malfoy, who apologizes multiple times in one day and leaves me apples, and there's Normal-Malfoy, who acts like a git all the time and never smiles."
Malfoy's smirk fell as he studied my face. "Can Nice-Malfoy and Normal-Malfoy be the same person?"
I looked into his eyes, trying to gauge if he was serious. "I'm certain they can," I answered quietly.
Malfoy's magic swirled around me, suddenly a little brighter. "You think so?"
I nodded. "Of course. You just have to put forth the effort."
"So no more snarkiness?"
"At least a minimum."
"That's going to be hard."
"I'll help if you need me to." His arms tightened around me a fraction, bringing to my attention the fact that he still hadn't let go of me. And that I hadn't wanted him to. What was wrong with me?
"Why would you do that?" I shrugged again, this time even more awkward than the last.
"Call it the Gryffindor niceness."
"Hufflepuffs are nice. Gryffindors are idiotically brave."
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Call it the Hermione niceness." Malfoy smiled down at me. Actually smiled. It felt like my heart literally stopped for a second.
"I'd like that."
I nodded, dumbly unable to form a coherent sentence with that smile so close to me. "Yeah."
"So, you going to tell me why you were a crying heap on the floor after running from our new professor?" And I was suddenly lucid again. I pushed away from Malfoy, scrambling to my feet.
"No."
"Okay. It's okay." He grabbed my hand to stop me from walking away. "You don't have to tell me anything." I looked into his eyes and saw only honesty. He really meant that. And it made me want to tell him.
"I can't," I said, despite what my heart was screaming at me to do. With his magic swirling around, the honesty in his eyes, and that smile fresh in my memory it was hard to remember that we hadn't gotten along just two days ago.
"Do you want me to go get the Golden Duo?" I cracked a smile at the name, which seemed to make him relax a bit.
"No. I can't tell them either." I wasn't sure what made me say it, but it sort of felt good to say it out loud, to tell him that I was keeping something from Harry and Ron. He watched my face for a moment before nodding.
"I see," he said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I get it. I really do. Sometimes secrets have to be kept, but I know from experience that some secrets will eat at you until there's nothing left. You need to talk to someone, Hermion. Soon." I stared into his eyes, entranced at the fierce light there. My brain barely even registered that he'd used my fake given name for the first time.
He was right. Holding this in was destroying me. I was falling apart. I'd seriously considered killing one of my favorite family members today simply because he was there. Not to mention Ron. I needed to talk to someone. I needed to talk to him. But there was banging on the door before I could even open my mouth.
"Hemera! So che lei non mi sente, tornata dall'Hemera! Aprire il damn porta!" Seriously? Leonardo was screaming my real name, along with a few dirty words, for everyone to hear? Just perfect.
"Who is that?" Malfoy asked, his foot on the bottom stair. I didn't answer.
"Mantenere la tua voce, cretino!" I yelled instead, running to the door. He needed to be quiet or the whole castle would hear him. The portrait hole swung open, revealing my angry cousin. "Would you calm down?"
"Calm down?" he demanded, storming past me, "Calm down? How can you tell me to calm down, Hemera? You just stormed out and—"
"That is no reason to scream my real name to the entire castle, Leonardo. You know better than to even hint! Or are you in the practice of abandoning all of your training?"
He gave a frustrated sigh. "Sorry. I just don't understand, Hemera."
"You don't understand?" I asked, my voice going about an octave higher than normal. "How do you think I feel? I walk into a class and suddenly a cousin I haven't seen in four years is standing in front of me. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"
"I didn't even know if you were going to be here! I made a calculated guess."
I frowned, the implications of that statement weren't good. "Riccarda didn't send you?"
Leonardo looked down, suddenly deflating. "She can't." His words stabbed through me. There was only one thing that could stop Riccarda. "She's dead."