~ The Soul Connection ~

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters and settings belong to J.K Rowling.

Enjoy!

Chapter 2

"Where are you going?" Pansy demanded, as Draco walked as fast as he could away from the Slytherin common room. He was going to the Room of Requirement, where he could have the meltdown which was inevitably boiling to the surface in private. Never again would he be caught in tears in front of another person, not after Potter found him and used the Sectumsempra curse on him in the toilets.

"To the toilets, I'll be back later," Draco replied without even a glance back.

"Fine, I'll come with you."

"Just wait in the common room," he snapped.

"Tell me what's going on, Draco. Look at me!" Pansy said, raising her voice. There was an uncomfortably long silence as he turned around and made eye contact with the raven-haired girl, and the pain of rejection was clearly visible in her emerald green eyes as Draco shook his head and moved to keep walking. The next words felt like a dagger in his heart.

"Do you not like me any more?"

"It's not that Pansy."

"Then what is it!"

"You know what it is!" Draco shouted, "I have to do something for You-Know-Who or else... or he'll... look I can't tell you!"

"You have to tell me, everyone has noticed you've been avoiding us and acting weird. I can help you, just tell me what you need," pleaded Pansy as she moved closer to him. Each step she took towards him, he took a step backwards.

"I have to do it alone. If I fail I might as well be dead. Just stay away from me Pansy, it's for your own good," Draco said sadly as he left her standing there and took off again up a flight of stairs towards the Room of Requirement. He didn't often feel guilt, he wasn't the kind of person to care what other people thought. But Pansy was to Draco what Harry was to Hermione: his best friend since their first year, the closest friend he had in the miserable old castle. Guilt, as well as the multitude of other emotions, was eating away at him as he neared closer to the Room.

Once he was inside, he grabbed the bag on his back and threw it as hard as he could across the large expanse of junk. Thankfully it went in the direction the broken cabinet was in, but Draco didn't really care. He proceeded to savagely kick a pile of books, push over an old bookshelf which broke and splintered on the ground, grab an old broom and break it on the broken bookshelf, and then punch a mirror, shattering it. He felt no pain, but the sight of crimson blood dripping from his hand snapped him out of his rage. He ignored it and stumbled over to where he'd thrown his bag, leaving a trail of blood behind himself, before falling down beside the bag. His mind was a whirl as he tried to concentrate on what to do next. Snape had come to him with a message from Voldemort, saying that if he didn't make progress with killing Dumbledore faster, his parents would be punished. When Voldemort says 'punished', it's not hard to imagine the severity and cruelty which awaited Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy. Snape had yet again offered his assistance to Draco, which Draco yet again refused. Voldemort had specifically set Draco the mission to kill Dumbledore, no one else. So if he let Snape do it he would have failed to do as Voldemort demanded, the Malfoy's would not be forgiven, and his parents would still get punished. He was, quite literally, alone in the endeavour.

Well, he had Borgin. It'd been a few days since he sent the letter asking for help on fixing the cabinet, and he was still waiting for a reply. After reading the 'Fixing Broken or Damaged Magical Objects' book some more, he guessed that it would require a special kind of potion and a tricky Transfiguration spell in order to fix the cabinet. There were many different kinds of potions and spells involved in mending and restoring magical objects, and only Borgin would know which combination was required to fix a teleporting cabinet. As Draco pondered this he realised his hand was still bleeding, and sighed as he pulled out his wand and healed the wounds. He reached over to grab his bag and pulled out the Potions textbook he'd found the last time he was in the Room of Requirement, flicking through it again. He swore he'd seen spells in the margins, and sure enough, after a few minutes of reading the helpful scribbles on each page, he found a page with spells he'd never seen on it. The first one, 'Levicorpus', apparently dangled the victim upside down by their ankles. Draco smirked as he read the description, and then his eyes widened in shock at the next spell. It read, 'Sectumsempra - for enemies'. He remembered it was the exact spell Potter had shouted in the toilets and only Snape knew how to heal the wound it caused. Draco continued flicking through the book feverishly to see what else it had hidden, seeing spells such as 'Liberacorpus' and 'Muffliato'.

On a page closer to the back of the book, the last spell was scrawled in tiny writing, 'Anima Nexu - for her'. This puzzled Draco, as it was written in the same handwriting and fashion as Sectumsempra, just saying 'for her' with no explanation. Was 'her' an enemy? Was Anima Nexu a less extreme version of Sectumsempra designed for a girl that this past student hated? Draco flicked back to the page with Sectumsempra, and came to the conclusion that Potter must have found this book. It would explain why he went so well in Potions and got the Felix Felicis potion off Slughorn, as the book had better instructions scrawled on every page. It would explain where he found Sectumsempra, and that perhaps he hadn't meant to cut Draco open... all the book said was 'for enemies', Potter couldn't have known what it would actually do. It would also explain why the book was hidden: Potter attempted to hide the evidence for what he did. Or the mudblood told him to get rid of it so she could continue being the best Potions student. Draco smirked as he realised that her winning streak was about to come to an abrupt end now that he had this textbook. As he put it away and saw the pool of blood where his hand had been dripping, and the still-broken cabinet, his thoughts of Potter and potions vanished. They were replaced with the haunting mission he had to accomplish, and the familiar melancholia that he had become accustomed to.

"What have we got next?"

"Potions."

"Ugh, kill me now," groaned Harry as he played with his lunch at the Gryffindor table.

"I thought you liked Potions now that Snape doesn't teach it?" asked Ron in surprise.

"He liked Potions when he had that Half-Blood Prince textbook because he was beating everyone, but now..." Hermione trailed off with a smug smile, causing Harry to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"I'm just sick of Slughorn constantly expecting me to go well, that's all," said Harry dismissively.

"At least you got the Felix Felicis," said Ron with a shrug, "have you decided what you're going to do with it?"

"Not yet. I'm going to save it, maybe use it to get that memory out of Slughorn that Dumbledore wanted," Harry explained, lowering his voice so that nobody else at the table could hear them. As they discussed Harry's meetings with Dumbledore which usually involved horcrux hunting and studying Voldemort's mysterious past, Hermione found herself looking across the Great Hall at the Slytherin table. Possibly for the first time in Hogwarts history, Malfoy was sitting by himself a few seats away from the rest of his House, with his face buried in a book which she couldn't see. As everyone got up to move off to class, the Gryffindor's followed the Slytherin's and Hermione realised that Draco was still reading the book, which she could have sworn was the Potions textbook. When they arrived in class and took their seats, Slughorn turned to them all with an amusingly relaxed, lopsided grin.

"Today we will be studying and brewing the Draught of Peace, a potion which is rather self explanatory, however I'll give ten points to anyone who can explain it!" said Slughorn, and his grin turned to an expression of surprise when not only Hermione's hand shot into the air, but also Draco's, with equal speed.

"Well well, I'll give you a chance Draco!" boomed the Potions Master.

"The Draught of Peace is an advanced potion which relieves anxiety and agitation, it's ingredients are powdered moonstone, syrup of hellebore, powdered porcupine quills and powdered unicorn horn. It should be a turquoise blue when finished and simmered before being drunk, is difficult to make and can have drastic consequences if made wrong, such as putting the drinker into a deep and possibly irreversible sleep."

Everyone in the room was surprised as even though they knew that Draco was second best to Hermione, he rarely answered questions in class. When he finished the long explanation in a bored voice which sounded as though it was straight out of the textbook, he looked directly at Hermione with a smirk which only meant one thing: he intended to beat her in making this particular potion. The message was all too clear, as Hermione glared back at him in. She was determined to not be outdone, least of all by him.

"Well done Draco! Perfect explanation, ten points to Slytherin! It feels good to be rewarding my own house for a change, rather than Gryffindor, no offence miss Granger! Now, where were we. Ah yes, Draught of Peace. The fact that it is so difficult to brew and so easy to ruin is rather ironic, given that it's purpose is to relieve anxiety, not create it..." Slughorn drawled on, and it was obvious that he'd had some Draught of Peace as he spoke and acted much more calm and relaxed than he usually did. When everyone commenced brewing, Hermione was too busy speedily preparing her ingredients to even listen to Harry as he spoke to her.

"Hermione!" he nearly shouted to get her attention, and when she finally looked up he lowered his voice, "Malfoy has my textbook."

"The Half-Blood Prince textbook?" Hermione whispered, and when he nodded she glanced over and saw that Draco was brewing his potion at a steady pace but preparing his ingredients in slightly different ways, just like Harry used to do, as he was following the scribbled instructions.

"It doesn't matter, there's nothing we can do," said Hermione with a shrug, although she was gritting her teeth in annoyance.

"But this means he's been in the Room of Requirement, just like I've been saying all year! He's up to something, and he probably knows about Sectumsempra," Harry continued.

"We can't do anything about it, Harry! He found the textbook and he's been in the Room of Requirement, so what? Right now we just have to focus on studying and helping Dumbledore, Malfoy isn't important," said Hermione firmly. This seemed to calm and reassure Harry for the moment, as he nodded in understanding and went back to brewing his potion. The rest of the lesson was a gruelling torture for Hermione, as every time she looked up Harry and Ron were screwing their potions up and asking for advice while Draco's potion constantly looked a step ahead and better than her own. Every now and then they made eye contact and he would smirk in the most insufferable way imaginable, and the worst part was that they both knew that he had the upper hand with the Half-Blood Prince textbook.

"Time's up! Stop brewing," Slughorn announced with about five minutes left in the lesson. Hermione felt her heart begin to race as he moved between all of their desks to check their potions. He gave her potion an expectant nod of approval, nothing more. It was made exactly as the instructions said but not perfect like Draco's would be, Hermione knew. Sure enough, when Slughorn arrived at Draco's potion he clapped his hands in excitement.

"Oh wonderful! Perfectly brewed, maybe even better than my own, let's taste it," said Slughorn, as he took a spoon and had a small sip. He gave Draco a pat on the back and awarded twenty points to Slytherin, much to Hermione's dismay, before dismissing the class.

Despite what she told Harry about ignoring the fact that Malfoy had found the Half-Blood Prince textbook, Hermione couldn't get the image of his smug look out of her mind. She wouldn't survive the year if she had to put up with him beating her in Potions, and she knew that he'd use that like a weapon to torment her with at every opportunity. Even though she had no idea how she was going to stop the Slytherin from using the textbook, Hermione had decided to go to the one place that Harry claimed Malfoy kept going, the Room of Requirement. She was fairly certain that Harry was right, since she'd seen with her own eyes Malfoy vanishing off the Marauder's Map on the seventh floor where the Room's entrance was, and since he managed to find the Half-Blood Prince Textbook, which was hidden in the most obscure spot in the Room possible. He obviously is up to something, if he's been going there all year, Hermione thought to herself as she climbed the last step onto the seventh floor. Before she could even catch her breath, a wand was pointed directly into her face.

"Following me, mudblood? Upset that you're not as smart as you claim to be?" came Draco's infamous voice as he emerged into her peripheral vision. She turned to glare at him.

"You do know that's Harry's textbook."

"Oh I'm well aware, I found some very interesting spells in it last night," said Draco sarcastically.

"He didn't know what that spell did, the book doesn't even describe it!" said Hermione, defending Harry even though she knew it was his fault.

"I think the words, 'For enemies' gives a damn good hint as to what it does, do you take me for an idiot?" Draco snapped.

"No, you're not an idiot. But you are impulsive, mean, dangerous and revengeful and I don't want you having that textbook because you could use the spell on Harry," said Hermione, and Draco was laughing before she finished the sentence.

"You don't want me to have the textbook because I'll beat you in Potions for the next two years with it. It was nice chatting with you mudblood, but I'd sooner drop dead than give you this textbook," said Draco as he put his wand away and started to walk off. Hermione felt a sudden flash of anger rise within her as she pulled her wand out and pointed it at his back.

"I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't give me it I'll have no choice," said Hermione, with a surprising amount of force. Secretly she did want to hurt him, after all the years of name-calling and bullying, and she truly didn't trust him with the spells in that book. It was dangerous, what Harry did was proof of that. Draco stopped in his tracks but made no move for his wand.

"That's where we're different, mudblood, you said it yourself: I'm impulsive, mean, dangerous and revengeful. Remember when you punched me in the face in our third year?" asked Draco calmly.

"You deserved-"

"Expelliarmus!" Draco hissed as he spun, drew his wand and cast the spell all at once with alarming speed. Hermione gasped as she watched her own wand fly from her feeble hand and into the Slytherin's in the blink of an eye.

"It," Hermione finished her sentence breathlessly, as he walked towards her menacingly.

"Don't worry, I won't punch you in the face, that's a bit too mean, don't you think? How about instead I do what Potter did to me. There's another spell in here that has no description, and I'm dying to see what it does," said Draco with an evil smile. As he got closer, she moved backwards until she stumbled backwards into the stone corridor wall.

"You wouldn't," said Hermione, her voice a mixture of defiance and nervousness. What if this other spell was like Sectumsempra? Surely he wouldn't risk gravely injuring her? He raised his wand and pointed it directly at her chest.

"Anima Nexu," he said clearly. A golden mist seemed to emanate from the wand and fall around them and Hermione felt a tingling sensation shoot through her, as well as a sudden, severe headache. After a few moments of silent expectation, Draco sighed in disappointment.

"That was anticlimactic," he said.

"It gave me a headache!" said Hermione angrily, as she tried to snatch her wand back. Draco moved it out of her reach with a chuckle.

"Well I'm glad it wasn't a complete waste of time."

"Give me my wand back," Hermione demanded.

"Only if you promise that you won't follow me here again," said Draco, twirling her wand in front of her eyes teasingly.

"Fine, I won't follow you," Hermione said quickly.

"And you have to apologise for drawing your wand on me."

"Just give me my wand!"

"Apologise," Draco prompted, not budging. After a few moments of staring into his dull grey eyes with loathing, Hermione took a deep breath.

"I'm so sorry Malfoy, please forgive me," she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. As Draco burst out laughing she snatched her wand off of him, muttering an angry 'jerk!' as she walked past him and headed back down the stairs. As she slowly walked away and heard his footsteps echo from the floor above, she knew that their rivalry had just reached new heights.

Thank you for reading! If you liked this chapter, please feel free to review and add to your alerts/favourites! :)

Check out my other stories!

Draco and Hermione - s/5661111/1/Draco-and-Hermione

The Soul Connection - s/9868543/1/The-Soul-Connection

The Time-Turner Division - s/12337018/1/The-Time-Turner-Division