A/N: Alright, time to give a shoutout to my awesome reviewers: Oreo69not96, Aya Yuy P.SII, PoTtErSPaYnE, MermaidQT, Willow23, MusikLuver, and Devilserpent. Also, thanks to FantasyFan who I believe may be this story's biggest fan. If I left you out, I'm sorry. You all are worth writing for!
I'm sorry it takes me so long to update…I try to update once a week. I re-read my first story, Even Evil Hearts can be Broken, and its total crap. Yeah. I thought it was so good while I was writing it, but it's not. Anyway, I'm trying to make this story a lot better. So, ideas and suggestions are greatly welcomed. Not to sound like J.K. but this story is going to get darker, much darker, starting now.
This chapter contains some sensitive material…Just a heads up. Happy Reading!
Chapter Eight
"This is not working, Draco," Pansy sighed. She was sitting on the end of the bed, silhouetted in the darkness. Draco sat up and stared at the back of her head, waiting for her to go on. "I just, there's too much going on right now. I'm not sure about us anymore," she informed him. Draco's jaw dropped.
"What do you mean?" he demanded. His tone was a lot harsher than he had intended it to be. "I'm sure about us," he corrected. "What's wrong?"
"It's not the same anymore," Pansy started crying. Draco pulled her closer to him, and turned her around to face him. He took her hands in his. "I mean, we act the same around each other, but I just don't feel the same way I used to," she sobbed.
"But, I do," Draco protested. "There is a lot going on right now," he conceded. "But that doesn't mean anything is wrong with us," he quickly added. He could feel his pulse quickening and a tight knot forming in his stomach. This was not supposed to be happening right now.
"This whole thing with Hermione," Pansy reminded him, shaking her head. "I don't think I can handle it anymore, Draco," she sighed.
"There is no thing with Hermione!" Draco's voice rose of its own accord. "We agreed to ignore it, remember?"
"I remember, Draco," Pansy's voice rose as well. "But it's a little bit hard to ignore when the entire school is standing there watching you two share a romantic slow dance. Draco, Hermione still has no idea we only voted for her as a joke."
"Oh, for god's sake, Pansy," Draco spat the words at her. He stood up and began pacing back and forth. "I thought you could handle this," he sighed, coming to rest his forehead on the glass pane of the window. Outside, the night was dark; not a single star in the sky.
"I can handle this," she protested, suddenly changing her tone of voice. She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I can handle this," she repeated, as though it were a mantra. Taking a deep breath, she got to her feet and went to stand with Draco at the window.
He put his arms around her and they both looked out the window at the dark night sky. Pansy shivered involuntarily and Draco pulled her closer to him. She was right, and he knew it. This whole project had put a serious strain on their relationship and it was becoming very difficult to maintain it. Lucius had insisted he keep it up for appearance's sake, and Pansy knew it. Her own father had pushed her into the relationship. She and Draco were good friends though, and so they had agreed.
Over the years they had developed a fondness for each other that occasionally bordered on affection. It was like an arranged marriage almost, the way their relationship had grown. No one would accuse them of being in love, but they were still possessive of each other in a way that proved they cared just enough to keep them together.
Lately however, it was becoming more and more apparent that their relationship had no emotional basis whatsoever. Draco was obviously not in love with Pansy, and while she did not love him either, she did care for him. It was just becoming clear how much more she cared for him than he cared for her.
Hermione's head was throbbing. This was not a dull ache in her temples; this felt like someone beating her over the head with a sledgehammer. She struggled to open her eyes, but closed them right away because her eyes ached as well. Her mouth was dry and her tongue felt thick and heavy. Struggling to swallow, the unmistakable taste of blood filled her mouth.
Panicked, Hermione tried to sit up, but discovered that her muscles refused to work on their own. She forced her eyes open as they filled with tears. The liquid burned her eyes, and she managed to whimper slightly. It felt like blood was pouring out of her eyes.
"Hey, hey, lie back," Draco's soft voice made her head throb even worse. "You're okay, Hermione," he whispered, noticing how she reacted to his voice. "Everything is going to be okay now."
Lucius Malfoy burst through the doors of the Hogwart's Great Hall. A collective gasp went up from the students as he stalked directly up to the table where the professors were sitting.
"What is he doing here?" Ron whispered to Harry. Harry shook his head and watched as Dumbledore got to his feet at the same time as Samantha Meurteuil. Lucius drew his wand and pointed it directly at Samantha.
"I warned you, Samantha," Lucius's voice reverberated through the hall. Everyone was riveted to the scene, afraid to move. Harry found his fist closing around his wand automatically. Ginny's hand sought his out under the table. He took it firmly. "I warned you," Lucius repeated.
"Draco is fine," Samantha defended. Lucius's nostrils flared as he exhaled forcibly.
"Students are getting hurt," Lucius roared. "I will not stand for it, even if she was a muggle."
"Hermione," Ron gasped an obvious deduction as Hermione was the only muggle on the trip. The Gryffindors looked nervously at Ron and then back to Lucius.
"Miss Granger is just fine," Albus Dumbledore said clearly and loudly, directing this comment more towards the Gryffindor table than Lucius. "Lucius, Samantha, please come with me. Minerva, will you please?" he deferred to Professor McGonagall who stood up immediately and directed the students to keep eating.
"Potter, Weasley, please come with me," she said sharply, leading them from the hall. She stopped them right outside the door. "Dumbledore wished to let Miss Granger tell you about the incident herself, but seeing as how you have already been informed of it, I feel it may be best to explain," she sighed deeply. "Miss Granger was attacked by one of her fellow students. He tried to," she took a deep breath before going on, "He tried to rape her. Fortunately, Mr. M- another student was there to help her out," she corrected herself, not wanting to tell the boys it was Draco that had rescued Hermione.
Ron felt his temperature climbing, and took a deep breath to keep his anger under control. He wanted nothing more than to find that boy and kill him for even thinking he could lay a hand on Hermione.
"It was Draco who saved her, wasn't it?" He heard Harry asked. Both boys looked expectantly at Professor McGonagall.
"Yes, it was," she replied cautiously. Harry nodded, feeling a newfound respect for Draco, despite his deeply rooted hatred for the boy.
"She wrote us that they had settled their differences," Ron informed the professor. She looked surprised, but quickly covered it.
"Well, maybe now you two will be able to do the same with him," she said, only mildly reproachful. "Go finish your breakfast," she instructed, gesturing back to the Great Hall.
Hermione heard a familiar hooting noise by her ear and weakly turned her head to see Hedwig sitting on the pillow next to her. She gently stroked a few of her feathers, and the owl nipped Hermione's finger affectionately.
"She got here a few hours ago," Draco's voice startled Hermione, and he laughed gently. "How do you feel?" he asked, suddenly looking very concerned. Hermione opened her mouth and realized it was still dry but the taste of blood was gone.
"What happened?" she croaked, her throat feeling like it was on fire. Draco looked pained. He took one of her hands in his own and absently stroked the palm.
"Do you remember anything that happened last night?" he asked her. She closed her eyes and tried to think.
"What day is it?" she asked after a moment.
"Today is Saturday," he informed her. "Homecoming was yesterday," he prompted. Hermione took a deep breath, and her lungs burned almost as bad as her throat. She closed her eyes again and thought back to the previous day. The parade, the game, the dance – they were all crystal clear. Her eyes flipped open.
"They made me homecoming queen," she remembered. Draco sighed. "I can't believe they did that," she sighed.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked nervously, wondering if she had figured it out.
"Oh, Violet told me she got all of the art and honor society kids to vote for me," Hermione informed Draco, "She never thought it was enough to make me queen though."
"I voted for you," Draco admitted. "But that's because I thought the other girls would be insufferable if they won," he rolled his eyes. Then he got serious again, "Okay, after the dance," he said. "We went to Blaise's house for the after-party."
"We went to Blaise's, and watched a movie, and ate Pizza, and Josh kept bringing me drinks," Hermione struggled to remember anything beyond that. Draco sighed, and Hermione looked up at him. There was a hurt look in Draco's clear blue eyes. He stroked her cheek softly.
"Can you feel that?" he asked. Hermione shook her head no, and his face fell. He took a deep breath. "Hermione, I don't really know how to tell you this," he said, watching her expression carefully. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to go on.
"Oh, my god," Blaise and Pansy burst through Hermione's bedroom door. "Josh is totally expelled," Blaise finished. She and Pansy made themselves comfortable on the end of Hermione's bed. Hermione looked back to Draco, becoming more confused by the second. Her mind was working overtime, trying to piece together the information she had.
"Eww, why is that owl on her pillow?" Pansy asked. "Those are like ten-thousand count Egyptian cotton sheets," she informed Hedwig, motioning for the owl to find a new perch. Hedwig angrily moved to the desk chair, giving Pansy and Blaise scornful looks.
"Don't worry, Hermione," Blaise continued. "Your father totally told the press off this morning. He was giving a statement and they kept shouting questions at him, so he just started yelling at them all. They put out a distance order, so they can't even come near the school," she said.
"Blaise, shut up," Draco snapped, finally unable to take anymore. "Hermione doesn't even remember what happened," he informed the girls. Their eyes got really wide and Blaise's mouth snapped shut.
"I'm piecing it together," Hermione said, her throat still burning. "Josh, he, he gave me something didn't he?" she asked, deducing that it was the drinks that kept her from remembering the rest of the night.
"Yes," Draco nodded. "He was putting roofies in your drinks," he clarified, obviously getting angry as he thought about it. Hermione took a deep breath, and managed to fill in the rest of the blanks herself.
"If Draco hadn't been there," Pansy said absently, confirming Hermione's thoughts. Josh had tried to rape her.
"I went to the hospital," Hermione remembered opening her eyes to bright white lights. She looked down at her wrist to see a plastic hospital bracelet on her wrist.
"Your parents wanted you to come home," Pansy agreed. "They thought it would be better that way," she explained. "The doctors will call when the test results come in."
"Test results," Hermione repeated. She felt tears welling up in her eyes again, and they still burned like they did before. "Why do my eyes hurt so much?" she asked. The other three exchanged glances.
"Pepper spray," a voice said from the door. It was Hermione's mother, her own eyes full of tears. "It's a miracle you're not blind," she said, joining the girls on the bed. She handed Hermione a glass of water, which she eagerly accepted. The water tasted sweet in her mouth, like she had been drinking salt water all day. It felt cool and soothing on her throat.
"I don't think I want to remember," Hermione said finally.
"I don't blame you," Her mother replied, giving her a hug. "What is that bird doing in here?" she said, pulling back from Hermione. Almost as though they had rehearsed it, Pansy and Blaise let out blood curdling screams. Hedwig flew out the window right away, and Hermione was positive the owl would have rolled her eyes if that were physically possible. Draco closed the window and shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe you should call an exterminator," Blaise suggested. Mrs. Granger nodded.
"I think we should let Hermione rest," Draco spoke up.
"Probably a good idea," Mrs. Granger agreed. The girls gathered their things and left the room. "I'll come check on you later, sweetie," she said as she followed the girls out.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked, after the door was closed. Hermione nodded.
"It's just a lot to digest," she said. Her throat did not hurt nearly as much. "They had to pump my stomach?" she said, more as though she were seeking affirmation.
"Yeah," Draco said softly. "Look, Hermione, my father is really upset about this. My, uh, real father," he began. "I just wanted to warn you. I'm not sure what he's going to do, but he wants to end this whole project right away."
"No," Hermione protested. Draco shushed her.
"I don't think Dumbledore will let him, but if he does, I want us to still be friends," he said. Hermione smiled.
"I'd like that," she agreed. "I don't know how everyone else-"
"Forget about them. Promise me something, Hermione," he said, taking her hands in his. She looked up at him, a little confused, but his eyes were pleading with her. "Promise me we'll be friends no matter what happens," he almost begged her. "Promise me that you trust me."
"I trust you, Draco," Hermione said, ignoring how foreign the words sounded coming out of her mouth. "I promise we'll stay friends," she added.
Lucius Malfoy flung his brandy snifter across the room and it shattered immediately upon coming in contact with the stone walls of his office. Brandy trickled down the wall in and out of the crevices in the stone, coming to rest finally on the floor among the fragments of broken glass. A house-elf scampered in with a rag to clean up the mess.
"Leave it," Lucius barked. The elf recoiled and hovered anxiously near the glass. "Go!" he yelled. The elf whimpered piteously and ran from the room, but could not bear to let the mess sit there. Instead he watched the rivulets of alcohol soaking into the stone through the cracked door. Lucius crossed the room to stand at the open window and gaze out at the night.
The black velvety sky had no moon in it that night. A tiny collection of faint stars were barely visible, even from the distant country manor. Lucius took comfort in this fact. It meant that Lord Voldemort was getting even stronger.
He took a deep breath of the frigid air. December was not usually this cold, another fact Lucius found consoling. He had not seen his son in three months, and the thought killed him. How could he know what Draco was really doing if he was not allowed to visit him? The letters they wrote back and forth were closely guarded, and Lucius was left to surmise that everything was going as planned. It made him nervous to consider how close Draco was getting to the muggles around him, especially the Granger girl. This was not the time for Draco to develop a soft spot for muggles. Lucius desperately needed Draco to stay focused on the task at hand.
"We got a letter from Hermione! We got a letter from Hermione!" Parvati and Lavender squealed, running into the common room. Excited Gryffindors gathered around the two girls and waited anxiously as they tore open the envelope. Harry and Ron stood at the edge of the crowd, more anxious than the others to hear what Hermione had to say. The boys had chosen not to share the details of Hermione's attack with the other students. Instead they just said she had been attacked by a fellow student and Draco had helped her out.
"Dear Lavender, Parvati, and all you other Gryffindors who must be listening," Parvati read theatrically.
"Thank you for all the letters. I am feeling much better after a few days of rest. You don't need to be worried about me, muggle medicine worked just fine. Lately I have been very busy with school and dance, so I apologize for not writing. But I do have bad news," Lavender paused for dramatic effect, and the first years all leaned in to hear the next part.
"I will not be allowed to come home for the holidays as planned," Parvati finished. Harry felt his stomach start to churn. Why had Hermione written this to Parvati and not him? In fact, Hedwig had returned a few days previous with no response.
"Don't worry, I'll send everyone presents from the muggle world," Lavender read excitedly. "Parv, we have to write her about those shoes," she said, forgetting about the letter for a moment.
"Come on, what else is there?" Seamus asked, impatient. He had taken a seat on the floor with the first and second years, and looked rather comical being the largest one in the group.
"She says school is fine, she's applying to some Muggle colleges, and she's going to dance in the Nutcracker," Parvati summarized the last part of the letter, "Oh and she sends her love to everyone." Parvati made a big show of folding up the letter and putting it back in the envelope, just to make sure everyone was watching as she did it.
"Pictures!" Lavender squealed, unable to take it any longer. She pulled another envelope out of her pocket and opened it, then pulled out an enormous stack of pictures. Everyone in the group clamored noisily to be allowed to see them until Ginny marched into the center of the chaos.
"Let me see those," Ginny demanded. Parvati and Lavender exchanged glances as though they were debating on whether or not to let her have them. Ginny snatched them from Lavender's hand and pulled out her wand. The other students all protested until a beam of light came out of the end of the wand and reflected the image of the picture onto the wall.
"How'd you do that?" Ron asked, clearly impressed.
"If you spent half as much time studying as you do talking about Quidditch, you would know," Ginny replied haughtily. "Lavender, would you explain this to everyone?"
"Okay, um, Hermione says this is her house," Lavender read the sheet of paper that Hermione had included. Each picture was numbered, and next to the corresponding number on the sheet of paper was the description of each picture. Ginny sat in a nearby chair and turned the picture around so the house was right side up on the wall.
An excited chorus of oohs and aahs came from the group as each new picture was presented. Hermione had sent pictures of herself as well as pictures of muggle objects that were entirely foreign to some of the students. It had been one of her assignments to take the pictures of the objects, so she had just made doubles and sent them to Lavender and Parvati, quite rightly thinking that those two would share them with everyone else.
"Ohmigod, he's so hot," Parvati said, seeing a picture of Hermione with her homecoming date. Ron's fists clenched, looking at the boy who had tried to hurt his best friend. Harry put a hand on Ron's wrist and shook his head, as though to say "calm down."
"Her dress is so pretty," Lavender breathed. "I'm so jealous."
"SHE MADE HOMECOMING QUEEN??" Parvati and Lavender shrieked in unison, seeing the next picture of Hermione with the crown and sash on. Some of the students looked surprised, but mostly everyone just looked confused.
"It's like, one of the biggest honors in muggle high school," Lavender explained.
"Yeah, you have to be really popular to make Homecoming Queen," Parvati added. "My cousin didn't even make it."
"Doesn't that seem wrong to you?" Ginny asked, looking at the image dubiously. "I mean, this is Hermione."
"What do you mean?" Lavender asked, defensively.
"It just seems totally out of character for her!" Ginny exclaimed. "She's not that type of person!"
"You're just jealous, Ginny," Parvati said patronizingly. "Hermione has been getting a lot of attention around here lately."
"Whatever," Ginny said, tossing the pictures down and stalking from the room. Parvati picked up the pictures.
"I guess that's all of them," she said. The crowd of students began to disperse.
Harry and Ron headed directly up to their room so they would not be overheard as they discussed this latest development.
"Hermione isn't coming home for Christmas," Ron said, suddenly feeling miserable. "Who will I go to the Yule Ball with?"
"Like Hermione would go with you after what happened at the Fall Ball?" Harry snorted. Ron looked uneasy.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Harry studied his friend closely.
"I was referring to the way you ran off with that Angie girl and totally left her behind," Harry said, watching a wave of relief wash over Ron's face. "What did you think I meant?" Harry asked.
"Nothing," Ron mumbled shifting nervously. Harry crossed his arms, not about to drop the subject. Ron sighed. "She and I came back here for a little bit. But nothing happened," he added quickly.
"Right," Harry rolled his eyes. "I think Ginny may be onto something," he changed the subject.
"I think she's nuts," Ron disagreed. "Ginny just wants some attention. After that whole chamber incident she hasn't gotten any and she feels like she needs it."
"Maybe you should just listen to what she has to say," Harry suggested. Ron shook his head no.
"I know you're her boyfriend, and I think it's great you're sticking up for her, but she's still wrong. Hermione just wants to get a good grade, and so she's working as hard as she can to get it. Maybe that requires her to stop being such a bookworm all the time. Big deal, it's good for her," Ron said. He stood up. "Breakfast?"
Hermione stood at her bedroom window and watched tiny white flakes of snow swirling in the air. She had been out of school for a week with mono, a disease that was relatively unheard of in the Wizarding world, and was about to go stir crazy. Draco had been stopping by every day with her assignments, and getting someone in each of her classes to take notes for her. He sat with her while she did her work and then took it to her teachers the next day so her assignments were not even a day late. Hermione was furious with herself for getting sick during the last week of school before winter break. Now she was missing three weeks of school instead of two like everyone else.
Outside, the gardens were covered in a light blanket of pure white snow. The sun had been hidden behind clouds all day, but the garden lights reflected softly off the snow and made it shine like some kind of frozen paradise. Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes, remembering snowfall in previous years. She slid the window open and ran her hand along the sill, knocking the white powder free.
It was cold, much colder than she had anticipated it being. Had winter always been so cold? She pulled her red fingers back inside the room.
"Thinking of jumping?" a familiar voice asked. Hermione spun to look at Draco, almost like he had just slapped her. For some reason she could remember him asking her that before. He closed the door behind him and set a folder down on her desk. "It was a joke," he said, looking at her cautiously.
"Yes, but," she struggled to remember when he had said it. "You've asked me that before," she said, shaking her head.
"Maybe you shouldn't stand in front of open windows so much," he suggested. "I'm sorry?" he asked, looking at the confused expression on her face.
"It's okay, I'm just going crazy in this house," she said. He grinned at her, and it caught her off guard. She could not help but smile back when he looked at her that way.
"You always loved snow," he said, coming to stand next to her at the window. "I know you're upset about missing the ski trip," he sighed. "It just won't be the same without you."
"Ski trip," Hermione repeated. Every year the Malfoys went to Switzerland to go skiing. They actually had their own chalet, nestled snug in the Alps. Usually, Hermione's family went along, but this year they were not going because Hermione needed to get her strength back up so she would not have a relapse. She would stay at home with her mother and father, while all of her other friends were on vacation. It was going to be the longest, most torturous vacation of her life.
Not that there was not any school work she could be doing. She had a ton of work to do for her portfolio class which would take up a lot of her spare time. There were also a few more college applications to complete, as well as projects and essays to work on. All of her professors at Hogwarts had run out of assignments to give her, so she had no magic assignments for the rest of the year. Hermione supposed that was her punishment for working so hard at the beginning.
"I have an idea," Draco said, interrupting her thoughts. "Let's go for a walk," he suggested. Hermione began to protest, but Draco would not have it. "Just a short walk, around the garden, so you can get out of this house. Bring your camera," he instructed.
Hermione sighed, but she put on some warm clothes and allowed Draco to lead her down to the terrace. The icy air stung her nose and cheeks before she was even out the door. Her winter jacket which somehow managed to keep out the cold alpine air seemed to be insufficient. Snowflakes landed on her eyelashes, and she blinked quickly to set them free before they melted in her eyes.
"It's colder than I thought it was," she said to Draco. He nodded, and began to walk down the stairs to the garden. Hermione followed him wondering if it was even worth it to go for a walk. It was so cold outside that it hurt to breathe.
Draco and Hermione trudged along the garden path, both off in their own thoughts. The air was still and quiet, as though the outside world had vanished. Hermione could feel a sense of anticipation, a certain electricity in the air, the way it felt just before a thunderstorm.
"I broke up with Pansy," Draco said. Hermione turned to look at him, completely caught off guard. A teeny glimmer of hope crept into her stomach, but she tried to push it away.
"But why?" she asked. Draco sighed.
"I'd rather not get into it," he said. Hermione shrugged, and kept walking. "It was time, that's all."
"What does that mean?" Hermione asked.
"Well, we didn't even apply to the same colleges, for one," Draco said. "I can't be in a long distance relationship with that girl, she's too high maintenance for that."
"Oh," Hermione replied. She could not think of anything else to say, so she left it at that. An icy wind blew across her face, swirling the snowflakes in the air around them as they walked. Hermione began to shiver. Draco looked at her and then back at the path. He sighed.
"We should turn back," he said, grabbing Hermione's arm suddenly. She looked him with a confused expression. "It's too cold for you to be out here," he explained. They walked back to the house, where Hermione's mother greeted them angrily.
"What were you thinking?" She wailed. "There is a blizzard going on!" Mrs. Granger pulled both of them into the house and slammed the door. "Hermione, go get in a hot bath. Draco, your father is waiting for you in the foyer. You both should have known better than that, I am so disappointed," she said, storming from the room. Hermione and Draco exchanged glances and headed for the foyer.
"Hermione, I need to tell you something," Draco said as they moved closer to the front door.
"Yes, he needs to say goodbye," Lucius Malfoy said, interrupting him. Draco grabbed Hermione and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll be back," he said firmly, giving her a look that Hermione wished she could read. He turned and headed directly out the front door. Hermione watched him go and then looked up into the eyes of the real Lucius Malfoy.