Chapter Three: Believing In Goodness

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it

so.

—William Shakespeare

Hermione stretched her arms into the air and her neck jerked forwards slightly as she turned to the side recklessly. She had fallen asleep, which had not been her intention at all. Relief warmed her blood as she examined the male lying on the bed; he was positioned with his back towards her and snoring lightly. She moaned slightly as she tucked her knees up towards her chest.

Remaining on the floor where she had fallen asleep, she waited a few moments for the tingling sensation in her lower legs to disintegrate. She covered her mouth with her right hand for a second and yawned lightly, wondering whether she had made a mistake in recovering him. Hermione trusted her instincts and was usually rewarded for having a good sense in judgement.

Hermione smiled to herself for a second. Pulling herself into a standing position, she used the wall to support herself and checked the time on the clock that was on the bedside table. It was just past eight in the morning, which meant she had been sleeping in excess of four hours. That would have been plenty of time for him to have left the house and return again. The thought troubled her but she doubted herself and forced herself to believe that he would not have retuned again, should he have left.

She tapped her pocket and found that both her own wand and Draco's were safely in the material pouch. That was her guarantee that he had not vacated the room at all; if anyone came within a centimetre of her own wand, she would have responded instantly. She continued to scan him for a moment but her focus gradually turned to the small window.

Peering out of the room through the clouded glass nervously, she squinted her eyes because of the gradually rising sun. The sky was clear and an oceanic blue; not a cloud patterned the sky and several birds hovered in the summer breeze. The weather last night had shifted a beautiful clear day. She looked down onto the road below the bedroom, just feet from her own room; she could see the neighbours' house perfectly.

A police car remained on the drive and there was a barricade of tape around the drive and front garden. Hermione closed her eyes for a second and a chill ran down her back. She observed two officers, as the patrolled the garden. A second police vehicle approached the Flanders' house and she recognised it to be a specialist forensic unit.

Pulling the curtains, Hermione allowed the room to fall into darkness for a moment, before stepping over to the door of the room and opening it. Light flooded in from the hallway and she looked behind her to check the bed. It took a couple of minutes for her to register the difference. Draco had shifted onto his back and his eyes were focussed on her.

Neither of them moved, until Hermione eventually took a step forward. Biting her top lip slightly, she looked at the ceiling and checked her pocket again. The wands were securely inside.

'Do you feel okay?' she asked, almost timidly. It was polite but not as formal as she would use towards her friends.

He stared at her blankly for a moment, as though her voice had barely broken the silence. He nodded meekly and Hermione was certain that the corners of his mouth twitched. 'Yeah.'

She nodded slowly, back arched defensively. She opened her mouth but only allowed air to escape from her lips. There was a period of awkwardness and Hermione tried to summarise what was going through his mind with little success. Eventually she took another step forward and examined his head for a moment.

'Lump's gone down,' she pointed out plainly, making to gesture to his injury physically.

He lifted his hand up to his head and stroked the bruised area of his forehead. His hair was matted and fell forwards as he moved his hand away; he cringed slightly. 'Feels like it,' he sighed and Hermione ignored the sarcasm in his voice.

Hermione paused in her thoughts for a moment. 'There's an open fireplace downstairs. My parents had it reopened and I had it connected to the network so that friends could drop by,' she added shortly, 'I'll go light a fire,' she informed him, turning backwards.

His eyes pierced into her back and she sensed movement from the bed, as he shifted his legs over the side of the bed. Almost stepping out through the door, she moved unnaturally slowly, as if wishing him to offer some kind of information, explanation or even, thanks. She couldn't understand herself, why she believed that Draco would offer this without any reluctance—just purely good intentions.

'Wait,' he stated quietly. His tone of voice was so grey. She turned around; he was barely a foot away from her. 'I haven't anywhere to go. Don't bother.'

Hermione watched him avoid contact with her eyes. Rather than question him upfront, she decided to give him the opportunity to confess his own reasons. She nodded and stared at the floor, as he was doing, for a short period before conspiring to make sure she had true advantage. She was certain that someone was observing her but wondered whether it was a guilty conscience.

'Well, if that's what you want. I can lend you some money to get into London,' she offered, twitching a smile from her own mouth.

His head bounced up quickly but he appeared to control a sudden violent urge. 'Ride on a bloody muggle transportation device. You trying to kill me?' he looked utterly put out.

'Well, you refused to use the flow network—I'm certain that's a simpler way of getting to Diagon Ally—or Knockturn,' she added tonelessly, 'your preference.' He stared back at her for a moment and his cheeks darkened, reminding Hermione of Ron. Allowing him to calm slightly she continued to speak, 'or you could take a shower here and then see how you feel.'

Draco shifted onto his left leg slightly and cringed. He smirked, 'an opportunity to get me naked, eh, Granger?' she could tell that his words were forced but a strange sensation blessed her body.

She smiled, almost seductively. 'Not quite, Malfoy,' she emphasised his name. 'You look a mess,' he gawped at her and she continued, 'and the hot water will relax the pain,' she added politely.

He opened his mouth and Hermione was certain that he was going to argue with her or at least defend his position. He sighed slightly and nodded. She watched his throat as he swallowed heavily. Draco brushed his fringe from his eyes and scanned lower down Hermione's body.

She dented her mouth slightly. 'Don't worry, you're wand is safe.'

'How do you know that's what I was looking at?' he almost joked.

Hermione waltzed through the door and pressed her hand against the wall. Stretching upwards, she opened an airing cupboard. 'Because I'm a filthy mudblood,' she reminded him carefully and smiled secretly, as he made no effort to return the comment. She pulled a small face clothe from the cupboard. 'This should be big enough,' she held it up for him to see.

Turning her neck to look at him, she noticed that he was pale and unobservant. Wondering whether she had made an impression, she watched as his expression changed in realisation of what she had offered him.

Hermione found it hard to smile. 'I'm joking. Here,' she pulled a large, grey towel from the airing cupboard and handed it to him. 'The shower's in there. Take as long as you want,' she offered kindly, gesturing to a door on the left.

He nodded and she watched him walk stiffly into the bathroom, obviously trying to hide a leg injury unsuccessfully. He closed the door quickly and Hermione waited for the sound of the taps, before turning away and running her fingers through her own hair in an attempt to smarten herself up.

Slowly moving over the landing, Hermione approached the stairs and began to walk down them slowly. The skin on her neck was raised but she presumed it was because of Draco's presence. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed that the kitchen door was closed and was certain that she had left it open the previous night.

As she opened the door, before she had even passed through the frame, a voice spoke to her. 'You took your time, Miss Granger.'

For a moment, Hermione recoiled and allowed the door to open firmly before twisting her arm around for her wand. She pulled Draco's out by mistake and scanned the small table where a witch was sitting. She sighed in relief and lowered the wand quickly.

'Professor?' she questioned the older witch naively. The woman was tall, thin and had grey hair tied into a tight knot at the back of her head, upon witch sat a black, pointed hat.

Professor McGonagall smiled slightly. 'I doubt that wand would have done much to protect you, Hermione, goodness forbid I had been an intruder.'

Hermione realised that she had been rather careless, as an intruder would have unlikely known her name. She tucked the wand with her own and moved into the kitchen to stand in front of the professor.

Hermione nodded but was left no time to make a verbal response. 'Miss Granger, I have very little time to spend with you but what I am about to ask of you, I must have your full guarantee to execute with a full Gryffindor heart,' she began and Hermione nodded willingly. 'We—the Ministry— know what occurred last night in the house opposite and you must trust me enough not to question details,' she paused for breath, 'protect Draco and he in return, will protect you.'

Hermione took a step backwards and Professor McGonagall stood up, towering Hermione with a good few inches of extra height. 'Protection? Oh no, I can see where this is going. I don't want to play around with that kind of magic, Professor,' Hermione's voice was shaking and McGonagall was watching her with sad, kind eyes. 'I've never shown any kind of resistance before, but—'

'Hermione,' McGonagall began, a sense of urgency in her voice, 'you must trust my judgement—I promise no harm will come to you and it is only for the remainder of the holidays. A week. I am certain you can survive seven days. He just requires your trust. I assure you his intentions last night were purely good.'

Hermione barely had time to consider the words. 'I,' she began to stammer, understanding that her choice was not really optional. 'How can his intentions be good?'

'Are you certain they were bad?' McGonagall responded and Hermione lowered her head to show her understanding. 'I can cast the spell in such a way he won't even know that it's occurred,' Hermione's mouth widened slightly but Professor McGonagall raised her hand. 'Long enough for him to return to Hogwarts and then the spell will be complete.'

Hermione opened her mouth to speak but there was no rejection on her face. She nodded and turned to move out of the way of her professor, who was standing ready to apperate out of the room. Hermione wondered whether she could make Draco disappear to somewhere else but allowed her mind to settle on more pressing matters.

'Good,' the professor smiled, 'because it's already done,' Hermione tried to control a scowl as McGonagall peered out of the window. 'Trust me, Miss Granger, it is an everyone's best. Let's avoid telling Mr Weasley and Mr Potter, shall we?' she paused for a second and added, 'oh! Congratulations,' with a wink of her left eye, the professor was gone, leaving Hermione in total shock.

'What kind of a hybrid spell has she put on me?' Hermione muttered to herself under her breath, 'no wonder he wouldn't leave this morning. I wonder whether he has realised?' Hermione shook her head to stop talking to herself aloud and began to pour a bowl of cornflakes into a bowl on the side of the sink from a box she had not bothered to put away from the previous day.

She bent down to search the lower half of the fridge for some remaining milk. Realising that she need to get some food for the remaining week, she flinched slightly, sensing an extra presence in the room. Standing up quickly, she felt the muscle in her knee twang as she turned around.

Draco stared at her from the doorway, a bead of water rolling down his forehead from where he had clumsily dried himself. He was dressed but his clothes were clinging to his skin. He nodded thankfully and she pulled the carton of milk out of the fridge. Walking past him, she smelt an extremely familiar, sweet aroma. Pausing for a second, she stopped and looked at him curiously.

'Did you use my shampoo?'