Chapter 2

Spontaniety

He looked up with a mixture of surprise and confusion. She called him Draco. And was that…concern? On her face? Then he breathed and shook his head, as if to calm himself. After a moments thoughtful pause, he started.

"Before I get into specifics, I want you to know that I am not in any way trying to lure you into something, this is not a trap, whatever you might think. This summer has changed a lot of things, turned a lot of shit backwards. I am not, do not want, and never will be a Death Eater, as I know I will end up being killed, either by the Dark Lord himself or my father, or some other death eater, or even someone in the Order—"

"What do you know about the Order? Who--" hissed Hermione, cutting Draco off. He held up both hands to stem the flow.

"Shut up, Granger, just let me continue. I know about the Order because they helped to hide me over the better part of the summer. For that I only need to give you the minor details for now." He shifted positions on the couch so that he was directly facing her.

"On July 13th, I was to become the newest addition to the Death Eater family, if you could call it that. My induction ceremony was to be held at the manor, which would have been the obvious choice. It was the first time I remember my father being proud of me." here he gave a little derisive snort, as if to turn everything he just said into a joke, but it was no joke. He continued.

"I didn't know what to think about this whole thing, I…I wasn't ready to make choices like that yet. But once again, I had no say in anything. My mother—" Here he stopped, his voice cracking slightly. His eyes narrowed to slits and a look of angry determination to go on crossed his face. "My mother tried to speak to me in private, tried to tell me to get away, but the manor was never a safe place for anything. My father caught us and…" He stopped yet again and looked up at Hermione, angry tears fighting to escape.

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to," Hermione said softly.

"He killed her." Draco said it softly, in an almost indifferent tone. Hermione could tell from his eyes that he was very, very far from being indifferent over the matter. She gave the smallest of gasps, more like a fluttering sigh than anything. She knew the last thing he wanted was pity. She attempted interaction.

"You—he actually…?"

"Yes, Granger, he killed her, did you not hear me the first time!?" Draco yelled with very apparent emotion.

"I'm sorry, I—" she stopped in mid sentence, staring at Draco. He had gone very still, eyes closed, head in hands. With his eyes closed, the lines of worry and anguish disappeared. It was as if he was trying to collect himself, which he was. If it wasn't such a serious situation, she thought, he'd have looked almost peaceful.

"Granger, I want you to know that my mother was not a bad person. She was just so suppressed by my father. I think she's better off now, wherever she is… She's flown the nest to…better skies..." He now had a far off look in his eyes. Hermione was slightly shocked. She had no idea he could be articulate like that.

"And I also want you to know," he continued hoarsely, "that I had been hiding from the Dark side with the Order for the better part of the summer. Since the night of the ceremony, actually. Right after Lucius…well after that happened I left. There were a few hours until the ceremony but I went straight to Dumbledore, he told me where to find him over the summer if ever I needed anything."

"Wait. He told you— were you planning to run away?" Hermione was confused.

Draco gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes, I had been planning it. Why do you think I wasn't being my rotten old self at the end of last term? At least… I tried," at this he smirked slightly, the old Draco shining through.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you were your old rotten self. Not that I paid any attention." Hermione looked away, trying to look as though she really didn't care. She secretly did, and wanted to know if he was really trying to be civil. That would be high on her list of "Things She Never Thought Were Possible."

They were silent for a few moments. Then Hermione asked, a little quietly, "So…so what was it you needed to warn me about?"

Draco rubbed the bridge of his nose and squinted his eyes shut, as if trying to ward off a headache, which, likely, he had.

"Now that I think about it, it wasn't all that drastic. All I had to warn you about was that the Dark Lord was planning an attack. On Muggles. Near here, actually."

"What?! That—that's important!" shrieked Hermione. "How could you think that that isn't important?"

"Well, see here Granger," Draco said in a calm voice while Hermione wrung her hands frantically, looking out the window as if to expect Voldemort himself to come knocking on the door. "I was being tracked, but since coming under the Order's care, Dumbledore performed some powerful magic that blocked me from contact from the outside world. To my father and the Dark Lord, I appear as dead. Their letters do not reach me, they just fly around confused, or don't move at all. Poor, poor waste of owls.—"

"But what has that got to do with—" Draco held up his hands, cutting her short.

"They know I'm not dead, they can NOT be that stupid. They just have no way whatsoever knowing where I am or who has me…although that part should be pretty clear. See, I had a big part to play in the attack. They were going to make me, being the new member and as part of my initiation—" he hesitated. "– kill someone."

Hermione gasped. Draco grimaced.

"I know. I know that—" here, Draco's voice became quieter as he spoke, faltering slightly. Hermione had never seen him look so uncomfortable. "– I know I have been ten times more than horrible to you and Weasley and Potter since day one, but…damn, now that I guess I'm with you guys, Dumbledore and everyone wants me to…get on better terms with you guys and…"

"Apologize?" Hermione offered.

"Yeah, that's it. And as you probably know, I am foreign to such actions." The trademark smirk came fleetingly for a second, but then it was gone. "So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry."

Draco raised his head slowly, almost fearful of what his eyes might come in contact with. Was it that he was afraid of rejection? He was confused as well as fearful. But when his eyes of icy grey finally met with Hermione's warm chocolate brown ones, he did not see rejection or dislike. He did not even see puzzlement.

He saw a million things.

He saw sorrow.

He saw warmth.

He saw compassion.

He saw…something different.

There was such depth to these eyes upon which he had never looked so deeply, so intently; he felt that if he never would have looked in these eyes, he surely could not go on living. He didn't want to look away.

Hermione also noticed something in this frozen moment when their eyes connected, and it was just that – to her, their eyes felt, in fact, connected. She could not look away. She had never seen so much emotion show through any part of Draco, let alone his face. His face rarely gave anything away but scorn and anger.

Here, however, there was definitely something else. Hermione saw so much more through these twin portals than through anyone.

She saw sorrow.

She saw fear.

But she also saw hope.

There it was, a small twinkle in the corner of his eye. It gleamed like a saving beacon in a dark place. With this she felt her own hope rekindled from somewhere deep. It was a hope much the same as Draco's, yet different. He was on the way to becoming good. She could feel it.

Janey, upstairs, was listening to music and calling friends about her party, inviting them to show up. After accomplishing this, she was sitting on her bed, humming to the music, when she thought about Hermione and the boy downstairs. Before, she could hear their voices raising and quieting, but turning her music low, she listened and could hear nothing.

A little bit worried, she crept down the hall and down the first few stairs, leaning down to see past the wall, but without being seen by those below. Turning her eyes towards the couch, she had to bite down a noise of disbelief.

There was Hermione and this hot, blond stranger, caught in a ferocious lip-lock, not rivaled by anything Janey had ever seen in a movie.

Covering her mouth with both hands, Janey backed back up the stairs and to her room. This was certainly not the time to re-interrupt them. "I think we've pretty much hated each other from day one," Janey whispered to herself, shaking her head. She was feeling puzzled. And jealous. Looking at the phone still in her hand, the threw it against teh wall and sat down in a huff, crossed arms, pouty face and all.

A/N:::: Hey! Sorry I took so long to update but im pretty busy, and I am writing it as I go along and submitting when I fee like it, basically.I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but i thought now was a good cut off time, kind of a cliffie, but not a serious one. I don't have any more written as of now, but since this chapter is finished (Draco explaining everything), its time to have some fun ;) Hope chapter 3 wont take too long! Keep reviewing, I will NOT abandon this story, trust me!
love Mori-mac