Chapter Seven
How very peculiar. What was Draco doing getting owls? And at this time of night, too.
Cautiously, I opened the window as quietly as possible and let the owl in. It gave a very official sounding hoot and stuck out its leg. I noticed that on the other leg, there was a small, silver orb attached. It was very familiar…
I looked over at the bed, where Draco was still sleeping. Aw. I had to admit, he looked pretty damn adorable.
I looked back at the owl, who was staring back patiently. Should I read his mail? It would be wrong to… I mean, I wouldn't appreciate if he read anything of mine. But…
What if it was something related to Voldemort? What if he was still in contact with him? Then again, it could just be his mother sending a monthly letter or something. It could be from a friend, for all I knew! Something totally innocent.
But what if it wasn't?
My hangover was slowly fading into pure curiosity. After all, I had been trained by the ministry on his kind of people. Not that I really knew what kind of person he was anymore, of course, but still…he had been on the official wanted list since our nonexistent seventh year.
AND I SLEPT WITH HIM!
Quickly, I untied the parchment from the owl, and it flew off. It was a little rolled up parchment tied up with a string. I rolled it around with my fingers, still undecided.
As I turned it over and over in the moonlight, a few scrawled letters caught my eye on the outside of it. Peering closely, I saw what it read:
Hermione Granger
Oh. Shit.
For me. For me?
I stood frozen. There was no way. No way. How could- how could- this can't be- oh shit.
Two options came to me. One, I could rip it up and throw it away like I never received it. Then, all would be the same.
Or two, I could just open it.
Deep breath. Okay.
With trembling hands, I undid the string and unrolled the note. At once, I recognized the rushed writing as Ron's.
It seemed such a lifetime ago. I had been ignoring my real life for so long, and already began another before my old one ended…it was all so confusing.
Hermione,
Where the bloody hell are you? We've been sending owls all over the globe to locate you, all the possible locations where you might be. You've got to come back NOW; everything's in pretty bad shape. Voldemort's been rampaging his Death Eaters all over our camps, loads of them are burned down to the bloody ground, and…you just need to come back straight away, alright? Everyone needs you! Hurry up! Now! You have to-
Here's where Harry's handwriting intervened, with a more sympathetic voice.
Listen, Hermione, it's alright. You made a mistake. It could've happened to anyone. I know we were hard on you, and we're sorry. We truly are. But Ron's right- you need to come back. Soon. The climax of the war is coming, everyone can feel it. Tensions are high, each side is building up more weapons, and Voldemort has been adding to his troops. We're really gonna need you.
Not to mention that we miss you, 'Mione. I know the war has taken a toll on you. Me and Ron both know. It doesn't change the fact that we've been friends for close to forever.
Please come back. I'm not kidding. The Final Battle is nearing, and everyone's really scared, especially since one of our best aurors isn't here to help.
We're going to keep sending out these letters until we get a reply. But wherever you are, take care.
Harry and Ron
By the end, I had sunk to the floor. I remembered what that orb was for. Magic detector. It warms when something of the magical sort is near.
I didn't know what to do except pick up the rest of my clothes and slink over to Lisa's empty apartment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Wake up, sleepyhead!"
"Yeah, get up!"
"How was it?"
I peeped open one eye to find that my face was in the pillow.
Groggily, I wondered who the hell was shaking me when I was so obviously hung over. I lifted my head and looked around.
Five shining faces were smiling expectantly at me. I was thoroughly annoyed. I sunk back into the pillow and croaked, "Let me sleeeeeep. Pleeaaase."
"Oh, come one, Mia. Drake wouldn't tell us anything either."
"Yeah, did you guys get busy?"
"Kyle!"
I groaned. This was so not the conversation I wanted to have before coffee was present.
I nuzzled under the covers and half- yelled, "Nothing happened, really! He was probably just too embarrassed to admit he couldn't nail me!"
"Oh, yes, so embarrassed. I'm positively humiliated. Such shame. Now, will everyone please clear out, for I must have a chat with Ms. Sunshine over there."
Oh, boy.
I heard everyone obediently clear out of the room, snickering under their breath. Don't leave me, I wanted to shout out at them.
The door clicked shut. I felt Draco's stare, but I resolutely stayed under the covers.
"Granger," he drawled. "Get out from under there."
I poked my head out at him. "Just try and make me."
"Oh, you want a repeat of last night?" he grinned.
I narrowed my eyes and reluctantly sat up. I was weirdly self- conscious knowing that this was the man whom I had just shagged last night, when I've only had about two other intimate men in my life. "What is it?"
"Ooh, testy. Don't worry. I won't tell everyone what we've been up to." Damn. He was so smug. Good thing I was so weary; or else I would've punched him. "But tell me something first."
Just as I was leaning back, zoning out, he asked, "What was an owl doing here last night?" My head popped up to look at him. All traces of a smile were gone now.
"How do you know about that?"
"I'm a very light sleeper. I knew it the moment you got out of the bed. You look very nice naked in the moonlight, by the way." A slight smirk. As for me, a slight blush.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"And deprive myself of that sight?"
I couldn't help but crack a smile as I threw my pillow at him. "Pervert."
He placed the pillow beside him. "What was the owl doing here? Was it for you?"
"Well…yes," I admitted. We were treading on dangerous grounds. "Why?"
He sat down on the bed. "Hermione…you haven't…"
"Told anyone about you?" I finished for him. He nodded. "No," I shook my head. "Actually, I haven't been in contact with anyone since I arrived."
I looked at him. "Malfoy. Draco. Drake? I still don't quite know what to call you. All of them are pretty strange for me to use."
"Yes, I've noticed. You keep alternating."
"Yeah," I laughed sheepishly. "Which do you prefer?"
He seemed to shrug a bit, and said, "Why didn't you turn me in?"
The abrupt change of subject threw me. He continued. "I mean, I must have been on the wanted list for years now, with even you and your friends chasing after me. When you came here a month ago, I thought I'd have to pick up and move, but you didn't make a move."
I picked at a stray thread on the blanket and asked, "Is that why you…slept with me? To make sure I wouldn't tell on you?"
He smiled. "No. We may be on opposite ends, but you're still a woman and I'm still a man."
I had to blush at that, remembering. Oh, he's a man, alright.
"Draco. Drake. (Merlin that's weird.) After you left, didn't Voldemort look for you?"
He sighed. "I'll be very straight with you, Hermione. Yes, he did. For about a year, he was right on my tail. But I hid with people, didn't stabilize myself…and I didn't use magic."
My eyes widened. "You didn't use magic for a whole year? You? How did you survive?"
"Hey, give me some credit. I knew that if I didn't use magic for that long of a period of time, eventually, I wouldn't be able to be detected at all. Or at least barely."
This was boggling my mind. "So…you haven't used magic for all these years?" He nodded. "Wow. I must say, I'm impressed."
"So you've never really officially joined the Death Eaters?"
Was I hoping?
He pulled up both of his sleeves and showed his bare, Dark Mark- less arms. "And you already saw that the rest of me don't have the Mark either."
We sat in thoughtful silence for a second, and than he said, "Well, now that I've opened up for sharing time, what's your story?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, since you haven't contacted Potter or Weasley in a month, not to mention failing to turn me in, I can only assume you must not want them to know your location."
Damn, he was sharp. "Well…" I sighed. I supposed that I would talk about it sooner or later. It might as well be with him. "You see, I was on guard at a war camp, you know those, and-" I caught the blank look on his face. "Goodness, you haven't had any connection to the magical community at all? Well, they're these camps where aurors and just recruits prepare for each battle, especially the final battle. We train, guard, etcetera. Anyways…I was on guard, and I…"
"You…" he prompted.
"I fell asleep," I felt my whole face flush bright red.
"You fell…asleep," he confirmed. "You just…dozed off?" I nodded.
To my horror, he burst out laughing. "Hey!" I cried, trying to sound indignant. It wasn't very convincing, for I started laughing too. "It's extremely serious! People died, Draco!"
He calmed down a bit and looked at me with something like fondness. "Oh, so sorry. You're right, this is a very serious matter."
"Extremely."
"Uh- huh."
"Wow. Are we getting along?" I returned the look.
He pretended to look shocked. "Why, I believe we are."
I sighed and became serious, remembering how it really was. "It was really bad when it happened though. Death Eaters got into the camp and all sorts of chaos was aroused. Harry and Ron got so angry at me. And I just…left."
He nodded. I suppose he realized the seriousness of that kind of situation as well. "I can understand that. It's, more or less, what I did."
Hmm. That was true. I remembered the first day I came, when I yelled at him for running away from all his consequences. And that was exactly what I did. I may have been even worse.
That morning, when he left Lisa's bedroom with a smile on both our faces, I knew that we had formed a strange sort of truce. Not a romantic one, but a platonic one. We were going to be friends. How weird is that?
And to think, it all started with sex.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was in a pretty good mood for the rest of the day. The rest didn't believe my little story, of course, since I seemed to be "glowing", as they described me to be.
We got to stay home that day, since they didn't need us at Clevouge.
While I cleaned up all the beers, Lisa ran into the room and jumped around excitedly. "I found the perfect song for you!"