Ch.5: Night Owl
Two weeks had passed peacefully at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Not that they had gone without incident. The Slytherins, noticing Draco had begun to hang around the Gryffindors more and more, had all but excommunicated him from the house.
Not that Draco found that to be a particular loss at this point.
For the first time in his life, he experienced true friendship.
This was different than the friendships he had held in the past. Rather than being a quid pro quo business relationship, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were friends with him because they enjoyed being around him.
And even more surprising, he enjoyed being around them.
He watched the three laughing across the hall from where they sat at the Gryffindor Table; and wished, not for the first time, that he could be sitting with them, rather than at the end of the Slytherin table, three seats between himself and his housemates.
As if she had read his mind, Hermione glanced over to him and smiled. Harry and Ron looked over as well, and waved to him.
Ignoring the venomous stares of his housemates, he raised his hand in acknowledgment of their greeting.
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That evening, the four had taken over the Head Common Room.
Hermione had her Transfiguration and Charms homework all over one of the large tables, immersed in her Studies, while the boys sprawled on the carpet, immersed in a game of Exploding Snap.
Ron sat up and made a face.
"Oy, Harry, I'm awfully hungry. What do you say, we head down to the kitchen and grab some grub?"
Harry smiled, shaking his head at Ron.
"I swear, mate, you've got to have more than one stomach in your body. We just ate dinner an hour ago."
"Please?" Ron pleaded.
Conceding, Harry stood up and dusted off his trousers. The two boys raced each other out of the portrait hole.
Hermione glanced up from her 18 inches on transfiguring fruit to china, and saw Draco staring into the flames.
By this time of the evening, his meticulously groomed hair fell messily about his face, a result of his running his hands through it as Harry and Ron took him at Exploding Snap.
He had a tired, pinched look about the bridge of his nose, but his forehead and slim frame were relaxed as he lay on the carpet.
Tap. Tap Tap Tap.
Startled, Hermione looked away from Draco to the large tawny owl that crashing its head against the window. She got up, and let the owl in, untying the parchment from its leg. The owl bit her hand softly, and she fed it before letting it out into the night.
"Draco?"
He turned away from the fire. "Yeah Hermione?"
"It's addressed to you. This letter I mean." She said, handing it to him.
He took it from her, and sat back down on the floor, leaning against the couch.
After several minutes, Draco placed his head on his knees and the letter fluttered to the floor.
Hermione rushed over to him.
"Draco, what is it? What does it say?"
Draco motioned to the letter on the floor, not lifting his head.
She picked it up gingerly and read:
Dear Mr. Malfoy-
It is with deepest sorrow that I write informing you of your mother's passing.
While the cause of her death is unknown at the time, she was found dead in your father's study.
Under his orders, she has immediately buried in the family plot.
Against Mr. Malfoy, Senior's wishes, your mother left you her vault in Gringotts. The key is enclosed. Do as you see fit with the contents.
Sincerely,
Albus DumbledoreHermione picked the small key off the ground from where it had fallen. Fingering it gently, she made out the letters NM engraved on the top of the key.
A sniff from the boy next to her reminded her of the letter's contents, and tears filled her eyes.
"Draco, I'm so sorry." She said dumbly.
Watching her new friend slump even farther down, Hermione reached over to him and tentatively rubbed his back. Malfoy sniffed again, and she moved closer to him, putting her arms around him, and allowing several tears to fall.
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Harry and Ron burst through the portrait hole arms full of pastries and flasks of pumpkin juice.
They stopped short at the sight that greeted them.
Hermione was sitting on the floor, her arms wrapped around a slumped over Malfoy.
She looked up at them tearfully, and motioned to the letter that lay on the floor.
The two read it, Ron going white.
Harry was the first to speak.
"Draco, mate…I'm….I don't know what to say…" He started, his voice choking up, as he remembered his own pain after Sirius' death.
Draco looked up at him blankly.
"Do you have any idea how this happened?" Harry continued softly.
"Harry! Really, this is not the time!" Hermione implored him.
But Draco stood up.
"It was my father." He said softly.
"He could break my will, but my mother…she always resisted him. She…she always tried to teach me what was right. And now she's gone, and I know it was my father who did this. And I will get him for it." He finished in a steely voice.
Hermione stood next to him, holding out the key to his mother's vault.
Draco took it from her, and then turned and walked up the stairs into his own room.
Ron had regained his color.
"Blimey. I feel awful." He whispered shakily.
The three stared at each other miserably, wishing they could do something to comfort their new friend.
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Draco lay on his bed, allowing the tears to flow freely now.
His mother was gone.
His mother was the only person who had ever told him she loved him.
His mother had always been kind and gentle with him, despite his haughty additude towards her should she ever try to tell him that his father was not always right.
He held the key to her vault tightly in his hand, feeling the cool metal imprint itself in his palm.
Draco silently promised his mother, as well as himself, that he would avenge her death, even if it meant his own.
He strode out onto the landing, noting that his friends had gone, and into the bathroom, where he stood under the shower for a long time.
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Hermione sat on the couch, eyes red and cheeks stained with tears.
She listened to the water falling in the bathroom, and the sound of it soothed her.
When she had returned for walking Harry and Ron back to Gryffindor Tower, she heard the shower running, and had sat on the couch.
She wanted to speak to Draco, but was not sure what she would say, or if he even wished to talk to her.
The sound of the water stopped, and the pop and crackle of the fire were the only noises in the Head's Quarters.
She heard the bathroom door open, then close.
She did not look up from the rug until she felt someone standing beside her.
Draco's eyes held a sadness that squeezed at the pain in her own heart.
"Thank you, Hermione." He said gruffly to her.
She held out her arms to him, and he sat beside her, welcoming her comforting embrace.
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Only glowing embers remained of the once crackling fire, and the Head Boy and Girl remained on the couch.
Hermione's head rested on the crook of the arm and back of the sofa, her eyes closed and breathing even. Her right hand rested on top of the blonde head in her lap, where she had stroked his head until he had fallen asleep.
I've been able to get quite a few chapters up lately, since I'm on break! Let me know how you like the story, and earn my eternal gratitude!