A/N: Ok this chapter is the chapter right before the highly anticipated chapter 12! LOL, see I have to admit something, I already have chapter 12 written and I'm so freakin happy lol, even I was getting all excited while typing it. Its so far my favorite chapter *big ass grin* well anyway, now that I'm done with this chapter I need to get started on typing up an Editorial Newspaper Article for my Journalism class, how-boring-is-that! Well anyway, just read this chapter; get it out of the way so that we can have CHAPTER 12 out! Muahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!
Warning: OotP spoilers from now till the end of the fic!
Disclaimer: ::Grabs megaphone for all to hear her:: May I have your attention please! Will the real J.K Rowling please stand up! I repeat, will the real J.K Rowling please stand up! ::all the way across the ocean a blonde headed women by the name of J.K Rowling owner of the Harry Potter saga stands and waves:: Thank you! ::turns megaphone off and walks away::.
Credits: ::sticks middle finger up at Credits:: F@$# you man!
Thanks too: hP fAn Fo LyFe, sweetstar3, DanceChic0869, super sycoh, xxbabysparklesxx, daydreamer4495, Confused, PinayAko, Mila, Mia, Reiji, Liney, Arwen1011, bad-ass-angel, Tristanlover59, wildmage101, love2045, Raye-Rei, beebopodiggity, ScRibBLrOfDrEaMs, starlightz6, overXposed, Pannygirl, ch, Naoko Ten'ou, Phonixflyer, noisyamie, sweet-77-thang, Junsui Chikyuu, Nell09, Tom*Feltons*Babe, Lavender Brown and savvyfairy for the awesome reviews!
Chapter 11: Blue Emerald of Illusion
Draco and Hermione headed down towards the Great Hall for the Medieval Ball rehearsal, they walked along side each other in silence.
Last night Hermione again woke up crying due to another nightmare and once again Draco had to just sit there silently in the dark and watch.
He grew tired of it. Not in a selfish way, but in a more sympathetic sort of way or as sympathetic as he would allow himself to be which wasn't very much at all. He felt like telling her to get over whatever it was she kept on dreaming about, but he never found the unfeeling words to do so.
God what a sinful thing it was.
'Shut up witch!' That's all he wanted to say each night, yet he never did.
Yet night after night of the same uncomfortable routine, made him wonder all the time as to what she was dreaming about.
'Bad Dream,' was the only response he ever got from her. Naturally since he was no mind reader that didn't give him any sort of clue or hint and it wasn't like him to get involved in 'anything' with a Gryffindor, especially Hermione 'the nasty mudblood' Granger.
If it wasn't for him losing sleep over the matter, he wouldn't press it any further, but he was losing sleep over it. He couldn't sleep till she cried herself back to sleep and that took nearly till dawn. He had just gotten used to sleeping with the wall too.
He was finding out, and he was finding out fast. His beauty sleep depended on it and oddly enough his peace of mind.
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Hermione and Draco walked into the Great Hall where Dumbledore, Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Snape where already there waiting for them.
"At least our Head Boy and Girl managed to make it on time. Apparently our prefects have less of a knack for punctuality." Said Professor McGonagall firmly.
"We thought we were late," Hermione replied, looking around to find no prefects in the room.
Suddenly, the sounds of running footsteps was heard and the prefects from Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin and Hufflepuff came in practically sliding on their shoes into the Great Hall in attempts to stop.
"So glad you could all join us," McGonagall said giving them a disapproving glare.
"Well you see what happened was Peeves-" Ginny began but McGonagall rose a hand to silence her.
"I don't care what the insufferable poltergeist is up too. You should all make it your business to get hear on time!" She said in a loud and intimidating tone.
Draco rolled his eyes, 'God this is going to stink more then Goyle's underarms,' he thought painfully.
The Gryffindor prefects were Ron and Ginny.
The Ravenclaw prefects were Padma Patil and Anthony Goldstein.
The Hufflepuff prefects were Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott.
The Slytherin prefects were Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini.
Hermione looked at Blaise hiding the immense fear that began welling up inside her. Blaise looked her way and smirked, feeling as though he had complete control over her, though little did he know Hermione now knew what he did to her.
"Well now that you are all here we might as well begin," Dumbledore said with a smile.
"Prefects pair up, Head Boy and Girl pair up," McGonagall said clapping her hands with authority.
'It bloody begins,' Draco thought as he stood next to Hermione.
Hermione wanted to be as far away from Blaise as possible, a part of her was so terrified he'd rape her again anytime anyplace. Another part of her wanted to kill him for taking away the one thing she valued most about herself.
"Our Head Boy and Head Girl shall be in the back of the line. Gryffindor prefects," began McGonagall as Ron and Ginny looked at her, "You shall be first to enter the hall, so you'll be in the front."
Ron and Ginny put on disapproving faces as they headed to the front while Hermione and Draco headed to the back.
"My Hufflepuff prefects, you dears will enter the hall second," said Professor Sprout with a cheery grin.
Ernie and Hannah went behind Ron and Ginny.
"Alright my brilliant prefects, you'll be third to enter," said Professor Flitwick from on top of a stool.
Padma and Anthony got behind Ernie and Hannah.
"Parkinson, Zabini I hope you have enough sense to realize where you go?" Snape said dryly, with his arms crossed.
Pansy and Blaise went behind Padma and Anthony.
"Now that that is all settled, we shall explain what is going on. You will all be announced in one by one," began Dumbledore, "When you reach the center of the dance area you will break apart, boys on the left and girls on the right."
"Sounds like a real picnic," Ron mumbled sarcastically under his breath, "Ouch, that hurt you know!" Ron said in a harsh whisper after Ginny elbowed him in the ribs for his comment.
"When we announce the Head Boy and Girl the prefects shall lift their wands up into the air in a salute. Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy shall walk through and then they will dance the first dance. Halfway through the prefects shall join in." He said looking at each of them through his half-moon spectacles.
'You cannot be serious?' Draco thought to himself with a disbelieving face.
'This is not what I need to deal with right now!' Hermione thought angrily, 'He'll probably make me trip and embarrass myself in front of the whole school!'
'I bet the mudblood has two left feet. Knowing my luck she probably does,' Draco thought as his eyes looked over towards her. She was looking straight ahead but you could tell she was thinking about something.
He then saw Hermione's eyes look over at Blaise and a strange light of fear shown in her eyes. He then saw Blaise look back at Hermione with a grin and Hermione immediately looked away and made her hands into fists.
Draco suddenly got a sick feeling in his stomach.
"So let us rehearse the entrance. We will not rehearse the dance for I'm sure all of you here know how to dance a common ballroom dance," Dumbledore began as he then said; "So let us rehearse the entrance one time."
All the while, Draco kept on looking back at Blaise and Hermione.
'Something isn't right and why do I have this sick feeling that the male whore Zabini did something to Granger? What could it have been though?' he thought, throughout the rehearsal.
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"Tomorrow's the ball and I managed to get myself a date," Ron said confidently as he, Harry and Hermione headed towards the common room.
"Really? Who'd you ask?" Harry asked curiously.
"Actually I didn't ask them, they asked me," Ron said with a smile.
Hermione raised a brow of curiosity, "Was it Lavender by any chance?"
Ron looked over at her with a surprised stare, "Yea…how'd you guess?"
Hermione shrugged, "I didn't guess actually, I sort of knew."
"How?" Harry asked.
Hermione shrugged again almost as if she didn't really care about what she was talking about, ever since she learned what happened to her she had been very distant and uncaring towards many things, mainly her friends, "I spoke with Lavender the other day during a Quidditch practice, she said she fancied you Ron. So I figured she would want to be the one to go to the ball with you."
"Sounds right enough," Ron said with an understanding nod.
Harry looked at Hermione and his brows contracted together in worry, "Mione, you ok? You haven't really been like yourself lately. Are you sure there is nothing wrong?"
Hermione looked into Harry's gentle green eyes and managed to force a smirk, "I'm fine, just been a bit tired lately is all."
"So how'd rehearsals go you two?" Harry asked.
"Bloody nightmare. I think they should just call the whole prefect/Head Boy and Girl entrance off. Its so un-bloody-necessary. Not to mention dancing with my sister, but I drew the line at her being my date." Ron said with an almost nauseating face.
Harry grinned, "Now I can't wait to see it."
Ron glared at Harry, "Very funny."
"I think its ok," Hermione said absently.
"At least one of us does. Perhaps it's a girl thing, cause Ginny seems to like the whole thing too." Ron said as they approached the Fat Lady.
"Perhaps, I know Malfoy wasn't exactly enjoying himself," Hermione replied.
"Watch him be the main attraction at the ball tomorrow, having every girl swooning over him and such like always. Very nauseating really." Ron said, looking as though he actually was going to be sick.
Harry and Hermione just smirked.
"So where's Lavender?" Hermione asked, "I was supposed to look at outfits with her for the ball tomorrow."
"She's working on the Veritaserum project with Malfoy in the library, I saw them heading over their with their cauldron earlier." Harry replied as he then said the password.
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Draco and Lavender sat in a back corner of the library that was specifically meant for potion making.
"Let's get this over with," Draco said as he sat in his chair and placed the ingredients out on the table.
Lavender glared at him, 'Of all the rotten luck, I wanted to be with Ron tonight,' she thought with a pouty face.
As Draco lit the fire, he looked across at his brunette partner, and he felt so stupid, 'How could I have not realized it before? She's a friend of Granger's right? Maybe she could tell me what the bloody hell is going on with that girl.' He thought.
That meant having an actual non-hostile conversation with a Gryffindor.
'Gods, is this worth it?' He thought, considering how out of character this would actually be for him. His Slytherin peers might question him. Hold on, no they wouldn't, they'd never question him as long as they wanted to keep all their body parts.
Draco nodded lightly to himself as he then glared at Lavender who was carefully measuring her herbs, desperately trying not to mess up and get Draco mad at her again.
"Hey Brown, a word," Draco said leaning his arms on the table.
Lavender flinched, "Oh, Merlin I didn't mess up! That was the right amount of Wolfsbane I swear!"
Draco sighed and looked up at the ceiling, 'What manner of partner is it that I have been paired with?'
Draco looked back at her, "I know that. I wasn't talking about that."
Lavender looked at him confused, "I-I don't understand."
"I want to talk about your little friend Granger." He said coolly.
Lavender gave him a quizzical stare, "You didn't want to talk about her yesterday."
Draco bit his lip in frustration, "Can't you just be silent and answer the questions I ask?"
Lavender frowned, "Your awful mean you know that?"
"Yea, yea so I've heard," he began casually, "I wanted to know if you knew why she cries every night and why…she seems to act strange every time Zabini is around her. Its sickening how things go between the two of them, like something happened that just…"
'Don't go into detail, are you insane Malfoy?' he thought as he paused.
Lavender looked down at the cauldron, 'Hermione swore me to secrecy, I can't say anything, I just can't.'
Draco continued, "To be blunt, did something happen between the two of them? Did he do something to her?"
"What's it to you?" Lavender replied.
Draco paused, 'Tell the truth,' he thought.
"I can't sleep at nights anymore. She cries after her bloody nightmares waking me up and never letting me rest. My sleep is suffering over this, I thought killing her would be the best solution," he began as Lavender brought her hands to her mouth in a horrified gasp, Draco ignored her an continued, "But obviously I can't do that, at least not for another year. So if I could figure out what was wrong, so I could end her nightmares so I could rest for once then I want to know what's up with the girl."
"You know, if your motives weren't so selfish that might've been sweet," Lavender said with a disappointed sigh.
Draco gave her a disgusted look, "Sweet? Are you competent?"
Lavender glared, "Stop being mean! I can't stand it!"
"Brown, I'll make a deal with you," he said smoothly. Draco knew how he would be told what he wanted.
Lavender raised a curious brow up at him, "A deal? With you? Me make a deal with you? What exactly…what kind of deal?"
Draco shrugged, "I won't be mean to you for a while."
'Complete bloody lie,' He thought.
Lavender pondered it for a moment, "You can't be mean to me for the rest of the year, then I'll agree."
"What!? For the rest of the year!? Are you crazy!?"
Lavender giggled, "Ok, so anyway after the Wolfsbane comes the blackroot right?"
Draco glared at the girl, 'She's not as brainless as I had thought. She actually can work her way through a deal…damn bitch. Is me finding out really worth this? I have to actually be civil to a Gryffindor flower child, if I wasn't in the library I'd throw up right about now or just torture Granger for putting me through this.'
Despite what Draco thought, he knew he needed to know. He wanted to sleep again and he didn't want to see Hermione cry anymore. In the end he was willing to be civil, never nice, only civil.
"Fine Brown. But this stays between us understand? If you so much as tell a fly I will curse you for the rest of your living days you hear me?" Draco said coldly, frightening Lavender.
Lavender nodded, "A-Alright, not a word to anyone."
Draco nodded, "Fine then, so what's the problem with Granger?"
Suddenly Blaise walked by with a couple of Slytherins, Draco watched as Lavender looked at Blaise with the deepest contempt and loathing. Draco never saw such a glare from Lavender before not even one directed towards him, now he knew something was up.
Lavender looked back at Draco and sighed, "I was sworn to secrecy, but if you swear to help her not cry anymore and be so sad, then I'll tell you."
"Yes, yes go on…what did Zabini do?" Draco rushed.
Lavender then began, "The night of your detention-"
"Oi! Lavender!" shouted Ron from the entrance of the library.
'What a complete and total bastard! Leave it to him to ruin this! That's it, he dies first!' Draco thought as he tightened a fist and glared venomously at Ron. If looks could kill Ron would've been as dead as a doornail.
Lavender turned and waved, she then looked back at Draco, "I have to go."
"No, you have to tell me what you were going to say first!" Draco insisted.
Lavender shook her head, "I really can't, not now at least I have to go."
Lavender got up to leave, Draco immediately got up and grabbed her arm, "When will you tell me?" He asked darkly.
"The night of the ball? Or our next project session?" Lavender replied.
Draco swore in his mind over and over and envisioned the thousand and one ways he was going to kill Weasely by the time they graduated, "Either, or, is fine with me."
Lavender nodded and then hurried off.
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Draco went to his room and the whole time it took him to walk there all he thought about was one thing, 'Zabini lied to me, something did happen the night of detention. That was a big mistake on Zabini's part and Brown was ready to tell me what had happened then that damn pauper Weasely comes along.'
Draco punched the wall as he walked not feeling the sting in his knuckles.
Draco walked in to find Hermione already sleeping; he quietly took a shower and slipped into bed. He knocked at the air beside him to see if the wall was up and sure enough it was. He checked the time; it was 2:30 in the morning.
'In five minutes she'll wake up crying again,' he thought to himself, as he shut off the lights and leaned back against the backboard and waited in silence.
Within five minutes Hermione began stirring and whimpering, Draco watched like he always did after he would awaken.
"No!" Hermione shouted as she sat upright sweating and shaky and crying.
Draco was so tired of this; it disturbed him to see her like that.
"Bad dream again?" He asked as he looked at her.
She turned her head and faced him, "Yes."
'I'm tired of this,' he thought.
"Is it the same dream every night?" He asked not moving.
Hermione nodded, "Yea."
"What's it about?"
Hermione bit her lip, "A fear…I guess."
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(Back on the night of the detention)
Hagrid left Harry and Draco and headed towards Dumbledore's office. Once he was in he stood in front of Dumbledore's desk.
"Ah, Hagrid, I trust everything went well?" Dumbledore asked.
Hagrid nodded, "Yessir, very well, jus' like ye planned."
Dumbledore nodded, "Our dear friend Firenze gave you what he promised?"
Hagrid nodded, "Indeed he did sir," Hagrid said as he handed Dumbledore the parchment given by Firenze as well as the small brown pouch.
"I consider ourselves fortunate to have found this first," Dumbledore said as he grabbed the pouch, "If this were to have fallen into the hands of our enemies, I dare not think what might've happened."
"Nor I."
Dumbledore opened the pouch and pulled out a deep blue gem, "The famous Blue Emerald of Illusion."
"'Ow will this 'elp us agains' you-know-who?"
"When we give it to the one who can wield its power when the time comes Voldemort is going to have a very hard time getting what he wants."
Hagrid shuffled his feet on the floor, "You mean Harry?"
Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, Harry then again maybe not Harry. Though do realize Hagrid this emerald is not the only thing that will determine the outcome of the second war."
Hagrid gave Dumbledore a confused look, "Wha' else is there?"
"Quite a lot, not the life of just one can win a war alone, though he might face the gravest of things alone…along the way he must have something to turn to." Dumbledore said putting the emerald back in the pouch.
"'Ow long till you-know-who makes a move?" Hagrid asked nervously.
"Hard to say, though knowing Voldemort, he'll strike at a time convenient to him and unexpected to us and in the end it will be Harry who must persevere and the Blue Emerald of Illusion will help him when the time is right. Whether he wields its power or not."
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(Back to the night before the ball)
Hermione sat shaking in her bed.
"Well since you aren't dieing I'm going to sleep." Draco said in his usual manner as he went under the sheets.
Hermione looked over at him and shook her head, "Don't pretend to care, I'd rather take an insult."
Draco didn't look back at her, "Never acted to care in the first place, was just curious about what it is that makes you become a spineless cry baby every night."
Hermione's eyes filled with tears, 'You don't understand me at all.'
"Even if I told you Malfoy, you wouldn't care and as far as I'm concerned you could die tomorrow and I'll dance on your grave." Hermione said as she laid back down and continued crying.
'If she had actually meant that, it might've bothered me.' He thought as he tried to block out Hermione's cries. It wasn't hard for him to do since he was used to falling asleep to the sounds of cries nearly every night, whether they were his mother's or others…but hearing her cry was never an easy thing to fall asleep to and he hated it.
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A/N: *Squeals and jumps up and down* YAY! Finally! Next chapter is the chapter we ALL have been waiting for! YES YES YES! I can't wait to write the next chapter, oooo I have had a certain scene from the next chapter saved for like a month already muahahahaha! Oh this is gonna be soooooooooo sweeeeeeeet! In both a fluff sense and a evil sense lol, a 'good' evil. Oh this is going to rock. But just admit to one thing, you wanted to kill Ron too when he came into the library right? LoL.
Soooo, what's going to happen at the ball tomorrow? *big ass grin* hehe…REVIEW!
Time to answer some reviewers' questions:
Junsui Chikyuu -Well, I'm still debating that, I'm leaning towards yes but I'm having a few doubts as to how it might affect the story. Though most likely there will be one lemon MAYBE two, they're not that important to me.
wildmage101 –Don't worry about Drakie poo. He will not be what you fear, (o-how-i-love-you-so-much-hermoine-ill-go-stop-being-evil-and-kill-my-evil-father-blah, blah,blah-o-and-while-im-at-it-we-can-get-married-and-i-can-become-really-good-friends-with-weasly-and-potter-etc.) to be perfectly honest that's my worst fear too! Though I will admit, I have read stories where that has happened and I liked them anyway lol. But that will not happen in this fic at least not entirely, a few of those things can't be helped. .
love2045- what is going on inside of Draco…hmmm, well let's see, a lot of frustration since he sees Hermione crying every night and he doesn't know why and it bothers the hell out of him. Which is another thing he can't stand, he can't stand the fact that it bother's him, so basically he's feeling frustrated, but its nothing he can't soon handle, cause he will handle it. ^_~
Pannygirl- Hehe, yes some stuff is going to happen soon, I don't know if its intense stuff…I guess you can judge for yourself, who knows, maybe it is intense?
Naoko Ten'ou –Draco and Hermione's relationship will improve fairly soon, you see the signs of change in the next chapter. : ) what a great chapter that'll be too!
Tom*Feltons*Babe- Sorry the whole Blaise thing has somewhat 'rottened' the fic for you, but hopefully that'll change once chapters 12 and 13 roll around.