Disclaimer: As much as I kept my characters close in character with J.K.Rowling's awesome trademark characters, I have the sole claim on Draco and Hermione's relationship, so there, that's where things are different :)
A/N: Oh this is wonderful - 7 reviews in the last chapter! With much love to pinkicing101, Silidons, queenofthelameos, blueeyedchibi, Ravenclawxoxprincess, jam and Gwinna:) 7 sounds little, but for me, it's alot, really, so thank you - especially to those who have kept faithful to this fic. I am now rewarding you with the longest chapter I've ever written, a jam-packed information chapter to enlighten you on what has happened! I only hope I did not contradict myself anywhere, and if I did, please tell me! I am not very good at remembering what I've written before so some parts may clash (I hope not!). There's still more information coming up at the end, but this fic's coming closer to the end already, so stay tuned!
To all those who have been reading my fic, and haven't reviewed, if you can, please do leave a note of how you think things have been going so far :) I'm honoured to have you as my audience! Please enjoy!
There was a gloomy atmosphere when all returned from the Dark Lord's lair to the Slytherin common-room with the locket Portkey once more. Immediately, Draco Malfoy, carrying Hermione in his arms, sped off to the Hospital Wing, in hope that something could be done to save Hermione.
Professor Dumbledore calmly led the way out of the Slytherin common-room, and back to his own office. As he sank into his big armchair, he noted the weary looks on all the faces of the children, and even Professor Glaston Nell himself.
"Hermione mustn't die, she mustn't…" muttered Harry, and Ginny laid her browned hand on his arm in comfort. Harry smiled weakly at her, while Ron sighed loudly. Pansy continued to stare at her feet, while Professor Nell shifted uneasily. Professor Dumbledore merely leant back further, eyeing the door of the office with a tentative look.
It was then when Harry realised somebody was missing. "Sir, wasn't Neville with us at the office? I…" He turned to Ginny, whose eyes widened in realisation. "I don't seem to even remembering him enter the Slytherin common-room with us."
"Damn, we were too caught up finding Hermione!" Ron gasped.
"He's fine, he's fine. I told him to stay behind, actually," replied Professor Dumbledore, calmly. "He will be of great use later, please do not worry. And if you weren't caught up with finding her, she would have been in a more dangerous state, I would imagine."
Pansy snorted a little, but tried to turn it into a sniff as the rest looked bewilderedly at a serene-looking Professor Dumbledore. Glaston Nell tried to open his mouth, but Dumbledore raised his hand. "Let us wait for our protagonist, shall we? The story cannot begin without him."
"What story?" began Ginny, but at this very moment, the doors of the office swung open, and a pale-looking Draco strode right up to the crowd of people watching him warily.
"You have left Miss Granger with Poppy, I presume?" asked Professor Dumbledore.
Draco nodded, in a miserable gesture that made Pansy want to step forward and comfort him, but she dared not, given his daring outburst against the Dark Lord earlier on.
"When you have calmed down, Mr Malfoy, I would like you to tell the others about what really happened between you and Miss Granger, and how you ended up turning against the Dark Lord."
"I told you he wasn't that bad after all," said Ginny, in a muffled voice.
Draco didn't move an inch.
His eyes began to glaze over, however,…
I have a plan.
Granger, don't be stupid. I can read your mind.
I'm not being stupid. I know what I'm doing.
No you're not to –
Don't kill Ginny.
No! I can't let you –
Kill me.
Granger, what the bloody hell are you thinking? I'm not going to kill you.
Yes you are, that's the only way you can prove your allegiance to him. I will never ever succumb to be a Death-Eater, so that's the only way you can show that you are loyal and will do his bidding. He wants Harry dead, but now that Ron is Stunned, the only other person whom you can get rid of to weaken Harry, is me.
There's Ginny Weasley. That's the next step.
You're not to kill her.
I'm not going to kill you!
Draco!
I said I'm not going to kill you!
…Argh, you stubborn thing. Too full of pride! Fine. If you want to get rid of her, get the Chroker Eye.
…what? Are you insane, Granger? Do you know what the Chroker Eye is?
Yes, you git, if not I wouldn't be asking you to get it.
That's as good as killing her, Granger, if you're thinking of the Aldor Poison.
I'm not going to get Ginny killed. Before you get the Chroker's Eye, I want you to go down to Hagrid's. Do you remember our Care of Magical Creatures lesson?
…you want me to swap the Chroker's Eye for a Peastwigger's Eye? Wait, how the hell am I supposed to get through all the barriers the Dark Lord has set to guard the Chroker Eye in the first place?
That, is why I'm going along with you.
No, Granger, no, you're not.
Draco, listen to me, you are Voldemort's most important minion in Hogwarts, the most important one who can get close to Harry Potter. You are not going to give up the chance to save yourself, and many others under Voldemort's influence, just because of me.
Look…Hermione…I can. I'd rather you live than you give up yourself just because the Dark Lord is punishing me for failing him.
You're not failing him, you're failing yourself if you continue to work for him. Destroy him, once and for all. And…you know maybe, maybe I won't really die after all.
What are you trying to say?
Miracles can happen.
I don't trust bloody miracles! Hermione Granger, this is an insane idea.
And I want you to put it into action. I'd rather die knowing that Voldemort will be dead and that you are the one who killed me, then die because he killed me.
It's not worth it…Hermione, it's really not worth it. Get that idea out of your head.
It's sticking, and I'm doing this for Harry – and for you.
"That was what I wanted to ask, how come you and Hermione could communicate via thoughts? I thought she was only experiencing your thoughts and vice versa, not communicate!" Harry stared in bewilderment.
Draco shrugged. "Beats me. But the thing was that because she could also feel what I went through, she knew the pain that I felt when the Dark Lord punished me. That was … that was why she chose to sacrifice herself in order to alleviate me of the pain, and to alleviate all other Death-Eaters of this punishment."
"Hermione was always thinking of others, but never herself!" Ron scowled. "Only when it came to books, that is."
Draco said nothing, but his fists clenched a little.
"So Hermione guided you through the barriers set in place for the Chroker's Eye? Then what is this about Voldemort recognising Professor Nell as the one who eventually retrieved the Chroker's Eye?" asked Harry, noticing Draco's tensed fists.
"Because I wasn't a full-fledged Death-Eater, or at least Junior ones are not considered full-fledged. The real full-fledged Death-Eater who passes through the barriers will be considered as the one who obtains the Chroker Eye," said Draco, stonily. "Professor Nell entered shortly after I did, and just as I was about to make my exit, he tried to make me give up the Eye to him."
"He was ruining my plan. I knew Snape was eyeing the Chroker's Eye to poison Ginny Weasley, because he felt that Draco Malfoy was not doing his job, and he was afraid that his protégé would be heavily punished for failing once more. So I wanted to swap the Chroker's Eye for a Peastwigger's Eye as well," added Professor Nell. "However, I had not wanted to do it on that day, but it was just because I saw Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger enter the cave where the Dark Lord keeps the Eye, that I decided to follow after them. I am impressed," he looked at Draco. "That Miss Granger managed to prove a great help in solving the various puzzles, and that the various spells and charms both of you cast were equivalent to the skills of many expert witches and wizards."
"How did Hermione even get to the Lair, if Pansy did not even know that the locket within the portrait was a Portkey?" asked Ginny.
"The locket was given to me by my father," replied Draco. "That way, I could enter the Lair even though the Dark Lord had not summoned me. I was the leader of the junior Death-Eaters, that was why I was granted that privilege. Pansy was not to be in the know of this," and Pansy looked away, biting her lip. "And so I could use it as a Portkey to bring Hermione and I into the Lair. Then we would repair the portrait each time we came back. My father managed to give the portrait to Rebrus Parkinson in order for his daughter to place it in the Slytherin common-room, thinking that it was a mere communication tool and nothing else."
"How could you go as and when you pleased?" demanded Ron. "Surely He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named could tell when somebody entered his lair."
"Not when he is out plotting something dastardly," replied Draco, coolly. "He left several Death-Eaters in charge of that place. Hermione borrowed Potter's Invisible Cloak actually, so that we wouldn't be seen outside of the cave."
"And I never knew!" groaned Harry.
"It takes true evil to get past the barriers guarding the Chroker's Eye as well, and it was the Dark Mark and the Slytherin heritage that led Mr Malfoy through, even though his heart was void of true evil, am I right?" asked Professor Dumbledore.
Draco nodded, emotionlessly. "And it takes true courage, which was perfect that Hermione was a Gryffindor."
Professor Nell saw that he wasn't ready to continue, and decided to add on. "Well, since I didn't have the Peastwigger's Eye with me, I tried to convince them to leave the Chroker's Eye behind. But then I noticed that they had brought the Peastwigger's Eye with them, and Draco was threatening to kill me, so I let them go."
"It was after that that Hermione began to suspect Professor Nell wasn't exactly really working for the Dark Lord," said Draco.
"Draco?"
Draco stopped walking. "What?"
Hermione placed a hand on his arm, sending a strange sensation up his arm, as he turned to face her brown eyes.
"I…I have this strange feeling that Professor Nell isn't as evil as we are making him out to be."
"Don't be soft, Hermione," laughed Draco, nastily. "Just because he let us go doesn't make him a good guy. Remember he was planted here to be a professor. He's well aware of teenage instincts. He will do anything to gain the trusts of gullible little things like you."
Hermione flushed. "I know that. But maybe you could trust a girl's instinct?"
"How often are they right?"
"Well, at least I was right about you."
Now it was Draco's turn to flush bright red. Hermione tried to hide her grin as she saw the red flush spread up his neck. "You trying to be funny with me?"
"I wouldn't dare," teased Hermione, but then she turned serious again. "I'm serious, I do think he's actually helping Professor Dumbledore, not Lord Voldemort."
"Now's not the time to think about this, we've only got so much time to run down to the Hospital Wing to give Ginny Weasley the antidote, and then get back to the dungeons to go to the Dark Lord's Lair!" Draco urged.
"Yeah there isn't much time…they'd find we're missing in no time," muttered Hermione, biting her lip. "This sucks. I didn't even get to say goodbye to Harry and he's going to find out I've just given him a million lies."
"Look," said Draco, as they emerged from the dungeons, after checking that the corridors were clear. However, from a clear distance, they could see a lone figure walking up and down by the pond restlessly, away from the flooding moonlight. He was in the darkest area though, and could not be seen clearly from the angle of the staff room, nor the Headmaster's office, nor most of the classrooms. It was only by the corner where the students turned past to walk down the corridor where the Slytherin dungeons were, at a corner where students would most likely look sideways to prevent themselves from knocking against the corner wall or slow down to watch out for oncoming ghosts, that the area where Professor Nell was at, could be seen.
"Who's that?" asked Hermione, as they crouched below the windows, eyeing the strange figure pacing up and down.
"Speak of the devil. It's Professor Nell. Nobody wears that suit like he does, tucked in one side and tucked out the other," remarked Draco, slyly. But then he, too, turned very serious. "What the hell is he doing out now?"
Both of them continued staring at the restless figure, who had his fists clenched and was trying very hard to control them, as if once he lost control, they would be flying aimlessly in the air.
"Shh…he's saying something…" whispered Hermione.
"…impossible…how can he have done it? Doesn't he know that he's spoiling the entire thing?…Bollocks, how are we ever going to settle the whole thing if we have Slytherins messing around…but that's not right, he was with Hermione Granger? Why would a Malfoy be doing with someone whose blood he abhors? This is not right…not right at all…tomorrow Voldemort will find out that the Eye has been stolen…he won't realise the Peastwigger Eye is the fake one because he will not trust himself to get past the barriers himself…"
"He called the Dark Lord by his name," whispered Draco, in a strange voice. "That's not right."
"What's not right?" asked Hermione, worriedly.
"No Death-Eater can truly call the Dark Lord anything else but as the Dark Lord. Or else he would be seen as a traitor."
"Are you trying to say…"
"Shh…listen…"
"…Albus was so calm about it, the rattling old man. I can't believe he can keep so calm at a time like this. I can't believe he could be so calm about letting the children know about this… Oh shut up Glaston, you must be heading back. It isn't safe, it isn't safe…"
"He's coming," gasped Hermione, and Draco pulled her to the side, as Professor Nell stepped into the corridors, and walked in the opposite direction. Just as Draco and Hermione found it safe to move off, there was a sudden low voice behind them.
"Stop there."
Oh bloody hell, thought Draco, and Hermione gripped Draco's hand tightly. She hadn't even noticed his fingers wrapped around her hand.
"What are the two of you doing out late at night?"
Hermione gathered up her courage and turned around to face Professor Nell, dragging Draco along to face him as well. "We heard you, Professor."
Professor Nell did not flinch. "Heard what?"
"We heard you by the pond."
Professor Nell laughed harshly. "There was nothing to hear about. On the other hand, I'd like to hear about what you have to say barging into the Dark Lord's lair together with a Death-Eater, Miss Granger."
Hermione froze, but Draco sneered. "Don't act saintly, Glaston Nell. You were there to grab the Eye too, dare you deny it!"
To his surprise, Professor Nell laughed. "Of course I went to get it. Doesn't every Death-Eater want to obtain it to gain credit and recognition?"
Hermione suddenly cocked her head a little. "You're working for Professor Dumbledore, aren't you?"
Now it was Professor Nell's turn to freeze a little. "What did you just say?"
"You're the only one aside from Professor Sprout who would be working on the Mandrake Potion. You deliberately added extra ingredients to it so that it wouldn't work. That's why Ron is still Stunned, isn't he?"
"I don't know what you are talking about, Miss Granger, please mind your words!"
"I'm minding them well because I know what I'm talking about," said Hermione, her eyes flashing. Draco was a bit taken aback by her confidence, her determination, her eyes, those sparklingly beautiful, yet dangerous eyes…
"Hermione's amazing. I can't believe she just guessed it right away," said Ron, his eyes shining.
"It took sometime. She told me that she was first suspicious when she wanted to find me about Defence Against the Dark Arts material, I was hardly around. And Professor Sprout would always direct her to the Herbology lab," said Professor Nell, with a rather thin smile. "And I guess," he cocked an eyebrow at Draco. "A lady's instinct is really hard to doubt when she feels something is not right."
Draco said nothing for a while, but his fingers were twitching.
Professor Dumbledore smiled. "So Glaston, it was you who removed the hex on Ron Weasley in the end, not Mr Malfoy."
"For once, Albus, you do get things wrong," chuckled Professor Nell. "Although I must commend Miss Parkinson for her hexing abilities," which prompted Pansy to go crimson. "It took me a while to settle it apart from offering him the right Mandrake Potion."
Draco tried to swallow the bitterness that was rising in his throat from the smiles and laughter that was exchanged between the adults, as he continued. "When we realised that was happened to Ron Weasley, Hermione was really relieved. As for Ginny Weasley, Hermione knew that she would cooperate with us…and we knew it would work because…" Draco looked at Harry. "because of you."
Ginny turned a little red, while Harry mused a little at that. "Go on."
"Hermione said you would know the traces of the Aldor Poison," Draco went on, looking at Harry for a moment before he turned his stony gaze towards Professor Dumbledore. "So we purposely added black traces into Ginny's cup."
"After Hermione took drops of antidote used for the Shultzen's Potion, she put it back. To fool Pansy that I had the antidote and put the blame on Hermione, I stole a vial together with her and headed back to the common-room."
"However that was before I went to the Potions classroom and noted that the antidote was still there. I was quite sure Severus was in the room before me, and he did not enter the room before coming to this office for the staff meeting," interjected Professor Nell. "So I realised Severus was trying to put the blame on Miss Granger."
"If Pansy was attentive enough, she would have noticed the shade of green in the vial I stole was similar, but not the same as the antidote," said Draco. Pansy looked on the verge of tears as her lip trembled, but she kept her mouth in a thin line, refusing to look at Draco. "Hermione guessed correctly that Snape would implicate her, so she admitted to breaking the entire vial."
"But the truth was that we did give Ginny part of the Aldor Poison, just in very small quantities. She accepted it because Hermione still had the drops of the antidote that was sufficient enough to cure her. We had to make it look real when Madam Pomfrey examined her. Since Madam Pomfrey was not skilled in handling this particular poison, she would have known that small quantities would cause the skin to become blacker faster than usual poisons."
Harry stared in disbelief at Ginny, who was mumbling something and looking at the ground. "Ginny, why'd you do this to yourself?"
"I was doing it for Hermione," muttered Ginny. "…because I knew she loved Draco a lot and wouldn't let him die."
"Loved?" echoed Ron. "Loved?"
Draco coloured a little at that word, but Ginny continued in a small voice. "…and I knew I would have done the same even for you."
It was Harry's turn to colour up.
"When they told me about it, I realised I was the only one capable of waking Ginny up with the drops of antidote Miss Granger had whilst they entered Voldemort's Lair," said Professor Nell. "That was because by the time they had finished, it was near dawn, and people would be panicking over their disappearance rather than notice me enter the Hospital Wing to visit Miss Weasley."
"Professor Nell advised us to leave a note for Professor Dumbledore, because he would not be able to warn the right people in time if he was to save Ginny and act nonchalant at the same time," said Draco.
"You left the right words," sighed Harry. "Saying that I had to watch Hermione die was the only thing that could have struck a chord with me. You knew I would immediately put two and two together and think that you had abducted her to meet the Dark Lord and that she would be forced to become a Death-Eater in no time to spill out her secrets – and to get to know me better so Voldemort could kill me, or the alternative would be her death." At this point, Harry's voice choked a little.
"Thank Hermione for convincing me you weren't such a dud, Potter," sneered Draco, for the first time showing off the Malfoy side of him clearly since they had left the Lair. Yet he could feel his voice choking as well, when he had heard the word "death". Hermione, why did you make me do it? What made you so confident about everything around you? Why are you never doubtful of anything? Why did you trust me so much?
Suddenly there was a loud CRACK! and there beside Harry, stood a wide-eyed panting house-elf, whose entire body was shaking from the impact of Apparating.
"Dobby!" gasped Harry.
"Harry Potter! Headmaster!" and then Dobby glanced a frightened look at Draco, who was looking at him in a very strange way. "Draco Malfoy! News from the Hospital Wing!"
"What is it?!" demanded Draco, grabbing the shocked and frightened Dobby by his bony shoulders. "What is it, you bloody elf?!"
"Draco…" began Professor Dumbledore, but Dobby gasped a little for air. "He – no, she, she's – " and the house-elf launched into a series of hacks and severe coughs, pulling Draco into despair. "What the bloody hell is it, you wretched elf!"
"Hurry, Dobby!" cried Harry, urgently.
Dobby recovered sufficiently enough to cough out, "She..she's wake up, awake! She's wake up well!"
Without even looking around, Draco Malfoy dropped the house elf into a tumble on the ground and sped out of the Headmaster's office with a speed that any Seeker would have been proud of even in the air, and headed straight for the Hospital Wing.