The black letter
It was still dark when Draco woke up. He didn't know what had woken him. It was some sort of shock. Wiping the hair out of his eyes, he looked at his clock. It was 7.00am, he had to go to work in two houres. Not feeling sleepy anymore, Draco got out of bed. He went to window, only to realise that he didn't have a view, only a waterfall.
"Stupid dungeons." he muttered.
He dressed himself and decided to go for a walk. The only noise that could be heard in the corridors was made by the sound of his shoes. He crossed the hallway and carefully opened the gates. The air outside was cold and dry. The stars still twinkled in the sky and the silence was now and then interrupted by a sad 'hoot' from an owl or a scary cry that came from the forbidden forest.
Draco took a deep breath and decided to walk to the Quidditch pitch when he heard a sound. He looked around but couldn't distinguish any person. Not trusting the sudden silence, Draco whispered 'Lumos'. He enlighted every dark corner, until he saw someone sitting on a bench near him. He went to the figure and saw that it was Hermione. She was asleep. Draco woke her up, because it was way too cold to be sleeping outside.
"What?" Hermione asked sleepy.
"Hermione, what are you doing outside at this hour?" Draco asked surprised.
"I was afraid and I needed some air." she said.
"Afraid? What for?" Draco asked, putting his cloak around her and pulling her closer to him.
"I was thinking of the birth and I got afraid again."
"Oh love, it's nothing to be afraid of. You have the best mediwizards and witches around you and if it's any comfort to you, I'll be there too. I won't leave you for one second."
"Thanks Draco." Hermione whispered.
"Why were you thinking about that, so early in the morning?"
"I...I think the baby kicked."
"Really? But Hermione, that's fantastic!" Draco said surprised, "Does it kick often?"
"Once every half hour or so." Hermione said with a smile.
Draco lay his hand on her belly and said: "Warn me if you feel it again."
Hermione crawled closer to Draco and burried her face in his robes. His warmth was so comforting. He would be a great father, she knew. Draco ran his hand ran over her back and smelled her hair. She was so wonderful. She suddenly looked up to him and looked deep in his grey eyes.
"What?" Draco chuckled.
She brought her face to his and kissed him softly.
"Nothing," she said, a bit blushing. Draco knew what she ment, but said nothing. Instead, he took her in his arms and lifted her up.
"Let's go to breakfast shall we?" he said.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
When Draco entered his office a few hours later, he saw an owl sitting on his desk.
"The animal is been sitting here for almost an hour and it refuses to give me your mail." Arthur Weasley said with a faint smile, "Is it yours?"
"No, I have an eagle owl." Draco said, while he took a letter from the birds paw. He opened the letter and read:
Dear Mr Malfoy,
Please find include the documents of the mansion at Hogsmeade lot nr. 4521. This document, together with the checks should be owled to the Department of Magical Housing...
Draco looked at the price of the mansion and sighed. Which wizard of his age could afford such a house?
"Is it such dreadful news?" Mr Weasley asked, wrongly understanding Draco's sigh.
"No, Mr Weasley, these are the documents of my new house. It says it should be owled to the Department of Magical Housing...can't I just bring it to the Department myself?"
"Oh, that Department? It just happens that I have to be there. You know, the case of that house with the poltergeists...I'd be happy to bring it for you." Mr Weasley answered.
"Thank you." Draco answered and he started to fill in the documents, putting his signature underneath it and checking the payment. He put it all in an envelope and gave it to Mr. Weasley.
"I'll be back in half an hour." Mr Weasley said, and he left the office.
Draco took a seat behind his desk and began to clean up a huge pile of parchment. He was putting the last parchment in a map, when another owl came soaring in. It dropped a black envelope on Draco's desk and flew out of the office again. Draco raised an eyebrow and carefully examined it. The envelope didn't contain any address or a stamp, it only said: 'Draco Malfoy'. Draco ripped the envelope open and took out a piece of parchment. It didn't have words written on it, but words were spelled with letters from a newspaper. It said:
WHAT YOU'VE DONE HAS MADE ME CRY THEREFORE THE ONES YOU LOVE WILL DIE
Draco dropped the letter in abhorrence. He had to go to Hogwarts at once! Draco picked up the letter again, quickly wrote an excuse on a parchment and threw it on Mr Weasley's desk. He ran out of the office, the letter crumbled in his hand.
A few minutes later, Draco reached to floo network in the marble hall of the Ministry. Wizards and witches muttered their displeasure when Draco pushed them aside to reach a fireplace.
"Sorry Miss, Sir," Draco apologized, "Emergency."
When he finally reached a fireplace, he shouted: "Hogwarts, Dumbledore's office!"
Green flames surrounded him and he twirled around, passing hundreds of fireplaces. Finally, he fell on the floor of Dumbledore's office. Dust all over his robes.
"Mr Malfoy? What brings you here?" the familiar voice said.
"Read...this..." Draco said, out of breath.
Dumbledore took the letter out of Draco's outstretched hand and read it.
"Oh dear..." he whispered.
"Where's...Hermione?" Draco asked breathless.
"She's out to Hogsmeade together with the other students." Dumbledore replied, "But don't worry, professor McGonagall is with her. But I still would advice to let me know if you receive such a threat again. I will also tell the staff to keep an eye on you two."
"I must find Hermione." Draco said, not feeling safe by Dumbledore's words at all. He wanted to leave the office, but Dumbledore said:
"Please, sit down Draco. Fawkes will find her faster than you in the large amount of students down there. Instead you can help me to answer a question: do you have any idea who might have send it to you?"
"Do you want a list?" Draco sighed, taking a seat. He watched how Fawkes flew out of the window with a note attached, then he looked at Dumbledore again. Dumbledore seemed to penetrate his mind with his blue eyes. Draco hated when the old man did that.
"Did you have any arguments lately?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well, there's Potter, but he seems to be ok lately, Weasley is under the impression that I stole Hermione from him, and Pansy seems to think that Hermione stole me from her."
"Pansy Parkinson?" Dumbledore asked, this time very serious.
"Yes, but she can't do something like that. She wouldn't dare and she's too dumn for it anyway." Draco shrugged.
'Mmm, yes' was all Dumbledore said. The silence that followed was interrupted by a knock on the door. Hermione entered the office soon after. Draco rose from his seat and ran to her.
"Are you ok, love?" he asked, holding her tightly.
"Of course I am, what's going on?" Hermione asked surprised.
"Nothing." Draco said, earning a surprised look from both Hermione and Dumbledore.
"No really, nothing." Draco said, as convincing as possible, "I just had this crazy feeling that there was something wrong with the baby and I wanted to chech if you're ok. And you are."
"Oh Draco, don't be so anxious about me and the baby," Hermione smiled, caressing his cheek, "If there's something wrong I'll let you know immediately. Ok?"
Draco kissed her forehead. "Alright, I'm going back to work. Mr Weasley will probably be wondering when I'll return."
He took some floopowder and disappeared in the fireplace.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Draco was counting every minute to go back to Hogwarts, and be close to his girl. He had invented some excuse for Mr Weasley, not wanting to alarm him. Just like he didn't want to frighten Hermione. Stress was the last thing she needed in her situation, he thought.
Finally, it was time to go 'home' and it took Draco not more than 5min to get from the Ministry to Hogwarts. He checked the Great Hall first, where all the students were dining, but Hermione wasn't there. When Draco reached the Gryffindor's table, Harry told him that Hermione first wanted to finish her homework.
Draco decided to surprise her and asked Harry for the password of the common room. Harry gave it to him without hesitating, there would be a new password tomorrow anyway. Draco thanked him, left the Great hall in a hurry and climbed the stairs to the North Tower.
"Quodpot." Draco said, when he reached the Fat Lady and he climbed inside.
There was no one in the common room, except for a house-elf, who was litting up the fire. Draco knew that house-elf, it was Dobby.
"Young master Draco!" The house-elf said.
"Im not your master anymore, Dobby." Draco replied.
"Master Draco must go back from where he came," Dobby sqeaked, apparently gathering all his courage, "This is not his common room."
Draco stepped closer to Dobby, but the house-elf took some steps back.
"Don't be so scared, Dobby," Draco said, frustrated, "I only want to know where Hermione Granger is."
"Miss Granger up in her room, sir." Dobby said, pointing his finger to the stairs. He bowed and left the common room, throwing a suspicious look at Draco.
Draco went to the stairs and climbed a few steps, before the stair became a stone glide and a klaxon started wailing with a lot of noise. Draco fell on the bottom and rubbed over his painful head. The door the the girls' dormittory opened and Hermione looked down on him.
"You sneaky little Slytherin!" she laughed.
"What's this?" Draco said, "That's something we don't have in our common room!"
"Oh? You visit the Slytherin girls a lot then?" Hermione smiled.
"I wouldn't dare!" Draco said, bringing himself back to his feet.
The stairs transfigured itself again and Hermione came down.
"Indeed Mr Malfoy, 'cause I would jinx you until you looked like a mushroom."
"Oh do shut up Miss Granger!" Draco said, and put his arms around her waist.
He kissed her passionately and pulled her in one of the squashy armchairs. Their kiss deepened and he wanted more, but Hermione said: "Draco, love, we can't...I mean...here?"
"Well, the boys dorms are closed....You can also carry me up the stairs to your room, because I can't get their without breaking my neck. Or we can go to a cold dungeon, if you like." Draco teased, giving a small bite in her neck. "Everybody is at dinner, it will be at least an hour before the first students return."
Hermione seemed to be comfortable by his explanation, and kissed him back. They undressed, a grey Ministry tie almost flying in the fireplace. Draco was very careful not to put too much weight on Hermione's belly. He enjoyed how she caressed his back and once more, Hermione could feel Draco's warm soft skin against hers again.
Author's note : Yay 40 chapters! *Will I reach 400 reviews for that?* And the suspense rises again! Who is this mysterious writer? For the Hp freaks out there: there's a hint hidden in this chapter! *shut up little writer and go write some more* ;-) R&R!!!
Kelei: So sorry! Glad you figured out what I tried to tell you! And of course he has to go to work, he may be rich but those Galleons don't replace themselves, I mean he just bought a mansion! Besides, Lucius worked too, not much of course :-)
Tom*Feltons*Babe: I'll keep the thing you love in my mind! Wow, are you really from Peru?!?
Dracoz-wun-gurl : Tolkien? Woow! No I'm not that good ;-)
dizzydragon : yeah let's not forget the hormones!
Draco'a Draca : I think you're going to like the next chapters even more, suspense is coming!
Damia - Queen of the Gypsi's : Thank you for the compliment as well. I wouldn't mind sharing some things ith him too ;-)
Hermione Watson : I'll try to read your story too asap
slave4Draky : God sure did!!! And we musn't forget Rowling herself for inventing such a delicious Slytherin!
Mary: A trance? Well that's a big compliment for my fanfic!!!
oxPixiDust13xo : thank you so much for the compliment!
purplelilly : I'll give you a hint: there'll be something with the baby, but what?!?
All the others : Thank you for your review!
It was still dark when Draco woke up. He didn't know what had woken him. It was some sort of shock. Wiping the hair out of his eyes, he looked at his clock. It was 7.00am, he had to go to work in two houres. Not feeling sleepy anymore, Draco got out of bed. He went to window, only to realise that he didn't have a view, only a waterfall.
"Stupid dungeons." he muttered.
He dressed himself and decided to go for a walk. The only noise that could be heard in the corridors was made by the sound of his shoes. He crossed the hallway and carefully opened the gates. The air outside was cold and dry. The stars still twinkled in the sky and the silence was now and then interrupted by a sad 'hoot' from an owl or a scary cry that came from the forbidden forest.
Draco took a deep breath and decided to walk to the Quidditch pitch when he heard a sound. He looked around but couldn't distinguish any person. Not trusting the sudden silence, Draco whispered 'Lumos'. He enlighted every dark corner, until he saw someone sitting on a bench near him. He went to the figure and saw that it was Hermione. She was asleep. Draco woke her up, because it was way too cold to be sleeping outside.
"What?" Hermione asked sleepy.
"Hermione, what are you doing outside at this hour?" Draco asked surprised.
"I was afraid and I needed some air." she said.
"Afraid? What for?" Draco asked, putting his cloak around her and pulling her closer to him.
"I was thinking of the birth and I got afraid again."
"Oh love, it's nothing to be afraid of. You have the best mediwizards and witches around you and if it's any comfort to you, I'll be there too. I won't leave you for one second."
"Thanks Draco." Hermione whispered.
"Why were you thinking about that, so early in the morning?"
"I...I think the baby kicked."
"Really? But Hermione, that's fantastic!" Draco said surprised, "Does it kick often?"
"Once every half hour or so." Hermione said with a smile.
Draco lay his hand on her belly and said: "Warn me if you feel it again."
Hermione crawled closer to Draco and burried her face in his robes. His warmth was so comforting. He would be a great father, she knew. Draco ran his hand ran over her back and smelled her hair. She was so wonderful. She suddenly looked up to him and looked deep in his grey eyes.
"What?" Draco chuckled.
She brought her face to his and kissed him softly.
"Nothing," she said, a bit blushing. Draco knew what she ment, but said nothing. Instead, he took her in his arms and lifted her up.
"Let's go to breakfast shall we?" he said.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
When Draco entered his office a few hours later, he saw an owl sitting on his desk.
"The animal is been sitting here for almost an hour and it refuses to give me your mail." Arthur Weasley said with a faint smile, "Is it yours?"
"No, I have an eagle owl." Draco said, while he took a letter from the birds paw. He opened the letter and read:
Dear Mr Malfoy,
Please find include the documents of the mansion at Hogsmeade lot nr. 4521. This document, together with the checks should be owled to the Department of Magical Housing...
Draco looked at the price of the mansion and sighed. Which wizard of his age could afford such a house?
"Is it such dreadful news?" Mr Weasley asked, wrongly understanding Draco's sigh.
"No, Mr Weasley, these are the documents of my new house. It says it should be owled to the Department of Magical Housing...can't I just bring it to the Department myself?"
"Oh, that Department? It just happens that I have to be there. You know, the case of that house with the poltergeists...I'd be happy to bring it for you." Mr Weasley answered.
"Thank you." Draco answered and he started to fill in the documents, putting his signature underneath it and checking the payment. He put it all in an envelope and gave it to Mr. Weasley.
"I'll be back in half an hour." Mr Weasley said, and he left the office.
Draco took a seat behind his desk and began to clean up a huge pile of parchment. He was putting the last parchment in a map, when another owl came soaring in. It dropped a black envelope on Draco's desk and flew out of the office again. Draco raised an eyebrow and carefully examined it. The envelope didn't contain any address or a stamp, it only said: 'Draco Malfoy'. Draco ripped the envelope open and took out a piece of parchment. It didn't have words written on it, but words were spelled with letters from a newspaper. It said:
WHAT YOU'VE DONE HAS MADE ME CRY THEREFORE THE ONES YOU LOVE WILL DIE
Draco dropped the letter in abhorrence. He had to go to Hogwarts at once! Draco picked up the letter again, quickly wrote an excuse on a parchment and threw it on Mr Weasley's desk. He ran out of the office, the letter crumbled in his hand.
A few minutes later, Draco reached to floo network in the marble hall of the Ministry. Wizards and witches muttered their displeasure when Draco pushed them aside to reach a fireplace.
"Sorry Miss, Sir," Draco apologized, "Emergency."
When he finally reached a fireplace, he shouted: "Hogwarts, Dumbledore's office!"
Green flames surrounded him and he twirled around, passing hundreds of fireplaces. Finally, he fell on the floor of Dumbledore's office. Dust all over his robes.
"Mr Malfoy? What brings you here?" the familiar voice said.
"Read...this..." Draco said, out of breath.
Dumbledore took the letter out of Draco's outstretched hand and read it.
"Oh dear..." he whispered.
"Where's...Hermione?" Draco asked breathless.
"She's out to Hogsmeade together with the other students." Dumbledore replied, "But don't worry, professor McGonagall is with her. But I still would advice to let me know if you receive such a threat again. I will also tell the staff to keep an eye on you two."
"I must find Hermione." Draco said, not feeling safe by Dumbledore's words at all. He wanted to leave the office, but Dumbledore said:
"Please, sit down Draco. Fawkes will find her faster than you in the large amount of students down there. Instead you can help me to answer a question: do you have any idea who might have send it to you?"
"Do you want a list?" Draco sighed, taking a seat. He watched how Fawkes flew out of the window with a note attached, then he looked at Dumbledore again. Dumbledore seemed to penetrate his mind with his blue eyes. Draco hated when the old man did that.
"Did you have any arguments lately?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well, there's Potter, but he seems to be ok lately, Weasley is under the impression that I stole Hermione from him, and Pansy seems to think that Hermione stole me from her."
"Pansy Parkinson?" Dumbledore asked, this time very serious.
"Yes, but she can't do something like that. She wouldn't dare and she's too dumn for it anyway." Draco shrugged.
'Mmm, yes' was all Dumbledore said. The silence that followed was interrupted by a knock on the door. Hermione entered the office soon after. Draco rose from his seat and ran to her.
"Are you ok, love?" he asked, holding her tightly.
"Of course I am, what's going on?" Hermione asked surprised.
"Nothing." Draco said, earning a surprised look from both Hermione and Dumbledore.
"No really, nothing." Draco said, as convincing as possible, "I just had this crazy feeling that there was something wrong with the baby and I wanted to chech if you're ok. And you are."
"Oh Draco, don't be so anxious about me and the baby," Hermione smiled, caressing his cheek, "If there's something wrong I'll let you know immediately. Ok?"
Draco kissed her forehead. "Alright, I'm going back to work. Mr Weasley will probably be wondering when I'll return."
He took some floopowder and disappeared in the fireplace.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Draco was counting every minute to go back to Hogwarts, and be close to his girl. He had invented some excuse for Mr Weasley, not wanting to alarm him. Just like he didn't want to frighten Hermione. Stress was the last thing she needed in her situation, he thought.
Finally, it was time to go 'home' and it took Draco not more than 5min to get from the Ministry to Hogwarts. He checked the Great Hall first, where all the students were dining, but Hermione wasn't there. When Draco reached the Gryffindor's table, Harry told him that Hermione first wanted to finish her homework.
Draco decided to surprise her and asked Harry for the password of the common room. Harry gave it to him without hesitating, there would be a new password tomorrow anyway. Draco thanked him, left the Great hall in a hurry and climbed the stairs to the North Tower.
"Quodpot." Draco said, when he reached the Fat Lady and he climbed inside.
There was no one in the common room, except for a house-elf, who was litting up the fire. Draco knew that house-elf, it was Dobby.
"Young master Draco!" The house-elf said.
"Im not your master anymore, Dobby." Draco replied.
"Master Draco must go back from where he came," Dobby sqeaked, apparently gathering all his courage, "This is not his common room."
Draco stepped closer to Dobby, but the house-elf took some steps back.
"Don't be so scared, Dobby," Draco said, frustrated, "I only want to know where Hermione Granger is."
"Miss Granger up in her room, sir." Dobby said, pointing his finger to the stairs. He bowed and left the common room, throwing a suspicious look at Draco.
Draco went to the stairs and climbed a few steps, before the stair became a stone glide and a klaxon started wailing with a lot of noise. Draco fell on the bottom and rubbed over his painful head. The door the the girls' dormittory opened and Hermione looked down on him.
"You sneaky little Slytherin!" she laughed.
"What's this?" Draco said, "That's something we don't have in our common room!"
"Oh? You visit the Slytherin girls a lot then?" Hermione smiled.
"I wouldn't dare!" Draco said, bringing himself back to his feet.
The stairs transfigured itself again and Hermione came down.
"Indeed Mr Malfoy, 'cause I would jinx you until you looked like a mushroom."
"Oh do shut up Miss Granger!" Draco said, and put his arms around her waist.
He kissed her passionately and pulled her in one of the squashy armchairs. Their kiss deepened and he wanted more, but Hermione said: "Draco, love, we can't...I mean...here?"
"Well, the boys dorms are closed....You can also carry me up the stairs to your room, because I can't get their without breaking my neck. Or we can go to a cold dungeon, if you like." Draco teased, giving a small bite in her neck. "Everybody is at dinner, it will be at least an hour before the first students return."
Hermione seemed to be comfortable by his explanation, and kissed him back. They undressed, a grey Ministry tie almost flying in the fireplace. Draco was very careful not to put too much weight on Hermione's belly. He enjoyed how she caressed his back and once more, Hermione could feel Draco's warm soft skin against hers again.
Author's note : Yay 40 chapters! *Will I reach 400 reviews for that?* And the suspense rises again! Who is this mysterious writer? For the Hp freaks out there: there's a hint hidden in this chapter! *shut up little writer and go write some more* ;-) R&R!!!
Kelei: So sorry! Glad you figured out what I tried to tell you! And of course he has to go to work, he may be rich but those Galleons don't replace themselves, I mean he just bought a mansion! Besides, Lucius worked too, not much of course :-)
Tom*Feltons*Babe: I'll keep the thing you love in my mind! Wow, are you really from Peru?!?
Dracoz-wun-gurl : Tolkien? Woow! No I'm not that good ;-)
dizzydragon : yeah let's not forget the hormones!
Draco'a Draca : I think you're going to like the next chapters even more, suspense is coming!
Damia - Queen of the Gypsi's : Thank you for the compliment as well. I wouldn't mind sharing some things ith him too ;-)
Hermione Watson : I'll try to read your story too asap
slave4Draky : God sure did!!! And we musn't forget Rowling herself for inventing such a delicious Slytherin!
Mary: A trance? Well that's a big compliment for my fanfic!!!
oxPixiDust13xo : thank you so much for the compliment!
purplelilly : I'll give you a hint: there'll be something with the baby, but what?!?
All the others : Thank you for your review!