A/N: So sorry that it took me longer to get this chapter out. I had so much going on and I started a new job so I haven't had much free time. And then I got really sick, but I'm feeling better now! In the little time that I did, I was doing research for this chapter because I wanted it all to be correct. I hope that you enjoy it and thank you to everyone who is following, favoriting, or reviewing this story!
Previously on The Affair- Draco calls Hermione a Mudblood and she goes to confront him. He kisses her, but she is disgusted by him. Draco gets a warm reception in the Slytherin common room and explores some possibilities with Pansy.
Chapter Eight
The weather began to turn a little cooler as autumn settled over the Hogwarts castle. But there was a mixture of fear and excitement in the air at Hogwarts. Instead of enjoying the last of the summer warmth out of the grounds, students were poking around the halls, ducking in closets and exploring. Everyone wanted to know where the Chamber of Secrets was.
It was on Halloween that Filch's cat, Ms. Norris was petrified and hung in the corridor. The blood smeared on the walls proclaiming that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened sparked students' curiosity. Draco had been returning to his common room with his gang of Slytherins when he had seen Potter, Weasley, and Hermione standing there next to the petrified cat.
Theo nudged him in the arm and pointed right at Hermione. Her eyes searched the growing crowd of students. Draco knew what "Enemies of the Heir Beware" meant. Salazar Slytherin was known for his disdain of Muggleborns. Hermione's eyes finally settled on his and Draco glanced at Weasley and Potter. Hermione visibly gulped and Draco's gaze hardened.
She was a Gryffindor. She was a Mudblood. And she was Weasley and Potter's best friend. He had kissed her and she ran away. He felt their connection waning. Pansy pushed through the crowd and came to stand next to him. She let out a small gasp. Hermione was standing there with her friends, people she chose over him. Draco decided to do the same thing.
"You'll be next Mudbloods!" He called out. Hermione's brown eyes shot right back to him. She looked surprised that he was using that word again. Why should she? I am Pureblood, I'm a Malfoy! He thought and sneered at her before the teachers came bustling through and ordered everyone back to their common rooms.
Since that night Draco and Hermione avoided one another. He did not try and talk to her and she kept her gaze from landing on him. Draco felt his anger and hate deep inside, but couldn't shake his feelings for Hermione. He wrestled inside himself on what to do and finally came to the conclusion that no amount of apologizing would make what happened between them any better.
He distracted himself with trying to find out more about the Chamber of Secrets and who was Salazar Slytherin's heir. He wrote to his Father who told him to keep his nose clean and since he was a Pureblood that he had nothing to fear. But Draco did have something to fear; Hermione was a Mudblood. She could be attacked and killed. As this thought settled deeply in his mind he began to worry more and more.
He read Hogwarts, A History three times over before he finally gave up on finding anything in it. He was returning it to the library when he saw her. Hermione was at her usual table with her nose in a book reading furiously. Draco sighed. Just the sight of her there, like she had been so many times before, stirred something inside him.
They had a rough year so far; not much communication over the summer and their houses and backgrounds pulled on the two of them and ripped their fragile alliance almost to shreds. But those shreds still laid deep inside Draco and he could not deny that seeing her like this did not make his heart jump a little.
He groaned inwardly and let his head fall back a little then made his way over to Hermione. She didn't notice until he sat down across from her when her soft brown eyes glanced up at him. Hermione looked tired; her eyes were a little pink but dark bags hung underneath them. Now that he was closer he could see that her hair was more wild than it normally was and her robes were wrinkled.
"How long have you been in here?" Draco asked.
"Since six this morning. I was researching in the common room all night too." Hermione was too tired to fight with him. Maybe this was a peace offering anyways, Draco had been ignoring her and calling her names ever since he kissed her and she ran away. They had made up every other time they fought, maybe Draco was gere to apologize.
"What the hell are you studying?" Draco asked incredulously. There was no way that she was studying that hard for school.
Hermione looked up at him blankly. Did he really not know? "The Chamber of Secrets, of course" she said astonished.
Draco nodded, he should have known. Of course Hermione and her friends were sticking their noses where they don't belong AGAIN. "Hermione, you should stay away from all of this." Draco dropped his eyes to the books she had around her. "You're not safe." He said quietly.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well I am the best chance we have of figuring this all out. Anyways, I can take care of myself." He propped the books back up and went back to reading.
Draco let out a small sigh. "What are you researching anyways? More specific than the Chamber of Secrets." He added as she opened her mouth.
"Really," She paused for a moment. "I am trying to figure out who the heir of Slytherin might be. No one has ever found the Chamber, but if we can figure out who the heir of Slytherin is then we can stop this."
Draco was surprised. Her logic seemed almost flawless sometimes. More importantly, there was no way she would find who the heir of Slytherin was without his help. "Alright, alright I'll help you."
"I don't need-"
"No use arguing with me." Draco smirked as Hermione huffed and reached into his bag. He pulled out an old black book with styled script on it reading "The Pure-Blood Directory".
Hermione gasped when she saw the title. "I've read about that book-"
"You read about a book…" Draco waved his hand. "Nevermind. Continue."
Hermione glared for a moment and then did continue. "It was written by Cantankerous Nott in the 1930s and lists all the Pureblood families and their genealogy. How do you have a copy?"
"Nicked it from my Father's library at home." He shrugged and opened it up. "So what are we looking for?"
Hermione gave him a small smile and then moved to sit beside him. Draco felt his skin tingle just to be near her. His mind went to the night on the Astronomy tower where he finally kissed her; her soft lips pressed against his own. He had thought about that night every night since. Draco shifted in his seat and pushed the books between them. He could smell her sweet hair and longed to run his fingers through it.
"Is Slytherin in there?" Hermione began to peer into the book. The script was small and old looking, but printed neatly on each page.
Draco shook his head. "No. These were the families that were still PureBloods at the time when the book was written. Slytherin's name is long gone."
"So they must have intermarried with other families in order for the bloodline to be preserved." Hermione said, not missing a beat.
Draco smirked, she was more clever than anyone else he knew. Granger isn't named in this book. She is a Mudblood. A voice said in his head. Draco dropped his smirk and looked down at the page.
Abbott, Avery, Black, Bulstrode, Burke, Carrow, Crouch, Fawley, Flint, Gaunt, Greengrass, Lestrange, Longbottom, MacMillan, Malfoy, Nott, Ollivander, Parkinson, Prewett, Rosier, Rowle, Selwyn, Shacklebolt, Shafiq, Slughorn, Travers, Weasley, and Yaxley were all printed on the Contents page.
Both Draco and Hermione recognized many of the names as those of students they went to school with. Draco knew many of them from functions his Father would host and from his own family tree. He was related to each name in some way or another, some more distant than others. Draco was proud to have his name, Malfoy, printed in this book. It was there for the world to see his blood was pure.
And you're sitting next to a Mudblood! The voice was starting to bother him now. Draco watched Hermione as her eyes drank in the information. He frowned when she paused at the Weasley name. Blood traitors. He thought. Would I be considered a Blood traitor for being here with her? Draco shook the thought from his mind.
"Where should we start?" Hermione asked.
Draco sighed. "At the beginning." He said as he turned the page and read Abbott at the top of the page.
Hours passed as they read and discussed who or what family could still hold the Slytherin line. Students had come and gone, but Draco and Hermione were tucked far enough away that no one could see them together.
"Won't your friends be missing you?" Draco asked snidely as he leaned back stretching.
Hermione shook her head. "They'll survive without me for a few hours."
"Doesn't seem like it." Draco quipped. Hermione started to argue back but saw he was joking, paying her a compliment. She blushed a little and smiled.
"Let's get back to work." Hermione pointed out. Draco grinned at her and at the fact that he was still able to make her smile.
"Who's next?" Draco said while yawning.
"You are." Hermione answered quietly.
The name Malfoy was printed largely at the top of the page and Draco suddenly felt nervous. He had never gone through his own family in this book and didn't know what it would hold about what his ancestors might have done.
"We can skip this chapter." He said quickly while turning the page.
"What?"
Draco looked at Hermione's brown eyes with his grey ones. They widened. "You don't think that I am the heir of Slytherin, do you?"
Hermione fumbled for words. "We should be thorough, though." She paused. "Just in case."
"In case I am attacking Mudbloods?" Draco's voice raised and someone hushed them from across the library.
"Don't use that word in front of me." Hermione hissed. "And that is not what I am saying. All I meant was there might be some information in this chapter that we could use."
"Hermione this book is a dead end. We aren't finding anything in here. It's an old dusty list of people that I can and cannot marry!" Draco spit out.
Heaviness fell over them. Draco had known this all along, but he didn't know if the thought ever occurred to Hermione. Even though they were only twelve and the thought of marrying each other had not crossed their minds, neither had the thought that they couldn't ever be together.
Hermione looked down at the book and cleared her throat. "So… you're only allowed to marry someone whose surname is listed here?" She asked smalley.
"Yes." Draco nodded. He had never seen her look at a book with anything less than admiration, but she was looking at this one like it would bite her. "Marriages for Purebloods aren't exactly arranged, but our field is pretty small. Plus, parents have a lot of say in it. We marry for money or power." Draco felt empty as he spoke these words to Hermione.
"I'm sorry." Her brown eyes held hurt in them. Whether is was for him or herself, Draco did not know.
"Don't be. I've always known this. It's part of being a Malfoy, a Pureblood. Mine is the one of the most powerful families there is. I'll have whoever I want." Draco boasted.
"Anyone?" Hermione said, the hope in her voice betraying her.
Draco looked into her big eyes. "Pureblood." he finished for her. She dropped her gaze and Draco felt a heaviness between them.
"Why?" Hermione asked sharply. "Why do Purebloods hate Muggleborns? It has to be more than just the fact that I don't have magical parents."
Draco nodded. His Mother had told him stories of Muggle's taking advantage of wizards long ago for their abilities or trying to burn them alive for being magical. "Muggles aren't to be trusted. They are barbaric and little more than animals themselves. Wizards who come from Muggle families weren't raised in our world. They aren't like us." Draco repeated what his Mother had said to him many times over. Hermione's face fell in disappointment and shock. "We must stay Pure in order to protect ourselves and our way of life." Draco shrugged and tried to act nonchalant about what he had just said. "That's what we all learn as a children in Pureblood families."
Hermione shook her head. "But you must see where that is flawed!"
"Hermione, it's not about what is right and what is wrong anymore." Draco pointed out. "It's about our traditions and upholding the family name. Keeping the power centralized."
Hermione was disgusted. How could he be so calm about all of this? "Is that how you see me? Someone who will turn on you and who is not one of your kind?"
Draco groaned. "Hermione, you're different. You're not like those Muggles you grew up with-"
"I happen to love my parents very much and I am proud to be their daughter!" Hermione yelled and Madame Pince hushed them again.
"I didn't mean… I know." Draco started again and took her hand in his. Hermione felt torn between pulling her hand away from a boy who believed in blood supremacy and saw her as an abomination and gripping his hand back and telling him that she had missed him these past weeks and allowed herself to enjoy being in his company.
"Hermione I didn't say any of that to offend you. You asked and so I told you. I figured you ought to know a little more about how I was raised to see things."
Hermione swallowed hard and realized that what he had told her was exactly what she asked for. Purebloods might hate her for what she was, but they were raised to be that way. And look how different Draco was around her than he was around others. He wasn't a lost cause as she thought, he could change and maybe they could be friends… or more.
She wound her fingers through his. "Thank you for your help today. And I am sorry if I offended you."
"No offense taken." Draco grinned. He was glad that Hermione was finally coming around.
She was happy that things were beginning to mend between them. Harry and Ron were great friends, but there was an allure that Draco had. His grey eyes shone like silver and his blonde hair against his pale skin made him look almost like a painting. But she could not shake the feeling that she was fooling herself. Draco had resigned himself to his fate and was allowing his family to choose his future for him. Would Draco ever be brave enough to break away and choose Hermione over his family and bloodline?
Next Time of The Affair- Draco and Hermione work on their relationship. Draco has his first Quidditch match and Hermione chooses to spend time with Draco instead of her friends.
A/N: Alright, so Chapter Nine should be out very soon and hopefully not too long on Chapter ten after that. I shouldn't have these huge gaps between chapters anymore because hopefully I won't be sick anymore! Thank you to everyone who read this fic and to everyone who leaves reviews! You are all wonderful!