Chapter five: Hermione knows all

"Hermione," Remus Lupin's head spoke from the fire.

"Professor Lupin, how good to see you." Hermione said happily, kneeling on the hearth.

"Hermione, how many times have I told you? Call me Remus, or Moony." The man said kindly.

"(1) At least once more, as always Professor," Hermione said. Remus chuckled.

"Well on to business. What's this you want to know about a letter I wrote Padfoot?" He asked.

"Well, Pro-"Hermione started but corrected herself at a look from Remus, "Remus, Harry was telling us about a prank you played on Padfoot. He said that you wrote a…sort of love letter from him to yourself and managed to get it read aloud in class."

Remus got a faraway look on his face and smiled.

"Ah, yes I remember that. I told Harry about that over the summer." His amber eyes than refocused, "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Hermione blushed, "I was just wondering what, exactly, you told him. He hasn't told us the whole story and you know how curious I can be."

"Ah," Remus said, giving her a knowing look. "Well, Harry was asking after our pranks back in the day. I told him that it was a prank that got me and Sirius together-"Remus stopped as Hermione began to cough wildly. "Are you ok, my dear?"

"I'm…fine. Did you just say that you and Sirius were…together?" She asked staring at the head in the fire. If he wasn't a flaming head, Remus's cheeks would be on fire.

"Erm, yes, Padfoot and I were…an item." The man said, embarrassedly.

"Oh, uh, continue than." Hermione said a bit dumbfounded. How did she not know that?

"Ahem, as I was saying. I told Harry about a prank that got me and Padfoot together. James always teased us mercilessly for it too. He said that we were true Marauders, falling in love through a prank." Remus shook his head fondly. "Anyway, the prank was the 'love' letter." Hermione nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but how did it get you two, together?" She asked.

"Well, as it would seem, Padfoot and I had always had a…special connection. One that neither Prongs nor Wormtail could quite understand. We hardly understood it ourselves. Until the prank. I guess the letter just opened up channels of communication. After the prank he was able to be freer with telling me how he felt, with the pretense that it was all a joke. But then the jokes got more serious and he began to talk about love. Then I knew that it wasn't all a joke to me and I told him so, and he said that he loved me that he always had. The rest is history." Remus said with a dreamy voice.

Hermione got all misty-eyed, as young ladies tend to do when they hear a romantic story of young love.

"Wow," She whispered, and then everything seemed to click. Harry, Malfoy, the letters. It all seemed to make sense now. "Holy Shit!" She exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" Remus asked from the fire, confused as to why the girl had gone from starry-eyed romantic to cursing harpy.

"Sorry, Professor, thanks for the help, I gotta go." She said in a rush before running off.

"But- what- wait!" Remus called but the girl was already gone. "Teens." He mumbled before pulling out of the fire.

XxXxX

Draco looked awful the next morning, as Blaise proceeded to tell him, ad nauseum.

"Did you sleep at all?" Blaise questioned his friend who was staring dejectedly at the floor. Draco didn't respond he didn't look up; he didn't do anything but stare at the floor and walk toward the Great Hall. Blaise sighed in irritation. "Draco, this isn't good for you. You need to sleep." He began his usually lecture as the pair sat at the end of the Slytherin table. "And eat," He said, placing pancakes, eggs, toast, bacon, and sausage on to the plate in front of the blond.

Draco didn't even acknowledge the other boy. He just picked up a fork and poked at his egg. He watched as the membrane around the yellow center was punctured and the yoke came spilling out looking like yellow blood.

Blood. Draco has seen so much blood in his young life.

"Stop it," Blaise hissed at him. Draco looked up. He knew what Blaise meant. Whenever Draco let his mind drift in the direction it was just going, bad things happened.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Draco said stiffly. Blaise narrowed his eyes at him.

"Don't do this, Draco. Don't do this to yourself, anymore." Blaise said. Draco wanted to scoff at him, or sneer, or roll his eyes or something, anything other than what he did. Draco gave him a watery but grateful look. Father would be so disappointed. Malfoy's don't tear up. Especially not over something like that. But Blaise didn't seem to mind. "Just eat some toast." He muttered.

The two sat in silence. Ever since Draco came back from the summer he had been reclusive and stand-offish. Most of his 'friends' had gotten fed up with his attitude and had taken to shunning him. Blaise, however, seemed genuinely worried and caring. He did his best to try and get Draco to open up, or, at the very least, to eat and sleep.

A few minutes later, the Great Hall erupted with life as swarms of owls swooped into the Hall. Draco, despite himself, found that he was searching for a glimpse of either Ares, or Potter's own owl. His heart leapt as he spotted a flash of white amongst the sea of brown.

The owl swooped down and landed before him. Draco's fingers trembled as he leaned forward to untie a package from the owl's leg.

"Help yourself," Draco said pushing his plate toward her. The owl hooted in thanks before grabbing a sausage and flying off.

"Potter?" Blaise asked. Draco nodded, all the while his eyes never leaving the package. He couldn't for the life of him think of what it was that Potter had sent him, not to mention, why he would after that horrible note he had written him. "Well open it, you ponce." Blaise said good-naturedly.

Draco didn't need telling twice. He quickly tore away the brown parchment that covered the box. Inside was a box of white chocolates. Attached to the front of the box was a folded piece of parchment.

Draco pulled off the parchment and set the box on the table where it was quickly snatched up by Blaise who took to inspecting it and opening it. But Draco didn't mind. He was too involved in what Potter had to say.

Malfoy,

Look, I am really sorry about what I said. I didn't mean to insult you or judge you. I thought it was just fun. Not to say that insulting you is fun or anything. Well, I mean it use to be fun. But that was before…I am really making a mess of this apology, aren't I?

I just want to forget about that letter. It was stupid and inconsiderate of me. I never should have pretended like I knew anything about you.

I want to continue writing to you. Merlin, help me, but I do. I look forward to your letters. Your wit is much more appreciated when you're not using it against me.

So what do you say? Please?

Waiting,

Harry

P.S. You know Italian?!

Draco was shocked. He hadn't expected Potter to write back, let alone apologize. He looked up at Blaise.

"You know my opinion on this whole thing." The other boy said holding up his hands. Draco's face fell. Blaise sighed and leaned forward, placing a hand over Draco's. "Look, I know you like Potter, I do." He held up a hand to fend off Draco' protest, "And it would seem that he likes you too-"

"How do you know that?" Draco asked. Blaise lifted up the box of chocolate with his other hand.

"It's your favourite." He said as if that said everything. "But, this thing is dangerous, Draco. If your father found out, he would not be happy. You know I wouldn't tell him but he has plenty of spies here." He mumbled indicating the rest of the Slytherins. "We are in the snake pit, and they'd do anything for a bit of power." Draco swallowed hard and nodded.

"I hate seeing you like this." Blaise said with a bit of anger in his voice.

"What should I do?" Draco asked, crestfallen. Blaise gave him a hard, calculating look.

"I say, write him back." Draco's head snapped up. "But be sure to keep it at no more than a friendly level, and do be more conspicuous." Blaise said with a hint of humor. "But you have to know that if you go too far with Potter, if you pass that line, you can't go back." His brown eyes were hard and serious. Draco nodded. He knew that. He knew that if he let himself get too involved with Potter than there was no way he'd be able to go back to the life he had before. The whole thing has already affected him in a way he had never thought possible.

"Alright," Draco said softly. He spent the rest of breakfast in thought and being nearly force-feed the chocolates Potter had given him.

XxXxX

"What the hell?" Harry wondered aloud as his owl, Hedwig, flew into the Hall with a package tied to her leg. His confusion deepened when she landed in front of Malfoy.

"Oh, Harry. You bought him a gift. That's good thinking." Hermione said proudly. Harry looked at her in open-mouth shock.

"But I didn't-"He started to say but was interrupted by Ron.

"Didn't what Harry?" Ron asked loudly. Harry swallowed hard and looked a bit sheepish for forgetting about Ron who was sitting across from him.

"Uh, I didn't…know that there was an essay assigned in Potions." Harry said thinking quickly.

"Oh, yeah." Ron said nodding and shoved a bite of pancake in his mouth.

Harry than turned his gaze back to Malfoy. He smiled subconsciously as the blonde's grey eyes lit up and a smile graced his pink lips as he read Harry's letter, or he assumed it was his letter.

His smile, however, faded when he saw Malfoy's face fall and it looked as if someone just ran over his puppy. Harry felt righteous anger flood through him at Zabini. He knew that the git was saying something to Malfoy that was upsetting him.

Harry was so involved in watching the two Slytherins that he didn't notice Hermione's knowing look or Ron's smirk.

XxXxX

"I believe there will be no interruptions." Snape said glaring at Draco and Potter in turn. "Good,' he said, satisfied. "Today will be a practical lesson; you will work individually and quietly. Open your books to page 70."

The class period was rather dull. The potion was simple and Draco finished well before the end of class. He took the free time to write Potter back. He still wasn't sure what to write but his writer instincts set in the moment his quill touched the parchment, and what started out as a letter to Potter became a poem.

Draco had been writing poetry and short-stories for years. When he was younger he found it was a good way to let his overactive imagination run wild without getting in trouble. Draco had always told stories and his parents often punished him for telling falsehoods.

So, Draco took to writing it all down. As he grew into an angsty teen, he found that poetry was a good way to vent. All his emotions that he was forced to repress and all the pain that he tried to ignore was able to spill out and could easily be hidden away.

No one knew of Draco's hobby and he didn't plan on telling anyone. Whenever you told someone that you liked to write or draw or whatever it is that you do, they always want to see something. There was no way Draco was going to show his poetry to anyone. It was too personal and intimate and definitely not something a Malfoy would write. He felt his poetry was a window into his soul, and just the fact that he did, indeed, have a soul would be enough to shock most people, not to mention what it said.

Once finished with his poem, Draco looked up and over at Potter. His face was red and his untamable raven locks were even wilder. He seemed to be having trouble with his potion.

Suddenly, Draco felt an urge to go over and help him. He quickly repressed it.

Where the hell did that come from? He wondered to himself. He had watched Potter screw up many potions and never once had he felt the need to help or to do anything really than to laugh and taunt him. But now, Draco found himself staring intently at the boy as he reached for the crushed up beetles and tried to telepathically tell him that they need to be added after the mandrake root.

It seems that Draco isn't the as good at Occulmency as his Godfather and Potter dumped in the beetles resulting in his potion turning a vibrant pink instead of the pale blue it should be at this stage.

Potter growled in frustration and flipped through the pages of his book to see where he went wrong. His eyes widened as he read the passage that said that the mandrake root was to be added before the beetles. Draco shook his head.

Told ya so, He thought, directed at Potter. Potter huffed and tossed in the mandrake root anyway.

"NO!" Draco shouted before he thought about what he was saying, or doing for that matter, seeing as he was suddenly out of his seat and tackling the black-haired boy to the ground and trying to cover them both with his robes.

"Malfoy what the-"Potter started to say but was cut off by a loud explosion. Potter's potion exploded, sending the now, florescent green and foul-smelling potion all over Draco's robe and the surrounding area.

Luckily, the other students were smart enough to get well out of the way of the flying potion. When the explosion ended Draco got up quickly.

"You stupid wanker!" He shouted.

"Wha-"Potter tried to say but Draco interrupted him.

"No, don't speak. You will lower my intelligence with your pathetic excuses." Draco snapped. Potter's face began to redden. "What the hell were you think? Are you really that stupid?" Draco ranted. Potter opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Draco once again. "Do you honestly not know that mandrake root is a very volatile substance and must be added when instructed? That stuff you've created is dangerous. The fumes alone could put someone in a comatose state but if it were to have gotten on you, your skin would've been melted. Or burned significantly."

"Well how was I supposed to know?" Potter snapped, defensively. Draco growled in frustration. He grabbed Potter's potion text off the table and dropped it onto the boy's stomach.

"Oof," Potter said as the book knocked most of the air out of his lungs.

"Read the damn book. You might learn something." The blond said. He then turned to their professor who had been watching the whole thing. "Professor, it would seem I need to go to the Hospital Wing." Draco said holding up his arm which hadn't been covered by the robe. The usually pale skin was now red and blistering. Luckily, only a small amount of the potion had landed on it.

"Damn it," Snape cursed as he rushed forward. "Class dismissed, Potter, you come with me." He ordered before leading Draco out of the room with Potter in tow.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

(An: (1) This is what Elizabeth Swan tells Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean. I just love when Draco rants. It's so fun!)