Dream of Dreaming
Chapter 2
Hermione
Draco Malfoy furiously wipes the tears away from his eyes as his friend walks over to me, the blond obviously mortified that I've seen him in such a state. I wonder what happened to make him cry. I have never seen Draco Malfoy cry; even when the fake Moody turned him into a ferret and bounced him off the floor in Fourth Year, he did not shed a tear. For a moment, I feel bad for him, figuring that something pretty serious must've happened for the Slytherin to react this way. But then, I remember what he's done, and I suddenly don't feel so bad for him anymore.
"Is it true?" I growl at Zabini once he gets close to me, my hatred and anger for the blond returning full force.
Zabini sighs, his eyes for once completely serious, and puts a hand gently on my lower back and leads me away from his friend.
"Listen, Granger," he begins softly as we walk. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I think you might be able to help. I'd just like to ask you one small favour, if I may."
"What's that?" I demand after a moment's hesitation, realising that the only way I'll learn anything is by playing along.
"I'm going to explain what happened, but I ask that you keep your mind open to what I've got to say, and not jump to conclusions. This is a complicated situation, and I want you to listen to everything I say before making up your mind."
The black-haired boy is looking at me expectantly, his dark blue eyes pleading for me to do as he says. I glance back over at Malfoy, who is sitting there watching us, looking utterly defeated. He's stopped crying, but he still looks quite miserable. I realise with a start that this is the first time I've seen him without his "mask" on, without him trying to hide his feelings. I lock eyes with his grey ones once again, before looking away and nodding for Zabini to continue.
"Draco did not kill those Muggles," the Slytherin states seriously, and by the tone of his voice and the expression on his face, I can tell that he really does believe that, and that he's not just covering up for the blond. That doesn't mean it's true though; Malfoy could easily have his friend fooled.
"He never even wanted to be a Death Eater," Zabini continues, gazing deep into my eyes as if he could simply use his mind to compel me into believing him. "His father was forcing him. And, as I'm sure you know, Lucius Malfoy isn't the nicest man in the world." I can't help but snort at that statement, and that earns me a critical glare from Zabini.
"I was putting it nicely," the boy snarls, rolling his eyes at me. "Alright, he's an awful person. As you can probably imagine, he would not take 'no' for an answer. Draco was supposed to kill that family, as his … initiation. He couldn't go through with it, though. He's not a killer."
Zabini pauses for a moment, and I get the distinct feeling that he is about to reveal something horrible. Sighing loudly, he pulls the same newspaper I received at breakfast out of his robes, before continuing:
"Obviously, the Dark Lord wasn't too happy about that."
He hands me the Prophet, and points to an article just below the one about Malfoy and the Muggle family. I gasp when I see the title, which reads, "NARCISSA MALFOY FOUND DEAD". It's worse than I had originally thought.
"That was his punishment, for his … failure," Zabini explains, hatred evident in his voice. "They killed his mother simply because her son couldn't kill an innocent family of Muggles. It's all rather sickening, isn't it?"
Nodding numbly, I go on to scan the paper, feeling my brow furrowing as I read. The article states that that the woman was found dead a few blocks away from the Malfoy Manor, the apparent cause being a Killing Curse to the chest.
I suddenly feel pretty bad for Malfoy. I don't know what I believe yet regarding whether or not he killed that family, but he's just lost his mother, and no one deserves that, not even Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin bully I've hated for so long. I turn to look at the boy in question, and see that he is no longer watching us, but is staring blankly out at the lake instead. His face is once more emotionless, giving no sign that he has been crying only minutes ago.
"I'm going to go talk to him," I decide after a moment's consideration, taking a step towards the blond. His best friend, though, stops me, by gripping my upper arm gently.
"Wait," he says softly, "there's more." He pauses for a moment as if to gather his thoughts, but then he seems to change his mind, glancing over at his friend quickly.
"Actually, maybe it's better if we just show you. And Draco should probably tell you the rest." He looks back at me thoughtfully, and then nods. "Come on, then."
He starts leading me over to Malfoy, but stops an instant later, turning me to face him.
"I'd just like to remind you that you agreed to listen to everything before making a decision. Please just keep that in mind when you see this, alright?"
I'm feeling rather uncomfortable again, mostly because I have quite a good idea of what I'm about to see, and I know I won't like it. Regardless, I find myself nodding to the request, my curiosity getting the best of me. And with that, we walk over to Malfoy.
"Show her," Zabini orders his friend once we reach him.
Malfoy sighs, his grey eyes darting back and forth between Zabini and me, before settling on the dark-haired boy.
"Blaise, I don't think this is a good idea," he says after a moment, his voice strangely hoarse and soft.
"We've already been over this, Draco, and I don't care!" Zabini exclaims, sounding utterly exasperated. "Show her!"
After glaring at his friend for a good minute or so, Malfoy sighs in defeat and turns to look at me, holding my gaze emotionlessly as he slowly rolls up his left sleeve, revealing his bare forearm.
I feel my eyes widen as I stare in horror at his arm, all the colour draining from my face.
Branded into Malfoy's arm, is the Dark Mark, Voldemort's Mark, its blackness contrasting sharply against his almost white skin.
I really shouldn't be so shocked; I'd been expecting this. But seeing it just makes it so real, so … final. Draco Malfoy is now a Death Eater. Bloody hell.
It is then that I remember that I had agreed to listen to everything before I make up my mind. Shaking my head, I pull my eyes away from Malfoy's forearm to focus them instead on his eyes, and I open my mouth to demand an explanation.
Unfortunately, it is at that moment that Dumbledore and Snape appear suddenly by our sides, each of us having been so distracted that we hadn't noticed their approach.
Snape is now staring down at his student's still exposed forearm, his usually emotionless face a mix of anger, sadness, disappointment, and hate. Malfoy looks up at his Head of House, and they lock eyes for a moment, Snape looking angry and worried, while Malfoy's face is unreadable.
"Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore begins gently, even though he has obviously seen the Mark, "will you kindly accompany Professor Snape and me to my office, please?"
Clearly not having a choice, Malfoy rolls his sleeve back down and pushes himself up, shooting a look at his best friend. Snape then places a firm hand on the blond's shoulder and he is led away by the two professors, leaving Zabini looking worried, and me extremely bewildered.