As the ninth moon approaches….two enemies, sworn to kill the other shall be bound by magic, ancient…...the Dark Lord has passed but Alas! …His wrath has not...to pierce the heart through the looking glass…the light shall shine…blood by blood they shall kill; To accept the truth…darkness shall befall….as ninth moon approaches…darkness will envelope us once more…
Two enemies... bound by magic..
My head reeled. What could it have meant? I looked up and watched Draco as he read, his thick eyelashes covered his stormy gray eyes, and his lips were jutted out as if he was pouting. He looked almost peaceful, almost... vulnerable.
His head snapped up from his book , as if he knew I was staring him. I buried my face in the book that I was holding, though I wasn't exactly reading it. I pretended to be immensely absorbed by my book as he looked at me curiously.
"What are you smiling stupidly about, Granger?" He smirked, grabbing the book from me.
"I wasn't smiling, Malfoy" I mumbled under my breath and he flashed me a sinister smile before flipping through the pages of the book.
I started to protest when he suddenly laughed out loud about something he had read.
"Signs that show when you're in love with a goblin. . . " he started to read as he stood up from his seat, knocking it down in the process.
"You cannot stop thinking about said Goblin. . . Granger?" he laughed "Is it someone from Gringotts?"
I bolted from my seat, desperately trying to grab the book from him. He raised it over his head, knowing that I would never reach it. I cursed him for being so tall.
He gave me the slytherin trademark smirk then went back to reading. I swear! If he smirks again I will literally yank off his face. He snorted as I stood on my tiptoes, reaching out with both arms for the book.
Malfoy was tall, there was no doubt about it. It was a fact. I really didn't care if he continued to read the book but what bothered me most was that he thought that just because he was taller I would never reach it. I stood on my chair and reached for the book again.
"Hey I was actually interested with the topic!" he protested when I finally grabbed hold of the book. I rolled my eyes at him.
"No, you weren't. You were just trying to make fun of me" I snapped. I started to get off the chair when suddenly. . . it toppled.
"Shit!" Malfoy cried.
I closed my eyes. Thud. Strange. Why didn't my back ache?
I slowly opened my eyes and saw Malfoy's emotionless face but that wasn't the fact that had caught my interest.
I was in his arms, bridal style. He saved me. Me. I'm his sworn enemy.
"Malfoy?" I asked. He looked at me, his face still blank.
"Yes Granger?" he asked. "Thank You" came the raspy answer from my throat. It came as a soft whisper, at first I didn't think he heard me but my mental debate ended when he nodded his head slowly and gave me a smirk.
"You know Granger, you didn't have to go through the whole falling off of a chair fiasco. If you wanted me to get close to you, you could've just asked" he grinned at me as he helped me on my feet.
"Oh please, I wouldn't come within a meter radius of you if I didn't have to" I huffed.
"Where are you going now?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched me backing away from him
"I said if I didn't have to!" I snarled
"You can't resist the Malfoy charm forever, Granger" he smirked.
"Arrogant Pureblood."
"Mudblood"
"Selfish Prat"
"Insufferable Slut"
"Infuriating Slytherin"
"Exquisite Gryffindor"
I felt my cheeks heating up. "That's only supposed to happen in sappy love stories! This is not a sappy romance flick!" I screamed "Can't take a compliment much?" he rolled his eyes
"Sexual Harassment is against the law" I growled at him.
"So now I'm sexually harassing you?" he smirked
"Sod off ferret face" He shrewd his face into a snarl
"Language, Mudblood" he snapped
"I'm speaking English. You're speaking English. Would you like to speak gibberish?" He glared at me.
I rolled my eyes at him as I fixed my chair and took a seat. He took his seat, smirking like the fool that he was.
"Would you please stop smirking!" I snapped. He smirked at me "Why should I when I live to irritate you?"
"Because if you don't stop smirking I will literally kill you!" I snapped "And risk Azkaban? Suit yourself" he smirked. I saw red as I began to think off ways to kill him.
I was brought out of my reverie when a familiar voice resounded in the castle.
"All students proceed to the school grounds immediately!" Professor McGonagall said. I was shocked by the hit of anxiety in her voice. Something was definitely wrong.
"Malfoy, did you hear what Professor McGonagall just said?" I said impatiently as I stood from my seat. I headed for the library exit when I realized that Malfoy wasn't following me.
"You stupid nimrod!" I snapped when I saw him on the table we had occupied, staring off into space. He gave me look of amusement. What in the world was he grinning about!
"Get up or I will kick your stupid face!" I threatened. He gave me another look and started to get up slowly. "First of all Granger, my face isn't stupid. I don't think it's capable of being stupid! Second, you wouldn't be able to kick my face since you don't have speed and agility on your side" he smirked.
"Double negative doesn't always make something positive, Malfoy. Often, it just makes the negative sign twice longer" I said. He gave me a confused look and said "There's no better armor against logic than ignorance"
He chuckled to himself as we walked out of the library.
When we reached the school grounds most of the students were huddled into small groups. Some laughing and poking each other, while some were talking in hushed voices. They all stopped when they saw me and Malfoy. Together and not hexing each other.
"What are you all staring at?" Malfoy snapped as he walked to the direction where his slytherin friends were huddled. Everyone shrugged and continued acting like they didn't just see me and Malfoy being civil to each other. Well, except for my friends.
"Mione" said a familiar voice. I spun around to find Harry, Ron and Ginny looking at me with a worried look that they all shared on their faces. I was really starting to wonder if that look had been plastered on their faces because lately, they've been wearing it more often than they should have.
Ginny rushed to me and enveloped me in an awkward hug. She pulled away and smiled at me. "So you and Malfoy, huh?" she grinned.
"Yuck, eew Ginny! Malfoy? Seriously? I would rather date a ferret" I said, disgusted that Ginny would make such presumptions.
"Uhhh... Mione? You do realize that Malfoy is a ferret right?" Harry asked, looking worried, again. That look was really starting to bug me. "Correction Harry. He was a ferret but now he's a ferret face. There's a huge difference" I told him, trying to sound logical.
Ron shook his head at me "Oh so now you're protecting the stupid ferret!" He shrieked childishly. "Ronald, there's a reason why my enemies say that, and I quote, 'hell hath no fury like Hermione Granger annoyed'" I snapped at Ron.
"So what's with Professor McGonagall's cryptic message?" I asked Harry and Ginny, completely ignoring Ron who looked like he was about to rip his head off. I wouldn't mind if he did that. In fact, I think he would do the world a huge favor for committing suicide.
"Well, the Slytherins have been going on and on about seeing smoke from the divination classroom earlier," Harry said. I started to get a bad feeling as I stared at Professor McGonagall who just exited the castle. She looked anxious. That's a huge problem. She was never the type to panic because of cockroaches and snakes. Let alone get anxious, so as I've guessed, the reason had to be as bad as the war that Voldemort initiated.
I stared to chew on my bottom lip like I always did when I was getting restless. What id it was about the prophecy?
"Stop that Mione it's annoying the shit out of me!" Ron snapped angrily with a glare that almost made him worthy of the Slytherin house.
Strange. Ron wasn't this annoying before. He might have been shallow but he would never do anything to hurt my feelings. No, he would never do anything of the sort.
"Students! There has been a fire in the divination classroom" the Professor began as the students finally become aware of her presence. They gathered around her like hungry cats, I knew what that looked like because of Crookshanks. "We are not yet certain if Professor Trelawney was inside the room when it was put on fire so I request all of you to wait patiently as we try to put out the fire. That is all" With that Professor McGonagall walked towards the direction where all the Professors were huddled.
Everyone started talking in hushed voices again. " I wonder of Professor Trelawney's alright," Ginny said as she furiously stomped on a bug that was crawling on the ground.
Ron rolled his eyes, seeming unfazed about the whole situation. As if Professor Trelawney means nothing to him. I for one had a certain dislike for the Professor but I wouldn't go as far as pretending that she wasn't a human being, that would be completely barbaric and immature.
"Aren't you worried, Ron?" I asked him, with a hint of morbid curiosity. Ron chuckled coldly.
"She'll be alright. It's the fire that I'm worried about" Harry said with a small smile that lit up his face. Ginny and I laughed at Harry's strange sense of humor. I turned to look at Ron but he was looking straight ahead with his back to us. Straight towards the forbidden forest.
"Is something wrong, Ronald?" Ginny tapped her fingers on her brother's shoulder. Ron snapped out of his trance and turned to face us with a reassuring smile. "Not at all," he answered as he ran a hand over his red hair.
Harry adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked at me, a readable question in his emerald green eyes. 'Is he alright?' I shrugged. Harry looked at me sternly and I shrugged again, not knowing what he wanted me to say.
Ginny and Ron hadn't noticed our exchange of course. I don't doubt that they didn't. They were both laughing at something that Ron had said and their backs were on us. Harry joined their conversation while I looked around the crowd of students. I felt someone's eyes on me. I snapped my head towards the other direction to find no one staring at me. Strange, I felt a pair of eyes watching me and yet there was none at all.
My eyes settled upon Malfoy, Zabini, Nott and Parkinson who were huddled together in a small group near the castle's entrance. They were talking in hushed voices. Probably about how infuriating it was to breath the same air that we 'mudbloods' do.
I turned my attention back to my friends. They were looking at me strangely "What's going on between you and Malfoy?" Harry asked, catching me off guard.
"Haven't I cleared up that matter already? I told you, nothing's going on between us. Except maybe for the fact that I find him more infuriating nowadays" I answered, shaking my head furiously.
"You're a bad liar Hermione, besides, we caught you ogling at him!" Ron said, his eyes clouded with fury. "I was not ogling at him! I was merely looking at him curiously." I protested. My friends decide to drop the matter, but knowing them they would probably bring it up sometime in the future.
I stared at Malfoy's entourage again to find that Malfoy himself was staring at me. He wiggled his fingers towards my direction and smirked. I rolled my eyes at him. I caught movement at the castle's entrance and turned to stare at someone who was walking over to Professor McGonagall. They started talking while the other students barely took notice of their exchange.
The man was wearing a light brown trench coat and a light brown cap. His skin was fair and he had a goatee. An Auror perhaps? Professor McGonagall's expression turned from worried to I-think-I'm-going-to-die sort of shocked.
She nodded her head and turned to face the students. She clapped her hands twice to gain our attention. Every head turned towards the Professor, her pale cheeks were wet with tears.
"'Students, the fire has been put out and I have gravely upsetting news. . ." she choked back a sob "Professor Sybill Trelawney has been murdered"
I was not in the mood for lunch at all. I couldn't believe that they weer letting us have lunch when someone we knew was murdered and it was possible that the person who killed her was still walking among us.
Try eating as you think about your Professor, even if it is a deranged one, burning. Try imagining her skin tingling then finally melting into her bones as she screams.
Who in their right mind could eat?Oh yeah. Ron.
Ron, Harry, Ginny and I were sitting on the Gryffindor table. It was lunch but I can't exactly say that we were having lunch, except for Ron. Everyone in the great hall seemed to be restless. Everyone except Ron. He was sitting beside me, across from Harry and Ginny, seeming unfazed by the current whirl of events. His mouth was almost overflowing with chicken meat when he suddenly said "Blimey! The food is amazing!"
Ronald Billius Weasley had just given me two things. A headache from his bad table manners and irrefutable evidence that he is in fact brain dead. Was he really so slow as to not realize that someone had just died!
Ron took a bite out of the chicken leg on his right hand then took another bite from the chicken leg on his left hand. I grabbed the book that was resting on our table and pounded it on Ron's shoulder "Stop eating! Your Professor just died!" I shrieked.
"Jesus! If this were America I would sue for child abuse!" He cried. I rolled my eyes at him. "No, it's just me. Hermione. There is no uncanny resemblance between me and Jesus so shut your trap Ronald!" I snapped and was about to continue when the auror from before makes his appearance in the great hall, causing every student to stiffen and remain silent. The man looked like an evil scientist, except at that moment he looked far worse.
He walked over to the table where the Professors were eating and slammed both his hands in front of Professor McGonagall. The Headmistress bolted from her seat, her face shrewd in anger. The Auror looked at her with slitted eyes then spun to face all of us. His words slithered into my brain like a venomous python.
"Hermione Jeanne Granger and Draco Lucius Malfoy! I need a moment to speak to the both of you in private" I felt my heart stop. What did he just say?
I didn't move an inch. "Hermione Granger, outside now!" he said sternly. I clamped a hand over my mouth to keep me from screaming 'What does this have to do with me?'
Ron patted my back reassuringly and murmured "It'll be alright Mione. Just do as he says" I nodded my head in compliance and followed the strange auror outside with Malfoy following behind me.
When we got outside, the auror was pacing back and forth. Malfoy was standing right beside me. The auror snapped his head up at us.
"Do you know a place where we can speak privately?" he asked, his voice surprisingly kind and soft. "The Room Of Requirement" Malfoy muttered and led the way.
When we got to our destination the auror threw the doors open and motioned for us to follow him inside."I request the both of you to sit," he said, motioning towards the couch that the room had conjured. The couch was facing an armchair and both were sleek black.
I followed Malfoy as he plopped down on the couch. The Auror followed us and took a seat on the armchair before finally speaking."Do you know what these are?" he held up a Slytherin tie and a locket. A small, gold locket in the shape of a heart. It was my missing locket.
"No. What are they?" Malfoy answered. The auror looked at us curiously and said.
"Mr. Malfoy, this is a heart-shaped locket with the initials H.G. which I presume is a possession of Ms. Granger's and this," he waved the Slytherin tie in front of Malfoy. "This is a Slytherin tie with the scent Tromperie which is your personal scent. These items were both found in the Divination classroom beside Professor Sybill Trelawney's dead body"
I gasped. He was implying that we... that we ... that we murdered Professor Trelawney.
"B-b-but" I stammered " we didn't murder the professor. Sure, I hate her, but I would never kill her!" I protested. Malfoy looked as if he was just told that he was adopted and that he was actually a muggle-born. "I'm sorry Ms. Granger but this is the only clue we have and the ministry has concluded that you both have something to do with your Professor's murder" the auror said.
"But we weren't in the divination classroom this morning. We were copped up in the library the whole time" Malfoy said, panic in his voice."Can anyone testify to that? Was there anyone else inside the library besides the both of you?" the Auror looked at Malfoy.
"No. Madam Pince was out and everyone else was in the great hall eating breakfast" Malfoy said, his voice quivering. The Auror looked at us suspiciously. This wasn't going well, not at all."I'm sorry but your alibi isn't good enough. I'm sorry but the both of you are, at the moment, prime suspects." He concluded then walked out of the room.
Malfoy and I sat there in awkward silence. Imagine the shock on everyone's faces when they see a picture of my face on the daily prophet under the words "eighteen year old golden girl of the golden trio murdered an innocent Professor and attempted to burn down Hogwarts School Of Wizardry and Magic with accomplice ex-deatheater, Draco Malfoy.
We sat there silently before Malfoy finally decided to break the ice "As much as I hate the idea of confiding in the Headmistress we have no other option so come along Granger" With that he pulled me on my feet and dragged me to the Headmistress' office.
"Professor, the Ministry is accusing us of killing Professor Trelawney" Malfoy said. Professor McGonagall was looking towards the direction of Professor Dumbledore's portrait. "Professor?" I asked. She looked at me intently.
"Oh Merlin! What a mess this has all turned out to be!" I cried in exasperation. Professor McGonagall hadn't said a thing yet and I was beginning to wonder if she would be of any help at all.
"But Professor what do we do now?" Malfoy asked, crossing his legs in front of him confidently as if nothing mattered to him, not even the fact that the both of us could be sentenced to Azkaban for doing something we didn't do.
Professor McGonagall placed her hands on her desk and looked at us with worry. "Why are they blaming you exactly?" She finally asked. "The auror found my locket and Malfoy's Slytherin tie in the ruins of the divination classroom," I explained.
"But how does that turn you into suspects? You're both Professor Trelawney's students, it could've been there before the fire even started" The headmistress said, more to herself than to us.
"Exactly what we've been trying to tell the auror, Professor. But he told us that the Ministry had already concluded that we had something to do with Professor Trelawney's murder" I cried.
Professor McGonagall raised her head up to meet out questioning gaze "If the ministry has concluded that then there is not much to argue about. Once something has been decided by the ministry there is no other way to change their minds"
"But they can't just do that! There's not enough evidence to conclude that Malfoy and I actually murdered Professor Trelawney! Are they really going to send two teenagers to Azkaban even if there's a possibility of them being innocent?" I felt panicked as I paced around the headmistress' office.
"The Ministry doesn't take murder to lightly. Not after Voldemort's death. Too many has died in the war and I assume that they are panicked at the thought of someone starting another one" The Professor said.
I was still pacing the room "But they can't just... Professor, what do we do now?" I asked, clearly getting anxious "Ms. Granger please sit down" Professor McGonagall pleaded. I refused to sit down. "Ms. Granger please sit down" she said, getting impatient. Malfoy pulled my by my wrist ad forced me to take a seat.
We both looked at the Professor for a few minutes. She seemed to be debating mentally with herself and it was quite infuriating to watch.
"You both need to escape," The Professor finally blurted out, looking at us seriously. It took a few moments for Malfoy and I to analyze what the Professor just said.
"What?" Malfoy and I asked, utmost certainly baffled.