"Blimey, is it that late already?!" Hermione shrieked hearing the clock tower strike nine in the distance. The sun had long ago set and Draco and Hermione sat beneath one of the many large willow trees talking avidly about everything from their favorite places of the castle to life before Hogwarts.
"Wow, we had better get back to the castle." Malfoy answered, getting to his feet and holding out his hand to help Hermione up.
"We'll never get inside unseen; it'll be a month's detention for sure!" Hermione fretted.
"Rubbish." Answered Malfoy, a crooked smile painted on his face, "You just have to know where to go."
"Ah, you've taken a keen interest in memorizing all the secret passages to the castle as well I take it?" She questioned in her most disapproving tone.
"Well maybe not all, but most of them, yes. And to be fair, they aren't really that secret are they? Half the school knows at least two or three creative ways of getting in and out."
Hermione couldn't help but think of Fred and George Weasley and their sheer devotion to map out every inch of Hogwarts for their shenanigans. Malfoy surely wouldn't know any of the ways that they didn't know about. This thought somehow made her feel better about breaking the rules. After all, the Weasley twins were almost always up to no good and she and Malfoy weren't doing anything troublesome; perhaps Malfoy happened upon the passage by accident and never actually went looking for them. Yes…that would be what she would tell herself.
In no time at all the great Hogwarts castle was stretching before them. Malfoy veered off in the direction of the courtyard where he wedged open a small door at the base of the wall allowing him and Hermione to enter.
When they emerged, they had climbed several flights of stairs and found themselves in one of the many fourth floor corridors. Hermione noted they exited through a painting of a very peculiar looking witch with a long nose and wide set eyes darning a purple cloak.
"Excellent." Said Hermione, pleased that they had arrived unnoticed.
"Told you; nothing to worry about."
"Do I dare make the assumption that the only reason you are so calm about this is because you've done it a time or two before?"
Malfoy opened his mouth to answer but quickly closed it and peered around the corner. "Filch!" He whispered, snagging Hermione's arm and darting down the corridor in the opposite direction.
"I know someone's messing around out here! It's always someone!" She heard Filch mutter in the distance.
Malfoy moved almost soundlessly as he navigated the hallways of the school, Hermione in toe, her heart racing with fear of being caught.
"In here!" Malfoy ordered, pushing Hermione inside an abandoned room and shutting the door in one swift, noiseless motion. He turned to look at Hermione who was leaned against a dusty bookcase, slightly out of breath. "Bit too exciting for you Granger?" He smirked.
Hermione let out a loud laugh, "I wish I could say I wasn't used to it." She panted.
Malfoy stepped closer to her and also slumped against the bookcase, laughing a little. "I knew I should have stayed in tonight and finished my potions work up. Sneaking around the castle with you is bound to get a bloke caught; what with your loud feet plodding behind is enough to wake up the whole school!"
Hermione threw her head back laughing and then stopped abruptly, "Drat!" She cried, "The potions essay! I completely forgot how much work I still have to do, I was going to have my draft finished tonight!"
"It's not due until next week, there's plenty of time." Malfoy urged.
"No you don't understand." Hermione shook her head, "Potions is the absolute worst! I spend more time on those assignments than any other. I always end up getting fairly good marks but I have to work so hard at it that I always start those before anything else to give myself extra time."
He paused, "Well, potions isn't bad for me. Plus, we have double lecture tomorrow which might help you better understand what we're learning."
"Not likely!" She huffed, "Snape usually just loads a ton of information on us and makes it even more confusing."
"I could help you after class is over. I've already got a good start on mine."
Hermione blinked, taken off-guard by his gesture. She wasn't sure if he was being serious or if he was only offering to be nice. How long could these strange meetings continue between them she wondered. "It would be nice to have someone look over what I've done so far…" She thought out loud.
"Indeed." Malfoy agreed, "Right then, I'll wait for you by the main staircase when class is over. Come on… I think Filch has likely moved on by now, we had best be getting back to our houses."
Slowly, he opened the door and peered outside. Noting that the coast was clear, he motioned Hermione forward.
She hastened through the door consciously trying to be as quiet as possible, "I'll see you in the morning." She whispered, turning in the direction of the stairs.
"Goodnight." Malfoy replied simply before he glided in the opposite direction just as swiftly and quietly as he did before.
Hermione let her thoughts wander on the way back to the Gryffindor common room. Her spirits were feeling lifted after an enjoyable evening with Malfoy. Their encounters still seemed so bizarre to her yet she loved the rush of excitement she felt at how new and different it was. How very unexpected it all was indeed; who knew she could actually enjoy herself around someone who, up until a few weeks ago, she thought she hated? Most of all, Hermione was glad to see that Malfoy did in fact show signs of remorse for his actions as she recalled the pained look on his face down by the riverside earlier that evening.
Hermione did wish however that she would have been able to say a proper goodbye as not to seem rude, but she figured with the circumstances of roaming around after hours it was likely best that they kept it short. Besides, she would see him the next day in potions class and again afterward to set to work on the dreaded task of writing Snape's latest essay. As she mulled it over to herself once more, she thought for about the one-thousandth time that night how strange it felt to be making plans with Malfoy. Stranger still was the fact that she was looking forward to them! Her curiosity was still propelling her forward and she thought that if anything, their meet-ups would be short lived and they would go on as mere acquaintances rather than sworn enemies. In any case, Hermione couldn't find a reason not to keep investigating these new developments further and was feeling even more curious than she had before.
As she stepped through the porthole of the painting of the Fat Lady, Hermione unzipped her white vest and began fiddling with the zipper that always tended to get caught near the bottom of the track.
"It's about time!" A sudden voice exclaimed.
Hermione's eyes snapped up, startled by the outburst bringing her face to face with Ron.
"Oh….hello Ronald." She said casually as she strolled by him.
"Don't Ronald me! Do you realize that Harry and I have been looking everywhere for you? Where have you been all night?! You left the library hours ago."
"Disappointed you missed out on a whole night of tormenting me?"
Ron blinked stupidly having seemingly forgotten their heated exchange about Viktor from earlier. "We'd no idea where you'd gone! Harry talked me into asking you if you wanted to study with us for a bit and afterward join us for a tournament of wizard's chess. But when we went looking for you, you were nowhere to be found!"
"Maybe I didn't want to be found." Hermione huffed, her back still to Ron.
"Come off it Hermione. If you weren't so bloody stubborn all the time, we could have had a nice evening…. instead, Harry and I walked the castle about fifty times trying to figure out where you'd gone and worrying you had gotten into some kind of trouble!"
This statement made Hermione laugh out loud, "Because I would definitely be the one to go looking for trouble. And really…I'M the stubborn one? Open your eyes Ron. You're the one who keeps making my helping Viktor with his studies into more than it is, and YOU'RE the one who has a problem with it and constantly picks a fight with me instead of just letting it be!" She had wheeled around to face him now, making no attempt to hold back her rage with his behavior. Ron stood frozen in his place listening to Hermione lay into him as she stepped closer and closer the more angry she got. "And for your information…..I did have a nice evening. Goodnight Ron." She concluded calmly and headed off to the girls dormitory without another word.
When she reached the comfort of her four-poster at last, her annoyance with Ron was still lingering but she was pleased with the way she stood up for herself. She was even more amused by the fact that Ron had taken a sudden interest in her whereabouts and that he had waited up for her to confront her about it.
It was now nearing half past ten and most of the girls had drawn their tapestries and gone off to bed. Hermione pulled her curtains shut, allowing her to be alone with her thoughts once more. She wrestled the zipper free from its snag and removed her vest before pulling her heavy sweater over her head. She paused; holding the sweater in her grasp, Hermione lifted it to her nose and inhaled deeply. She closed her eyes and let the cool smell left behind from Malfoy's jacket wash over her.
Hermione smiled remembering the exhilarating feeling of running from Filch, the serenity of the riverside and the alluring pull of her curiosity that led her to spend the whole night with Draco Malfoy. She recalled their plans to meet up after class tomorrow and crawled into bed eager to see what was in store for her, falling quickly asleep without another thought of her two altercations with Ron.
When Hermione awoke the next morning, she deliberately hung around the girl's dormitory working on tidbits of homework to take up the time. She had no desire whatsoever to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast and sit through another interrogation from Harry and Ron. Hermione didn't know if it was because she had slept so soundly the night before, or if it was because today was Friday but she felt unusually chipper and didn't want to take any chances on spoiling her good mood.
At half passed nine, Hermione gathered her study materials in her bag and set off in the direction of potions class. She must have walked faster than usual because she arrived much earlier than customary. Today's class was a double session between fourth year Gryffindor and Slytherin house. There were only a few students that had arrived before her, mostly from Slytherin but a few from Gryffindor as well.
Hermione took her usual seat in the third row of the class and began scanning through her notes from the last lecture. She didn't get much more than a quarter of the way though when….
"Draco!...Draco, over here! I saved you a seat."
Hermione lifted her gaze to the left-hand side of the room where she saw none other than Pansy Parkinson waving Malfoy over to the spot right beside her. She looked way too eager to direct him, being as there were well over half the seats still open.
Malfoy drifted past Hermione coolly and slid in next to Pansy without uttering a word. Of course he was accompanied by the always faithful Crabbe and Goyle who loudly lumbered into the room and sat right behind Malfoy.
Hermione sighed to herself thinking "Typical." and tried desperately to concentrate again on her notes but she found herself oddly distracted by watching Malfoy settle in. She noted how elegant and smooth all of his movements seemed to be and how he arranged his books and parchment just so on the table-top. She was so distracted in fact that she scarcely noticed Harry and Ron shuffle into the room.
"Probably had to get to potions extra early just to make us look bad…." Ron muttered to Harry before taking the spot open on Hermione's left.
"Oh, good morning boys." She said, pulling her attention away from Malfoy who was now being engaged in conversation by Pansy.
"'Good morning', she says… like there's nothing wrong." Scoffed Ron.
"What is your problem this time?!" Hermione demanded crossly.
"It's too early in the morning for this, children..."Harry growled irritably on Hermione's right.
Just as Ron was about to open his mouth to protest, Professor Snape burst in with his usual impatience, commanding the attention of the room. There was no time for bickering once the lecture began. Hermione scribbled fresh notes frantically while Harry wrote down one paragraph to Hermione's five and Ron sat slumped in his chair and attempted not to fall asleep.
Midway through the course, Snape allowed the class to break up into groups to discuss potential ways to correct a potion that had been tainted by overusing some of the ingredients.
"What do you think Ron?" Hermione asked him after rambling on for quite some time about how she thought the best possible option was to add equal amounts of each ingredient to counteract it.
"I don't even know what we're talking about anymore…." He replied dejectedly, "Say 'Mione…. Mind if I peek at your notes?"
Hermione loved it when Ron called her that. She also loved that whenever he was really desperate he would put on his nicest pleading voice and inch closer to her. For a moment, she thought about snatching her paper away and berating him for not paying attention but the second she caught the scent of his skin only inches from hers, she instantly lost her train of thought.
"If it'll help." She answered, sliding the thick stack of notes over and taking a moment to enjoy the look on his face when she agreed. Ron's face instantly lit up as he eagerly looked over Hermione's handiwork.
"Thanks 'Mione!" Ron said as he lifted his gorgeous blue eyes to look directly at her and rested his hand gently on top of her own.
What was she mad at him for again?
When class had finally concluded, the room cleared out in a hurry and Harry was busy seething about how Snape purposely made his lectures more confusing when he was around. Hermione ignored his usual angst and collected her things.
"Wish we didn't have stupid divination next period." Ron skulked. "How'd you get so lucky that you only have the one class today Hermione?"
"Probably has something to do with the fact that she's got about a million others to worry about during the week." Harry interjected.
The waters seemed to have settled between them again, for now. The three meandered into the Great Hall for a bit of lunch and were soon talking amongst themselves like usual. Hermione was grateful that they weren't questioning her endlessly about Krum for a change and that Ron had calmed down significantly since last night.
She was having a hard time focusing on making much conversation with them though as her eyes kept darting to the clock to check the time every thirty seconds. Hermione was attempting to piece together some excuse to get away so she could meet Malfoy but was coming up with nothing believable seeing as they all knew she didn't have any other courses to get to that afternoon. Harry and Ron's divination class didn't start for another forty minutes and Hermione was certainly not going to be that late to their study session.
Harry suddenly changed the topic of discussion to the looming second task, "So Hermione, I was thinking about the second clue again and I wanted to ask you if you knew anything about….."
"Sorry Harry," She blurted out suddenly, "I've only just remembered that I told Ginny I'd help her with her astronomy homework. I had better go and find her. See you later then."
Hermione quickly swept up her bag and walked out of the hall before Harry could give a response. It wasn't her best excuse, but when had she ever been good at lying? When she was just outside the doors she paused to steal a quick look back at her two friends who were sitting at the table looking very confused by her sudden departure. She didn't have long to feel guilty about her little fib because as soon as she turned forward again she saw Malfoy leaned casually against the grand staircase waiting for her.
"Sorry I'm late." She breathed walking over.
Malfoy smiled maliciously, "It's okay, I'm sure even Potter and Weasley have enough brains to survive an afternoon without you." Hermione could have done without his sass but decided not to take issue with it. "Come on, I'll show you my favorite place to study."
"Aren't we going to the library?" Hermione asked.
"I hate the library." Malfoy answered as he began up the stairs. "I only go there when I absolutely need to."
Hermione was perplexed by how anyone could dislike the library but followed after him without question. She felt like they were starting to attract stares from nearby students who were no doubt wondering why she and Malfoy were within a ten foot radius of one another and silently hoped to herself that Harry and Ron hadn't seen.
Malfoy led Hermione to the sixth floor near the entrance to the north tower. It was a room she had never seen before and appeared to have been unused for some time now. The room was filled with buckets of natural light pouring in from the massive windows and contained a large amount of miscellaneous clutter. There was only one space in the center of the room that was perfectly clear from debris except for a large oak table and a long wooden bench pulled alongside it.
"And you come here why?" Hermione asked.
"Because it's quiet and no one would think of coming here. Besides, you can't beat that view."
He was right; the oversized windows provided the perfect view of the vast countryside sprawling endlessly out ahead.
"Do you always make it a priority to be constantly alone?"
"Are we going to study potions or play twenty questions?" Malfoy smiled as he arranged his textbooks on the large table.
Hermione sighed heavily being reminded of all the work she still had to do. "My head might explode from potions overload."
Malfoy chuckled, "Tell you what Granger, for every page of writing you get done today you can ask me one burning question since you seem to have so many of them."
She felt her face go a bit pink, her obsession with learning as much as possible tended to spill over to everyday conversation from time to time and she often forgot that it made people uncomfortable. "Deal." She said taking a seat on the bench and pulling out the start of her draft.
It didn't take long for Hermione to completely re-work her entire first page. After running her eyes over Malfoy's paper she felt like she comprehended a lot more than she initially thought.
"Well….?" Malfoy asked as Hermione finished scribbling the first paragraph of her second page.
"Well, what?"
"Didn't you have an arsenal of burning questions to ask me?"
She smiled, "I had no idea you were so good at this stuff! Reading over your notes makes it sound so simple!"
"It helps having Snape as the head of your house; you get pretty used to filtering out the excess nonsense he adds to everything." Malfoy replied.
"I'm sure you're just being modest. This was so helpful, I have so many ideas I need to get down, I'm afraid I'll forget them if I stop now."
"Then by all means, proceed." Malfoy said, turning his attention back to his own assignment.
Hermione was very impressed at his focus; it was a pleasant change from the way she was used to studying. Most of the time people were either begging for her help or busy interrupting her with talk of unrelated things.
Once she had finished the second page in the five page assignment, Malfoy helped Hermione address some of the critical thinking topics by showing her some helpful sections scattered throughout the textbook. Before she knew it, she had over six pages of material was feeling much more at ease about the content of the essay. Now she could do what she did best which was condensing it down into precisely what she wanted to say.
Malfoy had moved on to practicing his charms incantations over by one of the large windows and was now busy pouring over his book while sprawled across the floor.
"Right, I think I've got a good handle on it all now." Hermione said, settling down on the floor next to him looking very pleased.
Malfoy looked up at her and gently closed the cover of his textbook, "See, potions isn't that difficult."
Hermione noticed him rubbing his eyes vigorously, "Are you alright, you look a bit peeky?"
"It's just a headache." He replied, sitting upright. "Are you hungry?"
Hermione's stomach gave a low murmur at the thought of food, "Well, now that you mention it I'm starved! We must have been working for hours!"
Malfoy nodded in agreement and silently got to his feet. He disappeared behind one of the large stacks of clutter momentarily and returned carrying a small bag. He then took his seat on Hermione's right and opened the parcel to reveal an array of snacks. "Thought it might be a good idea to have a little something to eat."
"How very thoughtful." Hermione commented as Malfoy handed her a helping of cheese and crackers. "Do I get to ask my questions now?" She asked while gratefully munching on a cracker.
Malfoy smiled widely as he grabbed a fistful of grapes and leaned against the stone wall. "I guess I had better keep up my end of the bargain, eh?"
Suddenly she was having a hard time remembering any of the questions she had wanted to ask earlier, "Erm—what's your favorite color?"
"Seriously Granger? Out of all the things you could ask, are really going to waste a question on asking my favorite color?"
"Well, I thought I'd start you off with an easy one." She countered smugly.
Malfoy's sideways smile returned upon hearing this statement revealing his perfectly white set of teeth. "It's green. Now can we move on? That's one question Granger, you've got five more." He answered, half laughing.
"What do you like to do in your free time-other than lurk about the castle with Crabbe and Goyle?"
"Read… Four more."
Hermione was surprised to hear that Malfoy enjoyed reading; she didn't think he looked the type. She wanted to ask all sorts of follow up questions like what sort of books he liked to read, who his favorite author was and if he knew anything about a book she had recently heard of and was dying to read but instead she went with…..
"What is one weird thing about you?"
Malfoy took a few seconds to think, "I never learned how to read music but I can play the piano very well."
"Really?" Hermione asked.
"Yes; and that counts as a question. Two left. Come on, you must want to ask something more interesting?" Malfoy urged.
Hermione thought for a moment to herself. She had loads of questions she wanted answers to but none of them were appropriate for getting to know someone better. There were dozens of rumors that Harry had speculated over the years that she desperately wanted to find out if there was any truth to them, but she didn't want to bring up Harry or Ron since she felt like that was all they ever seemed to talk about. "There is one thing I'm very curious about…." She said slowly and cautiously.
"Which is?"
Hermione reached over and gently grabbed hold of Malfoy's left arm, "Where in the world did you get this ghastly scar?" She asked as she traced her fingers over the long scar that curved around nearly the entirety of his forearm.
Malfoy's face fell when he looked down at it and remained quiet for a long while. Hermione instantly regretted asking since it clearly made him uncomfortable but she had been wondering about it for some time now.
After several moments had passed, Malfoy finally replied, "That's from last year when Hagrid's bloody chicken attacked me during class."
Hermione furrowed her brow in thought thinking that this had to have been the result of a much deeper laceration, "No….that was your right arm. I remember because I had to write all your notes for you since you couldn't take down your own."
Malfoy locked eyes with Hermione and drew in a deep breath after another stretch of silence, "My father is a difficult person to please at times." He said before he withdrew his arm and quickly unrolled his sleeves to cover it.
Hermione understood fully and felt horrible for bringing up such a difficult topic, "I'm sorry, I had no idea." She breathed.
His face was still rather grave looking; he was clearly troubled by the memory of whatever had happened. "It's okay. Most people don't tend to notice it so I forget that it's there."
She didn't want to press him about it further but her mind was now busy thinking up all the possible reasons that Lucius Malfoy had concocted for laying hands on his own son, "Will you tell me what happened?"
Malfoy gave a weak smile, "Maybe someday I'll tell you about it Granger, and I won't count that as your last question but for now…you have one more thing to ask me."