Chapter 6 – Paranoia
Upon Harry and Ginny's arrival, Draco immediately straightened up and quickly pulled his hand away from Hermione's.
"What the bloody hell is going on?" Harry raised his voice as he walked closer to Hermione's bed, Ginny trailing him, her face still full of shock.
"It's nothing Harry, really, please calm down."
"Calm down! Malfoy was just kissing you, how could I possibly calm down?"
Harry's shouting caused Madam Pomfrey to scuttle out of her office to tell them to shush. Once she had retreated once more, Harry rounded on Hermione.
"Hermione, what is this?" he pointed to Draco.
Hermione gave a heavy sigh and Draco could see the tears welling in her eyes, and she spoke with a nervous voice.
"We were trying to keep it a secret, okay? We've been dating since the beginning of term, and we didn't want to tell anybody because we knew we'd get this reaction."
"How could we not react, Hermione, he's our enemy," Harry said while glancing for backup from Ginny, who stayed silent.
"Who cares, Harry? He's my boyfriend, and if you can't handle that, then you need to figure out how true a friend you really are," Hermione's face was streaked with tears now and Draco could see the guilt within Harry's expression.
"How did this happen though?" Ginny finally spoke up.
There was a long pause whilst Draco stared at the floor, but Hermione finally admitted her induced feelings, though she thought they were genuine, and explained that they had been spending time with each other away from everyone else.
"Sorry you had to find out this way," Draco stated as he stood up, "I should go, I have class soon."
He kissed Hermione's forehead just to make his boyfriend role seem a bit more real in front of her friends before turning to leave. He was already at the door when he turned back round.
"Please don't tell Weasley."
Ginny glared at him.
"Sorry, but he'd have my head on a plate if he found out, he seems touchy about Hermione."
Saying Hermione's first name before leaving the ward made Draco feel like the act was convincing though his hands were still shaking from the moment they were interrupted. He couldn't believe he was actually careless enough to kiss Hermione in the hospital wing when her friends could have easily walked in at any moment. Draco knew that there could not and would not be any more chances of being caught. Strictly private meetings only: not in the library, not in the hospital wing, not even in their secret passage. If Hermione knew it was there, surely Harry and Ron would know about it and use it as well.
Defense against the Dark Arts proved most boring, and Draco was glad for his classes of the day to be over when the bell rang. He sat with Blaise at dinner as usual, and Theodore Nott, the new Quidditch captain sat across from them.
"Listen, I know I have to make an official list of who's on the team, but you two should know you're playing the same positions you did last year, okay?"
Draco was taken aback at the randomness of these words, but thanked him nonetheless. Their tryouts on Tuesday went as well as they could have gone, and Draco recalled spotting Hermione in the stands, watching him fly around. Draco admitted to himself that he had totally forgotten about Quidditch since the tryouts, being too distracted with the moth and Hermione, and regretfully also had Ron and Harry to fret about now as well.
Hermione arrived to dinner late, flanked by Harry and Ron, who had apparently joined his friends and sister after Draco had left. He noticed that Harry's gaze kept falling on him all throughout dinner, and Draco stared him down every time their eyes met, challenging him.
Friday turned out to be an irritating day in general: First, Divination proved itself to be a completely useless class now that it was no longer required. The heat and smell of the classroom alone made Draco swear to himself that he would talk to Professor Snape and drop it off of his schedule that very afternoon.
Already crabby from the stuffiness of the Divination tower, Draco sat through lunch with Harry Potter's eyes burning into him once again. History of Magic bored him nearly to death, and by the time it was over, all he wanted to do was have kip beneath a tree on the grounds, where the autumn breeze could cool him down.
He walked into the entrance courtyard with Blaise to find the sky heavily shielded with slate coloured clouds. It seemed that just as they stepped outside the raindrops fell slowly at first, and picked up steadily until the boys were forced to take cover in the castle, completely disappointed.
Draco's dampened mood made it hard for him concentrate on homework in the library that evening, and the fact that Hermione was also there with the other Gryffindors caused even further distraction.
He tried fervently to pummel through the week's homework, even with everything around him pulling his mind away from the textbooks. Finally the Gryffindors left, including Hermione to leave Draco as the only student left in the library. The silence was eerie, and Draco's eyes danced around the empty tables, while the whistling noise that the moth had often made at night was ringing in is ear. The library door opened with a clunk snapping the ringing from his ears. Much to his surprise, Hermione had walked back into the library, and took a seat at his otherwise unshared table; Draco set down his quill.
"I thought you'd just left?"
"I told Harry and Ron that I forgot about an essay I wanted to do in advance, and I needed to come back for a book. Harry saw straight through it seeing that you were here, but Ron shrugged it off. He still doesn't know, but Harry won't even talk to me now." Her tone was full of remorse.
"It's not your fault, they were bound to find out eventually," he said, automatically covering her hand with his, gently stroking her thumb, "and they're complete idiots if they disown you for this."
"Anyways, I came back because I found out what this is," she changed the subject while extracting the moth from her pocket with her free hand. He released her hand to allow her to grab the insect book out of her bag, and when she did, she flipped to a page with the corner folded down and started reading.
"The Abraxas Sylvata is known to have discernable white wings with brown patches," she skimmed through the obviously irrelevant details, "They are attracted to light. . . It is nocturnal and easy to find resting during the early hours of the morning. . . They become active around dusk. Funny thing is that this says they're more common is Eastern Asia than in Europe. Does any of this help at all?"
"What is it called again?" Draco was staring at the moth that was sitting in the jar upon the table.
"Abraxas Sylvata," Hermione glanced at the book once again to make sure she said it correctly.
The name was swirling through his mind. Why would an artifact found within the manor that had been occupied through generations of Malfoys contain a moth that held the same name as his grandfather? It was puzzling, but Draco couldn't think of any reason for the moth to be connected other than the shared name.
"Doesn't help us with why it burned you or why it moves," Draco sighed.
"It moves?" Hermione asked nervously, eyeing the moth still in its container.
"Yeah, at least I think it does. I'll be looking at it, and the wings will flutter. I don't know, maybe it's a trick of the light or something." He was trying not to make her worry.
"It scares me. I don't know what kind of magic it has in it, but it's not very pleasant. I think you should just get rid of it."
"No," Draco was surprised at how quickly he was against ridding himself of the moth, "I just think we should figure out what it is, I mean, what if it fell into the wrong hands? It could be dangerous."
"You may be right, Draco."
"You should go, I bet your friends are worried, especially Potter."
"Yeah," she gathered her things, quickly grabbed a book off of the shelf next to her, and kissed Draco on the cheek before exiting.
Living in secrecy was getting to Draco as the days went on, and even Blaise seemed to notice. It wasn't until they were alone on Saturday when the whole group of Slytherins were relaxing together on the grounds.
"Maybe you should just tell her; it would make things easier for everyone," Blaise whispered to Draco so nobody would overhear.
"You don't get it, Blaise, whatever she drank could possibly be illegal. If it gets out that I gave her the wrong potion her friends could warp the truth and put me in prison with my father."
"How would they find out if you only tell her? You really don't trust a girl who's 'in love' with you?" Blaise argued.
"I don't think she would tell them, but Weasel has always had the hots for her. He might force the truth out at some point if she isn't paying enough attention to him or something."
"What are you guys talking about?" Pansy interjected as she joined them on the grass.
"Nothing," Blaise said calmly. He struck up a conversation with her as Draco's mind floated away. The ringing of the moth was in his ears once again, and he found himself remembering his dream about the girl in the window and was imagining the house, seeing the details as clearly as if he were sleeping once more.
This time however, Draco's mind presented the house in a darker mood. He was angry and was looking once more at the window belonging to the girl. A light flipped on to his right and Draco twitched and looked around for a quick place to hide, but calmed down when he saw a familiar face. The girl who had rejected him had a younger sister who now poked her head out of her bedroom window.
"What are you doing here? It's nearly midnight," she whispered down to him.
Draco had to be quick on his feet. If she knew his real intentions, she would either tell her sister or maybe even worse, their father.
"I came to see you, of course," he whispered, walking closer to her window.
"Don't joke with me, I know you're practically in love with my sister," she said sadly.
Now seeing the girl's face from a closer distance, he would judge that she was about fifteen or sixteen years old.
"No, I don't. I only asked her out because I didn't think I'd have a chance with you. She was going to be my way to get closer to you," he said with a mask or sincerity.
It worked, and the girl was flattered, but she still seemed skeptical.
"Why couldn't you tell me before now? Why in the middle of the night?"
"I've been sitting out here all day trying to pluck up the courage to come to the door, but I couldn't do it. I'm sorry it's taken so long, but please go out with me," if he knew her as much as he thought, his plan would work.
Unfortunately, Draco never heard her answer; a hand whipped across his face and shook him from the false reality. Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle were all kneeling in the grass around him, and it was clearly Blaise's hand that had struck him.
"What happened?"
"We thought you'd passed out, but you were mumbling. We shook you and tried to get your attention, but you wouldn't stop," Pansy seemed scared, her voice ringing an octave higher than usual.
"I'm fine, I must've just drifted off for a few," Draco sat up trying to show that he wasn't scared, even though he knew he hadn't really fallen asleep.
The whole group seemed to glance over at him constantly throughout the rest of the day, possibly just as confused as he was about the episode. Though it freaked him out, he wanted it to happen again so he could figure out what would happen. It was like watching a play in short spread out pieces and Draco watched it through the main character's point of view.
Shortly after dinner, Draco decided to meet with Snape and drop Divination. With the moth in his pocket he felt paranoid, and was glancing over his shoulder every few minutes to check that nobody was there, but he only ever saw the deserted corridors he'd left behind him.
Snape's office seemed like a safe house and after dropping Divination from his schedule, he decided to show Snape the moth. Draco set it down on the table between the two of them, and the potions master simply stared at it, intrigued.
"Is it dangerous, Professor?" Draco finally asked, breaking the intense silence
"Where did you get this?" Snape asked slowly.
"My mum found it in the manor."
"Interesting artifact, however, you shouldn't carry it around. I suggest you keep it hidden for the time being."
"So you know what it is?"
"No idea, but I'm sure you can feel the magic that radiates from it as well as I."
"Yeah," Draco was tempted to tell Snape about his dreams, but felt as if he had already worn out his welcome, "Thank you professor."
Draco was walking deeper into the dungeons, and was in a particularly dark corridor when a shuffling noise behind him made him whip around, wand at the ready. Instead of finding nothing like he had all night someone punched his square in the jaw knocking him to the stone floor, spots of light bursting behind his eyelids.