Chapter Fifteen

Be A Gryffindor

In the morning before the sun had even rose Harry went to Theo's room to use his Owl. He said that he had to send a message to the Ministry informing them that he wouldn't be in. Not that anyone would have cared. He was Harry Potter, he never had to work a day in his life if he didn't want to. It was one of those times that she felt a swell of pride of him. He grew up well.

After brushing her teeth with her finger and an old tube of toothpaste she came out to see Ron was perched on the end of his bed fiddling with the mirror. Hermione sat next to him running her tongue over her teeth, feeling the grittiness.

"What is with this damn thing?" He showed her the mirror flipping it over carelessly. "You know it doesn't even show a reflection? It's useless."

"It's a spell, Ron, what do you expect?"

"Why couldn't he tell us what it does?"

"In case it fell into the wrong hands." Eyes itching, brain a slushy mess, she could answer his annoyed questions without thought. It wasn't like she hadn't slept, she slept very well, but when Harry had moved off the bed she woke as if she'd never been asleep. It was as if her mind had been working over what Nott said last night while her conscious rested and despite that she hadn't found out a solution or how she truly felt about it. She knew she was flattered, she knew that she was attracted to him. But hadn't she done enough harm?

"Can't believe Goyle is behind this. He was a troll."

She held out her hand. "Let me see it."

Once he gave it to her she began prodding it with her wand. She did several spells, but like the infuriating book it did nothing. She returned it to him with plummeting hopes.

Ron was right. Malfoy could have told them, have done something other than let his old lackey murder him in his own home... It was odd that she was able to think so bluntly about his death, but she couldn't bring herself to think his first name.

"Hermione," he gasped. "Something's happening!"

Quickly they both hovered over the object, it shaking in Ron's hands. She held his to steady it. Like breath to glass, a thick fog covered it.

"It responds to touch," she said excitedly, her mind clearing instantly at the new development, and the elation that they were doing what Malfoy meant for them to.

The center was wiped away in a neat circle by an unseen hand, and instead of seeing a reflection it revealed a scene. And not any scene at that...

"No," she exhaled.

In the mirror was her, only younger with her school robes on. Draco had her against the wall by her hips, his lips on hers. He positioned himself between her legs, and she wrapped one around his. They intertwined, one person, as he lifted her up pulling her neckline down, latching onto her collarbone. There was no sound, but she could hear the moans and declarations of lust.

She didn't know how long it lasted, the make-out session from years ago. It felt like many sunlit days, but when it did end, the fog overpowering the scene and disappearing she wanted it back. Not only to put off the retribution she was about to receive, but because it was a scene she kept close to her. She revisited that memory many times, from that night in their fifth year and forward she dreamt of how he felt pressed against her, his tongue caressing over hers. The memory was a ghost, barely felt and cold. She felt hot just watching it, the memory clearer than ever.

Slowly, Ron peered up, his cobalt blue eyes shining into hers. "It's a lie, this thing is faulty. You didn't... Tell me you didn't do that, Hermione."

"I'm sorry," she croaked.

"No. It's wrong."

"It was years ago. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but it did happen."

"No - "

"Ron -"

He threw the mirror into the corner behind him. She didn't see whether or not it broke, there was a roaring in her ears. "You're a LIAR! A TRAITOR!"

She backed away, she kept walking until she felt her back hit the opposing wall. She nodded. "Yes."

"You filthy little liar! All these years! Malfoy?! How could you not tell us! How could you do that! MALFOY?!"

The door burst open, Harry and Nott pushing and shoving to get inside, their wands raised. Harry lowered his seeing that it was only Ron that was making the racket, but Nott kept his pointed at him.

"So you finally know the truth, eh, Weasley?"

"What truth," Harry asked observing Ron's scarlet face and Hermione's still form.

Ron ignored him. "How long, you whore?!"

"RON," Harry exclaimed aghast.

Purple fire shot out of Nott's wand his face a dangerous glaze, but Ron ducking and sending his own spell at him to which Nott casted aside easily. Ron didn't attempt to send another hex, he spun on her again.

"How long?!"

"Since our fourth year," she responded, too stunned to care, too tired and guilty to truly fight. "We stopped seeing each other in our sixth."

Harry rose his brows. "Who?"

Nott grinned from ear to ear. "Draco." Everyone turned to him as he took center stage, he appeared uncomfortable, his shoulders hunched over, but he spoke with pleasure. "Hermione and Draco had an affair for years."

"That's a lie," Harry spat. "Hermione would never -"

"I did," she screamed, pushing off from the wall to stand next to Nott, all eyes turning on her. "I did! We met secretly. Harry, I overrode the Marauders Map, I marred your property, I betrayed you and Ron, everyone. My whole House! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Ron shook his head as he stormed out, his feet angry beats on the creaking floor, slamming the door behind him. Chunks of plaster and dust fell from the ceiling, coating their hair and shoulders in white. However, no one moved, the sun rising to shine in the room, bringing life.

"Who are you?"

"I - I'm your friend. Harry, pl-please. I'm Hermione."

Nott mumbled, "should've been in Slytherin." They ignored him for his little jab meant to calm the atmosphere. It did no good.

"I don't know you," he said scathingly.

"Harry, please -"

He waved his hand for silence as he started to walk out, but Nott lunged for the door before he got there. It was impressive for Harry had amazing reflexes, he was the youngest Seeker.

Harry jabbed his wand in his gut. "Let me pass."

Nott, being several inches taller towered over him, paying no mind that he was close to being hexed. "If you wont listen to her, listen to me, Potter. Hermione didn't go out to betray anyone. She was - is in love with Draco. He loved her too. He made a lot of mistakes, but he protected her. He enlisted me to look after her even. He did everything to keep her out of harms way while he had to do what he was born to do. You couldn't escape your fate and neither could he. They had to keep it secret, for everyone's sakes."

"Get out of my way, Nott," he repeated.

With a seconds wavering he stepped aside, Harry forcefully thrusting past him.

The truth was out. Her secrets known, and because of it, she was alone. The men that had been like her brothers for most of her life were gone. She knew it, she wouldn't be accepted, not when they learned of the real her.

"I'm alone," she murmured, barely acknowledging that she said it aloud. She fell to her knees, her head in her hands as her sobs broke out harder than ever. Could one die of tears? Could one die of heartache?

Nott strolled over kneeling in front of her, the fragrance of his soap stronger than ever, his robes pressed neatly. He had taken a shower then, she realized his hair was wet, drops running down his cheekbones. "You're never alone. You never have been and you won't ever be. Haven't I been proof of that enough?"

She chuckled in a crushed sounding way. It seemed bizarre considering that she just lost two of her best friends, but Nott's presence calmed her, his hand on her knee burning through her jeans.

"What d-do we do n-now?"

"I have a place we can go. It's safe."

"B-but Harry and Ron -"

"Left. It's us now. Come on, get up, Granger. Be a Gryffindor."

"Weasley will be fine. Promfrey can mend anything."

She folded into herself closer to the wall replaying what Harry told that day, of Ron's poisoning. On his birthday too... After their fight... She spent the whole day hoping that he knew she was there. She read somewhere that even comatose patients could feel the presence of their visitors. She hoped that was true. A book hadn't proved her wrong yet.

"Hermione, it'll be okay."

She shook her head up at Draco who bent over her. It was the dead of the night, and her worry and anxiety over Ron almost made her late to their usual meeting. She had gone down the wrong hallway twice.

"I know.... But he's so pale... Helpless..."

"Come on, get up, Hermione. Be a Gryffindor."

"Get up, Granger. Use that Gryffindor courage."

She gazed at Nott's outstretched hand, darker than Malfoy's, but as soft and kind. She took it and let him pull her to her feet.