"You better spill, Malfoy!" Hermione demanded as her wand was still pointed at his chest. She glared at him, there better be a good explanation behind this.
"I... I... I am a Malfoy, yes... but um... Damien Malfoy," he said, his voice wavering. Maybe he can get her to believe he was a cousin.
"Just a Malfoy? How dumb do you really think I am?" She was furious.
"What? You don't believe me? I never did give you my last name. And now you are getting angry because you learned it?" How about he play ignorant of the Malfoy family in England, surely she has not had enough time to read the whole Who's Who for the Australian wizarding world.
Hermione let out an angry huff. "Ok, answer me this, do you have a roommate?" This would solve it!
"A roommate? Here? No! I only have my bed room, the room you were in, and an office. Why would I have a ro-" he stopped in mid thought. She could not have seen him last night, he was careful and she was asleep!
"Then, Mr. Damien Malfoy, who was that blonde hair gentleman I saw last night peering into my room?" Shit! She did see him. He had to play this cool, but had no idea now.
"Are you sure it was not a ghost?"
"I don't know, this is your place, you should tell me if there are ghosts or not. He seemed pretty solid if you ask me." Hermione stretched her neck. She had to know the truth. This guy knows where her parents are. Just because Voldemort was gone, it does not mean that all his followers have given up on him, just like the last time he had vanished. "How about this, since you are not helping matters at all. How about I give you a little bit of veritaserum, and we will finish this once and for all."
"Seriously? I don't have any around here, there is no need to carry it around." He let out a nervous laugh, he prayed that she was bluffing.
"I do!" She reached into her purse, pulling out a vial. She held it out to him, raising her eyebrows as if to challenge him to take it. "If you have nothing to hide, you would take it. Even if you did, I would rather you still take it just so I know if I can trust you." She added a sly smile at the end.
He took the bottle from her hands, and stared at it for a while. He looked up at her, her wand still focused in on him. Even if he did not drink it and came clean, she would not believe him nor trust him. After talking to her like strangers, he did not want to lose that trust, and he liked where things were going. Sighing, he pulled the stopper out of the bottle, and drank half. He handed the bottle back to her. "Ready."
"Who is Damien Malfoy?"
"My little brother who died at age 2." Hermione felt a little hurt hearing this. Poor guy, using his brothers name.
"Who are you?" She had a feeling she knew who, but wanted to know for certain.
"Draco Malfoy." Anger flared up in her. Of all people, he would have know better than to offer his home to her.
"You do not look like him, why?" Now that she knew it was Draco, she had a feeling she knew the answer to this one, but just wanted to be certain.
"I am using a polyjuice potion."
"Who does your form belong to?"
"A guy who lives here. I offered him 200 galleons just to let me pretend to be him, and he cut his hair short just to give me enough hair to last." Hermione was disgusted. He was spying on her.
"Who made you do this?"
"Harry Potter. He said it would repay the debt I had for all of you guys saving my life. He wanted me to make sure you did everything you needed to in order to bring your family back home, or at least restore their memory. He said if you did not do it, I was to finish the task. He doesn't want your parents to not know you exist, he knows how much it kills you." Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes when he said this. She lowered her wand, she was already vulnerable. She sat down roughly on the couch, and put her head in her hands as she cried.
Draco looked over at her. He was still under the effects of veritaserum, and knew everything he would say would be nothing but the truth. He figured now would be a good time to confess other things he has had on his mind.
"Don't cry, Hermione. This past two days have been wonderful, it was great to learn who you are, other than what I thought you were in school. I am sorry if I hurt you, but I wanted to let you know that I am willing to try to be a good friend to you." He sat down next to her, putting his hand on her back, rubbing circles to try and calm her down. Feeling his touch, Hermione threw her arms around him and sobbed.
"There you go. Calm down now. I didn't mean to upset you. I promise I was going to tell you, I just was scared. I mean seriously, did you see how you greeted me at outside the bookstore?" she managed a small giggle. "I was afraid you would not wait to hear me out. That's why I was under the polyjuice. Trust me, Hermione, I jumped at the offer from Harry. When you guys saved me from myself, I saw something different in you, and I wanted every chance I could get to get closer to you. This was how I was planning to do it. Only, things did not go according to plan, and here we are."
"So it was you who I saw last night, checking in on me before you went to bed?" She whispered into his chest.
"Yes, that was me. And I um..." Draco could feel the words coming out of his mouth, and he did everything he could to stop them, but the veritaserum made it impossible, "I overheard, and kinda saw, you last night after your shower in your room... and..."
"YOU HEARD AND SAW THAT?" Hermione pushed herself away as fast as possible. She felt her cheeks burn with a blush, and looked over to see Damien's face blushing as well.
"I'm sorry! I just wanted to say good night to you, but you were a little occupied. So I took my shower and said good night later. Oh no! Owch! Look away, please!" Hermione diverted her eyes the instant his skin began to bubble and he felt the transformation into his own skin. "You can look now."
Hermione turned to look at him, tears still in her eyes. She locked eyes with the steel eyes she once knew to be cold, now they shone with a brilliance, emotion. Without thinking, her hand reached up to stroke his pale cheek, he closed his eyes to focus on her touch. She traced a line down his jaw bone to his chin, slowly moving her fingers up to brush against his lips. She pulled her hand away, hovering it close to his cheek again. Her hand moved upward to touch his light blonde hair, feeling it was silky soft. She ran her fingers through it, watching as it flowed around her fingers, looking like it never would tangle. Her hand moved to the back of his head, where she stopped. She closed her eyes to calm down, even though her crying had become silent.
Draco took this moment to reach up and wipe away her tears with his thumb. He caressed her face lightly, moving his hand to her chin. He tilted it upwards, and placed a gentle kiss upon her lips, so light she barely noticed. Her eyes fluttered opened, yet he was still close to her. He looked into her chocolate eyes, and kissed her again, this time tenderly. Next thing he knew, she returned his kiss with a tender tearstained kiss.
His mind wandered to his fantasy he had in the shower, hoping it would come true sometime soon. He gazed into her eyes, her tears finally stopped falling. He smiled gently, making sure it did not come off as his signature smirk. "Hermione," he breathed out, his lips still close to hers.
And something snapped in Hermione's mind. Her eyes grew wide, and she pushed herself away. She stood up, grabbing her bags, walking quickly to the door.
"Wait!" Draco called out, chasing after her, reaching the door before she could.
"I am supposed to be angry at you, not sitting here kissing you!" Her voice wavered, sounding hurt in his ears.
"Where will you go? You have a place here with me, and I am willing to give you your distance if you need it. Just don't leave."
Hermione was unsure if the veritaserum had worn off. It should have by now. But for some reason, she was willing to believe every word he had said. Did he charm her? She let our a defeated sigh, and looked up at him. Writ across his face was a look of fear, fear of what? That she would walk out that door and never return, or he would never see her again? Or maybe Harry threatened his life or freedom if he failed.
"Ok, I will stay. Just under one condition." Draco pulled a puzzled face, unsure of what her condition would be, because he had already offered giving her space.
"Go with me every time I try to talk to my parents. I need help, yet I am too ashamed to call up Harry to have him come over and help me." Hermione hung her head, unable to look up at him, for she was showing her weak side to him.
"Of course I will. We will go for a walk every day by their place, and when you feel brave enough, we can go talk to them. Will that work for you?"
Hermione took a deep breath. She knew this had to be done, and heard straight from Draco's lips that he was told to finish the job if she would not do it. And he was only offering his help, like she asked him. All she could do was nod, afraid to speak again due to the threat of tears.
Draco slowly approached her, putting an arm softly around her waist, and lead her back to the couch. He sat her down, and walked to the painting above the fireplace.
"I have a surprise for you." He said as he slowly took down the painting. Behind it was a large flat screen television. "Harry said this might come in handy, said you might want to have some muggle comforts. Mind showing me what it is and how it works?"
Hermione let out a giggle as he sat down next to her, handing her the remote controls for the entertainment system. She pushed the power button and everything came to life. "Sure, are you ready to see how I grew up while you were learning to fly your mini broom?"