Things seemed to go back to normal over the next few weeks. They kept their eyes on the prophet for anything suspect but it was just your average news. Draco had noticed that Pansy was sending more letters than usual; she seemed so desperate to please the others. He wasn't sure why.
He personally wished that they would just leave him out of it but he knew that it would never happen. They were waiting for him to redeem his family for betraying them at the end of the war. Some of them thought that his father has now betrayed them twice, once after the first war and then again by deserting the cause.
Needless to say that this was to be strike three if things didn't go to plan. Draco had no idea what they were capable of or who they'd come after if their plans failed.
He lay back in bed early one morning thinking about it. His mother back home would have no idea what was going on. It seemed that they had been cut off from both sides and left to see if they could survive. Money wasn't the problem, that would still be coming in by buckets, it was the fear.
The fear that was slowly building around the house like a thick murky fog, trapping them inside and preventing them from finding a new life, or forgetting about the old one.
He wondered how they were handling it, cooped up in that house with no one. He knew how hard it was for him to be alone; surely he wasn't the only one to feel pain from it?
Would his parents encourage him to do this or would they condemn it? They did walk away from it after all. He had no idea but there was no way that he was going to ask. It was too late for that now. It's not like they had changed so much that they would accept him dating a muggle-born. Especially Hermione Granger, who had always bested him in his classes and infuriated his father, then again, his father always blamed Draco for that. He refused to believe that a muggle-born witch could achieve better than a pure-blood. Draco had always hated the fact that he wasn't the top of his classes, which he was in many cases. Of course, this was only when she hadn't been in the class with him.
No, they would never accept their relationship. There weren't many pure-blood families left and Draco knew that they couldn't survive forever, at some point there would have to be some impure blood entering the bloodline.
His head spun thinking about it. Everything was so complicated when you had to keep the bloodlines clean. Sometimes he wondered if any of his ancestors were told who they should marry, just to keep the lines pure. It seemed so trivial to him now.
Right now his only worry was when the death eaters would strike next, or whether they had, but this time they'd done a better job of covering it up. Either way, he could feel that something big wouldn't be too far away.
It wouldn't be long until he had to seriously start studying for his NEWTS. Hermione had been preparing since before they started school, of course, and he knew he had the potential to come in second. He might have been able to scrape past her in potions, if it weren't for Slughorn. He loved Hermione, and Potter, they were all a part of his little 'Slug Club'.
He scoffed at the thought of it. At least NEWTS were assessed by outside parties; he might be able to beat her, for once.
He glanced over at his alarm clock to check the time, he was definitely going to have to get up soon or he would miss breakfast. He never really seemed to be hungry anymore but he knew that if he ate nothing it would come back to haunt him.
He climbed out of bed, pulling his black school pants over his boxers and running his hands through his hair. He needed a shower, but he really didn't have time. As he dressed for classes his mind wandered back to the prefect's bathroom and a smile found its way onto his lips.
If only he could go back to that moment with the things he felt now. Back to when the revolution, as Pansy calls it, was furthest from his mind and he could just be there with Hermione. He thought about asking her to meet him there today, but they were going to practice duelling this afternoon. It was her new idea that they study together so that they still saw one another but she didn't fall behind in her studies. He wondered if she really needed to study all that much but he wasn't going to argue.
She was usually right about things, besides; it was basically the only study he had been doing.
"You know, you would be much better at this if you stopped getting so worked up." Hermione said as Draco picked himself up off the floor.
She had sent him spiralling backwards, again, after he failed to block her jinx.
"I didn't want to show you up." He said, brushing off his long sleeved shirt. Today was not the day to be wearing black.
"Oh really? Confringo!" She yelled unexpectedly.
"Deprimo!" Draco countered and a great gust of wind erupted from his wand sending Hermione flying back into the wall.
He smirked, feeling good that he actually managed to catch her off guard. He walked over and offered her a hand up which she took, shaking her head.
"You know cockiness doesn't actually help either." She said with a small amused smile on her face.
He gave her an overt smirk and turned to walk back to his side of the room. It was only a moment after that he heard her say the word "flagrate" and felt a harsh sting on his side.
He leapt out of the way and saw small fiery letters appear in the air in front of him.
I told you.
"You should never turn your back on your opponent, and what did I tell you about being cocky?" She tried to hold back her smile but she was failing.
"That hurt!" He yelped, trying to see where she had scored him. There was a singed hole in his shirt and a small red mark on his skin. "And this was one of my favourite shirts!" she let out an audible laugh and this time it was him who shook his head. "I'm glad you think it's funny." He pouted.
"Oh come here!" She walked over to him and pulled at his shirt, he lifted his arms so that she could remove it and inspect the hole in the back.
"Incarcerous." He said quietly.
"Hey!" Ropes emerged from the end of Draco's wand and wrapped themselves around her.
As she tried to step back she tripped and fell back onto the floor. Draco roared with laughter. "What was that about never turning your back on an opponent Granger?" He grinned down at her.
"Will you let me out now?" She stopped struggling and looked up at him, grinning like a mad-man. "It is not that funny." She said, trying to sound serious.
He just laughed a little more. "It's pretty funny."
"Draco, you let me out now." She said.
He leant down beside her and made a face as though he was considering it. "Nah, not quite yet." He kissed her quickly and stood up to walk over to the couch.
"Draco that's not funny, let me out now." She struggled a little more, the ropes wouldn't budge. Draco just watched her with a wicked grin on his face, the hole in his favourite shirt forgotten. "Draco, don't just leave me here."
She couldn't help but smile back at him, and soon that smile turned into a laugh. "Do you want me to say that you win? Is that it?"
"It would be nice." Draco shrugged, that smirk just waiting to come out.
She rolled her eyes with a smile. "Fine, okay, you win, can you please untie me now? It's rather uncomfortable down here."
He considered it for a second and then nodded, flicking his wand and drawing the ropes back in. She sat up and shook her head at him to which he replied with a casual shrug. She laughed and got up to sit next to him, giving him a hard kiss on the mouth.
"You are wicked, did you know that?" She said, looping one arm around his shoulders and the other across his bare chest.
"You're the one who started to undress me." He grinned.
"And you're the one who tied me up." He laughed and felt it catch in his throat, he had been trying not to think of her in that way.
Her hand gently stroked his side and he suddenly became aware of how she was touching him, how close his lips were to hers and the smell of her lavender perfume that drifted up off her skin. He leant in for a kiss, still surprised at how good it makes him feel to kiss her.
"Can we please take a break now?" He asked.
She giggled a little. "Fine, but we have to practice for our exams."
He rolled his eyes and she jabbed him in the side with her finger. "Well can you at least do something to this?" He turned to show her the little burn on his back from her spell and she laughed. "It's not funny."
"Just like tying me down wasn't funny either." She said as she gathered her wand off the floor, Draco merely smiled.
It was only small, she was able to fix it. "Episkey." She murmured.
"Ouch! What are you doing? What's happening?" The spot on his back became very hot and then almost immediately cooled down like ice.
"Relax, it's working." Hermione said, leaving a kiss on his shoulder.
"I think you'll be set for your exams then." He said, turning to pull her into him.
"I'm nowhere near ready yet." She sighed.
Draco chuckled a little. "You know, the state you're in now is about where everyone else aims to be right before their exams. How much more can you cram in there?" He nuzzled into her hair and gave her a kiss on her temple.
"I still have at least three books to read yet." Draco laughed, she was more than ready but she would never believe that.
He lay back on the couch and she lay with him, resting her head on his chest. His heart pumped slowly and the rising and falling of his torso made her feel so relaxed. She closed her eyes and sighed.
He was happy to just lie with her all afternoon.
"Draco?" She said after a time of silence.
"Mmmm?" He replied drowsily.
"Why did you follow me into that bathroom after the exams?" She propped her chin up on his chest and looked at him.
He smirked a little and shrugged. "Because you wanted me."
She slapped his shoulder and he laughed. "Come on, tell me why."
"You started it."
"How did I start it? You walked in on me, while I was trying to have some time alone I might add."
"You followed me into the restricted section. I can't imagine that even you frequent those books."
"I …" She started, but she soon realised that he was right.
"So let's start again, why did you follow me?" Draco said in his smarmiest voice ever.
"That's not fair."
"Hey, I was just reciprocating your gesture. The least you could do is tell me." His arrogance was brimming and Hermione shook her head.
"You know, you're cocky as all hell when you think you're outsmarting someone."
"What do you mean 'when you think'? I am outsmarting you."
He was unbelievable, and it made Hermione smile. She had never seen him so happy and light hearted. It was wonderful. Maybe things were finally looking up. They were definitely changing.
"Fine. I just followed you because… well, I don't really know why. I just… I guess I saw you and I thought… I don't know, I wasn't thinking. I mean what would I have done? What did I think would happen? Oh God, I'm so stupid!" She buried her face in between his arm and his side out of embarrassment.
Draco just laughed at her. "Well, if you didn't then we probably wouldn't be here."
"So why did you follow me then?" She looked up a little and he could see that her cheeks were still a very bright shade of crimson.
"I don't know. I thought I could get you out of my system."
"I was… in your system?"
"Well… I suppose. I mean you're… well, you're … beautiful…" He was embarrassed to say that kind of thing to her.
When he thought back to how he was and how he wanted to treat her he felt so bad. How could he ever have wanted to use her like he had Pansy? He should have known that she was different, wasn't that the reason that he was attracted to her in the first place?
"But why did you need to get me out of your system?" She asked.
"We're leaving this year, I thought that maybe if I was with you once then I would get over that stupid need for something else before I had to face the real world. Then I could prove to myself that it wouldn't be different with you and I would feel exactly the same and I guess I'd know exactly where I was going." He looked down at her and she stared back up with a tiny smile. "I don't think that made any sense at all, did it?"
"I think it made perfect sense." She reached up and pecked his chin with her lips. "The only thing that doesn't is why you would think that I was the test. Why me?"
"You're the good one. Everyone knows that. You've got all your friends and you were… happy… for a while at least. I was trying to prove that wrong, like it was just an act that I couldn't buy into."
"Well if you thought you could accomplish that by doing what you did back in that bathroom then you were very wrong. Did you think that was the way to make you feel something?" She pushed back his hair and he closed his eyes again.
"It wasn't supposed to. You had to ruin my whole plan by being… you." His lips twitched but he wouldn't spill that smile.
"So what did you feel?" She asked, not looking up even though his eyes were closed.
He pulled his lip into his mouth and bit down a little. "I don't know." He said through his teeth.
She wouldn't push him any further; she knew he was never going to say anything that he didn't want to.
"You know we should probably get back to practicing duelling." She said.
He groaned and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tightly. "Can we please just relax for one damned day?"
She just laughed.
There was little over two months until their final exams, a few weeks later and they would be graduating. At least, that was the hope. As Draco walked back to the dungeons after studying with Hermione he wondered if he would get the chance to graduate after all of this. Maybe he could convince Pansy to give them a specific time if they were planning on coming to Hogwarts.
He had no idea why they wanted to; they never really explained that part. All they really said was that they wanted them to pay for giving them this life. He just wondered why Hogwarts was a key target. Was it because of Potter and the others or because this was where they lost him?
He didn't care anymore; he just wanted to get out of it.
He found Pansy in a corner of the common room, actually studying for her exams. He sat down opposite her and she looked up briefly.
"Are you actually studying?" He asked.
"What do you care?" She said, looking back to her parchment.
"Well what's the point if we're just going to be driven out anyway?" He said.
She looked up a little as if she was thinking. "They asked me when the best time would be… I don't think they've started their polyjuice yet, something about-"
"Boomslang skin, yeah, I remember." Draco rolled his eyes.
They had been having trouble finding the ingredient, most alchemists had been raided while Diagon Alley had been closed and the skin was proving hard to find.
"If you want to pass your exams then wait until after, don't send them any hair or anything until the day of the final exam." He said quietly with a shrug. She looked up at him as if she was confused. "Look, I would like to at least finish school before this is over. I would hate to have repeated this year for nothing, wouldn't you?" He said, one of the first truly honest things to come out of his mouth to her.
"What's the point anyway? I'll be able to do anything when we come through this." She said, writing one last sentence on her parchment before leaving her quill sitting in her ink.
"You say that but you're still here studying." He nodded a little and she sighed with her tongue in her cheek.
"I have been waiting for my N.E.W.T.S for more than seven years now. I don't see the point in them but I'll be damned if I came back for a whole year to fail in the last few months, like you said." She looked away from him with something new in her eyes.
It almost looked like regret, or like she was in over her head. He had never seen her look like that. It was gone in a matter of seconds. She sneered over at him.
"They'll come when I tell them to." He nodded with a roll of his eyes and left her to her books.
There was no way she was that confident. Draco thought that she just acted confident to hide the fact that they scared her, and she knew she had no real power with them.
"By the way…" He turned back to her as she spoke and she looked up with a smile. "You can expect a reunion with Blaise when this thing comes to a head."
Draco cocked his head to the side. "Blaise is coming back?"
"Only when he's needed." She raised her eyebrows a little and went back to reading.
Blaise, now there was a face he hadn't seen in a long time.