Taking a deep breath, Draco knocked twice on Hemione's bedroom door, his eyes shutting momentarily as he prayed to a God he knew nothing about that everything was going to be okay.
"Go away." Hermione called from inside the room, a sniff following.
Holding onto his breath, the man ignored her words and opened the door, "Can I come in?"
"No matter what I say, you're going to come in anyway."
"That's true." Draco smiled at her light tone as he took a step into the room, his eyes finding Hermione's back as she sat on the edge of her bed, her head hanging low.
"Such a Slytherin." Hermione smirked, turning her head slightly to him as she watched his feet come closer to her.
"It's in the blood." He gave out a shaky laugh, but nothing was funny as the tension surrounded the room, both adults holding their tongue as the situation moulded itself around them.
Hermione swallowed, "I'm sorry."
"There's no need to be." Draco came over to the bed and knelt one knee on the soft fabric, trying to sit down without Hermione noticing.
"There is, I'm being childish." The woman moved herself to give Draco room on the bed as she turned and smiled at him sorrowfully.
"You're not," Draco smiled, his tear stained eyes meeting hers, "you're being human."
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked Draco as he sat down to breakfast the next morning.
"Nothing." Draco replied sharply, somewhat stunned as to where the question came from.
Hermione looked down at the man sceptically, "Do you want eggs?"
"No thanks, just toast." He groaned, rubbing his temple with his thumb and forefinger.
"Anything on it?"
"No." He sighed, his eyes tightly shut together as pain spread across his face.
"Everything okay?" She asked again, setting the plate of toast in front of him.
"Massive headache," He answered through gritted teeth, "nothing new."
"Have you taken something for it?" She asked, concerned.
"It'll take a while to kick in." He forced a smile on his face and looked up at the woman, attempting to reassure her.
"Hang on." she cried suddenly, skipping out of the room, leaving Draco to have flashbacks of the night before.
"What's happening?" Draco asked, baffled as he turned around in his chair to see the woman come back into the living room, holding her wand.
Rolling her eyes, Hermione placed her wand on Draco's temple, "Eliminare."
Blinking twice, Draco moved his head back from the wand and looked up at Hermione, "That's never worked before."
"Really?" She asked, her eyebrows raised as she turned on the spot and walked back towards the counter.
"What did you do?" He asked, smirking.
"Nothing unusual." She tried to hide her pride but the smile shone through despite, leading her to keep her back from the man.
"I don't think I'll ever understand your ability."
"What do you mean?" She asked, biting her lip as the blood rushed to her cheeks.
"Well I guess, if you don't mind me saying, " Draco coughed slightly, picking up a slice of toast, "we were always pretty much the same-skill wise-at school-"
"That's true." Hermione commented, pointing her wand at the kettle and turning to face Draco, leaning against the counter as she watched the steam start to blow from the pot.
"-But you've always been more advanced, I mean, I've read and witnessed all you did to help Harry and such."
"Did you really think it was helping?" Hermione asked, bitterness replacing her embarrassment as she busied herself with making tea as the difficult subject crept up.
"I can't tell you what I thought," Draco sighed, "I can't remember."
"I'm glad it didn't matter to you much." Hermione said sarcastically through a sour smile.
"I didn't mean it like that," He said defensively, "Just forget it."
Taking a breath in, Hermione turned back around, "Sorry, I don't mean to be horrid."
"It's okay, I can't expect you to just forget my past."
"Thankyou though."
"For what?"
"The praise," Hermione smiled, passing the man his mug of hot tea, "It's not often I hear those words anymore."
"The rumour has always been that you're the brightest witch of your age, and that still stands to today." He looked up at her now blushing cheeks, smirking as he brought the cup to his mouth.
"Maybe." She smiled, turning away from the man as electricity soared through her.
"Definitely." He smiled, watching the back of head, knowing she was smiling behind all those curls.
"I'm in work tomorrow." Hermione sighed as she placed her own plate and finally sat down.
"I'm really not looking forward to tomor-" Draco stopped himself just in time from revealing information he wasn't keen to share, hiding his slip by taking a large gulp of his tea.
"Why, what?" Hermione asked sceptically, watching the man as he recovered himself.
"Nothing, nothing." He laughed, shaking his head and picking up another piece of toast.
"Are you sure it's nothing on your mind? You've been acting glazed out for the past couple of days." Hermione asked again, unable to contain the nagging question any longer.
"What? Oh, yeah," Draco started, hesitating on whether or not he wanted to tell Granger, "it's just I start chemo tomorrow." He put down his toast before it even reached his mouth, suddenly losing his appetite.
Hermione lowered her head with a frown, she hadn't told Draco that she'd read his letter and then sealed it again before he had picked it up the day before, and he hadn't seemed to notice that she had.
"When did they tell you?" She asked, trying to disguise herself.
"I only opened the letter this morning; the one that came yesterday."
"Ah." Hermione nodded, scooping up her scrambled egg, unable to look Draco in the eye.
"I was going to ask if you'd come with me but…" The man coughed again, looking down at his plate.
"No," Hermione's head shot up, "No, yeah, I'll get another day off work-I'm owed so much, it'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Draco looked up, "I don't want to put you in any trouble, I'm just kind of…"
"Scared?" Hermione finished for him, placing her hand over his on top of the table as he nodded.
"What time tomorrow?" She asked after giving him a moment of innocence, an idea suddenly hitting her.
"Early, I think it was around 9." He sighed inwardly, looking up at her once more.
"We better get a move on then." Hermione stated seriously, taking Draco's unfinished plate away and standing up.
"Why? It's not until tomorrow." Draco watched, confused, as she tidied away their barely touched breakfast.
"I know, but we need to get to the library before then."
"It doesn't close until late." Draco reminded her, not really wanting to go out before he was fully awake.
"Yes, I know, but we need to turn it upside down to try and find the missing information, before tomorrow." Hermione stated clearly, sweeping Draco's tea off him before he had time to complain.
"Do you think we'll really be able to find it?"
"Nobody believed Voldemort could be stopped." Hermione reminded him with a smirk.
The two arrived at Diagon Alley precisely an hour later; Draco had finally got around to getting himself dressed, but was still very much sceptical. It wasn't even that he didn't believe they were going to be able to find anything, he just wasn't sure if he believed he actually wanted to find anything.
Leading the way, with purpose and hope in her stride, Hermione walked slightly in front of Draco down the familiar route to the side alley which led straight to the old building's wonky entrance.
"Hello again, Miss Granger," Michael, the librarian smiled up at her from his desk, pausing his stamp work to watch her unusual friend follow in behind her, "Mr Malfoy. I haven't seen you in here since you were a little boy." He smiled stiffly, somewhat standing up in his chair as he bowed his head a little, greeting the son of one of his most influential investors.
"Have you managed to find anything?" Hermione asked hopefully, once the man was sat back down, his eyes unwavering off the known ex-Death Eater.
"I'm afraid not." The man answered, his eyes downcast, although Hermione had little faith that he had actually tried to look.
"Thanks anyway," She smiled sweetly at him, before turning to look at Draco grimly, "Come on." She beckoned with a nod of her head in the direction of the medical section before marching her way over, but Draco's eyes were fixed on the wall at the children's corner, were an oversized Harry Potter was smiling down the camera, showing off a book with his name on the front cover, as well as Hermione Granger's.
Without a word, Draco moved closer to the poster to see the two, previously blurry, figures come into focus as he realised the faces of Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, hand in hand showing off two other of the thick books.
"What's this?" Draco finally spoke aloud, his voice cracking as he stared, transfixed at Hermione's beaming smile, the picture moving to show her name in bold letters spread across the page.
"Huh?" Hermione questioned spinning around, realising Draco wasn't following her.
"This." Draco nodded at the poster, watching the 2D Hermione's smile grow brighter as the flash of a camera swept across her face for a split second, illuminating her cheekbones.
"Oh, just a promotional poster." Hermione said, none pulsed as she tried to forget about niggling fire that had just started in her stomach, sending her heart racing.
"For what?" Draco asked innocently, but he could see the books in their hands,
"Oh, nothing." She lied, biting her lip as she felt the heat rush to her face.
"Doesn't look like nothing to me," He stated, a hint of awe in his voice, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by H J Granger." He read aloud questioningly, turning on his heel to finally face Hermione.
"I might have written a book." She said shyly, biting her lip harder as she started to feel like a little girl again.
"Or three." Draco smirked, turning back to the poster to glance over at the three books in each of their hands.
"Or seven." Hermione tried to keep the pride from her voice as she watched Draco's face light up in amusement.
"That's incredible." He told her, his face beaming.
Hermione laughed slightly, "It wasn't anything really."
Suddenly spotting the very books on the shelf right in front of him, Draco walked over and picked up the thickest one, turning it over in his hands as he read the title, "This wasn't anything really." He stated his eyes wide as he looked at her with admiration.
"Well, it's not worth reading; they're just children's books." Hermione declared, walking quickly over to the man as he went to open the book at random.
"No, no, I want to read what the woman I love has wrote about me," He grinned, his eyes flickering to hers as he chose a random page, "I best be in it anyway." He smirked, scrolling his eyes down the page.
"Oh, you really don't want to read it." She laughed, trying to close the heavy book in his hands.
"Why wouldn't I?" The man challenged, trying to find his name on a page.
"Come on, we have work to do." Hermione groaned, scared of what Draco may read about himself.
"Aha! Here I am," He announced, holding the book further to his face and forcing Hermione to let go and shout her protests to herself. "…realised what Malfoy was talking about…" Draco skimmed further down the page as Hermione's heart plummeted further into her stomach, "'…you like the Weasley's don't you Potter?,'" Draco coughed slightly, making his voice slightly softer as he read on "'said Malfoy, sneerin-' I don't sneer!" He insisted, turned to Hermione with his mouth slightly agape in wonder, "Do I?"
"A little." Hermione grinned apologetically, her cheeks still red.
Draco shook his head in mock disbelief and carried on, "'Said Malfoy, sneering," He shook his head again slightly, "'Spend the holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the st…" Draco trailed off, realising what he was saying, he brought the book closer to his face, "'…I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles, even the Weasley's hovel smells okay…" Trailing off again, Draco turned a chunk of pages in his hand, searching more to the back of the book to find more information about himself from Hermione's perspective,
"Firstly, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who had clearly been waiting…for the opportunity to strike without teacher witness…ambushed Harry halfway down…train…made his way back from the toilet…" Draco read aloud dribs and drabs as his eyes quickly scanned the page. Without looking at Hermione or speaking another word, the man shut the book and slid it back onto the shelf and took out another.
"Please, we need to get on." Hermione's plead fell on deaf ears as Draco opened the book at random once more, skimming through the pages to see his name.
"Without warning, Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry…paralysed…he stamped, hard, on Harry's face," Draco paused to open his mouth wide in shock, trying to remember when he had done such a thing, "'Harry felt his nose…Malfoy dragged the cloak…threw it over him…'don't reckon they'll find you till the train's back in London'," Draco read down the rest of the page silently, his mouth tightly closed and his eyebrows knitted.
Draco put down the book slightly, looking down at Hermione, who couldn't quite meet his eyes, "I wasn't that bad was I?"
"No," Hermione shook her head sorrowfully, "There are some things in there that are truthful, but much is exaggerated."
"How much?" He stared at her intently, his own cheeks going red.
Hermione didn't answer, looking down instead at her feet as she continued to chew on her lip.
"Hermione," He stated forcefully, making her look up at him, his cold eyes meeting hers, "How much is actually exaggerated?"
"Not much." She answered after a moment, her voice quiet as panic swept through her.
Dropping the book to his side with a sigh, Draco walked towards her, his eyes downcast as he suddenly put his arms around her, his chin resting on her shoulder in an embrace, "I'm sorry."
"What for?" She asked, her voice losing itself as she tried to see why he was sorry for the words she had painted on him.
"For being the antagonist." He squeezed her tight before letting go of her and standing up straight again.
"Oh Draco," Hermione soothed sympathetically, "you weren't the antagonist-maybe someone who got in the way to block the path of the hero-but it's all over now."
Hermione reached out and took the book from Malfoy, her heart rate slowly starting to steady as she placed the hardback into its place on the shelf.
"The worst part is, I can't even remember." Draco looked down at his feet, watching as Hermione's hand touched his own as she interlocked his fingers into hers with ease.
"It's all over now." She squoze his hand slightly, looking up at his tired face as Draco forced his feet to follow her away with a sigh.
"Look at that, completely gone!" Hermione exclaimed as she waved the thumb marked page 132 in front of Draco's face, bending over him to reach the book from over his shoulder.
"Hang on," Draco laughed, trying to grab the moving page from Hermione's fingertips, "Alchemists have found one element that has been known to work," He read aloud, letting the excitement build inside of him as he read faster, "While difficult to find the…" Hermione turned the page for him, an exasperated expression set on her face as she pointed to the page number on the opposite page.
"Find the what?" Draco almost shouted, his voice high.
"Excatly! I don't know!" Hermione rubbed her hands over her face before slumping into the chair next to the man.
"Have you looked for the ripped out page? Is there another book?" Draco asked hurriedly, his eyes still looking at the remains of the sentence.
"What do you think I've been doing every day?" Hermione replied shortly, eyebrows raised as she threw her head back slightly, suppressing a groan.
"I can't believe that we can be so close, and yet so far."
"I can't believe someone would ever rip out a book."
"It has to be here somewhere." Draco reassured himself, turning around in his chair to scan the full shelves all around him.
"I've looked in all the books, there's no loose pages in any of them." She sighed, closing the dreaded book that sat in front of them like a grey cloud.
"Have you asked Michael who last took this book out?" He asked, tracing his fingers softly over the title of his illness that screamed up at him from the table.
"You can't take these books out, they have to stay in the library," Hermione pushed her hair from her face, "I've asked, but he has no idea." She sighed, pulling the book towards her and standing to replace it on the shelf.
"Are any of the others of any use though?" Draco asked hopefully, following the woman.
"Not unless you have liver cancer." She rubbed her eyes before looking up at Draco with a sorry expression.
"It'll be here." Draco nodded, taking a book off the shelf, scanning the contents page before putting it back and taking another.
"I've been trying to look for the same wizard's handwriting, but I can't find it anywhere else."
"There was two different quills on the page, one was scrawled over that sentence." Draco realised, his eyebrows tight in concentration.
"Exactly…" Hermione trailed off, walking up and down the long bookcase, checking the names on the spines as she had done the first time.
"What are you looking for?" Draco asked, following her with his eyes.
Stopping suddenly, Hermione looked up at him with a dazed expression on her face, "I have absolutely no idea."
The two searched together up and down the library, stopping only to gather their thoughts before turning once more to work, cautious of the limited time frame they had to find the missing piece to the all important puzzle. Precious minutes turned into hours, which eventually turned to the closing as the moon greeted them through the blinds of the windows.
"Have you tried to summon the missing page?" Draco asked finally without conviction, the only idea he had left.
Shaking her head, knowing better of herself, Hermione took out her wand from the pocket of her jacket,
"Accio page one-hundred and thirty-two." Hermione held up her wand, pointed towards the shelves as the two of them held their breath.
They were greeted with only a blast of fresh air as the library door opened and closed with a groan as the last party left the library, and they were left alone once again.