[Draco]
A few hours later, Draco was sat in his room. He had managed to find all the pieces of work his mother had done before her absurd 'my-son-is-a-fallen-angel' stage and stored them in his room. He knew all of the other paintings were from her insanity so he had burned them. All of it, leaving a more peaceful memory with him.
He knew it was all some weird coincidence. He wasn't a fallen angel and he did suffer from serious back problems when he was younger...
Draco sighed, running his hands through his hair and stood up to button up his shirt, muttering how ridiculous this all was. He picked up the few sketch books of his mother's he had decided to take with him and walked out of the door. Looking at the large grandfather clock that loomed above him in the hallway, he saw it was 4am. He sighed and headed off to his father's study to retrieve his cloak and leave.
"He knows..." Draco heard the faint mutter of his father. He stopped outside the door and shrank back in to the shadows, holding his breath.
"No he doesn't. Everybody has scars. Just keep at the story and we won't have to deal with this complication!" Draco recognised the anger in Voldemort's tine and shrank back even further.
There was a moment's pause before he heard the Dark Lord speak again, much closer than he was before. "The Guardians only appear when one of the Children have been awoken...Draco must be around someone who's a descendant. If my chance Narcissa was right and he is a fallen, we must find out who it is. It would make everything a lot easier, as much as I enjoy manipulating the muggles," Voldemort spat the word. "By having a true child, we can have fewer failures."
Draco strained to listen as he head shuffling and the next thing he knew, his left forearm seared with pain. Without hesitation, he pressed his wand to the Mark and felt himself dissolve in to the air and reappear a few meters away from where he previously stood.
"Draco. How is your little...arrangement going?" Draco looked up to see Voldemort sitting in an armchair.
Draco curled his fists slightly. "You said get close to her. I am. I fail to see why though." Draco muttered.
Voldemort stared at Draco for a few minutes, his eyes boring in to Draco's own. Draco returned the gaze, waiting for an explanation. Voldemort broke the stare. "Go back to school. I will send for you when you are needed."
Draco turned away and grabbed his cloak before marching to the fireplace and taking some floo powder. "I shouldn't have to advise you to show next time you're called." Voldemort's hiss scratched at Draco's ears. He thew the powder in to the fireplace and said clearly Snape's office before standing in.
**
[Hermione]
I woke up from my dreamless sleep earlier than normal. I had kind of been hoping to dream about the man again but there was nothing. I looked at my watch and realised what day it was; My birthday.
I smiled slowly and hugged my knees to my chest, resting my head on them. I thought of my parents and hoped they were happy where ever they were.
I jumped out of bed and wandered out in to the cold common room. I noticed Draco's cloak was thrown over the side of the sofa and wondered if he was back. I went over to his door and knocked gently. "Draco?"
"Come in." I heard him from inside. I entered only to be taken by surprise. Draco had been on the other side of the door and had lifted me up. "Happy Birthday!" he grinned setting me back down. My breath had done as I leaned against his bare chest trying to steady myself. He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.
I felt flustered as I watched him go over to the bed to get something. It was then had I noticed his bed was covered with all sorts of books. "Late night reading?" I asked walking over to him, looking down at the pages of some of the open ones.
Draco stepped in front of me, blocking my sight. I frowned confused but he handed me a small, neatly wrapped package. "You didn't have to." I heard myself mutter.
I traced my finger of the purple tissue paper and the elegant bow. "It's not much," Draco shrugged shoving all the books off the side of the bed, hiding them from view. I made a mental note to ask him later. I opened the tissue paper carefully to reveal a smallish, black bound leather book. The leather was engraved with silver flowers, swirling down the left side of the cover.
My finger followed the delicate design slowly and flicked through the empty pages. "It's a dream diary." Draco said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I know that dreams are really the only thing that can't haunt people when they lose someone. This might help," he said smiling slightly.
I felt my heart beat loudly against my chest and blinked back the tears. "That's so sweet." I climbed on to the bed and put my arms around his neck. "Thank you." I whispered holding him tight.
I settled down next to him and leaned my head on his shoulder. "I would have been fine without a present you know," I muttered smiling slightly as I caressed the flower design. "Having you here is enough."
"I'm not a very good birthday present though," He laughed rubbing my shoulder, sending a warm, fuzzy feeling all around my body.
"You're all I want though..." I heard myself whisper before I could stop. Alright, I admit I was thinking of it and it had sounded less stupid in my head and now I was going to seem like a fool...
My mental ramblings were interrupted my a pair of soft lips kissing my own. Once again I felt my breath rush out of me and Draco pulled back. "Sorr..."He began but I pressed my body to his and kissed him back, running my hand up his neck and in to his hair, pulling him as close as possible.
I felt his hands wind around my waist and he squeezed me gently. We broke apart and he leaned his forehead against mine, looking down in to my eyes. "Draco..." I whispered, my fingers touching his bottom lip gently.
I was about to carry on but there was a bang in the common room. I reluctantly pulled out of Draco's arms and went to see what it was.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I almost jumped out of my skin from the loud outburst. Harry, Ginny and Ron were standing in the Common room shooting streamers from their wands all over me. My face lit up and I ran over to them, flinging my arms around all three of them in a giant group hug. As I let go of them, Draco came out of his room fully dressed.
"Have you seen my robe?" He asked me. I shook my head and suggested he try my room. He looked at my friends and nodded. "Morning." Before going in to my room.
"Why were you in his room?" Harry asked as he handed me a present with an eyebrow raised at me. In fact all of them were giving me this look.
"He was giving me my present." I shrugged. I opened the wrapping paper to find the most beautiful silver bracelet I had ever seen and felt my jaw drop. "Harry, this have cost you loads..." I began.
"it's from all of us, we pitched in." Ginny smiled, taking it out of the box and wrapping it around my wrist. The silver band circled my wrist before overlapping when they met at each end in a swirling pattern with diamonds in the swirl.
I beamed and pulled them in to another hug. "It's amazing, I love it!"
"What did he get you?" Ron asked nodding his head towards the door.
"Draco got me a dream diary. It can help because of the whole...situation." I struggled to find a word. "I'm not asking you to become best buddies with each other, just be civil? Please?" I asked hoping they would be mature about it.
I saw Ron roll his eyes which annoyed me but at least Ginny and Harry hid their disapproval. "We'll try, but for you, not him." Ginny said giving me another hug. "We're going to head off to breakfast. It's early and Ron still hasn't been fed, see you down there?"
"Yeah," I smiled giving her and Harry a hug. "Thank you for the bracelet again." I waved as they left. I held my wrist out in front of me as I turned back to head to my room. Draco was standing in the doorway leaning against the frame with his hands in his pockets.
"I for one would love to see Weasley try and be civil with me," He sighed putting his arms around me and pulling me close.
"Well seeing as you and I maybe more than friends, I want them to see the side of you that I see," I said leaning in to him.
"But what if that side is just for you?" I felt his chin lean on my head and he shook slightly as he laughed. I looked up at him and felt a smile creep on to my lips, going in to my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
"Then I am one lucky girl." I smiled before going to get dressed.
**
Last lesson had just finished and Harry, Ginny and I were walking down to Hogsmade, arm in arm. Lavender had practically pounced on Ron when he said he was going to the Three Broomsticks with us so he stayed behind.
We stayed for a few hours before coming back up to school just in time before dinner ended. Ron was nowhere to be seen which didn't surprise me really.
"Is it your turn for rounds tonight?" I asked Ginny as we left the Great hall.
"Uh, yeah. I would ask to swap as it's your birthday," I was about to comment but Ginny interrupted. "I know! You wouldn't allow it anyway, you have to be good," She smirked and gave me a smile before going off to start.
Harry and I headed up the stairs together. As we came to my floor, he stood there with his hands in his pockets. "So I take it you're not coming over then?" He asked.
"No, I'm sorry. I have homework and I need to write to my Uncle." I said sadly. It wasn't a lie, I did have homework and I did need to write to Dace, I just also wanted to see Draco but I didn't think Harry would be too pleased if I mentioned it.
He smiled and gave me a hug. "Thank you so much for a great day. I love the bracelet!" I beamed and looked at it over Harry's shoulder.
"I'm glad you like it. Happy birthday!" he gave me one last squeeze before continuing up the stairs and I made my way down the few corridors and in to my common room.
The fore was on and the main oil lamps were out, making the room cosy and dim. Draco came out of his room. "I thought I heard you." From behind his back, he pulled out a muffin with one candle lit. "Happy birthday." His smile was so breath-takingly beautiful. "I know, I'm a dork."
"You are." I smiled but closed my eyes and made a wish anyway. Before I could open them, I felt Draco's lips brush mine gently. I leaned forward and kissed him properly. "Thanks," I whispered. I leaned up and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Just out of interest, what time were you actually born?" He asked letting me go and I checked my watch.
"In about half an hour actually," I laughed before rubbing my eyes feeling a headache come on. Such a long day. "Right, I'm going to take a bath then go to bed," I said squeezing his hand.
Once I was in the bathroom, I turned on the taps, letting the warm steam surround me and stepped in to the hot water, hoping it would sooth my head. I leaned back and rested my eyes, feeling the coldness of my skin from the cool metal of the bracelet and my necklace. I looked down at it trying to remember the day my parents had given it to me but the harder I tried, the more I couldn't picture it. The only image that came to mind was a dark scene with a young couple, the woman looked lightly pregnant. They were walking through a small village when they came across a cloaked figure. A pale hand came from the folds of the cloak and pointed a wand at the woman, cursing her with a bright red light. As she fell, the cloaked figure disappeared and she was left, screaming in pain, the partner unable to help, clutching a black stone in his hand that was left in place of the mysterious figure.
My eyes snapped open in shock and confusion. I had seen that before, but not as detailed. My mind felt dizzy as I continued to see a very young baby in the arms of the same woman, the man leaning over them, both looking extremely tired but so happy. It faded to show the girl, with stunningly beautiful blonde hair and bright blue eyes, sitting in the back of a car, laughing. A few seconds later, there was a scream and a very loud crash. The car was burning, seconds away from exploding and she was trapped. Someone flung the upside down door open and pulled her quickly from the car as they fled away from the vehicle, her screams of protest ringing in my ears, begging for the person to go back and save her parents. As the car exploded, this scene too faded only to be replaced by the girl looking a few years older.
She looked about my age, her eyes were tired with dark circles around them and her face was emotionless. She was sat in a cellar wearing rags, curled up in a ball in the corner. Her lips were dry and bleeding, her hands were scarred and frail. When the door opened, fear was driven in to her eyes as she was taken away to a larger cellar. More screaming filled my ears but I was unable to see what was happening. When the screaming stopped, the image of the girl suddenly appeared. She was lifeless, floating in a large tank of almost opaque red liquid.
Every so often she would twitch violently, causing her stained hair to move. It was then that I noticed what was around her neck. It was the black stone I had seen her father hold. All of a sudden, her eyes opened and she slowly lifted herself out of the liquid, her hair sticking to her body, her fingers unnaturally long and sharp. She lifted her head slowly and through the gaps in her once golden hair, I could see her red eyes burning through me.
I tried to open my eyes to escape her stare, but I was transfixed, trapped.
[Draco]
Draco was sat on his bed rocking slightly. Hermione had been in the bathroom for a while now and he kind of needed to go in there. He stood up and decided to take his mind off it and undid his trousers, getting ready for bed. As he undid the buttons of his shirt he thought she might have already be out and that he just hadn't heard her.
Deciding to check anyway, he walked out to the bathroom door and knocked. "Hermione? Are you still in there?" He couldn't hear anything on the other side so he opened the door slightly and peeked in. "Hermione?"
As soon as his vision was cleared of all the steam, he saw Hermione lying in the bath, her eyes closed. He walked in slowly. "Hermione?" He said quite loudly but she didn't even stir. He poked her arm a few times, but her head just limply fell to the other side.
Draco began to panic thinking she had had one of those random attacks and wondered what to do. As Hermione slowly began to sink underwater, Draco grabbed a towel and pulled her up, keeping his eyes in the appropriate places (He seemed to be doing this a lot...), he pulled Hermione out and wrapped her up. Beginning to feel very light headed, Draco carried her quickly to her room and placed her on the bed but he was then caught by a sudden wave of dizziness and fell to his knees, feeling very overwhelmed and fainted...