Chapter Four: The Slug Club

Previously:

But then something strange happened. I couldn't explain it. I don't think he could either at the time. It was quick, but sensual all the same.

One moment I was staring into his cold, dead eyes…and the next…his lips had brushed against mine, and how soft they were! How warm, how inviting. I wanted more. Dammit, I needed more! But before I could respond, he had gone.

I touched my lips, smiling; the ghost of his lips still lingering on mine…

***

I was going round the twist. I was sure of it. How the hell could I like a kiss from him?! If I could even call it a kiss…he could have tripped or something and accidentally kissed me…it happens all the time anyway. I mean…that was Ron's excuse the first time he kissed me…who says this time wasn't an accident either?

Ew, why am I even thinking about this?! I thought.

I kicked myself mentally for thinking about him. He was a murderer; the enemy. He was a selfish, cold hearted, evil, pathetic prick who deserved to have the end of his god forsaken wand shoved up his ass!

I smiled to myself at the image and shoved the stupid kiss to the back of my mind.

When I returned to the hall, I didn't look once in Tom's direction, but had my eyes 100% focused on the beaming face of Draco. It still surprised me that he had joined me on this mission. He was a Death Eater…and so was his father. In fact, the whole Malfoy family had been followers of Voldermort, so what had changed his mind so quickly?

I must interrogate him later, I thought.

I sat down quickly, ignoring the many eyes that followed me and tucked into my friend breakfast. It had been many moons since I had eaten properly, and until now, I hadn't noticed how much of an appetite I had gained. Draco, on the other hand, was picking at his food gingerly.

"What's up?" I asked, "Food not to your liking?"

He looked up sharply and shook his head. His eyes seemed cold, and they weren't focused on my face…

I frowned, irritated as several seconds passed, yet still he wasn't looking at my face. "Draco, what are you staring at?" I snapped.

Knowing Draco, I wouldn't have given three chances at guessing what he was staring so intently at.

"Have a nice conversation with Riddle?" he mumbled and finally cast his eyes down to his full plate.

"Not particularly. Why?"

Draco smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You have blood on your shoulder." He replied simply.

If it had been possible, I think my eyes would have been rolling on the floor. "W-what?" I stuttered, instinctively glancing to my shoulder where my blood was now soaking into my robes.

"Want to tell me what happened out there?" he asked quietly.

"Nothing happened…I tripped. Why are you so suspicious?" I lied, thrusting more bacon in my mouth. Who was he to question me? Was it really that obvious…?

He obviously didn't buy it, and it he did, he didn't say anything. We sat in silence until we were given our new time tables and were sent to first lesson; Potions, which was unfortunately taught by Horris Slughorn. Oh the joy.

"Students, today we will be brewing the Shrinking potion. Would anybody like to inform the class of the ingredients and effects?" Slughorn boomed.

My hand immediately shot in the air; as did another.

"He sounds like he's on drugs," chuckled a Hufflepuff.

Slughorn ignored the comment, and his eyebrows rose as he two hands in the air for once. He laughed loudly, sounding like he had a cold.

"Well, well Mr. Riddle, it seems you have a little competition this year,"

My eyebrows rose as I turned to see Tom, also with his arm in the air, and his face sending me an if-looks-could-kill glare.

I smirked, Poor golden boy, have I stolen your spot light? I teased.

Fuck you. He said simply, which made me laugh even more.

"Ms. Dehavilland, I think. Would you care to answer?" Slughorn said beaming in my direction.

I regretted offering to be honest, but I needed to show our "Boy Wonder" that he definitely have some competition this year.

I smiled warmly at Slughorn, "The Shrinking Solution basically shrinks the size of anything, apparently reversing the effects of an aging potion as well. The making of this potion consists of: chopped daisy roots, skinned Shrivelfig, sliced caterpillar, one rat spleen, and a dash of leech juice. Adding too much rat spleen or leech juice and result in the potion turning an orange colour and becoming poisonous."

Tom snorted behind me as if I amused him. But Slughorn silenced him by clapping loudly. "Very well done indeed, Ms. Dehavilland. 20 points to Slytherin!" he boomed, followed by many groans of frustration from the Gryffindors.

It was strange not being around them. Not wearing red. It didn't bother me immensely…but Slytherins were evil, Purebloods, and not to mention, usually filthy rich!

I wasn't any of those. The war had changed me, yes. My best friends and parents were murdered by that bastard's hand. That not only made me angry, but it made me want to tear those who killed them limb from limb!

I was curious. And I had been since the day I was told about Voldermort; why did he hate Muggle borns so much? How did hating them, and all that associated with, justify killing them? To me, it didn't make any sense. But like McGonagall had said; it was our job to prevent it, which meant finding out the cause.

I had partnered with a Slytherin girl called Druella Rosier, she has long black hair and really pale skin. She was beautiful. Her eyes were dark brown, she has high cheek bones, and surprisingly, she didn't need any makeup to be stunning, unlike most of the Slytherins back in my time. Something about her name rang a bell…but I couldn't pin point it, so I let it go. She didn't seem very close to any of the other students; she didn't talk very much and kept herself to herself. I got on well with her, and before we knew it, we were chatting like old friends.

Half way through the lesson, we were interrupted by a tall Slytherin boy with short brown hair, blue eyes, and a grin spread on his face.

Woah, I thought.

Druella quickly glanced down at the cauldron when he appeared and continued with chopping the daisy roots.

"Good morning, Ladies." He said proudly.

"Umm…hey," I muttered, "sorry, who are you?" I asked.

I felt bad just asking like that…but I really had no idea who he was.

"Ah, of course, you wouldn't know would you," he said chuckling, "I'm Cygnus Black. I see you are acquainted with my friend Tom, and Druella here, I just wanted to introduce myself. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hermione." He replied, leaning down to kiss my hand softly.

I felt my face go warm, "Um…well, it's nice to meet you too, Cygnus. Are you close with Tom and Druella?" I asked, quickly glancing to Druella, who still refused to so much as acknowledge he was there and began to stir the potion quickly.

I sent a confused glance in Cygnus's direction and he smiled understandingly, "I am…relatively close to Tom, not as well as Caspar I must say. Druella…well, maybe you should ask her," he explained, he had been smiling until he mentioned Druella, which made me even more eager.

I pulled out my wand quickly and muttered a silencing spell so we could talk without anyone hearing us, but he shook his head, and instead walked over to Slughorn and muttered a few words in his ear. Slughorn nodded, and Cygnus trotted back to me.

"We have been excused from the lesson for a fifteen minutes, I will explain outside." He whispered.

I nodded, and told Druella I'd be back soon. She merely nodded quietly and ever so quickly glanced at Cygnus, her cheeks flamed red immediately, and she went back to the potion.

I followed him out of the class to the dungeons where he summoned a house elf to deliver some hot chocolate to us, and we settled down as I waited for him to explain to me.

The chocolate was brought to us and I took a sip nervously, whilst Cygnus studied me with a perplexed expression.

"This may sound rude of me," he began, "but I don't understand why Tom is so enthralled by you."

I almost choked on my drink. Did I here his right?

"Excuse me?" I squeaked.

He smiled warmly at me and blew his drink, "As I guessed, you are oblivious, of course. Tom would have it no other way. He talks about you a lot. You intrigue him…he seems to think you are hiding a secret. You and Draco. We all tell him it's nonsense…but he won't have it. You seem to have captured his attention, Ms. Dehavilland." He paused, then sighed, "The main reason I have brought you out here, Hermione, is to warn you. Tom is a very dangerous boy. He may seem like a normal stroppy teenager to some, but I have known him for 7 years now, and he was capable of many things 7 years ago, can you imagine what he is capable of now?" he said seriously, staring intently into my eyes.

I sighed, leaned back, and closed my eyes.

"You don't need to explain that to me, Cygnus. I am fully aware of what Vol- Tom, is capable of. I have been on the receiving end of his rage twice since I came here. But thank you anyway, for warning me."

I mentally cursed myself, Stupid, stupid girl! You almost said his name then! That could have been it; the whole mission scuppered! Stupid idiot!

"Yes…Tom had informed me of your encounters…well, I say that, but what I mean is, he has told me you had talked recently and that he had come to hate you…but, he talks about you rather a lot, and by the look of the blood on your shoulder at breakfast…your encounter hadn't been a friendly one.

I wish I could say I could help you; but I do not have the power to do that. Tom is a very strong and talented wizard. Everyone says so; but I worry when he uses his strengths to conduct attacks such as this morning on you. Be careful what you say to him, Hermione. Don't provoke him, I beg you."

I was surprised by his outburst…and I wanted to tell him I could look after myself. But if I had said that I would be in denial.

I smiled and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Cygnus. Yes, me and Tom have not got of on a good start if I'm honest. A cut on the back of my head is not the worst I have received from him…but hopefully, if I pretend he's not there then he'll leave me alone."

Cygnus nodded and took a few sips of his drink before closing his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "Back to the subject of Druella," he sighed, "what exactly do you want to know?"

I fiddled with the stitching of my skirt, glancing round the dungeon and wincing at the Slytherin crests covering the walls.

"When you came over to talk to us just now, Druella looked at you…and she blushed, then she acted like you weren't there. I don't understand…what is the relationship between you two?" I asked quietly.

"I think we need something a bit stronger than hot chocolate for this conversation, don't you," he muttered, pulling out a bottle from his jacket pocket and refilling his cup with the content of the bottle. "Want some?" he asked, passing me the bottle.

"Oh…Umm, no thank you, I don't drink."

Cygnus laughed, downing the alcohol and throwing his head back dramatically. "I should have guessed really. You don't seem like the other girls in Slytherin; Majority are drunken slag's to be honest. Don't get involved with the Slytherin girls; I'm telling you, they'll stab you in the back like there's no tomorrow. And then they'll be like ooh I love you Cygnus fuck me, and then you'll just be walking into a trap like I always do!" he rambled.

I just sat there nodding when he looked over, with a smile on my face.

"But you didn't come here for that did you, no. me and Druella. Well, we go way back. Our parents were friends before we were born and when we were born, we were inseparable. Until fifth year though. We became distant because I was getting more interested in girls…and she didn't like it I don't think. She's never been interested in boys though, or, I don't know, maybe she has and just never talked to me about it. So yeah, things just seemed to get worse from then. Her dad…he died while she was 16. Her mum got a new boyfriend…who was dodgy. No, more than dodgy. He was a disgusting man who did things to her…she didn't like it. And it's made her scared of people, men in particular. Of course, I wasn't to know this when I told her how I felt. I've always liked Druella. Loved her even…and it scares her. I told her, and she ran away crying. Only after did I find out about that bastard. I cocked it up big time. And now she won't even look at me." He explained.

I watched Cygnus as he downed the remains of the alcohol then threw the bottle against a wall. We both watched it smash into little pieces that would have sparkled, were it not so dark in the dungeons.

I felt pity and guilt for Cygnus. I had no idea how he felt in this situation. Sadness definitely, perhaps lonely even.

"Usually, I would think this over, and try to find a solution…but I have never loved and been in that situation…so in all honesty, I have no idea what to say. I mean, I could speak to her, try to persuade her into talking to you…but I don't know if it would work." I whispered.

He smiled slightly and traced circles on the floor, "I do not seek your pity, Hermione. Nor do I seek an answer to my troubles. All I ask is that she returns the love I have for her. She truly has my heart…no one else can say that. Dammit! Not even she can say that; she doesn't fucking know!" he yelled.

"Maybe we should skip the rest of class, eh? Let's go to the common room, I think you could do with some rest before we go to next lesson." I replied, tugging him up by the sleeve and leading him through the school.

Hermione, where the fuck are you?! Draco shouted, it's been 40 minutes since you left!

Shit. I thought, sorry, tell Slughorn we had to take a strip to the infirmary or something, I'll see you next lesson, ok?

That's if you don't sneak off with some boy, he grumbled.

I ignored the comment and sat beside Cygnus as he drank the Coffee I had made him. It was supposed to be good with calming you down after a bit to drink, so I figured I'd try it.

"You should get back to the lesson, Hermione. I'm fine here; this isn't the first time I've skipped class," he laughed, downing another cup.

I smiled, glancing down at the book I was holding, "The lesson is almost over anyway, I'll go to next lesson when it begins, but for the time being, you're under my supervision."

"Woah, Nurse Dehavilland to the rescue, eh?" he chuckled.

I laughed with him, and went back to my book.

Several minutes passed before Cygnus broke the deadly silence; "What's that around your neck?" he inquired, squinting at the Time Turner.

I glanced away, "Oh, just a pendant thing," I muttered, covering it with my blouse.

"Doesn't look like a pendant to me. Tell me if I'm wrong, but it appears to be a Time Turner. Now, how would an ordinary girl, much like yourself, have something so precious and rare in her possession?" he replied.

I racked my brain for answers, "Umm, family air loom. Haha, yeah, I suppose they are quite rare. Well, I really should be getting back to class, next lesson will start soon, can't be late. See you!" I rushed out of the room, the book held tightly to my chest as I did the next button on my blouse to hide the Time Turner.

The corridors were swamped with other students by the time I got out and as difficult as it was to find my way out of the traffic, Draco's blond hair stood out and soon enough I was being confronted by a very angry man.

"Where the fuck did you go?!" he demanded.

I sighed, "I had to go somewhere. I needed to talk to Cygnus…and we couldn't in class, so he told Slughorn I was feeling ill and he would take me to see Matron, but we went to the dungeons to talk instead. No big deal, don't get your wand in a knot ok?!" I replied angrily.

Draco looked like he was going to explode on me, but before he could start spouting loads of crap about me skipping class and not telling him, we were silenced by a loud cough from behind us.

"Oh, Professor Slughorn!" I exclaimed.

Crap, you didn't tell him did you?! I yelled at Draco.

Of course not! I'm not a grass, Hermione Granger, Draco growled.

"Yes, yes my dear. I have some excellent news indeed!" he said excitedly, clapping me on the back and leading us both to a more quiet part of the corridor.

"What is this excellent news, Professor?" I inquired.

"Well, earlier on, I had the pleasure of going through your Potions records from your previous school, and I must say…your right up there with Mr Riddle, Ms. Dehavilland!"

Ergh, I grumbled.

"Well, I have a request; I would be honoured if you would join a little get-together I have every week! You must understand; only those who stand out in classes, Ms. McGonagall and Mr Riddle for instance."

"I think I have heard about this from people. Are you referring to The Slug Club, Professor?" I replied, trying to sound eager.

Slughorn beamed and clapped his hands thrilled, "I am indeed dear girl! Luckily for you, we have a meeting arranged very soon. You will receive the details soon enough, formal dress mind!" he explained, then trotted off back to his class.

He's such a prat; seems to me, Riddle has his wrapped around his little finger, Draco spat.

I laughed; I'll have to agree with you there.

By now, the corridor was empty and silent, aside from the Fat Lady arguing with a portrait of a very pretty woman about beauty. She hadn't changed very much, I chuckled to myself.

"It's quiet isn't it?" Draco muttered.

My eyes shot up and met his. "Yes, too quiet." I replied.

"I agree," he chuckled.

"We should be getting back to class. What do you have next?" I asked, glancing around the deserted corridors.

Draco was silent for a moment before replying; "Oh! My favourite lesson," he said with false enthusiasm, "Divination." He spat.

"Unlucky," I laughed, "I've got Muggle Studies." I smiled.

"Ok, I'm feeling a little better about Divination now," Draco said.

"Hey!" I said stubbornly, "Muggle Studies is actually very interesting! More than I can say for Divination anyway. Don't tell me you actu-"

My words were cut short by a pair of strong arms yanking me forward. I hit Draco's chest with a thump, and his arms wound around my shoulders and held me their tightly.

"Draco! What are you do-!" I started.

"Don't, Hermione. Just…stay like this for a moment. You have no idea how much it means to me to know you accept me after everything I've done. I want you to know how much I appreciate it." He interrupted.

Draco, seriously, is something up? If there is…just tell me, ok? I thought.

Nothings up, Hermione. I just…lately…I don't know how to explain it, he muttered, tripping over his words.

No! no. This can't be… I figured out what he was trying to say quicker than he had guessed, and he pulled back to place his large hands on my cheeks and stare intently into my eyes.

His silver eyes seemed to be holding something back, something I didn't want to encourage. Something that shouldn't be encouraged.

"Come on, Draco," I laughed uneasily, "don't be ridiculous. Are you forgetting I'm a Mudblood?"

He cringed, "Don't say that word. Your blood is certainly not muddy, Hermione." He whispered.

I smiled and brushed a strand of hair from his face. But he caught my trembling hand and held it to his cheek for a moment, closing his eyes.

"You're the most fantastic woman I've ever met, Hermione. You know that right?" he muttered, as he leaned towards me.

His lips had touched mine before my brain had ordered my fists to start working.

Draco! Stop it! If anyone sees, our cover will be blown! We're supposed to be siblings remember, jerk! I shouted.

Draco pulled back for a second. His eyes reflecting the anger he felt as he growled; "I don't care." and dived back to me for a long smouldering kiss.

It felt nice being kissed by him. But it felt wrong at the same time. I didn't need it at the moment; I didn't want to be kissed by anyone!

Finally he pulled back, then rushed off to his next class.

I stood leaning against the wall, eyes still wide…totally oblivious to the pair of dark eyes studying the scene before him, fire building in his stomach.

He will pay, they thought, he will pay dearly for touching her in such a way…

To Be Continued…

***

Well, sorry that one took a while =/ I didn't think it would take so long tbh. I got a bit stuck this time, not too sure where to take the plot…hopefully I'm a bit more back on track now. Hope you liked it :) RxR I am hoping for about 5 reviews for this one. Remember, give me some more requests, and thankyou to those who have ;] it is a very big help to see what you think should and shouldn't happen.

Xx

Sneak Peak:

"I saw it all, you know?" he growled.

I spun around angrily. It was tempting to pull my wand out and curse him to Mars and back, but I resisted the urge.

"Saw what?!" I spat.

He sneered, "Don't act the innocent, Dehavilland. I saw you kiss him. Your own brother! I knew you were quite the blood traitor, but I didn't know you were a fan of incest as well." He replied harshly.

"Don't be ridiculous, you prat. At least I don't go around beating people to get their attention…unlike some people…"