Forbidden

By Leah

Chapter Four

Let Me In

Hermione glared down the deserted hallway, her scowl darkening at each shadow that flitted across her path.

She guessed it was about 11:30, and she was on patrol. Yes patrol; instead of being in her room curled up to a nice book, or taking a long luxurious bath. Her scowl deepened at the thought.

Normally the thought of tending to her Head duties wasn't something she would ever scowl upon, and in fact the act of patrolling wasn't what was making her so disgruntled.

It was with whom she was patrolling. She shot a dark glower to the overly smug looking boy walking next to her.

As usual he wasn't making it easy for her. Every time she tried to start a conversation to try and pass the time, he would somehow manage to get in a scathing remark about either her family, friends, or of course, herself.

So in the end she decided she much rather have absolute silence than deal with his pompous attitude.

In the day that had passed since their -what she liked to call- poetry session, Malfoy went back to being the git she came to know and hate, much to her chagrin. She wasn't expecting him to be nice and pleasant to her...ok maybe she was, but a little wishful thinking never hurt anyone. But he was still Malfoy, and showing anything that might be mistaken for human emotions was just out of the question.

Hermione sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose; she had learned too much thinking of her "Malfoy predicament" inevitably led to a painful migraine.

This was not going to be an easy year.

"So how are things with Malfoy so far?" Ginny asked the brunette across from her over breakfast the next morning.

"Borderline homicidal. Sorry Gin, a relationship between Malfoy and I is about as possible as Snape giving Gryffindor house points." Hermione could no longer even gather the strength to be angry at or annoyed with Ginny for her near constant badgering on her non-existent relationship with the blond-haired devil. She grew to accept the fact that her best friend was clinically insane and now it seemed common place for her near daily reports on life with Malfoy.

"You know, I really have a feeling you two should be together and I can't shake it." Ginny muttered before draining the last bit of orange juice from her goblet.

Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag and left the great hall with Ginny a few steps behind her. "Oh stop it Ginny, you're starting to sound like Trelawny."

"Ah yes," The red head jogged a few paces to stand at Hermione's side, her voice going airy as she did a perfect imitation of the Divination Professor. "It is written in the tea leaves, you two are destined for each other, but be warned; the stars tell me you will die in a week."

Hermione grinned and turned to the other girl. "Bye Gin, and don't forget the prefect meeting tonight at 8."

Ginny nodded and pulled on her bookbag strap before turning to corner to head to her next class. "Wouldn't miss it 'Mione."

Hermione sighed and looked at the clock on her desk top, 7:08. A low groan escaped her as she closed her book and rolled out of her bed. The prefects meeting was in less than an hour and that meant she'd have to set up; it also meant she would have to wake the beast, or Malfoy as he was known to the other students.

She stretched and ran her hands over her clothes, trying to smooth out the wrinkles and creases, before leaving her room and making her way to Malfoy's door. She knocked loudly and earned an irritated hiss from the snake portrait guarding his room.

"Malfoy! Wake up!" She sighed and knocked on the door again. 'He better not be trying to annoy me.'


Hermione pounded on the portrait door to Malfoy's room. The snake in the portrait had grown tired of hissing and spitting at her and now stared at her with a bemused expression. (As bemused as a snake can get) And for what she guessed was the millionth time she yelled his name.

"Malfoy!" Nearly growling she continued pounding on the door.

"Malfoy! Malfoy please!" She sighed loudly and leaned her back against the portrait her head lolling onto the canvas, earning a half-hearted hiss from the snake. "Malfoy, I know you're in th-" Before she had time to react she heard a soft click and the door opened and she found herself falling backwards...into Malfoy's chest...correction, onto Malfoy's bare chest.

"Why hello Granger." She looked up at the smirk she had grown to hate even more.

After finally pushing herself off of Malfoy, she realized something that made her, if at all possible, even angrier. He was awake, not awake for 20 minutes awake, no, no, wide in had been awake for at least 2 hours.

"You!" She pointed an accusing finger at him, which only succeeded in turning his smirk to a broad grin. "You've been awake this whole time!"

"Yes...your point?" His sarcastic drawl caused her temper to bubble even more.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Why didn't you just answer your bloody door instead of making me scream myself hoarse!" Her words escaped her through clenched teeth.

Malfoy sent her a devilish smirk before responding. "Well, I was rather enjoying hearing you scream my name at the top of your lungs. Practicing for later I'm assuming?" It took all of Hermione's will power to not punch Malfoy, she decided against stooping to his level.

"There will be no "later" Malfoy."

"Oh, what a pity." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned on the doorframe. "You know my offer still stands." Hermione's look of pure repulsion obviously went unnoticed by the boy and before she knew what had happened she was pulled against him.

"I want you Granger, and I will have you, and trust me, you'll be more than happy to scream my name then." He whispered huskily in her ear, his hot breath tickling the sensitive skin.

Hermione quickly overcame her shock and pushed herself off Malfoy, her anger burning brightly in her eyes.

"Well sorry to disappoint you Malfoy," She spat out his name with as much malice as she could muster. "But I am not another one of those idiot-girls whose only goal is to get into bed with you. I am much smarter than that, and trust me," She leaned close and copied his trademark smirk. "It will never happen."

Malfoy's features hardened and his cocky smirk was wiped away, replaced with a hateful glower. Hermione ignored the hell-freezing glare he sent her and continued speaking.

"We have a meeting with the prefects in forty-five minutes, don't be late." With that she turned around and walked down the steps to the common room, not even casting a glance behind her when she heard his door slam.

Draco glared at his reflection in the full-length mirror in his room. The meeting was to start soon, he could already hear some of the early arrivals speaking with Granger downstairs.

He let out a deep sigh and ran his hand through his shaggy blond hair. Why was that girl so difficult? He knew there were lots of girls in the school who would be more than happy to be bedded by him, and dammit why wasn't Granger one of them!

He was handsome, rich, smart, and famous in a way. (Nearly everyone in wizarding England knew of Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy fortune and son of the dreaded Lucius Malfoy.) So there was no possible reason -that he could think of- as to why this girl just refused his advances. He wasn't asking for her to hand him her precious Potter's head on a platter -although that would be amazing foreplay; all he wanted was one good shag.

'Well maybe not just one, but still...' He thought with a smirk before sighing again. With one last glance at himself in the mirror he turned and walked to his door. As he reached out to grasp the doorknob a soft tapping echoed through his room. His dark grey eyes darted to the window where a regal looking owl was flapping its large brown wings, it's talons tapping at the glass with a letter held firmly in it's grasp.

Malfoy arched an eyebrow before he walked over to the window and opened it. The owl gracefully flew into his room and landed on his desk where it gave him a piercing look before flying out of the window again, the letter left on the table. He closed his window before going back to his desk and picking up the letter.

His eyes scanned over the deep red writing on the front of the letter before tearing open the seal; St. Mungo's Hospital. As his eyes flew over the words on the page a deep frown creased his brow.

"Shit."

"Can we please get this started?" Grumbled Pansy Parkinson , the Slytherin prefect, for the near millionth time that night. Penelope Clearwater, the Ravenclaw prefect, nodded her agreement and drummed her fingers on the table.

"Well I'm sure if your self centered boyfriend could pull his eyes off of the mirror for ten minutes we might actually be able to get this started." Ginny muttered, sending a glare at the Slytherin girl across the table. The prefects and Hermione had been waiting for Draco to grace them with his presence for nearly twenty minutes now, needless to say, it was getting a bit ugly.

"Well my Drakie likes to look good," Pansy retorted looking down her nose at Ginny. "Unlike some people." She sent a snide smile to Ginny who turned red with ill-suppressed anger.

"Parkinson of all the people here you should be the last to talk, you pug faced little-"

"I think it's about time we get started." A gruff voice called from the head of the table, efficiently cutting off the mountains of insults that were about to spew from Ginny's mouth. Nine pairs of eyes turned to the blond boy who had so quietly descended upon the table while everyone was watching the argument brewing between Ginny and Pansy.

"Oh Drakie; you're here!" Pansy turned her attention from the fuming red head to the stoic blond as soon as she heard his icy voice. She batted her eyelashes coyly before continuing, causing everyone at the table to roll their eyes. "You should have heard the horrible things this nasty little Weasley was saying abou-"

Draco rolled his eyes before setting a hard glare on the half-witted girl. "Shut up Parkinson, we have more important things to discuss." Pansy's jaw dropped and her cheeks flamed red.

"Drakie!"

Ginny grinned broadly before relaxing in her chair. "You heard the man Parkinson, shove it."

Hermione's head shot up from resting in her hands when she heard Malfoy's voice cut through the escalating argument. He looked normal enough; same blond hair, same complexion, same everything, but she knew something was off.

His voice was no longer smooth and silky, but hard and chipped. When he moved it lacked the aristocratic grace he always showed. But most obvious we're his eyes.

The normal icy color was darkened to a deep, contemplative grey. Something was definitely wrong, and as she turned back to the on going conversation on what to the theme for the Halloween ball would be, she vowed she wouldn't rest until she found out what was weighing so heavily on the Slytherin's mind.

An hour and a half later the prefects had all left after a long and tiring debate on nearly everything but the topic they we're supposed to be debating on. In the end, it was settled that the prefects would help with decorations and picking the food, all of which had to be cleared through the heads and teachers of course. The dress code was set, after Hermione's very conservative views had to be dimmed down a bit. And the theme was set to 'Classic Halloween'. After nearly two hours it was the only common ground they found.

Draco was opening the door to his room when a loud cough from one of the portraits caught both his and Hermione's attention.

The portrait, a burly, bearded man, cleared his throat once more before opening his mouth.

"Mr. Malfoy I presume." His words were clipped and voice was deep with a heavy Scottish accent. Draco merely nodded and the portrait continued. "Head Master Dumbledore wishes to speak with you alone in his office post haste."

Without a word to Hermione, who was sitting on the couch in the common room, Draco turned and left their dorm.

Hermione let out a deep sigh when she heard the soft click of the common room door closing and waited a few seconds before putting down her book. She headed up the stairs to Draco's room, noting with great joy that he had forgotten to close his door completely.

"Well this saves me some time on trying to figure out his password." The snake portrait gave her a hard glare as she creeped into Malfoy's room and she silently thanked Merlin that his portrait couldn't speak.

Hermione looked carefully around Draco's room, it was nearly a mirror image of hers, the exception being the dark Slytherin colors that decorated the room.

She felt wrong about snooping through his things, but something was bothering him and she knew asking him would just never work. Her curiosity just wouldn't die so this was the only way she could think of to find out what was on Malfoy's mind.

Her eyes scanned the room for anything that looked out of place; which wasn't that easy considering it wasn't her room.

Everything was neat and in order and she wasn't about to go through Malfoy's things, no doubt he would find out and complain of "Essence of mudblood" all over the room.

With a long resigned sigh she turned and was about to leave when a crumpled piece of parchment laying on the floor near his desk caught her eye. She mumbled a quick word of interest before bending to pick up the paper. It was crumpled into a tight ball and took a great deal of smoothing out before she could make out the words.

It was addressed from St. Mungo's.

Dear Mr. Malfoy,

We regret to inform you of the passing of your mother last night at 8:23 p.m. We send our condolences.

St. Mungo's Hospital Staff

Hermione stared blankly at the letter for what seemed like hours, lost in thought.

'Malfoy's mother... is dead?' She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the portrait entrance to their common room shutting. She quickly dropped the letter and ran to the bathroom and into her room.

She scurried out of her room and down the stairs in time to see Malfoy put his head in his hands. Hermione gnawed on her bottom lip for a brief moment, apparently Malfoy hadn't noticed her, or was just ignoring her. She cleared her throat loudly but he never so much as twitched.

"Um...Malfoy?" He grunted and she took this as a cue to continue. "What's the matter, um...I've noticed something was wrong since the-"

"Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong bookworm." He muttered loud enough for her to hear, not bothering to look up. Hermione didn't waver in her persistence, if anything she was even more determined to get Draco to open up to her.

"Malfoy, I- you know it's ok for you to tell someone what's bothering you. I won't tell anyone a word you tell me, if you need my help I want you to know I'm-"

"I don't need your help you annoying fool." Hermione balked but still pressed on.

"But-"

"Back off, will you mudblood!" Hermione's head snapped back as if she were slapped. During his outburst Malfoy raised his head and gave her such a look of intense loathing it made all the other harsh glares he sent her way over the years look like nothing more than withering glances.

The girl strengthened her resolve before continuing in a calm voice.

"Malfoy, I know you no longer hate me because of my blood -" A cryptic smile slid onto Draco's face before he stood and made his way to Hermione, instinctively she took a step backwards.

"What on Earth gave you that idea Granger? I do hate you because of your dirty blood, I may have fought in that war alongside Saint Potter and those other mudbloods, but that doesn't mean that I still don't hate you. In fact, I think it's you who doesn't hate me! You're too much of a goody-goody to even think of hating someone," He was so close she could feel his breath on the side of her face now. "Even someone like me!"

Hermione clenched her teeth trying to keep her rage at bay, but Draco's words were chipping away at her resolve. "You're right Malfoy! I don't hate you!" She began, sending him a long harsh glare before continuing "I loathe you! You're a vile, disgusting, nauseating-"

Malfoy cut her off with a harsh laugh before moving himself off of her. "Well thanks for proving that you know how to use a thesaurus, Granger! But next time you try to insult me, why don't you try to actually believe the crap that you're spouting because I sure as hell don't! The fact is that you're too damn soft Granger! People like you don't survive in the real world! Open your bloody eyes and realize that not everyone has this damn hidden soft side that you believe in so much! People aren't like that, I AM NOT LIKE THAT!"

"Malfoy will you stop-"

"Just leave me alone mudblood!" Malfoy yelled again causing Hermione to flinch back a bit before continuing, her reign on her anger slipping.

"No, you insufferable prick! Something is bothering you and I'm not going to sit here and take your crap just because you're angry. So will you pull your head out of your ass long enough to realize that there's someone here who actually wants to help you!" She yelled back causing Malfoy to give her his most hateful glare yet.

"Look mudblood I don't want your pity and I don't need your help, so why don't you go back to your books and your little goons and stop trying to fix everyone else's problems!" Draco began calmly, slowly building up to loud yelling.

"I'm not trying to fix everyone else's problems Malfoy," Hermione's voice was as cold as ice, and her glare mimicked Malfoy's. "I'm trying to be a bloody human being! So for once why don't you try it also and show a little emotion and accept my help!" She snapped. Malfoy snorted loudly and looked at her as if she had made the world's funniest joke.

"I much rather not, whatever goes on in my life, is my business. So go back to your little fairytale world with wonderboy and his sidekick and your perfect life and STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MINE!" His steely grey eyes dared her to utter another word before her turned and stormed back to his room.

Hermione looked nervously at his back and before even realizing it, the words flew from her mouth without her brain's consent. "I know about your mom!"

Draco's hand paused midway to his portrait door, and Hermione's hand flew to her mouth. But it was too late her words were already out and the damage was done.

Hermione sighed, dropping her hands from her lips and continued, her voice dropping to a level barely above a whisper, but she knew he heard.

"I read the letter." If possible her voice dropped even lower. "I'm sorry."

Her only response was the harsh slam of his door.