AN – Dobby is alive in this story because he is useful in this plot. However, most of the other characters are dead. If I decide that I miss them too much, I shall alert you at the beginning of the chapter.
Love and Dramione ~ Draconis
Chapter 4 – Hermione's Shocking Discovery
3rd Person POV
Hermione slammed, what felt like the thousandth book, shut and plopped her head into her arms. She groaned at the thought of continuing with what seemed to be a futile search. Checking her watch, she realised that she had missed lunch already. Hermione slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to Gryffindor tower.
"Oh, it's the Head Girl!" The Fat Lady exclaimed. Hermione looked at her suspiciously. The Fat Lady was never really that excited to be bothered by insolent students when she was in the middle of a gossip session with Violet.
"I hope you're here to control these mental children." She proclaimed with an eye roll.
"What's going on in there?" Hermione asked, slightly afraid of the answer she'd be receiving.
"See for yourself." And on that note, the Fat Lady swung forwards, not bothering with the password, to reveal a sight to Hermione nearly ending in a heart attack.
The common room was absolutely chaotic. She seemed to be the last Gryffindor to enter this mad house and every student, even the more reserved ones, were literally bouncing off the walls.
Yes. People were bouncing from wall to wall, ceiling to floor. Romilda Vane shrieked as she neared the fire, and swung her legs madly around to avoid the licking flames.
Hermione stared in shock as Neville did a somersault in mid air and collided into Harry who had been trying to avoid Ron, doing some weird sort of snake dance as Lavender swooped around him gleefully.
"Hermione!" Ginny shrieked free styling through the air towards her.
Hermione could barely move and only when Ginny's eyes widened as she couldn't control her movements, did Hermione register a second too late what was about to happen.
Ginny was flailing her legs around madly, trying to slow her floating body. She opened her mouth and screamed, crashing straight into Hermione, who had just tried getting out of the way. Ginny's head smashed into Hermione's arm and she grabbed onto Hermione to slow herself.
The next thing Hermione knew, she was airborne as she clung onto Ginny for dear life.
"Oh my goodness! What in Merlin's name happened!?" Hermione shrieked, bringing her knees up to her chest, narrowly avoiding Parvati.
"RON!" Ginny yelled back, "and those stupid sweets!"
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU RON!" Ron's eyes widened and he stopped his stupid dance in favour of peeking around Lavender at Hermione. Her face was red and her eyes were wide with fear. Her hands were turning white and she and Ginny were both glaring daggers at him.
"They were SWEETS!" Ron yelled back. "How the bloody hell was I supposed to know that THIS was George's trick!?"
"Why didn't you ASK before trying it you incompetent fool!?" Hermione screamed.
Ginny butted in, "Now tell us how the hell we're supposed to get down from here!" It was fun in the beginning, but Ginny could barely feel her arms anymore and Hermione's nails were sure to leave deep gorges in her skin.
Ron was turning a brilliant shade of red as more and more people became weary of the spell. Neville had been kicked in the face by a larger than average fourth year and his lip was bleeding. Harry, however, seemed to be having the time of his life.
He was near the ceiling and kept kicking off from it, launching himself to the floor and back up. Hermione rolled her eyes at his childishness, but laughed nonetheless.
"Oh, having fun are you Hermione?" Ginny yelled. Her eyes were watering from the pain and for some reason; she couldn't seem to be moving closer enough to ground to drop Hermione. They were both moving steadily towards the ceiling.
"Ron! Why the hell can't I get down again?" Ginny screamed.
Ron flailed his legs and swung his arms around trying to get closer to the study table he and Harry had been working at when George's package had come through. His gangly limbs looked hilarious as he maneuvered and many onlookers laughed raucously at him.
"Oy, shut it!" he yelled at them. This only caused more glances his way and the whole of the Gryffindor common room was in stitches.
Ron grabbed the edge of the table and snatched up the parchment lying on it.
"Err, okay this is a little weird." He announced.
"WHATEVER THE HELL IT IS I'LL DO IT!" Ginny screamed. Hermione looked at her in fear. Anyone else around her floated away as far as they could.
Ginny was sure her arm was blue and she couldn't feel it anymore.
"It says her that we all have to do the Macarena together, whatever the hell that is. Then only can we get down. And the longer we take, the higher we go!" His face had horror etched upon it as he read the last part.
"What the hell is a maracena?" Lavender asked.
"The Macarena is a muggle dance." Hermione answered bossily. "Harry, come on, let's show them quickly."
Harry blushed when she called him out. "I don't know it!" He said quickly.
"Lies! I heard you hum it and if you know the tune, you know the dance. Now come on! Ginny's dying over here!"
"HURRY YOU GUYS!" Ginny shrieked again.
Harry's eyes widened in fear as he saw the tears streaked across Ginny's cheeks.
"Alright! Hermione I'm bringing you a sweet so you can do the dance with Harry."
Hermione nodded quickly as Ron came tumbling over. He handed her a colourful round sweet, which she chew quickly. A strange feeling came over Hermione as she felt her body push itself away from Ginny. She unclenched her fingers and floated around freely. It was a great feeling but this madness had to stop. Gryffindor cheered as Hermione did a somersault towards Harry and she laughed in exhilaration.
"Alright, we'll show you once and then you gotta do it with us." Harry announced.
Hermione's cheeks grew warm as every eye was on them. She began singing and Harry joined in.
"One and a two and a three Macarena. Four and a five and a six Macarena. Seven and a eight and a nine Macarena. Eh Macarena! Woah!" Hermione and Harry executed the last twirl, swing-your-hip move with slight embarrassment.
The common room walls were in danger of exploding at the noise levels of the floating students. Even Ginny, with blood on her arms, had them clutched around her stomach as she rolled around in uncontrollable laughter.
The sight of the know-it-all bookworm and the shy boy-who-lived swinging their hips to the muggle song was too much for the Gryffindors to take. Both the dancers were full on blushing. After what seemed like forever, everyone was quiet enough for Hermione to be heard.
"Alright, now we all have to try it."
As the students glanced around warily at their peers, positioning themselves to begin, music blasted off the walls startling the Gryffindors out of their wits.
"ONE AND A TWO AND A THREE MACARENA! FOUR AND A FIVE AND A SIX MACARENA! SEVEN AND A EIGHT AND A NINE MACARENA! EHHHH MACARENA! WOAH!"
At the restart of the song, Hermione and Harry began the moves again, this time with the rest of the Gryffindors trying to follow along.
It was a disaster. Neville kept flinging his arms around as if hoping that if he moved around enough, his body will start doing the proper moves itself. The Creevey brothers were karate-chopping the air. Ron's movements were robotic but he was more distracted by Lavender twerking against him. People around them were moving away in disgust and Parvati face-palmed at her best friend's skanky behavior.
Just then, the portrait hole swung open, but the Gryffindors, too engrossed in their dance, missed the stunned expressions of McGonagall, Filch, Flitwick and Draco Malfoy.
Draco stared with awe, at Hermione who was really getting into the dance, shaking her hips a little more than necessary as an encouragement to the others.
"Good lord!" McGonagall exclaimed, clutching her chest as she watched the spectacle above.
Not a single Gryffindor took notice of the stunned group standing at the entrance. They were having far too much fun for that.
A bunch of first years were cannon-balling into each other. They kept making explosive sounds, adding to the raucous music catapulting off the walls. Harry and Hermione had given up trying to teach that lot, and tried going to individuals and teaching them the dance.
Professor McGonagall looked as if she had enough. Casting her wand to her throat, she muttered, "Sonorus."
"GRYFFINDORS!"
The room was rendered silent by the booming voice of the Headmistress. Hermione looked positively embarrassed as she realised that the professors and Draco Malfoy of all people had been watching their spectacle and Godric knew for how long too! She siddled behind Harry, while McGonagall and Flitwick began casting charms everywhere.
Recognizing this as a Weasley product, McGonagall rounded on Ron.
"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!"
Ron cowered, looking quite alarmed at the resemblance of her voice to his mother's.
"Sorry professor, I really didn't know what it would do!"
His feeble attempt at defending himself cost him a week's worth of detentions and Gryffindor house fifty points.
After discovering that the Macarena was the only way to end the spell, the Headmistress grudgingly commanded the Gryffindors to learn and execute the dance quickly. Hermione and Harry, both mortified beyond comparison, led the Gryffindors to the ground with Draco smirking widely from the bottom.
Unfortunately for McGonagall, the latest Weasley product was to become a source of great trouble to her in the upcoming weeks…
3rd Person POV
It was fifteen minutes after curfew. Draco lay on his bed, fully dressed and waiting… There still wasn't any signal from this 'worthy successor' his father had mentioned. He lifted his left hand, with the letter clutched in it and read through the contents again. This person, whoever they were, was probably waiting for the very last minute to inform him of the meeting place.
His thoughts flickered to earlier that day. Granger… or as he preferred, Hermione. She was his motivation for returning to Hogwarts and facing the wizarding world again. Even if she didn't know it. She had always irked him with her brains and innocent arrogance. Naturally, a slap from the woman snapped his eyes open to the real Hermione Granger. Before then she was worthless: just an ordinary muggle girl who happened to be lucky enough to be a witch. She was the bushy-haired, bookworm know-it-all who didn't know where to draw the line when it came to showing off her reading skills.
It all changed in that one slap. Draco grew more perspective on what he thought to be a boring one-dimensional girl. The thirteen year old Hermione had more wisdom, compassion and insight than the whole lot of his mother's "tea-time" friends: thirty-five year old woman, without a clue on anything beyond their fashion magazines, and the gossips of Witch Weekly.
It was in fourth year, or more specifically the Yule Ball, that he started noticing the other compelling aspects of the brown-haired beauty. The elegance and grace with which she carried herself at the Ball was astounding. Even the prestigious Greengrass sisters, Daphne and Astoria, each hanging off the arms of Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott respectively, looked like complete klutzes and desperate bimbos compared to the maturity and radiance Hermione was resonating. It was then that Draco took notice of the swirling rich, coffee-colour of her eyes and the chestnut gleam off her curls. The periwinkle blue in her dress brought out every aspect of her features. She had filled out nicely. Not in the voluptuous way, but in the more classy, subtle way.
That was when he decided that no woman would ever outshine Hermione. Not in brains or beauty. She was the ultimate and he had to have her. After all, Malfoys only settled for the best. And even if she was muggle-born, Hermione was the best.
A sharp hot flash through his wand jerked his thoughts away from Hermione. With a stunned yelp, Draco's wand clattered to the floor. His wand was turning red and wear he had it clutched, angry red blisters were forming. At a closer inspection, Draco realised, disgusted, that words were forming from the blisters.
'3rd floor, near the statue of the screaming banshee. The door with the silver handle.' Draco's eyes widened as he realised this was the 'signal' he was awaiting. He checked his watched and realised that it was fifty-five minutes after curfew. Time always seemed to fly when his thoughts were with Granger.
Draco stood up and unwillingly. He looked at his wand, contemplating whether it was safe or not. Gingerly, he nudged it with his fingers, deemed it safe, and picked it up. Muttering a disillusionment spell, he cracked his door open an inch and peered into the common room. It was empty. 'Hermione must be asleep already,' he thought as he stepped his way out of the portrait hole.
The halls were deserted and the staircases stationary. Hogwarts at night was a creepy place. The candles were dimmed, magically, casting looming shadows over the corridors. The more unfriendly ghosts made their appearance then, and it was only the prefects and the heads they avoided bothering. Any other student was in a very unfortunate, compromising position if they ever had the displeasure of meeting one of them.
Draco didn't feel like encountering anything suspicious along the way, so he cast a Silencio on himself and continued on. The statue on the third floor was located in a deeper part of that wing than most students had to go through. No classes were held here and it was mostly abandoned.
Draco found the door, and without knocking, pushed it open. The room was mostly deserted apart from the figure clad in black robes, with the hood up, who spun away from a bubbling cauldron and glared at him at his abrupt entrance. He was wearing the old Death Eater mask and Draco shuddered as the black eyes of the stranger pierced his grey ones.
"Ah, Malfoy junior, you're two minutes late," the man whispered before turning back to the cauldron.
Draco's eyes narrowed suspiciously. There was something vaguely familiar about that voice. He was absolutely certain that he knew this person better than he had initially thought.
"Come Malfoy. I need your help here."
Hermione
It was over an hour after curfew when I finally admitted defeat for the night and shut the massive tome I had been reading for the last few hours. Having had no such luck so far with the mysterious words, my head was killing me and my stomach was groaning in protest at my apparent hunger strike for the day.
I picked up my bag and headed out the library which magically sealed and locked itself. Even though I was fatigued, the mystery of the cloaked figure and his cauldron kept me wide awake. I was in no mood to go to bed immediately and made my way down to the kitchens for a quick snack and some tea to lighten the pounding in my head.
Tickling the pear, I was quite surprised to see that many of the house elves were still bustling around the kitchen at such a late hour. They all curtsied to me and I gave them warm smiles. Dobby had been in the process of carrying an armful of plates, but set them down excitedly when he spotted me.
"Miss Hermione! It's been too long. How is you doing miss. And how is Harry Potter sir. Harry Potter sir hasn't been down to see Dobby in ages. Dobby misses Harry Potter sir." Dobby squeaked rushing over. He curtsied so low that his nose tipped his toes and his multiple hats toppled over. I giggled at the sight of Dobby's mismatching socks. One was of Harry shooting snitches out of his wand and the other was of Harry cursing Voldemort who kept blowing up into little Pinocchios.
"Hello Dobby, how have you been? Harry is fine. He told me today that he was planning on visiting you sometime soon." I lied feeling guilty at once when Dobby's golf ball sized eyes leaked with great, big, fat tears.
"Harry Potter sir must come see Dobby. What can I do for you miss?" Dobby asked, composing himself.
"Uhm, actually Dobby I'm a little hungry, what with skipping lunch and dinner. Could you just bring me whatever leftovers there are and some tea please?"
"Of course miss! Take a seat at that table," he said pointing to a little wooden table in the corner with two chairs, "and Dobby will bring it all right away."
Five minutes later I was staring wide eyed at the table, wishing I had been a little more specific about my request. The legs of the table were groaning under the weight of what appeared to be the last week's worth of meals. All hot and smelling amazing, I didn't think twice before digging in.
I made small talk with Dobby and once I was too full to even breath, I picked up my bag, bid Dobby farewell and left the kitchens.
It was two hours after curfew, which meant that the halls were deserted and the ghosts were out. Climbing two flights of stairs, I found the corridor I had been in when I witnessed the cloaked figure and the red luminance radiating from the room. Finding the door wasn't difficult at all since the handle was distinctive from the rest of the doors at Hogwarts. Silver and ornate, it was quite out of place against the deep, worn mahogany of the door itself.
I crept closer, my heart thundering against my ribs when I realised that the room was occupied and the gruff voice was speaking!
I cast a quick disillusionment charm on myself and stepped to the side of the door.
"Come Malfoy. I need your help here."
Chapter 4 finally here. 5 is coming soon. Thanks to feltonsgoldengal for her editing! You guys should check out her stories as well. Beautifully written… Review Review and Review :D