DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, nor am I affiliated in any way with J.K. Rowling.

A/N:

At the end of this chapter it's revealed who killed Zella but the scene is kind of disturbing, even by my standards. Just a warning.

I listened to 'Seven Sirens and a Silver Tear' by Sirenia whilst writing the end scene, so feel free to check that out if you listen to music whilst reading (:

Hope you enjoy!

With winter soon upon them, the students found themselves confined to their common rooms even more, not daring to brave the freezing temperatures outside.

"Seriously, what's up with the weather?" Ron complained one night as he glared out of the window at the delicately falling snowflakes, the first of the season.

"It's called snow, Ron," Hermione answered irritably, huddled up in the chair closest to the fire. "It happens in stupidly cold countries like this one."

Harry and Ron exchanged glances.

"I'll ask," Harry offered and Ron nodded gratefully. He turned to Hermione. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure? It sort of seems like-"

"Time of the month."

"Oh."

As close as the three of them were, Hermione knew that Harry and Ron always got more than a little freaked out whenever Hermione mentioned anything remotely girly. She only played the 'time of the month' card when she had to, and unfortunately now was one of those times.

Something drastic had changed in the four days since she and Draco had talked in the library. Whenever she smiled at him, he looked away. Whenever she made to talk to him, he quickly made his excuses and left. At first she thought he was just careful not to make sure that people knew they were friends. After all, Zella and Trayton had made their relationship public and paid the price. Of course that had been two centuries ago but Hermione refused to entertain the notion that Draco was avoiding her. That was until she waited in the library for him from the end of dinner until the library shut for two days in a row now and each day he hadn't turned up. That night, humiliated, angry and more than a little perplexed, she had stomped back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Been with Malfoy again?" Harry had asked, trying his best to sound neutral although the hard undertone couldn't be denied.

Hermione had scowled and taken refuge on the chair she currently sat in. She didn't speak for the rest of the evening and when she woke up the next morning after another Zella-free night, she was in a darker mood than ever.

"Cheer up," Ron told her at breakfast, narrowly avoiding splashing himself with milk as he mixed his porridge. "You're free of Zella and Malfoy, it's like Christmas come early!"

How could Hermione explain that she didn't want to be 'free' of either of them? Zella, her friends might understand. But Draco? Never.

"Wonder if Snape's marked those essays yet?" Harry asked, oblivious to Hermione's discomfort.

"If we all get different grades then I'm complaining to Dumbledore, seriously," Run grumbled.

"Good luck telling him why we should've all gotten the same grade," Harry laughed. "As far as I know, copying someone else's essay is still against the rules."

"Yeah, well," Ron said, shaking off the statement with a wave of his hand and abruptly changing the topic. "What do you lot want for Christmas?"

"That's ages off yet," Harry complained.

"Yeah but snow always gets me in a festive mood."

At this, the boys glanced out of the large windows at the snow strewn grounds. Hermione's attention however was fixed upon a certain platinum haired Slytherin who had just entered the hall, surrounded by his peers as always. Draco didn't glance her way, just as Hermione had expected. Still, her heart sank a little. She turned her focus back to the conversation at hand.

"…Basically commanded me to invite you both to the Burrow for the holidays," Ron was saying with a roll of his eyes. "As if I'd forget!"

"You can be rather forgetful at times," Hermione reminded him, trying to lose herself in chatter. "Like that time you came down for breakfast in your slippers."

"I've never laughed so much in my life," Harry said, grinning at the memory as Ron flushed.

"You and everyone else," he muttered. "Damn Slytherins wouldn't let it drop for three weeks!"

"Neither did we," Hermione told him, buttering her toast evenly.

"Yeah, but you're allowed," Ron shrugged before grimacing. "This porridge is disgusting. What did they use, elf milk?"

"Elves make milk?" Harry asked, both interested and relieved that he chose scrambled eggs on toast today.

"Of course they don't," Hermione snapped. "Maybe the milk's off or something."

"Maybe it was Peeves?" Harry suggested. "Or, hey, maybe it was Trayton! He seems pretty angry from what you've told us."

"Trayton isn't a poltergeist," Hermione said sadly, thinking for a moment that she'd have an excuse to talk to Draco. "He's just a pain."

They ate the rest of breakfast in idle chatter before it was time for Potions. Hermione spotted Draco and his friends getting up to leave and hastily made her excuses to Harry and Ron. She left breakfast and followed a careful distance behind Draco and his group as they headed down to the dungeons. When Draco began to lag behind the others, Hermione took her chance.
"Dra…Malfoy!" she called, quickly correcting herself in public.

Draco turned around at the sound of his name, as did the other Slytherins.

"Can I have a word?" Hermione asked, trying to sound confident despite so many reproachful eyes on her.

Draco surveyed her coolly for a moment before nodding once. He turned to his friends and quietly told them something. They glanced at Hermione, some wearing smirks, before beginning to walk away. As if it was some great effort, Draco turned back to her and waited.

Hermione walked up to him, trying to gather her thoughts.

"What?" Draco asked, the disinterest and scorn in his voice surprising Hermione.

"Are you…is something the matter?"

"Porridge was a bit off this morning," he answered with a shrug.

Hermione would've laughed had it not been for his guarded eyes and cold body language.

"No, I mean, with us."

"When has there ever been an 'us'?" Draco asked, his eyebrows rising.

"You haven't been talking to me for days," Hermione said, beginning to feel stupid.

"Has something happened with Zella?"

"Well, no but…we spent the whole of Monday afternoon talking and I just thought-"

"That we were suddenly the best of friends?" Draco asked, his eyes narrowing with something that looked an awful lot like hatred. "Don't be so naïve Granger. You were there and I was bored. Try not to take it to heart."

"You came up to me!" Hermione reminded him angrily, stung by his sudden rejection.

"I didn't think you'd take it so seriously," Draco said, the makings of a smirk on his lips.

Feeling horribly close to tears, Hermione shook her head in disgust.

"I can't believe I thought you'd changed."

Draco just watched her as she walked away. He'd hurt her and it had actually made him feel bad to do so. As she disappeared from sight, he considered the irony that he had had to hurt her before realising just how much he liked her. But it was better that he hurt her now rather than later when their friendship had had a chance to develop into something more. He shook his head firmly. It was something that could never be. If Trayton had taught him anything, it had been that people like him and Hermione weren't meant to be together. It was better that he had ended it now before Hermione found out…

One week after the Monday that had apparently changed everything, Zella came to visit Hermione in her dreams again.

"Hello," Hermione said cautiously, eyeing her surroundings.

They were in the usual corridor although what appeared to be several hours earlier, if indeed it was even on the same day. Light streamed through the windows and students walked silently by, their mouths moving but no sound coming out.

Zella stood before her, as ethereally beautiful as ever but with a expression struggling to hide pain and sorrow.

I'm sorry that I acted so rashly the last time we met, she thought. Time doesn't pass here so I don't know when I last saw you. I wasn't angry at you, I was just very shocked and upset and hopeful all at once…

She trailed off and looked away. Any irritation that Hermione had felt towards her instantly melted away. Zella still radiated childlike innocence despite all that she had been through.

"It's been a week," Hermione answered carefully, not wanting to upset her even more. "And I don't blame you one bit."

How are things with the Malfoy boy going? Zella asked.

"His name is Draco and worse than ever," Hermione informed glumly. "We really seemed to be connecting and all of a sudden he's gone back to his old self, insulting my bloodline, my friends, you name it."

That's a shame, Zella sighed. She gnawed on her lip before approaching Hermione. I've been thinking that…I mean, if it works…there's no reason that it shouldn't although obviously I saw it from my point of view, but…I want to find out who killed me.

"Oh," Hermione said after a moment, shocked. "Uh, alright. Are you sure?"

Yes, Zella nodded with a determined expression that quickly faded. Do you think it's the right thing to do?

Before Hermione could even answer, the people around them began to move faster and faster until they became nothing more than blurs. The sun set quickly and the corridor was cast into darkness. Rain hammered on the windows and lightning flashed.

"I think you answered that for yourself," Hermione replied.

As awful as it sounded, she was suddenly intrigued and excited. It was a mystery that she hadn't been able to solve and it had annoyed her. Now she got to find out the answer and, as selfish as it was, a part of her was glad that she had something to tell Draco.

"How come you've never revisited this before?" Hermione asked.

I was scared, Zella admitted. And if Trayton seeks to free me then he'll want to know who killed me and this may be the only chance I get. She laughed nervously. I'm anxious, is that odd?

"Not at all."

In truth, Hermione's own heart was beating rather rapidly.

I got the message to meet Trayton here at midnight, Zella explained softly, staring at the spot where her lifeless body would soon lie. It didn't really strike me as unusual; he'd often choose foolish times to meet up. There had been a ball that day and I hadn't bothered changing. I wanted to look nice for him.

Hermione glanced at Zella's dress, still beautiful if one ignored the dark stain across her abdomen.

After a minute in silence heavy with anticipation, the soon-to-be-murdered Zella came walking softly around the corner, a smile on her face. Even in a memory she radiated warmth and happiness and Hermione found tears pooling in her eyes at the thought of what was about to happen.

Trayton didn't show, Zella whispered as she watched her memory glance around the corridor. After a few minutes I began to realize that I had been tricked. I was about to leave when I heard a creak- sure enough, a floorboard creaked distantly - and then there was nothing but darkness.

The corridor went dark and, at a glance out of the window, Hermione saw that a cloud had drifted over the moon. Her heart racing, she squinted eagerly down the corridor to where the shadows suddenly began to move. A figure stole down the corridor so lightly that they could've been a ghost.

"H-hello?" Zella called fearfully, her eyes wide and her body visibly shaking.

Hermione blinked once and tears fell down her cheeks. That poor girl. She didn't deserve what was about to happen to her. The figure stalked closer to Zella, the darkness still masking his or her identity.

"Is there someone-?"

Quick as the lightning that had been striking before, a hand secured itself over Zella's mouth. Hermione jumped violently and covered her own mouth, wishing to but unable to tear her eyes away from the scene unfolding in front of her.

Zella, Heaven help her, struggled for all she was worth but the figure, who appeared to be male, held onto her tightly. He raised his free hand and as he did the moon reappeared and glinted off the metal of the raised knife in the man's hand.

"Forgive me," the man whispered in a voice so distorted that it didn't sound human, before plunging the knife straight into Zella's stomach.

Zella crumpled forward on the impact into a patch of moonlight, her eyes wider than ever, her mouth trembling as she made little gasping noises. She struggled for breath, refusing to give up her fight before the man, who seemed to be sobbing, knelt down next to her and placed his hand over her nose and mouth, suffocating her. His free hand removed the knife (causing Zella to spasm in agony) and, Zella's blood all over him, gently caressed her hair.

That was the first thing that made Hermione's stomach lurch. Because now she thought about it, who else would apologize to Zella before stabbing her or caress her hair so gently as she lay dying, other than someone who obviously cared for her?

"Oh my God," Hermione whispered, leaning against the wall for support as the truth dawned. She felt sick to her stomach and not just from the blood that now coated the floor.

Please no, Zella's ghost thought, beginning to cry, although of course the tears were missing.

The man, openly crying as Zella's chest fell and did not rise again, sank his head on top of hers and the moonlight that shone on his face confirmed what Hermione and Zella had already guessed.

As Trayton kissed the forehead of the woman he loved and killed, Zella's ghost began to wail, the noise soon turning into a scream that echoed through the halls. Trayton retrieved the knife, but before he could set about slicing out Zella's tongue, the scene around them went black as Zella lost her grip on the memory. She had managed to hold on to life for that long but she couldn't remember what she hadn't been alive to witness.

Hermione opened her eyes and, as everything hit her, began to cry quietly into the darkness.

A/N:

Yikes, that came out a little darker than I had intended it to. I'd better put up a warning at the beginning of the chapter -elevator music- okay, it's done.

Oddly enough, the last part I actually wrote at midnight -spooky-.

Reasons and motivations will become clear next chapter, hope that you all enjoyed and thank you very much for all of your reviews!

Have a great week,

- Momo