DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN EVERYTHING BUT THE PLOT, PEOPLE. EVERYTHING BUT THE PLOT.
A/n: Hi guys! As I've promised before, there's more DHr action in this chappie! :) just pure sexual tension, though.
Babygirl246024, Annabeth-Artemis, I'llCatchYouIfYouFall. thank you for your awesome reviews! I love you guys! :)
so, to answer Guest's review, this is not, in anyway, a ghost story! :) Draco doesn't and wouldn't move on from loving Hermione. Maybe because he doesn't need to, *hint *hint *wink *wink. This is a DHr story all through out! Promise! :)
CHAPTER FOUR- FLASHBACK
"Granger. Walk faster," Draco sneered, looking back at the Head Girl's silhouette. It was almost one o'clock in the morning and were supposed to be doing their rounds. He was tired from his Quidditch practice and was seriously annoyed that he had to slow his pace just so she could catch up to him. "Does your impure blood render your abilities to walk? Because that's the only sane reason that I can think of that can explain your lack of locomotive skills."
She refused to answer, or increase her pace, so Draco stopped and decided to wait for her. Rounds were no fun without someone to rile up.
He saw her roll her eyes as she came closer, disdain evident on her face. "My blood has nothing to do with your incorrigible attitude. It's not my fault that I can't stand being near you, therefore I'd rather not walk with you. Last time I checked, I couldn't stand you because you're an asshat."
"Ooh, the mudblood just swore. Call the Daily Prophet! I think we've just had a significant turning point in history right here." He retorted, smirking. "'Stuck up, Know-it-all, Mudblood Finally Learns How to Swear' would be a good headline, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah, and so would 'Stuck up, Know-it-all, Mudblood Brutally Murders the Amazingly Annoying Ferret for Being an Idiotic Blonde Jackass'." Hermione mumbled under her breath, finally catching up to Draco. She looked irritated to the point of murder, and she probably was.
"I don't think that something as small as you could murder me, much less hurt me. I doubt that that Gryffindork bullshit would even let you harm a hair on my head, Mudblood." Draco smirked.
Suddenly, with a blur of brunette and blonde, Hermione had him up against the corridor wall, her wand against his throat. She was breathing heavily, eyes flashing and mouth set into a scowl. In the faint moonlight, she looked feral, anger radiating of her in waves. It was the first time since third year that Draco had seen her so mad.
"Don't you dare underestimate me, Malfoy." She snarled. "Usually, I have just enough patience to keep from murdering you while I deal with you and your horrid remarks, but have been through hell today. Nothing has gone right for me. I am bloody tired and I want nothing but to just rest, but I'm stuck with you. So if I were you, you should stop trying to piss me off, because believe me, you do not want to know what little me is capable of once I'm furious."
Draco raised an eyebrow, staring down at her. He smirked, enjoying the feel of her anger, "Why so short-tempered, Granger? Poor ickle Weasel going out with another mudblood slut?"
"Mind your own business, ferret." Hermione hissed. "And shut it, I am not in the mood for you prejudice and blind suprematism right now. Stop acting like a Lucius Malfoy wannabe and start acting human for once!"
In another blur of blonde and brown, Draco had her pinned against the wall, trapped between his arms. She looked up at him, surprised and still furious. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Do not talk about my father, Mudblood. You have no right to. And stop trying to threaten me. As much as I know that you like being this close to me, mudblood, I don't. I don't care about you or your little band of merry idiotic friends. I don't give a fuck about what you feel. So don't ever threaten me like that again. Because, believe me, I can do much more worse things to you. So if I were you, I'd keep that wand safely hidden and stop threatening people who are much more capable of doing things that you can't even think of doing."
He stood still, trying to quell his rage. They stood there, all murderous glares and angrily flushed, bodies pressed together with enough hostility to kill. Tension filled the air, choking, clogging, making it difficult for them to breathe. Draco refused to break her glare-he wanted her to know that he was serious with his threat. He didn't even get repulsed by the insurmountable amount of mudblood germs that was most probably transferring to his clothes; he didn't care that they were close enough share breaths, even though he knew that it would dirty his insides and spread through him like the poison that she was; he didn't give a damn about the wand that was currently trained on his neck, because his wand was on her neck too, waiting for the other to move; he didn't care that he was dangerously close to her. She needed to know that he was not playing around. To move away would mean that he would have to break eye contact. And he wouldn't, not when he had a chance to teach her a lesson that was long overdue.
A scream pierced the quiet air.
"Shit. Shit! Malfoy, get off me, someone's screaming!" Hermione bellowed, panic evident in her features and tone. Draco stood still, taken aback, and slightly shocked himself. Hermione frowned at him and pushed him aside, immediately running towards the direction of the voice. "Malfoy! Stop being an idiot and follow me."
Immediately, Draco followed her, cursing himself for shutting down. But then again, he reasoned, it was probably the germs that he had contracted from her that had made him freeze. His long legs made it easy to catch up to her. Together, they ran towards the source, going up a flight of stairs, and eventually, into a dead end.
"Someone screamed, I'm sure of it." Hermione paced as she examined the walls and every crevice with the measly light coming from her wand.
"I know, I was there too." Draco said sarcastically, but he helped her search.
"They have got to be here somewhere." Hermione said, starting to backtrack.
"Stop pacing, mudblood, you're wearing out the floor and giving me a head ache." Draco snapped, still following the witch. "They're probably just students being out and goofing around. They do exist, you know."
"Shut it, Malfoy." The brunette said harshly, as she continued to walk down the hall. "That scream... It was something else. Maybe that was a student, but he or she definitely wasn't goofing around. There was pain in that scream. We have to find them."
Draco remained silent, begrudgingly agreeing to her. He knew how tortured screams sounded. That scream was definitely a tortured one, despite him wishing that it was otherwise.
They continued down the hall, flashing their wands around, looking for anything that might help them. "Granger, we need to inform the teachers about this, they could-"
Hermione shushed him, glaring at him before staring pointedly at the object that her wand was lighting up.
There, by a statue beside a flight of stairs, was a pair of bloody beaten up sneakers.
"Mudblood, I know you're all chivalrous and all, but there is blood on that shoe. We need to call reinforcements. If you want to risk your life, then go, but we'll be caught up in this too if we don't call for help. Wha-"
"Shut up." Hermione whispered as she bent down and took some blood off the shoes. "It's still fresh-warm. They're around here somewhere."
"I really think that we-"
"What's the matter, Malfoy? Too cowardly to look?" That shut him up. He scowled at her, as he followed her up towards a set of stairs. They were following the trail of blood, moving stealthily until Hermione said, in a voice that was barely above a whisper, "If we don't find whoever it is that did this now, he or she might escape."
Draco nodded, understanding her logic, but it didn't mean that he would want to go ahead and happily put his life in danger. It was a Gryffindork thing, and Draco was purely Slytherin. Self preservation through and through.
The only thing that kept him from running back and finding a professor was Granger. If he left, she would find whoever who did this alone. And he can't very well leave her to do so herself. It was dangerous, and she might get hurt. He wouldn't allow that to happen. Because he would get all the blame, of course.
Voices floated down towards them, just loud enough to be heard, but not enough to be understood. Quietly, they inched closer, finally hearing the words said. It was difficult, though, because they were in the astronomy tower and the voices outside were faint, muffled by the howling wind.
"Please." A voice said. "Don't hurt... You can't... They'll know..."
"I... Filthy blood-traitor... For the good of... The dark lord... To happen... She's a target... Need... Message... You."
"What are they talking about? Can you hear?" Hermione whispered to Draco, curiosity and slight fear coursing through her. Draco understood her reluctance. As the impending war loomed closer, incidents like these were getting more common and common. It wasn't safe to go anywhere alone anymore. But there was never a case like this at Hogwarts. Hogwarts was safe. Hogwarts was impregnable.
That was about to be proven otherwise.
A blood-curdling scream came from the other side of the door, shocking them both. For a split second, Draco thought that Hermione would stay put. He thought that she would be sensible enough to know that going in would be too damn dangerous. He thought that she of all people would be rational enough and stay silent as the screams grew louder.
But no, of course she would barge in and ruin their cover and endanger both their lives.
Bloody Gryffindor.
Draco sighed, thinking about his misfortune of being stuck with someone who jumped into dangerous situations like ants drawn to sugar. He came in after her, ready to risk his bloody life to make sure that she was safe- he would be blamed if anything happened to her, after all.
If he was going to continue working with the mudblood, he might as well finalize his Will and Testament early. Heaven only knows how soon he was going to get killed by helping her out of these typically sticky situations. He knew that the Golden trio was a magnet for trouble, and he was stuck with a third of the said magnet. Hurrah.
He stood in front of Hermione, shielding her, anything that a typical gentleman would have done. He didn't know if it was from the adrenaline rush, or the frustration that the sadistic psychopath that they had been listening to had gotten away, but for a moment, he let himself forget of her dirty blood and let his instincts to protect her take over.
What could he say? He had wonky instincts from all the running around and sneaking.
"Oh Godric," Hermione whispered from behind him. "Merlin."
He twisted around, looking at her, checking for injuries and the like, anything that could have made her voice sound so broken. Again, he knew that getting him hurt would get him in trouble. It was just him trying to save his skin, not because he was concerned for her well being or anything.
Just as he was satisfied that the psychopath hadn't done anything physically to her, he noticed that her eyes were struck with horror. Slowly, he turned to his right and followed her gaze.
There, floating on the corner, hair being whipped around her face, blood dripping from a large gash on her forehead and pale as ice, was Luna Lovegood.
First, he had been assaulted by a ferocious Granger, then, he had been dragged into a frantic search for some horrible psychopath, and now this.
Damn, Draco was sure that he had done some unforgivable thing in his past life to merit his kind of luck. But knowing himself, he probably had.
Luna looked pale, frozen as she suspended a few feet from the tower floor. Her eyes were half-lidded, the dreamy expression that she usually wore was replaced by that of pain and horror. Her hair was floating around her, giving her a look of someone submerged in water.
In a scale of 1 to 10, the scene was definitely a 12 in the creepiness meter.
"Luna." Hermione whispered from beside Draco, and for the first time, he saw a look of pure terror adorn the witch's face. "Oh Merlin, Malfoy, call Mcgonagall, I can't move her, she looks pretty beaten up. I might damage something if I remove the levitation spell."
He glared at her, before raising an eyebrow in defiance. "No,"
"And why not?" Hermione screamed at him, anger and annoyance in her expression.
"Because, if you hadn't noticed, the moron who did this is still at loose. If I leave you here, he might come back and finish the job off."
"I can defend myself fine, Malfoy." She said through gritted teeth, crossing her arms before saying, "I've faced much worse things."
"I refuse to leave you out here, to stand alone in this tower, in open air, without any cover to protect you from someone who isn't above creeping up on an unsuspecting victim. At least, not on my watch." Draco said, crossing his arms.
"Oh, for the love of all that is holy!" Hermione screamed in frustration. "Do you see her, Malfoy?" She said, pointing towards Luna's floating body. "She is losing blood. A lot of blood. If she doesn't get help soon, she might-"
"I know, mudblood! I know." He screamed with equal fervor. "But the fact still remains that the killer is still at loose! Leaving you here would mean that you'll be like a sitting duck! I refuse to do so! I could get blamed for this!"
Hermione looked at him skeptically, before shouting, "You worry more about your reputation than her life? How could you even-"
Draco raised his wand and it released two jets of pulsing golden light, with proceeded to blast themselves into rather large and loud fireworks. "There! Happy now? That's bound to get some attention!"
"Now the whole school would know! The head master might want to keep this a secret!"
Deafening popping sounds radiated from all around them, as bright flashes of light surged at random, bathing them in a multicolored glow.
"Oh you should be aware after almost seven years of living here that nothing stays a secret in this Salazar forsaken place. The whole school would have found out eventually." Draco countered. "At least now, we'd be sure to get the authorities' attention."
"Yes! And the attention of the whole student body! How can you-"
"If I recall correctly, it was you who decided to jump right into this mess without calling for help!" Draco screamed, leaning tall over her. He didn't know why she was so pissed at him, he was only doing the most sensible thing. Golden light flashed around them as thunderous pops continued to disturb the otherwise still night air. "We could have avoided this if you had just-"
"Mr. Malfoy! Ms. Granger!" Professor Mcgonagall's affronted voice floated from the doorway. "What's the meaning of all this noise! You two have a lot of expalining to-"
She stopped cold when she saw the sight of Luna.
"Merlin, Ms. Lovegood." Mcgonagall said, eyes widening as she moved swiftly towards the still fuming pair. "We need to get her to the hospital wing!"
"What is all this racket about?" Another voice sneered from the stairs, after a moment, Snape's nightgown clad body emerged.
"Severus! Help me levitate miss Lovegood to the hospital wing! Quickly!" Mcgonagall said frantically as the two teachers set to work. She turned towards the Head boy and girl. "You two, follow us, and would you please stop the pyrotechnics."
Hermione glared at Draco as he stopped the fireworks. She brushed passed him, moving on to follow the professors.
Ungrateful woman. He had essentially made sure that she hadn't been next on the moron's list of victims, and all he got was a cold look and a brush off. Ungrateful mudblood. He should have left her on the tower to fend for herself, consequences be damned.
Then, as the thought crossed his mind, he cursed himself for knowing that he could have never left her in harm's way. He would have been blamed, if anything had happened to her, and he wouldn't want that, of course.
He sighed as he moved to follow the group.
They had a long night of explaining ahead of them.
"So you heard her scream, followed her, and then forced yourself out into the tower roof and saw her levitating, is that correct, Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger?"
"Yes, Professor," Hermione nodded as she sipped her cup of coffee. Draco just nodded, glancing around the almost remote hospital wing. A lone figure was placed at the far corner of the room, but otherwise, it was only him, Granger, and Mcgonagall sitting around the now patched-up Lovegood. He heard Granger sigh tiredly, and he understood her exhaustion. Snape and Pomfrey were currently brewing potions in the other room, seeing as the gash on Luna's forehead proved difficult to close and the mediwitch had ran out of her blood replenishing potion before they figured out how to heal it. Luna still needed more blood, so she was currently working with Snape as Mcgonagall interrogated the two heads. It was already three in the morning and it looked like Mcgonagall didn't plan on letting them sleep. Bloody old bat.
"You didn't catch a glimpse of the culprit? No telling sign, whatsoever?"
"None." Hermione sighed, and then added, "He jumped off the tower roof and away into the night before I could shine my wand light on him. It was all so fast. Malfoy didn't even get to see him go."
"Yeah," Draco nodded absently. He took a sip of coffee and wrinkled his nose at the bitter taste. He hated coffee, but if he wanted to return to his dorm in one piece, he had to stay alert. "He was wearing a dark cloak. It looked like he was riding a broom away from the tower."
"I see." Mcgonagall said, nodding. "And before you barged in, did you hear anything?"
"Yes." It was Draco who answered this time. "Something about the Dark Lord and someone else being a target."
Draco knew that he would get in trouble for relaying this piece of informaton to Mcgonagall, especially if the man was indeed on a mission from the Dark Lord, but he needed the Professor to trust him. As his father had said, he wouldn't be any useful to the Dark Lord if he was suspected.
Not that he'd want to be useful to the hypocritical asshole. Voldemort talked about blood purity when he himself was a half blood. Heir of Slytherin or not, his father was still a muggle, and therefore that made him unfit to even lead any kind of cause. Draco was appalled when he first came across the information, hearing it from Wormtail during his sixth year. Ever since then, he had contemplated leaving Voldemort's service, since he thought that it was a stupid cause, but his father would not leave. And when it came down to it, his family loyalty had forced him to stay.
"Interesting. But why would they target Luna, though?"
"I don't think that Luna was targeted, Professor." Hermione piped up. "I think she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. She tends to wander at night, and I think he or she just caught Luna and decided that she should be disposed of."
"But she might also be, targeted, Granger." Draco countered. "She was dragged up and tortured in the tower, for heaven's sake. It doesn't make sense if the culprit just didn't want to get caught. He would have just stood there and left her alone."
"But she couldn't possibly have been set up! No one goes through the edge of the seventh floor halls except for astronomy class, and there were no classes today!"
"Lovegood is barmy. She may have just wandered around, and the culprit might have predicted that! She might-"
"Enough you two. Your shouting is giving me a migraine. You can both be right." Mcgonagall conceded as Granger gave him a glare. "I have to discuss it with Dumbledore tomorrow, now, why don't you two get some sleep? I'll excuse you from your classes tomorrow, but be here by noon so that you can help me ask Luna questions. Stick together, if you please. And be careful, both of you."
They both nodded, rising up from their chairs. When they were safely out of earshot, Draco leaned in closer to Hermione, who was tiredly rubbing her eyes.
"Hear that, Mudblood? Mcgonagall said we should stick together. No dillydallying behind this time."
"You still want to argue about that?" Hermione said sarcastically, holding up her hands in mock surrender, saying, "Okay okay, Malfoy, I'll keep myself within reasonable distance of you royal asshole-ness."
"Good." Draco nodded, ignoring her sarcasm, before smirking and turning to her again, "Well, let's get you up to our dorms, my lowly peasant. You look like you've battled a rabid raccoon. Maybe some sleep might make you look pretty. Or at least as pretty as you can hope to be."
"Ha-ha Ferret. Your joking ability is so superb." Hermione deadpanned.
Draco continued smirking at her smugly. He was dead exhausted, but riling Granger up and annoying her was worth the extra energy that he had spent on his insults.
"How is she, Madame Pomfrey?" Hermione asked as she and Draco followed the mediwitch to the area where Luna was relocated.
"She's fine- recovering." The mediwitch answered as she pulled the heavy curtain separating the inner sanctum of the ward. Students were usually placed here when they had lasting injuries.
"Zabini?" Hermione said from beside Draco. The blonde looked shocked to see his Italian friend on the bed beside the still quite unconscious Luna.
"What are you doing here, Blaise?" Draco asked, masking the slight concern that he felt for his best mate.
"Fell off my broom and landed on Vince after practice." Blaise grimaced, wrinkling his nose and rolling his eyes. "He accidentally hit me with a curse that rearranged my internal organs. I'm stuck here til Madame Pomfrey fixes my insides up."
"Has Luna woken up yet?" Hermione inquired, sitting on Luna's bedside. She scowled as Malfoy moved towards her, but her expression turned into one of relief as Draco sat on Blaise's bedside. Draco scoffed, as if he would ever voluntarily sit next to a mudblood like her.
"Not since she's been brought in here, no." Blaise answered. His gaze drifted to Luna's still body. Draco saw a hint of concern flash before his friend's face before Blaise put on a mask of indifference. "What happened to her, anyway?"
"Some wanker caught her wandering in the halls and decided to torture her." Draco answered, and he and Blaise exchanged worried looks. If the agents of the Dark lord were brazen enough to enter Hogwarts, probably one of the safest anti-death-eater places in all of Europe, then the slimy old git must be after something or someone important.
Draco released a shaky breath, knowing sooner or later, he or Blaise or Nott would be called upon to do the job. He shuddered at the thought of being initiated into those vile Death Eater ranks. The three of them had hated Voldemort since fourth year, when he started monopolizing their parents' lives and therefore monopolizing their lives. They were almost of age. It was only a matter of time before one of them got initiated. As the war grew, more and more people would be needed inside the school, seeing as it held most of the wizarding youth. When the time came that Snape would no longer be an adequate enough spy, Voldemort would start recruiting students. And Draco, Theo and Blaise would be on top of the list of candidates, that was for sure.
"Malfoy? Are you even listening to me?" Hermione said irritably as she shot Draco a piercing glare.
"No." Draco shrugged, covering his lack of attention with nonchalance. "Not worth listening to."
"Why you, little prat." Hermione huffed. "As I said, we shouldn't be throwing the details of Luna's stay here around. You of all people should know that this should be hushed up. I'm sorry, Zabini, but we'd rather not let the whole school in on the secret."
Blaise shrugged nonchalantly, before giving Hermione a winning smile and saying, "Sure, but that depends on how much you're willing to let me do to you, Granger. In exchange for the secrecy, of course." He winked at her, and smiled with amusement, making Hermione understand that it was all just harmless play.
"Wouldn't you like to know, Zabini?" Hermione replied, trying desperately not to laugh. She was used to these flirty exchanges.
Draco frowned at the exchange. He knew that the two were acquainted, bordering on being friends, even. They had been partners in Potions class during fifth year. But he didn't know that they liked to flirt. Blaise might, but he never thought that Granger would even as much as play along. Draco growled, glowering at the two. He hated that Blaise was like this with the mudblood. Zabini knew better.
Draco swatted Blaise with a copy of the Daily Prophet that was on the Italian's bedside table. "That's enough you two, heaven knows it might push Looney Lovegood into an even worse condition."
"What is your problem, Ferret? Why can't you just sit there and stop being annoying for at least a-" Hermione began, but the curtains immediately opened and Theodore Nott walked in.
"Hermione," he greeted, blushing deeply, completely ignoring his two best mates as he stood awkwardly on the curtained entrance. Then, he seemed to notice the other people in the room. "Blaise, how are you?" Theo asked the Italian, completely oblivious to the death glares that he was receiving from his blonde so called friend.
"Fine, mate. Or, as fine as you could be with your kidney and pancreas and who knows what else exchanging positions." Blaise grunted in response.
Theo chuckled, and then turned towards The brunette, "So, Hermione, what are you doing here?"
Hermione flashed him a smile and Draco flashed him a furious glare. Did every fucking Slytherin seventh year like the mudblood now? It frustrated him to no end, knowing that they interacted with her on a level above acquaintances, no one was supposed to do so with the mudblood. It wasn't proper! Before the brunette could answer, Draco barked, "None of your business."
Theo turned towards him, seemingly surprised. He gave Draco a questioning glance as he made his way to sit beside the fuming blonde. Probably not the best decision, since Draco looked ready to claw his eyes out.
How dare he break the Slytherin code by speaking in friendly terms with a lowly mudblood!
Hermione shot the blonde a death glare similar to the one he was donning, before completely softening her expression up and turning towards Theo, "Malfoy and I are here to visit Luna, and we're supposed to meet with Mcgonagall."
"Oh." Theo said thoughtfully. "But in the hospital wing?"
"Yeah. Urgent matters to discuss, which are again, none of your business." Draco said, which earned him another confused stare from Theo.
"As much as I'd hate to agree with the rude ferret, he's right, Theo, I'm sorry." Hermione said apologetically. "We can't disclose the details to you, at least, not yet. I'll fill you in once we get the go signal from Professor Mcgonagall and Professor Dumbledore, okay?"
Theo blushed as the brunette flashed him another winning smile. Draco sulked, glaring at the pair as he thought evil thoughts towards Theo. and just as the blonde was about to add another snarky comment, a dreamy sigh escaped from the bed nearest Hermione.
"Luna?" Hermione asked, leaning over the blonde. "She's waking up, I'll go fetch Madame Pomfrey!"
And with that, the Head girl practically left out of her seat and flew out of the cordoned area.
Lovegood sat up, blinking blearily and confusedly at her surroundings. She diverted her attention to the Slytherin trio, shooting them an inquisitive glance. The room suddenly tensed as the awkward silence continued to fill the room. That is, until Luna smiled brightly and said, "You three have nargles around your head."
Blaise broke out laughing, clutching at his sides as Theo and Draco looked at the two as if they were crazy. And maybe the Italian and the dreamy blonde were. Blaise's laugh subsided, and he asked, "Do you know how to get rid of them?"
"He has got to be kidding me." Draco muttered as he and Theo exchanged flabbergasted looks.
"Looks like he isn't." Theo replied, and Draco momentarily forgot about his current desire to incinerate the other boy alive. They pasted on identical Slytherin smirks as they watched the italian and dreamy blonde have a serious conversation.
"Miss Lovegood," Professor Dumbledore said as he walked in. "I'm glad to see that you're up and awake."
"Yes, Professor," she sighed dreamily, "As I was saying to Blaise here, a Snicklepuff must have been tickling my ears, because that's the reason why I woke up. They tend to love earwax, you know, but their fur tends to be quite ticklish."
"I see," the old Professor nodded with amusement. "But back to the most pressing issue. Do you recall anything that happened to you last night, Miss Lovegood?"
"Actually... Now that I think about it, I don't, Professor." Luna said, her tone never once deviating from its dreamy state. "The last thing I remember was wandering around the halls, looking for my shoes. I've lost my last pair, you see, and I really needed to find a pair. I think I managed to find one behind the statue of Oddrick the Oddball by the Astronomy tower, and that's the last thing I recall."
"You lost your shoes?" Blaise, Theo and Draco asked in unison as Hermione also asked, "They took your shoes again?"
"Well, it's yes to all your questions." Luna smiled at the four.
"You don't recall seeing or interacting with anyone else?" Professor Mcgonagall asked softly, surveying the newly awakened girl.
"No... But I can't seem to recall anything else after finding my shoes."
Professor Dumbledore's expression turned inquisitive, his wrinkled brow furrowing before he smiled and said, "Would you mind if you show me your memories, Ms. Lovegood?"
"Of course I don't, Professor." The blonde smiled and nodded, "But you might want to be careful though, Daddy says that I've got a case of Bratindollies, they might make you going into my head difficult, especially because they're known to make one's magic a little wonky."
After an hour of poking around Luna's head, the old professor deemed that the culprit had placed a very powerful memory charm on her, but considering the ordeal that she had been through, she was fine. Dumbledore and Mcgonagall left after the exchange, with Granger wanting to go back to lessons after Lovegood fell asleep, the three Slytherin boys were left together, staring at each other and not knowing what to do.
After a few minutes, it was Theo who broke the uncomfortable silence, saying, "Who do you reckon did it?"
"Might be Pucey, he's stealthy and actually has two extra brain cells on him." Blaise remarked, settling down and looking at Luna with an unreadable emotion present on his face.
"Could also be one of the Carrows." Draco mulled, "There was a lot of screaming, I'm betting that there was a bit of torture involved. The twins love that sort of thing."
"Yeah," Theo nodded, and Draco noticed that he was scratching his wrist. It was one of Theo's nervous habits. Draco frowned, knowing that if something riled Theo up, there was good enough reason to panic. Before the blonde could say anything, Theo spoke up and said, "Do you reckon that they'll start recruiting soon?"
"Yeah." Draco nodded, frowning slightly at the thought. He didn't agree with the cause that his father partook in. None of them did. But they were slaves to their own fate, and Draco didn't bother sugarcoating it. Among the three of them, it always fell to him to tell them the truth, or at least be as blunt as he could be. "Father talked to me about the initiation this summer. The bloody fool was brimming with excitement when he talked about the initiating tasks that we were supposed to do. It was different with every person, he said. And I bet that every stupid thing would be as vile as the last one."
"I don't want to be a Death eater." Theo whispered, scratching at his wrist.
"Of course you don't. I don't think that death would taste nice." Blaise said, attempting a joke, but he was silenced with the other two's serious glares. "You two don't need to be so morbid about it. We'll get through this war, everything would be fine. Hell, we might not even get initiated!"
"Easy for you to say," Draco scoffed. "Your mother isn't part of the inner circle. Hell, the stupid git doesn't even talk to her, and she isn't even initiated. Theo and I can't avoid it, even if we tried. My father is a sadistic bastard. He'll do anything to get me to join. He might even use mum, since he knows that I would do anything to protect her."
"Mine probably would, too." Theo said glumly.
"Well, at least you two should just be the bumbling teenage idiots that we are while we still have the time! No use on thinking about it if you're just going to sit there and look like you just lost your bloody fortunes. So wipe those frowns off your ugly faces and find a girl and shag her senseless. That would probably do you two good."
"Har-har, Zabini." Draco said sarcastically. "Trust you to make a joke about this whole shitty situation. You should go back to being a sulking Slytherin. I hate it when you try to cheer us up. You suck at it."
"Nah, you love it, it's just your pride saying that you don't." Blaise smiled smugly.
"I'm pretty sure that we don't." Theo smiled, looking up and shaking his head, and chuckling, "Cheer is a Gryffindor thing, after all. And you mate, are purely Slytherin. We all are. Cheering up doesn't sit well with our apparent inclination to general lack of enthusiasm and masochistic love for making everyone miserable."
Blaise and Draco joined in, chuckling quietly, and then Blaise said, "Speaking of Gryffindor, what is up with you and Granger?"
Draco froze, seemingly unable to process the question, and instantly wanting to defend himself against it. He was about to open his mouth to say that there was no way in hell that there would anything be between him and the mudblood when Theo beat him to it, and said, "Nothing! There's nothing going on between us! I mean, Hermione barely even notices me and-"
"You and Granger?" Draco said furiously as he turned towards Theo. "What the hell, Nott? You of all people know that she's off limits!"
"I do." Theo said, dropping his gaze and scratching his wrists again. "That's why I haven't said anything to her yet."
"You're actually admitting that you like Granger?" Blaise said, his eyebrows shooting up as Draco saw the Italian glance at him. Draco was still surprised, not knowing wether it was because he was furious or because he was shocked. He expected Theo to deny the accusation, but he obviously didn't.
"Yeah," Theo said, blushing, not noticing that the blonde beside him was reddening too. "I mean what's not there to like? She's intelligent, funny, kind, brave and she's... Well, she's beautiful."
"Draco, our baby is having his first crush." Blaise cooed as he grinned at Theo's obvious discomfort. Between the three of them, Theo had always been the baby, always the most innocent and naive, well, as naive as a Slytherin could get.
Theo turned crimson and Draco's complexion resembled that of a beet root. "I just... I know that you hate her and all," Theo told Draco, mistaking his speechless fury as disapproval - which it was, Draco reminded himself. "But she's something different, you know. She's head strong, she's stubborn, and she doesn't look at me like I'm evil. She looks at me like another human being, and during these times, those looks are rare. She's passionate, and she's... She's just... Different. I can't believe that I like her, but I do. I mean-"
Suddenly, Draco's Malfoy ring warmed up, signalling that his father was calling for him. He stood up abruptly, mumbling excuses as he walked out of the hospital wing.
How dare he like her? How could he be so stupid to like Granger, of all people? Draco thought to himself as his father drawled endlessly in front of him. How idiotic could Nott get? Did he have a death wish? Sporting feelings for Granger is like a death wish. Especially if Nott Senior found out.
"Draco, are you even listening to me?"
"Uhm, sorry father, I haven't had much sleep last night."
"That isn't even a proper excuse." His father hissed. "You're lucky that I am in a splendid mood."
"And why is that, Father?" He asked dryly, deciding to humor the old man. Pissing Lucius off would do him no good whatsoever.
"Because the Dark Lord wants to initiate you to our cause." His father said gleefully, and Draco paled at the older man's words. It wasn't possible, it was still so early in the school year, surely, Snape was still very useful as a spy. Surely the Dark Lord didn't need anybody else.
"I... I don't know what to say, Father." He said, careful to keep his emotions in check.
"Well, you should be happy! This is glorious event, you're the youngest to be initiated, and from a direct request of the Dark Lord, you should be proud!"
"I am," he lied smoothly, trying to hide the panic that was washing over him in waves. "What is the task?"
"It's not just a task, Draco, it's the task that will elevate your standing in the Dark Lord's eyes." His father explained, smiling manically. "Since the last attempt to infiltrate Hogwarts failed, seeing as Alecto wasn't successful in trying to replace and pose as one of the students, the job will belong to you."
So that was what happened to Lovegood. The psychopath had been Alecto Carrow in disguise. Granger was right. Lovegood was just a random chose. Damn that stupid mudblood bookworm, always managing to get everything right.
"This task will be the first of two stages of your initiation, but we will give it to you in parts. You have to accomplish one before moving to the next part. Am I understood?"
"Yes, of course, Father." He replied. "What's the first part?"
"Excited, aren't we, Draco?" His father smiled maliciously. "The Dark Lord wants you to be nice to the mudblood."
"What?" Draco said, eyes widening into saucers and eyebrows shooting comically up.
"He wants you to befriend Hermione Granger."
A/n: Soooo, what do you think? :D questions, clarifications, please tell me! Reviewwww! :)