Disclaimer: Refer to previous chapters :D
A/N: Hehe, surprised? I bet you looked at your calendars XD Yup, it's still a Saturday here (or a Friday, wherever you live) and I am UPDATING! Yeah, well, I wasn't really planning to. It's like a spur-of-the-moment. But since my awesome beta reader OnErrantry emailed me the edited version of this chapter. Goodness, if you just compared the original from the edited… you'd die laughing. Gads, I knew I lack this so-called Beta-Reading Powers! Hence, do thank OnErrantry for doing an awesome job. I think my grammar here is flawless!
Anyway, I shan't rant any longer. Leave a review! Please enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Four: New Semester
"HERMES!"
Theodore Nott's screams never ceased to amaze the people around him. Some blatantly stared at him, amusement on their faces. Others couldn't help but softly chuckle at his childish attitude. Some girls would sigh dreamily, secretly wishing that it was their name he was screaming.
But right now, two people were not exactly thrilled with him. Blaise looked slightly embarrassed to be flanking Teddy's side. He gave him a subtle glare, which Teddy never caught because he continued to be unfazed and excited.
Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, had a huge scowl on his face. Sure, he was used to Teddy's loudness. But it still irked him at times when Teddy was being too noisy for his liking. "Calm down, you bloody twerp. There's no need to shout at the top of your lungs."
Teddy brushed off his comment as soon as he was standing in front of his roommates. They had just returned from a week of break and he would be lying if he said that he barely missed Hogwarts. Or him, for that matter.
He had shoved his school trunk away, which landed with a resounding thud in the Great Hall. People closest to him cringed from the noise but Teddy did not even give a damn.
Because he was back in Hogwarts. And he was so happy he could actually dance the Macarena right there and then without a care for who in the whole world was watching.
Sure, Annie and Christmas had given him such joy a week ago. He hadn't seen Annie for a while, and seeing her so grown-up and lady-like already made his heart swell in pride. Soon she would be breaking so many blokes' hearts, he couldn't wait to watch their misery. Annie was one manipulative girl and she knew that. She used it to her full advantage, and unfortunately even her big brother was wrapped around her gorgeous finger.
And Christmas… oh Merlin, he had received so many gifts. It made him wish that Christmas would be celebrated every day. He had received numerous sweets for his growing pile and he made an effort to write back 'thank you' notes to those people who gave him the gifts he liked.
Both paled in comparison now that he was staring straight at his sole object of affection. He knew Annie wouldn't be exactly thrilled if she knew she wasn't currently the number one person in his heart. But Annie wasn't there, and he was allowed to feel things without being ordered around.
He took a sharp breath when Hermes flashed him the infamous smile that stopped his world and froze time. It was unnerving, knowing a guy did that to him. He used to think that only a girl would have the power to do that. His heart was so strange, making him fancy a person of the same sex. It was weird, yeah, but after months and months of spending time with Hermes Austen, he came to accept it. If he was to like any guy in the whole world, he sure would choose Hermes. Hands down.
"Hermes," he repeated once again, his voice sounding a bit breathless.
He did something that surprised both him and the brunette – he gave him a bone-crushing hug. "I had sorely missed you," he confessed, his hug around his roommate tightening. To hell with all of the spectators. He hadn't seen Hermes for ages and he deserved to have as much physical contact with him as possible.
What Hermes said made his heart soar bloody high in the clouds. "I missed you, too, Teddy," he said, laughing as he patted his back. "But it'll be nice if you allow me to breath properly, you know."
Embarrassed, Teddy pulled away from him and smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry," he said, ruffling his hair. "I can't help myself."
Blaise sighed, reminding him that both he and Draco were still present. Noticing them made Teddy more embarrassed. "You have no idea how much he ranted about you in the train, Hermes," Blaise said. "Almost drove me mad."
The brunette chuckled and shook his head, his short hair slightly bouncing on his shoulders. He motioned for all of them to follow him back to the Slytherin common room. It was strangely cold in the Great Hall.
"That's good to know," he said as soon as they started walking. "Anyway, how was your Christmas?"
"Fine."
"Wicked."
Teddy saw Austen raise an eyebrow. "I see neither of you were too thrilled about being home," he pointed out.
"I had to attend to countless balls," Blaise exclaimed. "It's not exactly my idea of a cheerful holiday."
"Annie's being such an immature brat," Teddy butted in. Draco and Blaise simultaneously snorted but he ignored it. "I almost got into an accident because of her. But here I am, in one piece, and I'm so happy to be back." His eyes quickly landed on Draco before returning to Hermes. "How was your Christmas?"
A small smile appeared on Hermes' face and he discreetly glanced at Draco. Teddy was able to catch it. "It was… fine, I guess," he said. "Although a little… bizarre. I dunno."
Teddy accusingly looked at Draco and sputtered, "You did not take good care of him, did you?" To complete his accusation, he pointed a finger at the blond. "Didn't I tell you to take good care of him before we left, huh, Draco?"
His best friend merely rolled his eyes. "He's a big boy," he pointed out, "He doesn't need to be taken care of."
The childish Slytherin only replied with a glare. His blazing jealousy for his best friend mellowed when Draco gave him the best sweets of Honeydukes for his Christmas gift. Sure, he was immature, but he was still a decent bloke. A lot of people did not know that expensive gifts from Draco meant something, which was that you were important to him and worthy of his money.
Hermione and the others had arrived in the Slytherin common room now. She greeted some of her returning Housemates with a happy smile and cheerful hello. She still couldn't believe that a lot of them had remembered to give her a gift. Slytherins were really baffling.
Finally, they strolled inside their room. A frown touched her features when Draco locked the door and even cast a charm to soundproof their room.
"What's going on?" Blaise voiced what all three of them were thinking. Hermione saw at the corner of her eyes that he, too, was frowning.
"Sit down," Draco ordered, his face growing dark. Gone was the cool and collected blond. Instead, a worried one was blatantly staring at each and every one of them.
She reluctantly followed his order. Blaise sat down on his bed and Teddy was the last one to oblige.
"Is this something about what you included in your last letter?" the carefree Slytherin asked. "The one you said was extremely important?"
He nodded and sat down on his own bed. His arms instantly crossed against his chest as he looked from one of his roommates to the other. His eyes slightly lingered longer when they landed on Hermione. As soon as he looked away, he started to speak, "This isn't a good topic to talk about, seeing that the Christmas break just ended. But this is of extreme importance. So listen carefully, you understand?"
"I don't like your tone, Malfoy," Hermione cut in, her frown deepening. Blaise unconsciously nodded his head while Teddy said a soft 'yeah'.
Draco merely rolled his eyes. "Just listen," he snarled, growing annoyed. Hermione glared back but did not say anything back anymore. "Good. Now, the Dark Bastard had ordered me to tell you that the trainings for this new semester will be frequent. He has some new battle strategies, which I have no idea of. Except that Hermione Granger's parents" – he looked straight at the brunette herself – "are still unconscious in the headquarters. A few more months and the Secrets of the Order will be revealed. As soon as he has unlocked all their secrets, he will attack. The Death Eaters will attack. We will attack."
He paused to take a deep breath. "And so, expect that the trainings will also be… grueling. 'Complain or restrain', that'll be your motto. Complain if you want to be punished. Restrain yourself if you want to live. This is no joke, guys. There's no time for your petty needs. You can't act childish in front of Voldemort, for goodness' sake. Especially you, Theo. The next meeting, which will be the very first training day for the new recruits, will be this coming Saturday - "
"Already?" Blaise asked in disbelief. He looked at his other roommates and saw that they were surprised, too. He even swore that Hermione was paler than normal, even paler than Malfoy.
"Yes, Blaise, already," Draco confirmed, nodding his head. "So be ready. I'm not… I'm not telling you to expect the best, okay? Just ready yourselves and have the willpower to stay alive. There were Death Eaters in the past that went insane because of following that monster."
As soon as he finished his speech, the whole room was silent.
It was slightly deafening for Hermione. To ease her discomfort, she shuffled her feet against the cold floor. Her eyes were firmly glued on the floor when she finally decided to break the silence. "This is really it, right?" Her voice was eerily soft in the whole room. "The trainings… punishments… pain."
"Don't make it sound so bad, Austen," Draco shot back in a joking manner. When Hermione looked at him, he looked anything buthumorous.
Teddy snorted, a humorless chuckle following. "Yeah, don't make it sound so bad, Hermes," he snarled. "We're just starting our slow journey to our imminent death. No need to be so pessimistic."
'Amazing,' was the only word that came up into her mind as she stared at her roommates, friends, baffled. It was amazing how they could still joke around, albeit lamely, over something that was driving her a little more nuts every time she thought about it. It was probably their way to alleviate their terror. But for Hermione, it was more pathetic than showing real fear. They were trying in vain to conceal what they were truly feeling, and it was almost heartbreaking.
"When will this bloody thing end?" she moaned, covering her eyes with her face. "I want to go home." The last sentence that came out of her mouth was uttered in a soft, childish tone.
Images of her parents, of Harry, Ron, and Ginny, and of her other Gryffindor friends flashed before her eyes. She fervently wished that as soon as she opened her eyes, she would be staring back at them. But when she did open them, her three roommates were still staring back at her, their terror now mixed with worry.
"Do you…" Blaise croaked, voice cracking. He cleared his throat. "Do you want to go down to the kitchen and just drink something, anything, just for some distraction?"
The others did not answer for a full minute. It was Draco who broke the silence. "That'd be nice, I guess," he said. His eyes landed on Hermione before continuing, "Just make sure to keep the firewhiskey away from the nuisance's hands. He might puke all over you this time, Zabini."
"HEY!" was her reply, her eyes turning into thin slits.
Teddy snorted once again in laughter. He immediately covered it as soon as he saw her glare turn toward him this time. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said. "It's just too funny to stay stoic. Oh Merlin, that day was so priceless. Just thinking about it still makes me laugh."
An unwanted smile suddenly flitted on her face. Their sudden change of topic was desperately needed. She bet that the other three were also glad that their conversation had steered off from their previous discussion.
"Fine, laugh all you want," she spat out with feigned annoyance. "I'll make sure to drink eight glasses of firewhiskey again and spew my guts out all over you this time, Teddy. Let's just see who's going to laugh then."
"Ooh," Blaise said, followed by a low whistle. "Now, that's something I cannot miss for the world."
She finally laughed at Teddy's facial expression. How could she not, when he was looking so adorably scared now? "Let's just go, okay?" she said. "It's almost curfew and I think it's best if we did not all get detention on the first day of the new semester."
The other three followed her out, with Teddy trying in vain to hide behind Draco.
As they walked along the almost empty corridors, talking about mindless things, Hermione couldn't help but think that this new semester would be a long one.
She just hoped for the best.
Cold. Stuffy. Suffocating. Terrifying.
Those were the adjectives that ran through Hermione's mind as sweat trickled down from her forehead. With her wand hand, she wiped away the forming perspiration before it distracted her further.
Once again, they were in the dungeons in the Malfoy Manor. It was probably their third training day since the start of the new semester, but Hermione wasn't sure.
The training days were dreadful for Hermione. They were brought into a room somewhere in the dungeons. The first time she walked inside, her nose scrunched up in disgust. The whole room was reeking with residual magic from the Unforgivables; it was sickening. Hermione had to stop herself from retching. At the corner of her eyes, she could see that even Teddy and Blaise were trying in vain to mask their disgust.
The first day of their training, she had thought that they would use punished Death Eaters as their beginning practice dummies. So she was fairly surprised to see poor, caged rats scampering in fright.
"Easiest to hardest,"Draco had explained matter-of-factly, answering her silent question.
'Malfoy,' she thought, a dull pang shooting through her heart. Her eyes wandered around the room and saw his unmistakable blond hair. His face was screwed up in deep concentration, and perspiration was gathering on his forehead. His mercurial eyes were darker with determination and his lips were pressed tightly into a line. He still looked pretty much the same, though, except for the fading bruise on his jaw.
The first day of their training, an enraged Lucius Malfoy had dragged Draco out of the room to have a 'talk' with his son. Blaise, Teddy, and she shared a look of worry and just distracted themselves by practicing on the rats. Both Blaise and Teddy were exceptional that day. They were able to properly produce the Imperius Curse. Although she was not entirely used to using the Dark Arts, Hermione was also reasonably good that day. She was able to make a rat bleed and slowly die. It still gave her the creeps every time she remembered the frightened squeals of the dying rat.
After their training, Draco emerged from the other room. He was wearing his Death Eater mask as he ushered the students out of Malfoy Manor and back to their school.
Later that night, when Draco removed his mask, they discovered it. It was Teddy who first saw it. Blaise and Hermione were busy conversing with each other about the outcome of their first training day. They were disturbed by the carefree Slytherin, who dropped his wand on the floor with a clatter.
"Merlin," was his breathless exclamation, and when she turned to look at Draco, her stomach twisted into a knot.
There, on his jaw, was an angry purplish bruise shaped uncannily like a fist. It was sickening to look at. Hermione guessed it was worse than the bruise she had given him in their third year.
"Father was not pleased with my excuse for spending Christmas in Hogwarts," he said with his infamous Malfoy smirk. "Let's just say he was too angry to use a spell on me."
She had merely stared at him that day, awe-struck, because he was able to be so arrogant and lofty even though an angry bruise was forming on his jaw.
Despite the not-so-pleasant trainings they had, Hermione actually made progress in her task. Break times were very advantageous for the brunette. She could just slip away, make up some excuse like having to answer nature's call or something, and then she could venture all over the manor.
Since she was able to observe the whole structure, she discovered a few ostentatious decorations. They had antiques, which Hermione predicted were more expensive than her whole house. They even had intricate and ancient moving paintings, by famous painters.
Its extravagance was overwhelming. But Hermione willed herself to focus on her current task: find the room where her parents were hidden.
She did find it on the second day of their training. It was not that hard, since the topic of her parents' captivity was rampant all through the Death Eaters.
She discovered that they were currently residing in a room somewhere in the West Wing. She was able to locate it, hidden at the farthest corner of the Wing, hidden behind an innocent bookshelf. She was tempted to enter right there and then, but she knew it was guarded with extremely complicated spells.
'And besides,' she added in her mind, a wry smile on her face, 'they only allow females to enter the room.'
Hermione had no idea how such an arrangement occurred. All she knew was that there was one incident with one unidentified male Death Eater being assigned to that room that almost lead to the loss of their sole hope for destroying Harry Potter. After that, an enraged Voldemort ordered that only female members of their group are allowed to visit and tend to her parents.
"… dismissed."
Her mind returned to the present once the assigned Senior Death Eater announced the end of their training. She blinked her eyes thrice to shake off her task from her head and approached her roommates with Teddy eagerly beckoning her over.
"I've got some good news, Professor," Hermione announced, a huge smile on her face, as she strode inside the Headmaster's Office. She halted in her steps upon seeing Harry Potter standing beside Dumbledore's chair, arms crossed and lips curled into a frown. "Harry! I didn't… expect you here."
"I'm offended, 'Mione," he bitterly mumbled. "I haven't talked to you for ages, and now that you have some good news, you forgot me and asked for Dumbledore instead."
The old man seated on the chair chuckled in amusement.
Hermione, unable to help it, also laughed and shook her head. "All right, all right, I'm sorry, Harry," she said, beckoning him over for a hug. His upset demeanor completely vanished, replaced by unadulterated happiness as he enveloped her in a big hug. "It won't happen again. I promise."
"Now, now, children," the Headmaster spoke up, reminding them of his presence. Harry automatically broke free from Hermione's hug and also looked at their teacher. "Let us get down to the real purpose of this meeting, shall we?"
The two teenagers shared a secret smile and sat down on their respective places.
"All right," Dumbledore continued when both were comfortably settled on their seats. The old professor placed his chin on top of his hands and directed his gaze at Hermione. "Miss Granger, if you please, you can start now."
A huge, beaming smile lightened Hermione's features. "Gentlemen," she started. Harry released a comical snort, which he then covered up with a cough. "I have finally located the room where my parents are."
A gasp escaped from Harry's lips whilst Dumbledore's eyes merely twinkled.
"Blimey, Hermione. That's… brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. Hermione's eyes turned from Dumbledore to Harry. "I mean, that's some progress."
"Ah," the Headmaster said, "that is good news, indeed, Miss Granger. Good news indeed!"
"They're located in a secluded area in the West Wing of Malfoy Manor," Hermione continued, her eyes settling back on the old wizard. "Their room is also guarded with multiple, complex spells, which isn't surprising, seeing that they are the only hope for the downfall of The-Boy-Who-Lived. However, I have the feeling that after some research and practice, I will be able to successfully break each and every one of them. Actually, I have a complete list of the spells used to guard their door." She paused to take a huge breath. "Also, Voldemort has surprisingly allowed only females to enter the room. There are Death Eaters guarding the outside, of course, but only female members of their league are allowed to enter."
As soon as she finished her report, Harry released a low whistle. "Wow, that's some news," he said. "Merlin, how could you discover things like that while being inconspicuous?"
A proud smirk, almost Malfoy-like, flitted across Hermione's face. "That, my friend, is for me to know and you to find out," she said, reaching out to pat his hand. "We both know for a fact that of you and me, one of us cannot be subtle to save his own life."
An ashamed blush rose up into his cheeks and he glared. "Har har, I'm laughing so hard," he monotonously said.
Hermione laughed, patted his cheek affectionately, and then turned her gaze back to the Headmaster. Dumbledore, she noticed, was looking at them with warmth in his eyes. That only made her smile bigger. "What should I do next, Professor?" she asked. "I know the facts, although not entirely the details. But, what should I do next?"
His eyebrow arched up slightly as he shifted on his seat. Harry, who found her question interesting, was also looking at the Headmaster with anticipation in his eyes. "For now," he started, "just… rest, I believe."
The smile on her face completely disappeared. "Rest?" she repeated with emphasis. "Rest… sir?"
A small smile appeared on Dumbledore's face. "Well, Miss Granger, you've been awfully busy these past few weeks. I know for a fact that your Death Eater meeting just last Saturday was your fourth; Mister Malfoy told me…"
'So, it was our fourth, huh?' she thought. 'Not our third.'
Her mind snapped back into the present as Dumbledore continued. "You've been working a bit too hard, my dear student. And I understand your reason. Just, don't overreach yourself, please. You can't be reckless now, Miss Granger. Don't do anything, and I do mean anything, without a thorough plan. Just one mistake can have drastic results, Miss Granger. Trust me."
Her eyebrows were firmly knitted together as soon as he finished his small talk.
She could not believe him. Hermione Granger, for Merlin's sake, could not believe Albus Dumbledore. She had expected him to give her more advice onto how to save her parents and such. She did not expect him to just tell her to stop whatever she was doing and rest. Hermione Granger never rested, that was a known fact all over the school! She hated resting, especially if it meant setting her studies aside. She had long discovered that studying was extremely important, especially if she was aiming to graduate as the valedictorian of her batch.
And now that she was aiming to save her parents, far more important than being a valedictorian, she couldn't rest. She had to do everything, quick, before it was too late and everything she had worked hard for approximately five months to achieve would be wasted.
"I can't rest, Professor, you know that. I have to bloody save my parents. Rest? What rest?" She cringed, realizing that she had sounded a little bit harsh back there. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them once again, her eyes connected with Dumbledore's worried electric blue ones.
"I hate to say this, but I quite agree with Professor Dumbledore, Hermione," Harry butted in, reminding them of his presence.
Scandalized, Hermione's head whipped around and her gaze landed on Harry. "Not you too!" she exclaimed.
The-Boy-Who-Lived rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, Hermione, you're working too hard," he shot back. "You need some rest. I want you to be ablte to turn back into being Hermione Granger, in one piece."
She sneered.
"Hermione," he implored, standing up from his seat and kneeling in front of the brunette. He clutched both of her hands and pleaded for her to stare straight back into his eyes. "Listen… no, look at me. Stop overworking yourself. That has always been your weakness – being too immersed in something until you fulfill your goal. Relax. For goodness' sake, rest. You've done wonderfully these past few months, Hermione. Look, you've even discovered where your parents are already. So take a little break… a week perhaps? Don't research on the countercurses and such yet, okay?"
The disguised brunette pulled her hands away from Harry and stood up, eyes narrowed into a dark glare. "Rest?" she squeaked, enraged beyond comprehension. "How can you ask me to do such a… blasted thing when my parents are slowly dying?" Unbeknownst to her, tears started to gather at the corners of her eyes. "I have to save them. Goddammit, if I could, I would have done it now!"
Dumbledore was still calm and composed when he directed his eyes at his distraught student. "This is what I've been afraid of since the beginning, Miss Granger," he said, his voice sounding grave despite his unchanging expression. "Your emotions are clouding your practicality. This is a very dangerous task and you can't afford to be reckless… Hermione. You can't."
She was heaving huge breaths as she glared at the ground. Dumbledore was right. 'He's right,' she thought forlornly, tears now dripping down her face and plopping noiselessly on the stone. 'He's damn right.'
But she did not want him to know that she thought he was right. And so, she only did the thing she could think of right then – she turned around and fled the room.
"I knew you would be here."
A gasp of surprise escaped from Hermione as her head shot up and met the eyes of Draco Malfoy.
She was in her usual place in the library, somewhere secluded, and had been crying her eyes out for minutes (or maybe even hours) already.
She had missed dinner, she reckoned. She did not really mind, though. After her meeting with Dumbledore and Harry in the Headmaster's Office, she did not have the appetite for a full meal.
The brunette had been wallowing in her corner, realizing that she had been a complete bitch in the meeting with the other two. Goodness! She had no idea why she grew emotional. She hated crying, and to cry like a petulant child in front of her best friend and her teacher was too embarrassing for her.
"Malfoy," she wheezed out, able to talk despite her raw voice.
"Austen," he greeted back, wordlessly inviting himself to sit on her table. A strange look was settled on his face as he stared squarely at her tearstained face. "What a bloody nuisance you are, you know that?"
Despite her tears, she glared. "I don't give a bloody damn about what you say right now, Malfoy," she spat back. "I'm too distressed. I don't need your annoying words to put me down further."
He merely cocked an eyebrow, his trademark smirk settling on his face. "Being melodramatic now, aren't you?" he asked, followed by a small, humorous laugh.
She sneered. "Why the hell are you even here?" she asked hoarsely. "Leave me alone, Malfoy."
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "For your information, Blaise and Theo are going ballistic in the Great Hall," he started. "Those two have been looking all over the school for you. They've been here in the library numerous times already but they still couldn't find you."
Well, that was a lie back there. Draco had been the one growing worried, if not ballistic, ever since Hermione Granger never showed her face for dinner. Millions of imaginative things ran into his mind and he grew more and more panicked as the minutes ticked by. Blaise reckoned that she was merely doing an assignment somewhere in the school. Teddy, surprisingly, calmly shoveled all of his food down his throat before agreeing with the Italian.
'Bloody bastards,' he had muttered darkly under his breath as he looked for the brunette.
But she didn't need to know that, really.
"I just wanted to be alone," she said, pouting. His head snapped back to her to rid his mind of rubbish. "I didn't know they'd be worried." A suspicious glare appeared on her face. "By the way, how did you find this corner? Not even Harry and Ron knew about this place in the library…"
Her voice faltered when a dark blush appeared on his face. "Never mind that, Granger" – she hissed threateningly at that – "Anyway, now that I've seen you, will you be gracious enough to lift that damnable arse of yours and accompany me back to the Great Hall? End my misery; Blaise and Theo, oh especially Nott, are extremely embarrassing. By now, you should have known that, nuisance."
An exhausted sigh escaped from her lips. She crossed her arms on the table and buried her head in them, hiding her face away. "Just tell them I'm busy or something," she murmured under her breath. "Tell them I'm finishing a Potions essay somewhere. I guess they'll understand."
He was looking at her strangely. "What… exactly happened?" he carefully asked. He shook his head to get rid of Merlin-knows-what and the next thing Hermione knew, his face was a perfect mask of indifference.
Up until now, she could never fathom why she was spilling her emotions out in front of, of all people, Draco Malfoy. Just looking at him, the epitome of indifference, just… ticked something off in Hermione. It had been months now, she supposed. But in those months, she had become able to truly know him, trust him for goodness' sake! The blond never knew that she could actually see cracks on his metaphorical mask, as much as he wanted to keep his emotions to himself.
And there was something about those cracks, something that compelled her to tell him what she was truly feeling.
Bugger.
A sigh escaped from her lips and before she knew it, she was telling him truthfully about what she was feeling. She told him about her progress in her mission. She told him about how ecstatic Dumbledore and Harry were upon hearing the good news. She told him about Dumbledore's absurd request; for her to rest. She told him about her anxieties, fears… exhaustion. Everything just flowed out of her mouth.
As soon as she stopped talking, she was surprised to find that she was panting. Her chest was heaving up and down quickly, her lungs greedily gulping oxygen. What surprised her more was that her roommate merely sat there, pensive and silent… She stared at him expectantly, although she couldn't predict what to expect from him.
And then, a large smirk graced his features.
She blinked.
"That was so… typical of you, Austen," he said, the smirk still on his face. He released a sigh and leaned slightly forward, his face nearer hers. "Being so adamant on finishing a task without resting at all. Although I cannot believe you would be so emotional over something quite reasonable that came from, of all people, the nutcase."
Her jaw dropped, affronted. "I… I- what are you trying to imply, Malfoy?" she asked slightly harshly.
He rolled his eyes, his smirk disappearing from his face. A small smile, which greatly surprised Hermione, replaced it. "Nuisance, Potter and Dumbledore are right. You need to rest." She opened her mouth to retort with something, but he did not give her the chance. "Have you seen yourself lately? As in, your reflection? Merlin, you're a bloody mess. Our recent training sessions are not doing you any good."
Now that he mentioned it, she suddenly became aware of herself. Her eyes landed on the nearby windowpane and she truly saw. There were dark bags under her eyes, huge and prominent because of lack of sleep. Her cheekbones seemed prominent than the last time she had checked, due to how often she'd been skipping meals in order to research more in the library. Her lips were slightly paler than usual. Scowling, she looked away. Indeed, she was a bloody mess.
"Rest," he urged, continuing. "I mean… just look at you! You cry over the most trivial things, Austen. And you were never like that."
Her eyes narrowed at him. An emotion – betrayal – bubbled at the pit of her stomach. She honestly thought that he would contradict Harry and the Headmaster's wish. Merlin, he was actually agreeing with them!
Once again, Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh, stop being so stubborn," he spat. "I've seen you in the trainings, Austen, and you are doing brilliantly. You've progressed in your task; congratulations. But if you overwork yourself, I wouldn't be surprised if one day you just faint right there and then because of fatigue."
The remnants of her tears at the corners of her eyes chose that moment to roll down and she looked away, discreetly brushing them off.
'This is stupid,' she thought. 'Stop crying in front of Malfoy, Hermione.'
"Look," he continued. Was that exhaustion and desperation she detected in his voice? "This is of extreme importance, I know. Trust me, I really do. Just like you, there were times when I really felt like the Healers working on my mother were not doing their very best to find a cure for her, while I, her son, would pour his energy into the library to research more about that damnable curse inflicted upon her."
Her eyes snapped back into him. So, that was why he was spending an awful lot of time in the library a year before. Even now.
"But I realized I'm being too hard on myself," he said. A small smirk appeared on his face. "With the help of Blaise and Theo's constant nagging, of course. And I just thought that… overworking myself gives me a bigger possibility of failing my task – finding my mother's cure."
"So, for goodness' sake, Austen, rest," he continued. "Time is precious, but it won't hurt to take a break. Just rest for like three days… a week even." Something flashed in his eyes. "There are people who are worried about you, you know."
Something… foreign seemed to show in Draco's eyes. But before she could delve further into them, he looked away.
Unspoken minutes passed by. Draco chose that moment to stand up, his guarded eyes now trained intently on Hermione.
"Remember what I told you, nuisance," he said. The smile, the one that had captivated Hermione eons ago, appeared on his face. "I know how you tend to be reckless over dangerous things. Continue being reckless and maybe you won't be able to save your parents at all."
With that, he turned around and took his time to walk out of the library, not even giving Hermione a spare glance.
Once he was out of the library, her fingers gripped her hair and she stared unfocusedly at the wooden table.
Draco Malfoy should never, ever, discover that on that day, he had finally knocked some sense into Hermione Granger.
A/N: Eep, Teddy and Blaise are back XD I know that most of you missed them (I did). Aww, and what's with Hermione's melodrama *rolls eyes* Listen to Draco, for goodness' sake! He's right; you never cried on the most trivial things! But seriously, excuse Hermione's OCness… I think her mission's already taking its toll on her. And besides, I think she has the right to blow up if people think she must rest when two of the most important people in her life are slowly dying. You get what I mean?
*Sigh* Draco's such a sweetheart in this chapter (albeit a snarky one). How come you know that place in the library when Harry and Ron do not? XD So adorable.
Anyway, another reason why I updated earlier is because I'd be going to the province today and I have this inkling feeling I will not have the means to put up the next chapter. It's making me sad, really. I'll miss you all. But have no fear, as soon as I come back, I'll be updating, whether it's Thursday or not XD Oh, and I might come back with a new story to make. I mean, I formulated "11 Things" and "Only a Pretense" while I was vacationing in my province… so, you get what I mean?
I must end my author's note here. Once again, I'll miss all of you *sob* *sob*
With love,
WickedlyAwesomeMe