Chapter 12: Draco's Point of View

Draco is nervous.

He's supposed to meet Hermione after dinner in the Room of Requirement.

She will help me, he thinks. Help. The one thing I have needed since the beginning of term.

He shuts the boys' dormitory room and sits beside the Slytherin fire. He puts his chin in his hand and stares into the flames.

The flames are so bright, almost looking gold. There is a piece of paper burning within the flames, and Draco's curiosity sparks instantly.

He points his wand at it. "Aguamenti." Water shoots into the flame, darkening the room.

Carefully he pulls out the burned piece of parchment and waves his wand at it and the flames reappear.

He unfolds it and messy, sloppy handwriting appears. It is eligible for Draco to read.

Dear Diary,

I don't know what to do. Draco looks so ill and I'm worried for him. He hasn't gotten any sleep. I keep asking him what is wrong, but he doesn't respond. He acts like I'm never there, which sickens me. Today, I tried to tell him my feelings for him, but he was furious and turned his back on me. He told me I was nosy and worthless. Am I? I don't know.

Now I know why so many people hate him. He's cruel and vile. Nobody wants to be his friend because they are scared of him. He's a bully, and he's self-centered and grumpy. No wonder Granger and Weasley and Potter hate him. I hate him, too.

Yours truly,

Pansy

Draco looks up from the paper, surprised. "Pansy? Oh come on, that was ages ago-" he mutters to himself.

When Draco was in first year, he had had a crush on Pansy. She was nice and pretty, but soon Draco realized she was out of his league. She grew annoying over the years, until that night when Draco had snapped at her and she ran away, crying. Like a baby. Who writes in a diary.

But Draco thinks about what else was in the letter. Cruel and vile. People are scared of him. Self-centered and grumpy.

Am I like that? He says to himself.

He agrees, he is self-centered and whatever Pansy said. But can he change that? Can he change who he is?

He wishes, though. He doesn't think it's possible. Ever.

But someone can help me, he thinks.

Only one person is capable of changing Draco. And that's her.

Hermione Granger.

"Oh, there you are, Draco, I thought you'd forgotten," Hermione is waiting for him in the vacant Room of Requirement. Hermione helps him through the tiny door. He stumbles out to see a large, empty room. "Woah," Draco says, astonished. "What did you do?" The once messy place with junk and grease has now transformed into a neat room, the books neatly piled on the shelves, the Cabinet up in the left corner, gleaming in the dark. "You polished it!"

Hermione blushes. "The place was a huge mess, and it was disturbing me so I just fixed it up a little."

"All by yourself?"

"With my wand."

"Brilliant, Hermione."

"Thanks. So I've figured out a way to mend the cabinet."

"Great. How?" Draco asks her sitting on the old couch.

"There's a potion ingredient I had stumbled upon a few days ago while I was reading. It's called cracewood. It's supposed to give you whatever you want the most, and in your case it''s fixing this thing."

"So you mean like a genie."

"Not exactly. the cracewood only gives you one chance, and it's something you won't ever be able to regret or take back."

Draco bites his lip. "Did you try using a healing or mending charm?"

Hermione nods. "Everything I could think of. Nothing seems to work on it."

"So this cracewood is our only hope."

"I think it is," she says.

"Well, it's easy. We just sneak into Slughorn's private cupboards and take it."

"Not what you'd call easy. I already looked there. It's not here. It's-"

"Where is it, then?" Draco asks nervously.

"In the Forbidden Forest."

Draco gapes at her. "You can't possibly be thinking we're going in there. It's dangerous. There are werewolves and vampires and centaurs."

"You sound scared, Malfoy."

"What? Of course not!" He stutters.

"Then we're going. Tomorrow night, meet me behind Hagrid's cabin."

"Wait! We haven't even planned this out yet, let alone get prepared. What if we run into something, or if we get eaten by giants, or if our blood gets drained from our bodies, or our heads exploding after getting stomped on by horses-"

"Leave that to me. Just be there with your wand and some clothes. I'll do the rest."

"Fine. Everything else is your responsibility," Draco says, folding his arms. "Don't blame me when you forget to get food."

"Whatever, Draco," she grins, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. "I won't blame you."

"Good. Because you'd better bring me some food."

"I will. Until tomorrow?"

"Until tomorrow. To the Forbidden Forest we go."