CHAPTER FIVE- He Knows
The Great Hall was nearly empty when Hermione was eating alone at dinnertime with her nose in a book about her upcoming N.E.W.T.s. She was too busy reviewing a certain paragraph on boiling potions when she felt her hot soup fall into her lap.
When she shrieked and leaped up from the pain she heard the laughter of Draco Malfoy. "Spill something on your skirt, Granger?" Malfoy asked her in between laughs.
"You can be quite a clumsy little Mudblood," he said as he watched her try to dry her clothes. "I could drown you in that soup, remember that," she warned him. Malfoy knew very well she could, she was the smartest witch in Hogwarts for some bloody reason.
"I could always go and tell Professor Alecto that you threatened to harm me and see what her punishment for you would be," he said motioning over his shoulder to the fat little witch at the professor's table.
She knew that Alecto Carrow had it out for her ever since she declared her Muggle Studies class was inaccurate and horrible in front of everyone. She was sent to see the headmaster who had no choice but to let Alecto punish her dearly to make an example.
Hermione decided to leave the Great Hall and go to the girl's dormitory where Malfoy couldn't enter. "Where do you think you're going? Get back here! I wasn't finished!" Malfoy said as he followed her out of the hall into the empty hallways.
"Did you not hear me, Granger? I gave you a command," he said grabbing her arm, forcing her to stop and drop her books. Malfoy hadn't laid hands on Hermione since fifth year when he shoved her down the Quidditch bleachers and was surprised how much stronger he had gotten. His grip was hurting her arm.
"Let go of me, Malfoy!" Hermione said trying to shake him off. His height and strength overpowered her and before she reached for her wand they heard, "Mr. Malfoy! Unhand Ms. Granger at once!" Bellowed Severus Snape.
Before Snape could get to the bottom of their confrontation, he and Draco both clutched their forearms in pain. "Professor?" Hermione questioned. "Granger, off to bed. Malfoy, come with me," was all Snape said as the two Death Eaters headed to his office.
Hermione stood for a moment confused and worried what their actions meant but did as Professor Snape instructed her to do all the same. He had never steered her wrong before and had looked out for her for seven years straight.
"What happened? What does he want?" Draco asked panicking. "I won't know until I get to your father's. You stay here, understood?" Snape ordered the younger Malfoy.
Once Draco left the headmaster's office he stepped into his fireplace and went to Malfoy Manor where the Dark Lord was residing. The scene Snape walked into was not what he had prepared for.
The Malfoy's were trembling in the corner of their vast dining room as the Dark Lord broke everything in his path. "My lord? What has happened?" Severus asked.
"HE KNOWS! He is after them, Severus! He has destroyed the first one!" Lord Voldemort shouted. Narcissa and Lucius had no idea what this meant but Snape was all too aware.
The Dark Lord was still fearful and his wrath was growing when Bellatrix Lestrange came in followed by Macnair. "I am so sorry for my lateness, my lord. But we have discovered something that you must know," Bellatrix said bowing to Voldemort.
"Now is not the time Bellatrix!" The Dark Lord shouted, red sparks firing form his wand. "But my lord! The seer-" she started. Voldemort stopped dead in his path of destruction and held his hand up to Bellatrix.
"The seer? Explain right now or you will suffer for it," he said threatening. "Macnair! He heard her in Hogsmeade! She went into a trance, he can tell you himself, my lord!" Bellatrix said still bowing to her lord.
Voldemort turned his head to Macnair and raised his wand to him, "Speak." The Death Eater stuttered at fist before explaining himself. "I was in Hogsmeade looking out for any signs of Potter, just like you instructed, and the old bird came stumbling out of the pub, drunk and falling all over," he started.
"She collapsed and I went to check on her and in her trance, she revealed how you will defeat Potter, my lord. She prophesied how you can win this war," said Macnair.