Hermione ran all the way back to the Gryffindor common room, her heart thumping for reasons that had little to do with the exercise, and her mind going absolutely haywire.
She had just kissed Draco Malfoy. On the lips.
It had tasted like cigarettes, but she didn't care about that. Just the act of having done it was insane. It wasn't her first time kissing a boy, but she was far from experienced in the matter, and the most unbelievable part of all, it had been Draco Malfoy, the boy she'd once hated, who had then redeemed himself in her eyes, and who she now harbored strange, confusing feelings for.
Some naïve part of her had hoped she'd feel clearer after kissing him, but that part of her had been wrong. She was now more confused than ever. Kissing Draco had raised more questions than it solved, the biggest one being 'what now?'
They had kissed… where did that leave them? Would this little spark grow into some kind of relationship? Or would it get buried, a shameful secret never to be brought up again, except for stolen moments where they'd briefly make eye contact, and one of them would remember that moment. Would it make things so awkward that it would destroy their fledgling friendship? How would the others react if they found out? How would… Daphne react?
Hermione winced at the thought, a horrible feeling of guilt taking over her. Daphne was her friend, and they got along really well… and she had just kissed her boyfriend. Well… Daphne and Draco weren't quite together at the moment, but they hadn't exactly broken up either. It was a weird sort of split caused by a really bad argument. Still, Hermione felt ashamed, but there was also a sick sense of satisfaction, kind of giddiness. It was awful, and she knew she should be disgusted with herself, and yet she couldn't help it.
What in the name of Merlin was happening to her?!
She returned to the common room out of breath and head spinning. It was empty inside save for Harry and Ron, who were huddled around the fireplace. She joined them absent-mindedly, and it was only after she sat down did she realize that Sirius was also there, his face flickering in the fire.
"I didn't miss anything, did I?" she asked, trying to purge all thoughts of Draco from her mind.
"Nope, you're just in time," Harry said.
"Alright, so I'll cut to the chase," Sirius said. "You've no doubt heard about the Azkaban breakout?"
"Yes," Harry said. "The Prophet said 15 Death Eaters broke out but…"
"It's more than that, isn't it?" Ron asked grimly.
Sirius nodded. "Those fifteen were just the big ones – Bellatrix Lestrange was among them – but there are also droves of less important death eaters and the pro-death eater lot on the loose now. Some forty-odd convicts, per our latest intelligence. Unfortunately, accurate information is hard to come by, the Ministry isn't cooperating with the Order as much as we'd hoped."
"What? Why not?" Harry asked.
"Scrimgeour wants to do things his own way, that is, arresting anyone even remotely suspected of being a death eater. Without trial. Naturally Dumbledore isn't on board with this… there are other factors too, other disagreements, and things have broken down between the Order and the Ministry."
"Pricks," Ron muttered.
"And for all of Scrimgeour's 'decisive action' against Death Eaters, Azkaban just had its biggest breakout from the outside. At least a hundred Death Eaters and Snatchers attacked the island, the Aurors were completely outnumbered."
"A hundred?!" the three of them said in unison.
Sirius nodded grimly.
"We knew Voldemort would regroup on the continent, but the situation is much worse than we anticipated. He's recruiting fast. Not just wizards, but werewolves, giants and such… unfortunately there's no shortage of creatures that feel wronged by wizardkind. Voldemort promises them revenge and reward, and they join in droves, despite our best efforts to sway them our way. The death eaters that attacked Azkaban were just a fraction of what we estimate his forces to be…"
An uneasy silence fell.
"Listen," Sirius said at last. "I know things seem grim, but you mustn't lose hope. Are you still having those DA meetings?"
"Yes," Harry said, sitting up forward. "We're onto some pretty advanced stuff now, the books you and Remus gave me last Christmas were a huge help."
Sirius smiled. "Good, good, that's excellent news."
Sirius's face vanished briefly. When he came back, he wore a mildly annoyed expression, "Listen, I've got to dash, Order stuff, but I'll be in touch soon. Don't do anything stupid, and keep training."
And with that, Sirius was gone.
Ron and Harry sank into discussion. Hermione tried following their conversation but couldn't; her thoughts drifted back to the hidden balcony, which in itself was worrying. How could she be thinking about that after all that Sirius had told them? How foolish, immature could she be?
She closed her eyes for a moment and collected her thoughts. Give it some time, she thought. By tomorrow it'll have worn off surely, and she could focus.
"Hermione? Hermione?"
Hermione opened her eyes. The other two were looking at her, and she became aware of the fact that they had probably asked her opinion on something.
"Oh… I don't know, I'm tired…" she muttered. "Can't think straight, tomorrow."
And with that she slumped off to her dormitories, where the other girls were already fast asleep. She changed out of her robes and laid down on her bed, where, tired as she was, she would be unable to sleep for quite some time.
[…]
After the kiss with Hermione, I was… well, a bit worried about what the next few days would bring. But honestly? It seemed like it might never have even happened in the first place. I saw Hermione a few times here and there and she made virtually no acknowledgement of the incident, in any way. Not even a gaze or anything of the sort. Part of me was starting to wonder if it had even happened.
I'll admit was slightly put off by Hermione's complete lack of acknowledgement, but also… relieved? Maybe it was better this way, less complicated. A one-time incident, a secret. Never to be brought up. It saved everyone a lot of drama.
Was that fucked up of me to think? Man, I don't fucking know…
Over the next couple days, I managed to busy myself in one thing or another, which kept me from thinking about the incident too much. There was plenty to keep me occupied, between training in the Room of Requirement and studying (mostly the former; studies had become a bit less of a priority for me lately).
But try as I might, I'd be caught in a very awkward position in DA meetings, which I just so happened to be headed to at this very moment.
Realizing I was running late, so I quickened my pace, although I was in no hurry to get there. I assured myself Daphne would probably ignore me, just like she had been doing ever since we had our fight, and Hermione would pretend as though the kiss had never happened, and that everything would be just fine.
"Oof-!"
I tripped and fell, luckily breaking my fall with my hands just in time. A Tripping Jinx from behind; cheap, but common. I looked around as I got to my feet, but the corridor was deserted. That was… strange. Stray jinxes aren't uncommon at Hogwarts, but a deserted corridor is generally not where you'd get hit by one.
I took out my wand in one hand, and the map in the other.
"I solemnly swear that I am up- ah!"
A jet of orange light came shooting towards me from the end of the corridor, seemingly out of thin air. I managed to dodge in time and fired a counter-curse but it just hit the wall. Another jet of light shot at me, again, but I blocked it with a shield charm. Before I could do anything else though, something sharp hit me in the back and I fell to the ground, my tongue caught between my teeth and my back stinging from the hex.
Something – someone – kicked my wand out of my hand and it rolled across the floor away from me. I managed to look up just in time to see a figure standing over me. I couldn't quite recognize who it was, the figure was sort of camouflaged with the hallway – a Disillusionment charm, I realized bitterly – then there was a sudden, hard kick to the face, and everything went black.
[…]
(Meanwhile, in the Room of Requirement)
Daphne stood quietly with her arms crossed, looking at Hermione as she teamed up the girls into dueling pairs. They were still doing Levitating Charms, which meant that the boys and girls were still separated. Including Hermione, there were now 18 girls in the DA. Hermione organized them into eight pairs, which left herself and Daphne as the last pair.
"Daphne, you can pair up with me," she said. Daphne merely nodded. Being picked as Hermione Granger's dueling partner wasn't something most DA members generally looked forward to, but this time Daphne didn't mind. This was an opportunity for her to finally let out some of what she's been feeling.
They both bowed, and got into position, wands at the ready. Hermione's demeanor was calm and confident, Daphne attempted to act the same way, but her hand was shaking a bit, and her white knuckles suggested she was holding the wand a bit tighter than normal.
Daphne made the first move, firing a powerful stunner that Hermione managed to block with a hasty shield charm that shattered after impact. Daphne pressed the attack, firing more Stunners and putting Hermione on the defensive.
The look on Hermione's face indicated that she had been taken aback by the barrage of hexes, and was struggling to keep up the defense even with her quick wandwork. That gave Daphne a sense of satisfaction. But then things started to change slowly. Between the constant Shield Charms, Hermione began firing a couple of counter-hexes, thereby forcing Daphne to cast her own Shield Charms and in turn, reducing her attacking speed.
Slowly the momentum started shifting, from Daphne's favor, to a more balanced situation. Recognizing that it was only a matter of time before Hermione pushed her into a defensive stance, Daphne mustered as much strength as she could into one, powerful hex and fired it at Hermione, who responded likewise. The spells collided in mid-air, Daphne's hex dissipated entirely while Hermione's spell cut straight through and hit Daphne square in the chest, sending her flying back.
Hermione pounced on the opportunity. "Levicorpus!" and Daphne was yanked into the air, dangling upside down by her ankle. She tried to come up with a counter-jinx but – as had already happened to many a girl when practicing Levicorpus – her skirt betrayed her, and she instead got distracted in protecting her modesty. Hermione promptly let go of her, and she fell to the floor with a grunt and thud.
On the ground, on her knees, Daphne turned red with anger and humiliation. She chanced a glance up at Hermione, who was panting but with a satisfied expression on her face – the kind Daphne knew she only had when she won a duel. That only made Daphne angrier. So Hermione thought she'd won already, huh? Well, she was wrong – she hadn't disarmed Daphne yet, nor was Daphne willing to accept defeat so soon.
As suddenly as she could, she raised her wand and muttered, "Lumos maxima!"
Hermione, expecting some sort of hex, instinctively cast a Shield Charm, which was useless against the light, thereby causing her to be temporarily blinded. Daphne seized the opportunity. With impressive speed, she disarmed the disoriented Hermione, and to cap it all off, cast Petrificus Totalus on her, all within the span of a second.
The other girls in the room had stopped to watch their duel, and were muttering now.
"Did Hermione just lose? No way!"
"What happened? I wasn't looking-"
"Greengrass just petrified Granger!"
With a grim sense of satisfaction, Daphne walked up to the petrified Hermione, her left arm slightly raised from her attempt to shield her eyes, the other arm thrown to the side due to the disarming. Her eyes were the only thing she could move, and she looked annoyed at Daphne's rather unnecessary curse. But Daphne wasn't done. She leaned in close and whispered, "I know about you and Draco."
Hermione's eyes widened; their expression now shocked instead of annoyed. And with that, Daphne put her hand on Hermione's chest and gave her a gentle push. Unable to resist, Hermione fell to the floor with a *THUD*. Daphne stood over her for a few moments, savoring the sight of her lying on the ground, frozen and defeated, before saying, "I win," just loud enough for the other girls to hear, and then turning to leave. The meeting would be over soon anyway, and she didn't feel like sticking around any longer.
She exited the Room of Requirement, aware that most of the girls were staring at her, whispering and muttering about how she had beaten Hermione. She could hear them. Granted, her move with Lumos had been a bit cheap, but it was still a valid tactic and plus, it was Hermione's mistake that she hadn't disarmed her when she had the chance.
Daphne started heading back to the Slytherin common room. She had gotten her revenge on Hermione – she had beaten her in a duel and added a little sprinkling of salt on the wound with Petrificus Totalus. All the girls in the DA had seen it, and word would spread among the boys soon too. Hermione Granger had lost a duel for the first time and it had been she, Daphne Greengrass, that had conquered her. But now as the adrenaline was wearing off, Daphne realized she didn't feel any different. The past few days, all her anger and frustration had led her to believe that if she could somehow get her revenge – whatever that revenge may be or whoever it may be on – she would feel better. But that hadn't happened. She had let out the pent-up anger she'd built up the past couple of days, great. But as the rush of the duel faded, it was back to the same bleak, miserable mood she'd been in before.
At the end of the day, against all logic, she still wanted Draco back.
And she was now farther from him than she had ever been.
Daphne took a left turn and ran into a trio of fellow Slytherins – consisting of Blaise Zabini and two other cronies she only vaguely knew. One of them made a grotesque face at her that she could only guess was supposed to be a mocking kiss, and the other one laughed. Daphne flipped them off and continued on her way, though not before noticing that Zabini had been holding a folded-up piece of old parchment in his hand, which he stuffed in his pocket as she passed.
Daphne didn't think much of it, and kept on her way. She descended another two floors and took a left, intending to make a pitstop at the library. When she turned into a deserted corridor that she knew was a shortcut to the library, she saw something that made her stop in her tracks. There was someone lying on the floor. Someone she recognized, but he was unconscious and his face was a bloody mess.
"Draco?!"
[…]
The first thing I heard as I regained consciousness was the sound of someone calling my name. My chest hurt like hell, and my head throbbed like crazy. My nose felt like it was in the wrong place and stung sharply. With enormous effort, I managed to open my eyes. It took a few moments for them to adjust to the sight of the torch-lit corridor. I blinked a few times and the corridor was replaced by… thighs. Very shapely thighs.
"Draco, can you hear me?!" said the very panicked sounding voice of a girl kneeling down beside me. She sounded familiar… and come to think of it, I recognized those thighs too.
"Daphne?" I groaned.
"What in the name of Merlin happened? Who did this?"
I tried to utter a response but I came out in the form of an incoherent grunt.
"Okay, okay… okay," Daphne said. "Okay, I can do this… okay."
She took a deep breath and rolled me over onto my back. She took out her wand and muttered, "Episkey!"
My nose went very hot and then very cold, and snapped back into place, all within a span of a second. I jolted awake, fully conscious now, and felt a wave of relief wash over my body as the pain in my nose subsided. I tried sitting up straight but the sharp pain in my chest kept me from doing so. The throbbing in my head intensified as I moved.
"Hold on a second," said Daphne. She did the spell again on my chest, and I felt the same hot-cold, snapping-into-place sensation in one of my ribs. "Better?"
"A bit, yeah," I said gratefully, as I tried sitting up again. My head still hurt like a bitch, but I was able to sit straight now. "Thanks…"
"Don't mention it," she said, putting her wand away. "You should go to Madame Pomfrey. I did the best I could but you should still get yourself checked."
With Daphne's help I stood back up. I nearly stumbled, but she helped me steady myself. "Easy there," she said. "What happened?"
"Urgh, I got… ambushed," I said, feeling myself burn up in anger as I recalled the incident.
"By who?"
"Didn't get a chance to look," I grunted. "Disillusionment Charm. But I got my suspicions."
"Zabini?" Daphne asked.
"And some accomplices, yeah," I said bitterly. "I got attacked from the front as well as from behind."
"Shit…" Daphne muttered.
"What?"
"I saw him and a couple of his cronies on my way here, looking all smug and proud of themselves…"
"Just about confirms it then," I said.
"Are you gonna report this? Professor Snape? Shacklebolt?"
"No… I don't have any proof. But I have every intention of paying those morons back for this, so don't worry. Now, my wand-"
I looked around the hallway and spotted it lying a few feet away. I retrieved it and as I was putting it back into my pocket that I realized in horror that the map was nowhere to be seen. "Did you… pick up the map, by any chance?" I asked Daphne.
"The map-? Oh Merlin's balls!" she exclaimed.
"Daphne… don't tell me-"
"I… think they have the map. I saw them holding a piece of old parchment and didn't think anything of it-"
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Well… at least, I didn't open the map. Didn't get the chance," I said. "So they can't read it. Just have to get it back now…"
"How're you gonna pull that off?"
"I'll figure something out," I said.
We walked to the hospital wing, which thankfully wasn't too far away. I told Madame Pomfrey I'd been hit by a nasty trip-jinx and fell down the stairs. She didn't inquire further, and after giving me a towel to wipe the blood off my face, went off to her office. I sat down on an empty bed, and she came out a minute later with a bright violet concoction. I drank it, it tasted salty but not… bad. Within a few minutes, the pain in my head and the general aching in my body begin to fade. I felt my heart, which had been thumping without me even realizing, calm down as well.
I let out a groan of relief and lay back onto the bed for a few minutes. Now more relaxed and feeling a bit less like shit, I started to fully comprehend the events that had just happened. I had been ambushed by Zabini and some of his cronies, they had disarmed me and then beat me unconscious. Then they had stolen the map, which had not been opened, so while inconvenient it was not a huge issue. I could get another duplicate from the Room of Requirement no problem, but just to be safe I'd also try stealing the map back from them. I doubt they'd be able to crack the map's password but you couldn't be too careful.
I'd been unconscious for not too long it seemed, maybe fifteen minutes since it still wasn't fully dark outside, and had been found by Daphne, of all people. She had fixed some of my injuries and helped me get to the hospital wing. It had been the first time we had interacted since our fight… Seeing me in trouble had made her forget about that. She had helped me without any kind of hesitation. To say I felt like a douche would be an understatement.
I turned around to face her, to talk to her, to apologize and try to patch things up, but she wasn't there. She had left the hospital wing. Of course, she had… why had I expected her to be there?
I sighed and laid back down. Soon, I told myself. Soon. The next time I saw her… I'd talk to her. Properly.
[…]
(Meanwhile, on the seventh floor)
Blaise Zabini, Benjamin Avery and Vincent Crabbe arrived at Classroom 17, a disused room where they were meeting a few fellow Slytherins. They quickly closed the door behind them. Zabini took a look around the other attendees. Pansy Parkinson, Rachel Rosier, Gregory Goyle, and Millicent Bulstrode from his own year, Darius and Cyrus Selwyn from the fifth, and Jason Myers from the seventh, and a Hufflepuff fifth year– Ethan Parkinson.
"Okay, good, most of you are here already," Zabini said. "So, long story short, the mission was a success."
Ethan raised his hand.
"Yes?" said Zabini.
"Mission?" Ethan asked.
"Oh, right, you weren't here last time," Zabini cleared his throat. "The mission in question, was us teaching Malfoy a little lesson for being a blood traitor. Long story short, I took him from the front, Benjamin from behind, and Crabbe hung around nearby to stop him if he tried running away. We got him pretty good. Anyway- yes, Rachel?"
"Yeah, hi, so, what exactly is the Puff doing here?" she said, pointing at Ethan.
"Hey, I'm still here, you know!" Ethan objected.
"Because, Rachel," Zabini said. "He's like us, he has the same beliefs. He's Pansy's cousin, for Merlin's sake. Plus, him being in Hufflepuff is an advantage for us. Nobody suspects a Hufflepuff about anything. He can keep an eye on the other Hufflepuffs for us."
Ethan raised his hand again.
"What is it now?"
"What exactly am I supposed to be keeping an eye out for?"
Zabini pointed at the board. A list of thirty-odd names was written on it, notable among them Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley, and Draco Malfoy. "Those are our targets," Zabini explained. "We have reason to believe they're all part of some sort of Defense Against the Dark Arts training group. Full of blood traitors, mudbloods, and the sort. Our job is to remind them of their place. Obviously, no one can know it's us behind it, or at least no one should be able to prove it. Your job Evan-"
"Ethan."
"-yes, Ethan, is to keep an eye on the Hufflepuff members of this list. Make sure you know what they're up to. Keep an eye out for any others that might be collaborating with them. Got it?"
Ethan nodded enthusiastically. Just then the door opened. Everyone tensed up for a moment, except for Zabini.
"Ah, there you are," he said as a pretty, dark-haired girl with pale skin entered the room. "Everyone, please welcome our twelfth and newest member, Anastasia!"
"Could you like… at least talk to us about recruiting new members?" Pansy said irately. "I mean, how do we know she's trustworthy?"
Zabini sighed. "She's trustworthy, Pansy, I'm sure of it."
"Alright but going forward, we'll discuss before adding new members yeah?"
"Ughhh fine," Zabini said exasperatedly. "Fine. Merlin's pants. Now, back to topic. So… we're gonna kick their arse, hopefully enough to get them to spook them for good. But they won't go down without a fight. So far they outnumber us by a lot, so I'm gonna say it again, be careful. Do not under any circumstances leave behind any sort of proof that can be traced back to us. They can't properly fight us if they don't know who exactly the enemy is. And we also need to find out where they meet. I want everyone to start looking into that."
"Can we also get a better place to meet?" one of the Selwyn twins, Zabini was unsure which one exactly, asked.
"Sure, that's not a bad idea actually. Some place a bit more private, and roomy so we can train a bit as well," Zabini said. "So, we meet back here on Saturday. We'll discuss our next move then. Till then, keep an eye out, and try to look for new meeting spots."
The group murmured in agreement, and began to leave one by one.
[…][…][…]
Sooo things are heating up at Hogwarts! A little war is about to break out between the DA and this Death Eater fanclub!
Also, Draco and Daphne aren't going to make up just yet – there's still some more drama to be had in that part of the story.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter 3