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Chapter Text

The train whistle blows loudly as it pulls into King’s Cross station. Draco stands to grab the bright green luggage from the overhead rack and bring it down to its owner, who hasn't stopped talking since they departed from Hogwarts this morning.

"The twins say that their younger brother will be at Hogwarts next year and that they have a sister who will be there the year after that." Theo says with an almost shocked expression. "Can you even imagine having that many siblings, Draco?" He takes his case from the older boy, before Draco reaches for his own. 

"I dare say that the Weasly's may have been attempting to make their own little quidditch team." Draco snarks as he leads them both into the fray of boisterous schoolmates emptying out of their own train compartments. Theo’s hand slaps hard, but playfully against Draco’s back. Draco chuckles as his childhood friend berates him on his other friends behalf. 

"Don't be so rude, Draco. Egotistical isn't a good look on you." Theo proclaims from behind him. To Draco’s utter astonishment, Theo had decided to forgo any of the other Slytherin classmates in his grade. Instead he had become fast friends with the Weasley twins during all of their first year. So now for the past two years Draco has had to share his best friend with the Griffin-dorks class clowns.  

Despite his words though Draco can feel him grip tightly onto the back of his robes as they make our way through the crowd. He switches his luggage handle from his right hand to his left so that Draco can reach back and take a hold of Theo’s wrist. Making it a more secure connection, so that they won't get bumped apart from the jostling of sweaty adolescent bodies surrounding them. Draco’s pinky finger slips beneath the sleeve of Theo’s jumper. It's the stupid one that Mrs. Weasly made him for Christmas last year, with a huge "T" knitted into the center. The matching one with a "D" had been dropped off by a horribly ruffled owl this year just before the Holiday break. It was currently tucked deep into Draco’s own trunk.

Draco catches sight of Blaise a few people in front of them. The reason for Blaise choosing to leave their compartment half way through the trips also makes her appearance as a head of curly platinum hair bounces from the train onto platform 9(¾). The Ravenclaw first year runs up to her eccentric father who is wearing bright yellow dress robes and large glasses with one blue lens and one red. Draco silently thanks Merlin that his father won't be here to pick him up this year. It was decided that he would spend the first week back at the Nott's manor as his father and mother are away on some mysterious Ministry business and won’t be home. Lucius has made his disdain for his outlandish cousin very clear, but Draco tried to not let this affect how he treated his younger relative. Though Luna certainly had proven that she took after her father this past year. None of her bizarre ramblings or far fetched creature depictions seem to deter Draco’s infatuated friend. Blaise's head followed the girl to where she and her father did some crazy dance as they wiped at each other's clothes. Draco shakes his head and tries not to judge his friend too much, even if he can’t see what the two could possibly have in common. 

As he steps down the stairs, Draco looks over the top of everyone else's heads for Theo's parents. The younger boy jumps about from behind, using Draco’s shoulders to propel him up. It makes Draco laugh again as he points to Theo’s mother and father standing at the edge of the fray. 

They both have stony but calm expressions. Draco notes with curiosity that Theo's mother has a deep crease across her forehead and dark circles under her eyes. Theo continues to jump up and down and begins to wave his arms enthusiastically as the two boys start to make their way over to the adults. Once she spots him, Mrs. Nott's face brightens into a smile at her only child. As her eyes swing over to the taller of the two, that smile falters. Her reaction caused Draco’s own smile to fall from his face. She and her husband have never treated Draco with anything less than welcoming kindness. They had been like a second set of parents to him for almost Draco’s whole life. They had both even written to Draco during his first two years at Hogwarts about their petulant son, who cried all day and refused to do anything while Draco was away without him.

His stomach sinks at the idea that Draco could have done something to upset them. He continues walking towards them with an oblivious Theo. Mrs. Nott's face shifts back into a smile that is slightly less bright as she turns back to Theo. Her husband has an affectionate hand resting at the small of her back as he looks proudly at their son, who has left Draco to now weave through the crowd towards them. 

Draco shakes the sudden dread that the moment has left him with. As he passes his other friend he places his hand on Blaise's shoulder with a squeeze. Blasie is stepping back from a hug with his mother. "Have a nice summer, Zabini."

He turns to Draco over his shoulder with a nod and slaps a friendly hand to Draco’s own shoulder. "Later, Malfoy." As Draco looks over to his friend’s mother, she pushes her sleek black hair behind her ear. 

"Ma'am," He says politely to her. 

To his utter confusion she lowers not only her head but her shoulders in a slight bow to him with a "Draco," purred from her lips. 

What the fuck? Did Blaise's mom just bow to him? The Malfoy's and even the Black's have a slightly higher social standings than the Zabini's, or any of the family's that Blaise's mother has married into over the years, but he has never exactly been bowed to by anyone other than house elves before. Draco can tell Blaise finds it just as weird as he does as his confused eyes bounce from his mom to his friend. Draco gives him a baffled shrug as Theo rushes back to pull him forward with a "Bye, Blaise '', thrown over his shoulder.

Draco is still thinking it over when they reach Nott senior and his wife. Theo's ecstatic chatter begins again as he starts to describe the prank he and the twins set off on Filch before the farewell feast. His over exaggerated hand motions quicken as he describes the pustules that covered the school's grumpy caretaker face and proceeded to pop throughout dinner. Draco smiles down at him. Theo has always had a way of distracting Draco from everything else. The weirdness of the last few minutes fades away as the feeling in his chest warms. The feeling has been growing into something unfamiliar but comforting these last few years away from the pressures of the Malfoy name and social expectations. 

Unfortunately whatever weird reality that he has been shoved into since stepping foot off of the Hogwarts Express, shoves itself back into Draco’s face. Theo's father is laughing along with Theo, but his mother is looking at Draco. No, not at him, but at his arm. She is looking at Draco’s left arm like it is about to reach up and attack her. There is nothing noticeable on Draco’s green dress robe sleeve, but something has her absolutely petrified. 

Something about her fear shakes at a memory in the back of Draco’s mind but for the life of him he can't seem to think of what it is.

"Alright Lads," Mr. Nott's deep voice shocks Draco back into the present. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yup!" Theo pops the "P" loudly as Draco also answers.

"Yes, Sir."

Mrs. Nott crosses in front of the three of them to take Theo's arm in preparation for their apparition. On any other day it wouldn't be that questionable of an action. She just wants to be the one to apparate with her son. Today though it feels like the move was deliberate. She doesn't want to apparate with Draco to their home. She may not even want to touch him. 

Nott senior takes her place with a chuckle and Theo smiles up at Draco none the wiser. "See you at home." His father gets out just as his wife disapperates with their son in front of them.

****

Draco wakes up in a dark room and smacks his parched lips together. He rubs at his sleepy eyes and sits up. Looking over to a sleeping Theo in the bed next to his. He knows that he could call for a house elf to bring him some water, but Tippy, the Nott house elf, is loud and squeaky when nervous. So asking her for something so simple so late seems stupid since it might wake Theo. Instead Draco decides to just go down to the kitchens himself for a drink instead. 

The Nott manor is old and full of creaky floor boards and long echoing hallways. As he walks Draco wishes that he could cast a silencing spell, but at fifteen, he still has two more years before he can do magic outside of Hogwarts. So instead he moves slowly and smoothly down the halls trying to make as little noise as possible. 

As he makes his way through the lower levels it brings Draco closer to Nott senior's office. He notices the door is open and a light is flickering from inside. Then he hears the voices that are coming from within. One of them is deep, male and clearly trying to whisper. The other is female and frantic, causing it to increase in volume despite the shh's from the other. 

"He is just a boy." Is the first clear thing that Draco can hear from Mr. Nott.

"He will follow the same path as his father, Theseus!" Mrs. Nott's voice is almost shrill with worry. "Whether he wants it or not."

"You have been wrong before." Theo's father whispers again.

"And you have always trusted me before!" Theseus tries to quiet his wife again, but she talks around his protests. "If not what I have foreseen, then what of the whispers? They say that the Potter boy will return to our world and be attending Hogwarts next year." 

"Of course he will. He will be of age. That does not mean that the Dark Lord will return as well."

"But they are planning for it, Theseus! Where do you think that Lucius and Narcissa are right now?" She almost sounds close to tears from where Draco hides in the shadows. "They are having meetings! They are planning! Those Death Eaters! The war is about to start again!"

Dark Lord. Death Eaters. War. These words trigger the memory the very memory that shook at the back of Draco’s mind before.

"Father? What is this?" Draco’s tiny six year old fingers point to the blotching stain on his fathers left arm. The young heir has only caught small glimpses the mark before, but today his father had been riding around on his broom all afternoon causing him to roll up the sleeves of his crisp button up above his elbows.

The Malfoy lord stares down at his son with a skeptical look before picking Draco up and placing the young boy into his lap.

"It is my Dark Mark, Draco." He says it with no emotion on his face and his son traces his fingers on the snake that he could swear moves across his father’s skin. "It was a sign of my devotion to the Dark Lord." Lucius says as he puffs up his chest.

"Lucius." Draco’s mother scolds from her seat across from the two in the sunroom.

His father does not heed the warning though. "My father got one, then I got mine, and someday you will get y-"

"Lucius!" Narssisa’s teacup shatters as it falls onto the hard marble floor, as she stands abruptly from her seat. "You will not speak of such things to our son!"

"Cis-" Lucius tries to start, but his wife cuts him off again.

"No! I forbid it!" She quickly grabs her confused son from his father’s lap and sprints with the boy tucked into her hip, from the bright room.

The long forgotten memory sinks like a heavy stone into Draco’s stomach as Theo's parents continue to argue.

"I will not have Theo growing up in a world like we did." His mother cries.

"So what? Will you have us fight this time around?" Her husband asks. He seems to have forgotten that he was trying to keep them both quiet before. "Will you fight alongside families like the Weasley's, Longbottom's and Potter's?"

"No, of course not!" Her voice is panicked again. "Look at what happened to them! No. We will take Theo and go to America." Now it is not just a rock sitting at the bottom of his stomach but Draco’s heart stops beating as well. 

They are talking about taking Theo away from him.

"The Ministry there refuses to get involved in this and Theo will be protected from the war there."

"He won't go, my love." Theseus sounds defeated. "You and I both know that he won't go without the boy. No matter what you say Draco's future holds."

His words spark a feeling of pride inside of Draco, but it is quickly swallowed up by fear again. Being with Draco will put Theo in danger.

"We won't give him a choice." His mother finally sounds confident. "We are taking him to America, Theseus. End of discussion."

Draco never hears Mr. Nott's response because a small sob comes quietly from behind him. Surprised, Draco spins around quickly to see a devastated Theo standing there with his hair disheveled from sleep and tears brimming his wide eyes.

Theo shakes his head violently back and forth and before he can make a sound Draco grabs ahold of his hand and sprint them aways from the office and his still arguing parents. They make it back to Theo’s room before Draco lets him go and spins around to face what he knows his oldest friend will say.

"I won't leave you." Theo nearly begs.

Draco shakes his head at Theo. "No, if what they say is true. If your mother is right about what is coming this is the best way to keep you safe. To keep you out of whatever this war is."

"What about you? Who will keep you safe?" Theo grabs Draco’s arms and shakes the stubborn set of his shoulders. Draco only stares at him with watery eyes. The ever snarky Malfoy boy can’t seem to find the right thing to say to his scared best friend.

"No,” Theo cries. “No!"

"I will be fine." Draco concedes with an attempt at confidence. "My father will never let anything happen to the Malfoy heir."

"But what will become of you?" Theo is now openly crying. "You don't want to become who your father is!"

Draco reaches out and uses his thumb to wipe away the young boy's tears. "It will be okay Theo. I will be okay here. I will, I promise."

Theo pulls him into a bone crushing hug as he wraps his thin arms around Draco’s waist. His tears wet the shoulder of Draco’s sleep shirt. Draco can't help but put his cheek on the top of Theo’s soft curls and release his own pained tears. Theo holds Draco for so long that the older of the two has a feeling the younger is trying to meld them together. Make it physically impossible to separate them from each other. Not without damaging one or both of them in the process.

"Won't you miss me?" Theo whispers as he turns his face into Draco’s neck.

"More than you can imagine." Draco whispers hoarsely back. He pull back to gently take Theo's face in his hands. Looking deep into his friends eyes to make him understand what needs to happen next. "It will be just like my first two years at Hogwarts, yeah. We will write to each other as much as we can. I will tell you everything that happens. That was okay wasn't it? We can do that again, right"

Theo's face crumples and a sob tears from him.

"Shhh." Draco tries to soothe Theo, pressing thier foreheads together.

"Draco, I-" Theo hiccups. "I think that I’m in lo -"

Draco cut him off by kissing each of Theo's wet eyelids. He can't let him finish that thought. If he does, what he says will destroy Draco’s already thin resolve. If he lets Theo confess to the feelings that have been swirling around for the past few years, Draco knows that he won’t be able to let Theo go. To keep him safe. So he closes his eyes and nods against Theo's forehead again. "I know." Draco opens his eyes again so that he can look deeply into Theo’s. Draco pleads silently for Theo to know that he is not lying to him, "I feel the same."

Theo only looks up at Draco with so much hope. It's real. Draco feels the same as he does. Their relationship will change. Change into something that could be beautiful, Something that could save them both. Draco tilts his head down to place a soft kiss onto Theo's lips. "I do." Draco promises him.

Theo starts to smile before his face falls at the realization that this won't change anything. No matter how they both feel, they are going to be seperated. Nothing can save them from this.

Theo stretches up on his tiptoes to kiss Draco back, this one is more desperate. A plea from him to Draco. His lips speak of his desperation against Draco’s. Theo’s salty tears taste of his fears for his friend and their future that now hangs off a precipice.

 "I don't care what you have to do Draco, please stay safe. I will come back as soon as I can, no matter what happens. You have to be here when I do. Please?" Theo drags his short fingernails through Draco’s soft platinum hair, causing draco to want to cry at how right it feels.

Draco can't help the soft, sad laugh that escapes from him as he wraps Theo back up in his tight embrace. It takes a few moments to speak and emotion clogs Draco’s throat. When he can finally speak again Draco leans down to place his lips softly against Theo’s ear. Draco relishes the feeling of his soft, curly hair tickling his lips. Neither of them knows when they will have to give the other up. Their tears threaten again at the shared thought they may never get the other back once Theo is forced to leave.

"I hope that I never make you regret waiting for me then."

Theo begins to cry again at Draco’s plea. "Never, Draco. Never."

Chapter Text

Dear Draco,

America is so loud and wild. 

I love it!

You have to come visit me. 

Because I am transferring into Ilvermorny they asked for me to come to the school early and do my sorting ceremony and take a look around the school. I got sorted into the Thunderbird house. I nearly laughed when the Gordian Knot symbol flapped its wings. Apparently the Horned Serpent house is more like Gryffindor than Slytherin, can you believe that? I’m just glad that I wasn’t sorted into the Pukwudgie house. I don’t think I would have ever lived that down.

Congrats on being named Slytherin prefect! All that extra work that Snape had you do finally paid off. Don’t forget to have an acid pop on the Hogwarts express for me.

I miss you, 

Theo

****

Hermione found herself on her hands and knees crawling around the carpeted floors of the rocking train. She kept having to right herself as it barreled towards Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

“Trevor?” She scoured the hallway as other students passed around her giggling. “Trevor?” There was still no sign of the toad that another first year named Neville claimed to have lost. So Hermione continued to crawl around despite the strange looks and laughter she was getting. Nothing could shake Hermione from her happiness. 

All of Hermione’s life she felt like an outsider. Something about her just didn’t fit in with the other kids her age. She could feel it simmering just under her skin but could never put a name to it or make the other kids feel it. Nothing made sense until Professor McGonagall showed up to her house with a letter for Hermione and promptly transformed herself into a cat. Unlike her parents who had jumped off the couch with shrieks of surprise, Hermione sat there looking at the tabby cat with a grin stretching across her face. 

“I knew it.” The small eleven year old proudly proclaimed in a victorious whisper.

Now a little less than a year later Hermione had no qualms about helping out her fellow students since they were all witches and wizards just like her. She finally found her place to fit in. No longer would she be the outsider, the weirdo, the freak. Now she fit in just like everyone else that had been invited to study at, from what Hermione had consumed in her readings, was one of the most prestigious wizarding schools in the world.

So what was a few laughs and strange looks between classmates. Hermione had no doubt that she would make friends with most of them in time anyway. If anything this would show everyone at the school that she was going to be willing to help her friends with anything that they asked of her. Hermione’s pride swelled with the thought and so on she crawled. “Trevor?”

She had crawled a few more compartments down when voices caught her attention from the other side of a closed door.

“Have you seen him yet?” A deep male voice asked. “The Potter kid? They say that he is one of the first years.”

“I swear if I hear the name Potter one more time I am going to hex my own bloody ears off,” another boy's annoyed voice seeps through the door.

“Don’t do that dear Cousin.” I dreamy soft female tinkles. “Your ears are what keep the wrackspurts from eating your brain.” 

There is a groan and a laugh from the two boys.

“Yeah Drake,” The first voice speaks with laughter. “Wouldn’t want that precious brain of yours to go to waste would you? You do so love the title of Smartest Wizard of your age.”

“Fuck off, Zabini,” The other boy curses.

The use of the profane word causes Hermione to gasp in indignation. The sound must have alerted the compartments occupants to her eavesdropping because the cart went completely quiet. Before Hermione can come up with a plan the door in front of her face slams open and a pair of long skinny legs stand before her. Hermione feels a crick in her neck because of how far she has to look up from her position on the floor. 

The tall blonde scowls down at her. “It’s considered rude to eavesdrop, you know?” The entirely too tall figure is clad in all black. From a crisp button up that is tucked into a pair of perfectly tailored dress pants. It is all in complete contrast to his pale skin and almost white hair.

Hermione has to shake her head just to stop staring at the imposing boy. She jumps up from her crawl to stand in front of the almost offensively beautiful boy. She brushes the dust off her Hogwarts skirt, hoping that her face is not as red as it feels and she tries to explain herself.

“I didn’t mean to.” She pleads with the boy who has not stopped scowling at her in the doorway. “I was helping a boy named Neville look for his missing familiar. It’s a toad named Trevor. Have you seen him by chance?”

The boy's scowl now turns into a disapproving frown as he stares down at her like she is the dumbest person he has ever encountered. “A toad, named Trevor?”

Hermione feels her face grow even hotter as the boys scrutinizing silver eyes burn into her. She is at a loss of words to say under his cold gaze. Luckily Hermione is saved from what she fears may have ended with her turning into stone by a sugary sweet voice calling out from behind the rude boy.

“Hello.” The voice sings to her.

Hermione peeks her head around the unmoving figure in front of her to see the other two occupants of the train compartment.

The voice seems to have belonged to the young girl with the almost exact same shade of white blonde hair as the boy in front of Hermione. Unlike the cold boy, the girl is the definition of warmth. The girl's wide green eyes glitter as she smiles dazedly at Hermione. She is wearing a blue and green dress that seems to have ruffles coming out of every space available. “Toads are known to love the taste of nargles who hide near the lavatories near the back of the train. That is probably where you will find your friend Trevor.”

Hermione looks dumbfounded between the girl who just spoke and the boy sitting next to her looking at Hermione with a raised eyebrow. Like the other boy this one is wearing perfectly pressed and fitted attire. Though his shirt is a starch white and his pants almost look green though they are too dark for Hermione to tell from across the compartment. Both colors complement his darker skin tone well.

“Wh-what’s a nargle?” Hermione asks, lost about where the conversation landed.

“A hideous monster that eats annoying little first years who eavesdrop on their elders.” The boy in front of Hermione mocks from where he still hasn’t moved out of the doorway.

Now it is Hermione’s turn to scowl up at the boy with an undignified, “Harumph.”

She is about to all but stomp her foot in anger when the sound of running feet coming towards them distracts her. 

“Hey Drake!” Hermione turns to the young student's voice. The student is like Hermione, dressed in their Hogwarts clothing and robes. They have high feminine facial features but their neon yellow hair is sheared close to their scalp on the sides and sticks up in a haphazard manner on the top of their head. “You better put on your robes. Percy sent me to round up everyone for a prefect meeting in five.” The student stands just to Hermione’s left in what, if she remembers correctly is the house Hufflepuff colors, they match their hair color. 

“We haven’t even made it to school yet and the Weaselnit has appointed himself as the leader of our year has he?” The boy, Hermione realizes must be named Drake, drawls over top her head.

The other student simply shrugs their shoulders before answering. “Let’s just give him this one thing Cuz. You know he has been so butt hurt to be ranked as second best in our class below you for the past four years.”

Drake scoffs but Hermione notices the corner of his lips quirk up slightly.

“Fine,” Drake concedes. “I’ll be there in ten.”

The other student rolls their eyes at him, but steps around Hermione as they respond back. “I said five, Don’t be a dick Drake.”

As the Hufflepuff student starts to walk away, the other boy in the compartment, who has yet to speak since the door opened, calls out to them. “Hey Tonks! You still owe me twenty gallions for that Harpies match two weeks ago.” 

Tonks only turns back to give the boy a rude gesture with her left hand.

Hermione misses it due to the fact that she has turned back to the boy called Drake in surprise.

“You’re a prefect?” Hermione asks in stunned excitement. “I read about them in 'Hogwarts a History'.” She can’t help the little bit of pride that slips into her words.

Drake looks down to her with a scrunched nose. “You’re still here, first year?”

Hermione ignores his jab, “I read that the younger students are supposed to go to the prefects for any help that they need around the school.”

Drake rolls his eyes, “Yeah, and?”

“So help me find Trevor.”

“Sorry can’t help you find your little toad friend,” His eyes opened wide with mock innocence. “I have a very important meeting I have to attend in ten minutes.”

“They told you five,” Hermione condescends, “and Trevor isn’t my friend. He is my friend Neville's famil-”

Drake cuts her off by taking a lollipop shaped candy out of his front pocket and loudly opening the wrappings. “Only five minutes, well then I must really be off.” He places the candy on his tongue and Hermione hears it start to sizzle. He steps out of the doorway and bumps her shoulder as he begins to walk in the same direction as Tonks. “Good luck finding your toad friend,” he calls over his shoulder without looking back at her.

When she turns back to the other two occupants of the compartment, they look like they have gone into their own world. The boy is holding a magazine that he continuously turns one way and then the other while tilting his head in the opposite direction. The girl is pointing at whatever the boy is trying to look at and explaining it to him quietly. Hermione suddenly feels like she is intruding on them. She leaves without so much as a goodbye.

Hermione continues down the train’s hallway with much less gusto in her search for the illusive Trevor the toad.

As she does, she starts to pass a compartment with two young boys sitting by themselves laughing together. One has dark black hair and what appears to be a broken pair of glasses. The other is facing away from Hermione with a head of shockingly red hair. This boy is holding a dirty looking rat in one hand and a crudely carved wand in the other.

Hermione takes a deep breath before opening the door to the compartment. It can’t possibly be any worse than her last interaction.

****

Hermione makes her way nervously towards the front of the hall to where Professor McGonagall has just called her name. The two boys, Harry and Ron, seemed nice enough to her on the train and they now turn back to give her shy smiles. Hermione has yet to decide what house she is hoping to be placed in. From what she has read they all seem to have their advantages. She even tells herself that since she can’t decide which house she wants, that she will be happy in any house she is assigned to. So why are her hands so sweaty?

Hermione tries to keep her shoulders as straight as possible in hope that her nervousness does not show through. 

She thanks whatever gods that witches and wizards are supposed to believe in that she makes it up the platform stairs without tripping and onto the rickety wooden stool.

Just as McGonagall places the Sorting hat over Hermione’s eyes she catches sight of white blonde hair and silver eyes watching her from the sea of green at the Slytherin table.

“Hmm,” The hat's old voice shocks Hermione as it speaks to her. “I can tell that you would be a fine addition to any of the houses my dear.” Hermione can’t help but feel a surge of pride at these words. Acceptance at last. “But that Lion heart sure is fighting to get out, so better be…Gryffindor!”

****

Dear Theo,

What in Godricks’ name is a Pukwudgie?

I am glad that you are liking America, and I am in no way surprised by your description of states.

You would have gotten a kick out of this little first year that I caught snooping around the train. Her hair had to have been twice the size of her. I can already tell that she is going to be an insufferable swat that gives the Weaselnit a run for his money.

Blaise it also going to be an unbearable twat this year without you here to distract me.

I miss you too,

Draco

P.S. Tonk’s says Hi, and to tell me to stop writing this letter while I am in this stupid prefect meeting.

P.P.S. I am being forced to tell you that Tonk’s never called the meeting stupid.

Chapter Text

Dear Theo,

It was a harmless prank! 

The damn Weaselnit just has no sense of humor, okay? 

How the hell is he even siblings with the Twins?

His damnable hair will grow back anyway, so what is the big fucking deal?

Sincerely, your apparently “Maliciously poor excuse for a prefect!”

(The bald Weazelnit’s words) of a friend,

Draco “Bad role model” Malfoy

P.S. I’m glad to hear you are enjoying your potions classes so much. Snape will be practically jumping out of his robes in glee to hear this. You know how excitable he is known to be, especially when it comes to his former students.

****

“I hardly see what was so bad about this whole thing.” Draco had to forcibly keep his eyes from rolling as he sat in front of his Head of House and Professor McGonagall.

“You have left a fellow classmate disfigured, Mr Malfoy.” McGonagall’s Scottish brogue nearly shakes as the professor tries to hold back her exacerbation.  She even does that thing where she flicks up her long flowing sleeves and grips her wand in both hands in front of her. It is always one of the first signs of the Professor's growing agitation. Draco has to swipe his hand down his face to physically wipe the smile that is threatening to crack across his face.

“I can promise you that all of the hair will grow back,” Draco tries to placate the fiery witch. “Even the eyebrows.”

“Well we will just have to take your word on it won’t we, Mr. Malfoy?” She spits back at him.

“I could teach you the spell if that would make you feel better.” Draco loses the battle against his burgeoning smile.

“I would suggest you close that smart mouth of yours, Mr. Malfoy,” Snape finally speaks up from where he stands flanking McGonagall. “Lest you make this far worse than it needs to be.” His tone is as monotonous as ever, but Draco can hear the venom dripping from his godfather’s words. 

“As a prefect, you are to set examples for the younger students not only just in your own house but all of our students here,” McGonagall preaches. “As such we have decided to forgo giving you the proper detention and instead will have you put in a sort of mentorship position for a student in need of some…help.” 

Draco sits forward in his chair at this. “A what?”

The older witch simply puts her hand up to cut off his protestations and continues. “She is one of the smartest students we have seen attend these halls since, well since yourself, Mr. Malfoy. She is at the top of her class and is exceeding the expectations of every single one of her professors this year. Unfortunately she seems to be struggling with her fellow classmates, or really anyone for that matter.” 

“So you want me to help some nerd who can’t make any friends?” 

Snape pointed his dark wand at Draco menacingly. “Silence, boy.”

“Thank you, Severus.” McGonagall reaches up to lightly push Snape's wand to a lower position. “We would like for you to help Miss Granger feel a little more confident in herself and her understanding of the school.”

“Her understanding of the school?” 

“Well Mr. Malfoy, she is a muggleborn witch and doesn’t really have anyone to help her with lack of magical understanding.”

Draco’s face completely drops at the word muggleborn.

“Am I being tested, Professors?” He tried to control his anger by gritting his teeth. 

“Now, Mr. Malfoy, that is not-” but Draco does not let the elder witch continue.

“Have I ever once shown any kind of prejudice at this school?” Draco stands with his agitation. “Have I ever made my distaste for someone seem as if it had anything to do with their blood status?”

“Of course not Draco.” McGonagall takes a step forward and attempts to place a soothing hand on the young man’s shoulder. Draco instead takes a step back. 

“Mr. Malfoy,” Snape even tries.

“I have tried my best to steer myself away from the image that my lineage has created here and in our society, Professor. So for you to try and test my-”

“My dear, I know.” McGonagall coos as she is finally able to grasp the frantic boy's arms with her hands. “We all know that Mr. Malfoy.” The boy’s eyes are blown wide as he takes in deep gulps of air.

Draco looks from McGonagall to Snape, and even his normally stoic Head of House looks slightly worried about Draco’s nervous behavior. He tries to calm his racing heart and feels his cheeks heat with embarrassment. 

“Please Draco, sit,” Professor McGonagall’s tone is now nothing but motherly patience. So Draco allows her to gently lead him back to his chair in front of them. “This is no test of your character. Miss Granger truly does need help and I, as well as all the other professors, believe that she will feel more comfortable and relatable to yourself.”

After some deep breaths Draco was able to get himself under control and get back to the subject at hand. “You think I can teach her how to make friends?” He doesn’t mean for it to come out so disbelieving as it does.

“We simply wish for you to help her find her confidence to properly express herself to others.” 

“And what if I can’t help her?”

“There are plenty of potions cauldrons that I have available for you to clean in your free time,” Snape bites out.

“There will be no punishment for failing,” Professor McGonagall quickly cuts in as her fellow teacher glares daggers at Draco, who scowls back. “Just help her as best you can.”

Draco looks back over to the witch and nods his head in acceptance. 

She smiles kindly back at him. “Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. That will be all for now.”

Draco stands as he and Snape turn to walk out of McGonagall’s office before Draco stops and turns back to her.

“There are rumors going around the school that you have let a Gryffidor first year become your team's seeker this year. Is it true?”

McGonagall fake coughs and begins to shuffle the papers on her desk around. “As you are an opposing team's captain and seeker, I can neither confirm nor deny these allegations.”

Draco turns to Snape beside him at her all but confession. “You told me we couldn’t do that when I was a first year.”

Snape’s responding wack to the back of Draco’s head pushed them both out of the office of a now cackling witch.

****

Brave. Courageous. 

The Sorting Hat had thought that Hermione was brave, it thought that she would be courageous. That is the thought that has been going through Hermione’s head for the past month. So why was it that she felt as if she was struggling so much? 

Hermione has spent the last four weeks desperately trying to make friends, any friends really, but nothing seems to work. Everytime she tries to help one of her fellow classmates they make it seem like she is being condescending. Professor Snape has even started to ignore her when she puts her hand up in class. She attempted to just answer his question once without being called on when he was picking on Harry. That had gotten not only fifty points taken away from herself, but Harry as well. No one would even acknowledge her at the Gryffindor table that night. Ron practically rolled his eyes everytime she joined into a conversation. Both Harry, and even Neville, had started to resort to smiling apologetically at her when others were talking down to her, without actually defending her. 

She spent practically all of her free time tucked into one of the back tables of the library with no less than four books spread out before her. So that is where Hermione finds herself on the night before the big Gryffindor vs. Slytherin quidditch game. Everyone else was sitting around the common room having a party and trying to distract Harry from his nerves. No one seemed to appreciate Hermione’s attempts at small talk or cheering Harry up.

She had found out as much information about Harry’s dad, James, and his time as Griffindor’s star seeker. She gave Harry all of the stats that she had diligently memorized. She even tried to explain all of the different moves that James Potter had been known for during his time at Hogwarts. But instead of cheering Harry up, he had looked even more nervous than when she had started talking.

“I didn’t know any of that.” Harry had looked almost green as he spoke. “That’s a lot to live up to.” 

Ron had come then to sit next to Harry and pat him on the back. “You’ll do great, Harry. All that stuff just means that quidditch is in your blood.” 

That's what she had been trying to say, Hermione thought.

“Did you know that in ‘Quidditch through th’-”

“Hermione,” Ron cuts her off. “Neville was looking for you earlier.”

“He was?” Hermione wondered if Trevor was on the loose again. It will be the second time this week.

“Yeah, I think he was over by the portrait hole.” Ron was no longer even looking at her as he spoke.

Neville had not been looking for her. 

In fact, after fifteen minutes looking for Neville all over the common room, Hermione had found him in his dorm room working on his transfiguration homework. Homework that he was adamant that he didn’t need Hermione’s help on, even though he had the wand work dreadfully wrong.

So here she sat. Alone once more. She was a witch, but nothing much had changed. 

“Well, well, well.” A voice surprised her out of her self pity.

Hermione’s eyes snapped up to the owner of the voice.

“Drake?” 

He scoffed at her with a raised eyebrow. “Only my friends call me Drake.” Tonight he was wearing his school robes, but his Slytherin green tie hung untied around his neck. “Little toad hunting first years like you can just call me Malfoy.” He pulled out the chair across from her and sat on it with his feet propped up on the seat next to him. 

“Malfoy?”

“That’s the name, kid, Draco Malfoy.”  There was, what felt like to Hermione, a false sense of pride to Draco’s statement.

Wait, Draco?

“You're the Draco Malfoy that set Percy Weasley’s head on fire?” Hermione whisper yelled at the older boy. 

Draco dramatically rolled his eyes. “I charmed his hair. He did the rest. All he had to do was not be his pratish self and he would have been just fine. Eyebrows and all.”

“That’s against the rules!” A student down at another table shushed Hermione and she blushed at the volume of her outburst.

Draco clicked his tongue. “So they keep telling me.” He looks around at the piles of books surrounding Hermione. “Bit of light reading ‘eh?”

“I’m reading up on quidditch and flying,” Hermione informed him.

“Oh really?” Draco’s eyebrows raised and a smile crept up from the corners of his mouth.

“Yeah, I think it is dreadfully dull.” Hermione finished with a sigh.

“Oh.” Draco flipped one of the tomes to Hermione’s left so that he could read the title.

“‘Getting on Your Broom: For Beginners’”  He gave Hermione a condescending pity pout. “Having trouble flying, little toad hunter.”

“I’m doing everything right!” Hermione was so upset that she didn’t even care about Draco clearly mocking her. “I have done everything the books say to do; I am assertive with my broom, I give clear and precise commands, I even do math equations in my head to try to distract me from my nerves.”

Draco tries his best not to laugh at the neurotic first year in front of him.

“Nothing is working though.” Hermione can feel her magic zipping up her hair with her frustration. “There has to be something that I am missing.”

“A clear head.” Draco’s calm statement makes Hermione look up from the pages she had buried her head in. He looked her in her eyes as he explained. “You will have more control if you just clear your mind. It should be just you and the broom up there in the air.” He closes her books as he stands up to leave. “You won’t find that in a book, little toad hunter.” He taps the book as he turns away from her.

“Hermione.” He turns back as she calls out. “My name,” Hermione continues. “Hermione Granger. Not ‘little toad hunter’.”

Draco simply laughs and turns back around before calling over his shoulder. “See you around Granger.”

****

Draco loved being up in the air on his broom. With the warm sun on his face and the cold wind whistling in his ears, this was the place that Draco felt the most free. All his troubles and his sadness, they waited for him on the ground. Up here though, high above the castle and the quidditch pitch, Draco was allowed to really breathe. 

As the game went on in the stadium below him, Draco pretended to be on the hunt for the golden snitch. Instead his thoughts were caught up in Theo. Draco had underestimated how much it would hurt him to be back at this school without Theo. Everytime Draco cracked a funny joke, or Luna talked about some mysterious creature, hell even when the Twins pulled off an impressive prank, Draco found himself searching for Theo. Draco had never felt anything like those moments of realization. 

Everyday Draco was surrounded by his friends and peers, but it felt as if this loneliness was eating him alive. In his weakest moments, Draco dreamed of bringing Theo back. Nothing of this so-called war felt real to him. What if Theo was taken from Draco and nothing ever happened. They could spend years apart and for what? Draco had seen no dangers or real talks of any war in the months that Theo had been gone. How long did they have to wait before it was deemed safe for Theo to come home. 

Draco’s melancholy was interrupted by what felt like the flutter of wings across his cheek. He immediately whipped his head around to search for the elusive snitch. Instead though Draco’s eyes caught on the young Potter kid struggling to control his broom near the center of the quidditch pitch. Draco couldn't help but roll his eyes. That is what the Griffin-dorks get for recruiting a first year who has never ridden a broom before a month ago. 

He was just about to go searching for the snitch when Draco heard the shout.

“Fire!”

Draco followed all the pointed fingers and wide eyed stares to the teacher’s tower of the stadium. There was a thin line of dark gray smoke coming from the center of the stands. Draco surged down, nearly knocking into Gryffindor team captain who was speeding up to the teachers' stands.

“Wood!” Draco shouted over the wind, “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Oliver yelled back to him “One minute the game was going on, then Harry lost control of his broom, and then I heard shouts about a fire coming from the teachers' stands.” 

They both landed on the railing of the tower's stands before jumping down onto the stairs below. Everyone in the stand was crowded around the center of the stands where the smoke had been coming from. Luckily Draco noted that there was at least no more smoke.

As the team captains both pushed their way through the crowd Draco first saw multiple people attempting to help Professor Quirrelll up from where he must have fallen. Most likely fainted, Draco thought rudely with a scoff. Then he saw Snape as he was patting at his smoking pant leg, or at least what was left of it. The material was burnt off nearly up to the man’s knee and there were red and shining burns all the way up Snapes calf.

“Professor?” Draco ran up to his godfather. “What happened to you?”

“It seems that my robes conveniently caught fire unexpectedly,” Snape droned out as he waved away Draco’s worried hands.

Draco was looking at the small circle of burnt wood on the step where Snape’s feet must have been resting when he looked into a pair of small wide eyes. She was there standing on the other side of the stairs. What the hell was she doing there? 

“Her-”

Suddenly the crowd around the entire stadium went wild. Draco spun around at the unexpected boom of sound. There was booing coming from Slytherin students and loud cheering coming from the Gryffindor section. Looking down over the pitch Draco saw Harry with his arm raised triumphantly above his head. Draco saw the sleek wings of the snitch fluttering out on either side of Harry’s fisted hand. The match was over. Gryffindor had won by just ten points. 

Draco quickly turned his now livid glare back around to the opening in between stairs. The space behind the stairs was empty though. No sign of the little bushy haired first year anywhere.

****

Dear Draco,

Fred and George have both written to me to explain the exact details of your, “harmless prank.” And while they both found the act hilarious, I will have to side with Snape and McGonagall on this one. Jinxing Percy’s hair to light itself on fire every time he corrected someone is a tad bit dangerous. Even for someone so skilled with wandwork and spells.

Where did you even find a spell like that, or did your “Malicious,” brian come up with it yourself?

Just be thankful that Snape allowed you to mentor a first year and not serve detention for the entire year. You know how disgusting those potion cauldrons can get. I still think I can smell all that bat dung under my finger after those two weeks I had last year.

Missing the autumns of Scotland,

Theo

Chapter Text

Dear Draco,

Have you ever heard of a movie? The students here at Ilvermorny are a lot more accepting of muggle (no-majs to them) culture. So we all went to the movies over the weekend. It was spectacular! I will take you to one someday. I promise that you will love them. 

I have a friend here that reminds me so much of Tonks. She is not a metamorphmagus but I swear she knows all these wordless spells to change her appearance. It is SO cool!

Maybe you can come to America over the Christmas break and Lani and I can take you to the movies!

Do you think we could get your parents to let you come? 

(We won’t say anything about the muggle movies.)

Let me know,

Theo.

****

“Do you always have to be such an insufferable know-it-all?” Pansy’s voice was as shrill as it was vicious.

Hermione stopped mid step as the group around them all began to snicker.

“When I want your opinion,” Pansy jutted out her hip and gave Hermione the most withering glare that she had ever been the subject of, “I will let you know. Until then keep that buck toothed, bushy haired head out of my way.”

The quiet snickers now turned into laughter. Hermione could feel her face heat as she opened and closed her mouth trying to form a response of any kind.

She was saved from having to do anything when Draco’s voice rose above the laughter.

“First years!” He stood a good two feet above the rest of the crowd with his arms crossed over his chest. “Your laughter is annoying me. Twenty points from each of your houses.”

Pansy let out a snort of irritation. “That’s not fair! Laughing isn’t a punishable offense for house points.”

“Your right, Parkinson,” Draco nodded his head. “Fifty points from Slytherin for correcting a prefect.”

Hermione watched on as the group all went wide eyed and Pansy’s jaw dropped nearly to the floor.
“But you are in Slytherin too!” She cried. 

Draco leaned down and smiled maniacally at her. “Yeah, and I suggest you move along before I piss both of us off by taking away more points.”

Pansy harrumphed and stomped away as the other group members all looked at each other for an answer to what they should do now. “I was talking to all of you.” Draco’s cold voice sprung them all into action. Everyone dispersed in different directions. With them all scattering down the halls, Draco began to stride forward. Hands in his pockets and his chin lifted with authority. Hermione jogged to keep up with him.

“You can’t do that,” Hermione said weakly. “That is an abuse of power.”

Draco turned his gaze down to her only to scowl and stride faster with his annoyingly long legs. Hermione’s book bag bounced against her hip as she continued to try to keep up with him.

“I don’t know why she had to be so mean,” Hermione began again. “All I was trying to do was explain that Snape was right to give her a ‘P’ on her potion today because she forgot to score the bat wing before she dropped it in. Thus causing her potion to be practically ineffective in properly changing hair color.”

As she had talked Draco had come to a stop and turned to look down at her. As she finished up her explanation she looked up at him. His nose was scrunched up and his eyes were narrowed down at her. “You really do make it so hard for yourself to make friends, don’t you?

“You don’t seem to mind me.” Hermione retorted.

Draco just rolled his eyes at her. “I tolerate you, Tadpole. There is a difference.” He turns back around and starts walking away from her again. “You're going to be late. Get to class, Granger.”

****

Hermione finds Draco at his usual table in the library. It sits in front of the huge window looking out over the black lake. She often catches him while they are both studying, staring out the window. She always thinks that it looks like his mind is a thousand miles away. His body sits in front of her, but Draco Malfoy is far away, somewhere else.

Today, as she races to him, he sits at a table with two other students. As she makes it to the table, Hermione realizes that they are the two students from the train compartment with Draco. The girl, Hermione had seen around school, was named Luna Lovegood. She was known by all the other students for being pretty strange and some people had even referred to her as ‘Looney’. Hermione had not liked that and promptly told anyone who called her that, that names have value and to give respect to a student's name.

The boy, Hermione had only ever seen in passing when he was with Draco. Hermione was pretty certain that his name was Blaise Zabini, but she rarely ever heard anyone speak about him. 

All three of the older students looked over to her as she skidded into their table, breathing heavily from having run all the way here from the Gryiffindor common rooms.

“If it isn’t our little toad hunter,” Blaise quipped first. “What creature are you searching for tonight.” 

Hermione’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. How had he known? “A three-headed dog!”

All three of the students looked at Hermione for a silent moment before they all started laughing.

“Good Godrick, Granger, Blaise was joking,” Draco laughed. “Did someone really lose a three-headed dog?”

“Are you sure you’re not related to the Scamander wizarding family?” Blaise asked her as he leaned closer to her with a wide smile.

“Cerberus is a really rare beast that is native to Greece.” Luna seemed to be the only one that was taking Hermione seriously. “They are known to be fierce and loyal guard animals.”

“Is that why the school has one?” Hermione asked quickly, latching on to Luna’s explanation and pointedly ignoring the boys.

“The school doesn’t have a cerberus, Tadpole.” Draco turned back to his papers on the desk.

Hermione bristled slightly at his dismissal. “I saw it last night! It was in a locked classroom on the third floor, and it was standing over some kind of trapped door.”

“If the room was locked, how did you get in?” Blaise asked her, what Hermione felt was the entirely wrong question to come out of her statement.

“I used Alohomora.” Hermione was about to wave him off, when Blaise turned to Draco with a crooked head.

“You taught her the unlocking charm?” He asked Draco.

Draco didn’t even look up from what he was writing as he shrugged with both palms up and rolled his eyes. “I kept finding her locked inside broom closets.”

Luna turned to Hermione at this. “Oh Hermione.” Hermione turned red at the older girl's clear pity. “Why would someone do that to you?”

Hermione didn’t have the heart to tell Luna that a few of the times it had been because Hermione had defended Luna to some of the older students.

“Th-that’s not important right now.” Hermione tried to get them all back on track. “There is a huge creature guarding something hidden here in Hogwarts!”

Still none of them really reacted to her. Blasie and Luna both just looked at her with expressions of concern, the former for probably her mental state and the latter in pity.

“It was probably just an illusion spell, Tadpole.” Draco was now flipping through a large book on the table. “It is probably just one of the Professor’s extra storage rooms, and the spell is just there to keep curious students away.”

“No, Draco!” Hermione wants to slam her hands on the desk in exacerbation. “The dog was real and Ron has the drool on his shirt to prove it.”

This finally catches Draco’s attention as he finally looks up from his school work at her. “What on earth were you the Weasel kid doing going around locked classrooms together?” 

“Harry was there too,” Hermione states before going on, “And I was only with them because I was trying to tell them that being out of dorms after curfew would get them in a lot of trouble. They wouldn’t listen to me and I told them about the house points that we would lose if they got caught. Ron just told me that Harry is the hero of Gryffindor and no one would dare to take points from him. I followed them out of the portrait hall without thinking as they wouldn’t even stop walking to listen to me, but then couldn’t get back in because the Fat Lady was gone!” 

Draco squeezed his eyes shut and held up his hand to stop Hermione’s rambling.

“Sweet Salazar, kid,” Blaise looked at Hermione in amazement. “Did you even take a breath during all of that?” He then laughs at his own joke. Luna uses the back of her hand to slap his shoulder in reprimand. 

“What if this has something to do with,” Hermione pauses and pointedly looks at Blaise and Luna, before continuing in a whisper directly to Draco, “Who I told you about?”

“Not this again.” Draco drops his face down into his palm. “Snape isn’t trying to kill anyone, Granger. I promise.”

“Never say Never, Drakey.” Blaise jokes.

Hermione blows out an annoyed breath at the boys. “Nevermind. I will go do the research myself.” She turns on her heels and begins to walk deeper into the library.

She hears Blaise as she walks away. “Kids these days.”

“Tell me about it.” Draco responds to him.

Hermione stomps away faster.

****

The bright sun is warming the chilly October air, making for the perfect day to sit out in the courtyard. Draco sits against the trunk of a tree with Blaise and Tonks as they talk about the Halloween party that Hufflepuffs have planned for after dinner tonight.

“Why would you invite Percy, Tonks?” Blaise practically whines. 

“I had to Zabini,” Tonks concedes with a shrug. “He was there at the meeting where I got permission from the Heads to even host a party. I invited all of the prefects.”

“Drake, I told you we should have just had the party in the dungeons.”

“I would have still had to get permission at the meeting from the heads.” Draco laughed at his friend. 

“Yes, but even if you had invited them, the prefects who are going to be wet blankets are too scared to even go into the Slytherin dungeons. Problem solved.” Blaise turns to Tonks then. “Nobody is scared of the kitchen cabinet that you Huffs call a burrow.”

Tonks gives him back a mocking face and blows raspberries at Blaise with a transformed snake tongue. 

Draco gives a small chuckle at his two friends and rests his head back against the tree, closing his eyes as they continue to bicker back and forth. The sun causes a pink glow to warm through Draco’s eyelids. The tree behind him creaks as it sways with the wind. Draco can almost hear a third voice joining into the fray with what his opinions would be about the subject. His curly brown hair glowing with the rays of the sun. Hands gesturing wildly as he explains some idea for prank on the younger years. 

The Astronomy tower’s echoing bells release Draco from his reverie as it signals the end of classes for the day. Draco peaks out of one eye to see students as they start filling the courtyard. Then he spots a head of different brown curls bouncing around with the other students. 

Hermione is walking with a smile behind a group of boys. One is the Potter boy, another is the youngest Weasley, and with them is a boy a head taller than them and the last is a boy with soot exploded across his face.

Draco feels his lip start to curl up at the sight of her right before the Weasley boy begins to speak.

 “It’s levi-OOH-sa, not levi-o-sar.” He mocks in a high pitched voice as the other boys laugh. Behind them Hermione’s smile drops and Draco instantly knows that something is wrong. “She’s a nightmare! Honestly!” Draco feels his blood begin to boil as he watches Hermione’s eyes go wide behind the group. “It’s no wonder she hasn’t got any friends.” The boys all nod their heads with chuckles. Hermione’s tears spill over as she shoves the red headed boy and runs past them all. They all go quiet.

“I think she heard you,” the Potter boy states dumbly.

Draco is seeing red as he stalks his way over to the group of boys. He hears Blaise and Tonks call out to him, but he continues on.

He stops in the path of the boys, forcing them all to come to a complete halt in front of him. Draco grins at the looks of terror all the boys give him.

“Look at you,” Draco hisses at the Weasley brat. “A real comedian you are.” Draco fakes a laugh and the boys all laugh along with him nervously. When the red head starts to smile at Draco, he widens his own smile in return. “Do you think it is funny to belittle your fellow classmates?” The boy's smile drops and his throat bobs with a nervous gulp. Draco continues without letting him answer. “Do you think it is funny to make fun of someone for trying to help you out with your piss poor wand work.” Draco takes a menacing step forward causing the group of boys to all take a large step back. 

“Cause I for one,” Draco leans down to get eye to eye with the boy, whose face is now the same flaming red as his hair, “would take any advice I could get from someone who is at the top of her class.” He scans down and then back up the boy's appearance with a disgusted sneer. “Especially if I were you. What is your rank in class?”

The boy simply stutters a few syllables before Draco straightens back up to his full height. “Exactly. Ten points from your house for bullying a fellow classmate.” The boys all groan. “Each.” All of their jaws drop, but Draco turns around and walks away, passing where Blaise and Tonks both stand shaking their heads at him. 

He scans the entire courtyard but doesn’t find that bushy hair anywhere.

****

Draco had looked all over the school for Hermione, but couldn’t find her anywhere. No one seemed to have seen her or knew where she might have gone. Draco checked all through the library twice and had even gone up on his broom in hopes of spotting her from above. Still nothing though, so he had given up and decided to go down to the Halloween Feast in the Great Hall. Once he got there he scanned the entire Gryffindor table. She wasn’t there either and Draco was starting to get a bad feeling in his stomach.

He had no clues to where she might even be so instead he tried to eat. He didn’t taste any of the food. He kept looking to the doors in hopes that she might come bursting in. Instead time ticked by with no sign of her.

At last just as lightning lit up the Great Hall, the doors were thrown open with a bang almost as loud as the thunder outside. Draco sighed in relief before realizing that instead of a small curly haired witch it was the bumbling Quirrell, and he was running.

“TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!” The professor screamed as he made his way down the aisle. “TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!” The man suddenly stops as if his feet couldn’t take him any further and sways. “Thought you ought to know.” Then Quirrell promptly faints to the floor. 

The screams begin after a second as students all around the Great Hall as they jumped from their seats and started surging for the door.

Draco tried calling out to the Slytherin students around him but they were all too panicked to hear him.

“SILENCE!” Dumbledore’s voice boomed above the chaos, stopping everyone in their tracks. Once the hall had gone silent, the Headmaster began again. “Everyone, please do not panic. Now, prefects will lead your houses back to the dormitories. Teachers, will follow me to the dungeons.” With that he turned with a billow of robes and walked out the back entrance with the other teachers in tow.

Draco was gathering his Slytherin students into a group when Daphne Greengrass turned to him with a scared look. “But our dorms are in the dungeons.”

Draco put a comforting hand on the second year's shoulder. “We will be alright. I promise.”

He and the other Slytherin prefects all rounded up the students and surrounded them with their wands raised up. They made it all the way there without a sighting of the troll and Draco let out a breath of relief. He ushered all the students in through the passageway before turning to see a group of professors running up the stairs away from the dungeons. 

He ran to them without thinking. Snape was near the back of the group and Draco caught up to him without issue. 

“Have you found the troll yet?” Draco asked when he was alongside his godfather.

Snape looked over to him in surprise before speaking. “No, we think that it has moved up to one of the main levels.”

As he talked, Draco noticed that Snape was walking with a slight limp. “Professor, are the burn potions not working?” He grabbed the man by his arm in an attempt to help him. 

Snape yanked his arm away with a slap to Draco’s hand and his lips set in a purse. “I’m fine, boy. Now go back to the dorms, befor-” Snape was interrupted by loud crashes coming from the floor above them.

“It sounds like it is coming from the girls bathroom on the second floor,” McGonagall calls out. The entire group jumps into action running up the next set of stairs as more loud crashes continue. As they rush forward Draco notices that the crashing has stopped only seconds before something crashes down and the impact of it shakes the castle around them. Everyone throws their arms out for balance and Draco grabs Snape’s shoulder to help steady him. Once they had all found solid footing they were off again.

McGonagall was at the head of the group as she ran into the entrance of the girls bathroom. Dust was swirling around in the air and it sounded like water was running from inside. Whatever was inside made McGonagall slam to a stop quickly with a gasp. Draco with the rest of the group followed inside. 

Draco’s jaw nearly hit the floor at the sight of an unconscious mountain troll laid out between the three first years. Draco’s frantic eyes immediately went to Hermione. She was covered in dust and sprayed water. There were wood splinters sticking out of her robe and bigger pieces in her hair. At the sight of blood trickling down from a small cut on her cheek Draco started to move forward as McGonagall screeched at them all to ‘explain themselves’.

Hermione’s words froze him to the spot. “It’s my fault Professor McGonagall.”

“Hermione?” Draco growled.

She continued on as if he hadn’t spoken. “I went looking for the troll. I read about them and thought I could handle it.” She turns to look at Draco. “But I was wrong. If Harry and Ron hadn’t come and found me, I’d probably be dead.” She has the brains to look ashamed.

“What the fu-” Draco is interrupted by a hand grasping his shoulder. He turns to glare at Snape who simply shakes his head as McGonagall begins to berate her student.

“Be that as it may, it was a very foolish thing to do. I would have expected more rational behavior on your part, and I am very disappointed in you Miss Granger. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor. For your serious lack of judgment.” McGonagall then turns from the sheepish girl to her two cohorts. “And as for you two. I just hope you realize how fortunate you are. Not many first years could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale.” She takes a long breath as she shakes her head at the two idiots. “Five points…will be awarded to each of you.”

“What!” Draco erupts and Snape has to pull him away from the bathroom.

“For sheer dumb luck.” Draco hears McGonagall finish as he is being dragged away.

****

Hermione was so happy to have Draco’s assistance. Make no mistake, she was ecstatic to finally have friends, but Harry and Ron weren’t always as interested in the details that Hermione could be. Draco proved to be of great help to Hermione as she researched as much information on Fluffy, as Hagrid called the three headed dog, and now with Nicolas Flamel.

The two of them had spent two entire nights holed up in the library trying to find any mention of the man in the books there.

“It has to be in the restricted section,” Hermione whined. “You are a prefect, so you are allowed to go in. Please, Draco.”

“I will, Granger.” Draco helped her load her suitcase onto the train. “After the holidays.”

Hermione let out a sigh of annoyance and turned to wave at her friends who stood at the top of the hill waving back at her.

Draco looked at the two boys over her shoulder with a scowl before rolling his eyes and ushering the witch onto the train.

****

Hermione acted as if Draco didn’t have school work of his own or prefect duties, or hell, friends of his own that he wanted to spend time with.

Since they had gotten back from holiday break it felt like the small girl had not stopped asking questions and talking about her and the two idiots adventures around the school. 

She had him explain to her the history of invisibility cloaks as well as the Mirror of Erised. Both subjects required an immense amount of research on both Draco and Hermione’s part. To Draco’s annoyance she was also becoming obsessed with the philosopher's stone and Flamels use of it. 

She had at least three alchemy texts on her at all times since he had brought her back the book he found in the Malfoy library about the alchemist Nicolas Flamel. He hoped that Dobby had kept his promise to not tell Draco’s father about him taking the book or that he had taken off all of the muggle repelling charms.

In a bid to get some of his own studying done Draco had chosen a table in a hidden alcove of the library. Most students didn’t even know that this table existed since it was like going through a labyrinth of to find the alcove that was tucked away behind the restricted section. It was a safe space for Draco that Theo had found with the twins in their first year. Draco was half way through his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay when the worst happened.

“There you are Draco.” Draco squeezed his eyes shut and curled his fingers into a fist at her chipper voice. “I was looking all over for you.”

“Circe’s tit, Granger. How in Merlin’s beard did you find me here?”

“I ran into Tonks and asked,” Hermione says nonchalantly as she throws at least ten books onto the rickety table. Draco has to grab his ink well to keep it from toppling over and spilling across his paper.

“So the stone can turn any metal into pure gold, which leaves the question; Does Snape want the stone so that he can become extremely rich or so that he can create the ‘Elixir of Life’ and become immortal?” Hermione flips through two open books at once.

“Neither.” 

“Hmm.” Hermione ignores Draco’s uninterested tone and continues on. “You’re right. Professor Snape is one of wizarding Britain's most renowned potioneers. He could want the stone for business purposes. He could become rich and famous as having the most sought after potions and medicinal cures.”

“Granger.” Draco rubs his temples in frustration.

“Has he ever indicated that he has the desire to be something other than a Hogwarts potions Professor?”

“No.”

“He doesn’t seem to like children very much so maybe this-”

“Hermione!” She jumps in her seat at Draco’s outburst. He takes a deep breath before he continues on. “Please. I have a huge term paper due in a couple of days and O.W.L.s to study for. This is the only time I have to set aside and can focus on working on any of it for the week. So can you please just leave me out of you and the two idiots’ wild scheming for one night?”

“They are not idiots,” Hermione huffs back.

“So then take all of this,” Draco motions to her books taking up almost all of the space on the table, “and go figure this out with them.”

Hermione doesn’t move, she just releases a deep breath of defeat. “Fine. I will be quiet.”

Draco drags both hands through his hair in his own defeat. “Fine.”

An hour later Draco sits back and stretches his sore muscles out against his chair. Looking over at Hermione as he does. She has spun all of her hair into an enormous bun on top of her small head, her wand shoved through the center to hold it together. She rests her head in the palm of her hand, elbow on the table next to the book she is reading.

Draco leans forward to see what she is reading. “Norwegian Ridgebacks?”

“Huh?” Hermione doesn’t even look up from the text as she responds.

“Why are you reading about dragons?”

“Oh well Hagrid is raising one now.” Again, she doesn’t even look at Draco as she answers. Too drawn in by the information she is reading.

“What?” Draco asks. Concern was suddenly apparent in his tone. “How the hell did he get a dragon onto school grounds?”

“He won it in a card game.” Hermione finally looks up at him with a spark of excitement. “Well he won the egg,” She corrects herself. “We got to see it hatch when we went down to his hut for tea last night.”

“After curfew?”

“Yeah! We used Harry’s invisibility cloak.” Hermione smiles as she goes back to reading.

“I think they have become a bad influence on you.” Draco states as he begins to think about how a dragon could possibly grow on school grounds.

Hermione rolls her eyes at Draco.

****

Dear Theo,

Dumbledore is raving mad!

After all that talk about how students are not allowed to go into the forbidden forest, he sends three first years in there with nothing but that oaf of a groundskeeper and his dog! If I had known that reporting those idiots for using an invisibility cloak to run around the school after curfew to McGonagall, would land them there, I can’t say I would do it again. Sometimes I really can’t help but agree with my father when he calls this place a joke.

All these professors and students have got that Potter boy so paranoid that he is seeing ghosts at every turn. He is claiming that he saw He Who Must Not Be Named out there in the forest. 

Can you really believe that?

On school grounds, with the wards and everything?

As if.

Sincerely your mentally exhausted best mate,

Draco

Chapter Text

Dear Theo,

I have never had to deal with a more incompetent group of brainless flobberworms than these first years. They are no more than festering idiots with what seems to be a single brain cell shared between the lot of them. I fear that the only one that has any sense of real intelligence is this annoying swat that they have assigned to my tutelage, but even she has started acting like a lunatic. I shudder to even think about what she might become if this group's infectious stupidity overtakes her.

I will do my best-

“What are you writing?” Draco is jared from his thoughts as Hermione’s voice comes from beside him.

“A letter to a friend.” 

Hermione tips her head from one side to the other as she squints at the paper in front of him. “Is it written in another language?”

“It’s a code that we came up with a long time ago.” Draco begins to fold up the paper and place it in his black leather book bag.

“You and Blaise created your own secret code?” Her question shows the excitement for new knowledge to learn.

“No,” Draco can’t hold back his smile. “I didn’t create it with Blaise. I’m writing to my friend Theo.”

Hermione looks at him confused. “I have never seen a friend of yours named Theo. What house is he in?”

“He doesn’t go to Hogwarts, Granger. Not anymore anyways.” Draco leans back in his chair. “He and his family immigrated to America last summer. He is in his third year at Ilvermorny there. ”

“Oh.” Hermione takes a moment to think before she speaks again. “Why do you have to write to him in code?”

Draco takes the time to get out his O.W.L. texts out before he answers. “We just always have.” He looks up at her with narrowed eyes. “It keeps nosey little swats out of our business.”

She rolls her eyes as she leans back down into her chair across the table. “Fine.” She grabs her own texts and Draco can’t help but try to see what she is studying now. 

As much as he hates to admit it, he has missed helping her research the past couple weeks. Ever since he got her and the nitwit twins sent to detention she has not been so forthcoming with her adventures with the boys. Every once in a while she will ask him a vague question, but won’t give him any specific details. 

“Maybe I should start writing in code to Harry and Ron.” 

“No,” Draco stated firmly.

“Why not?” She looked up at him with a furrowed brow.

“Because those two idiots have gotten you in enough trouble already.”

“They are NOT idiots.” Hermione fumed at the argument they had already had on multiple occasions. “Plus they are not the one who got me sent to detention. That was you, if you had forgotten.”

“I am a prefect, Granger. It is part of my job to report on students out of bed after curfew.” Draco defended himself. Again.

“Students that you catch out of bed.” Hermione pointed out as she crossed her arms. “You never actually saw us out.”

“Because you were using Potter’s invisibility cloak.” 

“You can’t prove that.” Hermione’s stubbornness was getting worse by the day about this subject. 

“They weren’t even your friends a few months ago.” Draco’s anger always caused his cruelty to come out. “They were making fun of you and calling you names.”

“You call me 'toad hunter' and 'tadpole' almost everyday.” Hermione threw back at him. “If you are not calling me a swat or worse hiding from me.” She refused to back down now.

“That is different.”

“How.” 

“Because when McGonagall and Snape asked me to look after you at the beginning of the year it wasn’t so that you could run around getting into trouble with those two-” Draco cut himself off mid rant as Hermione’s expression finally registered through his anger.

Her eyes were blown wide and were brimming with tears. A fierce blush was heating up her face as she looked at him in shock.

“What do you mean they asked you to look after me?” Hermione’s voice was a shaky whisper.

Draco realized his misstep and tried to be as gentle as he could with this information. He cleared his throat before speaking. “You are the smartest witch in your year, maybe even at this school.” Draco wanted this to soften the blow. “But they saw you struggling to make any friends. To form any connections. I had just gotten in trouble for the jinx on Percy. They thought that I could help-”

“So it was detention or pretend to be my friend?” 

“Don’t say it like that.” Draco all but admitted. “You needed a mentor, someone to give you the confidence-”

Hermione didn’t let him finish before she stood abruptly from their table and started walking away. She took nothing with her as she fled.

“Fuck.” Draco shot up to follow her. “Hermione, wait.” She didn’t look back at him as she made her way through the packed library. End of the year finals were in the next week and everyone was spending their nights here. By the time he caught up with her they were in the center of the tables filled with studying students. He caught a hold of her arm and stopped her, but she wouldn’t turn to look at him. “Tadpole.” Draco couldn’t help but look around at all of the eyes that were locked on them now. “If you would just listen to me.”

“I’m going to go study with my real friends, Malfoy.” Draco didn’t want to admit how much her calling him by his last name hurt. “You did your job. I don’t need you to keep me company anymore.”

With that she ripped her arm from his grasp and ran out the library doors. Draco stood in the middle of a now completely silent library with what felt like a million eyes on him. He turned back around to gather his and Hermione’s stuff from their table before he left.

****

Draco was fine. Better yet he was doing great now that he didn’t have to worry about some sniveling, socially awkward, kid. 

He was able to study by himself. Which he preferred. He didn’t have to care so much about kids bullying anymore. Which he never had to before. He was asked to do a job by his professors and he did it. Sure he wasn’t too happy about the outcome, but she had friends now. He no longer needed to hang out with her. Job done.

Draco Lucius Malfoy was a cunning and smart Slytherin, and he certainly did not care that some twelve year old Gryffin-dork was mad at him.

Nope. Not at all.

Draco only had one last O.W.L. to take and he told himself that there was nothing else he needed to worry about. He was confident in his other eleven tests and the last was Defense Against the Dark Arts. So for all he was concerned, it was smooth sailing for him.

“M-Mr. M-M-Malf-foy.” As if summoned by his thoughts, Draco turned around in the hallway to find Professor Quirrell trailing after him.

“Hello Professor.”

“J-Just checking to s-s-see how you ar-r-re feeling about your-r-r exams tom-m-marow.” Draco nearly felt his eye twitch at every stutter from his eccentric teacher. Draco had found it seriously odd this past year that Professor Quirrell had come back after his sabbatical to teach Defense instead of his former muggle studies. The man could hardly stand to hold a conversation with first years, let alone handle the Dark Arts.

“I’m feeling quite good about it, Professor,” Draco pacified with a forced smile.
“Ah w-w-well I was on my w-w-way to a study group I-I’m holding for students if y-y-you wish to join us.” Quirrell continued to step closer to Draco until he could put a hand on Draco's bicep. Draco looked down at the offending hand and then back up to the man attached to it.

“Uh well I was actually just off to the library to study with my friends, Professor.” Draco attempted to take a step back, but Quirrell’s grip on him tightened.

“O-oh yes. Mr. Malfoy. You are quite p-popular I hear.” Something flashed behind the man's eyes as he smiled at Draco. “I wonder if you will be more of a leader when you get older or if you will be a follower like your father.” He spoke the last part with a soft venom that Draco couldn’t help but flinch back from.

“I wasn’t aware that you knew my father.”

“I know many things boy.” Quirrell’s eyes darkened and Draco for a brief second could swear that he heard a voice whispering behind the professor.

“Wh-” Draco was interrupted by a hand clamping down on his shoulder.

“Draco,” Snape’s voice was monotonous as ever. “Just who I was looking for. You don’t mind if I steal him from you, do you Quirinus?”

Draco watched as Quirrell took a second to debate with himself before his features dropped back into their usual meek trembling.

“O-o-of course. P-p-professor.” His stutter is back in full swing. “J-j-just seeing if-f-f young m-m-mr. Malf-f-foy needed any help-p-p with is D-d-defense exams t-t-t-”

“Yes well, Mr. Malfoy has always been proficient in his Dark Arts studies,” Snape cuts the other professor’s bumbling off while pulling Draco out of the man's grip. “So I doubt he will need the assistance. Right Draco?” Snape turned to glare down at the boy.

“Yes. Right, Professor.” Draco can’t seem to look away from Professor Quirrell.

“Well then.” Snape starts to drag the stunned Draco down the hall. “Goodnight, Quirinus.”

“N-night.” His timid voice echoes down the hall after the two.

Snape does not say a word as he continues to pull Draco towards his potions room. Once they are inside Snape whips his wand around to cast wards and silencing charms.

“What did he say to you?” Draco is too confused by what just happened to comprehend Snape's question. “Draco!” His godfather shakes him to clear the fog from Draco’s brain.

“He just wanted me to join his O.W.L. study group.” Draco feels the beginnings of a headache forming in his temples. “Then he said something about me being a leader or a follower like my father.”

“Did he ask about the stone?” Snape looks deep into Draco’s eyes as he asks the question.

“What stone?” Draco can’t seem to get his mind to form a cohesive thought. It is like he is wading through a thick lake of mud.

Snape holds Draco firm as his stare searches for something in Draco’s expression. Slowly he releases his tight grip on his godson and takes a step back. 

“Nothing. I seem to be mistaken.”

Draco suddenly feels a pressure release in his head. It is as if a light has been switched on and he can make the connections he has been searching for. “Is this about the Alchemist Flamel’s stone?”

Snape snaps his gaze back to Draco, but now there is something close to fear in his mentor’s eyes. “No.” His voice is stern as he starts to turn away and walk towards his storage room.

“It can’t truly be hidden here in the school, can it?” Draco follows behind his teacher.
Snape once again stops and turns to Draco. He reaches out and grasps Draco’s shoulders in what feels like a pleading gesture. “Draco, I need you to leave it now.”

Draco suddenly feels choked up as he reaches up to gently take a hold of Snape's forearms. “Severus, what is going on?”  

“No, Draco. I don’t want you involved in this. None of you should be involved in this.” 

Snape takes a deep breath and Draco watches as his walls of occlumency dropped down into place. The fear and anxiety were gone and in their place was Snape’s ever present blank expression. “The headmaster has been called away for the night and I need to go fetch him. Draco while I am gone I need for you to keep yourself…and anyone who might get themselves into trouble, out of it.” He punctuated the last words with his unspoken meaning. 

“Of course, professor. You can count on me.” Snape simply nodded at Draco’s confirmation before sweeping back out of the room with billowing robes. 

Draco was left alone in the potions classroom to think about what all just happened by himself. Without being told Draco knew just who Snape had been talking about causing trouble. 

****

Hermione’s shoulder was burning from keeping Ron’s unconscious body floating beside her. She kept her wand arms lifted as she made her way back out of the series of rooms in the underground chamber. It lead her up a set of stairs and out a door near the one that Fluffy lay behind. She needed to get help for Harry and Ron, but she was faltering. Her legs were shaking from the effort to hold herself up, and though she kept assuring herself that she hadn’t actually drank the poison her stomach was cramping.

She pushed herself forward until she was out in the hallway and she could see the light from the staircases just ahead. A pair of voices stopped her in her tracks.

“Draco, this is the third floor corridor,” a female voice chided. “Student’s aren’t even allowed to be here.”

“Like that has ever stopped students before.” Draco’s voice drifted down to Hermione just as two figures stepped into the light at the end of the hallway. 

Hermione felt her heart soar at the sight of Draco’s platinum hair on the taller of the two.

“Draco.” It came out like a breathy whisper that she was sure he would not even hear, but his head whipped to look down the hall as if summoned by her weak voice. “Draco, help me.” Hermione forced her voice to carry louder down the hall to him.

“Granger!” He began sprinting to her. Hermione sagged in relief as she set Ron down as gently as possible and let her legs give out. She waited for the pain of her fall to register, but Draco had reached her just in time. He slid to a stop on his knees catching her by the arms to hold her up. “Granger? I have been looking for you all over the school. What the hell are you doing up here?”

The other prefect, a Ravenclaw girl, finally made it over to them. “What in the name of Merlin happened to you two?” She took in the scene of two clearly beaten up first years.

“You have to help, Draco.” Hermione pleaded as she weakly tried to grasp at his robes. “Harry is still down there.”

Draco turned to the Ravenclaw. “Go find a teacher. Anyone!” 

The girl nodded frantically before turning and running back down the hall.

“What happened, Hermione?”

She tried to hold back the tears, but they filled her eyes and choked her as she attempted to speak.

“Harry,” She croaked out. “Harry is still down there with him.”

“Down where, Ganger? With who?” 

“Snape!” Draco reached up and used his thumb to brush the tears from her cheek as she became frantic. He watched as his hands shook, feeling his heart beat out of his chest. “He went down into the secret chamber under Fluffy.”

“Snape did? You’re sure?”

“Yes, and we followed him down there. We didn’t know that there would be all of those challenges.” She began to shake and Draco pulled her into a tight hug. She gripped him hard and Draco reached over with his hand to feel at Ron’s neck. He sighed in relief when he felt a slow beat of the young boy's heart.

Draco brought his hand back to cup the back of Hermione’s head, resting his cheek on the top of her head. He let himself calm a little. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment that she had gotten so under his skin, but he could deny it no longer. She had become important to him. 

“It’s okay, you are okay. Tell me what happened.” He pulled back from her so that he could look at her as she talked.

With a few sniffles she told him everything that had happened under the trap door. “And I solved the riddle, but there was only enough of each potion for one person. I told Harry that I would go back and get help, but he is down there all by himself against Snape. What if something bad happens?”

Just then they both turned to the sound of multiple people running towards them. The Ravenclaw girl led the charge, with Dumbledore and McGonagall behind her. It was who was just behind them that made Hermione inhale a huge breath and grip at Draco’s robes tiger. When he looked down at her, her eyes were blown wide and she was shaking her head in disbelief.

“What happened here?” Snape’s voice boomed down as his eyes roved over the three of them on the floor.

Hermione seemed incapable of speaking, so Draco took the lead. “They went down into the chamber hidden on this floor. The Potter boy is apparently still down there.”

“What!” Snape and Dumbledore shared a look before the two men took off and ran through a door down at the end of the hall.

“Oh my dear,” McGonagall bent down to help Hermione stand and Draco rose with them. He tried supporting Hermione, but she was so much shorter than him that it felt silly.

With a flick of her wand the elder witch raised Ron’s still unconscious body up and then rounded the rest of them up and began ushering them down to the Hospital Wing.

Hermione turned to look back at the door where Fluffy and the trap door were. 

“I should wait for Harry.”

“He will be alright, Hermione,” She looked up at him with tear filled eyes. “I promise.”

It took her a few more seconds, but she finally conceded with a small nod of her head. Draco squeezed her shoulder in reassurance before turning her and leading her down the hall with the rest of the group.

****

“It feels strange to be going home, doesn’t it?” Hermione asked Harry as he came back from saying good-bye to Hagrid. 

“I’m not going home. Not really.” He responded with a sad smile. It worried Hermione. After everything that they had been through this year and down in the chamber below the school, that Harry would feel more at home here at the school. Hermione missed her parents, her own bedroom. What did Harry have back in Little Whinging? She had asked him about what it was like with his family back at home, but he always clammed up. 

As the three of them made their way through the train compartments, Hermione caught a glimpse of platinum blonde hair through the frosted glass in front of her. She couldn’t hold back her smile as she stopped in front of the door. Harry and Ron both turned around to her with confused stares. 

“I’ll catch up with you in a few.” Both boys looked into the compartment that she was standing in front of. Ron scowled at who he saw inside, but Harry smiled back at her. “Save me a seat?” She didn’t mean for it to sound like so much of a question, she knew they were friends now, she just couldn’t shake the need to check that it was real and not just in her head.

“Of course ‘Mione,” Harry said with a laugh. “Want us to get you anything from the Honeydukes trolley if it comes by before you get there?”

Hermione felt warmth explode from her heart and her smile nearly split her face. “A sugar quill and cauldron cake, please.”

“Sure thing!” Harry beamed back at her.

“Don’t be too long, A’kay.” Ron gave one last glare at the compartment before smiling at Hermione as well. 

She bobbed her head in response and slid open the door in front of her. When she looked in, everyone had small smiles on their faces. Draco and Blaise were snickering together though.

“Anything from the trolley, ‘Mione?” Blaise asked Draco in a squeaky voice.

“Don’t be too long, ‘Mione.” Draco mocked back at Blaise.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the two of them with a scoff. That set them off laughing harder. 

Luna just continued to smile at Hermione as if the boys weren’t there. “Hello, Hermione.”

“Oh lay off her, boys.” Tonks threw a sparking hex at Blaise across from her and smacked Draco in the chest. “Just ignore them, Hermione.” Tonks got up from the bench seat next to Draco and sat with Blaise and Luna.

Hermione gladly bounced into the now empty space next to Draco.

“You know that was a foul bout of cheating at the Farewell Feast, little toad hunter,” Blaise leaned forward to narrow his eyes at Hermione.

“It was not cheating!” She shot back at him. “We won the house cup fair and square. You go up against one of the darkest wizards of our time and see how many house points you get.” She crossed her arms and tilted her chin up at him. The move was very similar to a certain blondes when he was being a prat too.

“Oh yes, the power of friendship really brought down the terrifying Q-Q-Quirrell.” It was clear that Blaise was trying to make a joke of it, but Draco didn’t find it funny at all.

“It wasn’t just Professor Quirrell.” Hermione nearly jumped out of her seat. “He was being controlled by Lord V-” She felt the name stick in her throat. She tried to force it passed her tongue again. “Lord Vold-” but the name choked her up again and everyone’s friendly smiles turned to looks of pity. Hermione felt her face burn at her inability to form a simple stupid name. 

“Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.” Draco's calming voice brought her eyes up to his. He looked down at her not with pity, but with a proud smile and a nod of his head. 

Hermione felt the surge of his strength straighten her back and turn her back to the others. 

“He Who Must Not Be Named.” She would say his name one day. One day she wouldn’t be afraid. She knew it. Draco knew it. Tonks, Luna, and Blaise all knew it too as they smiled once again at her.

Blaise put his hands up in surrender. “That was a nice big ‘ribbet’ toad hunter. I give up.”

Hermione couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up.

The rest of the compartment joined in as well.

“Actually did you know that toads make a sound closer to a high pitched peep, than a ribbit?” Luna began to explain the difference in sounds to the group.

“How are you?” Draco whispered down to Hermione as Luna continued. “Really?”

Hermione looked up at him and saw that there was genuine concern in his silver eyes. “I’m okay.”

“No more poison scares?” He asked knowing the answer to his own question. He had spent the day in the hospital wing with her.

“No,” Hermione conceded with a bereft sigh. “Snape promised that I didn’t ingest any poison. Apparently the potion I drank has wormwart in it, and can cause stomach pains in some people who ingest it. Nothing fatal, so he claims.”

“Well good.” Draco’s smile turned wicked. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. “What?”

“I was right. Snape really wasn’t trying to kill you or the boy wonder.” Hermione rolls her eyes at him, causing him to chuckle. “Just admit it, Tadpole. I was right.”

“Fine.” She concedes to him. “If you admit it too.”

“That you were right?” His eyebrow shoots up as he looks down at her in disbelief.

“No.” She shakes her head and smiles up at him widely. “That I am your friend.”

This makes Draco roll his eyes all the way into the back of his head, with a click of his tongue. 

“Apprentice?” He tries.

“No, Draco. Friend.”

“Protege?”

“Draco!” She laughs at him.

“Fine.” He narrows his eyes as he tilts his chin up to look down his nose at her. “Friends, Tadpole.”

Hermione feels as if her smile lights up the entire compartment. She doesn’t even care that it probably shows off all of her big ugly teeth. She smiles and Draco is smiling back at her. It is the brightest and most honest smile that Hermione has ever seen on Draco.

“Good-bye, friend.”

“Have a good summer holiday, Tadpole.”

Hermione gets up to leave the compartment, but turns back to her older classmates. “I’ll see you next year, everyone.”

“Enjoy the summer, Hermione.” Luna says dreamily.

“ Ribbit, ribbit!” Blaise mocks.

“Bye, Hermione.” Tonks sings.

She waves at all of them with a smile that is starting to hurt her cheeks, before turning back to him.

Draco’s lips are still turned up in a smile at her. Hermione knows she will be thinking about him and his smile all summer.

This was the best first year ever in her opinion. She just knew that she would make great friends crawling around this train all those months ago.

****

Oh My Dearest Drake,

My heart truly goes out to you. You who have become the bravest of soldiers in Hogwarts’ ever waging battle against rapidly declining intelligence of young witches and wizards alike. My condolences and thoughts go out to you in these troubling times.

They tell me that it is you alone who can save the students from this bout of insidious stupidity. Never has a class of teen witches and wizards ever acted in any way other than the upmost proper and astute.

Please write to me if you can think of anything I can do for you or the school. I do hate that absolutely no one else seems to be able to hold the same standards of brightness as your majesty 'The Smartest Wizard of His Age'.

I patiently await the news of your victory in this treacherous war the school is raging against you as well as your plans for a summer of rest, that you so deserve.

All my love and sympathies,

Theo

Chapter Text

Theo

Dobby has run away again.

I don’t know what to do anymore with him. He knows what father will do when he catches him.

I wish I knew what he was doing. Where he is going. 

What could he possibly think is so important as to face father’s wrath so often now.

I have tried everything I can think of. Pleaded with him to stop whatever it is. Or at least tell me what it is that he is doing. There is no need for him to be so careless. 

I even tried to get my father to free him, but he refused. 

Topsy has been so upset about the whole thing as of late. 

I hope that Dobby will come back, but at the same time I don’t. 

Draco

****

Hermione tried not to be upset with any of them. She really did.

She told herself for the past month and a half that they were just boys and didn’t understand what it felt like to be ignored by their friends. She had not received one response from Harry or Draco all summer to the multiple letters she sent. Ron at least responded to her letters, but it was like trying to communicate with a wall. His letters would not come until days if not a week after she had sent her own, and they were never more than a handful of sentences, if that. He promised that at least he was not getting any responses from Harry either, and was also worried about what was happening. 

It was possible that his aunt and uncle were keeping Harry from getting or sending out any letters to his friends, but Hermione could not fathom what Draco’s excuse could be.

She knew that he liked writing letters. She had seen him constantly bringing one out last year to write to his friend Theo last year. She at one point thought that owls possibly didn’t fly to other countries and that Draco and his parents might be vacationing somewhere. That hope was crushed when Luna had written to Hermione from the south of Africa, where she and her father were apparently chasing erumpent hunters.

She tried to be understanding and not let herself be swallowed up by the suffocating feeling of rejection, but she couldn’t help it. Every day that passed felt as if two of her closest friends were ignoring her.

There was one week until school was back in session and she was headed to Diagon Alley with her parents. Ron and Luna said that they would both be there. Ron had even said that his dad was really excited to meet her muggle parents. She wasn’t really sure why Mr. Weasley would care so much about meeting her loveable but completely boring, dentist parents. 

Since she had turned eleven and opened the doors to the magical world she had found that some in their society had a weird fascination with what she felt was the mundane muggle world. 

The two families were scheduled to meet at the Leaky Cauldron and share an early lunch together before heading into the shops.

As she and her parents made their way down the London streets, Hermione couldn’t help wringing her hand together. Ron had recently written to her with a plan to go see Harry with the Twins, and an apparently ‘flying’ car. She had written for him to tell her the outcome of the visit, but had never heard back from him. 

Hermione saw the sign for the Leaky and had to instruct her parents through the magically disillusioned door to the establishment. The second they were all through the door she and Ron spotted each other at the same time. He immediately shot up and started running for her. Hermione blushed before she noticed the worried look plastered on Ron’s face as he rushed around the other patrons eating and drinking through out the dining room.

“Have you seen him?” Ron panted as he made it to her. 

“Who?” 

“Harry, of course!” Ron nearly spat back at her, like she was just supposed to know this. 

“Harry?” Hermione felt more lost than ever now. “Did you and the twins go visit him? Is he here?”

“Yeah! You should have seen it, ‘Mione! Bars on his window and everything!” Ron was barely breathing as he talked to her. “That’s not what I am talking about though! He floo-ed to the wrong place we think.”

“He what?”

“He floo-ed to the wrong place.” He said each word slowly as if she was hard of hearing. “Keep up, ‘Mione. You're supposed to be the smartest of all of us.” Hermione narrowed her eyes at his jab. “We are looking for him. He was supposed to floo here with us, but we think he mixed up his words and now we can’t find him.”

“Well what did he say?” Hermione thought it would be best to narrow down the search.

“Well,” Ron holds up his open hand and begins tallying the different options. “Mum thinks she heard him say ‘Diamond Alley’. Dad heard him say ‘Diagen Alley’. Then George of course swears Harry said ‘Diehard Alley, though no one really believes that.”

“Oh honestly, Ronald. He could be anywhere.” Hermione sighed. “We will need to split up.”

“Dad and Percy have already gone to Gringotts, and the twins said they would try at the joke shop.”

“Okay, I will go to Flourish and Blotts. You head over to the Quidditch shop.” Ron smiled at Hermione’s suggestion. 

“Yeah okay.”

“Stay focused please, Ronald.” She called after him but he was already running through the brick wall entrance to Diagon Alley. She turned back to her very confused parents with an apologetic grimace. 

“Sorry mum, Dad. Do you mind waiting here for me while we find Harry?”

“Oh, yes. I’m sure we will be fine.” Her father stated but both of them were looking around the dining room confused.

“Don’t worry, dear,” Molly came up to the small group with a warm smile. “I will stay here as well. Just in case Harry comes.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Weasley.” Hermione smiled back at her in gratitude.

Then she was off, once again running after two of her troublemaking friends. She couldn’t hide the smile that was growing on her face as she made her way back into the Wizarding World.

****

Draco couldn’t help but notice how everyone on the bustling walkway between the shops kept a safe distance from him and his father as they walked through. Despite just how packed it was, they were given a wide berth. It was as if there was a bubble charm around the two of them as he walked just behind his father’s left shoulder. His father walked with his chin held high, his cane striking the ground with perfectly rhythmic loud cracks.

His father being here with him was a mystery unto itself. Draco couldn’t figure out what was so important this year that Lucius Malfoy decided to come school shopping with his son for the first time in three years. Usually it was just Draco and Narcissa on these trips for the past few years, but his father had been adamant about coming with Draco. He had even told Narcissa she didn’t need to bother herself by coming with them. Claiming she has been so busy planning the soiree she was hosting at the manor the night the wizarding elites sent their children to Hogwarts for the year.

With his father’s sudden interest in Draco’s school supplies and Dobby vanishing every couple days, Draco had a bad feeling. Something was going on behind closed doors at the Malfoy Manor, and Draco couldn’t figure out just what it was yet. He hadn’t had this feeling since that day at the train station with Theo, but both times Draco sensed a change in the winds.

There was a large crowd, of mostly witches, standing about as Draco and his father made it to Flourish and Blotts. Draco and Lucius both looked at the multiple posters announcing the book signing happening that day for the “adventurer” Gilderoy Lockhart. 

Both of the Malfoy men groaned softly as they rolled their eyes at the wizard flouncing around on the poster.

“What an insufferable moron.” Lucius curses with a shake of his head.

Draco turned to look at him with a withering look and a raised eyebrow. “Weren't you one of the board members that voted for him to be the new defense teacher at Hogwarts.”

“Well of course I did, Draco.” His father stated in a condescending tone. “No one is easier to control than someone with an easily stroked ego.”

“Learn that lesson the hard way, father?” Draco cracked.

Lucius gave his son the infamous Malfoy eye roll once again in lieu of a response, and then used his cane’s sharp metal snake mouth to push Draco into the busy book store.

Without saying a word, his father left him behind to make his way through the crowd. Draco once again noticed, as he watched his father, that people were practically diving out of the way of Lucius. He couldn’t tell if it was because they were terrified of his father or disgusted about what the Malfoy’s stood for in the Wizarding society that made them do this. Either way Draco hated how powerful it made Lucius look. Do they do the same when it is me?

Draco just shook his head and went his own way up to the second story of the store to find some of his new textbooks.

An hour later Draco was reading a passage from a charms and spells book as he leaned over the railing. Suddenly he felt a pull at the center of his chest. It caused him to look over the top of the book and down at the entrance of the store. 

The pull turned into a warm expansive feeling as he watched her practically skip into the store with the two idiots at her side. Her massive head of curls bounced with each of her springing steps and a smile was cracked wide across her face. Draco couldn’t hear what she was saying over the noise of the busy bookshop, but he could tell she was chattering away enthusiastically as the two dimwits shared laughing smiles behind her back. The trio weaved their way through the crowd milling about the entrance. 

Draco then noticed the two people coming into the store behind the three friends. He knew immediately just who they were. The woman looked just like her daughter. It was clear that her daughter was an almost exact replica of her, except for one thing. The woman had almost pin straight sandy blonde hair. It seemed that it was her father from whom she was gifted her curly mane of deep chestnut hair. His was cropped short to his head but there was no mistaking the ringlets that crowned out around both father and daughters heads.

Draco watches as Hermione joins the large group of witches in the back of the store. To his utter dismay she starts swooning with the others as Lockhart makes his appearance.

Draco moves down the stairs just as the eccentric dolt spots Potter in the crowd. As the cameras flash, he smoothly sidles up next to her. 

“Bet he just loves that, doesn’t he?” Draco snarks as he smiles down at Hermione.

With a slight jump of surprise she turns to smile brightly back up at him for a second before she seems to rethink and looks away sharply. He wants to laugh at the way her lips are pursed as she crosses her arms angrily over her chest.

“Oh hello, Draco,” She greets without looking back. “Did you have a nice summer?”

“Uh oh. Are you terribly angry at me, Tadpole?”

“Nope.” She pops the ‘p’ with gusto and Draco can’t fight the smile that breaks across his face. “I had a great summer as you know.”

“Do I?”

“Well I certainly wrote to you about it.” Hermione turns to glare at him now.

Draco’s heart breaks for the young girl. “Ah, I see.” He turns his body so that he is now fully facing her and she does the same. “Look Hermione, I-”

“‘Mione.” The red headed twit and boy wonder interrupt Draco as he tries to explain his silence over the past two months. They push through the crowd around them with a tiny red headed girl. Draco realizes this must be the youngest Weasley. “We are getting out of this mad house and heading over to Sugarplum's to get some sweets,” Ron continues on. “You coming?” Draco sneers as Weasley looks over to him with a scowl. 

“It's a bit rude to interrupt someone else's conversation, Weasley. Would have thought your mother had taught you that by now.”

Before anyone else could say anything, Draco felt the bite of pain in his shoulder where his father had brought his cane's snake head open mouth down. 

“Now Draco,” Lucius once again used his cane to push his son out of his way. “Play nicely. You are a prefect and need to be a good role model for these younger students.”

Draco’s stomach twisted in dread as his father approached Potter and roughly moved his hair out of the way to see the infamous lightning bolt scar. With his father distractedly talking to the poor boy, Draco moved his body slightly so that it was blocking Hermione from his father. He hoped that it wasn’t noticeable to anyone. Unfortunately for Draco, Hermione seemed to have no idea the danger she was in, as per usual, and stepped around him to speak directly to his father.

“Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.” Draco nearly punched himself as he heard Hermione use his own words against his father.

As Lucius slowly turned his gaze to Hermione, Draco felt his body seize up in terror.

“And you must be…Miss Ganger.” His father’s voice was as smooth as honey as Draco became almost sick at the realization that his efforts to keep her a secret from his father were fruitless.

“Yes, I have heard all about you.” Lucius runs his gaze up to his son’s as a confirmation of Draco’s failure. “And your parents.” His smile is almost sinister as he looks over to the two muggles talking with the Weasleys. “I always knew that my son would be a good mentor to the younger students at Hogwarts. I will say I was surprised when I was informed by the other board members as to just who you are.”

Draco regains movement in his limbs just as the Weasley patriarch steps into the fray.

“Children let’s get going shall we.”

“Weasley,” Lucius greets with a bite. “I do hope that all those raids at the ministry haven’t been keeping you too busy. Or that they are at least paying you well for them.”

The air is tense as the two men face off and Draco take the opportunity to reach out and pull Hermione back behind him again. His father seems to catch the movement and narrows his eyes as he continues speaking. “What is the point of being a disgrace to our society if you don’t even get paid well to do it.”

“I think you and I have very different ideas about what disgraces wizarding society.” Weasley senior bites back at him.

Lucius takes a menacing step towards the man. “Clearly.” 

Draco is sure that the two men are about to get into a physical fight and steps between them.

“Father, I have gotten everything that I needed here. I need to hit the apothecary for potion supplies before they close. We should go.”

Lucius glares at his own son for a second before he schools his expression again. “Yes, alright.” 

Draco leads his father out of the now almost silent bookshop without looking back once. He can feel her eyes boring into his back, but he forces himself forward.

****

Hermione had gone up and down the train looking for Harry and Ron. It was a repeat of last year's train ride into Hogwarts except she was searching high and low for two twelve year old boys and not a pet toad. 

She opened a compartment where she found the Weasley twins, with their friends Lee Jordan and Oliver Wood. The boys were all boisterously talking about this year's Gryffindor quidditch team.

“Sorry,” Hermione grimaced at her own interruption, but all four boys looked over to her with friendly smiles. “Have you seen Harry or Ron? I can’t seem to find them anywhere on the train.”

Fred looked over to his brother. “They were right behind us on the platform right.”

“I think they were the last ones through the wall.” George confirmed.

“I’m sure they are around here somewhere, Hermione.” Fred turned back to her with a smile.

“Okay,” Hermione felt a little let down by this answer. “Thanks.” She started closing the door to leave. 

Before she could though, Fred shot up out of his seat. “Hey. Your friends with Malfoy, right?” He started going through his luggage as he talked.

“Uh, yeah. Sort of.” Hermione responded.

“Could you ask him to send this to Theo for me?” Fred handed her a small package wrapped in brown paper. “Errol concussed himself something fierce this morning and I am not sure he will make it all the way to America. It's a bit time sensitive and I would really appreciate it.”

“Sure.” Hermione took the package from him. “You know Theo?”

“Sure do!” George answered enthusiastically.

“He was our mate too when he was at Hogwarts.” 

“Talk about a trio of troublemakers.” Lee laughed.

Hermione wanted to ask them a million questions about the mysterious boy that Draco wrote to all the time. Before she could get any of them out Fred spoke first. “Thanks Hermione. You're the best.” Fred gave her a smile that caused a blush to heat up her face. She turned and ran from the compartment.

She pretended like she wasn’t happy that this gave her an excuse to find Draco and join him in his compartment. She walked to the back of the train where she now realized there were more Slytherin filled compartments. She got a few glares and shouts before she opened the right one.

Draco was the first one that she spotted when she slid open the door. His white blonde hair was cut a little shorter than when she had seen him last week and seemed to be slicked back with some kind of gel. A couple pieces in the front had fallen out and were hanging in front of his face. The image made her think of the muggle grunge band members that were popular back in London. The thought made her giggle at thinking of Draco in a seedy pub head banging, while playing the guitar. 

“What are you laughing at Tadpole?” Draco chastised her, but she could see the smile peeking up at the corners of his mouth.

“Ribbet!” Blaise cheered from the other side of the compartment. Hermione rolled her eyes at him, but greeted him with a smile.

“Hello, Blaise.” She turned her smile to Luna who sat right next to him in a bright yellow sundress. “Hello Luna!”

Hermione and Tonks, who was the third on their bench seat, waved at each other warmly before Hermione turned to sit with Draco across from them all. She was stopped short of plopping down next to him when she finally saw the scowling face sitting on Draco’s left.

“Ugh,” Pansy rolled her eyes in disgust. “What do you want, Griffin-dork?”

“I-uh…I” Hermione’s face burned once again.

“Pans,” Draco scolded her. “Be nice, or leave.”

“What this is a Slytherin compartment.” Pansy stuck her chin up. “Don’t you have friends of your own that you can sit with?” She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms to make her point.

Hermione stuck up her own chin in defiance. “Yes. I do. There are even some in this very compartment.”

Blaise whistled at Hermione’s rebuttal and Draco snorted out a laugh while patting the cushion to his right. Hermione sat with a bounce in the seat.

“Not all of us are Slytherin’s, Pans.” Luna said in her sweet monotone voice.

“Yeah, this isn’t exactly a snake pit, Pansy.” Tonks laughed.

“Luna is practically an honorary member and you are of Black blood, Nymphadora, you should have been sorted into Slytherin anyway.” Pansy insisted with a wave of her hand.

“DON’T call me Nymphadora!” Tonks’ hair turned a violent shade of red as they spit at the young girl. Hermione was shocked at finally hearing Tonks’ first name and the visceral reaction that came along with it.

“But that’s your name,” Pansy quipped back easily. “Tonks is such a boy's name.”

As soon as Pansy said it, the compartment seemed to freeze over. Both Blaise and Draco turned to glare at Pansy. Luna pursed her lips and placed a hand on Tonks’ shoulder. Tonks’ head had immediately whipped around to face away from the rest of the group. Hermione was the only one with an angle to see the tears that filled up Tonk’s eyes. Tonk’s hair slowly turned a chocolate brown.

“Whatever,” Tonks stood up and pulled open the door with a crack. “I’m going to find some non-snake friends to sit with.” With that Tonks walked out and slammed the door closed.

The small space was dead quiet for only a moment before Blaise spoke. “Real fucking nice.”

Pansy at least looked a little abashed, but didn’t seem to want to stand down. “What? It is her name. She is a girl.”

“You're such a pathetic little pureblood elitist.” Blaise shook his head in disgust. Luna placed her hand on Blaise’s leg in comfort. Hermione was not sure what a pureblood was exactly but she was sure it was something similar to being a racist or homophobic in the muggle world. Pansy didn’t seem very offended by it though.

“I am a pureblood.” She jutted her chin up again, but with a little less confidence. “So are you, and you,” She pointed at Luna, before turning to Draco, “And so are you!” She then turned her glare to Hermione. “And you, you’re a m-”

“Pansy.” Draco’ s growl was so low and menacing it made even Hermione shrink back from him. “Go find Tonks and apologize, and then go find the rest of your bitchy little friends to hang around. No one asked you to be here.”

“I’m just telling the truth.” There were tears now in Pansy’s eyes. “Why am I the bitch for saying what we all know is true?”

“There is truth and there is what we are told is true.” Draco closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat. Shutting Pansy out. “Now, fucking leave. You’re shrill fucking voice is annoying me.”

Hermione could tell that Pansy was not only hurt by Draco’s dismissal, but also by the fact that Luna and Blaise didn’t seem to stand up for her. Pansy’s pride wasn’t going to let her show it though and so she stood up with her chin nearly pointing to the sky and stomped out of the train compartment.

Once again the small sitting area filled with an uncomfortable silence.

“She was rude, but you took it too far.” Luna spoke in the firmest voice that Hermione had ever heard her use. “It is all she has ever known. You know that. She can’t help the way that she was brought up.”

“We did.” Draco sighed. “I did.”

Luna didn’t seem to have a rebuttal to that and sat back against the bench seat quietly. She and Blaise were subtly leaning against each other.

Hermione was quite lost about everything that had happened since she walked in on the group. When she turned back to Draco, she was surprised to see his eyes downcast into her lap.

“What have you got there?” He tapped the small package that Hermione forgot she even had. His long finger hit exactly where the name ‘Theo Nott’ was written near the center of the package.

“Oh!” Hermione held the package out to him. “Fred asked if you could send this to Theo for him. Said that Errol might have gotten a concussion this morning and he was worried that the poor owl wouldn’t make it to America.”

Draco snorted out a laugh before taking the package from her and giving it a small shake and listening for what was inside. “With or without a concussion that old Weasley owl would have never made it to America. Would have gotten lost in the first mile and ended up in India.”

“I didn’t know that the twins were also friends with Theo.” 

“Unfortunately.” Draco slipped the package into one of his trunks before turning back to her.

“Draco?” Hermione started to fidget with her hands.

“Yes, Tadpole.” 

“Could you-” Hermione paused to take a deep breath. “Would you help me study?”

Draco’s smile lit up his face as his eyes filled with laughter. “The school year hasn’t even started yet, Granger.”

“Oh Ribbit.” Blasie looked absolutely horrified as he shook his head at her. “What could you possibly need to study right now.”

Hermione just shrugged and pulled out a huge herbology test book from her book bag.

Draco took a moment before holding out his hand for the text. Hermione was nearly jumping in her seat with excitement. Harry and Ron would have chastised her for even bringing out the book during the train ride to school.

So for the next few hours Hermione found herself being quizzed about all of her second year subjects by Draco, Luna, and even Blaise. She missed the boys, but was quite content with how the train ride turned out.

****

Dear Draco,

Fred and George got me an extending ear! It works great! It has age spots and grey ear hair! I love it! I modified it to start wiggling if someone says the word 'prank' within earshot! I can now intervene or join in, depending on how enjoyable I find it! Hope the school year goes great for you. Can’t even believe that you only have two more years at Hogwarts! Have fun! (But not too much without me.)

Yours,

Theo

P.S.

I heard that Hogwarts hired Gilderoy Lockhart as the DADA teacher. This must be a joke, right? How the hell is he going to teach the students to defend themselves against dark magic? By sharing hair brushing techniques with dark witches and wizards? 

Do let me know how all of that turns out will you.

Chapter Text

Dear Draco,

George told me a funny rumor about you and a certain Puff this year.

Is there something that you are keeping from me? 

Also did your father really get the entire Slytherin team new brooms?

Nimbus 2001s?

If so, good thing you were already on the team or someone might think that your Father is trying to bribe the team.

Yours,

Theo

****

Hermione walked down the dark halls as she returned to Gryffindor dorms alone. Harry and Ron both had left the library hours ago for detention. Hermione had decided to stay and finish her charms essay that had only been assigned in class that day. She had walked this path at least a hundred times in just these past two years. The echo of her footsteps through the empty stone hallway was at the sametime comforting as it was lonely. She had just rounded a corner near the great hall when she was overcome with a feeling of being watched. Just as she began to turn around a familiar voice spoke out of the shadows.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t just the student I was looking for.” McGonagall’s voice was thick with her accent. “Hermione Granger.”

“Good evening, Professor,” Hermione smiled up at her head of house. McGonagall stared back with a look of disappointment. “I was just returning to the dorms before curfew.”

“I can not begin to explain how very disappointed I am with you.” The professor looked down her long nose at a stunted Hermione.

“What?”

“To take points away from your house would not be enough of a consequence for the behavior that you have displayed, but it is certainly a start.”

“How I- Professor, I don’t un-”

“One hundred points from Gryffindor.” McGonagall interrupted.

“One hundred!” Hermione felt her face catch fire with heat as she felt the prickle of tears in her eyes. She had never been so thoroughly disciplined in her entire life and she felt; fear, humiliation, and disappointment begin to swirl in her stomach.

“I have never in my career as a teacher at this fine school have heard of a student performing so poorly.” McGonagall had her hands balled into tight fists and placed in the junction above her hips.

“Please, Professor,” Hermione nearly fell to her knees as she pleaded. “If you could just explain to me what I did. I could apologize or even make things right, but I don’t understand what it is I did.”

“To make you understand your error, I have just come from talking with Madam Pince.” Hermione felt her stomach drop. “You have officially been banned from the Hogwarts library indefinitely.”

Hermione now did fall as her knees gave out from beneath her. “No. Please.” The sob got stuck in the back of her throat as the tears started falling in thick trails down her face. “What did I do?” She cried over and over again as she heard a faint chuckle above her.

“Oh shit! Tadpole.” McGonagall’s became deeper as she lowered herself to her knees and pulled Hermione into a hug. “Oh, Tadpole. Shh. It’s okay, it was just a joke.” There is a slight laugh to the voice as McGonagall rubbed a gentle hand down Hermione’s back.

Hermione’s hiccuping sobs started to slow as she registers what her professor has just said. “Tadpole?”

Hermione leans back from where she has dampened the shoulder of her head of house’s robes. McGonagall’s graying hair is now a bleached white, and her warm hazel eyes are now a piercing silver.

“Draco?” Hermione sits back further as the laughing face before her starts to bubble and transform. She is struck with fear for a second before the face returns to normal and it is suddenly the beautiful face of Draco Malfoy before her. 

He is trying to hold in his laughter as he looks down at her with pity.

“I’m sorry, Granger.” He can’t help the laugh that slips out as he uses his thumb to wipe away the tears from her burning cheeks. “It was just supposed to be a funny little joke, I swear.”

“I’m not banned from the library?” Hermione gives one last hiccup with the question.

“No, Tadpole.” Draco pulls her into a hug again as they continue to sit on the cold stone floor. “Sorry. I didn’t think you would be so upset.”

Draco is apologizing but Hermione can still hear the laughter in his voice. So she shakes out of his embrace before slapping him hard against his shoulder. This only seems to make him laugh harder.

“Ow! Ganger!” He continues to chuckle at her with a wide smile splitting his face. 

“That. Was. SO. Mean! Draco Malfoy!” Hermione punctuated every word with a slap to Draco’s shoulders.
“Shhh.” He coos to her as he takes hold of her wrists to stop her assault. “I won’t do it again. I promise.” His smile grows as they look at each other. 

Hermione takes a deep breath and calms her ecstatic heart. As she looks up at him, she searches his face for what she doesn’t know. He is still in robes that look like they came straight out of McGonagall’s closet. Draco’s grip on her wrist is soft so she raises one of her hands up to his face. Just as her fingers gently touch his cheek, his eyes dart down to it with a flash of worry. Now she smiles a bit at the idea that he thinks that she was going to slap him.

“How did you do it?” She asks instead.

“It’s a potion called Polyjuice.” His smile is back. “It can turn you into anyone for a short period of time as long as you have their hair that you can add to the potion.”

“That’s incredible!” 

“That’s magic, Tadpole.” Draco pulls himself off the ground and holds out a hand to help Hermione to her feet as well.

Just as they both get up a lanky boy rounds the corner and spots them.

“Draco! There you are.” The boy is tall, not as tall as Draco, but still he is above Herrmione’s head with wide muscular shoulders. His coppery brown hair is messy and curls around the bottom of his ears. His Hufflepuff robes are a bright yellow against the dark corridors. As he makes it up to the two of them, he only has eyes for Draco. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Hermione notices now that he is up close that the boy has a prefect badge pinned to the front of his robes.

Draco turns to him with a sly smile. “Have you, Diggory?”

The boy pulls out a small rectangular box from a pocket of his robes. He holds the white and red box at eye level and gives it a shake with a glint in his eyes. Hermione turns to Draco in shock and feels her eyes grow even bigger as he smiles at the box as well.

“Ah, perfect.” Draco tries to take the box from the boy, but he pulls it out of Draco’s reach at the last second.

“Join me outside?” Diggory’s voice is smooth and his smile is almost conspiratorial. 

Draco raises his pale eyebrow but smiles right back at the boy before answering. “Deal. Let’s go.”

“No! You can’t!” Hermione can’t hold back any longer. Both boys look down to her in surprise, as if they had forgotten that she was even there. “Cigarettes are the leading cause of lung and throat cancer! They are horrible for you. They discolor both your nails and teeth!”

“Sounds like muggle problems to me,” Draco shrugs his shoulders as he pats her head and turns to walk away. “Hurry along to your dorms Tadpole, the curfew bell is about to ring.”

“Draco!” Hermione yells back at him, but he just continues to walk down the corridor to the main door of Hogwarts.

The other boy stands there only for a second longer before waving goodbye to her and joining Draco as he walks outside. As Diggory makes it to Draco he bumps shoulders with him and the two boys share a smile before turning the corner and disappearing from view.

Hermione almost goes to find a teacher and tell them about two prefects who are out past curfew and smoking on school grounds. Then she thinks about all the times that she got mad at Draco for doing the same thing last year with her and the boys.

So with an indigent huff, Hermione turns on her heels and continues to make her way back to the Gryffindor tower.

****

Hermione was glad that the boys were being punished for stupidly driving a flying car by themselves to Hogwarts, but it also left her with a lot of alone time. It was Saturday and the weather was beautiful for the season but both her friends were busy with detention. She decided to take a walk around the Black Lake and enjoy the sun. 

As she walked, she gave herself time to think about something other than schoolwork, something that had begun to both intrigue and trouble Hermione.

Hermione had hoped that with Ginny coming to school this year she might make a new friend, but the youngest Weasley didn’t seem to want anything to do with Hermione. She tried not to be insulted when Ginny would ignore Hermione’s attempts at conversation in the common room. The young girl seemed far more interested in writing in the diary that she carried with her everywhere. Ginny was far more introverted than any of the other Weasleys, but Harry had told Hermione of Ginny running away from him at the Burrow. What worried Hermione the most about the whole thing was that Ginny was nothing like how Ron had ever described her. In all of Ron’s stories about homelife back at the Burrow, Ginny kept up with all of the boys’ and was just as loud as the rest of them. The girl here at Hogwarts was quiet and kept to herself. 

As Hermione thought of ways that she could help one of the newest Gryffindors she was interrupted by someone repeatedly making loud ‘ribbet’ noises.

She shook her head to clear the fog of her thoughts as she looked around at where she was walking without seeing her surroundings. Low and behold she had seemingly stumbled upon a group of older students who were gathered around the water's edge on an enlarged picnic blanket. It was none-other than Blaise Zabini ‘ribbiting’ at her as the others laughed at her obliviousness.

Hermione blushed and smiled at them all as they waved her over. Blaise and Luna lounged next to each other, leaning up against the trunk of a tree. Tonks sat leaning back on their elbows, long legs splayed out straight and crossed at the ankles. Pansy was laying on her back with her head in the lap of a beautiful girl in Slytherin colors. Hermione was pretty sure that this was a third year named Daphne Greengrass, but she had never actually met her. Daphne smiled up at Hermione with a friendly warmth in her eyes, so Hermione smiled back in relief. 

The group all seemed to circle the figure laying on his back at the center of the blanket.

Draco stretched his long figure almost from one corner of the blanket to the other. Both his arms were crossed over his eyes and his chest rose and fell in a slow rhythm. 

Unlike Hermione who was in muggle jeans and a maroon jumper, everyone else in the group was dressed in impeccable fashion. Blaise’s all black button up and dress slacks seemed to complement Luna’s lavender high collar dress. She had yellow lilacs and pink carnations braided throughout her waist length wavy hair. Pansy and Daphne were also wearing dresses. Pansy’s reminded Hermione of a style that was popular in the muggle fashion world right now called a cheongsam. It was made of an emerald velvet that was so dark it would have looked black out of this sunlight. It stopped just above her knees and the capped sleeves had silver raindrop beads sewn all along the edges. Daphne’s was a silk sapphire slip with a sweetheart neckline and a sheer chiffon covering her shoulders and bound to her wrists with silk ribbon bows. Tonks looked academic with tan wide legged trousers and a knitted brown pullover vest overtop a white button up. Lastly Draco was as always in perfectly tailored slacks that were a smoke gray and a Slytherin green cashmere jumper. It was secured with a series of four buttons running in a diagonal line up the side of his neck.

“What on earth had you so lost in your own world Hermione?” Tonks asked as Hermione setted next to Draco’s left elbow. She crossed her legs in front of her and leaned back on her hands to soak up more of the sun.

“I called out to you at least ten times.” Blaise laughed. 

“Is that what you call making animal noises at me?” Hermione retorted with a raised eyebrow.

Blaise raised his hands in mock surrender. “I just thought you might be on the search for a long lost toad, with that concentration.”

Everyone laughed as Hermione shook her head. “Will I ever be able to live that down?”

“Never, Ribbit!” Blaise winked at Hermione. Even Hermione joined in on the laughter now.

Draco groaned, finally making his first sound since Hermione had joined the group. She turned her gaze down to him in confusion. He had crossed his arms tighter over his eyes and was shaking his head back and forth.

“Too loud. Too loud.” He grumbled.

“Are you sick?” Hermione placed her hand over the uncovered section of his forehead. It was only there for a second before Draco gently grasped her fingers in his hand and pulled it from his skin.

“Too warm.” He moaned as he placed her hand back in own lap with a few small pats of apology.

“Don’t worry about him,” Tonks confided to a worried looking Hermione. “He just drank too much last night and is feeling the effects now.”

“Yeah that and He got all hot and heavy with Cedric and his posh ass had to do the walk of shame from the Hufflepuff dorms, so he is a bit embarrassed with himself.” Blaise threw out.

“Don’t talk about that stuff around her.” Draco ground out from under his arms. “She’s a kid.”

Hermione’s jaw nearly hit the blanket as she was overloaded with information. She wasn’t even sure what to react to. She wanted to be mad that Draco had been drinking on school grounds, but she was also stunned that Blaise was suggesting that Draco had spent the night in someone else's bed.

“Cedric Diggory?” Was all she seemed to be able to get out. Draco just moaned again at his friends.

Now Hermione remembered the boy that Draco had gone out to smoke with the other night. He was a Hufflepuff seeker that a bunch of girls had crushes on and wanted to talk about non-stop. She had never seen him before and didn’t make the connection when she had seen him in the hallway. Then she thought of the way the two boys had smiled at each other. “Oh…Your…Um…”

Draco peeked out from under his arms at her with a condescending smirk at her. “I don’t discriminate, Granger.” Then as if realizing what he said to her, he groaned again as she stared wide eyed down at him. “No. You are way too young for me to talk about this shit with.”

“I’m not!” Hermione tried to hide her blush of naivete.

Draco looked at her once again and studied her face a moment before speaking again. “Yes, you are.”

“You're such a prat.” Hermione lifted her chin away from him. “You can’t always be the right one.”

Draco didn’t respond but Hermione could practically feel his eye roll. The others around the blanket all seemed to agree with Hermione.

“If you think he is bad now, you should have seen him the first couple years here at Hogwarts.” Blaise joked.

Tonks’ hair turned platinum. “ My father will hear about this.” Tonks mocked the pre-teen Malfoy.

“ Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.” Blaise joined in. ‘Don’t you know the name?”

Blaise and Tonks were nearly rolling on the grass with their laughter. The girls all tittered behind their hands at Draco’s expense.

“Oh shove it.” Draco grumbled.

Hermione couldn’t help but join in on the laughter as she reached out to pat Draco on his shoulder. He rolled over on his side so that he was facing Hermione, with his body slightly curved around her own.

Hermione's smile brightened even more as she looked down at her poor friend. She began to comb her fingers through his soft hair. 

She spent the next couple hours laughing and joking with all of them around the blanket. All the while playing with and braiding Draco’s short hair. His head softly cradled in her lap.

****

Hermione had never really liked Marcus Flint. She couldn’t really say what it was about the Slytherin boy that made her uncomfortable, but anytime she was around him she felt like he was dissecting her. When he was around he always acted like he was best friends with Draco, but Draco never gave him the time of day. Hermione wasn’t sure if she should feel bad for Flint or not.

She was not aware of his presence as she sat around a table of other second years, as they discussed a potions assignment they were all working on. Ron and Harry sat to her right and Lavender Brown was to her left. Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fletchley were to the left of Lavender. The last two students at the table were Pansy and Gregory Goyle.

Hermione had decided to take charge of their little study group and as much as the others seemed to grumble and moan about it, none of them wanted the duties either.

Hermione had just gone over why adding newt eyes to the potion could cause an adverse reaction. Goyle didn’t want to back down from adding them though, so she was in the middle of a tangent about proper potion brewing when Flint pulled a chair up to the table. 

He had pushed himself between Hannah and Goyle as he turned to whisper loudly to his fellow Slytherin. “She really thinks that she is something doesn’t she?”

Everyone at the table looked uncomfortable, but also didn’t want to talk back to an older student. Goyle laughed at him, while Pansy smirked at Hermione.

“This is a study group for second years,” Hermione puffed up and wouldn’t look away from Flint’s dark eyes. “If you don’t have any helpful advice for us, I will ask you to be on your way.”

“Oh I have some advice for you.” Flint’s smile showed all of his gnarled teeth that made Hermione wince as the daughter of two dentists. “Know your place.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Hermione refused to back down, even as Goyle's smile darkened and Pansy’s fell slightly. Her eyes were bouncing back and forth between Flint and Hermione.

“Draco won’t always be around to protect you.” Flint’s eyes nearly shined with the malice that he shot out at Hermione.

“I don’t need Draco to protect me.” Hermione lifted her chin as she continued, “Draco is the ‘Smartest wizard of his age’ and I am the ‘brightest witch’ of mine. I will follow in his footsteps and become a prefect. I also have no doubt that he will become ‘Headboy’ next year and I will work hard to be ‘Headgirl’ when my time comes. I may be younger than Draco, but I don’t need him to save me, because I am his equal in every way.”

Hermione wasn’t done with her rant, but at this last part Flint and Goyle began to laugh hysterically. Pansy was laughing as well but looked as if she was forcing herself to do so. Some of the others around the table looked confused but Ron and Lavender looked very uncomfortable.

“You will never be his equal.” Flint laughed at Hermione.

“And why is that?” Hermione narrowed her eyes at the older boy.

“Because he is the heir to not only one, but two of the oldest pureblood families in our wizarding world.” Flint’s smile turned sinister. “And you are nothing but a filthy little mudblood bitch.”

Hermione had never heard this word before but she would have known it was a bad thing even if there weren’t loud gasps around the table. Her stomach sank as she heard it. It was as if her body subconsciously knew the truth of it.

She was left speechless and felt the sting of hot tears fill her eyes.

Suddenly there was a bright red light that hit Flint square on the chest. He was shot back so violently that he flew from the chair and landed hard on the stone floor halfway across the study alcove.

Everyone turned in tandem to see Draco standing in the archway to the area with his wand raised. Hermione nearly flinched back at the deadly look of hatred that darkened his eyes as Draco looked down at the choking Flint. As Flint lay across the room fighting to catch his breath again, Hermione saw that Draco wound up to perform another spell against the boy.

“Draco!” She yelled in hopes of stopping whatever he planned to do next. 

The spell died on his lips at her shout, but he didn’t lower his wand or take his eyes off of Flint. Hermione was sure that he looked as if he wanted to do more in this moment to his fellow Slytherin than just a powerful stinging hex.

Goyle and Pansy had both jumped up from the table to help Flint sit up. 

“You can’t just attack another student, Draco!” Pansy shouted as she loosened Flint’s tie and opened the top of his shirt to reveal an almost purple welt that spanned from the bottom of his throat to past the opening of his shirt. It looked so angry and painful that Hermione was surprised that Flint wasn’t crying out in pain. His eyes were squeezed shut and his jaw was tensely mashed together.

“I can do far worse.” Draco spat out. “If I ever hear you, ANY OF YOU, speak that word again, you will wish that I just cast a stinging hex on you!” His wild eyes circled to everyone of the scared students around the room. Everyone flinched back from him except Hermione.

“Fuck you, Malfoy.” Flint was stupid enough to cough out.

Hermione jumped up from her seat just as Draco began a spell that she didn’t know, but had a feeling wouldn’t be a tickling jinx. She pushed an infuriated Malfoy from the room of trembling students, out into the hall. She kept pushing until they were far enough away from the room that he couldn’t run back in and do irreparable damage to Flint anymore.

“Stop, Draco. Stop.” She begged as he fought against her.

“How dare he say that!” Draco paced back and forth, like a caged animal. His eyes were dripping with a wild hatred that Hermione had never seen before. 

“What does it mean?” Hermione’s voice was small with uncertainty.

Draco stopped pacing for a moment as he looked at her and then his anger took over again and he paced faster as he began to explain. “It is a foul word. Don’t let anyone ever call you that again. Do you hear me?” He grabbed ahold of both her arms. His grip was so tight that it was painful enough to make Hermione flinch. Draco bent forward so that they were eye to eye. “You have just as much magic as anyone else, more than some! Having muggle parents does not change that.”

“He called me that because I have muggle parents?” Hermione thought about the way that Flint had called Draco a ‘Pureblood’ and it surfaced a memory of Pansy calling everyone the same thing on the train ride into Hogwarts that year. 

“And you, you’re a m-”

Draco was a pureblood, heir to two magical families, and she was a mudblood with no real magical connection. 

Then she thought about all the letters that he had left ignored during the summer while he was home with his family. The way that his father had looked at her and her parents with disgust in his eyes.

“Is that why you wouldn’t write to me this summer?” Hermione choked on the sob that clogged the back of her throat. Her vision blurring through the tears. “Are you ashamed of me?”

Suddenly Draco’s anger dissipated in a flash as he looked to Hermione in shock. “No! Of course not!”

He pulled her into a crushing hug as Hermione fought against the sobs that escaped her. She couldn’t care less about what Marcus Flint, Gregory Goyle, or even Pansy Parkinson thought of her, but Draco. If Draco really thought that she was below him just because of who her parents were, it would devastate her.

“Don’t ever think that, Hermione.” He soothed into the hair at the top of head. “If anyone ever treats you as less than the amazing witch that you are, they are not worth the air that you breathe.” He pulls back to look her in the eyes as he wipes a delicate thumb across both her wet cheeks. “Do you understand me? There is no difference in our blood. You are just as worthy of your magic as anyone else.”

Hermione nodded her head in silence before she pulled him back so that she could bury her head in the soft fabric of his sweater vest. Draco squeezed her tightly to him.

“You are the brightest witch not just of your age, but that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. You do not have to prove that to anyone, ever.”

Draco placed a soft kiss on the crown of Hermione’s head, as the two stood in their own small little world in the middle of the school hallway.

**** 

Draco redid his tie and brushed his hands through his hair in an attempt to put it back into a semblance of order. Cho, next to him, had both hands behind her head and was braiding her long hair back into an impeccable plait. Both of them were flushed and smelled of musk and smoke. They couldn’t seem to stop looking back at each other, and when they would make eye contact couldn’t stop from laughing.

When she was done with her hair, Cho turned to Draco and pulled him back in by the very tie that he had just fixed. Draco kissed her back with vigor. When he brought his hands up to lace back into her hair though, she pulled away from him with a smile. 

“Night, Draco.” He had a bodily reaction to her rolling the ‘R’ in his name.

“Night, Chang.” He was so giddy, Draco could have started whistling as he walked alone back toward the Slytherin dungeons. He was so in his own head that he missed it as his dragon leather shoes splashed in water as he walked. 

He heard the voices coming from just around a corner, but didn’t recognise them until he heard her speak.

“No, Harry! Don’t touch her!” Hermione’s voice echoed around the dark corridor. 

“It’s Filch's cat,” Harry’s voice joined in. “It's Mrs. Norris.”

Draco quickened his steps to round the corner right behind where the trio stood facing away from him, looking at Mrs. Norris as she hung stiffly from a sconce upon the wall. 

“W-what happened to her, Harry?” Hermione sounded confused and scared. 

Draco was just about to speak when he looked further up on the wall and saw what was written there in dripping red blood. 

‘The chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir…beware.’

“What the HELL is going on here?” All three of them jumped around in surprise at Draco’s booming voice.

Suddenly the hallway was filled with the voices of other students as they made their way back to their dorms from dinner. They all stopped as they came upon the scene before them. Some of them could even be heard gasping as they took it in.

Draco didn’t take his eyes off of Hermione, who stared back at him with a mix of shock and nervousness. She kept looking over to Harry.

Draco was about to step forward when Filch’s voice rose above the now silent hallway.

The trio had the decency to look guilty as all the teachers came to save them from Argus Filch’s wrath over his seemingly dead companion. 

****

Dear Theo,

Sorry I have been so bad about getting back to you. Just a busy year here for me. 

No, I am not ignoring you. How could you even think that?

I promise to write to you more. I swear it.

Always yours, 

Draco

Chapter Text

Dear Theo,

Has your father ever mentioned the Heir of Slytherin? That or the Chamber of Secrets? Did you ever hear anything about a monster hidden somewhere in the castle?

I’m sorry. I know that this is a lot of questions and no pleasantries, but something is happening at Hogwarts and I could really use the help.

I miss you,

Draco

****

Draco sat in the classroom filled with all of the other prefects in the school as well as the head girl and boy. Each face showed the same confusion and worry as the next. The heads of houses were all at the front of the room standing behind Dumbledore as he, in what Draco felt, gave the most vague and confusing tale he had ever heard.

Who was the Heir of Slytherin?

Well no one knows for sure.

Where is the Chamber of Secrets?

Even though it is said to have been opened before, they never found anything at the time.

The old fart didn’t seem to have any real answers to the questions that anyone in the room had. Instead he was just talking in circles, while reminding the prefects of the new rules and buddy system that was to be implemented until a culprit was found.

“Is it true that the last time the chamber was opened a muggle born student was attacked and killed?” Draco finally interrupted the wizards' rambling.

Snape zeroed in his glare on Draco, while Dumbledore had the nerve to smile at Draco over his stupid half moon glasses.

“There was an unfortunate casualty when this happened fifty years ago, but as no student has yet to be harmed, we have no reason to believe that this is not just some prank set by a fellow student.”

“So you are saying that we should just wait around until a student is seriously harmed before any real action will be taken.” Draco was struggling to control his anger, his fear if he decided to really be honest.

“Like we don’t know who the culprit is going to turn out to really be.” The Gryffindor seventh year prefect, Alicia spat out behind Malfoy. He turned to glare at the girl. She had been a pain in his side since he started at Hogwarts. She scowled back at him as she continued. “A monster that only the heir of Slytherine can control. Attacking and killing muggle-born students. I wonder who could be responsible?” Her sarcastic question was accentuated by a tapping finger to her mouth. 

“Got something to say to me, Spinnet?” Draco started to rise from his chair.

“Mr. Malfoy! Miss Spinnet!” McGonagall’s voice rose above the cacophony of agreements and arguments. “Please, we must keep our heads about this.” She waited until everyone was settled again. “This is a very serious situation and accusations such as these will not help us in the long run.” 

“I can assure you Mr. Malfoy,” Dumbledore placed a hand on McGonagall’s shoulder to once again stand in front of the students. “Every student’s safety at this school is my top priority.”

What a fat fucking lie.

“If that is all, I will dismiss you back to your dorms where I expect you to relay these new rules to the other students.” The old man clapped his hands together in a patronizing dismissal. Draco balled his hands into fists atop of the desk he was seated at.

Tonks who was next to him put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “No one really believes that it was you who opened the chamber.”

“I couldn’t give any less of a shit who thinks that I am the heir. I just want to know what it is that we are really facing here. I want answers before someone gets really hurt or worse ends up dead.” 

“Hermione will be fine.” Tonks soothed. “She is a smart girl.”

“She is my responsibility.” Draco confided to his cousin what his real fear of the situation was. His shoulders fell as he admitted it. “If she gets targeted because of who she is or worse because of who I am. I won’t ever forgive myself or whoever I find out did it.”

Tonks’ hand moved up to squeeze at the back of Draco’s tense neck. “You can’t think like that, Cuz.”

“Mr. Malfoy?” Snape called over to him. Draco looked up from the table and saw that most everyone had left the classroom and Professor Snape and McGonagall were the only two teachers left at the front of the room. “A word, please?”

Draco rose from his seat and followed the two professors to the back office of the class where they all took their seats. They were all in a formation that reminded Draco of a very similar instance that the three of them had at the beginning of last year. Just like last year this conversation was about the same swatty witch.

“We both wanted to talk to you about Miss Ganger.” McGonagall started. “I’m sure that you do not need to be told that there is no student within these walls that we would not protect at all costs. That being said though, Miss Ganger will be kept a close eye on and her safety will not be a question.”

“She and those nim-wits that she calls her friends were getting themselves into endless trouble last year.” Draco barked back. “I have no doubt that they will not have to go looking for trouble, it follows them around this castle!”

“Hold your tongue, Malfoy.” Snape hissed.

McGonagall held up her hand at the two who were staring daggers at each other. “I know that you are worried about her, but I promise you that you do not have to be.”

“She is not only a muggle born witch, Professor,” Draco pleaded with the witch to understand. “She is THE muggle born witch at the infamous Potter’s side. She has the biggest target that I can see painted on her back, and she will not take her own safety into mind. She will run straight into danger! That is who she is.”

Draco hated the pitty that filled McGonagall’s eyes.

“You made her my responsibility, but how do I protect her from something that I don’t know anything about!” Draco couldn’t control his breathing and felt as if all of the air in the room had been sucked out. He wished that Theo was here. Theo would know what to do. He would know how to protect her. 

“Breathe, boy.” When had Snape moved in front of him? A hand placed warmly on the side of his arm. McGonagall had also moved in front of Draco, though she stood just behind Snape with a look of pure concern. “We asked you to help her adjust to her new life in the school, Draco.” Snape’s voice was as monotone as ever, but there was a sympathy to the words he spoke to his godson. “We did not make you her sole protector. You must trust us to be the adults and you the children.”

Draco looked into his most trusted professor’s eyes. He saw the truth in them that made his breathing even back out.

“Okay.” He nodded his head at the two very concerned teachers in front of him. “Promise?” 

Snape rolled his eyes at the childishness of this boy. “Yes, I promise.”

****

Hermione would never admit it to anyone, but she loved watching Quidditch. It just so happened that she only really liked it when Draco was playing. He looked so happy up there flipping through the air, weaving in between the other players in the air. Watching the matches was never boring when she was trying to spot his white hair, high up in the clouds. 

Today as she sat with her fellow Gryffindor classmates she couldn’t help but wish that she would have sat with her other friends. They all sat in the Slytherin section across from her. She had waved at them when she sat down. Blaise, Pansy, Daphne, Luna, and even Tonks all cheered openly for Draco as he flew down to pass above them. Hermione had been shushed by those around her when she had tried to do the same.

So she watched him in silence. There was really nothing like watching him fly, she thought. He did it like he was born on a broom. He never slipped, never faltered, he was always poised and perfect. 

She was so engrossed in watching him that she didn’t hear the gasps and shouts around her. It wasn’t until she saw Draco whip around and start speeding down to the field. 

“POTTER!” She could hear him shouting all the way across the field. She watched in confusion as the Slytherin beater Anthany Goldstein tossed Draco his beater club as he flew by. Draco caught it with ease and continued diving towards Harry as he sped along the inner walls of the pitch.

Hermione was lost as to what Draco was thinking, chasing Harry around, until the bludger crashed back into the field. The splintered wood exploded out and the metal ball missed Harry’s head by centimeters. Hermione sucked in a gasp as the Gryffindors around her all shouted out protests.

“What’s Draco playing at!”

“He is trying to kill Harry!”

“Someone do something!”

Hermione couldn’t look away as Draco pushed forward with grim determination. Harry kept glaring back at the older boy and then searching around ahead of him. All the while the bludger continuously crashed and bounced off the arena around them. Both boys had to swerve out of its way to keep from being seriously injured. Draco used the bat to block the metal ball as it wizard past his head.

Harry dipped below the field just as Hermione caught a flash of gold zipping in front of him. It was like being on a roller coaster, watching the two. Every time they would pop up into view, Hermione could catch her breath, but then they would sink below and her stomach would plummet with them. 

Just as Harry flew up above the rafters under the field the bludger burst through a beam and started flying at him, head on. Harry was able to pull up just in time to avoid a hit, but the bludger kept going on its trajectory. That path led straight to Draco who didn’t have enough time to get out of its way. 

He attempted to roll to the left, but was not above the edge of the pitch yet and his shoulder caught the lip. Hermione hoped that the crunching sound that she heard as Draco crashed into the grass below was just her imagination. Draco stopped rolling and laid still on the ground. 

Tears filled her wide eyes as she silently begged him to get up, but he didn’t. She could only tear her eyes away from his prone form when someone behind her screamed.

When she looked back up Harry was swaying on his broom and holding his arm close to his chest. The bludger must have hit him, but he didn’t stop himself. Harry continued to fly forward with one arm stretched out, holding on to the broom with only his legs. The snitch flying just in front of his outstretched fingers. Harry leaned forward just as the god forsaken bludger zipped behind his back again. Harry lost his balance and tumbled to the field below. 

He rolled in the sand a few times before landing on his back, staring up at the sky with a smile. He raised his hand in the air and the wings of the snitch fluttered outside his closed fist.

Everyone around her cheered in glee, as she watched in horror as Snape and professor Hootch ran to Draco, who still had not moved.

Hermione ran with the rest of the crowd down onto the field.

****

Draco was surrounded by his friends in the hospital wing. Blaise sat at the end of the bed regaling the tale of the rogue bludger that took him out. There were embellishments a plenty in his outlandish story, and while all of them laughed, their eyes were filled with relief everytime they turned to him. Draco tried to play off his injury with mock moans of pain every once and a while. Having his shoulder completely dislocated and his collarbone broken was no joke, but Madam Pomfrey’s pain potion was working wonders.

“The pain should be bearable enough to leave in an hour or two, Mr. Malfoy.” The matron herself was walking quickly by his bed on her way to the other patient in the hospital wing. “I will be back then to dismiss you.”

Everyone surrounding him head’s turned to watch her as she immersed herself in the collected crowd at the other end.

“It’s a good thing that you were brought in first, or who knows when you would have been healed with the amount of priority Potter is getting.” Pansy scowled after the woman.

“Pans,” Draco warned. “I’m fine. Broken bones are easy to fix. I’m grateful that I didn’t have to endure the Lockhart treatment. Growing bones takes forever. Potter will be here all night, drinking that sludge Skele-gro.”

“I think he meant well.” Luna defended in her tinkling voice. “He must have just gotten the wand movement wrong.”

“Sure.” Tonks countered sarcastically. “If by wrong you mean, never actually learned them.” 

Everyone titered a little bit at that. 

“The man is a menace to the school.” Cedric joined in on the jabs.

“Are we sure that he is also not being possessed by He Who Must Not Be Named?” Blaise pretends to be in thought.

“Oh yeah,” Tonks does an exaggerated example of Lockharts wild wand poses. “Gilderoy Lockheart, the absolute peacock he is, Heir of Slytherin.”

That got them all laughing and as they did, Draco noticed a bushy head peeking around the curtain separator. 

Her eyes were on Draco, assessing him and his injuries with a studious stare. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow as her gaze finally locked with his and she realized she was caught.

“How are you?” She stepped out from behind the curtain.

“Well finally, Ribbit!” Blaise exclaimed, “Draco has been an absolute mess, and all you care about is the boy wonder with his rubbery limbs.”

Hermione blushed, but narrowed her eyes at Blaise.

“Blaise.” Draco sighed and turned to look Hermione in the eyes. “I’m fine really. Nothing a few ‘Episky’s’ and a good pain potion couldn’t fix.”

Her eyes seemed skeptical as she took in his left arm in a sling and the wrap bandages that peaked out from the collar of his grass stained white Quidditch undershirt.

“What about any internal bleeding?” She stepped forward so that she stood between Tonks and Daphne. “It can be sometimes fatally missed in muggle medicine. I could run a diagnostic spell that I read about in a Healing text.”

“I would certainly trust her more than I would Lockhart.” Blaise mock whispered. Earning him a pointed glare from Hermione. To Draco’s utter disgust, she had become a member of the ignoramus’ fan club, one that was mostly filled with young impressionable girls.

“He is a world renowned wizard, Blaise Zabini!” She nearly stomped her foot in her desperation to defend the man. “Healing spells are delicate and can be hard for even the most skilled of castors!”

“Oh yeah he is up there with Merlin and Morgana.” Tonks once again joined in on the bashing of the DADA teacher. “Is that why Draco and I spent an hour pulling pixies out of your hair after his little failed experiment?”

“An hour my gods!” Pansy gasped, “What else did you find in that bird's nest while poking around it there. I would bet good gallons of some lost treasure.” 

Hermione nearly growled at Pansy’s jab. Draco decided to cut off whatever she was about to throw back at the Slytherin menace. 

“Tadpole.” She closed her mouth and turned to him with a scolded pout. “Everything is fine. Un-noticed bleeding is rarely ever a problem in wizarding healing, but Pomfrey already ran all the spells to check.” She still didn’t look all that convinced. Draco rolled his eyes and caved to her. “Fine. Run the diagnostic spell yourself.”

Her face lit up at being able to see that he was all healed herself, or possibly just at the opportunity to try out a new spell. It could be either option when it came to Hermione. Draco looked to his best friend and nodded his head in a signal.

Blaise stood and clapped his hands as he announced to the others around the bed. “Alrighty gang. I think visiting hours are ending soon. Let’s leave our two adorable swats to it, shall we.” Everyone started gathering their stuff as they shuffled out.

“If I knew that being tutored by Draco would have given me special privileges I would have acted like an insufferable swat too last year.” Pansy mumbled as she was being pushed out by Daphne. 

“Who told you that you are not insufferable?” Blaise gasped in mock shock. 

Pansy made a face at him as she wrapped her arm around Luna’s outstretched one. “Are you absolutely set on your choice of boyfriend, Lunes?”

Luna simply smiled and pulled Pansy away with her. 

“Diggory!” Draco called out to the boy just before he walked out of sight, following the rest of the group. “I am going to need a…cigarette after this tonight. Meet me at the astronomy tower in an hour?”

The boy gave a knowing smile and raised his eyebrow. “I’ll be there.” With that he walked out of sight and it was just Hermione and Draco left in his hospital bay.

“I’m certain that smoking is not good for your recovery.” Hermione scolded him.

“Yes, but Diggory is great at taking my mind off things, just in case the pain potion wears off.”

“Oh and just how will he do that?” Hermione retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest and took a seat on the bed at his knees with him.

“Well he is very skilled with his m-” Draco immediately stopped himself when he realized what he was just about to tell a second year. As if understanding it at the same time, Hermione’s eyes went impossibly wide and bright red flamed up her cheeks. Draco fake coughed a few times before speaking again. “Well, let's see this diagnostic spell of yours.”

Hermione also pretended to clear her throat as she grabbed her wand from her sleeve and raised it to Draco’s chest. Draco had to admit that he was impressed with her pronunciation and almost perfect wand movement.

They both looked at the lights of the spell that were hovering between them. There was a slight flicker to the displayed images, but for her first time casting the spell, it was very impressive indeed. He watched her face as her intelligent eyes roamed over everything that was moving and pulsing. He let out a soft chuckle after a minute of her pretending. “You have no idea how to read any of it do you?”

She simply huffed out a breath. “The book told me what all the spell would indicate but not what would be read where.” So for the next ten minutes Draco went over each display on the spell and how to read it. 

Just as she was explaining back to him what his heart rate was reading, a bright flash went off at the end of his bed. Draco had to flutter his eyes in an attempt to blink away the white spots that completely blinded his vision.

“What the fuck?” He pushed his knuckles into his eye sockets in a further attempt to return his eyesight.

“Colin!” Hermione’s voice yelled.

“Sorry!” Came a small voice from the shadowy shape at the end of Draco’s bed. “I just wanted to get a picture of Draco and Harry!” The blur slowly turned into a small boy with curly blonde hair and an enormous camera. “Quidditch is an incredibly violent game! It’s like nothing I have ever seen before, and my dad let me watch an American football game once!”

“Sorry, Draco.” Hermione turned to look at the young boy. “Colin is a first year Gryffindor, and a muggle-born like me. He is absolutely fascinated with just about everything here.”

Draco let out a chuckle at that. “Sounds like someone else I know.”

Hermione turned back to glare at him. 

“Can I get a quote from you, Draco?” Colin’s enthusiasm was causing his whole body to shake.

“No, Colin.” Hermione scolded him. “They are both healing. Leave them alone and get back to the dorms before the curfew bell rings.”

The boy looked dejected and his bottom lip slid out in a pout.

“Next time, kid.” Draco couldn’t help but concede to the tiny Gryffindor.

“Wicked! Cheers!” The boy scampered away before Ganger could scold him again. 

“You better follow him to make sure he makes it without upsetting any of the portraits.” Draco told her. “For a bunch of figures stuck in a moment in time, they do so hate to have their pictures taken.”

She turned back to him with once again a worried expression. “You are going to be okay?”

“Yeah, Yeah, Tadpole.” He took a hold of her shoulder and shook her gently. “I’m going to try to rest before Pompfrey releases me. Go on.”

“I’m glad that you are okay.” She looked down in shyness as she admitted this to him. “It was really scary to watch.” She looked up at him before she finished though. “Both you and Harry.”

Draco gave her his best comforting smile and then she was on her way out.
She waved to Harry at the other end of the hospital and Ron followed her out, leaving the hospital wing in silence.

Draco winced as he tried to move his shoulder.

****

“You have got to be joking with me.” Draco paused in his steps. Snape walked a few more steps before he did the same, turning back to Draco.

“Have I ever come off to you as someone who jokes around?” Snape drawled out in his usual monotonous tone. 

“Well you are being real funny right now.” Draco threw back at his godfather.”Why on earth would I help that absolute dolt?” 

Snape rolled his eyes at the spoiled boy in front of him. “Lockhart asked for assistance for his dueling club and Head boy and girl positions are voted on by all the teachers collectively. This will look good for you when the time comes.”

“I’m already a shoo in for Head boy next year.” Draco responded like the prat that he was. Leading to Snape landing a swift smack to the back of his head.

“Just do it.” Snape grumbled before continuing on. “The idiot will most likely cause some disaster that will cancel the club anyway, so he won’t even need you for all that long.”

“Oh sure! That brings me so much more confidence in the whole matter.” Draco’s sarcasm caused Snape to whip back around to face him. The look his professor was giving him caused Draco to breathe out a deep sigh. “Does Dumbledore really think that this is what the school needs right now? A young boy has been petrified. Having a bunch of suspicious teens and pre-teens duking it out in a class led by an idiot like Lockhart doesn’t seem like a great idea.”

“All the more reason for you to be there.” Snape threw over his shoulder. “If anything happens you will be able to handle it, and having to save the day when Lockhart fails will make you look good to the other students.”

“Fine. I’ll do it.” Draco tried to hide his smug smile.

****

“Gather round! Everyone, gather round. Can everybody see me?” Lockhart’s voice was already grading on Draco’s nerves. “Can you all hear me?” 

As Lockhart explained what they were going to be doing in this dueling club, Draco scanned the room. He was thoroughly disappointed to see how many faces seemed to be enraptured in the foney’s speech. Even Granger was watching him with a dreamy expression that made Draco scoff in annoyance. Draco would admit to his surprise at the looks of utter disbelief on Harry and Ron’s face as the man droned on. Well maybe they were not as stupid as he always believed.

“Let me introduce to you my assistant. When he heard of my dueling club, he practically begged me to allow him this opportunity. Our outstanding Slytherin prefect Draco Malfoy!” Lockhart gave his forced little laugh as Draco shot a glare at him. “Let’s all give him a round of applause shall we?”

The students all gave half hearted claps as Draco rounded his glare on all of them as well.

“Don’t worry. I will let him leave here in one piece. I will take it easy on him, the first few rounds.” Lockhart chortled again.

Draco walked up to him and held his wand in the starting position. They gave each other the bow of respect before about facing and walking the five paces to their own positions. Once there Gilderoy gave an ostentatious flourish of his wand before he began counting down.

As soon as he got to ‘one’ Draco whipped his wand to the left and then flicked it up while calling out, “Expelliarmus.”

Draco put a bit too much force behind the spell and the Defense teacher went flying backwards.

He tried to hide his smile as there were gasps and laughs from the students standing around. 

Lockhart layed there for a moment and Draco heard Hermione’s voice from where she stood on her tiptoes to see the man over the edge of the stage. “Is he alright?”

Draco narrowed his eyes at her as Lockhart jumped up like nothing had happened. “Brilliant idea, showing them that spell Mr. Malfoy. A great spell if not a little too simple for my taste, and quite obvious to the opponent.” This earned a few chuckles. 

“Perhaps it would be best for the students to learn more defensive spells so that they can stop such things from happening to themselves.” Draco ground out through his fake smile.

Lockhart looked a little worried before plastering on his overly wide smile. “An excellent suggestion! Why don’t we have some volunteers show us the defensive spells that they know?” He scanned the crowd before calling out. “Potter, and…Crabbe!”

Draco tried not to grimace. What Vincent Crabbe lacked in brains he, like his father, made up for in viciousness. Both boys made their way onto the stage and Crabbe was smiling like the cat about to eat the canary.

“Defensive spells only, boys.” Draco tried to remind them both as they stared each other down.

They both stood in their positions and saluted each other with their wands. They turned and both had only taken two steps when Crabbe turned suddenly and shouted, “Confringo!” 

If Crabbe’s wand motion hadn’t been total shit, Harry would have spent another evening in the hospital wing. As it was, it hit him square in the back and sent him flying onto his stomach ten feet down the dueling stage.

“What did I say!” Draco turned to Crabbe and reached to grab for his wand. Just then Harry sprung up and whirled around, arching his wand high and in a wide circle before casting, “BOMBARDA!” 

Thankfully Harry had the wherewithal to not directly point the tip of his wand at Crabbe, but instead a few inches from his feet. The blast flung both Crabbe and Draco off of their feet. Draco caught himself with a rope spell pointed to the ceiling, while Crabbe landed on his ass at the far edge of the stage.

“Potter!” Draco felt his anger boiling over at these two boys' stupidity and carelessness with very dangerous spells. 

“Defensive spells only, boys.” Lockhart tried to call out to them. “Let’s just try to disarm our opponent.”

They didn’t hear either of the instructions as they were only focused on eachother. Draco dropped to the ground and attempted to grab at Crabbe, but the boy stood faster than Draco would have imagined and spun his wand in tight circles before casting, “Serpensortia!”

The snake shot forward from his wand with a hiss. Those standing near the edge all jumped back with a gasp.

It slithered forward towards Harry who was looking at it confused. 

“Don’t move Potter, I will take care of it.” Draco pushed past a laughing Crabbe, but was stopped by Lockhart.

“No need, Draco. I’m the teacher after all.” The man strutted forward and made a show of powering up the spell with wide erratic motions. 

“Alarte Ascendare!” The second that the spell left Lockhart’s mouth Draco rolled his eyes. The spell would do nothing but piss off the snake by launching it into the air. 

As the snake landed back on the platform it began to slither erratically and reared back its head to hiss as everyone around it.

Draco made to step forward and actually deal with it when a strange sound came from Potter. When Draco looked up Harry was staring directly at the snake without even blinking. A strange sound, half hisses and half words, was coming out of Potter’s mouth. 

Draco had never heard parseltongue spoken before, but he knew instantly that this is what it was.

The snake went completely still and raised its head to look back at Potter. Then suddenly the snake whipped around and stared out into the crowd. Harry’s voice got louder and it was clear that his commands to the snake were more demanding. The snake began to move forward and Harry moved with it. Draco looked to where the snake was headed and saw her standing there with a few other students looking terrified.

“Potter!” Draco stomped forward, but neither the boy nor the snake paid him any attention. “Stop this at once!”

It looked as if the snake was headed straight for Hermione. Draco saw that even Ron, who was standing behind her, was pulling at her right elbow. She was scared stiff though. She and a Hufflepuff boy just continued to stand there even as others around them scattered. The snake reached the edge of the stage and reared its head back to strike.

“Vipra Evanesca!” The sparks shot out of Draco’s wand and the snake’s body writhed as it disintegrated. Harry shook his head as if to clear it. Everyone in the entire room seemed to be shocked into silence.

“What are you playing at?” The Hufflepuff boy shouted at Harry, before running out of the room. Harry seemed shocked by the outburst and looked around the room for an explanation.

“Well I-Well I think that is enough demonstrations for today.” Lockhart bumbled about as Draco glared down at a confused Potter. “Let’s end it here for the day and enjoy the rest of the day.” He laughed but quickly ran down the stairs and out of the room.

The rest of the class slowly followed behind him, but they all kept turning to stare with shock and fear at Harry. Potter could only take it for so long before he ran out of the classroom himself.

To Draco’s dismay Ron and Hermione ran off after him.

****

Dear Draco,

My father says that parselmouths are really rare even in the Slytherine community. Only direct descendants of Salazar himself have ever been known to possess this ability.

He seemed reluctant to tell me but I finally got him to admit that You Know Who was at the school the last time that the chamber was opened. He was also known to speak pareltongue.

Do you think that this is another instance of possession by him?

Write to me soon.

Theo

Chapter Text

Dear Theo,

The monster has now attacked two muggle borns in the castle. Luckily they were both just petrified, but the stories say that Salizar created the monster to cleanse the school. What if that means the monster can kill students. It is targeting muggle-borns. 

I fear who will be next and how severe the attack will be this time.

Draco

****

Draco noticed the two boys moving at a fast pace looking worried. 

“What are you two up too?” They both nearly jumped out of their oversized class robes. Now that he was really looking at them, they were not just wearing robes two sizes too big for them, but Harry and Ron were wearing Slytherin robes that were two sizes too big for them.

“We…Uh…we were just-” Ron stuttered out at the same time that Harry spoke.

“She didn’t mean for it to happen, I don’t think.” Draco glared down at the boy wonder when he realized who was missing out of this little trio.

“Who didn’t mean for what to happen, Potter?” He spoke through a clenched jaw.

“The potion was not supposed to work like that,” Harry was still being vague and Draco felt like throttling the boy. “I think she needs to go to the hospital.”

Draco felt his heart drop, this was serious. “Where is she?”

The two boys lead Draco back to the bathroom on the second floor. When they ran in, blasted Myrtle was laughing her ghostly head off. Floating in circles above a cubicle in the back. Dipping her head through the top and then uproariously laughing some more. The second that she spotted the three of them entering in, she flew over to Draco and began twirling her hair.

“Oh, Hello Draco.” She giggled and twisted her foot in what was supposed to look like a bashful movement. Draco was too distracted by the wail that came out of the stall she had just been circling at the mention of his name. 

He made his way over to her. “Hermione, are you in there?” Another wail and Myrtle gave another excited giggle as she started to push in the stall door.

It was only opened an inch or two before it was slammed back shut from inside and Hermione yelled out, “Stop it, Myrtle!”

This only made the tween ghost laugh harder and start spinning around again. Draco stepped up to the door cautiously. “Hermione? Open the door okay? I need to see what happened.”

“Honestly,” Ron tried to placate behind Draco. “It’s not even that bad. Not even the tail.”

“Shut up, Ronald!”

“A tail?” Draco turned back to the two idiots, who both gave him unconfident smiles. “Hermione? I’m coming in.” Draco slowly started to push the door in. She was completely in shadow sitting on the toilet seat. Her head in her hands, Draco almost didn’t notice anything different about her erratic head of curls. Then one of the ears at the crown of her head twitched. Two brown furry ears on either side of her head, then he looked down to find the aforementioned tail. It was curled up and tapping slightly in her lap.

Draco bent down onto his knees in front of her and gently took ahold of both her arms. Messaging gentle circles into her bicep, feeling her body shake under his touch. “Alright now, Tadpole. Let me see.” He brought his hands up to cup her own. Slowly he pulled them away from her face. It was covered in black and brown fur, and when she looked up at him through her lashes, it was with yellow slitted eyes. “Hmm.” It was all he could articulate at that exact moment. He watched as her long whiskers twitched and her eyes filled with tears, so he pushed down his own uncertainty and fear. He stood tall and pulled her to her own feet. “To the hospital with you.” He wrapped his arm around her slumped shoulders and cast a quick disillusionment charm on her. He heard her whisper a soft ‘Thank you’ and moved them through the halls with the idiots following close behind.

****

“Polyjuice Potion!” 

“You promised you wouldn’t get mad.” Hermione twisted her hands in her lap.

“That is a complicated potion that even most grown witches and wizards struggle with!” Draco couldn’t seem to calm down. Now that the mystery was over and a treatment plan was in place for the silly little second year, he felt his full force of emotions at how stupid she had been.

“You brewed it just fine.” She mumbled, but he heard the comment just fine.

“I was taught by an experienced potioneer! As well as practicing multiple batches before you saw me use it!” Draco stood before her with both hands fisted around the metal bar at the foot of her hospital bed. “And I certainly didn’t brew it in a haunted bathroom!”

“I brewed it perfectly!” Hermione whined. “Both boys looked and sounded just like Crabbe and Goyle. They said that they began to change back precisely after an hour. It all worked perfectly.” Draco was forcing himself not to laugh at her swatty indignation. “Pansy doesn’t even have a cat! I don’t know how I got cat hair instead of hers when I plucked it off her robes!” She began pulling at her cat ears so Draco moved around the bed to stop her hands.

When they both had calmed down enough he sat on the side of her bed. “Pansy doesn’t have a cat, but Daphne does.” He informed her. Pansy spent most of her time in the older girls dorm room with a tabby fur ball curled up into her lap. 

“Oh,” was all that Hermione seemed to be able to say around her sniffles and hiccups.

With a gentler approach, Draco asked her, “Why did you do it? What did you need to find in the Slytherin common rooms?”

“We thought we might be able to ask around about the Slytherin monster and the chamber of secrets. Someone has to know something, or heard something from their parents.”

“I thought that I told you not to get involved with that.” Draco narrowed his eyes at her. 

“Exactly!” She pouted at him. “You wouldn’t help me and we weren’t getting any closer to figuring out anything. Most of the Slytherin’s have practically been bragging that they know who it is and that they have personally seen the monster. It was the only way that I could think of to get the information from them.”

“They were lying, Granger!” Draco stood quickly as he threw up his hands in exasperation. “You are smart enough to know that.”

“Of course I knew that they were all just talking out their asses!” Hermione threw back at him. “It is what you Slytherin’s do best!”

“And sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong is what you Gryffendors do best!” He lurched forward, taking her arms in his grip for the second time that night, this time in a far harsher hold. “This is really dangerous, Granger, and I don’t want you involved in it. This thing has attacked two students already. If there are killings next, I want you nowhere near this.”

“All the more reason that we should find out what it is and who is controlling it!” Hermione shook off his hands. “So that it doesn’t kill…anyone. Not just muggle-borns.”

Draco huffed in his inability to argue with her logic on that. He also thought that she would be safer if he worked with her to research the monster and the heir of Slytherin, than leaving her to her own devices at this point.

“Fine.”

“Fine?” Hermione parroted back.

“Fine, I will help you.” Draco ground out.

“You will?” A smile showing off her new fangs cut across her furry face. Her whiskers twitched and her pupils dilated from thin slits to wide ovals. The look reminded Draco of a muggle children's book that he had stumbled upon when he was thirteen. Hermione leaped from the bed and threw her arms around Draco’s neck and pulled him down into a hug. “Thank you, Draco. I really need your help.” 

Draco patted the girl on the back, before pulling back and helping her back up into her bed. “Okay, okay, but just not tonight alright?” He pulled up her covers and gave her the second dose of the potion that Madam Pomfrey and Snape had concocted together. She was to take it every hour till the fur all fell out and then once a day till the rest of her new features disappeared. “Take your potion and try to get some sleep, it's late.”

She nodded and for once followed his instructions obediently. “Tomorrow?”

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose, but Hermione cut him off before he could say anything in argument. 

“Madam Pomfrey said that I was going to be here for a while. You can look up books that might have some information and I can read and research them here with all my time.”

At least if she was here she was being watched by someone, and away from her two trouble magnet friends. “Sure, fine.” He agreed, using his fingers to tip the sleeping drought into her ever yapping mouth. “I will see what I can find and bring it by tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Draco.” Hermione’s eyes started drooping as the potion worked its magic.

“Goodnight, Tadpole.”

“Goodnight.”

****

Hermione was all alone in her studies once again in a library full of quiet students. Even though she sits alone her table is filled, from one edge to the other. She pulled every book that she could find with even the smallest mention of magical creatures throughout wizarding history. She had four of them currently opened in front of her and was taking detailed notes on all of them. 

She was currently keeping Aragog at the top of her possible monsters list, even though she still couldn’t truly believe that he is the one petrifying students, or that Hagrid was the heir of Slytherin. 

She currently had a manticore, a nundu, or an occamy all as the most likely of creatures to be attacking students. Each of them were known to be aggressive and have some sort of defense feature that could possibly petrify humans, but Hermione just had a feeling that none of them really fit what was supposedly sneaking around the castle unseen.

That was the other question that she couldn’t figure out. How was the beast getting around the castle without being seen by anyone? Not a single teacher or student had noticed anything around the castle after either of the attacks. 

“Well isn’t this just purr-fect . All alone again?” Pansy’s voice interrupted Hermione’s train of thought. “Don’t tell me that Potty and the Weasel still haven’t forgiven you for snitching about Potty’s special little diary?”

Hermione tried to hide the blush rising on her cheeks by hanging her head and allowing her hair to fall forward. “Someone broke into their dorm room and stole it. Harry is convinced that it was Draco since he was the one who told McGonagall about it.”

“And they know that you told Draco about it,” Pansy pushed the books on the table back so that she could sit on top of the table to Hermione’s left. She pulled out a small silver hand held mirror and began to primp her hair as she talked, “So it is all your fault in their mind?”

“It seems so.” Hermione grumbled out.

Pansy gives a cruel laugh as she swings her dangling feet. The kicks to Hermione’s chair don’t feel as if they are accidental.

“Of all of the things that they could hate you for, this has to be the lamest.”

Hermione tries to ignore the girl and just continues to read the books in front of her.

“I mean just look at this disaster that you call hair.” Pansy uses the mirror in her hand to lift up a section of Hermione’s curls.

Hermoine swats away her hand, but keeps writing in her notes.

‘Nundus have poisonous breath’

‘Occamies can change their size to fit into available space’

“I know I personally can’t stand that obnoxious big mouth of yours.” Pansy pokes Hermione’s head harshly at the temple with her sharp nailed pointer finger.

The gesture knocks Hermione’s head to the side. She finally turns to glare at the other girl.

Now that she has made eye contact with her, Pansy’s smile grows even sharper and maniacal.

“Of course there is the glaringly obvious reason that they should hate you.”

“And what is that Pansy?” Hermione bites back.

Pansy strikes out and grabs Hermione’s left forearm quickly and runs a finger up one of the pulsing veins under the skin there. “Well this disgusting blood of yours, of course.”

Like putting a piece of metal in a socket, Hermione jerks back her hand as if electrified. 

“How dare you!” 

“Oh please,” Pansy held the mirror up again to inspect her make-up and hair, “Let’s you and I stop pretending.”

Hermione refused to let this girl see her tears. “No, you stop pretending!”

Pansy let out a short laugh before giving Hermione a  look of pure condescension. “I’m not pretending.”

If Hermione weren't in the library she would slam her hands down on the table, as it was, the best she could do was snap the quill in her hand in half. “What have I done?” It came out no louder than a whisper. She looked up into Pansy’s narrowed eyes. “I know that you don’t just hate me because of some outdated belief system that my blood makes me inferior. So what did I do to make you hate me so much that you insist on behaving this way? Why can we not be in the same room or space without you choosing to be insensitive or cruel to me?”

Pansy now sat stiffly on the table. With eyes like daggers pointed down at Hermione and a scowl pulling up at her red lip.

“What did you do?” Pansy grips the edge of the table with both of her hands so hard that her knuckles all turn white as she leans forward to get in Hermione’s face. “What didn’t you do? You are you and that annoys me enough.”

“That’s not fair, Pansy. You don’t have to be my friend, but I at least want the chance for us to be civil.”

“Fair is not in my vocabulary.” She leans back now, but keeps her eyes trained on Hermione. “I do as I am told. I am told that I must hate those who are like you in our world, so I do. I don’t need fair for that.”

Hermione can only shake her head at the unreasonableness of this statement. “You are better than that, Pansy.” Pansy’s nose twitches in a subtle sign of shock at Hermione’s softly spoken words. “You deserve better than to live your life by someone else’s standards and prejudices. You deserve to live your life by your own choices and actions. Hate me if you really must, but choose to hate me on your own accord and not just because it is easier to follow someone else’s ideals.”

They both sit there for a few moments and Hermione watches Pansy closely, but there is no change in her angry expression. Just when Hermione is about to give up on getting through to the other girl, Pansy launches herself at Hermione.

Hermione lets out a small gasp as she tries to push herself back from Pansy’s attack, but her surprise at the action slows her down too much. Pansy has a hold of Hermione’s head before she can get away. All Hermione can do now is wait for the pain. Will she pull out chunks of her hair? Scratch out Hermione’s eyes? What if she does this muggle style and punches Hermione?

The pain comes in an odd way.

Hermione’s mouth is pushed back forcefully against her teeth and she can feel it break the skin on her inner lips. Her cheeks are both being pressed in by the palms of Pansy’s boney hands. Pansy’s nose is also bending Hermione’s into an odd angle.

None of these things are done in violence though. No, they are being done in a kiss. 

Pansy is kissing Hermione. 

Hermione for what feels like the first time in her life, brain has shut off. She just sits there in shock. Her hands have fallen and hang limply at her sides. Her eyes are open and stare up at Pansy’s, whose are squeezed tightly shut. Hermione does nothing but sit there and wait.

After a few seconds Pansy pulls back.

Both girls now just sit in silence and stare openly at each other.

Pansy’s face shows no emotion.

Hermione opens her mouth to speak multiple times, but each time she can’t think of what it is that she wants to say, so she closes it again.

“Pansy…I…No, I d- That’s not…” Hermione stumbles on anything that she tries to say. 

Finally life returns to Pansy’s equally shocked face. Unfortunately it is once again a burning hatred that fills her gaze that she points down her nose towards a fumbling Hermione. It almost distracts from the red blush that has taken over her ears and neck.

“I hate you, you disgusting filthy mudblood.” Pansy spits before she spings to her feet and turns to stomp away. Before she does though she pulls out her wand and slashes in the air towards Hermione. The spell violently knocks every book from the table and the loud shredding of the paper is like a crack of thunder in the quiet library.

Shocked by the sound a few students lean back in their chairs and peer around the bookshelf that isolated Hermione’s table. None of them come to help Hermione.

Hermione gets down on her hands and knees to start picking up the shredded paper off the floor. She could use magic to clean this all up, but she uses her position under the table to hide from the people openly staring at her. 

There are pages of all kinds in pieces around her. She gently pushes them into a pile when something catches her eyes.

A page with the picture of what looks like a snake is poking out from under the pile. Hermione pulls it out to read the description.

‘Basilisk: King of the serpents. Capable of living for hundreds of years. Instant death awaits any who meets its eyes.’

A snake of course. Hermione thought of Harry claiming to always have been able to understand snakes. Another memory of Harry with his ear to the wall of the hallway asking, “Don’t you hear it?”

Hermione sprung up from beneath the table with the piece of paper. This was it! The water, the voice only Harry could hear. What else would Salazar Slytherin pick besides a gigantic snake to be his hidden monster, capable of killing students deemed unworthy. Hermione had to tell Draco right away.

With the image again of Harry with his ear flat to the stone wall, Hermione wrote a small note on the bottom corner of the page and turned to leave.

A thought stopped her in her tracks.

Instant death awaits any who meets its eyes.

She looked back to the table and saw Pansy’s small forgotten mirror waiting there.

****

Dear Draco,

I heard about Hermione from the twins. They say that she was only petrified. I know that it is still no comfort to you, but it is a relief that she will be okay. 

I’m sure Snape, Sprout, and Madam Pomfrey are diligently working on the counter potion, but I have sent with this letter a potion that I have been working on that might be of some help. 

There is a single vial for use as well as the ingredients and instructions. Have Snape look it over so that you can use it on all the students who are petrified.

Please send word if there is anything else that I can do or if there are any changes in the students.

She is a brilliant witch. She will be okay. 

Love, 

Theo

Chapter Text

Draco had spent the last four hours peeling the mandrakes. His fingers were raw and his eyes blurry with his concentration and lack of sleep. Theo’s potion instructions dictated that the skin was supposed to soak for at least twenty-four hours. Draco was currently sitting at eighteen. He was waiting, none too patiently, but still he was waiting. The potions room was dark other than the lumos charm he had turned into a floating ball of light above his head. He switched from peeling the mandrake in his hands, to re-reading Theo’s instructions, to watching the potion in his cauldron simmer. 

He never heard the entering footsteps. Too far lost in his own thoughts and worries. He was standing in front of Draco before he even registered the extra presence. 

“Mr. Malfoy,” Snape drawled out in an overly bored voice. “Can you explain to me why it is that you were marked absent from prefect duties tonight?”

“I’m busy.” Draco didn’t even look up from the work on his desk.

“Yes, obviously.” He arched his hand over the piles of potion ingredients surrounding Draco. “Clearly making sure we have enough ingredients to de-petrify every student in Hogwarts for the next several years is far more important than performing the duties that you were trusted to do.”

“I need to make sure we have enough.” Just then Draco’s shaky hand slipped over a knot in the skin, causing his knife to jump and stick into the flesh of his thumb. The pain barely registered to him. The only real indication of incident to Draco was the beads of red blood that suddenly appeared under the edge of the knife. “She has been petrified for almost three weeks. What if it is not enough?”

Snape let out an exasperated sigh before he reached over and took the knife out of Draco’s hands. “It will be enough, Draco.”  The older professor places a gentle hand over his student’s injured one. “Trust me. We have to wait for the mandrake skin to fully soak in the solution before we can add it to the potion anyway. Go to bed. Get some sleep and it will be ready by the time that you wake.” When Snape retracted his hand there was no longer a deep cut on Draco’s thumb, only a slightly pink scar.

Draco shook his head and reached for the potion cauldron. “I should stay here and make sure everything stays stable.” He stirred the simmering liquid with his right hand, while also adjusting the flames with his wand in his left.

Snape cast a quick status charm over everything before pulling Draco back by his shoulder. “There is nothing more that you can do tonight. Come. Sleep. You will be of no help to her, or any of them if you can’t even stand on your own.” As he spoke the teen in front of him staggered slightly. Snape gripped his student’s shoulder slightly to steady him. 

“I was supposed to help her find it.” Draco choked out. “I should have been there with her.” He looked up at Snape and it was no longer the professor's top student in front of him, but his too young for this kind of pain godson. “She was in the dungeons looking for me when it happened.” 

Snape took a hold of Draco’s other shoulder so that he could force the boy to look at him. “That does not make any of this your fault.” Draco hung his head and Snape wanted to shake him out of this, but he knew that nothing but the Ganger girl waking up would do that. “Neither is it your responsibility. I have tested the potion that Mr. Nott supplied to you and it is brewed perfectly. It has been decided that it shall be given to the Creevey boy since he was the first to fall victim. It was administered an hour ago and he should be awake by the morning.”

Draco sniffed and discreetly wiped away the few tears that had fallen. 

“If all goes well the potion will be ready by the end of the week to administer to the other two students.”

“Will they be sending the other students home?” Draco composed himself enough to ask.

“The board of governors is scheduled to meet tomorrow night to decide further action.” Snape stepped back from Draco, but stayed at arms length as the boy leaned up against the desk for support.

“My father is on the board.” It was Draco’s turn to give a sigh now. “He will try to pin everything on Dumbledore and the oaf Haggrid.”

“Yes, I believe he will.” 

“What can we do?”

“Nothing.” Snape began pushing Draco out of the room now. “Their fate is out of our hands now. There is nothing that you can do right now for them. Sleep, and in the morning you can continue to work on the petrification potion once it is ready.”

Draco swiveled his head to look at the two cauldrons over their fires on the desk. Snape gripped the back of his head and turned it away again and led him down the hall to the Slytherin dorms.

****

He knew that there was nothing that he could do but wait, but waiting right now felt like torture. He sat here in her hospital bay holding her cold hand. It felt like holding a granite stone. Her entire body was stiff, stuck in the moment that she was attacked. Mid step, one arm raised out in front of her, the other fisted tightly at her side.

The hydrated mandrake skin had been added to the brewed potion this afternoon. Now they had to let the potion settle for three days to ensure potency. Draco knew that he shouldn’t have told Snape about the pre-prepared vile that Theo sent with his letter. He should have trusted Theo’s work and given it to Hermione the second that he had it in his hands. Of course all of the adults at the school would claim it only fair to give the dose to the first year boy. Fairness and all that bollocks. 

Now instead he would have to see Hermione like this for another four days. Creevey had woken up this morning and both Pomfrey and Snape confirmed that there were no lasting effects, but that was Theo’s batch. What if Draco had fucked up the potion someway? What if he fucks up her beautiful mind. She is the brightest witch of her age, he can’t ruin that for her.

Draco groans as he lays his chaotic head down on the bed near her hand.

“Come on mate,” Blaise’s voice followed his hand resting between Draco’s shoulder blades. “You have done everything you can. Overthinking it all won’t make it work faster.”

Draco lifted his head only enough to rest his chin on the bed and look up at her shocked frozen expression. “I should floo Theo. Talk through the process with him. Make sure I didn’t screw up somewhere.”

“It’s long past midnight in America, and Snape has checked over your work every step of the process. He wouldn’t let you screw it up. He trusts you, Theo trusts you, I trust you, if Hermione was awake she would trust you. Trust yourself.”

Draco can’t do anything but shake his head. Blaise lets out a deep sigh and moves to squeeze the base of Draco’s neck. Neither of them says anything else. 

After a while Draco feels Blaise’s hand still resting on his back stiffen.

“I told you to wait back in the common room.” Blaise whispers to someone.

The is a small sniffle and Draco doesn’t have to turn to see who has come into Hermione’s small space.

“Draco, Please.” Draco grits his teeth and squeezes his eyes shut as tight as he can. He has refused to even look at Pansy since they found Hermione. 

When Snape had found him during his prefect rounds and brought Draco to the hospital that first night, he recognized the mirror in her hand instantly. Pansy was constantly preening with it in everyone's face.

He had run to the Slytherin dorms to confront her immediately.

“What the fuck did you do?” Draco had grabbed Pansy by the arms and shoved her violently against the wall. Every student in the common room let out a collective gasp.

“W-what are you talking a-about?” Pansy’s wide eyes filled with hot tears as she trembled beneath his hands.

A hand wrapped around his arm and gave a questioning pull. “Drake, mate? What the fuck?” Blaise whispered behind him. Draco shook off the hold and didn’t take his eyes or hands off of the crying girl in front of him.

“HERMIONE!” He screamed in her face, causing Pansy to flinch back with a sob. “What did you DO?”

“I’m sorry!” Pansy had wailed. “ I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done it! I just freaked out and didn’t know what to do!” Pansy was hysterical. She could barely get the words out through her sobs.

“So you sent her down to the dungeons to face the monster?” Draco shook Pansy a little too hard and heard her head smack back against the hard stone wall behind her.

“What?” Pansy cried. “NO!”

Blaise face shot into Draco’s periphery. “Hermione found the monster?” His hand on Draco’s arm was a lot softer now. “Is she…did it…” Blaise seemed incapable of saying what he thought happened to Hermione.

“She’s in the hospital. Petrified!” Blaise’s shoulders slumped in relief even as Draco raised Pansy further off the ground.

Pansy shook her head furiously. “No! No! When I left she was still in the library!”

“What the fuck is this then?” Draco only released her so that he could dig her small mirror from the pocket of his robes. He practically shoved it in her face. Her eyes nearly went cross eyed trying to focus on what was in front of her. 

“That’s my…” She shook her head as she looked up at Draco with pleading eyes. “No. I must have accidentally left it on the table when I left. I left so quickly and I had put it on the table when I was talking to her.”

“What were you talking about? Draco lurched forward to grab her again, but Blaise threw his arm out to hold Draco back. Pansy coward against the wall. “Why did you leave so quickly?”

Pansy’s eyes went wide and she started fiddling with her fingernails. “I was making fun of her, and Potter…and then we got into a fight. Then I…well I, I don’t know why I did it-”

“Did what?” Draco growled.

“I KISSED HER!” Pansy cried out. 

There was utter silence in the dungeon common room. Blaise slowly turned his shocked expression from Draco to Pansy. Even Draco took a second to shake off his surprise at her answer.

Pansy continued on through her tears. “I didn’t mean to! It just happened and then she was trying to be all understanding and it made me freak out so I called her a mudblood and then ran.” Pansy looked up into Draco’s eyes with a pleading look. “She was still in the library when I left though. You have to believe me. I don’t even know where the monster is!”

Draco cleared his throat and took a step back from the trembling girl. “She didn’t say anything about finding anything on the monster to you?”

“No! I promise!”

“So why was she down in the dungeons?”

“I don’t know! Please, Draco.” Pansy reached out and tried to grab his hand, but he ripped it back out of her grasp at the same time as Blaise pushed him back away from her. “I promise, Draco! I don’t know anything about her being petrified. She was fine when I left her.”

Draco knew that she was telling the truth and that was what infuriated him the most. The fact that he had no answers to what happened to Hermione.

“FUCK!” He screamed as he punched at the wall beside Pansy’s head. She screamed and Draco turned and stomped out of the Slytherin common room. A trail of blood dripped from his knuckles followed behind him.

All these weeks later and he still didn’t have any answers as to what Hermione found that night, or what found her.

Draco didn’t truly blame Pansy for it, but he just didn’t have anyone else to blame either, so it was just easiest to hate her.

“Get her out of here, Blaise.”

“Draco!” Pansy whined as Blaise led her out of the hospital bay. 

Then he was alone again with his mind and he hated it even more.

He must have drifted off at some point because suddenly he was being shaken awake by Tonks.

“Drake, wake up. Your father is here with the minister,” Tonks’ voice was a soft whisper as if it could possibly wake Hermione if it was too loud. 

Draco shot up from where he was bent over in the chair beside Hermione’s bed. “My father?”

Tonks nods and starts leading Draco out of the hospital. “They are here to take Hagrid to Azkaban.” Tonks then stops causing Draco to skid to a stop as well. Tonks turns to him with a concerned look. “He has gotten the other governors to turn on Dumbledore. They got him suspended.”

Draco rubbed his tired eyes ruffly with his fingers. “Fuck.”

“Yeah.” They both turn and start walking quickly down the hall.

The two reach them just as Fudge is leading the group of men through the hall to the entrance to the school.

Draco spots his father instantly. “Father!”

Lucius stops walking but takes his time turning to look at his son. He waves the other men forward and Draco watches as both his headmaster and the grounds keeper are led out of Hogwarts by the Minister of Magic. 

When Draco makes it to him, Lucius places both hands on the top of his walking stick and clicks it against the tile of the floor harshly. Draco hears a squeak come from behind his father’s robes.

“Father, what is the meaning of this?” Draco looks down just as Dobby’s small head peaks around Lucius’ legs. There is a large bruise on the side of the elf’s head and a burn running up the side of his thin arm.

Draco lifts his shocked eyes up to his father again, but Lucius is not looking at Draco. Lucius’ face is scrunched up into a disgusted expression as he glares at Tonks over Draco’s shoulder. 

Draco steps into his father’s line of vision, blocking Tonks from his view. “What have you done father?”

Lucius rolls his eyes dramatically at his son. “I am only here doing what has been asked of me.”

“Oh I am so sure.” Draco bites back. “Don’t insult me by trying to imply that you don’t have complete control over the board of governors.”

Lucius takes a menacing step towards Draco, but Draco holds his ground so the two are almost nose to nose. “Make no mistake, Draco, I have no intention of making such claims. Now get out of my way and let the adults handle this situation, lest you put your nose where it doesn’t belong.” Draco is not stupid. This is a threat from his father to not get in his way.

“Innocent students are being attacked! What will you do if someone dies?” Draco continues to stand his ground.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Draco,” Lucius scoffs. “No student that deserves to be at Hogwarts is in any danger.”

“What does ‘deserves to be at Hogwarts’ mean?” Tonks speaks up behind Draco.

Lucius tilts his head to look around Draco. “Nothing at all, Nymphadora.” Draco stiffens and balls his hands into fists. “It is Nymphadora, correct?” Before either of them can answer Lucius continues. “So like you mother you are.” He once again clicks his cane against the tile. “Well I don’t want to keep the others waiting on me. Draco I will see you at home when the school year wraps up.” Draco’s father turns and starts walking away. Dobby limps after his master.

“Father.” Draco takes a few steps towards his father, Lucius stops but does not turn back around to his son. “The elves around the castle are not cutting it for me. Can I take Dobby from you for the rest of the year? The Malfoy elves are trained so well that none of the others compare.”

Dobby’s big eyes grow even larger as he looks to Draco with a spark of hope. Lucius tilts his head down to look at the elf with his back still to Draco.

“No.” He continues walking out the doors. “Come Dobby.”

Draco feels utterly useless as he watches his father walk out of the castle with his head held high. A broken and scared elf trailing behind him.

He crushes his teeth together with a tight jaw to hold back the scream that starts to build in the back of his throat. Tonks lays a gentle hand on Draco’s shoulder. “We should go find the other professors and tell them about this. I only know that they were here because a couple of the prefects on rounds saw them enter the castle and heard what they were talking about.”

Draco nods his head. “I will get Snape and McGonagall, you get Sprout and Flitwick.”

Tonks agrees and the two split up.

****

Hermione felt like she was trying to wake up from a coma. She became conscious before she could move her body. It was a slow process, making her toes wiggle, then flexing her fingers. There was a presence beside her, but they didn’t say anything and she couldn’t pry her eyes open just yet. As she kept flexing her hands, whoever it was beside her wrapped a warm hand around her right one. She had a couple guesses who it might be and she knew who she wanted it to be, so she fought harder to open her stubborn eyes.

She finally got them to crack open slightly, but soon the bright light burned her eyes too much and she had to reluctantly squeeze them shut again. When she let out a soft groan the presence beside her gave a quiet chuckle. Hermione decided to just open one of her eyes instead, to minimize the pain. She once again cracked open just her right eye. The bright light assaulted her again, but she just forced herself to blink a few times and force both eyes open.

When she did he was standing over her. Hermione squinted up at him, the bright lights from the hospital ceiling framed his silhouette in a glowing halo.

“There you are.” His voice was deep and gentle. Hermione’s vision was blurry but she could see the white of his teeth as he smiled at her. “Here keep your eyes as open as you can.” She saw what she believed to be his wand raised in front of her face. He performed a doctored version of aguamenti and there was a cooling liquid dropped into her dry and painful eyes. As good as it felt there was still a slight sting at first and she flinched away from it.

“It’s okay. You’re okay.” His voice coos gently. “Your eyes were just really dry because they have been open this whole time.”

“The whole time?” Hermione’s own voice was scratchy and horse. “How long have I been out?”

Now that her vision had cleared she could see the stress outlining his face and the deep purple bags under his eyes. “Twenty-three days.” Draco helped her sit up in her hospital bed. Propping the pillow up behind her and situating her blanket. 

She had been out for almost a month. It was near the end of May then. Hermione tried to remember what had happened. The last thing she remembers before waking up just now was…yellow eyes! “The basilisk! Draco it’s a basilisk, it's a huge snake! That’s the Slytherin monster!”

“Shhh,” Draco raised up his hand to calm her down. “It’s alright. It has all been taken care of.”

“Taken care of?” Hermione had a million questions now.

“Yes it is a long story, but basically your two idiot friends found the chamber and Potter apparently killed the basilisk all by himself.” Draco said it with a shrug, like this wasn’t the craziest thing that could have happened.

Hermione couldn’t pick her jaw up from the floor. “I have so many questions.”

Draco laughed and stood from his chair. “I thought you might. I will tell  you everything on the way to dinner. If you think you are up for it.”

Hermione took a second to flex all of her limbs and check the stiffness of her joints, before nodding her head enthusiastically and slowly getting up from her bed.

Draco offered her a hand and then stepped out of the curtains so that she could get changed into her school robes.

****

“So Ginny was being processed by Tom Riddle’s diary, which is actually Voldemort’s real name, from when he was at Hogwarts. Ginny opened the chamber of secrets and she was the one writing the messages around school. Then Riddle made her go down into the chamber of secrets where he was feeding off her life force to become corporeal from the diary. Harry and Ron basically kidnapped Lockhart and went down after her. Lockhart used a spell that backfired on himself and Harry had to go alone when he got separated from Ron and Lockhart. Harry then faced Riddle and the basilisk and killed it with the sword of Gryffindor, but not before one of the basilisk's fangs got his arm. Harry was dying from the poison but used the same fang to destroy the diary, killing the vestige of Voldemort and saving Ginny. Then Dumbledore’s pet phoenix used its healing tears on Harry, saving him, and then flew all of them out of the chamber.” Hermione took a much needed breath. “Is that all?”

Draco walked beside her as they rounded the corner and stopped just before the closed doors to the great hall. “Yeah, pretty much.” He left out the part where his father had apparently been the previous owner of said diary and somehow didn’t know about the spirit of the Dark Lord possessing it or how it got into the hands of the youngest Weasley. That or the scene at the hospital the day before when Dobby had run up to him sitting at Hermione’s bedside and proclaimed that he was a ‘free elf’. Draco still couldn’t believe that Potter had outwitted his father like that.

“Wow,” Hermione breathed out a huge sigh of relief. “I wonder how Harry is feeling about all of this?”

“You could ask him.” Draco nodded his head to the two huge closed wooden doors in front of them. 

Hermione smiled back at him, just before standing on her tiptoes and pulling him down to place a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, for everything Draco.”

He patted her on the head before turning to open the doors. “Go on then.” He waved her through.

The loud chatter around the dining hall quieted down as she entered. Her steps were slow and unsure as her head scanned the room.

“Hermione!” Harry’s voice rose above the others. Draco spotted him leaning back from his place at the table. He was smiling brightly down the pathway at Hermione. Ron’s face leaned out behind Harry as well.

Draco couldn’t see Hermione’s face but the second she spotted the boys she began to run down the aisle to them. Harry and Ron jumped up from the table and Harry threw his arms out just as Hermione reached them and the two embraced in a tight hug. When she and Harry let go Hermione and Ron both went in for a hug but then both stopped short for a second. Ron’s face went tomato red and their hug looked awkward. Draco narrowed his eyes at the Weasel-nits odd behavior. Draco watched as Luna and Tonks both went over to the table to hug Hermione as well. They all sat down and started talking animatedly. 

Draco turned and found Blaise sitting at the Slytherin table watching the reunion as well. He was seated with his back resting against the table and his legs crossed in front of him in the aisle between the two tables. Draco took the seat next to him and positioned himself the same so that he could watch the group as well.

“All’s well,” Blaise said as Draco sat.

Draco looked at Hermione who smiled back at him. “For now.”

****

Dear Theo,

She is awake! She is awake and she is well. It is all thanks to you. I don’t know how to thank you enough.

Forever indebted to you,

Draco

Chapter Text

The sun was blistering against his skin, but he couldn’t find it in himself to move. One more minute he kept thinking to himself for what probably had been the last half hour. He just wanted to soak this all up while he was here. 

With the smell of salty sea in the air and the breeze coming off the ocean just over the balcony he felt more relaxed than he had in years.

“You’re burning.” The voice came from the shadow that was blocking out the sun before him. With a deep sigh he cracked open one eye to glare at the figure ruining this moment. 

Instead his heart skipped around in his chest at the smiling face before him. His white blonde hair nearly glowed in the midday sun. The other boy's exposed chest and shoulders were stained a light pink that stood out against his ivory skin. The color also stained his cheeks making it look like the boy was blushing as he stared down at friend.

“You’re one to talk.” Theo pushed his sunglasses up into his curly brown hair, that was hot from the sun exposure, and smiled back up at Draco.

Draco moved out of Theo’s sunlight to gracefully fall into the lounge chair under an umbrella next to Theo. “My poor English complexion is just not used to this ocean side sun.

Theo gave a humming laugh of agreement. Though Theo now had to deal with American winters for months out of the year, his naturally tan skin was far better for adapting to the sun in the South of France. Draco and his mother had to spend most of their time under shades or inside to keep themselves from severe burns. 

Theo had been almost ecstatic when both his father and mother had agreed to let him vacation with the Malfoys to their beautiful chateau in Saint-Tropez. Though it was never part of the plan, Lucius had been called into work before they had left and had yet to be able to join the other three for the whole summer. Theo hated to admit when his mother’s predictions were right, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she would have never let him come if she believed Lucius would be here too.

The summer had been blissfully perfect in Theo’s mind. The last month and a half had been spent in lazy days walking around the town, soaking the sun up by the pool or at a beach, and delectable food at every meal. For two weeks at the end of July, Blaise had even come to stay and all three boys had spent almost every hour of the day laughing and running around the small coastal town together.

The two boys had just finished swimming in the Malfoy chateau’s swimming pool, leaving Draco with his pink skin. Draco had gone inside to finish up writing his letter before sending it out on his awaiting owl. Theo had been waiting outside, drying off while listening to the waves crash into the rock below their balcony.

Theo turned his head to stare at the relaxed boy next to him. Draco was sprawled out with one hand behind his head and the other resting atop his toned stomach. There were ink stains under Draco’s nail beds and Theo couldn’t hold back his smile.

“How is the incomparable Miss Granger?”

Draco’s eyes stayed closed but a smile spread across his own face before he answered. “Good. She apparently enrolled herself in some muggle summer school even though she and her parents are vacationing in Cape Cod this summer.”

Theo sat up at this news. “Massachusetts?” Draco nodded his head in confirmation. “She and I truly are ships in the night.”

This made Draco chuckle. “Yes, she said something very similar when I told her that you are here in France with me.”

“You should have invited her to come visit as well.” Theo suggested as he settled back into his lounge.

Draco’s face held the smile but it became tense and his body stiffened. “No, that could never happen.”

Theo turned fully to face his best friend and propped his head up on his hand. “Why not? Lucius never came and I’m sure that your mother would be far more lenient.”

“I can’t chance that.” Draco mumbled softly before changing the subject, “Mother wants us to go down to that restaurant down by the pier tonight.”

“Hmm.” Theo decided to save Draco from the argument that he clearly didn’t want to have. “The one with the oysters or the one with the lemon shaved ice?”

Draco shook his head. “No, the one with that olive and tomato pasta she loved. Told me that she wanted to ‘get all her carbs in now before she goes home to her husband’.”

“Ah yes, Narcissa Malfoy, a true feminist.” Theo jested.

Draco snorted and closed his eyes before shifting into a more relaxed position in his chair. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes that he kept hidden when Narcissa was around and began smoking in lazy drags of the nicotine. Theo took a deep breath in. Many of his classmates back at Ilvermorny smoked and though he never started the habit, he was oddly soothed by the sweet tobacco smell. Theo couldn’t help but reach out and smooth the other boy's soft platinum locks behind his ear. He had been letting it grow out for some time now, and it fell just below his ears now. Draco leaned into the touch and the two spent the rest of the afternoon in comfortable silence.

****

Draco leaned back in his chair sipping on his espresso. He closed his eyes behind his dark sunglasses and just listened to the noises around him. The crash of the waves, the seagulls and birds flying around above them. His mother and Theo chatting away about some paintings that she had found in the gallery the other morning. People milling about outside the cafe and around the small town.

Draco wished for endless days like these. Nothing but sun, peace, and the people he loved. He opened his eyes to look over at Theo, who was laughing heartily at something Narcissa had said. Draco had deep down known how much he had missed Theo these past two years, but hadn’t realized the extent that he had hidden from himself till this summer. 

He reveled in every conversation, every laugh, every soft touch, every deep hug, and every day spent together.

Nothing had happened between the two boys, but Draco felt in his heart that it didn’t need to. They knew what they were and what they were waiting for. This summer had been perfect just as it was.

As he was lost in his own thoughts a young girl ran around the square with her friends. They all had to be around eight or nine, and their laughing screams filled the warm morning air. The girl who caught Draco’s attention was spinning in a dress covered in pictures of beautiful flowers. Her dark brown curls swung around with her, springing around as she ran.

As Draco watched the girl he thought of another. The same wild curls, the same sun kissed skin, and the same disposition for happiness. A smile tugged across his face as he thought about Hermione. She would love it here. Maybe someday, like Theo had suggested, she could come here with them.

When he looked back to his table Theo was watching him with a knowing smile. Draco shook his head with a caught smile tipping the corners of his mouth up more. His mother continued talking about the next Malfoy gala she was hosting, having not caught the moment between the boys.

“Narcissa?” A woman's French voice cut through the moment. “Narcissa Black?”

All three people at the table turned to the voice. A woman stood before their table in a flowing blue dress and large brimmed sun hat. She was smiling down at Draco’s mother.

Narcissa stared at the women for a few seconds before gasping loudly. “My gods.” She rose gracefully from her seat stand before the woman. “Beatrice Defou, is that you?”

The woman nodded her head and the two kissed each other's cheeks.

“It is Auclair now.” The woman stated in perfect French.

“Yes, of course.” Narcissa returned in French. “It is Malfoy for me now as well.”

“How could I forget!” Beatrice laughed. “You hadn’t even debuted into society before that greedy husband of yours whisked you away.”

Narcissa laughed as well, but Draco could sense that it was slightly uncomfortable. The Malfoy’s often didn’t talk about the fact that Narcissa had barely been fifteen when she married an eighteen year old Lucius.

“Yes, Yes.” Narcissa stepped back to wave her hand at Draco. “This is my son Draco.” Draco stood to take Mrs. Auclair’s hand in his and gave it a soft kiss.

“Oh a pleasure!” Beatrice spoke gleefully. “You do look so much like your father when he was your age.”

“Thank you, Madam.” Draco bowed his head to her and then looked up to his mother who was smiling proudly at him.

“And Beatrice, you remember Celestia Fawley? This is her and Theseus’ boy, Theodore.” She placed a hand on Theo’s shoulder as he rose as well.

This time as she received the kiss to her hand, Beatrice pursed her lips into a tight smile. “Yes, I heard about the family’s move to America.”

Theo and Draco shared a look at the woman’s clear disapproval. Both boys had to hide their laughter with the rims of their cups.

“Are you all down here because of that cousin of yours Cissy?” Beatrice carried on.

“My cousin?” Draco watched as his mothers smile dropped. “Regulus has been dead for many years, Bea.” Narcissa was clearly confused.

“No, no. Not that poor boy. His older brother. Sirius.” Beatrice put a condescending hand on top of Narcissa’s shoulder. Narcissa froze at the name she hadn’t heard in over twelve years.

“Sirius?” It came out as a quiet whisper from Draco’s mother. 

“Yes! Haven’t you heard? It was all over the Prophet the last few days.” Beatrice looked around at all three occupants at the table each looking more confused than the next.

“I haven’t read the London papers since we have been down here.” Narcissa had a hand to her heart and spoke as if she was in a trance.

“Here.” The other woman discreetly pulled her wand from the sleeve of her dress and conjured the Daily Prophet onto the table. “It’s all the news has talked about since it happened.” She waited until Narcissa took a hold of the paper with shaking hands before she spoke again. “Sorry, I have to run. You all should come by for dinner before you leave.” She looked over to Draco now. “My daughter Clariece is going into her fifth year at Beauxbatons, you should meet.”

Draco simply nodded as he watched his mother read the paper. Her eyes were wide as they scanned the words.

“Is everything okay, Mrs. Malfoy?” Theo asked once the other woman had gone.

Narcissa was shaking her head back and forth slightly before she answered. “I’m sorry boys. I must speak with Draco’s father. I will go back to the chateau, but you both stay and enjoy your breakfast.”

She placed the newspaper face down on the table as she stood. “Mother?” Draco stood up with her. “Are you alright?”

Narcissa waved off her son’s worry. “I’m fine, Darling. Please, stay.”

Draco nodded his head and sat down again. He watched her walk with grace down the cobblestone streets leading back to their summer home. 

Theo had snatched the paper from where it was discarded and flipped it to the front page.

“Draco.” Theo called over to his friend as he spun the paper for the other boy to see.

There on the front page was the screaming picture of the heir to the Black family. One of the two Black cousins of his mother. The brother to his beloved Uncle Reggie. The title snagged Draco’s attention from the terrifying image. ‘Escape from Azkaban! Sirius Black on the Run!’

“What the fuck?” Draco grabbed the paper out of Theo’s hands and started to read. 

“Did he really turn on the Potter boy’s parents?” Theo asked.

“That’s what they say.” Draco responded without looking up from the article.

“It says that he killed twelve muggles.” Theo pointed to that part in the article. “Have you ever met him?”

Draco begins to shake his head when a memory starts to surface in his mind. No, not a memory. Was it? Draco couldn’t remember if it was a memory or a dream of the man in black and white in front of him. It came to him as if it had been buried in the back of his mind.

Little Draco’s four year old legs were always running. His mother, father, the house elves, and even uncle Reggie were always chasing after him through the halls of the manor. It made everyone in the house laugh at Draco’s peels of high pitched giggles. These first few years had felt warm and happy to Draco at the manor.

Something had changed in the past few days, even Draco could feel it. Uncle Reggie hadn’t come home in days and Mommy was always sad and crying. Daddy would have to pick up little Draco and carry him out of the room anytime Mommy would burst into tears and collapse into a chair or onto the ground.

No one would tell Draco what had happened though. Daddy would hand Draco off to Topsy, who would lead Draco to his playroom with her small hand wrapped around his own, large tears leaking from the elf’s big eyes. Daddy would then return to Mommy and pick her up and carry her off to their room. She wouldn’t come out for the rest of the day and Daddy would have dinner at the long dinner table with Draco alone. Draco would try to tell his Daddy about what he did that day, but little Draco could tell that his dad was distracted from what his son was saying.

They were all sitting in the solarium one day in silence. Daddy was reading some piles of papers that he had brought in. Draco was on the floor playing with his wizard’s chess board, making all the figures fly at each other and fight. Mommy sat at a table in the corner, simply staring out windows in front of her, an occasional sniffle the only sound that she had made all day.

Suddenly there was a series of loud bangs and what sounded like wooden doors being blown to pieces. The cacophony of loud noises startled all three occupants of the room. Lucius jumped up from his seat and called for his wand. Narcissa screamed and covered her ears as her wide eyes darted to Draco on the floor. Draco felt frozen in his panic, he was stuck to the floor on his stomach.

Topsy suddenly cracked into the room and all eyes spun to the small figure. She flinched back as Lucius immediately swung his wand at her before he realized who was there.

“Master, Topsy is sorry.” The elf began to wring her hands together with her head bowed to the floor. “It is Master Black.”

“Reggie!” Mommy’s gasp interrupted Topsy.

Topsy looked abashed and shook her head. “No, it is the eldest Master Black, Ma’am. He has somehow broken through the wards. Dobby is trying to calm him down. We have gotten his wand from him, but he doesn’t seem to be himself.”

Draco could now hear a loud voice yelling from down the hall. “WHERE IS HE? REG! REGULUS?”

Mommy began to sob again and Daddy cursed.

“Topsy, take Draco to his room,” Daddy ordered, “and he is not to come out until I come to get him.” 

Topsy ran over to Draco and pulled him from his prone position still on the ground. “Daddy? Mommy?” Draco cried as he was dragged from the room out the door leading to his wing of the manor.

Daddy had turned back to the other door and didn’t look back as he growled out, “GO, TOPSY!” Draco could hear the sound of loud steps and crashes coming closer to the solarium. 

Topsy continued to pull Draco quickly out of the room and down the hallway. They were just rounding the corner down the hall when Draco did what he promised Topsy he wouldn’t anymore. He pulled at all the magic he felt swirling around in his body and shot it out down his arm and into the hand that Topsy had a tight grip on. Her body froze up instantly. She was mid-step and her eyes stayed wide and staring straight ahead. Draco had started being able to do this a couple of weeks before. The first few times he had done it accidentally and profusely apologized to Topsy afterwards. He had made Topsy promise to not tell his parents about it, believing that they would scold him for hurting and upsetting Topsy.

This time though it was no accident. “I’m sorry, Topsy.” Draco whispered to her, but didn’t release the little elf from the spell. Instead he tiptoed back down the hall to the solarium. 

His bravery ran out just outside the door to the room and all he could get himself to do was peek through the small crack in the door. He looked into the room just in time to see a large man tumble into the room. His face looked exactly like uncle Reggie, but everything else about the man was completely different from the man that lived with Draco and his parents. This man’s pitch black hair was long and pulled into a messy bun at the back of his head, there were pieces of his hair falling out of the bun all around his head. He was wearing weird clothing as well. His jacket seemed to be made out of shiny black material that Draco had never seen before. His pants were also made out of a blue material that was ripped to shreds and hung open at his knees and thigh. There were black markings on his legs that showed through the holes in his pants. They reminded Draco of the markings on Daddy and Uncle Reggie’s arms.

Daddy raised his wand to the man, who seemed unaffected by this, and Mommy gasped and covered her mouth with her hands as she looked at the disheveled man.

“Where the fuck is he?” The man spat out. “REG!”

“Get out of my house.” Daddy commanded the man darkly.

The man’s dark black gaze shot to Daddy and he sneered. “This is all just some trap isn’t it? Reg used some spell to transfer the Black rights back in my name, right? You all knew that I would come running here when I felt myself become heir again. So WHERE IS HE?” The man made to walk to the door that Draco stood just behind. “How dare you do something as sick as this Reggie!” He yelled as he stalked forward.

Daddy grabbed the man’s arm before he could get very far and Mommy let out a loud wail. At the sound the man’s eyes went wide and he shook his head violently. “No.” He whispered before turning around to look at Mommy who was curled over into her own lap. “NO!” The man’s scream made Draco jump. “No, you promised that you would protect him, Cissy! He isn’t dead! Stop this sick joke now! WHERE IS MY BROTHER!” The man’s anger only made Mommy sob harder. Daddy whipped the man to the side and stuck his wand under the man’s chin as he backed him against the glass wall.

“Don’t you dare speak to my wife like that you filthy blood traitor.” Daddy’s voice was cold and scarier than Draco had ever heard it before. “Go back to that mutt of yours’ bed and bury your head in the sand like you always did before when it came to Regulus. Leave our family to grieve in peace.”

The man spit in Daddy’s face. Draco pressed his small hand to his mouth to hold in his gasp. He had never seen someone act in this way. Draco also felt the tears running down his cheeks as he realized that they were saying that uncle Reggie was dead. Grandpa Abraxous had died last winter and never came back to visit him at the manor since.

Daddy wiped his face off on the shoulder of his robes without letting go of the other man. “Don’t act like you care about Regulus now Black.” Daddy mocked the man. “You and Potter abandoned him when he didn’t do as you told him to and we were the ones who took him in. Gave him a place to go-”

“DON’T YOU DARE BRING JAMES INTO THIS!” The man screamed into Daddy’s face. “He did everything he could for Reggie. It broke his heart when we found out that Reg had taken the mark! James has never given up hope on Reggie and when he finds out about this…” Tears filled the man’s eyes and his chin quivered before he could speak again. “When I have to tell him about this, James will be heartbroken.”

Daddy laughed in the man's face and Mommy’s sobs grew even louder. “Oh yes I heard all about James Potter’s heartbreak. He and that mudblood welcomed a boy into the family I heard last month. Was he so broken-hearted that he would name his beautiful new heir after his scorned lov-”

Daddy’s cruel words were cut off when the man threw a punch that hit Daddy square in the chin. Daddy stumbled back clutching at his face and the man moved to lunge after him.

“STOP!” Mommy’s scream stopped the man in his tracks. “Sirius, please.”  She finally uncurled herself from the chair and made her way over to her husband. She crouched down onto her knees before him and placed a tentative palm to his swollen cheek. “Please.” She whispered but if it was to her husband or the man standing above them, Draco didn’t know. Her swollen red and tearstained eyes lifted to the man she called ‘Sirius’. “Something was going on the past few weeks. Something was different about Reggie.” She sniffled before she continued. “Severus was constantly coming over and the two would talk behind closed doors for hours.”

The man growled and shook his head. “I don’t want to hear about fucking Snivellus. Not after what he did to Lily.”

Mommy shook her head up at Sirius. “No, He would never admit to it, but he still cared for the girl. Just as Reggie still cared for James.”

“Cissa, don’t.” Daddy spoke up from his position.

Mommy just shook her head and closed her eyes. More tears fell from under her lashes. “They had always seemed to keep secrets together, but when they heard the news of Harry’s birth they became relentless. They wouldn’t tell me anything, but it was clear that they were planning something. When Severus heard-” Mommy had to cover her mouth as a hiccupped sob broke free. She breathed in deeply and Daddy ran a soothing hand behind her back, before she started again. “When Severus came over and I told him that Reggie’s tapestry totem said that he was dead, he collapsed. It was like he was in shock. I couldn’t get through to him, he just kept muttering to himself about how Reggie must have found it and that he failed. When I asked him what he was talking about, he just asked me if Reggie had brought anything back home with him. When I told him no, Severus just got up and left.”
“What is all that supposed to mean?” Sirius breathed out. His shoulders now slumped in defeat.

“Something is happening, Sirius.” Mommy spoke gently to him. “There have been whispers of two boys, born at the end of July. I think that Reggie and Severus knew something and they were trying to stop it from happening. Whatever it is it has to do with the Potters and their new boy. I think that Reggie died trying to find a way to protect them all.”

“That’s enough, Cissa.” Daddy’s voice was soft but firm as he stood and helped Mommy to her feet as well. “He has made his choice. We are not responsible for what happens to him or his traitor friends.” He put his hand on the small of her back, but she moved forward to take ahold of Sirius’ upper arms. His head was hung low and Mommy had to dip down to make eye contact with him.

“Don’t let Reggie die in vain. Go to them. Get them into hiding before it is too late.” With that Mommy stepped back to Daddy and the two swept from the room leaving the man there by himself. 

Sirius soon collapsed hard onto his knees. His body began to shake with the sobs that filled the empty room. Draco only watched for a few seconds before Sirius' gaze moved up and made eye contact with Draco through the crack in the doorway. 

Draco jumped back in shock at just how black the man’s gaze was even through his clear devastation. Draco spun on his heels and ran for his room. He stopped only long enough to release poor Topsy from the spell, before he was speeding down the hall as fast as his little legs could take him. No one chased him now. There was no laughter or high pitched giggles ringing through the halls. Today there was only a soul crushing silence. 

“Draco?” Theo’s voice pulls him from his reverie.

“Hmm?” Draco responds while pulling out his pack of hidden cigarettes. Taking one out he puts it into his mouth and lights it with a muggle lighter that he had come across in an old shop in town.

“I asked you where you think that he will go?” Theo questions again while reading over the article. “He is the first person to have ever survived the escape. I wonder where he will go to not get caught?”

Draco takes a deep drag of his cigarette, letting the smoke fill deep into his lungs as he pictures the grown man crying in the solarium all those years ago. “If he had any sense he would get as far away from Wizarding London as he could get.” Draco blew out the remaining smoke past his lips. “There is certainly nothing left for him there.”

Chapter Text

Dear Draco,

Please thank your mother for this lovely picture of our dear Headboy all dressed up in his robes and perfectly shined pin. 

It truly does suit you.

I will keep this framed picture on my bedside for when I need a good laugh.

Yours truly,

Theo

P.S. Please be nice to poor Percy. The twins wrote to me that he locked himself in his room for hours when he got the letter with just his prefect pin in it again this year.

****

Draco had hoped for his last year at Hogwarts to be uneventfully and even dreadfully boring. He wanted nothing more than to spend the school year relaxed, then take his N.E.W.T.’s in peace. He should have known better, they hadn’t even been on the Hogwarts Express for more than an hour before the trouble started. 

Draco knew without needing to be told that the student who had been attacked by a dementor had to be one of the trio. That was just how his luck worked when it came to those three.

He moved his way through the crowd of curious and terrified students standing around the halls, Blaise and Tonks hot on his heels.

“Make way,” Draco instructed the younger students.

“Excuse us. Prefects coming through.” Tonks called out to them.

Blaise was far less cordial, barking, “Move!” and “I will hit anyone in my path with a boogie hex.” Of the three he was the one far more successful in his clear travels.

Draco skidded to a halt when he saw her through the cabin door’s window.

His first thought was ‘what did she do to her hair?’ The ever wild curls were slicked down into soft ringlets. It took Draco a moment to even comprehend that it was really Hermione. It looked all wrong on her.

Draco’s second thought was, what the hell is Harry doing passed out on the bench. Potter was practically laid out like a damsel with the three other cabin occupants fawning over him.

Draco took a second to roll his eyes, before he threw the cabin door open. Three sets of eyes swung to him in an instant.

Suddenly there was a wand pointed at Draco’s chest. “Lucius?” The man before Draco whispered in confusion. Draco could only furrow his brow at the man, whose face was covered in scars. This had to be the new Defense teacher, so Draco couldn’t very well pull his own wand on the man, but was he just supposed to let him curse him for no reason?

Luckily something far better hit Draco first. “Draco!” Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco’s waist tightly, and burrowed her face deep into his chest. As the impact caused Draco to falter a step back he didn’t take his eyes off of the wand point in front of him. Placing one of his hands on her back, he pivoted so Hermione was no longer in between him and the offending object. “What was that thing?” She asked, completely unaware of the exchange happening.

Just then Potter sprang up into a sitting position. “Someone’s screaming!”

The compartment fell silent as they all listened intently to the silence around them.

“No one is screaming, mate.” Ron looked down at his friend with mild concern.

Both Hermione and Ron sat down on either side of the boy who was still looking around as if some shrieking figure was going to float through the walls.

“There is no need to worry. That was just a Dementor.” The professor finally spoke again as he lowered his wand and slid it back into the inner pocket of his jacket. “One of the wardens of Azkaban. Looking for Black, I presume.”

Tonks and Blaise peaked around from behind Draco then as Blaise asked, “Why would Sirius Black be on the Hogwarts Express?” Draco narrowed his eyes waiting for an answer from the man who was looking as thoroughly beaten up as professor Kettleburn.

“That’s an answer for the adults I suppose.” He answered with a tight smile. 

“Draco is Headboy, Professor Lupin, and Tonks is a Hufflepuff prefect. You can trust them.” Hermione spoke up as she rubbed Harry’s back.

“What am I?” Blaise asked her in mock offense. “Chopped newt liver?” The man, Professor Lupin, looked over the three of them in the doorway.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Blaise before turning back to Draco with pride, but as she searched for something on him her face morphed into confusion. “Why aren’t you in your robes yet? Where is your pin?”

“First Percy and now you.” Draco grumbled. 

Just then Tonks made a weird half laughing, half choking sound. Draco turned in concern to see a bright red spreading from the collar of Tonks’ neck to the very tip of their hair. Tonks’ wide eyes were also looking anywhere but the Professor in front of them.

“Mate?” Draco asked. “You okay?” Tonks mouth opened and closed like a fish and the only sound that escaped was a nervous laughter.

Professor Lupin ignored them all to bend down and hold a small piece of chocolate out to Harry, who was shaking his head as if to rid it of a fog. “Eat, it will help.”

Harry took the offered treat but didn’t eat it. Draco noticed that Lupin’s now much softer gaze was looking at Harry with a hint of recognition. Great another one of the Potter fanatics as a teacher, Draco thought. 

“You scared that thing away.” Harry tilted his head at the Professor. “How.”

“A simple expelliarmus.” Lupin smiled at the boy and patted his knee, before standing again. “I really must talk to the driver, if you will excuse me.” 

As he walked past them all Tonks nearly tripped moving out of the man’s way.

Blaise chuckled at his friend. “What’s wrong with you, mate?” Blaise reached up and began curling a blush red strand of Tonks’ hair around his finger.

Tonks slapped his hand away and grumbled a quiet, “Nothing.”

“Draco,” Hermione’s voice interrupted again. “You should really be in your school robes and have your pin on. Set an example for the other students.” She stood before him again. She was taller, he noticed now. She was growing up, he realized with a proud inner smile. No longer his little tadpole.

“What did you do to your hair?” He asked her instead of answering her question. 

Hermione’s eyes widened as she ran a hand down through her tamed locks. “Pansy sent me a bottle of Sleek-easy potion for my hair. She said it looked good when she saw it earlier.”

Draco’s face immediately scrunched up in distaste. “You’re not friends with her now, are you?”

“Yes,” Hermione admitted, confused. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No.” A resounding answer came from everyone in the small compartment. 

Hermione rolled her eyes at them all. Draco didn’t want to admit how good she was getting at that.

“Well since none of you are dying we are going back to our own compartment.” Draco announced. Blaise and Tonks waved at the trio before turning and heading back down the now empty train hallway. Draco stayed for one more thing. 

“Don’t forget,” He spoke to Hermione, “meet me in McGonagall’s office after the Welcome Fest.”

Her smile brightened as she looked up at him in excitement. “I won’t!”

He couldn’t help but smile back at her, before he turned and followed his friends back down to the end of the train.

Draco was relieved when there were no more instances for the rest of the ride to Hogwarts.

****

“I trust that Mr. Malfoy has gone over the rules and regulations with you for using this, Miss Granger.” McGonagall stood before the two students with her arms clasped loosely in front of herself.

Hermione nodded her head vigorously. “Yes, Professor!” She could barely contain her excitement as she held the time-turner tightly in her hand. 

The older witch looked at Hermione over her glasses for a few seconds in anticipation. When the younger witch didn’t seem to get the hint Draco cleared his throat with a barely suppressed smile to get her attention. Hermione looked over to her mentor with a jump. Draco waved his hands in a ‘go on’ motion, raising his eyebrows at her.

“Oh!” Hermione could feel her face begin to burn with embarrassment. “I am to only use the timer-turner for class or studying purposes. I am to never be seen by my past self or have anyone see both versions of myself, you and Draco included. I cannot take anyone with me during a time jump. Lastly, I cannot tell anyone about the time-turner, or my purpose for it.” Hermione squared her shoulders with pride as the two before her smiled back at her.

“And what is the most important rule to remember, Miss Granger?” Professor McGonagall asked again.

Hermione stuttered in confusion, since these were the only rules that Draco had gone over with her. “Don’t…tell anyone?”

McGonagall let out a little mock huff. “Remember to take care of yourself, Miss Granger.” She smiled at the overzealous young witch. “Your health and mental well being is far more important than your grades or school standing.”

Hermione’s mouth screwed up at this answer and Draco tried to not laugh at her clear disagreement with her Head of Houses’ assessment. 

With that settled McGonagall turned to Draco. “Well Mr. Malfoy, since you were the one to recommend this for young Miss Granger, she will be under your umbrella of responsibility. I will leave her in your care. Since you also used the time-turner during your third and fourth year, you know it’s limitations as well as the best locations and turn calculations. Make sure she is ready for the start of classes on Monday morning and Good-luck Miss Granger.”

She gave them both a pat on the shoulder before shepherding them both out of her office and closing the door.

Hermione jumped around in excitement while clutching the time-turner to her chest. “Thank you, Draco!” She hugged him, even as she continued to bounce on the balls of her feet. “I promise to not abuse this, or disappoint you.” 

“You could never, Tadpole.” He hugged her back. “Now,” he clapped his hands together, “let me show you my favorite spots to turn and how to stay out of your own way.” He started walking down the hallway. Hermione fell into step beside him with a brilliant smile plastered to her face.

****

“Oi, Granger, watch it!” Blaise growed through his clenched teeth.

Though Luna in front of her didn’t even flinch, Hermione stopped and sat back from her work.

“Blaise is right, Luna.” She admitted. “It would be better for you to go have Pomfrey to heal you instead.”
“I’m okay, Hermione.” The blonde, Ravenclaw, said in her ever neutral voice. “You said that you wanted to work with the dittany paste that you made over the summer. This is a perfect chance.”

Hermione looked up at Blasie through her eyelashes. He had one hand clenched tightly into a fist over his mouth, as he stood over the two witches, practically breathing fire. “Okay,” Hermione conceded, “but are you sure that the numbing spell I cast is still working?”

“Yup.” The spacy answer barely gave Hermione any real confidence in her work.

“Blaise. Back up and let Hermione work.” Draco commanded from behind Hermione on the grass of the courtyard.

Hermione and Draco had been studying together when Blaise had rushed up to them with a smiling Luna in tow. The witch had been brewing a difficult potion in a class lab when the glass cauldron, that the recipe called for, got too hot and exploded just as Luna was adding an ingredient. Her hands were covered in severe burns and had glass shards littering her blistering palms. 

Blaise was being far more hysterical than the injured witch herself. If it wasn’t her that his anger was currently being directed at, Hermione might have found the behavior cute. As it was, it made Hermione all the more nervous, causing her to struggle with removing each of the tiny glass shards without pulling at the sensitive skin. 

Hermione leaned down to inspect the last piece of glass still lodged in her friend's hand. It looked like it had curled at the end and would need to be pulled out in a circular motion instead of straight out. Hermione pointed her wand at the offending object and began to pull at it with a sticking spell. She was slow with her precision, turning her wrist as she pulled.. Sweat fell down her back under her robes, but her wand hand did not falter. 

The skin around the glass started to lift up as the jagged edge of the glass. Blaise quickly stepped forward, creating a shadow over the work Hermione was trying to focus on. She huffed in annoyance and Draco’s hand shot out to grab the back of Blaise’s robes. Pulling his friend back out of the sunlight. With a final gentle tug the glass came free from Luna’s skin and Hermione let out a breath of relief.

“Well done, Hermione.” Luna’s bright blue eyes sparkled in the sun.

Hermione smiled back at the girl sheepishly.

“Okay, you have cleaned out the debris, what now?” Draco asked Hermione.

“I need to cleanse the wound.” Hermione answered back.

Draco nodded with a proud smile. Hermione had started to notice that his pride was doing something funny to her insides. It was as if her heart stopped beating every time he smiled at her. “Do you remember how to cast the scourgify spell or would you like me to do it for you?”

Hermione shakes her head at him. “No. I think I can do it.”

“You think or you can, Granger?” Blaise bites out, bending down to hold Luna’s hands in his open palms.

“Blaise,” Luna’s tone comes the closest to chastising as Hermione has ever heard it. “Let her be.” She turns back to Hermione and nods her head as a go ahead.

Hermione swallows around her dry throat and turns her focus back onto Luna’s poor hands. As she casts the spell she speaks the incantation clearly and uses precise wand movements that she had been taught.

The purple suds came out perfectly and covered the burns and divots in the skin. Once the bubbles start to dissipate, Hermione casts a quick aguamenti to rinse away the rest. With that all done, now all she had to do was spread on the paste and see if she had brewed in correctly. 

Hermione reached into her book bag and pulled out the tin of dittany paste. With three sets of eyes on her she began to spread the thick mixture over Luna’s now swollen and red hands.

As they all stare down the puffy hands seem to shrink.

“Its working!” Hermione beams with pride. She looks up to where Draco is smiling back at her. Her stomach turns to jelly and her heart stutters again. Hermione forgets how to even breathe.

“There you go!” Blaise shakes her from the moment. “Knew you could do it!” He hugs her to his side.

Draco and Luna both scoff at him and smile at Hermione.

After a few moments Luna holds up her hands that are now clear of any burns or cuts. They only remain slightly pinker than the rest of her skin. Hermione takes them in her own hands and turns them over to inspect them thoroughly.

“Job well done, Tadpole.” Draco squeezes her shoulder and then leaves his warm palm there. Hermione feels as if the hand is anchoring her to the earth.

****

Draco knows that as Headboy this sort of thing looks good for him, but standing here at the edge of the Forbidden Forest waiting for the huge hippogriff to bring back the chosen one, Draco can’t say it's too enjoyable.  

It was decided that as Hagrid has extensive knowledge of magical creatures, but never completed his N.E.W.T.s, he needs to have a teaching assistant. Apparently like with the idiot Lockhart last year, all the teachers thought he would be the best choice.

Now he was standing here, nearly biting his nails, as he waited for Buckbeak to hopefully return with an ALIVE Harry Potter still on his back. Draco scanned the crowd of students again. She still was nowhere to be seen. 

As it was the beginning of the school year he had no doubt that Hermione was still just getting used to the time-turner and its calculations, but still she had missed nearly half the class. He knew that the little swat would be disappointed with herself. She was already struggling to get through her Divination classes and she had been so excited to attend Hagrid’s first class with their year.

Loud wing beats broke the silence and Draco away from his thoughts of the missing third year.

He looked to the sky and took a breath of relief when he saw the giant chicken with Harry smiling on his back.

“Well done Harry!” Hagrid clapped his hands as he approached the two. “And well done Buckbeak!” 

Draco proceeded to levitate one of the dead ferrets that Hagrid brought with them over to the awaiting beast. Draco turned to the other students as they all cheered and looked at Buckbeak in wonder.

“Alright! Who's next?” Hagrid asked them with a booming laugh.

All the students looked on in excitement but none of them wanted to be the next to try out a ride on the wild beast. Draco scanned the crowd with a smile. His gaze landed on Pansy in the far back of the group. She was looking at something in confusion. The look sent a cold chill down Draco’s spine. Then three shouts all went out almost simultaneously.

“Hermione!” Pansy yelled in horror.

Buckbeak let out a loud screech from behind Draco.

It was followed up by Hagrid’s loud voice filled with worry. “Buckbeak! No!”

Draco spun on his feet to see the large beast reared back and kicked out its clawed front feet. Its wings were flapping wildly as spotted the offending form in front of it. The form of Hermione with wide eyes locked on the angry animal before her in horror.

Draco moved without any thought. He ran to her as fast as he could. Wrapping his arms around her tightly he spun them so that he was between the girl and the raging beast. Hermione let out a terrified scream and Draco threw out his arm to protect them just as Buckbeak came down.

The pain was instantaneous and Draco grunted as it lanced up his forearm. Hermione clung to the front of his robes as he leaned over her more, hoping to shield her with his body.

Thankfully Hagrid was redirecting the hippogriff with stern words and multiple dead ferrets tossed off into the forest. Both Hermione and Draco slumped down to their knees. Draco kept her in a tight hold to his chest with his good arm.

“Let me go Draco.” Hermione pushed at his chest. “Let me look at your arm.”

He did so slowly. Slower than really was necessary. He didn’t want to let go of her. 

When she was finally free she took a hold of his bloody arm.

“Oh gods, Draco.” She said in shock. “There is so much blood.” She began tearing away the sleeve of his robes. The fabric caught on the edges of the split skin and pulled painfully. Draco let out a hiss and tried pulling back his arm. “Sorry.” Hermione conceded even as she pulled his arm back to her. Once the arm was clear she used the aguamenti spell to wash off the blood around the wound. The water was freezing cold and it made Draco let out another grunt of pain. Hermione kept a firm grip on his arm and pulled it closer for inspection.

“I can see bone.” She sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Hagrid, he needs to go see Madam Pomfrey.”

“Oh. Okay.” Hagrid agreed bashfully. “Class dismissed everyone.” He came over and scooped up Draco.

Draco struggled in the half-giants arms. “No. No. I can walk, Hagrid.”

“It’s okay, Malfoy. I got ya.” Hagrid continued walking with Hermione hurrying along beside them. As he was jostled around with each of the man’s lumbering steps, Draco let his head fall back in resignation. “Great, bloody chicken.” He grumbled to himself.

****

“Since it is my birthday, shouldn’t I be the one to pick what we do?” Hermione had to quicken her steps to keep up with Draco’s long strides.

“Oh, come on, Tadpole.” Draco held his hand out to her to help as they made their way down the steep hillside of the school grounds in the dark. “Live a little.”

“That’s just it! I do want to live and this seems unfavorable to that.”

Draco laughs at her. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” He stopped when they made it to the flat grass area near the edge of the school’s boundaries. “Don’t you trust me?”

Hermione snatched her hand back from Draco, and crossed both arms over her chest. “I don’t like flying.”

Draco threw a leg over his broom and began to hover beside her. “I promise that you are going to like this.” He held his hand back out to her.

Hermione looked at the offending limb skeptically. “How is your arm? Any lingering pain?”

Draco rolled his eyes and shook his arm at her. “It’s fine. Let’s go.”

Draco watched as she worried about her bottom lip between her teeth. He can’t take his eyes off of the action and a hot feeling ran down his spine. Before he could really think about it though, Hermione reached out a tentative hand and placed it in his own. It was shaking and Draco had to suppress a smile. 

Draco helped Hermione up onto the broom as he kept it steady in the air. Once she is on he pulls her forward so that she is flush against his back. Her legs bracket his hips and he pulls her arms so that they wrap tightly around his waist.

“Ready.” He asks over his shoulder.

“No.” She whines as she buries her face into his back.

“I got you, Tadpole.” Draco pulls up on the broom handle and they begin to rise. “Let’s go.”

He takes it slow as they start. With one hand on the broomstick, he places the other over her hands that are clutching tightly to the front of his shirt.

Once they are in the air high above the castle he casts a warming charm over both of them and then taps on her hands. “Look.” It takes her a moment to peel herself away from his back and peek over the side of the broom. She is still crushing herself to him as she takes in the beautiful scene below them.

Hogwarts is lit up warmly from inside and creates a breathtaking reflection on the black lake. You can see for hundreds of miles up here and at night the stars almost seem to be mirrored in the lights from homes and businesses all around them glowing in the night. Draco has always thought that this view at night is as peaceful as it is alive. 

Hermione gasps as she looks upon the scene before them. Now as she pulls him closer, Draco knows that it is not out of fear. Like this he could no longer ignore just how much she had grown up. Not when it was pressed so tightly against him.

“Okay, now hold on.” Draco warned her just before he took off from their hovering position. He is going far slower than he would if it was just him, but she still screams and buries her face again. 

He zooms them around the grounds and out near Hogsmeade Village all the while laughing. He turned them back towards the castle and flew above the spires and over the astronomy tower. “Come on, Hermione. You’re missing it.” She had relaxed against his back, but still kept her face tucked in between his shoulder blades. She moved her head slightly so that she could see with one eye just as they were winding up around the Gryffendore tower. Draco’s heart soared as he felt more than heard her small giggle. 

Hermione pulled herself up more so that her chin rested on Draco’s left shoulder. His cheeks almost hurt from how much he was smiling at this point. He flew back beside the Great Hall, the windows glowing with the floating candles inside. Even in the darkness, Draco could swear that he saw the giant squid breaking the surface of the Black lake as they flew above it.

“Easy on the wobbling back there.” Draco laughed as they neared the flat area or grass they left from. “You're shaking the broom all around.”
“I am not!” Hermione squeaked back.

Draco put his feet out as they landed back on solid ground. Hermione was still woven around his body tightly. He tapped on her leg to get her to loosen its grip on him. They both laughed as he helped her off.

As they stood face to face, he saw the brilliant smile that lit up her own face. He looked up to her wind blown hair. “Ah, there my lion’s mane is.” He reached up to smooth down the once again riotous curls that flew around her head. She had still been using the sleek-easy potion since they returned and he really did miss her old curls.

Hermione scoffed at him as she rolled her eyes. They were standing close. He had yet to remove his hand from her hair, instead curling a ringlet around his pointer finger and brushing the silky strand with his thumb. She was staring up at him as he looked down into her honey eyes.

“Happy Birthday, Hermione.” Why did he just step even closer?

“Thank you, Draco.” Wait, now she was stepping in as well. “It was lovely, really.”

There was silence between them now, but they were still moving closer to each other.

Draco started leaning down just as Hermione pushed herself up onto her toes.

Then there was a dog barking wildly somewhere close. 

They both jumped apart with bashful laughs.

Draco scanned the area around him but couldn’t see where the dog was or where it had gone.

“We should get back up to the castle before curfew.” Draco rubbed at the back of his neck.

“Yes.” Hermione nodded her head vigorously. “Right.”

They both started making their way up the hill in silence.

****

Dear Theo,

I wish mother had kept my injury to herself. It wasn’t really as bad as she made it seem. I have had worse injuries in quidditch than what happened with Buckbeak. Now that father has found out about what happened, he is meeting with the school board to complain about the whole thing.

I am not entirely sure that I trust Hagrid as a teacher (especially with his love for these creatures that tends to blind him to their real dangers) but I don’t think that he should get sacked because of this. It was an accident and he had no way of stopping it.

I just hope that the board governors will find father’s complaints just as annoying as I do.

Yours, 

Draco

Chapter Text

Dear Theo,

For as many perks as there are to being headboy, I swear all of the teachers treat me like their own personal assistant. I am constantly doing one task or another for them. That on top of all of my school work as well as setting prefect schedules. I think the only one who has not asked me to do anything for them this year has been the new Professor Lupin. 

He has honestly surprised me in the few months that he has been here. I think he is one of the best DADA professors we have had here in a long time. I don’t know a single student that doesn’t like his class right now.

I don’t really get what Snape gripes about him for. The way he talks about Lupin, you would think that the two were enemies in a past life.

Congrats on the Young Potioneer Award. I knew that you could do it. Have you thought about doing an apprenticeship back here over the summer? 

Yours,

Draco

****

Hermione had been to one other party at Hogwarts before. It was at the end of last year in the Hufflepuff common room, and it was nothing compared to the last few hours she had spent here.

For the past three years she had heard about Slytherin parties. From other classmates, from her friends, even from the school ghosts. Being at one was a completely different story though. Not only was it a Slytherin party, but it was the Slytherin Halloween party. It was being held a week after Halloween, because of Sirius Black supposedly trying to get into Gryffindor tower. This claim had not been confirmed and Hermione had a suspicion that someone was just playing a prank on Harry or even just the Fat Lady.

The dungeon common room was filled to the brim with students in costumes of all kinds. Scary, slutty, funny, muggle reference that Hermione guessed half the students didn’t even understand. Like her own blue and white checkered dress and ruby red slippers. 

There were even a few groups of dementor costumes that felt questionable. Hermione was glad that Harry and Ron had refused to come when she extended her invite to them. She knew that Harry was growing tired of all the dementor jokes going around. Especially after the boggart had turned into one in Professor Lupin’s class and the professor had to step in for him.

Hermione sat with Pansy, Daphne, Luna, and Cho. They had all been to many of these parties so they were unaffected by the amount of drinking, smoking, and dancing that was happening around them. Hermione was struggling not to open mouth stare at all the things she was witnessing around the smoky common room.

Pansy was dressed as Medusa, in a white grecian dress with her hair spelled into slithering snakes. Daphne was in a bright blue dress, with blue antenas sticking out of her curled blonde hair, and silvery wings attached to her back. A very cute pixie if Hermione was asked. Luna was dressed up like a bowtruckle, with leaves and twigs sticking out every which way, and Blaise was wandering around dressed as the legendary Newt Scamander. Cho was dressed as a very lovely version of Morgan Le Fay, raven locks charmed long past her waist, and dressed in a beautiful green medieval era dress.

“So you have never done it?” Pansy asked in disbelief. “You two have been together for like…ever.”

Luna lets out her tinkling laugh. “Two years is not forever, Pans, and he said we would never do anything until I was ready.”

Pansy leans forward on the couch she is sitting on with Hermione and Daphne. “Wait have you two even kissed then?”

“Yes.” Luna bobs her head in agreement. “I quite like kissing Blaise.”

The rest of the girls all laughed as Pansy rolls her eyes.

“What about you Chang? I heard that you and Diggory got caught behind the Herbology greenhouse.” 

“Merlin’s tits, Pansy. You are so nosy.” Cho took a long drink from her cup. “If you are so interested in people's relationships, why don’t you get one yourself?”

“And date one of the absolute cretins here at this school? No thanks.” Pansy flips her hissing hair back, “No, I unfortunately have to live vicariously through all of you prudes.” They all laugh at their friend’s dramatics. 

Just then the twins walk through the crowd of dancers to their circle, both levitating multiple goblets with them. Hermione couldn’t help but shake her head at both of their choices. Fred is dressed exactly like Neville’s boggart from Lupin’s defense class. His hair is spelled a greasy black and he is wearing the exact same green blazer and pencil skirt. He even has the fox scarf and pheasant top hat. George on the other hand is dressed as an obliviated Lockheart. Wearing the dueling uniform that Gilderoy used to prance around the castle in, with soot marks covering his face, and his hair blown back with a sticking charm.

“Hello, Lovelies.” George calls out to them.

“We come bearing refreshment replenishments.” Fred finishes.

All the girls cheer and take a goblet of green bubbling concoction. It was alcohol, of that Hermione was sure, but of what kind she was unsure. She sniffed at her own cup, it smelled sweet and reminded her of apples.

“Witches Brew.” Fred answers her unasked question with a bright smile.

“Made it ourselves.” George added.

“What is in here?” Hermione asks them.

“Must you always ask questions, you swat?” Pansy asks from beside Hermione before she drinks half of her own cup with a practiced elegance. Although Hermione knew there was no longer any real malice in Pansy’s snarky comments, she couldn’t stop the embarrassed blush that heated her face as she looked around at the rest of their group. They all drank the liquor without any hesitation. 

“Well I for one am glad you asked, Hermione.” She turned her head back to Fred who had spoken from his seat on the arm of the couch to Hermione’s right. He was still smiling down at her again and suddenly her blush didn’t feel like it was out of embarrassment. Fred then started listing the ingredients. “Equal parts gillywater, green ale, and daisy-root gin.”

“And a sprinkle of crushed acid pops.” George finished out.

“Delectable boys.” Daphne nodded her head at both boys before finishing her cup by tipping her head back and letting the last few drops fall onto her outstretched tongue with a series of sizzling pops. George clapped loudly before refilling her cup with more of the drink from the cauldron of the remainder.

Hermione hesitated only a second longer before squaring her shoulders and bringing the cup to her lips. Just as she felt the first sizzle of the liquid on her tongue, a black gloved hand reached from behind her to grab the cup from her hand and lift it up and over her head. Hermione let out an indignant grunt as some of the drink dribbled down her chin. She whirled around to see who she already knew was behind the theft.

Draco stood behind her in his all black costume. His billowing black tunic was very loosely tied closed at his chest. His trousers tucked into his black leather pirate boots. As he took her goblet of alcohol and handed her back a flagon of butterbeer, she knew that if she could see his eyebrows behind his black mask, one would be raised in exasperation. Hermione decided to stand her ground, so she pursed her lips at him. “I was drinking that.”

“Oh were you?” Draco asked right before he downed the entire cup full. He then turned his attention to the twins. “Let’s at least try to not have a bunch of drunk underclassmen running around the castle tonight for Filch to find tonight. Shall we?”

George mock saluted Draco as Fred turned so that his knee grazed Hermione’s arm and he was looking over her to the boy behind her. 

“We wouldn’t have let her get into any trouble.” He laughed in a way that made it seem like it was all a joke, but something in his tone sounded slighted by Draco’s accusation. Blaise and Tonks had made their way around the couch and settled into their seats around the group. Blaise joined Luna on the love seat and Tonks with a transfigured sharp rounded dragon snout and pointy hair crowning out around the head sat on the floor with George in front of Cho and across from the couch. The three all giggled as Tonk blew fire out of a transfigured mouth.

“Ah a Hungarian Horntail. That’s one of Charlie’s favorites.” George laughed.

“I remember.” Tonk’s replies as Cho starts to transfigure small charms to hang off the horns around Tonk’s head.

“Scooch over.” Draco now stood in front of Hermione. He was motioning her in towards Pansy.

“As you wish.” Hermione bowed her head and held in a giggle.

As Draco squeezed into the small space between Hermione and the arm of the couch that Fred still occupied, he gave Hermione a questioning look. “Why do you keep saying that?”

Now Hermione did laugh. “You’re dressed as Westley, from The Princess Bride.”

Draco looked down at himself confused. “No. Theo told me this was The Dread Pirate Roberts costume from some muggle movie he watched. He told me it was some gory, adventure film. Definitely not some movie called Princess’ Brides.”

Hermione decided to hide her smile behind the rim of her cup of butterbeer. “Oh my mistake.”

“What are you, Hermione?” Fred was leaning around Draco to look over at her.

She pulled on her braided pigtails as she looked down at herself. “I’m Dorothy Gale, from the muggle movie, The Wizard of Oz.”

Everyone around them looked confused.

“Muggles have wizards too?” Fred looked confused.

“Fake ones, but yes. We have fairy tales about witches and wizards too.”

Fred responded to that, but suddenly Hermione was very distracted by what was in front of her. She had never really seen Draco smoke before. As disgusting as a habit she knew it to be, she suddenly felt like she couldn’t take her eyes off him. The way that he brought the white stick up to his mouth and lit the tip with the end of his wand. He moved the cigarette to the right side of his mouth and his cheeks hollowed out as he breathed the smoke in. Something in Hermione’s stomach clenched at the sight.

His eyes fluttered closed for a moment as he pinched the cigarette between his fingers and pulled it from his mouth. Hermione watched entranced as his tongue flicked out to wet his bottom lip, before he blew a long stream of the smoke out the right side of his mouth.

Fred had to wave his hand in front of his face as he started coughing on the smoke that now billowed around him. “Thanks mate.” He said sarcastically.

Draco only spared him a glance before putting the cigarette back in his mouth again. “Sorry.”

Fred stood up from the arm of the couch and faced those still sitting on it. “What do you say, Hermione? Wanna join me for a dance?” He was swinging his hips back and forth and pointed his thumb over his shoulder to where the other students had made a dance floor.

Hermione looked to where he was indicating and had to swallow against her suddenly dry throat. There was a lot of gyrating going on out on the dance floor. Couples huddled close together, legs intertwined, and hips moving in the same motion. There we even some groups of girls all backed up against each other, grinding their buts against the others fronts. None of these things were exactly new to Hermoine, she had just never actually participated in any of it.

She could feel Pansy tapping on her leg incessantly to accept Fred’s offer, but she couldn’t get any answer to come out.

“It’s getting late.” Draco’s voice suddenly came from beside her. He tapped on her nearly empty cup. “Finish your drink and then I will walk you back to Gryffindor tower.”

Hermione tried not to make her sigh of relief too noticeable. “Yeah, okay.” She said before she started finishing her frosty drink quickly.

“I can do that.” Fred suddenly offered.

Draco blew out another stream of smoke that once again seemed to go straight for poor Fred’s face. “You said you wanted to dance, Weasley. I will take her.”

“I will dance with you.” Cho spoke up.

“Yeah I want to dance too.” Daphne agreed. “Come on, Pans.” She started lifting the other girl up from her seat. Hermione looked up to see Pansy glaring at her through narrowed eyes. The rest of the group all hopped up as well and made their way to the dance floor. Suddenly it was just Hermione and Draco left on the couch. 

“All done? Draco asks as he hovers his hand over the cup, waiting for Hermione’s nod of acceptance before taking the cup from her hands.

He helps her stand and they started making their way through the crowds of people. Hermione was bumped and jostled by the packed and sweaty bodies around them. Suddenly there was a warm hand interlocking around her own. Hermione felt her stomach fill with butterflies as Draco led her by the hand, through the horde of students. 

They were not clear until they had exited out of the Slytherin common room and into the quiet dungeon halls. Hermione realized that some one must have put a silencing charm on the Slytherin dorms since you couldn’t hear any of the loud music or partying students once you left through the secret passageway.

Draco continued to lead Hermione through the halls in contented silence. She wasn’t sure if she should mention that he was still holding her hand, but also didn’t want him to let go just yet.

“Did you have fun?” Draco asks in front of her as they wait for the staircase to finish moving.

“Mhmm.” Hermione nods her head enthusiastically when he looks back to her.

“Was it too much?” He narrows his eyes on her face as if he is calculating her answer. “I know those parties can get a little out of hand. Everybody knows that a Slytherin party is where you can let go without getting in trouble.”

“No!” Hermione thinks she answers just a little too quickly and Draco’s lip turns up in one corner as if he has caught her in the little fib. “I had fun. I am not a little kid anymore.”

Now Draco’s grin turns into a full blown smile. “Oh now that you are fourteen you are so mature and grown up, huh?”

Hermione rolls her eyes at him as the staircase comes to a jolting stop and they continue up the stairs. “I’m just saying that I can handle stuff like that. You don’t have to protect me anymore.” 

By then they stood in front of the new portrait in front of the Gryffindor entrance, the Fat Lady still was roaming around the other portraits, too afraid to return to her position. 

Draco turns back to Hermione and stares down at her. He still has his mask on, but Hermione can still see the brilliance of his smoke gray eyes. He still has not let go of her hand. She hopes that her palm isn’t too sweaty. She hopes that he never lets go. 

“Are you going back down there?” She asks quietly. 

Draco gives her a sweet smile that Hermione can’t help but return. After a few moments Draco gives a soft chuckle and nods his head. 

“Goodnight, Hermione.”

“Goodnight, Draco.” She debates taking a step forward, but before she can, he takes a step back. Their arms hang in between them like they are reaching out in a handshake. Their fingers remain intertwined and Draco gives her hand an almost imperceptible squeeze before releasing her hand. 

Hermione steps back and gives the password to Sir Cadogan who had been noisily pacing in his armor. The painted knight clicks his heels together and salutes stiffly to Hermione. She hears Draco scoff behind her. Hermione turns to look at him just as she is entering the tunnel. He was looking right back at her. Their gazes remain locked together until the portrait swings closed between them. Hermione walks up to her dorm room like she had been hit with a jelly-legs jinx. She couldn’t stop smiling until she fell asleep tucked deep into the cover of her bed.

****

“Mr. Malfoy?” Snape calls out to Draco as their class was packing up their potion supplies. When Draco looks up his Professor waves him forward. 

“What can I do for you, Professor?” Draco pulls his book back over his head and onto his shoulder.

Snape holds out a potion bottle with no labels on it. “I have to go teach a class. Please take this to Professor Lupin for me.”

“Of course, Professor.” Draco takes the bottle and places it in the pocket of his robes. “What is it?”

Snape glares up at him under his eyelashes. “You are a smart enough boy to not ask questions when you are instructed by your elders.” With that Snape turns on his heels and stalks out of the potions classroom, black robes billowing dramatically behind him.

Draco makes it just down the hall from Lupin’s private chambers before his curiosity gets the better of him. He pulls out the potion bottle from his pocket and uncorks it. He holds it under his nose and takes a small sniff. Draco’s head shoots back up as he looks down at the potion in almost disbelief. It was wolfsbane.

Draco quickly pushes the cork back into the bottle and continues on his way to his professor's door. He gives it three quick raps and waits for an answer. A few moments later the door is pulled in by Professor Lupin himself. Draco has to mask his reaction as he gets a good look at the man. He is leaning most of his thin frame’s weight onto a cane at his side. He is wearing brown trousers that looked two sizes too big on him. He is also wearing a wrinkled and stained white button up shirt. The sleeves have been pushed up past his boney elbows. There is a multitude of cuts along his exposed forearms and face.

“Professor, are you okay?” Draco had to ask.

Lupin chuckles softly and nodded at the boy. “Yes. What can I do for you Mr. Malfoy?”

Draco dug the potion back out of pocket again and held it out to the exhausted looking professor. “Here. Professor Snape asked me to bring this to you as he had to go teach another class.”

“Ah.” Draco almost misses the look of shame that quickly passes over his professor’s expression. He smiles back up at Draco as he takes the bottle out of his hand. “Yes, Severus always did like to serve his retaliations through a proxy.”

“He didn’t tell me what the potion was, Professor.” Draco tries to console.

Lupin smiles back at Draco with a knowing look. “Yes, but you truly are as smart of a wizard as I was told. I have no doubt that Severus knows this as well, and he knew that you would have no trouble figuring it all out on your own.” With that Lupin uncorks the potion and tips his head back to down the entire bottle. He swallows with a grimace and Draco feels as if he should look away and give the man a modicum of privacy.

“You remind me of your mother, you know.” 

Draco turns back to his Professor in shock. “You knew my mother?”

“Yes.” He says with a smile. “She was a couple years older than us in school. Your father was also in his last year when we were first years.”

“We?”

Lupin blinks as if he just realized what he had said as well. “My friends and I.” He smiles again at Draco, but it is dull and lifeless. “James and Lily Potter. Evans at the time. As well as our friends Peter, and…We were all in the same year as Severus, you know?”

“I didn't, Professor.” Draco admits. “Were you friends with him?” 

“No.” Lupin laughs and it once again is real and hearty. “No. I would go as far as to say that we annoyed each other at best. He couldn’t stand that Lily and Reg wanted to hang out with us as much as they did.”

At the mention of his Uncle Regulus, Draco is hit with the memory again, his father’s voice yelling out, ‘Go back to that mutt of yours’ bed’. 

“You were…friends with Sirius Black?” Draco speaks before he can think.

Lupin’s reaction is instantaneous. He sways backwards and closes his eyes with a grimace of pain. Draco reaches for the man, but Lupin puts a hand up between them.

“I’m alright.” He takes a deep breath before he continues on. “Yes, yes I was. You know I was with Sirius at Bellatrix’s wedding when your parents got engaged. She was so young and I was surprised by how wizarding customs worked.”

“Yes, she was only-” Draco almost chokes on his next word as the irony of it sinks in, “fourteen.”

****

Dear Draco,

Lani is taking me out to a muggle concert. It is some ‘punk band’ (That is what she calls them) that she loves. They are loud and I can barely understand what the singer is saying when she plays their records for me, but she is excited to go, so I am excited to go. I will let you know how it goes.

Sincerely,

Theo

P.S. Fred wrote to me that you have been pretty prickly with him all year. Is it because I told you that he said he has a crush on Hermione? 

Chapter Text

Dear Draco,

Is everything all right? I haven’t heard back from you in weeks.

I know that you are busy, but you usually write me something back even if it is just a sentence or two.

Just let me know okay?

Missing you,

Theo

****

Hermione was freezing. Even with all of the warming charms that she had cast on her clothes and the blanket wrapped tightly around her, the cold felt embedded in her skin. She searched the gray and cloudy skies but couldn’t find Harry anywhere. He was the only reason that she was forcing herself to be out here and she couldn’t even see him. 

Pansy and Luna had come out to join her, but Pansy had left the second the freezing rain had started. Luna still sat huddled next to her under the blanket. Hermione had a suspicion that it was out of pity for her more than anything.

Sitting out here miserable was just the topper to the hellish week that she had. She was not sure what she had done, but Draco had taken to avoiding her and all of their friends could clearly tell as well. They all tried not to make it obvious in their changes in subjects when she would ask where Draco was, and their pulling her in the opposite directions to where she was originally going. They were all in on it and it was driving Hermione crazy. 

One moment she felt the tectonic plates of their relationship shifting into something momentous and the next the waters were dead and cold. She wishes that she could turn her feelings off as easily as Draco seemed to be able to. Instead she felt like her heart had started beating only when he was around and now she was left in cardiac arrest. She had even cried more times than she would like to admit. Hermione didn’t want to be an emotional mess about it, but she just couldn’t help it. She was left with so much empty space in her life and Draco didn’t even have the decency to tell her why.

Hermione pretended that the hot tears that were escaping her eyes were just the cold rain that she was letting pelt her face.

“Poor thing.” Luna’s ethereal voice broke through Hermione’s inner turmoil. She wiped at her face embarrassed as she looked over at her friend, but Luna wasn’t looking at Hermione. Luna’s gaze was fixed on something on the grounds outside of the Quidditch stadium. “He shouldn’t be out here like this. I wonder if he got lost.”

Hermione turned to look as well. Her gaze searches for a moment before it lands on the black spot near the edge of the tree line to the Forbidden Forest. The black dog is barking wildly up to the sky. Something has clearly upset the animal but there is nothing that Hermione can see other than the players zooming around in the downpour. 

Hermione feels it in her gut though. The dog senses something, so she keeps her eyes trained to the dark and ominous skies. The first dementor drops into sight like a phantom emerging from the fog. Hermione’s stomach drops as the clouds shift enough for her to see dozens of the sinister creatures flying around above them. Then another figure appears out of the thick cloud cover. It is moving fast as it speeds towards the ground, but this isn’t another dementor, no this is a person. A person falling. Hermione is on her feet as she screams, because it is Harry. Harry falling from the sky unconscious. 

****

The library was quiet around Draco’s secluded table. It was a Saturday and most of the other students were out to Hogsmead or lounging around the castle. The few people that were here, were making little noise other than the turning of pages and the scratching of quills on paper. Tonks sat across from Draco and was giving off a nervous energy that Draco was having trouble ignoring. Tonks hair had also been a weird shade of lime green for the past hour.

Draco had noticed his cousin acting odd since the beginning of the year. Tonks was quieter than was normal and constantly giving off an unusual nervous attitude. Draco was trying to let his cousin come to him when ready, but the whole thing was really starting to get to him. Especially over the past week when he himself was trying to figure out his own internal issues.

His last straw was when the table was shaking so bad that his inkwell tipped onto his nearly finished ancient runes paper. Draco closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before glaring at Tonks across the table whose leg was jiggling rapidly under the table nervously. 

“Tonks,” Draco whispers. His cousin’s head shoots up and the nail bed that Tonks had been gnawing at fell from their mouth. Draco leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, out with it already.”

“Out with what?” Tonks askes. Pretending to straighten the papers on the table.

“What is going on with you lately? You have been nervous and off. I feel like you are avoiding me about something.”

“You’re one to talk.” Tonks scoffs. 

Draco glares at his cousin across the table. “Enough. What is it?”  Draco softens his gaze when he notices Tonks hair turn a dull blue color. “You can tell me anything, you know?”

Tonks looks up at him and Draco is surprised to see his cousin fighting back tears. “Drake,” Tonks’ voice is shaky and filled with fear. “I'm going to…I wanna…” Tonks loses the battle against the tears and they stream down now. 

“Hey.” Draco reaches forward and grasps the hand that Tonks has started chewing their nails again. “It’s okay. It will be okay, I promise.”
“I’m a boy!” Tonks blurts out in a rushed whisper yell.

Both of them sit there for a few silent moments. Tonks searches Draco’s wide eyes for the answer that he can’t seem to speak.

Tonks takes a deep breath and decides to go on without a response from Draco.

“I’m going to be a boy from now on. I talked to my parents about it this summer and…well they agreed, so I am going to do it officially.” Draco feels Tonks try to pull the hand he is holding back, but Draco tightens his grip. “I know that this isn’t something that is done in our society, or even really talked about, but my family is already basically outcasts so what does their opinion matter?” Tonks is rambling now.

“My opinion doesn’t matter?” Draco asks.

He watches as Tonks’ eyes dart up from the table to his own and a frown wobble down his cousin’s young face. “Do you have one?”

“I do.”

Tonks sniffles before sitting back with squared shoulders. “And what is it?”

Draco can see that Tonks is preparing for the worst, because Tonks is right, this kind of thing is not accepted in the society that Andromeda Black and Draco Malfoy were raised in. Draco knew that it broke his mother’s heart that she could not talk to her sister, but that didn’t change the fact that she made no effort to do so. Narcissa Malfoy followed the arbitrary rules that she was governed by and that was never going to change. It was the rules that she and Lucius had brought their own son up on. 

They were not the rules that Draco wanted to live by though. “I love you, no matter what body you come in.” Once again Tonks brings on the water works as a sob rips through the silence around them. Draco stands quickly, without letting go of Tonks’ hand, circles around the table to take the open seat next to his crying cousin. “You are my cousin. Always have been and always will be. Nothing as brittle as you being the person that you have always been to me will ever change that.” Draco brings his arm around Tonks’ shoulder and pulls him into a hug. Tonks buries his head into Draco’s shoulder. Hot tears creating a wet patch there.

“I love you, Tonks.”

“Teddy.” He whimpers without lifting up his head.

“What?” Draco asks as he rubs a soothing hand down his cousin's back.

“My name.” Tonks does lift up his head now. “You can call me Teddy. I’m changing my name to Edward after my dad’s father, but I would like to go by Teddy.”

Draco laughs a little at this. “Teddy Tonks?”

Teddy laughs at this too. “It’s a little weird isn’t it?”

“I like it.” Draco smiles brightly at his cousin. “Teddy suits you.”

“Thanks, Drake.”

“Of course, Teddy.” 

Draco can see that him saying this makes his cousin brighten. His hair turning a brilliant yellow. Teddy brings him into a tight hug again and Draco pats his back in return.

“And I like boys.” Tonks adds quickly.

“Oh well now you have gone too far.” Draco acts indignant. Both of them burst into laughter at the same time. “Am I guessing right when I say that by you saying you like boys, you mean that you like a certain handsome Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?”

Teddy’s blush starts at the collar of his neck and reaches all the way up into the tips of his hair.

“Those two things do happen to coincide.” Teddy nods his head.

Draco can’t help but now turn serious. “I think he had a thing with our cousin Sirius before everything happened.” Teddy looks up at Draco in surprise. “Sirius came to the manor right after Regulus died. My father made a comment about their relationship together. I also asked professor Lupin if they were friends back in school. He didn’t confirm anything other than a friendship, but I know a betrayed lover when I see one.”

Teddy once again fiddles with the papers in front of them. “It’s just a crush, Drake. I didn’t really expect anything from it anyway.”

“I just thought you would want to know.” Draco can feel the way Teddy seems to be pushing his feelings back.

“I do.” Teddy looks back up at Draco with a forced smile. “I’m fine.”

Draco reaches up and squeezes his shoulder in comfort. 

“Well now that that has been settled, let's get to your issue.” Teddy leans back wiping the tears from his splotchy face. 

Draco laughs at his cousin’s complete change of subject. “And what issue would that be?” 

“Why are you avoiding Hermione?”

Draco stands abruptly and makes his way back over to his side of the table. “I am not avoiding her.”

“You are.” Teddy quips. “You have been for the past couple of weeks. You know that I am always going to be on your side Cuz, but she seems pretty upset about the whole thing.”

Draco is upset about the whole thing. He feels as if he has carved out his own heart from his chest and thrown it against the wall. He hasn’t felt like this in almost three years. He hates that he hasn’t talked to her in twelve days, but he is not going to admit that to anyone. 

“I have just been busy. I have a full schedule and Head Boy duties on top of that. She is also busy. She has as much available free time as I do.”
“That wasn’t a problem before now.” Teddy points out to him.

Draco attempts to pull off his famous eye roll. “I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but she doesn’t exactly need me around anymore. She has friends of her own. She is at the top of her class, with no help from me either. She doesn’t need a mentor anymore and I am going to be gone next year anyway, so why is it so important for me to keep up with her.”

Teddy nods his head as if in agreement. “You’re right, Drake. She doesn’t really need your help any more. She has friends of her own…and you are one of them.” Draco scoffs and now it is his turn to fidget with the papers he was working on before. “You are leaving school at the end of the year, but that is months away. Why are you pushing her away now, or really at all Drake? It’s not like you aren’t capable of a long distance friendship.”

“And what if I can’t be her friend?” He can’t look at his cousin as he suddenly admits this. “Something has changed. Something that feels wrong, but when I am around her I forget why.”

“Draco,” Teddy’s voice isn’t filled with the disgust that Draco was expecting. “Are you saying that you have feelings for Hermione?”

“I shouldn't, right?” Draco finally looks back up to his cousin across the table from him. His heart sinks into his gut when he sees that Teddy is looking back at him with a worried expression.

“Have you talked to Theo about this?” Teddy asks the question that Draco has been dreading. Teddy worries his bottom lip and shrugs his shoulders. “I know that you two never made anything official, and that you have had other relationships, but none of those really had any feelings behind them did they?”

Draco feels sick as he listens to his cousin speak the truth. Teddy must notice his panic because he starts talking again before Draco can respond to him.

“Shit. Draco, that was the wrong thing to say.”

“No,” Draco shakes his head as he stands. “No, you are totally right. I forgot a potion that I need to check on in the dungeons.”

“Wait, Drake. I’m sorry.” Teddy stands with him. “I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty. I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“Don’t apologize.” Draco quickly gathers all of his items without making eye contact with his now frantic cousin. “Just forget I said anything. I will see you later okay.”

“Please, Drake. Wait.” Teddy tries to stop him but Draco gently shakes him off and keeps going forward. Leaving the library without another word.

****

Draco found that he really liked spending time with his godfather in his potions room. Snape asked him no questions, he rarely needed anything from Draco, and most of all he would let Draco work on anything that he wanted to in peace. Draco lately was having a hard time finding that anywhere else in the castle. 

Snape had even thrown Hermione out of the room once when she found Draco in there alone. Their professor had been harsh and cold to her, and Draco could sense that him ignoring the entire confrontation had hurt Hermione. He had used every ounce of restraint he had in his body to keep his back to her through the whole thing. Once she had stomped away, Draco had expected Snape to scold him and tell him to solve his own problems, but Snape had simply gone back to his desk as if nothing had happened.

It was the night before holiday break and Draco was wearing his favorite green cashmere jumper with multiple warming charms to fight off the frigid cold of the classroom. Snape was in his normal button down robes that didn’t ever change despite the season. They had not said a single word to each other the entire night. Draco was diligently working on his veritaserum that he was making for his potions N.E.W.T.s. The potion would take a full moon cycle to brew and he knew that the two weeks away would give it the perfect time to simmer.

Suddenly there was the sound of running shoes in the hallway outside, just before the door was pushed open sharply. In the doorway stood a young blonde boy, he looked nervous and winded. “Sorry Professor.” The boy apologized after Snape glared at him from behind his desk. “Professor Flitwik sent me to fetch you. Terry drank another of Michael’s potions and broke out into hives.”

Snape closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The boy shuffled around at the lack of answer he was getting. “Madame Pomfrey told them she wasn’t going to help them out anymore after the last time.”

“And what if I also refuse to help Mr. Boot?” Snape drew out slowly.

The boy's eyes went wide and Draco had to hide a laugh with a forced cough behind his hand. Snape shot daggers at him through his black eyes from across the room.

“Professor Flitwik sent me to fetch you.” The boy repeated himself in disbelief. 

Professor Snape stood up with a deep roll of his eyes and walked to the boy. The young student sighed in relief as he turned to lead Snape from the room.

“If you leave before I return, I trust you to lock up after yourself.” Snape threw over his shoulder at Draco.

Draco nodded back to Snape and waved his professor off. 

Ten minutes later Draco was finishing up the delicate process of mixing in the fern sprouts and realized that he needed to use an unused copper stir rod. He didn’t have one so he cast a statius charm before he stood and made his way to Snape’s personal supply closet. Draco gave the password to the crow statue and the door swung open.

Draco was sure that he would find a new copper stir stick in here but he couldn’t seem to locate any on the first few shelves. He pulled the rolling ladder over and checked shelf by shelf. When he got to one of the highest shelves, Draco was about to give up when he noticed a large silver box carved with intricate filigree. Reaching for the box, Draco realized his mistake the instant that he opened the box. There were no stirring rods in the box, but instead it seemed to be filled with letters. Draco quickly went to close the box and place it back on the shelf when the words, ‘Severus, Please!’ stood out to him.

He knew what he was about to do was inappropriate and an invasion of his godfather’s privacy, but Draco pulled out the letter anyway.

Dear Severus,

I know that you hate me. I know that you have probably been setting all of my letters on fire the second that you receive them, but that won’t stop me. 

I miss you and if this is all that I have left of you I will cling to it with everything I have. Nothing has changed for me. Even after all this time, I promise. I will accept that our time is over, but I refuse to accept that I have lost you forever. 

James and I talk about our feelings, and we agree on this matter. Just because we have found love with each other, does not diminish our love for you and Regulus. A part of us will always belong to you both. I realize that you find this impossible, but it is the truth. 

I know that my heart is big enough for the both of you.

I no longer wish for there to be this ever expanding canyon of space between us. 

Please respond to me, Severus. 

I miss you so much that it breaks my heart.

Your Lily, Always.

Draco nearly dropped the letter as he read. There was no way that he was reading a letter from Lily Potter to Severus Snape where she was saying that she still loved him and that she missed him. It was dated the summer after they had all graduated from Hogwarts. The paper of the letter was also creased and soft from the years and amount of times it had been opened and read. Without thought Draco pulled out another letter from the middle of the pile. This one was marked two years after the first.

Severus,

It has been years since I have last seen your face, but you are the first person that I want to tell the news to. James doesn’t even know yet.

I’m pregnant. 

I dream that you will come back and be a part of our lives again. That I will get to share this amazing miracle with both my husband and my best friend. 

I miss my best friend. 

If I would have known that my pride would force me to lose you forever, I would have allowed you to call me any cruel name you could think of. I would gladly hear any of them now if only to hear your voice again.

Love Always, 

Lily

He set the two letters he had read safely on the shelf in front of him before pulling out the next letter. 

To my Sev, 

He is beautiful, my son, Harry. 

I find myself staring at him for hours at a time. With all of the death and destruction going on around us, I cannot process how something so small could be so effervescent. 

If you would only come and meet him, I know that you would feel the same.

Jame even told me that he would leave when you are here if that would make you feel more comfortable. 

My heart is now split into three equal parts. My three boys.

Love Always,

Your Lily

The next letter in the pile was much different from the others. For one it was much longer than the others, spanning paragraph after paragraph. The other difference was the tear stains that littered the parchment. It was almost as if the letter was colored with them. There were even patterns of stains that spoke of new tears staining old and dried ones. Draco suspected that they spanned years and that some of the stains may have even come to Snape from the sender.

Severus please!

Sirius came to us with the horrible news and James has been inconsolable since. He has lost Regulus forever and we have done nothing but cry for the past few days. The only thing that has kept us going is having to take care of Harry. I can think of nothing else besides the fact that he will never get to know his uncle Regulus now. Please don’t make him lose you too.

I am begging you now, Sev. Please. Please, come back to me. I need to know that you are safe.

I can’t bear it. I just can’t Sev. Please! Curse me, Hate me, call me every filthy name that pleases you. Call me selfish and spoiled, but I can’t live without you. Any of you. These years apart have torn me. I miss you. I forgive you. Can’t you forgive me too. Or can’t you at least hate me at a safer distance, please!

We will do everything in our power to keep you safe with us. I know that you are marked now but that doesn’t matter to me. We will keep you a secret from the Order if they do not agree to let you in. They are already sending us to a safe house because of some silly prophecy that they think involves Harry. You can come with us. Come with us Severus. I need you to be safe. You are not safe with them and Regulus’ death just proves that.

Please I can’t even think about a world without you in it. You are still and always will be one third of my heart. If I were to lose any of you I don’t think that I would be able to go on. 

I will never understand how we could have let this war come between us all so thoroughly. James will never get to say goodbye to Reg now. Doesn’t the thought of never having a proper goodbye with me, break your heart the same way it does mine. 

You are not just the man that used to love me. You are my oldest friend. I will always need you.

I will always love you,

Your Lily

Draco can read no more. The heartbreak of a woman torn between her two lovers, because of a war she should have never needed to fight, bleeds through each letter, each word. Draco thinks of his ever stoic godfather having to live with the fact that the woman who wrote these letters to him, died at the hands of a mad man. Each tear stain speaks of the years of Snape's regret.

Draco carefully folded the letters back into their silver coffin and made his way back down the ladder. He decided to leave for the night and just come back in the morning to ask Snape to show him where he kept the extra stirring rods. 

Draco was kept up for most of the night with thoughts of the ‘what ifs’ that must haunt Severus Snape.

****

The January chill stung Hermione’s face. She walked along the snowy path in Hogsmeade village with Ron. He was chatting animatedly about his holidays at the Burrow beside her but she was lost to her thoughts. 

“Whoa, watch it!” Hermione was suddenly jerked to the side as a sleigh sped past them, almost hitting Hermione. Ron’s hand was sweaty in hers despite the cold weather and he didn’t let go immediately after pulling her away from the danger. “You okay, ‘Mione? Your head has been in the clouds all day.”

“I’m fine.” Hermione pulled her hand from his. A blush started to creep up the sides of Ron’s neck. “I have just been a little distracted lately.”

“Is it about what Harry heard about Black and his parents before the holidays?” Ron asks as they both start walking along the street again.

“Do you think that he really did it? That he could have really turned his friends over to the Dark Lord?”

Ron shrugs before answering. “Mom and Dad said there were a lot of secret followers of him. Dad even said that one of his co-worker’s son was outed as a Death Eater at the end of the war and died in Azkaban.”

“I just can’t believe that someone would really do that to people who had just made him the godfather to their child.” Hermione had felt so terrible for Harry as he had screamed in the snow covered forest.

“Not everyone is a good person.” Ron suggested as their arms brushed together as they walked. “No matter if you think that it is unbelievable.”

There is a harshness to Ron’s voice that was not there before, and when Hermione looks up to him he is glaring at something across the street. Hermione turns herself to see what he is looking at and finds the exact person that has been distracting her thoughts for over two months.

Draco is wearing a thick warm designer jacket and a green knit hat pulled low over his ears. Blaise, Luna, Pansy, Tonks, and Daphne all laugh and talk around him, but he seems to be lost in his own mind. Picking at the windowsill that he stands in front of. No one in the party has seen her yet and Hermione takes this as her chance.

“Sorry, Ron. I will talk to you later.” Hermione calls to him over her shoulder as she crosses the street towards the group of friends.

Pansy is the first to see her and rolls her eyes with a friendly smile as she looks over Hermione’s shoulder. “Hello, Hermione.” Hermione’s eyes are on Draco and sees his whole body tense at the mention of her name, but he does not look up at her. “Out for a date with the Weasel?” Pansy continues. Now Draco’s shoulders do straighten and his eyes dart up and across the street.

Hermione doesn’t answer Pansy or the cat calls that come from Blaise. “Can I talk with you, privately?” Her eyes never leave Draco.

His eyes finally flick over to her quickly before they slide back over to where Hermione knows that Ron is still standing. 

Draco nods his head and turns to walk away without a word and without even checking that Hermione is following him. He knows that she will.

He leads them both down the path back to Hogwarts. The walk is full of other students making their way to and from the village. So he leads them down the narrow path that leads to the shrieking shack. As usual there is no one there. It was once a place for students to come and explore on dares, but there have been many reports of paranormal activities happening in and around the dilapidated house. Students swearing they saw someone walking around through the windows, heard the screaming and inhuman noises coming from inside at night, and the most popular due to Professor Trelawney's class, The Grim seen walking around the grounds.

Draco stops in front of the gate to the house, he dosen’t speak a word. Just stands there shuffling his booted feet in the snow. That makes Hermione all the more upset. He is acting like she is forcing him to be around her.

“What is it, Draco?” Hermione throws her hands up in frustration. “What did I do that could have upset you this much?”

Draco’s head drops backwards so that he is staring up at the sky before answering her. “You didn’t do anything, Hermione.” 

“No!” Hermione actually stomps her foot. “Don’t give me that load of bollocks! Cause you wouldn’t have been my friend one day and then avoided me like the plague the next, if I didn’t do something wrong.” She tries to close the space between them by taking a few steps forward, but he takes the same amount of steps away from her. Hermione feels as if her heart has been turned to lead. She can’t stop the tears that form in her eyes and the emotion that clogs her throat. “Why do you hate me now, Draco?”

She sees him through blurry eyes as his head whips to her. “Fuck.” He curses softly before quickly making his way over to her. He pulls his hands from his jacket’s pockets and reaches for her face. She slaps away his hands even as her body begs to feel his soft touch again. Draco seems to know the inner war she is raging as he reaches up again and this time she allows him to cup both sides of her face. Wiping away the warm tears from her freezing cheeks.

“I don’t hate you.” It comes out so soft and quiet. Something said just for the two of them. “How could I?”

“Then why, Draco?” Hermione grabs at his jacket, not wanting for him to back up and create more space between them again. “Then why won’t you talk to me?”

Draco lets out a shaky breath as he looks down at her. The warm puff of air blows across Hermione’s face and it sends tingles down her spine. She can’t help but close her eyes as her knees suddenly feel as if they can’t hold up her own body. She twists her hands into his jacket tighter. 

His voice breaks through the silence. “Because I am terrified, Hermione.” He takes a curl that has come out from under her own red and yellow knitted winter cap. Twisting the strand around his finger and smoothing down it with his thumb.

“Terrified of what?” Hermione feels as if she is out of breath. Their bodies are so close that they are touching from their knees all the way up to their chests.

Draco’s head drops down further so that his forehead rests atop of her own. “Of all of the ‘what if’s’. They haunt me, Hermione.”

“The ‘what if’s’?” Hermione sighs back to him as she pushes herself onto her tiptoes. Her nose bumps against Draco’s, titling his lips closer to hers. She feels his hands move against her skin to curl around to the base of her skull. Then their breaths are mingling and Hermione can feel the barest touch of his soft lips against her own as the begin to close together. 

The sharp and angry bark that comes from right beside them causes them to jump back and turn to the noise at the sametime. There, coming out of the bushes in front of them is a huge black dog. His muzzle is pulled back in a menacing growl as he approaches them slowly, snapping his teeth together and licking his chops. 

Draco pulls Hermione back with him and draws out his wand. “Baubillious.” He sends the white sparks towards the rabid dog. The dog stops in his tracks as the sparks hit around his paws and snout. It only takes a few steps back before it turns its black gaze back to them, it lunges and barks loudly at them again. Hermione can see the dog's hackles raised all down its back as it continues to slowly approach them. 

Draco continues to pull Hermione back with him slowly, with an arm wrapped tightly around her back and his wand raised in front of them both. Hermione pulls out her wand and just as she is about to cast her own spell against the angry animal, something orange comes flying out at them from the bushes behind the dog.

“Crooks!” Hermione shrieks as her cat lands in the space right in front of the dangerous animal before them. Instead of being terrified of the dog behind him, her cat growls and hisses at them instead. The dog never takes his eyes off of them, paying no mind to the small furball. 

“Crookshanks?” Hermione steps forward and crouches down to call her cat to her and out of the range of the dog behind him.

“No! Hermione!” Draco grabs the back of her coat to pull her back up to her feet. The dog goes ballistic again at the action. Crookshanks yowls as well and swipes his paw at them.

Hermione is both scared and confused by her cat's reactions. “Crooksy, come here.” She waves her hand to call her cat to her. Thankfully Crookshanks seems to snap out of it and walks over to her with his tail swishing. To Hermione’s relief the dog does not attack her cat while his back is turned. Hermione bends down to scoop up the orange fluff ball, Draco keeps a hand on her back the entire time. 

The dog follows the movement but does not move. He snaps his teeth menacingly again and growls out a deep bark. Crooks turns in Hermione’s arms and hisses back at the dog. Hermione keeps her eyes on the dog and at her cat's reaction, the dog’s face seems to fall and it lifts its head slightly. If Hermione didn’t know any better she would think that the dog was surprised by her cat turning on it.

The second that Hermione is standing again, Draco moves in front of her and yells out a spell. “Depulso!” The spell sends the dog flying backwards and crashing through the snowy trees and foliage.

Crookshanks hisses again and swipes his claws into Draco’s outstretched arm. “Ow! Crooks!” Draco yells as he pulls his arm into his chest and looks at her cat in disbelief. “What the hell, buddy? I just saved us all, you know?”

Crookshanks meows in apology and Draco scratches behind his ear. Hermione can feel the vibrations of the cats purr in her chest. Draco looks up into Hermione’s eyes before scanning the forest around them. “Let’s get back to the castle before that thing returns.”

Hermione nods her head and Draco wraps his arm around her once again and pulls her into his side. They walk quickly back up to the castle in silence.

****

Dear Theo

Do you ever think that we are just fighting against the inevitable? That no matter how much we tell ourselves that we will not make the same mistakes, that we are different, the results are still the same.

Should we continue to fight or just simply give in. 

I miss you, and I wish you were here. I think this would all just be so much easier if I had you here to tell me what to do. To tell me if I am wrong.

Maybe if you were here I wouldn’t feel this way.

Yours

Draco

Chapter Text

Theo,

Distract me. What is going on in your life? How is Lani? How is school?

Any new potions that you are working on? 

Tell me anything. I want to hear about you. We talk too much about me and my life.

Yours,

Draco

****

Draco was at war with himself. There was a part of him that knew what was happening was wrong, but the other part of him begged him not to care. Hermione was still a kid and it made him sick the way he couldn’t keep himself away from her. 

He couldn’t actively ignore her anymore, but he refused to let anything go as far as it had out by the Shrieking Shack. He never allowed them to be alone together. Always keeping Blaise or Teddy around, and keeping to the library to study if both of them were busy. He also never used his secret secluded section anymore, always sticking to one of the tables smack dab in the middle of all the other students. Draco had avoided going to Hogsmeade Village since the incident.

While Hermione wasn’t exactly happy about the new arrangement she didn’t ever complain about it either, even though Draco could see the hurt in her eyes. It was just another way that Draco knew that he was taking advantage of her. Using her for the company that he could no longer deny himself, without truly giving her the relationship that they once had. 

Everytime he felt her move herself closer to him, Draco would cower away. Across the room, out of the room, away, anywhere else. He had to fight every muscle and nerve in his body, but he did it. To keep her safe from him.

That is how Draco found himself one Friday night in the DADA classroom helping professor Lupin grade his fifth years’ essays on Dark Creatures. Like Snape, Draco found comfort in the young professor due to his silent understanding. Lupin asked no questions of Draco, nor did he seem to need an explanation for Draco’s presence. 

Draco had also started avoiding his godfather as well. He saw now what he had missed for the past thirteen years. A man full of loss and regret. Draco now wasn’t sure how he had missed what was so clearly written all over Snape’s face. The way his face softened the moment that Potter turned away from him. The way his gaze always followed the boy in whatever room that they were both in. The worst was the realization for Draco as to why Snape always seemed to get in Harry’s face when scolding or admonishing the boy. The whispers that Draco had always dismissed. 

‘His mother’s eyes.’ 

‘Harry looks just like his father, but he has his mother’s eyes.’ 

‘You have Lily’s eyes.’

Snape was always trying to get Harry to look at him so that he could look into his dead lover’s eyes. Snape looked to Harry because the young boy was one third of Lily’s heart.

Draco didn’t know what to do with the heartbreak that he was now a bystander to. He couldn’t even comfort his godfather, because he wasn’t supposed to know.

He just had to watch two-thirds of a dead woman’s heart circle each other within their own despair. Knowing that they could never bring her back. Never get another moment with her. So they settled for moments of memories.

“Miss Clearwater’s paper must be extremely enrapturing.” Lupin’s voice broke Draco from his thoughts. When he looked over, the professor was smiling at him across the desk. “You haven’t looked away from it in over ten minutes.”

“Sorry, Professor.” Draco used his quill to make a few last critiques on the paper in front of him before he moved on to the next.

“I hope that I don’t offend you by saying but you have truly surprised me, Draco.” Draco looks back up at his professor, who is still looking at Draco, as he leans back in his chair and studies the boy who looks so much like his father. “I just mean that I never expected you to be so much like her, your mother. Despite our differences I always thought that your mother was so smart and she too would have made a wonderful professor.” 

“You think I could be a Professor?” Draco asked.

Lupin pulled out the multiple essay’s that Draco had diligently graded and left extensive notes on from the pile between them. “I do.” Draco had to fight off the smile that this brought him. “Especially with young Miss Ganger.” Draco’s heart suddenly sank into gut. “I see the way you are with her, the way she is with you.”

Draco felt his whole body tense at this. “You do?”

“Of course I do.” Lupin nodded his head, seemingly unaware of how Draco was curling his hands into fists in his lap. “I was informed that you were a good influence not only to her, but to many of the other students here.” A good influence? Draco looked over to his professor in shock. He thought that Draco was ‘a good influence’. “I will admit that I was skeptical at first.” Lupin gives a short laugh before saying, “I did know your father too, only for that first year, but it felt like more than enough time. He was smart, I will give him that, but it was nothing compared to your mother. She could have done such good in our world. I truly believe that.”

“If it hadn’t been for my father.” Draco doesn’t phrase it like a question, but a statement.

Lupin looks over to him with a slight furrow to his brow. “If it hadn’t been for the war.” Lupin reaches forward and places a comforting hand on Draco’s shoulder. “Your mother was far too young for the expectations that were put on her by her family. She was in the same position as her sisters and cousins. She was so young and lost just as much as anyone else. She and your father may have gotten…uh…engaged at a young age, but I never doubted their love for eachother.”

“My mother was young. My father was an adult.” Draco points out as he fiddles with the feather of his quill. 

“Hmm.” Lupin seems to mull over this for a minute. “I can’t say that you are wrong. I remember thinking the same thing when it was announced, but I also remember your father letting your mother finish school before they married. Not many men, let alone pureblood wizards allow that to happen. He was also very protective over Narcissa, when I saw them together.”

“So that makes it all okay? A grown wizard who had already graduated from Hogwarts claiming a fourteen year old girl…like that?”

“I cannot claim to understand pureblood traditions,” Lupin interjected, “but I don’t see the comparison you have been trying to make.”

Draco froze again as he looked up at his professor. “What comparison?”

Lupin gave him a small smile. “The one between you and your father.”

“What if I am just like him?” Draco looks into Lupin’s eyes and finally lets himself truly open up about this. “I can feel it in my bones, everyday. I fought so hard against it, but when I look at myself. Truly look. I see him.”

His professor is quiet for a long time before he answers. “My father hated me. Everything about me. The fact that I was a werewolf. That I was gay. That I wanted to have a normal life with nothing to do with politics. He hated me and I said that I would never be anything like him. So I killed anything about myself that reminded me of him. For years I mutilated myself to rid him from me, but it didn’t make me happy. It only reminded me more that at the end of the day I would always be his son. He would always be a part of me.”

“So what did you do?” 

“Well I won’t lie,” Lupin laughed painfully, “I am still working on it, but I just try to make all the things I hate into more positive attributes. My father used to laugh in this bitter way that came off as condescending, I try to make people laugh through their pain. My father used his intelligent brain to make people feel trapped and lesser, I use my brain to help people out of their situations. My father fought against people’s right to exist. I fight everyday for everyone’s right to be who they are.”

Draco didn’t know what to say. His professor had been so vulnerable and let Draco see a part of him that he was sure not many people got to, but Draco didn’t feel worthy of it either. 

Lupin was a good man fighting the image his father created. Draco was fighting with his own disgusting urges that he just so happened to share with his father.

“I don’t really think there is a positive spin on preying on a young impressionable girl that you were only supposed to mentor.” Draco admits with his head hung low.

“Take this from a gay man who fell for what he believed was his straight best friend. Nothing anyone tells you is going to make you feel better about the feelings that you are fighting against. You are just going to have to decide for yourself if they are real or not and if you want to act on them.”

“Nothing that I feel will ever make it okay that she is fourteen and I am turning eighteen in three months.” 

“You are right.” Lupin concedes. “There is nothing that I can say that could defend that.”

Draco feels his throat close up and tears fill his eyes.

“Right now you feel like you are an adult. Someone who should be accountable for those around you, but you are just a kid, Draco. A good kid at that. I have no doubt that you will do what is best for Miss Granger. Just like you do with everyone else.”

“What if doing what is best for her is to break her heart?” Draco hates the idea, but he also knows that it is the right one.

“If that is what you think is best. Then that is what is best.” Professor Lupin once again had a gentle hand placed over Draco’s shoulder. “Regret is a hard thing to live with, Draco. Take it from someone who has had to do it for years.”

Before Draco has time to say anything else one of the school portraits in Lupin’s classroom started ringing a strange bell to get their attention.

“A student is wandering the halls after curfew,” The eighteenth century wizard claimed, “and Snape seems to be hot on their heels.”

Lupin gave a soft chuckle. “I’m sorry, I think that I will need to go save the poor lamb.” Lupin started at the classroom door, before suddenly stopping and turning on his heels. Looking back to Draco, “Would you like to continue this discussion at a later time?”

“No. Sorry Professor.” Draco shook his head in shame.

“Sorry for what?” Draco thought that his professor looked tired in the dim light and rumpled sweater. 

“I’m sure you didn’t want to waste your time listening to the insignificant problems of your students.” 

“I told you, Draco.” Lupin smiled at Draco once again. “I am not my father. There is no problem too small for me to listen to. If you ever need someone, you know that my door will always be open.”

Draco left the DADA classroom shortly after Lupin. His mind ran in circles and he felt like he couldn’t catch his breath for the rest of the night.

****

Hermione asked him not to come with her. She told Draco that she wanted to go visit Hagrid before Buckbeak's execution with just the boys. Draco understood. He didn’t like it but he understood her reasons. It was because of his father that all of this was happening and they both knew that it wouldn’t be hard on the groundskeeper for Draco to be there. 

Draco had already gone to visit Hagrid and apologize for his father’s insistence on this matter. He had been polite to Draco during the whole visit but it was clear that Hagrid was very upset. So Draco chose to watch from afar. There was a window on the third floor near the charms classroom that looked over the part of school grounds where Hagrid’s hut was located. So he sat and he watched as the trio made their way down to the hut together. They stayed in there for a long time, before being kicked out by Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic. 

From his spot high above them Draco watched as they made it back up to the castle and turned to watch the ax swing down. Draco felt sick to his stomach, but couldn’t take his eyes off of Hermione. Her head in her hands as her shoulders shook with her sobs. Then Ron was pulling her into a hug. Tucking her tightly into his side and resting his head on the top of hers. Draco felt jealousy roil deep in his gut as he watched Weasley comfort her in a way that he couldn’t.

As if he had sent a stinging jinx with his mind, Ron suddenly jumped back and away from a surprised Hermione. Draco could see that words were exchanged between the three as Ron looked around at their feet, before suddenly taking off. Ron sprinted across the grounds as Hermione and Harry followed closely behind. Just before they went over a hill leading to the Whomping Willow, Draco saw the figure. The black dog that had been wandering the grounds all year was slowly stalking after the three. Then two more figures appeared to Draco’s surprise. A second Hermione and Harry stood just inside the treeline below the rest watching it all happen. Something has happened and Hermione used the time turner, and she apparently took Potter along with her.

Just as Draco turned to go investigate, a body crashed into his own.

“Professor?” The two picked themselves off of the ground. “Are you alright?”

Lupin looked utterly haggard. His skin was sallow and waxy. Deep circles bruised under his eyes. He was holding a parchment that looked to have different folded sections and added on pieces. His eyes were darting from down at the parchment to all around the empty hall they were in.

“I’m sorry, Draco. It is of utmost importance that I check on something. Can we talk later?” Lupin said but was clearly too distracted to wait for a response. He was already walking away from Draco when Snape turned around the corner in front of them both.

“Ah, Lupin, just the man I was looking for.” Snape approached them, and Draco was shocked to hear Lupin let out a growl of frustration. Snape’s eyes widened at the reaction as well.

“Snape. I am busy, can this not wait?” Draco had never heard his professor speak with such irritation. 

Snape narrowed his eyes in retaliation. “As it is a time sensitive matter, I believe it is very important to speak with you now about it. You have not come to my office for your potion tonight-”

“I am very well aware of what night it is.” Lupin ground out through his teeth.

“Good, then you are in fact aware of why it is important that you have-” Snape was cut off by Lupin once more, before he could finish though.

“Oh come off it, Snivelus!” The other professor barked. Both Snape and Draco were stunted into silence. “I don’t have time for your self-righteous pompousness right now. I have to go!” And with that Lupin stalked off down the hall, leaving behind a shocked Snape and Draco.

Draco turned to his godfather who was watching the other professor speed around the corner. Snape's eyes were narrowed onto the figure, but there was a slight red tinge to the tops of his cheeks.

“Professor?” Draco tried to approach the man.

“Go to my office, Draco.” Snape said bluntly. “Grab his potion off of my desk and bring it to me at the school entrance.” He then turned abruptly and stormed down the hall after Lupin, he robes billowing out behind him. Draco heard him mumbling as he walked away. “I will shove it down his throat myself.”

Draco waited for both professors at the entrance for a long time. Too long, Draco realized as the sky began to darken. He looked up at the clouds as they covered the night sky. He wanted to go find them, but had no idea where they would even be, and didn’t want to miss them.

Suddenly there was an eerily familiar scream piercing the air, and Draco was abandoning his task. He ran across the grounds and down towards where it sounded like the scream came from. Right to the base of the Whomping Willow. Where he finds three figures huddled together hidden there in the shadows of the imobile tree.

Draco falls to his knees next to Hermione as she leans over professor Snape. Three large gashes bleed across his chest as he lays with his back resting against a gnarled root of the tree. “What happened?” Draco asked as he watched Hermione cast a stitching charm that he had created himself over the cuts. She, like Draco had perfected the spell in no time, so the cuts all started to mend themselves together easily.

“It was Black.” Ron exclaims next to them, where he sits nursing his leg. “Harry went after Sirius Black.”

“What!” Draco jumps to his feet. “Where did they go?” He looks around as if they are going to pop out of nowhere in front of them.

Just as he moves to leave the three and search, Hermione stops him. “Wait, Draco it is not what you think.” She grabs ahold of his pant leg where she still sits on her knees next to Snape. “Sirius isn’t the real killer.”

“It was my rat, Scabbers!” Ron exclaims again.

Draco must show how confused he is by this revelation because Hermione explains more. “He was a man named Peter Pettigrew. He was the one who betrayed the Potters and framed Sirius, he is an animagus. They all are. Peter is a rat and hid with the Weasleys all these years pretending to be dead.”

“And Sirius is a dog!” Ron interjects. “A big black dog.”

“The dog.” The puzzle pieces start snapping together in Draco’s mind as he looks down at Hermione. She nods her head in confirmation that the dog that they had been seeing all over the school was in fact Sirius Black, the escaped convict. 

“He is Harry’s godfather.” Hermione adds. “He has been here the whole time, trying to protect Harry.”

“Professor Lupin is a werewolf, Malfoy.” Ron is like a mercat, popping up to say something and then sinking back again to wait for the next thought to cross his mind. Draco tries to not roll his eyes at the young boy. “Harry and Sirius are out there with him now.”

This catches Draco’s attention. “Lupin is out there?”

Hermione and Ron both nod their heads vigorously at him. “He didn’t take his potion and we lost track of time in the shack. The moon took us all by surprise. He transformed and Sirius tried to calm him, but the two ran off into the woods. Harry ran after them.”

“That idiot.” Draco mumbled as he stood up and cast his patronus. A silvery arctic fox sprang from Draco’s wand and wound around everyone, before stopping in front of him. “Find Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore. Tell them that professor Snape has been seriously injured and there are two students who need medical attention with him. They are all out by the Whomping Willow.”

When he was done speaking the fox skipped away towards the castle. “Which way did they all go?” Draco asked as he turned to look across the grounds. Hermione’s hand is once again gripping at Draco’s pants leg. She doesn’t say anything, just holds him in place with them. “Harry is out there with Lupin. He is not in control of himself and Harry could really get hurt if he tries to reason with him.”

“They went into the forest.” Ron answers. “Just down that slop over there.” He points to a section of trees at the edge of the forest.

“Be careful.” Hermione whispers as she reluctantly lets go of Draco.

Draco nods down to her. “Stay with Snape and go with Dumbledore when he arrives. Tell him what happened. He will know what to do.” Draco doesn’t really have any confidence in that, but he is all that Draco has at this point. 

With that Draco sprints down the grounds and into the vast forest. He uses a charm that allows his ears to pick up on any sounds even from a hundred yards away. It is dark in the forest with the trees covering the area from the light of the full moon. Even with his lumos spell, Draco is only able to see a few feet in front of him. He can hear creatures all around him in the forest but none of them sound big enough or frantic enough to be Lupin in his werewolf form.

Then suddenly without making a single sound there is a sharp dagger being held under Draco’s chin. A dark voice whispering into his ear from behind him.

“I found your little rat, Lucy.” The man laughs maniacally as he makes his way around Draco. His dirty hair hangs long past his shoulders. The black ringlets are streaked with lines of almost pure white they are so gray. He is still wearing his azkaban uniform, it is ripped and torn all over, exposing his dirt encrusted skin. There are gashes all over from what Draco suspects are encounters with Lupin somewhere out here. They are deep and bleeding, but the man is too lost in his own mind to notice. The eyes that stare back at Draco are crazed and remind him of his aunt, this man's cousin. Draco thinks that they are almost identical, Bella and Sirius.

Sirius still has his crude blade pointed at Draco’s throat when Draco sees a moment of clarity come over his black eyes. “You’re not Lucius. You’re his boy.”

“Draco. I’m Draco.” He tries to stay calm as he starts to lean down to pick up his fallen wand. The movement spooks Sirius and he shoves the knife deeper into Draco’s neck, now breaking the skin. Draco hisses, but still tries to reason with the confused man. “Harry, he is out here somewhere. We need to find him before Lupin does.”

This seems to shake Sirius’ fog again. “Harry? Why is Harry out here? He was supposed to stay with his friends.”

“Well he didn’t. It is kind of his personality trait to do the one thing that you told him not to.” Draco huffs. The blade falling away slightly from his neck as Sirius gets distracted. “Hermione and Ron are with Snape now. I called for-”

“Hermione?” Sirius interrupts him as if something just occurred to him. Then he turns angry eyes back on Draco. “Hermione.” He growls right before pushing Draco back into a tree and digging the blade back into his neck. “You. You stay away from Hermione.” Sirius spits at him. “You are just like your father!”

Draco scowls at the mental man. “You don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Oh don’t I?” Sirius’ eyes have gone completely deranged as he holds Draco against the tree. “I was there when he did it! Cissy was barely fourteen when your father paraded her bloody sheets around at Bella’s wedding. He made a statement, his claim! He didn’t care what it cost poor Cissy, as long as he got what he wanted.” Draco feels sick listening to it. He had heard the story before, by many other family members, but still it didn’t ease the crudeness of reality. 

His father had secreted his mother away at an event that he knew there would be the most of Wizarding London’s elites and taken her virginity. She was only fourteen and he was eighteen and recently graduated from Hogwarts. Draco’s father then used the evidence of what he had taken from Narcissa to stake his claim on her and ensure their marriage.

“And now I watch you, following around and praying on Hermione.” Sirius breaks Draco from his dark thoughts. “She is the same age as Cissy, and you are just like your father.” 

Draco feels the bile rise in his throat. He has no argument. Sirius is right. It is the answer that he has been begging to hear all year and the one that no one wanted to admit to him.

“She is a muggleborn too. I’m sure you think that makes her an even easier target.” Sirius then begins to laugh like a mad man. “What will your father do when he hears about this?”

This is what snaps Draco back into reality. He disregards the knife at his neck as he shoves his cousin away with enough force to send the man stumbling back. Draco drops quickly to grab his wand and pounce atop the man. Sirius just continues to laugh as Draco now jabs his wand under the man’s neck. “My father will never come near her. Do you hear me?” Draco gets his face close to Sirius’ as he spits out the next part. “I will kill whoever puts her in danger.”

“Look at you.” Sirius laughs. “All that darkness. It will corrupt you just like it did him, and anyone that you let near you. You will be the ruin of everyone around you. You are a Black, through and through.”

Before Draco had any time to answer, not that he really knew one to that, a low growl started a few feet from where they both laid on the cold earth. They both looked to the sound and watched in terror as the large werewolf stalked towards them. His teeth shone brightly in the dark as his muzzle was pulled back in a vicious snarl. All four feet on the ground and big eyes dilated past the point of recognition, Draco knew that Lupin was gone. The beast in front of them cared nothing for their lives, only for their meat and blood. 

Draco jumped to his feet and threw out the bombarda curse, but before the curse could leave his wand, Sirius was knocking his hand to the side. The curse flew off to the left, taking out a tree a few feet from the wolf.

“No!” Sirius screamed at Draco, putting himself between Draco and the beast. “Not Mooney, Not my Mooney, please!” Draco now saw fear in the older man’s eyes, but not for their lives, but for Lupin who was trapped in his own bastardized body. After all these years this was still the man that Sirius loved, and he didn’t want Lupin to get hurt. 

Sirius turned to look at Lupin who was still growling at them from where he crouched low. “Mooney, my Mooney, please it is me. It’s Pads, you know who I am.”

To Draco’s utter surprise the wolf's face fell from its snarl. It almost looked confused as a whining started deep in its chest. He was doing it. Sirius was connecting with Lupin in the wolf’s body. The wolf recognized his former lover.

Then there was a snap of a twig somewhere far into the woods, and it snapped the wolf back into control. They had no time to react before the wolf swiped his sharp claws at Sirius. The blow landing right to his chest and sending the man flying back into Draco. 

Draco caught his cousin with one hand and reached for the vial that he had started keeping in his pocket at the beginning of the year, when he first learned about what Lupin was. He hated that he had started doing it but now knew that it had been necessary. He threw the large vile straight at the wolf. The glass shattered across his face and the silver dust exploded and floated around him. Draco could hear as the silver sizzled against the wolf's skin as the wolf began to howl in pain.

“No.” Sirius whimpered where he lay crumpled in Draco’s arms. Blood trickled out the corner of his mouth but he still cared more about Lupin’s pain. “Mooney.”

“It is just silver, he will be fine.” Draco confided. “But we need to get out of here before he recovers.”

Draco hoisted Sirius up and threw the man’s arm over his shoulder. As Draco wrapped his hand around Sirius’ waist the man cried out in pain. The claw marks across his chest were deep and long, spanning his entire torso and nearly wrapping around his waist. “Sorry.” Draco conceded. Trying to replace his hand somewhere that wouldn’t cause the man any pain.

The two ran as fast as they could go. Sirius stumbling repeatedly and Draco trying to keep him upright. Draco tried to search around them as they ran but there was no sign of Harry anywhere. Draco tried to not let the thought of a dead boy lying somewhere out there sink too far into his gut. There was no time for it if he wanted to get out of here alive.

Sirius stumbled again, only this time his foot went over a small ledge and the man fell to the side. Rolling down a small hill onto the rocky shore of a tiny lake. Draco ran after him, but by the time that Draco reached him, Sirius was unconscious.

“Sirius!” Draco shook his shoulders. “Wake up!” The man did not budge from his slumber. “Fuck!” Draco screamed as he continued to shake him, noticing just how much blood had soaked into the rags that covered the man’s body.

Just then Draco heard footsteps running across the rocks behind him. When Draco turned he almost sighed in relief as he watched Potter come running towards them. It was short lived when Draco noticed the panic in Harry’s eyes.

“Malfoy! Above you!” Harry screamed.

Slowly as if he had no control over his body Draco turned his head to the open skies above him. The first dementor was already inches from him by the time he saw it.

The kiss was painful as it pulled at Draco’s darkest memories. Draco had many and as each dementor took its turn a new memory was pulled from deep in Draco’s chest. 

His mother crying for days after Uncle Reggie died. Draco finding Dobby with large welts across his arms and legs, large tears silently falling down the poor elfs face. Draco waving good-bye to Theo at the apparition point when his family left for America. Watching Snape mourn after a woman that was lost to him forever. Hermione laying petrified on the hospital bed. Her large, fear filled eyes are the last thing that Draco remembers before he passes out.

****

Dear Draco,

Did Sirius Black really escape? The papers are saying that he was captured at the school and then just disappeared into thin air. What the hell happened? I know that there has to be more to this story. Tell me everything!

Patiently waiting,

Theo.

P.S. How is Hermione? I feel like you haven’t said anything about her in a while. Is everything okay with the two of you?

Chapter Text

Dear Draco

I’m worried about you.

I know that you have been really prickly about me getting information about you from the others, but you won’t talk to me, okay.

Teddy even wrote to me. 

Blaise won’t answer me, but he has always chosen your side over mine so it doesn’t really surprise me.

What is really going on?

Teddy and the Twins both said that you have shut down. You are barely there and won’t talk to anyone about what happened to you out in the forest with Sirius. 

I’m worried that the dementors affected you more than you are letting on to anyone else. 

Just answer me, okay? Answer my floo calls, answer my letters. Don’t shut me out. 

I’m your Theo and you are my Draco. Nothing has changed. 

Forever yours,

Theo

****

Hermione is having the best year of her life! She has decided that she really doesn’t need all twelve O.W.L.s. She certainly doesn’t need Divination to tell her that her life is great! She had saved three lives! Harry had helped her save Buckbeak and she had helped Harry save Sirius and Draco. Sure Harry had done most of the work, but she had howled at professor Lupin and she had decided that was very brave of her. Not stupid. Brave. Her life was the best!

“THE BEST!”

“Alrighty then.” Pansy reached over to pluck the sloshing goblet from Hermione’s sticky fingers. “I think that’s enough of the Weasley concoction for you, Princess.”

The end of the year Slytherin party was in full swing. After a year of constantly being on guard, having to sleep in the great hall on cots, waiting for Sirius Black around every corner, everyone was getting to let loose.

Especially Hermione. She decided that she wanted to celebrate and let go for once. Harry and Ron had joined her down in the dungeons this time. They were both over by the big window looking into the black lake. They were playing a game with others that reminded Hermione of muggle beer pong. One team would throw a small snitch-like ball across the room and try to make it into the other team's floating goals.

Hermione sat with her other friends around the seating by the fireplace. Luna, Cho, Daphne, and Pansy were seated in a small circle drinking the newest version of the twins ‘Party Brew’ as they were calling it. Hermione really liked it. It fizzed in her mouth and tasted like sour green apples. 

“Don’t you think so?” Hermione leaned over to ask her friend, licking the remaining droplets of her stolen drink from her fingers. As she tried to get Pansy to stop spinning in the smoky dungeon common room, Hermione got very dizzy. 

“Oh yes, your life is just the best.” Pansy laughed and Hermione had a sneaky suspicion that it was sarcastic. She narrowed her eyes at the girl and pursed her lips. Pansy laughed for real now and kissed a perfectly manicured finger before tapping that same finger on Hermione’s mouth. This made Hermione smile and giggle. This made everyone around them start to laugh as well.

Hermione looked around at all her friends and smiled. “This is best. You guys are the best. This is the best feeling in the whole world!” Hermione threw her hands up, nearly jumping off the couch.

“If you think this feels good, just wait until you have your first orgasm.” Pansy purrs while she wiggles her eyebrows at Hermione.

“YOU HAD SEX!” Hermione screams.

Pansy turns her head and flicks her short black hair behind her shoulder. “Practically.”

Hermione’s confusion causes her face to fall. “What does that mean?” Hermione searches the faces around her. Each is holding back smiles and giggles. She feels her face light up with the realization that she must be so far behind from her friends.

“It means that Daph and I had a session of self exploration with Adrian Pucey.”

Hermione’s eyes went even wider. “You ALL…” She felt the word stick in her throat, so she just ended up doing some vague hand gestures that made  everyone laugh.

“Oh yeah,” Pansy cut into Hermione’s panic, “It was one big circle jerk for the three of us.”

Hermione gulped loudly at the idea. Was she supposed to be wanting to do that yet? The loud music and spinning room made Hermione’s mind go to her limited knowledge of sex and pleasure. She knew of both, she had heard about sex and had even seen sex scenes in some of the muggle movies that she watched when she was home. When they had talked about this back at the beginning of the year it seemed like most of them were as inexperienced as her, but that has changed now. 

Hermione turns to look at Luna, whose face is also flush from drinking. Luna smiles back at Hermione and must know the question that Hermione can’t voice because she answers anyway. “Blaise and I haven’t had sex yet. We are experimenting and have done some things, but I am not ready just yet.”

Hermione vigorously nods her head in agreement, but Pansy speaks up next to her.

“Well now you won’t have the opportunities to do it again. The boys are all going to be gone next year and you will only get to see Blaise during school breaks.”

At her words Hermione realized something that she had not let herself really think about all year. Draco was not going to be here next year. He wouldn’t be at Hogwarts with her for the rest of her schooling. Things had been so weird and rocky with them all year and now they wouldn’t have this time together ever again. The thought made Hermione’s stomach clench. Did she miss out on her chance?

“I am not going to rush things just because it won’t be convenient anymore, Pans.” Luna laughed.

Pansy rolled her eyes. “You are sixteen. You have been dating for three years. What is rushing about that?”

“Pans.” Daph warned gently.

Pansy rolled her eyes again. “Fine. Sorry Lunes. Take all the time you need.”

“Oh Thanks.” Luna nods her head. “I will.”

The girls all laugh, but Hermione is still spiraling. The end of the year is in one week and what if she and Draco don’t solve this thing between them before then. He will go out into the wizarding world and possibly forget all about her. He wouldn’t do that right? Just because she won’t be around him everyday doesn’t mean that he would leave her behind. 

Things were changing between them. She could feel the pull of him deep in her belly. He felt it too, right? They almost kissed. Did he want more? Of course he did. She knew about Cho and Cedric. She was sure that there were others, but none of them mattered to her. He hadn’t been with anyone else all year long. That had to mean something. What if it didn’t? What if he just wasn’t telling her about sleeping with others?
“Cho, are you still sleeping with Draco?” Hermione blurts out, her words slightly slurred.

All eyes turn back to her. Cho snorts out a laugh. “No.”

Pansy wiggles her eyebrows now. “Her and Cedric are going steady.”

“I know that, but he was with Cedric too, so…” Hermione blushes again even as she asks the question that she knows is extremely invasive, but can’t stop herself from asking.

Cho just continues to smile and laugh at her. “Draco hasn’t joined us if that is what you are asking.”

“Oh, okay. Cool.” Hermione nods her head and grabs her drink back off of the table that Pansy set it down on. She quickly downs the rest of the strong drink before Pansy can grab it from her again. Hermione has decided that she needs liquid courage.

“What are you asking, Hermione?” Pansy asks after she loses the battle with Hermione for the drink.

“Nothing.” Hermione shouts back too quickly. Pansy narrows her eyes at her friend. 

“Where are the boys by the way?” Daphne asks, looking around the party.

“Blaise and Teddy are over playing poker.” Luna interjected. 

“Cedric is playing some drinking game that the Slytherins made up.” Cho added.

When no one else said anything Hermione couldn’t hold back any longer. “What about Draco?” All of them looked around the party. “I haven’t seen him all night.” Luna answered first.

“Maybe he is with Snape or Lupin. He has been spending a lot of time with either of them.” Daphne confides. 

“Yeah,” Cho spoke up. “With Lupin leaving the school, maybe he is with him saying his goodbye.”

Hermione was suddenly hit with the best idea. She jumped up from her seat, scaring the rest of the girls in their circle. Pansy jumped so much that she spilled half her drink onto her dress. “Hermione! What the fuck!”

Hermione didn’t answer her though as she was already stumbling through the crowded common room. Bumping into other students and tripping over her own feet the entire way.

When she reached Harry, she practically plowed him over; she ran into him with such speed and force.

“Harry!” She grabbed at his shoulders. “The map!”

“Whoa there, Mione.” Ron laughed as he steadied his two best friends.

“The map?” Harry asked once he was steady on his feet again.

“The Marauders map!” Hermoine tried rolling her eyes at having to explain herself, but it just made her really dizzy and her body tilted back and forth until Ron caught her shoulders.

“What about it?” Harry looked at her confused.

“I need it!” She whined. Hermione held up her open hands in between them and stomped from one foot to the other. Ron seemed to find this really funny, but Hermione was in a rush and didn’t have time for all of this.

Harry raised his eyebrow up in question, but shrugged his shoulders before pulling the map from out of a pocket in his pants.

Hermoine leaned forward to place a sloppy kiss on Harry’s cheek as she snatched the map from his hand. Harry cried out in surprise as he brought the back of his hand up to wipe away Hermione’s slobber from his face. Ron laughed even harder. Hermione ignored them both as she opened the map and gave the oath to reveal the enchanted paper.

“Not here!” Harry scolded as he grabbed Hermione by the arm to pull her into a secluded corner of the room. Hermione didn’t care, she studied the map even as he pulled her along. It took her a few moments to find him on the map, but finally she did.

“AHA!” She exclaimed as she jabbed Draco’s name on the paper repeatedly. “Thanks, Harry.” She called out to him as she stumbled back across the room and out the common room door with the map in hand.

****

Draco was having the worst year of his fucking life. He couldn’t do anything right.

As he sat in his Headboy room alone, he wasn’t even sure what would make it any better. He wanted to get away from Hogwarts, but he knew for certain that he didn’t want to go home to the manor either. 

It was his first night out of the hospital wing after almost receiving the dementors kiss and he opted out of going to the Slytherin end of the year party. Now he was just sitting alone in his room with only his thoughts to keep him company. It definitely wasn’t a smart move on his part. 

Draco felt like he couldn’t be around anyone right now, but that he also shouldn’t be by himself either. 

So here he sat trying to fill out his applications for curse-breaking positions at the ministry in London, as well as Bulgaria, Tokyo, and New York. He was surrounded by silence to a point that he heard the noise almost instantly.

It was a slight shuffling that seemed to echo throughout his room. Draco stood to hear better where the sound was actually coming from. Raising his wand as he attempted to pinpoint its origin. As the sound kept going, it got louder. There was a rhythmic beat to it. With each shuffle there was a consecutive thump. Shuffle. Thump. Shuffle thump. Shuffle. Shuffle. Thump. Thump.

The sound seemed to be coming from behind Draco’s walls, so he stepped closer. There was a portrait of a young boy standing in front of the Black Lake. He had his back turned to Draco and also seemed to be searching the painted lake for what was making the strange noise. 

Just as Draco stepped up to see if there truly was something in the painting making that noise the entire painting swung away from the wall. Draco jumped back and raised his wand with a curse hanging off the tip of his tongue. Poised and ready to strike, Draco registered the smiling head that was hanging out the hole that had been hidden by the painting of the boy and the lake.

“Got ya.” Hermione hiccupped from her position on her hands and knees in a tunnel that was dug into the Headboy’s wall. The tunnel seemed to only be three feet by three feet, but sat almost six feet off the ground so Draco and Hermione were almost face to face.

“What the fuck?” was all that Draco could think to say. Hermione could only laugh. Draco watched her in stunned silence, until he watched her move her hand in an attempt to keep crawling to him. There was only air in front of her and her body began to tip forward with nothing to hold her up. 

Draco’s wand clattered to the floor as he rushed forward to grab Hermione under her arms. As he caught her, he pulled her into his own body, hugging her tight to him and the rest of her limp body slid from the tunnel. Hermione continued to laugh and hiccup through the whole thing. Once their knees knocked together, Draco tried to set her on her own feet but Hermione’s knees just buckled everytime he let go of her weight. “Fuck. Okay.” He grumbled to himself as he carried her over to his bed.

Hermione’s arms were wrapped tightly around his neck and when he sat her down on the bed he had to pry them off of him so that he could even back up.

When he was finally able to step back, he really got a good look at her. Her hair was frizzy with sweat and dirt. Her face was flush, and her eyes were glazed over. She was in tight fitting muggle jeans and a top that was far too revealing for Draco’s peace of mind. 

She had come from the Slytherin party, and she was drunk off her ass.

“Where the fuck did that tunnel come from, and how did you know about it?” Draco crossed his arms over his chest.

“Shhhhhh.” Hermione tried putting a finger over her mouth but missed, multiple times. “S’ a secret.”

“Hermione.” Draco tried to use his sternest Headboy tone. It only made her laugh harder.

When she finally calmed herself she said something that made Draco’s stomach turn.

“Could we have sex?”

Draco could only stand there for a moment and blink as the swaying girl. “What?”

“Sex,” Hermione repeated. “I think I’m ready for it.” Her words were slurred but all too clear to Draco. “Everyone else seems to have started doing…stuff, so I think I should too. You have had sex. With Cedric and Cho, though not at the same time she told me. Cho said you were really good at it too. She once said that you are a quick learner, I think I could learn quickly too, so you don’t have to worry about my inex-pur…annexp…hmm. In.Ex.Per.E.Ance.” She giggled again at her stumbling through the word. “Inexperience.”

The entire time that she had talked, Draco had become sicker and sicker. She was a child. Someone that he should have been protecting and instead she was asking him to take her innocence away. It was the final straw that broke Draco. 

“No.” He ground out. 

“No?” Hermione tilted her head to one side as she observed him.

“No, I will not have sex with you.”

“You won’t?” Hermione’s eyes filled quickly with tears. “Why not?”

“You're drunk.”

“I’m not!” She cried out as she shook her head violently.

“Yes, you are.” Draco scolded her as he walked forward and took hold of her shoulders. “You are drunk and you are too young to be worried about things like if you should be having sex yet.”

“I want to though.”

Draco closed his eyes with a deep sigh. “Just get some sleep, Hermione.”

“Tadpole.” She whined as he gently pushed her down onto the bed. “I’m your, Tadpole.”

Draco didn’t respond to her as he pulled his covers up and over her. He pulled them up to just below her chin. Hot tears fell past her temples and soaked into his pillow.

“Goodnight, Hermione.” Her eyes had already started to droop, but he could tell that she was fighting off her sleep. Her wide amber eyes stared at him like she was trying to memorize his face. He was doing the same. This might be his last chance to do so. 

Draco had made up his mind. He was going to protect her at the cost of his heart. He stroked a hand through her curls until her eyes shut and her breathing began to even out. He waited a few more minutes to ensure that she was really asleep before leaning forward and kissing her forehead.

“You are going to forget all about me, I promise.” His emotions made the words wobble as his own tears filled his eyes. “It will all be worth it someday to see you happy, but I’m going to miss you like crazy, Tadpole.”

Draco couldn’t help but pull her sleeping form into one last hug. He crushed her into his chest and just breathed in her warm smell. 

Then he laid her back down on the bed and brushed her hair away from her face. It took all of his will power to stand up and walk away from her for the last time.

****

As Hermione’s senses start to come awake, she curls her body around an amazing smell that she can't quite place. It is a comfort that is hidden somewhere in the back of her sleepy brain. It is so familiar that she can practically taste the name as she hugs it impossibly closer to herself.

Hermione blinks her eyes open to the sight of a pillow, only it is not her pillow. Her pillow in her Gryffindor dorm is red and made from cotton. This pillow is silky black and clearly made from the most expensive down feathers. Hermione peeks out from under her arms to see where she is at because she certainly is not laying in her own bed. Her mind starts working slowly as she tries to piece the previous night back together. Not her pillow, not her bed, and most definitely not her smell clinging to the fabric of either. 

Hermione’s eyes burst open again and her head flys up out of the depths of the pillow that she had unconsciously burrowed back into. She looks around the familiar room and finds the owner of the intoxicating smell. He is sitting in a chair across the dungeon room smoking a cigarette and sketching into a drawing pad that Hermione had never seen before. The cover is maroon and he seems to already be in the middle of the book. When had Draco started drawing? she thinks to herself. 

Fuck! Hermione jack-knifes into a sitting position and pulls the covers up to check the status of herself underneath. She is still fully clothed. The same tight muggle jeans and spaghetti strap crop top that she had worn to the party last night. For a split second forgets that she shouldn’t be disappointed about this. She can’t remember even coming into this room last night. She shouldn’t be disappointed that she still has clothes on when she just woke up in Draco’s bed. 

"Good to know that you think so poorly of me." His flat voice breaks through her overthinking mind.

A hot blush breaks across Hermione’s face as she puts the blanket back down over her lap. "It's not you I wasn't trusting in this situation." She mumbles. He just continues to draw like he didn't hear her. The ash from his cigarette falls onto the paper below and Draco casually swipes it away. "I - I didn't try to do anything did I?" The blush spreads hotter at the embarrassment of what Hermione might have done last night that she doesn't remember. The last thing she can remember is sitting around the Slytherin common room with the girls talking about sex. She remembers thinking about wanting to have it with Draco. A horrible image of her trying to throw herself at him pops into her head and she internally begs for it to just be her imagination. 

He doesn't answer for a torturous few heart beats. "No." 

She blows out the breath she had been holding for his response. 

"You practically fell into bed and started snoring the minute you snuck in through the tunnel, I didn’t even know existed, into this room last night. It was actually kinda impressive that you didn't hurt yourself."

Hermione cringes at the thought of what she must have looked like stumbling into his bedroom last night. She can’t even think of what tunnel he is talking about. She must have snagged the Marauders map from Harry at some point last night and found one of the secret tunnels that were all over the castle. She shakes her head though and tries to move past that. 

"What are you drawing?" Hermione leans forward to see if she can get a glimpse. She didn’t even know if he was any good or not. She tried to think back to if she had ever seen him doodle or sketch in the margins of his paper or any book.

"Something fucked-up." He says as he snaps the book closed and stands up.

He was still acting weird and it felt like he was making it a point to not look at Hermione. He put the cigarette to his lips and took in a long pull as he walked to the otherside of the room. She wants him to look at her. For any reason at this point. She feels it like desperation.

"Can I try one?" Hermione reaches her open hand out to him with her pointer and index finger slightly raised higher in a gesture for him to place the slim stick in between them.

She feels like screaming when he still doesn’t look at her. Instead he squeezes his gray eyes shut tightly. He reaches up to use the hand still holding the cigarette to pinch the bridge of his nose like he has a headache. "No, I'm not giving a kid a cigarette."

His response brings the blush back to her cheeks, but she refuses to lose now. Instead she tries to play it off. "Kid, seriously? What? You turned eighteen two weeks ago and now you are some lame adult."  Hermione gives off a joking laugh, but it sounds as fake as it is. "Come on, I just want to try it." She is still leaning forward with one hand holding the bed sheets up around her chest and the other stretched out towards him.

The only answer Draco gives to her is stubbing out the half burned cigarette in a makeshift ashtray on his desk. His eyes snake over to her under his lashes before he turns away and shuffles random papers around. "Are you going to get out of my bed anytime soon?"

"What the hell is up your ass?" Hermione hopes that a curse from her will break whatever this tension is.

"Well I didn't exactly sign up for babysitting today." He grumbles while his back is still to her.

"Stop treating me like a kid." Hermione feels her fury overtake her embarrassment.

"You are a kid." He retorts matter of factly.

"No I'm not.” She wants to scream. Throw a fit, but she knows that he will only call her a baby for it.  “I'm fourteen. A teenager. Just like you."

"No!” Hermione jumps as Draco slams his fist on to the top of his desk. “Not like me. Not to the law."

"Is that it?” Hermione feels the tears starting to burn her eyes. “The reason that you hate touching me? Four years and some stupid laws."

"It's the fucking law. It's pretty straight forward."

"Seventh year guys are dating and fucking tons of younger girls like me and nobody cares. It's just four years, Draco."

"Well I fucking care.” He turns, but only so that he is looking at her from his side profile. “Those four years make you a kid and me an adult."

"Seriously! So when I am eighteen and you’re twenty-two it will be okay then. Huh?" He flinches at Hermione’s words but she keeps going because she is so mad at him. "No? Still too young for you? How about when I am twenty and you are twenty-four? Then? Or fuck when I am thirty and you are thirty-four are you still not going to fucking touch me!" Her screams echo off the stone walls of the cold room.

"Just stop." He sounds so defeated as he hunches over his desk. "You're a kid to me okay. Ten, twenty, thirty fucking years. None of that matters right now." He stands from his seat to his full height and finally turns to look at her. His eyes are vacant of any emotion. "Right now you are some dumb fucking kid, who is annoying me with her stupid fucking fantasy, because that is what kids do. So go play make believe with someone else."

Hermione angrily wipes at the hot tears that fall down her face. She hates that he is so calm and unaffected by this. She knows that this wasn't all in her head. It was real. It has to have been.

"If I leave here today, I am done with you." It's an empty threat. Hermione knows it, he knows it. "I'm done waiting for you to figure your own shit out."

The only sign from him is a clenching of his fist. Then he only sweeps his arm to his bedroom door with a tight smile. "With you gone, I will have one less annoying problem in my life. You were just an assignment that I took instead of detention."

Her heart stops at his words. Hot tears start anew and she can barely see Draco through the blur of them. Take it back. Take it back. Take it back! Hermione silently begs him. The silent moments that pass seem like hours as she waits for him to say something else. He doesn't even look sorry for saying it.

Hermione throws the covers off her and begins to stomp over to him. She can’t be sure but she thinks for a second that she catches fear streak across his features before his face molds back into its apathetic neutrality. 

She is just about to make it to him when his eyes fill with vitriol and his words spew out.

"Fucking get out, you filthy fucking mudblo-!"

The slap surprises them both, Hermione thinks. He has barely gotten the words out before her right palm is stinging and his check starts to turn red. His face is now tilted away from her and eyes staring wide and empty at the floor.

"Someday, you are going to regret this." Hermione sobs. "I love you, and you are going to regret being so stupid."

With that Hermione collects the crumbs of her dignity and flees his room. His door slams with a finality that makes her entire chest shake with the sobs that she had been trying to hold back. She wants to wait there for him to open the door behind her and beg for her forgiveness, but she doesn’t think that she could handle it if he didn’t. So she runs. Runs all the way back to the Gryffindor tower.

The second that she makes it back to her room, she crashes into the bathroom. Lavender squeals at her intrusion, from where she sits on the toilet. Hermione changes course and barely makes it to the sink before she is puking her guts up.

“Shit!” Lavender yelps as she jumps up to hold Hermione’s curls back from her sweaty face.

****

Theo,

How would you feel about me coming to America this summer? I think that I need some fun in the sun with you.

I need to be away from England right now.

Need to get off this fucking continent really.

I need to be with you right now.

Draco

Chapter Text

The boys turned back to her for what felt like the hundredth time with fear in both of their eyes and voices a low whisper between them.  It made Hermione want to scream at the top of her lungs. They had only been walking for no more than ten minutes but it had felt like hours so far. 

Hermione knew that she had been irritating to both Harry and Ron, but she couldn’t help it. She was angry, she had been angry for the entire summer and she didn’t know what to do about it. She missed Draco and she hated him all the same. Her mind couldn’t choose which one she felt more so she had spent the last month in a spiral, and the boys were taking the brunt of her mental distress. She had yelled at both of them more times than she could count and she had only arrived at the Burrow this morning.

Hermione had even found herself yelling at the twins when one of their new prank toys had exploded next to her cup of tea, nearly spilling the hot liquid all over her jeans. Fred had looked truly abashed and it made Hermione apologise. Everyone was understanding of her outburst, which just made the whole situation worse. Hermione hated that everyone around her seemed to be pitying her now. Everyone knew that she had been kicked to the proverbial curb, and there was nothing more that Hermione hated than being treated like a kicked puppy.

Ginny was the only one willing to talk to Hermione. The younger girl had finally come out of her shell midway through last year, and just as Hermione had hoped, had become a real friend and confidant to Hermione. She was the only one that Hermione felt like she could really talk to anymore. About Draco, about life, school, things that no one else seemed to want to discuss with Hermione.

“I wanna support the Irish like the boys, but I really like that Krum fella.” Ginny rambled on.

“Who is that again?” Hermione asked distractedly. 

“He plays for Bulgaria.” The youngest Weasley explained. “He is one of the youngest seekers to play professionally in the league. Ron is practically in love with him. It’s the only reason that he is cheering on Bulgaria.”

Hermione can’t help but laugh as Ginny’s last statement is said purposefully loud enough that everyone can overhear. The back of Ron’s neck turns bright red and the Twins ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ at his embarrassment. “Didn’t you just admit to doing the same thing, Gin?” Hermione tries to defend her friend.

Ginny just shrugs with a devilish smile and continues on. “I think Harry could play professionally. He could even be scouted while he is still in school just like Krum.”

Hermione gave her friend a sly smile as they continued to walk. Ginny’s crush on Harry was obvious to everyone but Harry apparently. “I’m sure he could, Gin.”

Both girls started giggling at this. Hearing them both Ron and Harry turned to look at Hermione like she had grown another head. Her laughter instantly died in her throat. She narrowed her eyes and was about to start another irritating bout of yelling when a figure dropped down from one of the trees in front of them.

“Arthur!” A man came out from behind the thick trunk of the tree as to Hermione’s horror, Cedric Diggory straightened back up from where he had landed on the ground.

The two older men were greeting each other and making introductions, but Hermione couldn’t concentrate on any of it as she burned a spot into the center of Cedric’s face. The boy who had gotten impossibly taller, seemed to be looking everywhere but at her. This was how every interaction with Draco’s friends had been going since he had rejected her. She was just the poor idiot that they didn’t know how to deal with.

The group all started walking again with Cedric up with his father and Arthur. They all made their way up a small hill where what looked like an abandoned boot sat. Hermione knew that it was a portkey, but she had never traveled by one so she was nervous about what to do. She looked around the group and watched as Cedric and the other Weasley children got onto their knees to place a hand somewhere on the boot. She moved around the circle so that she was across from Cedric in between Harry and Fred. Amos counted them down and Harry grabbed on at the last second and then they were spinning.

Hermione felt as if someone was twisting her stomach tightly and she forced herself not to scream. After the first few painful moments Hermione unscrewed her eye open and looked across the shoe. Cedric’s hair was whipping around his face but his eyes were set on her. The second that he realized she was looking back, his own gaze zipped away.

Before she could do anything else the sensation in her gut disappeared and suddenly the ground brutally shot back up under their feet. The impact caused her to fall backwards and all the air in her lungs was punched out.  Hermione’s eyes went wide as she desperately tried to suck in air. As she sputtered and groaned a shadow fell over her vision.

Cedric held out his hand to her as he looked down at her with worry. For a moment Hermione wanted to slap the hand away. She didn’t want to accept help from him, she didn’t want his pity, or his worry. It all made her feel small, like there was something wrong with her. If she needed help after traveling with a portkey didn’t that prove to them all that she was nothing more than a muggleborn, a mudblood.

She gave herself this moment of self pity before taking a deep breath and taking his outstretched hand. All of this wasn’t really Cedric’s fault and if she were really honest with herself she wasn’t mad at Cedric, she was jealous. He had Draco, even if for just a few months, and even without any real feelings for either of them. Cedric knew what Draco was like and Hermione was jealous of that. 

Cedric pulled her to her feet and helped her steady herself on the uneven ground. “All good, Hermione?”

“Yeah, fine, Cedric.” She brushed the grass off of her ruined jeans. For a moment his hand came up like he was going to place it on her shoulder in comfort. He stopped before he touched her though and his hand hung there in the air between them. Hermione looked from his hand to his eyes. He looked conflicted, he wanted to help her but wasn't sure if she was willing to accept it from him. She wasn’t sure either. 

Hermione could admit to herself that there was nothing that she would really be able to talk to Cedric about that didn’t involve Draco. If he offered her his comfort and friendship, Hermione knew that she would abuse it to get to the person that she really wanted back in her life. So she decided for both of them. “Really, Cedric, I’m fine.” She told him as she took a step back from him and his still hanging hand.

Cedric simply dropped his hand and nodded his head at the ground. He then moved on to helping Harry find his glasses that had flown off in the rough landing. Once their group was all back to sorts they made their way through the chaos that was the campground outside of the Quidditch stadium.

****

Hermione could admit that there were still things about the magical world and its systems that still could take her breath away. The inside of the magically expanded Weasley tent was one of them, and the other was the intricacy and build of the Quidditch World Cup stadium. There were stairs and lifts everywhere and more people than Hermione could imagine being able to fit into one place. Each level was just big enough for a few rows of seats and the walkway behind it. The higher that they went up the more that Hermione struggled to look over the edge of the structure at the ground that was progressively getting farther and farther away. 

Hermione had succumbed to her need to keep her eyes closed and a hand wrapped around Ron’s bicep to lead her where she needed to go. Surprisingly he didn’t complain as much as she imagined that he would. Ron had just asked how far up their seats were when a familiar voice broke through Hermione’s dark world.

She opened her eyes to find Lucius Malfoy two levels below them, making a snide comment about them being the first to know if it began to rain. She felt her heart stop as she spotted his familiar blonde locks just behind his father. Lucius was gloating to Arthur about being in the Minister’s box, while Hermione silently begged his son to look at her. 

Unlike Cedric whose eyes seemed to spin around as he had tried to look at anything but her, Draco’s eyes looked forward without even a spark of interest in those around him. She wondered if he could feel her there like she felt him. Like a pull in the center of her chest. Not a painful one as the portkey had been, but something warm and insistent. She felt the warm tears brimming her eyes, as Draco looked bored and uninterested.

Lucius’ voice suddenly became clear as he made a comment about ‘company we keep’ that she knew was directed at her. She swung her blurry eyes over to him as Harry pulled her back from the railing. Lucius’ sharp gaze was locked on her. It was as cold and intense as it had the last time she saw him, but his face was neutral. He didn’t look away from her either. She found herself stuck in a staring contest with the prejudiced father of the boy that she was in love with. A battle that she decided to lose, before she did something stupid like jump down there and fight him for real.

She let her eyes slide away from Lucius and moved them back to where Draco was, but they were caught by someone else. Just behind Draco there was another boy. His curly brown hair hung down below his ears and unlike his two companions he was smiling brightly. To Hermione’s shock he was smiling up…at her. His bright blue eyes sparkled in the most dazzling way as they kept her captive to her spot from above him. His wink nearly knocked her over, luckily Harry and Ron had begun to pull her away before she could embarrass herself in front of the beautiful boy, let alone Draco and his judgemental father.

Just as they began to walk up the next flight of stairs Fred and George were flying down in the opposite direction. Both had wide smiles breaking across their faces.

“Theo!” George called out as they ran to the railing that Hermione had been standing at. 

It hit Hermione like a rogue bludger then. Theo?

She had just finally seen Theo Nott! 

Draco’s long time best friend who went to school in America.

Theo Nott had just winked at her.

Hermione tried to turn back around, but Harry and Ron kept incessantly pulling her up the stairs and away from where she wanted to be.

****

Draco was painfully bored. He wasn’t sure if it was all the occlumency that he had been working on all summer or if he had suddenly lost all interest in Quidditch. Either way Draco had pulled Theo from the miserable Minister's private box into the hall. There is a section of the walkway just outside of the box where you can watch the game standing next to the railing overlooking the pitch. 

The players are zipping around the stadium in beautiful patterns and precise plays. Theo seems to be fairly engrossed in the game happening. As he chatters on, Draco agrees and disagrees in what he believes are all the right places. Theo has developed a slight American accent from his time overseas. It happens in the way he pronounces his ‘R’s’ and Draco finds it adorable. 

Draco decides to be bold and reaches up to run a hand through Theo’s soft curls. The motion stops Theo’s words instantly. His mouth frozen open as the words cut off mid syllable. Theo’s reaction causes Draco's face to finally show something other than stone neutrality, as the corner of his mouth quirks up. Draco captures one of the curls sliding through his fingers and begins to twirl it around his pointer finger. “Absolutely fascinating.” Draco says just as he leans in, closing the distance between their mouths.

Theo’s hand on Draco’s chest stops him just millimeters from their lips touching.

“Draco.” Theo’s breathy disapproval makes Draco’s face fall back into its hardened mask. “You know I can’t.”

Draco rolls his eyes like a petulant child as he leans back away from Theo. “Yes, Yes. How is Lani?” Draco grumbles as he turns his attention back to the game that he has no interest in. 

“She is good.” Theo tries to reach out and put a comforting hand on Draco’s back. Draco shrugs it off though and refuses to look back at his best friend. Theo doesn’t take offense, but decides to push Draco now that he has decided to bring it all up. “You never came to New York at the beginning of the summer. Why? You seemed so excited about doing a road trip with us.”

“No. With you.” Draco nearly snaps. “I was excited to go see you, not to be a third wheel for almost two months.”

“Don’t, Drake.” Theo sighs. “Don’t act like I'm doing something wrong by having a girlfriend.”

“You said that you would wait for me.” Draco remarks plainly.

“Well you certainly didn’t.” Theo bites back leaning over the railing to look at Draco since he won’t look back at Theo now.

Draco scoffs. “None of them meant anything to me.”

“Don’t fucking bullshit me.” Theo throws back at him. “I know that we made this unspoken rule that we were not going to talk about her, but you saw her up there. She is beautiful, Draco, and you are an idiot.”

Draco narrows his eyes, still without turning to look at Theo. “So that is what all this is? Lani is my punishment for-” Draco cuts himself off, too afraid to even admit it to himself out loud.

Theo understands. Just like he always does.

Theo slides a gentle hand around the back of Draco’s neck and rubs his thumb in soothing circles at the stress knot that has formed there over the past three months.

“I am not punishing you, Draco.” Theo’s voice comes in a soft whisper. A balm to Draco’s fraying nerves. “I’m just not holding you to a promise that we made when we were scared children anymore.” 

Draco turns to his friend in shock. His panic taking a firm grip of his heart once more. “You’re not coming back to England?”

Theo’s eyes go wide again. “No,” Draco feels his body go numb, before Theo quickly speaks again. “I mean yes, I still plan on coming back, Draco.” The breath of air that Draco releases could almost be interpreted as a sob if his occlumency walls weren’t holding his tears back. Theo leans in to place his forehead against Draco’s right temple. “Draco, if it were up to me I would turn in my transfer papers tomorrow and be back in London before the Hogwarts Express left the station in September.”

“So come back to me.” Draco pleads. “Nothing has really happened. There is still no war happening. Maybe your mother was wrong all along. I mean she let you come back here for the cup, doesn’t that mean something?” There is a touch of desperation that Draco can no longer hold back. Having Theo here with him has felt like a blessing that Draco needed. Something that put his mind at ease.

Especially now that his father was making him take on an internship at the ministry with Bartemius Crouch. Having to turn down Bill Weasley’s offer to shadow him as a curse-breaker in Egypt, had sent Draco into a downward spiral. It was the real reason that he had never gone to Theo in America like he had promised at the beginning of summer. Draco didn’t want to admit to the two week long bender he had gone on. He wasn’t even conscious from most of it. There was no potion or drink safe from his usage until Snape had to come revive him at Narcissa’s request before Lucius found out.

His occlumency training had started in the midst of his torturous detox. Draco learned how to control his own emotions even as he lost control of his body and stomach on multiple occasions. 

Now the thought of having to say good-bye to Theo again, for who knows how long, made Draco want to dig out his hidden stash of Euphoria Elixir. 

“I will, Draco.” Theo nodded his head against Draco’s. “I will come back. In just two more years. We can survive two more years. We have done it before.” 

“I’m so tired, Theo.” As if speaking it made it a reality, Draco felt his body sag and his knees go weak with the exhaustion that took over every muscle. “I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of seeing other people. I just want you, Theo.”

Theo tightens his grip on Draco’s neck, pulling them closer together. If Draco turns his head now he could capture Theo’s lips. He could do it now, Theo would let him, Draco can feel it.

Suddenly though it is as if Theo is struck by lightning. His body tenses and slowly he lifts head away from Draco’s. Somehow this rejection hurts Draco far more than the one earlier.

“You don’t want me though.” Theo admits. “Not when she is still in your heart.” 

Can’t I want you both! Draco wants to scream. 

He now knows how Lily Potter felt all of those years trying to explain to Snape that there was room there, in his heart, for both. He loved them both. He knew that with every fiber of his being, but he had decided to let Hermione go. To live her life and be happy without fear that she only saw him as a mentor or teacher. So he couldn’t admit that he wanted her at all. Couldn’t say that he missed her so much it felt like there was a Hermione shaped hole missing from his heart.

“That is not true, Theo.” Draco tried to sound convincing. “She never meant more to me than someone I was mentoring. You mean so much more to me than she ever has.”

“Then why won’t you even say her name, Draco?” There is a small sad smile that takes over Theo’s face that let’s Draco know that he has lost the argument. There is nothing that he can say, promise, beg that will make Theo believe him.

Still Draco hates to lose. “Hermione means nothing to me.” Draco’s statement is lost to the roar of the crowd. There is an explosion of cheers that ring around the stadium as Krum flies high above them all. The snitch’s wings fluttered out of either side of his clenched fist.

****

Theo hates the distance that he has forced between him and Draco. He knows that it is necessary. That he will never truly have Draco’s heart if he refuses to admit that he has feelings for Hermione.
Theo was struck by how beautiful she was. She seemed like an angel standing there above him with the lights of the stadium behind her making her wild curls glow. Theo understood how she had pushed him out of Draco’s heart. He could admit defeat when he was up against her. Hell Theo only was able to look at her for a short time and he could see himself falling in love with her if he had gotten to know her fully. 

Theo didn’t want to be a consolation prize just because Draco didn’t want to admit to his feelings for Hermione. He understood Draco’s concerns, but Theo saw how real his feelings were for the girl. That was nothing to say for what Hermione felt for Draco. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him in those few moments that she had with him. There was nothing, misguided school girl crush, about it either. There was pure yearning and loss clear in those golden eyes of hers as she looked down at the boy who broke her heart. As much Draco refused to look at her, she had only had eyes for him. Theo was surprised when she had even looked at him at all.

As Lucius entered the tent he clapped loudly. The loud sound in the silence of the tent caused Theo, Draco, and Narcissa to jump in their seats around the fireplace. “Well with the games all done, what say we head home? Hmm?”

“You want to go home tonight, Darling?” Narcissa commented as she closed the small novel perched in her lap.

“Yes, Why not?” Lucius tries to laugh, but it sounds off. “You three can head home now and I can pack up everything and meet you for a nightcap. You boys are old enough now, don’t you think?”

Theo can’t help but think that Lucius sounds nervous. 

“Well we can stay and help you pack, Lucius, my love.” Narcissa laughs at her husband's strange behavior. 

“No.” It is not a yell or even in a sharp tone, but the warning is clear in just that one word. So Lucius tries to smile and starts over. “No, I don’t mind, My love. Please you and the boys go home and relax, I will take care of everything here.”

Across from Theo, Draco sits up straight in his chair as he stares at his father with a furrow creasing his brow. “Fa-”

Suddenly the tent flaps are thrown open and a strange man struts in. “Not going somewhere are we, Lucy. The fun is just about to begin.” Lucius spins and pulls his wand from his walking cane, pointing it straight at the man’s chest.

The man just laughs with his eyes blown wide like a crazy person. Draco has already pulled his wand out and Theo reaches for his own. The sound of Narcissa’s gasp pulls Theo’s and Draco’s attention back to her, Lucius stays facing the intruder.

Narcissa’s eyes are blown wide in fear with a trembling hand placed over her mouth as she speaks. “How? How is this possible?” 

“Fatha’ got me parole, deary.” The man cackles and it causes Theo’s skin to prickle in discomfort. 

“I was just sending my family home.” Lucius interrupts and steps closer to the man, his wand no longer trained on the man, but still held firmly at his side. “I will join you in a moment.”

The slimy man tips his body to the side, lifting off of one leg, and licks his bottom lip, as his eyes seem to zero in on Draco. “Doesn’t your protege want to join in on the fun?” When the man smiles widely, Theo can see that his teeth are all brown and decaying. 

“Not tonight.” Lucius steps back into the man’s line of vision. “I have asked Draco to escort my dear wife back to the safety of the Manor.”

“Father?” Draco nearly growls as his wand remains raised and at the ready. 

“Oh come now.” The man laughs again and both Theo and Draco in tandem step towards each other, creating a barricade between the intruder and Narcissa. “No one in your darling family is in danger tonight.” He now leans in the opposite direction to look at Theo. “You’re not a muggle or a mudblood are ya boy?” He asks with a creepy smile and one of his brows raised high on his greasy forehead.

“No.” Theo bites out as he raises his wand to point between the man’s crazy eyes.

“See!” The man yells he straightens back up and pats a hand against Lucius’ stiff shoulder. “No trouble for anyone here with you. They should all join in on the fun.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Draco steps towards the man and both Theo and Narcissa grab onto him to pull him back.

Lucius still does not turn back to his family, keeping the man in his line of sight. “I will join you in a few moments, Junior.” The man scowls at the name. “Once I send my family on their way.”

Junior narrows his eyes at Lucius and it seems like he is going to keep arguing, but finally shrugs his shoulders. 

“Fine. See ya out there, Lucy.” He snaps his finger while he pulls a long wand out of the pocket of his trench coat. “We can make the whole thing a competition!” He cackles like a mad man. “Doesn’t that sound fun!”

The man nearly skips back out of the tent. The rest of them all stand stunned in their spots for a few moments before Draco finally explodes.

“Who the fuck was that? And what the hell is he talking about?”

Lucius does not turn around to the rest of his party, but simply turns his head to look at his son from out of the corner of his eyes. “Take your mother back to the manor, Draco. That is an order.”

“No!” Draco hisses in return. “Tell me what the fuck is going on?”

Now Lucius does turn, and with a flick of his wrist there is suddenly a white mask in his non-wand hand. Theo realizes as he looks at it that it is not just a white mask though. He is struck by all the times that his mother had warned him of men hidden behind faces of bones.

“Are you insane!” Draco yells at his father.

“Get your mother back to the manor. This is not a discussion, Draco.” 

Lucius turns back around and starts for the tent's entrance. “Lucius?” Narcissa’s small voice calls out to him. It stops him in his tracks for a few short heartbeats, before he continues out of the tent without even looking back at any of them.

Narcissa starts gasping for breath and Theo turns to calm her as Draco begins to pace in tight circles.

“Does that mask mean what I think it does?” Theo asks. He continues to rub a soothing hand down Narcissa’s back.

Draco only nods his head as he continues to pace. As Narcissa continues to hyperventilate, screams begin to erupt from outside of the tent. The sound stops Draco in his tracks.

Instead of running out of the tent like Theo thinks Draco will do, he turns to his mother with a comforting smile. “Okay, mother let's get you home.”

Narcissa seems just as shocked as Theo by Draco’s surprising decision. “You will come back with me?”

“Of course,” Draco concedes, “I will come home.”

Theo starts to pull Narcissa over to the fireplace, placing her in the center of the hearth and grabs the floo powder from the mantel. Narcissa grabs a handful before looking up at both boys. “You are coming?”

Draco and Theo both nod their heads. “Right behind you, mother.”

With a worried expression, Narcissa throws down the powder and the green flames erupt around her.

The second that the flames die back down, Theo takes a step back so that Draco can cast the spell to cut the floo network connection to the manor. They don’t even look at each other as they turn and make their way to the tent’s entrance.

“Do you even know where Hermione’s tent is?” Theo asks as they both throw up powerful concealment charms on themselves. It turns into dark hooded cloaks that hang over their head and create deep shadows where their faces should be. 

Draco simply shakes his head in response.

“It could be a wild niffler chase out there then.” Theo comments.

“You don’t have to come.” Draco states. Theo can tell that there is no malice behind Draco’s frankness. 

They turn to each other and Theo can practically feel Draco’s worry pulsing off of him. So Theo stands a little taller. “No, I’m with you. Always.”

With that the two boys set off. There must have been a powerful muffling charm placed on the tent, because once they open up the flaps the noise outside explodes into clarity.

There is chaos all around them. People are screaming. Spells are being thrown in every direction, and there are fires raging as far as Theo can see.

They don’t waste anymore time and begin running through the throngs of panicking people. They have always made a good dueling team. While one pulls up a shield, the other throws a jinx. Now is no different. Theo pulls up a strong protego around the both of them, while Draco clears the crowds out of their way. They keep making their way through the stampede with little deterrence.

Suddenly they clear a burning tent out of their path and three figures stand in their way. All at the same time three wands are trained at their two.

“Wait!” Theo yells as he throws back his hood to reveal his face to the angry looking trio in front of them. Draco’s hood stays firmly on, his wand still pointed dangerously at them.

“Theo!” Fred sighs in relief as his and George’s wand fall to their sides. “Mate what are you doing out here?”

“I could ask you all the same thing.” Theo replies.

“We are trying to get back to our family's portkey.” George starts and Fred finishes the thought. 

“It’s at the edge of the wood just over there.” He points to a spot just over a hundred yards from where they are standing. “Dad put us in charge of Ginny.”

Theo turns to look at the youngest Weasley who surprises Theo by still having her wand trained on Draco with a menacing glare scrunching up her face.

“Where is the rest of your party?” Draco’s voice is modified and doesn’t sound anything like him as it comes out from under his hood.

“What’s it to you?” Ginny growls out.

Draco doesn’t answer but continues to look forward as if this whole encounter is annoying him.

They are all quiet for a while before Fred finally breaks. “Hermione is with Harry and Ron. They took off and were suppose to be meeting us at the portkey, but we got separated.”

Draco doesn’t wait a second longer before he takes off. Theo runs after him but turns to look back at the three Weasley’s. “Get out safe.”

“You too!” George calls back.

Theo throws his hood back up as he chases after Draco. He throws up his strongest shield charm around Draco just in time. The curse that was headed straight for him bounces off the shield and nearly clips Theo on the shoulder. Draco doesn’t even look as he sends the curse caster flying across the field with a powerful jinx.

There is a small collection of trees just to their left. Draco heads for it like a man possessed. Just as they make it through the first line Theo spots them. Hermiones is crouched next to a shaking bush, while the two boys stand behind her.

“It is the dark mark, Harry!” She scolds the boys over her shoulder as she reaches her hand out to whatever is hidden in the foliage. “How could she have cast it?”

“I’m guessing the wand in her hand.” Harry shoots back sarcastically. 

“She is petrified!” Hermione turns to yell at her companions just enough that she finally catches Theo and Draco approaching them. Her eyes go wide as she reaches for, what Theo guesses is her wand, in her back pocket. She is not fast enough though.

Draco’s quick spell lifts her off the ground and she lets out a shriek. Theo’s spell hits both boys, sending them sprawling into the dirt.

“Well, well, well,” Draco puts on a thick accent, that mixed with his voice modulating spell makes him almost unrecognizable. “Look at what I caught here.”

“Put me DOWN!” Hermione screams from where she hovers in the air with her hands bound behind her back.

“Now why would we do that?” Draco struts forward with a pseudo excited swagger. “S’pecially when you are one of the prize game for tonight's festivities. I can smell dat muggle blood from a kilometer away.” Both boys jump up and start to charge them. 

“Don’t you touch her!” Ron yells as he raises his wand. Theo throws out another jinx that throws them even further away. 

Draco laughs at this, and Theo thinks it sounds eerily similar to the one the man had done earlier. “Smells like dirt, it does.”

Hermione begins to slowly spin head over heels, she struggles against it, but she is at Draco’s mercy. He laughs again before speaking. “Now what should we do with you in the meantime? I did always wonder what muggle underwear looks like.” Hermione is completely turned upside down with her sweater riding up her stomach.

Theo knows that this is his que as the boys are getting back up to their feet again. He adopts a similar accent to Draco’s and modifies his own voice before speaking. “I always did think the chase makes the whole game more fun.”

Instantly Hermione is put back to right and she begins to lower to the ground.

“Right you are!” Draco calls out with a laugh, before turning back to Hermione. “Run now bunny.”

With that both Theo and Draco shoot powerful stinging jinxes at the trio’s shins. They each yelp and begin to back away. They are each only hit a few more times before they all turn as one and start running away.

Draco and Theo keep shooting stinging hexes at the ground around their feet. They begin to corral them in the right direction to the portkey with perfectly cast spells. They even take turns pretending to miss one of the three and having their spell knock back another approaching person. Neither Draco or Theo has time to differentiate between friend or foe. All the while they keep falling further and further behind, to give them the sense that they are out running Draco and Theo.

Finally they reach the section of the forest where the rest of the Weasley clan call out to them. As they begin to sprint to their party, Draco and Theo come to a complete stop. Hermione and the boys reach their group and are only there for a quick heartbeat before they snap out of existence. Hermione had just begun to turn her head back to where they had run from, but never turned fully before they vanished.

Once they are gone Draco’s body infront of Theo sags in relief. Theo feels the relief too. His heart is beating out of his chest. He reaches forward to place a comforting hand on Draco’s shoulder. 

The instant that his hand touches Draco’s shoulder, he is spinning on his feet and crashing into Theo.

“Fuck.” Draco whimpers into the crook of Theo’s shoulder and he crushes him into his chest in a tight hug. The embrace is so tight that Theo can’t take in a full breath, but he doesn’t fault Draco for this. Instead he wraps his own arms around Draco and pulls the boy closer. Running a hand up and down Draco’s tense back.

Chapter Text

Dear Theo,

I am relieved to hear that you made it back to the States safely. 

Thank you for being here with me. 

I officially moved into my apartment in Hogsmeade today. It is a small little one bedroom above Zonko’s. It is not much but it is much more preferable to the manor anymore. 

I have been going insane at my internship. All Barty will let me do is send or receive his mail for him. I follow him around like a lost puppy, but I am not allowed in on any of the meetings dealing with the attack at the Quidditch World Cup. I am positive that it has something to do with Barty’s suspicions of my father.

Speaking of, he has written to ask me to look for some stupid family heirloom that he was recently informed was donated to Hogwarts. Some stupid cabinet that has been in the Malfoy collection for centuries. He apparently is not interested in bringing the damn thing home, only to know where it is located and if it needs to be moved for more proper showing.

While all my friends are out achieving their goals and working towards their careers, I am stuck here in this endless loop of my father’s aspirations.

Yours 

Draco

****

Hermione did something stupid. She didn’t exactly regret it, but she didn’t know what to do about it now. Hermione had decided after the World Cup that she was tired of feeling unwanted, inexperienced, and behind. She had always hated being the person who didn’t know about something, so she had changed that. 

His name was Bastian. He was a neighborhood boy that she saw around when she came home every summer. They had even gone to school together before she had gotten her Hogwarts letter. Sure, she wouldn’t have been able to call him a friend back then, but he was never outwardly mean to her either. She considered that good enough for what she needed from him anyway. 

Hermione called it ‘Project: Practical Experimentations’. Bas was more than willing to help her out, especially when she informed him that there would be no relationship or feelings involved. Hermione had a little under two weeks after the disastrous events of the Quidditch World Cup to find out just what she was missing out on before school started. She took that very seriously. Treated each ‘date’ with Bas as homework and each new experience as a theoretical experiment. 

They had started out slow since Hermione, and she suspected Bas as well, was so inexperienced. Lots of awkward kissing and somehow both nervous and too rough of hands on his part. The first time that she had found something exciting and pleasurable was one afternoon in Bas’ bedroom. 

She had found herself straddling his lap, their legs intertwined, and his cold hands up her jumper. She had decided to wear a skirt she had seen in a shop window the day before. It was not her usual attire, but that was why she had wanted to buy it in the first place. She had not liked the position at first since it made her knees burn, and she could feel the hardness of his erection growing against her right thigh. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do and the feeling of his arousal made her feel like she needed to be doing more. She just didn’t know what that was supposed to be.

Just when she was getting caught up in her own head, Bas had moved his mouth from hers to suck at her neck. He then used two fingers to pinch her nipple. Hermione’s body jerked as she yelped at the painful feeling. The quick unexpected movement sent sparks flying through every nerve in Hermione’s body. In shock and awe, Hermione wanted to feel it again, so she had rocked her hips against his jean clad leg. Her experiment paid off as once again pleasure raced up her spine. She couldn’t hold back a soft moan.

Bas smiled at her reactions. “Like that?” He had questioned. “My brother said girls really like this sorta’ thing.” He continued to slobber against her neck and abuse her sore breasts. 

Hermione didn’t care though, she just continued to rock and the feeling between her legs intensified. She started in small nervous jerks of her center against Bas, but as the feeling got better and better she lost all self consciousness. Soon she was lifting up her hips to place herself higher up his leg and grind down in longer strokes. Her mouth fell open at how good it felt. Her new angle also started pushing her thigh into his tented pants crotch on rhythmic ruts.

“Whoa,” Bas groaned under her. “Oh shit.” 

Hermione took this as a good thing since one of his hands fell from her breast to her lower back, pulling her closer to him with each rock of her hips. He had started groaning with the movements, but Hermione didn’t think they sounded right. She imagined them being lower, and raspier, from years of smoking. Bas’ honey blonde hair becoming lighter, almost white. His green eyes turning the most sparkling silver she had ever seen. 

Just as a new face flooded her mind, her body seized as the tension that had been building exploded. Her legs tried to squeeze together as her back curled forward. 

Hermione’s head was buried in Bas’ shoulder as she tried to catch her breath.

Bas was slumped back against his headrest and when Hermione sat back and looked down there were two wet patches on his jeans. One near the crotch of his pants and the other over his thigh, right where she had been.

Hermione had run from his house that day with a beet red face, but a new determination for the next week.

Hermione had learned that Bas was not good with his fingers, pressing two hard and twisting in places that he shouldn’t. She also learned that her extensive knowledge of the human anatomy for healing purposes seemed to help her with experimenting on Bas. He seemed to have no complaints about her own attempts with her hands and mouth.

On her last night before leaving for Hogwarts they had discussed going all the way, but as clinical as Hermione wanted to be about the whole thing she found herself losing her nerve. 

****

Now as she sat across the jolting train car from Harry and Ron she felt so in over her head about everything. She wanted to talk about it. What she had done, but with Harry? With Ron? Her face flamed at the thought. There was no way in the world that she was going to talk about sex with the boys.

“You alright there, Hermione?” Harry’s voice made Hermione jump in her seat. Her face got even hotter as they both looked at her with concerned wide eyes.

“Yes!” She squeeked out.

Both boys started laughing at her. She tried laughing along with them, but it sounded as fake as it was.

No, she could not talk about this with them, but she needed to talk to someone about it. 

Her options seemed limited. She ruled Ginny out as they crowded off the train and grouped off for the carriage rides. She was nearly two years younger than Hermione and was more focused on quidditch and Harry than boy and sex. 

As they all entered the Great Hall for the Welcoming Feast Hermione looked over to where Cho and Luna sat together waving at her from the Ravenclaw table. She could talk to them about this. They both were experienced and could explain things that she felt she was missing. They were still her friends if she wanted them to be, but how could she explain the big problem. The one where she had only ever been able to finish if she had closed her eyes and thought of Draco. If she told them, would they go and tell him? Would he be angry, or worse not care at all. Should she care if they told him about it? No! She didn’t care if he found out. Of course she didn’t.

She hated him didn’t she? He had broken her heart and she shouldn’t care about him at all. Her mind conjured up the image of the two hooded figures during the attack after the World Cup. There was something about learning healing magic. You had to deeply understand and learn your patient's magic. Each signature was different and unique, the more you worked with their magic the more recognisable it was to you. Hermione had studied his magic more than anyone else. She could recognize it at even the smallest of brushes against her own.

She had known it was Draco the moment he had lifted her in the air. No matter how he disguised his voice and hid his face, she could feel it in the warm pulse of his magic over her skin. 

She had been nearly destroyed at the thought that he was participating in the attack with the other Death Eaters. She hadn’t figured out what he had really been doing until just before the portkey had whisked them away from the chaos. 

She had been angrier at him for saving her and the boys than she thinks she would have if he actually had been trying to catch them. How dare he try to protect her after breaking her heart and then treating her as if she didn’t even exist.

Hermione was suddenly pulled from her confusing thoughts by a burst of cheers throughout the hall. She looked around at all the smiling faces, Ron was slapping the table and using his other hand to pinch his fingers in his mouth and letting out a series of loud whistles. Even Harry was clapping and smiling brightly next to Hermione. 

“What happened?” She asked continuing to look around the hall for some context clues as to what she missed.

“No exams, Hermione!” Ron shouted at her. “Dumbledore just announced it because of the Triwizard Tournament that Hogwarts is hosting this year!” 

“WHAT!” The rest of the hall was still celebrating as Hermione looked up to the main podium where Dumbledore stood laughing. She wanted to slap that wicked smile right off his old face. “He can’t do that!” She fumed.

Harry and Ron both started laughing at her. “Oh come on, Hermione.” Ron protested. “Not even you can be upset about this.”

“I most certainly can, Ronald.” Hermione nearly slammed both of her fists on the table in front of her as Dumbledore called the hall to order. He continued to explain how the two other schools would be arriving at the end of the week and staying until the end of the school year. “We can’t just throw away an entire school year because of some barbaric contest.” She whined and Harry slung an arm over her slumping shoulders. 

“Well look on the bright side.” Harry suggested. “I’m sure that there is tons that you can learn that you normally wouldn’t from the students coming from the other schools.”

“Yeah!” Ron encouraged as well.

Hermione considered this. There were so many questions she had about how magic was taught and used in different environments and cultures.

“Just be careful of the Durmstrang students.” Ron interjected into Hermione’s thought process. “They are allowed to learn and use dark arts magic. Dad says the ministry has been trying to ban them from using it while they are here. They even chose Barty Crouch to be one of the judges so that he could keep an eye on them as well as Karkaroff while they are all here.”

Something about this got Harry’s attention as he sat up straighter. “Crouch?” Harry cleared his throat. “He is coming here?” Ron nodded his head as he began to dig into his overflowing plate of food. “Is his…um intern…” Harry looked to Hermione out of the corner of his eyes and then back to Ron quickly. “Will his intern be coming to Hogwarts as well.”

Ron chuckles. “Well yeah. I assume so…OH!” Ron’s eyes now dart to Hermione as well.

“What?” She asks them. Her eyes ping ponging between them both. “Who is it?”
“No one important.” Harry mumbles as he shovels in his own mouthful of food.

At the same time as Ron starts speaking. “Just some git who only got the job cause of his family.”

Both boys are acting weird but Hermione is distracted before she can think too much about it. Her distraction comes from across the room where Daphne springs up from her seat at the Slytherin table. She looks really upset as she stomps further down the table to an open seat next to her little sister Astoria. When Hermione turns back to the spot Daphne vacated she sees Pansy stabbing violently at her food without looking up. 

As if she feels Hermione’s eyes on her though, Pansy dark eyes spring up to find Hermione’s. The two stare at each other for a few moments before Pansy’s face scrunches up in furry and she throws her fork down violently onto her plate. Hermione is surprised by this reaction and watches in stunned silence as Pansy storms out of the Great Hall.

Hermione jumps up without thinking. Soon she is out in the halls running after the dark haired Slytherin girl.

“Wait! Pansy!” Hermione makes it to her just as she was about to descend the stairs to the dungeons.

Just as Hermione went to take a hold of the other girl’s arm, Pansy whipped around and faced her with a scowl.

“What the hell do you want, Granger?” Pansy popped out her hip and flipped her hair back from her face. 

“What just happened in there?” Hermione ignores Pansy’s clear hostile behavior. It is nothing new to Hermione. “Daphne looked upset and so did you.”

“Daph needs to get with reality.” Is all Pansy says as she inspects her nails in nonchalance. “And you,” Now Pansy’s eyes turn up to glare at Hermione, “need to mind your own damn business.” 

Hermione takes a deep irritated breath. “I thought we were past this.” 

“Past what?”

“Past pretending like we hated each other.” Hermione threw up her hands in frustration. “Fine, you can ignore me all summer and pretend like I don’t exist, but I am just trying to be your friend here.”

Pansy starts laughing hysterically. “Friends.” She continues to laugh as Hermione narrows her eyes at her. “You thought we were friends?” 

“Pansy?” Hermione can’t help the embarrassment that floods her cheeks.

“No, Granger. I tolerated you. For Draco and Luna’s sake. Though I don’t know what they see in you. You have always been and always will be an insufferable know it all. One that shouldn’t even have a place here at this school.”

Hermione sucks in her breath and takes a step back as if Pansy had slapped her. Hermione wishes that she had, it would have hurt less. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Dark times are coming, Granger. It is time that we all pick our sides, and my family has made their choice…I have to-” For a moment Hermione could swear that pain flashes in Pansy’s eyes before she blinks and turns cold again. “I stand with my family.”

“Stand with your family about what?” Hermione is almost desperate to understand what Pansy is talking about and why it means that she is acting like this again after the past three years. 

“About upholding the standards of Wizarding society, and people being kept in their rightful place.” 

“What does that even-” Hermione’s eyes go wide as it all suddenly hits her. “My rightful place? As a muggle born?”

“That’s not exactly what I would call you, but sure. I can be polite about it.” Pansy’s smile turns deadly.

Hermione won’t let her take the cowards way out of it this time. No this time she is going to hear them say it. “Say it then.” She keeps her voice even and calm. “Call me what you really think I am.”

The panic flits across Pansy’s face. Furrowing her eyebrows and twitching around the corners of her mouth. She doesn’t say anything. Both of them just stand there in the silence that stretches from Pansy’s inability to practice what she is spewing. 

Pansy hated losing just as much as Hermione did though. 

“The Malfoy’s have accepted my Father’s offer to join our families together. I will be Draco’s betrothed soon.”

Hermione wishes the Pansy had just called her a Mudblood instead. “You’re lying.”

“Pansy Malfoy. I think it has a nice ring to it.” Pansy quips.

“He won’t accept that. You won’t.”

“I already did.” Pansy sounds tired, but that cheshire smile is still pulling across her face. 

Hermione thought back to the look of betrayal on Daphne’s face as she left Pansy in the Great Hall. There was something wrong about this whole thing. Pansy’s old prejudices resurfacing. Her agreeing to marry Draco. To marry any man. Hermione couldn’t believe any of it. 

Just as she was about to fight Pansy about it though the Great Hall doors burst open at the other end of the hall and students began flowing out into the halls. The distraction was enough time for Pansy to walk away from Hermione and make it down the steps to the dungeons.

Hermione didn’t follow her this time.

****

A week later and Hermione was just as frustrated as she had started the school year out as. She had no choice but to turn to her roommates Lavender Brown and Pavati Patil to talk about her new sexual experiences. Though they were great about confirming with Hermione that not every time was great and that they too had to think about other people and things sometimes. They now followed her around school constantly talking about boys. Who was fit this year. Who they were going to be shagging this year. Why they weren’t shagging certain people. They went on and on and on. It was beginning to drive Hermione crazy. 

The boys were so focused on the tournament that they were barely doing their school work. Ron was constantly pointing out that ‘it wasn’t like they were going to be tested on it this year’.

“But you will be a year behind, Ronald!” She hit him on the arm with a book repeatedly to make her point.

He had called her mental and moved over to sit next to Harry.

No one even seemed to be all that interested in her S.P.E.W. club. She asked Mrs. Weasley to show her how to perform the knitting spell that she used. It was harder than it looked. Hermione had only gotten tangled messes the first few attempts. When she did finally make a few hats and tops she had been extremely proud to give them out to the poor elves, only for them to turn them down. Dobby was the only one she could get to take anything from her. He was often seen wearing at least three vests and multiple socks on each foot. All the other elves would hide from Hermione or run the moment that she spotted one of them.

Both the Bulgarian ship and the Beauxbatons’ carriage had arrived at the school that afternoon. Hermione had watched from the towers with the other students as they made their way up the grounds and entered the school. 

They were all hidden away in some classroom being instructed on their rooming situations as well as their class schedules for the year. All of the students wouldn’t get to meet officially until tonight after the introductory feast. 

Hermione still had an hour before then so she decided to go down to the library and find the healing text that Madam Pomfrey had suggested for her to read. Hermione had volunteered to help the matron with any injuries that would occur during the tournament. She was excited as she was worried about the prospect of real life emergency injuries. 

The book Pomfrey recommended to Hermione; ‘Magical Maladies and Their Creative Cures’ was an intriguing read. One that theorized the use of a combination of spells and herbs in conjunction with practices Hermione found eerily similar to muggle medicine. 

Cast and slings made with spelled materials for healing without the use of potions that had harsh side effects of the user. Objects embedded with runes used to help detect and diagnose injuries or illnesses that could be missed if specific diagnostic spells are not cast. There was even a chapter about healing of the mind through a technique similar to muggle therapy to help with things such as depression, disorders, and even addiction.

Hermione was half way through this chapter when Ginny’s voice broke into her concentration.

“Good Godric, Hermione. You're going to miss the whole thing!”

Hermione looked around at the empty library. “What time is it?”

Ginny threw up a tempus charm to show that the feast was going to start in less than five minutes. Ginny reached forward to close the book and pull Hermione up. 

Hermione grabbed up the book quickly and sent a note bird to Madam Pince that she was checking out the book with her. Then both girls were quickly making their way through the passageways to the Great Hall. 

There was a large crowd surrounding the grand doors. It was clear who was from the other schools as their uniforms were vastly different from Hogwarts’ own. All the Durmstrang students wore dark, almost blood colored dress robes lined with thick brown fir. The Beauxbatons students in contrast were in light almost silk like blue robes and plumed hats. The two schools did not mingle together. Keeping separate and only talking to their own. 

There were curious Hogwarts students whispering and lingering in the halls. Colin Creevey was taking pictures of the two groups with his large camera. McGonagall made quick work of these students, rounding them up and herding them into the Great Hall. Ginny led Hermione by the hand as she shoved her way through the crowds gathered there. 

Hermione’s shoulder jammed hard into someone’s chest as she was jostled to the side. She immediately turned to apologize to the poor victim.

The boy in question was tall and lanky with dark black hair hanging in pin straight strands down his head. His eyes were almost black, but there was a warmness about them that made Hermione want to smile. He looked just as surprised as she was about the accident. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry.” Hermione called to him as Ginny continued to pull her through the crowd.

She heard him call out above the crowd back to her. “It alright.” His accent was thick and his English was broken.

“He looked so familiar. Do we know him?” Hermione asked Ginny as they made their way down the Gryffindor table to where Ron and Harry were seated.

Ginny laughed back at her. “That was Viktor Krum. You watched him play an entire game of Quidditch less than a month ago.”

“Oh!” Hermoine thought he had looked so different from the player that had been wearing wind goggles and his hair tied up tightly on his head.

Dumbledore called the hall to attention, just as both girls sat down. Hermione looked up to the front where the Headmaster stood up with a group of people Hermione assumed were judges and other personnel here for the tournament. 

He was standing just behind a small man in a bolo hat. She hadn’t noticed him at first glance. He had almost been hidden, until the man moved to listen to something the woman beside him was whispering in his ear. 

Hermione’s heart stopped beating at the first glimpse of his platinum hair out of the corner of her eyes. Her eyes shot back to where he stood just off the main podium. His face was emotionless and his body stiff, with his hands held tightly behind his back. 

Draco Malfoy was here, standing in Hogwarts again.

****

Draco hated his life right now. While Teddy was doing his Auror training camp and Blaise was in France getting his mastery on ancient artifacts, Draco was stuck spending another year at Hogwarts. 

He had always loved the school but now it felt like a curse to have to be here. Not only was his job following Crouch around the ministry boring, but now he had to be in the same vicinity as her. He was back to refusing to even say her name. He had made a million promises to himself before he came here that he would pretend like she didn’t even exist to him. Even now he refused to look anywhere near the Gryffindor table. 

It was not all that hard with his occlumency walls held up high. He was going to spend the least amount of time that he had to on the school grounds. Keeping far away in his apartment or at the ministry office. He was sure that Crouch would only choose to be here at the school during Tournament events and on those occasions, Draco would be far too busy to have time looking for a busy haired girl. 

Dumbledore finished introducing the two other schools in attendance and Draco thanked every deity that he could think of that Ivermoney had not been invited to this tournament. He had no clue as to how Theo would act around his old Hogwarts acquaintances or the very girl that Draco was desperately trying to ignore. 

Barty stepped forward to give the speech Draco wrote for him, going over the rules and objectives of the tournament. Dumbledore moved to stand beside Draco. 

“How are you, Mr. Malfoy?” The batty old man asked.

“Fine.” Was all that Draco replied dryly.

“And your family?” Dumbledore continued.

Draco turned to the man now with narrowed eyes. Piercing blue eyes stared openly back at him from overtop of the Headmasters infamous half-moon spectacles. 

Though his father had not been discovered as one of the many Death Eaters that had caused the disaster at the World Cup campsite, everyone in the ministry knew of Lucius’ past with the group. 

Draco had his suspicions that even Crouch was suspicious of his father’s involvement in the masked group. None of them had been found or identified, but not because Crouch wasn’t trying his hardest.

“They are fine as always.” Draco answered again without any emotion.

As his eyes moved away from the old man again he scanned over the room in front of him, skipping over the maroon and gold table all together. The Durmstrang red was dispersed into the Slytherin table. As Draco looked over all the new faces he noticed Viktor Krum seated near the back of the room. There were many eyes on the boy but Draco was surprised that Krum’s attention was not focused up to the front of the hall like many others. No, his attention was focused on something near the center of the room. 

Draco didn’t follow the boy's gaze, but got an uneasy feeling deep in his stomach when wild brown curls hid just at the edge of his periphery. They just so happened to be near the same location that Krum seemed to be so fixated on. 

****

My dear Draco,

I know this year is going to be hard for you, but you can get through it.

You are more than capable of it, I have always believed in you.

I wish that I could have been there this year. I know that it is called the ‘Tri’-wizard tournament, but really why couldn’t they have added Ivormorney as the fourth school to compete.

Is it true that Viktor Krum is going to attend there this year and possibly compete in the tournament?

Yours truly,

Theo

Chapter Text

Dear Theo,

I swear if I hear the name Harry Potter uttered one more time in my lifetime, I will avada myself. How is it always him in the middle of anything?

How does he do it?

I mean REALLY?

He is fourteen and now he is going to compete as a champion, just because the rules dictate that he has to! 

We both know who will get him through the challenges, and it won’t be the boy wonder himself.

How the hell am I still here in the middle of all of this. 

Yours,

Draco

****

There was something so comforting about Draco’s flat. He liked to think that it was the solitude. When he was there, he got to just be by himself. There were no expectations about what he was doing or who he was around. He just spent most of his alone time trying out new spells and working on the cursed objects that he bought in Knockturn Alley.

If only he actually got to spend time there. 

No, instead he was dealing with cranky dragons and their even crankier, underpaid, trainors. Barty was constantly sending Draco in his stead to deal with the tournament details and responsibilities. Draco had even just spent almost the entire day in the Black Lake negotiating with the merfolks. 

He was cold, he was wet, and he had just spent hours arguing about the safety of the champion’s friends, with creatures that clearly had no care for the human lives entrusted to them.

He wanted nothing more than to go back to his flat for the night. Make himself a stiff drink, create a large fire, and sit down with a curious little mirror he had been tinkering with for the last month. Instead on his walk back to the castle, he was confronted with her. 

She was seated on a thick blanket thrown over a large boulder positioned on the edge of the lake. She was engrossed in the book open in her lap. Hair whipping around in the chilly breeze cutting across the grounds. She had no idea of his presence a short distance away.

Draco was sure that if he were to approach her, he would find that she just so happened to be studying up on dragon species and how one could possibly distract one of the beasts.

He had seen Hagrid at the Dragon camp last night, and just so happened to catch a floating head peak out from behind the bushes next to the large grounds keeper. Draco wasn’t sure if Hermione had been there as well, but he knew that even if she hadn’t, she was the first person that Harry would have run to for answers. 

Watching her, he knew that he should just walk away. He promised himself, didn't he? He would not approach her. He would leave. Go home and spend the rest of his night alone. Not thinking about her. He would occlude until his mind shut off and then he would wake up and do it all over again in the morning. 

The problem was that Draco couldn’t get his feet to move. Away from her, closer to her, anywhere. They wouldn’t budge from the spot that they were planted in. So instead Draco had the displeasure of watching as someone else took his place. 

Viktor sauntered down the grassy incline to stand beside the rock where Hermione was perched. Draco couldn’t hear anything, but Viktor must have said something because Hermione’s body jerked in surprise. She placed a hand over her heart at the surprise, but smiled down at Viktor.

It was no surprise to Draco that the boy was the Durmstrang champion. He was clever, athletic, and of course Bulgaria’s pride and joy. Draco would even bet some gallons that Karkaroff himself made sure that the goblet chose Viktor. The few times that Viktor and Draco met, he had seemed quiet and even awkward. It seemed that he was having no trouble talking to Hermione right now though.

He was leaning against the large rock and looking up at Hermione while pointing at something in the book that was still in her lap. Hermione looked intrigued and nodded her head as she listened. Suddenly Viktor was smiling widely, Hermione was blushing profusely, and Draco was scowling. 

Draco told himself that he didn’t need to know what Viktor had just said to Hermione. That it was none of his concern. So he forced his body to turn in the opposite direction. He had only gotten a few steps though when a horrible thought raced through his mind. What if Viktor had said something inappropriate to Hermione? Something vulgar or unseemly. It made Draco’s blood boil and he spun around instantly.

He was ready to stalk overthere and hex the mongrel into oblivion, but Hermione’s eyes stopped him dead in his tracks.

She was looking right at Draco. Not with relief, but in confusion. Viktor, noticing her distraction, looked over to Draco as well. The younger boy smiled at Draco and gave him a small wave before turning his attention back up to Hermione. He started talking again while Hermione continued to stare at Draco. He felt caught in her gaze, once again unable to move from where he stood. 

After a while Hermione gave her head a little shake and started to climb down from her place on the rock. Viktor helped her with an outstretched hand that she took willingly. Once they had both gathered her blanket and book bag, they walked side by side up to the school. 

Draco remained where he was, watching them like a creep. He knew he was waiting for her to look back at him again, but she never did. She almost did, there was a slight turn of her head that made Draco’s heart stop beating. 

Instead of turning back to him though, she walked into the school and out of his sight with Viktor by her side. 

****

This year felt like the first time in her four years at this school that Hermione wished she could just be alone for once. Harry and Ron were fighting and refusing to talk with one another. So instead they would follow Hermione around and complain about one another, if they weren’t using her like an owl to indirectly talk to one another. All that Cho and Ginny wanted to talk about was the tournament. Luna was back on her divination kick, always wanting to read Hermione’s tea leaves or palm lines. Then there was Viktor.

He seemed nice enough. He even was willing to sit with her in the library for hours on end and help her study. He never pushed her to talk or invaded her space. He just always seemed to be there, and she wasn’t sure if it was comforting or overbearing.

He had made his intentions very clear the first two times he had shown up in the library and started talking to her.

Viktor told her she was the most beautiful girl he had ever met. He would spell his paper and other objects into flowers for her or little trinkets that she now kept on her bedside table. One was a small lion made from a gold like metal. The tiny beast was curled in a sleeping position, but occasionally lifted its head to let out a small roar. The next was a small red and black snitch with a golden six-point star in the center. Ginny had to explain to Hermione that this was the Bulgarian national team's emblem. 

He had found her today in the secret spot that Draco had always used when he was avoiding everyone. She refused to acknowledge why she had taken over this spot. 

To his credit Viktor sat across from her silently studying his own texts and showed very little interest in interrupting her solitude. Hermione wasn’t sure if his constant lack of speech was due to him being a quiet person or because of their language barrier. She had decided that she wasn’t going to question it either way.

He was handsome, she could admit that. He had proven to her that he was quite brilliant, and on occasion funny. She wasn’t really sure what he saw in her when he had all types of girls from three different schools fawning over him, but she couldn’t say that she disliked it. After everything that had happened last year and with Draco’s indifferent presence becoming an almost ghost, haunting her around the castle, it was nice to feel wanted.

With her thoughts once again drifting to the one subject she refused to think about, Hermione leaned back in her chair with a disgruntled groan. She rubbed at her tired, dry eyes until stars bloomed in her vision. Curving her back over the back of the library chair causing small cracks to relieve some of the stiffness along her spine.

“V’hat is it?” Viktor asked in a gentle voice from where he sat with his head propped up with a large hand under his chin. 

Hermione shook her head before answering. “These spells and hexes that every book suggests to go against these dragon’s are far above Harry’s knowledge. He is great with magic and a fast learner but this feels impossible. He has no real time to perfect any of these spells that you, Fluer, and Cedric all probably learned years ago.”

Viktor nodded his head slowly in agreement. “Yes, it does seem that o’ever put his name in de’ cup ‘vas betting on Harry’s inexperience as opposed to de’ rest of us.”

Hermione’s eyes widened with surprise. “You don’t think that Harry put in his own name?”

Viktor responded with a deep breath in and his eyebrows raised. “No. One ‘vould have to be foolish to ‘villing put their name into de’ games, ‘vith such a big gap of knowledge between them and their competitors.”

Hermione couldn’t help the small little stressed laugh at Viktor’s description. “Well if there was one word that fit Harry perfectly, ‘foolish’ would be up there in the ranks.” 

“So you do think ‘dat Harry put his name into the goblet?”

“No.” Hermione again rubbed at her face to message out the bone deep exhaustion she was feeling. “Harry hates this kind of attention. He only wants to have a normal school year and be treated like the rest of us.”

“Vell’ he ‘vill have to be anything but normal to do pass de tasks.” Viktor smiled at her softly. “It is a good thing ‘dat he has such a special person like you beside him.”

Hermione’s face burned from the flush that radiated up her neck. She couldn’t help the smile that pulled at the side of her mouth. She tried to distract herself by looking back down at the dragon training book in front of her. Clearing her throat she tried to get back on track. “I don’t suppose you would tell me what your plan for the dragon is?”

Viktor’s smile turned prideful and self-assured. He looked down at the book in front of him though as if he was shy about his success. His pride and abilities were not something that he was born with, but something that he worked hard at.

“I can’t tell you ‘dat,” To Hermione’s surprise Viktor got up from his seat across from her. He pulled his wand from the holster on his thigh. With a wave he spoke the summoning spell. By the time he had walked to her side of the table, a thick tome landed perfectly in his outstretched hand. “But I can help you with your research.” He leaned over her as he stood behind her seated in the chair. Pushing her book to the side, he opened the book that gave detailed descriptions of each species of dragon that had so far been discovered. Hermione was confused as she knew that Viktor had watched her scour over this book multiple times in the past week.

“See ‘dis on here?” Leaning over her from behind, Viktor used his right hand to point to a pale picture of an Ironbelly. “Dis dragon has scales as hard as steel, and spikes along its spine ‘dat can cut through even the strongest metals like ‘dey are butter.” As he talked his left hand came off the table to run his finger up the line of her own spine. His slow caress of each notch along her spine traveled from just above her waist to the nape of her neck. Hermione shivered as goosebumps rose up all along her arms.

“Dis one here.” His hand now moved around her neck with one finger trailing along her skin. Then he was tucking her hair behind her ear to run a finger along the outer shell. “It has such sensitive ears it is said to be able to hear a heartbeat a ‘dousand kilometers away.”

“And dis one,” Viktor pointed to a large black beast taking up almost an entire page. “dis one is one of my favorites.” Then his hand was under her chin tilting it around so that she was looking into his dark brown eyes. She sucked in a breath at the hunger reflected back at her. His thumb stroked along the line of her bottom lip. “Dat dragon can hold its breath underwater for months on end.”

Hermione felt like she couldn’t breath as his gaze dropped down to her own lips. Then he was leaning closer to her.

Hermione let her eyes flutter closed as he stopped right before their mouths connected. His warm breath teasing across her cheeks. “Is ‘dis okay, ‘Her-min-y?”

Hermione’s eyes opened at the sincerity in his voice. Viktor was looking down at her admiringly as his hand moved to curve around the side of her hot neck. His thumb was now stroking the underside of her jaw bone as he waited patiently for her answer.

With a deep swallow Hermione nodded her head in confirmation. Without a second more of hesitation, Viktor’s lips were on her own. 

Hermione thought that Viktor’s kiss would be sloppy and unpracticed like all of Bas’ had been. She was very wrong about that.

It had started out slow, a simple press of his lips against her own. Then with the hand around her neck he tilted her head one way, while he titled his the other. With their lips slanted in this new way his thumb pulled down the skin under her bottom lip, opening up her mouth slightly. He used this space to slot his bottom lip in between. Sucking her upper lip in between his own. Goosebumps broke out along her entire body again.

She felt his tongue flick up against her teeth in another, unspoken, vie for permission. Hermione opened her mouth to him willingly. Viktor groaned into her mouth as his tongue ran along her own before flicking up behind her top teeth. Suddenly it was hot, with their breaths mingling together. His hands wandered along her neck, then her shoulders, then they were going even lower. Hermione was lost to his kisses. 

Their angle didn’t allow her to do too much with her hands so she turned more towards him, still seated in her chair. She turned her body so that she could wrap her arm around the back of his neck to deepen the kiss. Viktor smiled as he took a hold of Hermione’s school tie. He began pulling her up to her feet without breaking their kiss. Once she was standing his hands moved down to her waist, and suddenly her feet were not touching the floor.

Hermione let out an indignant squeak as Viktor picked her up and placed her so she was sitting atop the table with all of her books. Viktor used one of his hands to part Hermione’s legs and nestle his hips in between her legs. He did this slowly and without breaking eye contact with her, letting her know that she could stop him at any point. Hermione didn’t want to stop though. She had never felt like this before and she wanted to explore it like she did any new discovery. So she pulled his lips back to her own as she grabbed one of the hands that bracketed her on the table. 

She guided him to where she felt the aching. Both of their hands up her skirt. When his fingers finally touched her, she let out a soft moan, and he butchered her name so sweetly. Hermione closed her eyes and started to lean back, when someone's voice broke through her hazy mind.

“Oh shit!”

Hermione’s eyes sprang open and zeroed in on her best friend slapping both his hands over his eyes.

“Harry!” Hermione shrieked as she pushed Viktor away from her and snapped her legs shut.

“Sorry,” Harry’s face was turning a bright red behind his hands as he kept covering his eyes. “I was just looking for…but you seem…well uh. I will just go.”

Hermione looked up to Viktor frantically. He laughed down at her before leaning in for a chaste last kiss. “All good, Potter. I ‘vas just leaving.” With a cheeky grin he tapped a finger on the open book that had started this whole thing. “I hope ‘dat helped you.” Hermione couldn’t help the blush that fired up over her cheeks. Viktor turned and passed by Harry with a pat on his shoulder. “Good Luck, tomorrow.”

“Uh, yup. Same.” Harry coughed out.

Once Viktor was gone, Hermione jumped down from the table and straightened up her clothes the best that she could. Poor Harry was still hiding his face, so she cleared her throat and said, “It’s all clear.”

Harry cracked open the fingers covering his eyes and took a tentative look around the space before lowering his hands completely.

As the two best friends looked at eachother Harry blew out a raspberry and placed both hands over his hips. “Welp, that is certainly one way to get ahead of the competition.”

“Harry!” Now Hermione was the one covering her blushing face. 

Both of them burst into laughter. 

****

All the champions had picked their dragons, Draco had just walked Cedric out to the dragon pit. The two had shared a small moment with Draco squeezing the tension out of Cedric’s shoulders before the boy walked into the pit alone. Now as Draco re-entered the champions tent, he saw Fleur sitting at her table with Madame Maxime whispering hurriedly into her ear. Harry was sitting alone in his section fiddling with his gloves, and Viktor was nowhere to be seen.

Curious, Draco looked around the tent and didn’t see the Durmstrang champion or their headmaster anywhere. So Draco walked over to Harry.

“Potter.” Harry looked up at him immediately. “Where is Krum? All the champions are supposed to stay in the tent.”

Harry’s eyes seemed to be looking for something around the room. It made all of Draco’s alarm bells start going off. “Um…I think that he just went out for a walk.”

“Again, none of you are supposed to leave the tent.” Draco forced himself to not roll his eyes at the younger boy. “If any of you are caught watching the others' performance you will be disqualified for cheating.”

“I don’t think he is watching Cedric.” Harry mumbled under his breath. 

Draco narrowed his eyes at the comment. “Which way did he go?”

Harry looked like he wasn’t going to answer but his eyes betrayed him. Looking at a small opening of the tent to his left. It was the same one that Hermione had sprung through to give Potter the hug that Draco was sure would be all over the Prophet tomorrow. 

Draco immediately turned to stalk that way.

“Wait!” Harry called out to him, jumping up from his seat. “Uh…could you explain the rules again to me?”

Draco turned to him with a blank expression. “No.” Then he turned again and pushed through the flap in the tent.

No one was around outside. So Draco picked a direction and started walking around looking for the missing Bulgarian. There was a section of the temporary set up where all of the cages and tent boxes were piled up against the far side of the dragon pit. It created a somewhat hidden standing room. With the right charm, someone might be able to peek into the pit and watch what was happening without being caught. Draco headed that way. 

As he drew near he heard the unmistakable voice of the boy he was looking for.

“Are you going to ‘vish me luck?”

Whoever Krum was talking to didn’t make a sound loud enough for Draco to hear as he closed the distance. As he rounded the corner though his heart dropped into his stomach and his feet studdard to a stop. 

Although Krum’s large form covered most of the girl's figure as he held her up against the wall of the dragon pit, her hair and clothes were unmistakable. Draco had seen them not even fifteen minutes ago as she had been kicked out of the champions tent. 

Hermione’s legs were wrapped tightly around Krum’s waist and her arms shielding both of their faces as she circled them behind his head. It was clear from their closeness and the sounds coming from both of them what was happening. Draco felt his magic crackle under his skin as a burst of fury filled his chest. 

Hermione’s head tilted up as Krum began to kiss along the underside of her jaw. Hermione’s soft sigh felt like it punched a hole into Draco’s gut. He wanted to turn around and run the other way. He wanted to run up to them and hex Krum until the boy couldn’t stand. He wanted to do anything, but once again, Draco felt stuck. Her gravitational pull warred with his need to run away.

Suddenly her shocked eyes were locked with his. He was occluding so hard to hide any of his frantic feelings that a migraine was forming at his temples. He expected her to stop them the moment that she saw Draco, and for a moment she froze. Then her eyes seemed to be searching Draco’s face, she didn’t like what she saw.

Hermione started kissing Krum again, with far more gusto than before. She pulled his face so close to her own that their lips mashed together, hardly allowing there to be any movement without the audible clicking of teeth. 

She was kissing Krum with a wild abandon, but her open eyes were on Draco. Something inside of him stirred and clawed to escape his occlumency. He stood rooted to his spot until he watched her lift her hips. His eyes narrowed in warning to her. Draco could swear a spiteful smile lifted up the corner of her mouth, before she rocked her hips down.

Viktors pleasured groan had Draco surging forward.

“Krum!” The boy’s back tensed at the surprise intrusion. He stopped kissing Hermione, dropping her to her feet, and at least had the decency to try and hide her form again with his own. Draco grabbed him by the neck of his uniform, pulling Krum away from Hermione. “Champions were instructed to stay in the tent during the other competitors' trials.” He started pulling Krum by the neck and reached out to grab Hermione by the arm.

With a low growl, Krum smacked Draco’s hand away from Hermione. “Don’t touch her.”

Draco felt incensed. “Don’t. Touch. Her?” The grip that Draco still had on the back of Krum’s collar tightened. Krum snarled right back at him.

Hermione pushed herself between them. “Viktor, it’s okay. I’m fine.” Her hands were on Krum’s shoulder, her back to Draco. He hated the sick feeling this moment gave him. He wanted so much to turn her back to himself. She could look at him anyway she wanted as long as she was looking at him. “Just go back to the tent. You will be up soon and I need to get up to the stands to watch you and Harry.”

Krum couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted to glare at Draco or give Hermione puppy-dog eyes. “Okay.” He finally conceded. “I ‘vill be looking for you out there.”

Hermione nodded her head. “Good luck, Viktor.”

Krum gave Draco one more death glare over Hermione’s head, before turning and stomping away. 

They were alone together. The only sound was both of their heavy breathing. Draco had started to lean down towards her head. She smelled like heaven. He wanted to bury his head in her hair and breathe her in for hours. Right there, in that small spot behind her ear. Draco could practically taste it on the tip of his tongue.

She began to turn to him and he knew he couldn’t be there with her any longer. He was losing a battle he had told himself he wasn’t fighting. 

So like he always did, he ran. 

Draco left Hermione behind.

****

Dear Theo,

How well do we really like Viktor Krum? 

I think he is a right tosser.

I think that he should stick to flying around on his broom looking for golden snitches.

Yours,

Draco

Chapter Text

Dearest Draco, 

What could have happened to change your opinion of poor Viktor so drastically, I wonder.

It wouldn’t have to do with a certain article that has come out in the profit claiming a romance with a certain curly haired witch would it?

Green is such a precarious color on you. 

Don’t worry I have bet my gallons on Potter to win the tournament. I do so like an underdog story.

Love Forever,

Theo

****

Draco recounted for the third time, with the same results as all the times before. Snape's supply of Lacewing flies was short, and by his inventory notes this was the third time this year. The same seemed to be happening for a few other ingredients in his storeroom. Draco underlined all the other missing supplies to show Snape; boomslang, knotgrass, gillyweed, ashwinder eggs, and murtlap. 

They were an odd assortment of ingredients, and with Snape’s diligence on recording every ingredient usage, it was puzzling to Draco. He leaned back against the shelf with one ankle crossed over the other, tapping his quill against his lips in thought. They were all missing varying amounts and Draco could almost taste the potion that they would create but his frazzled brain couldn’t form the name.

“Draco it is long past curfew.” Snape’s monotone voice broke through Draco’s thoughts, snapping him back into the supply closet. “I appreciate your help, but you should head home now. The day will be long tomorrow and there is no knowing how long the students will keep us up.”

The idea of Snape being kept up into the early morning by students dancing and partying at the Yule Ball tomorrow, forced Draco to hold back laughter. The narrowing of his godfather’s eyes told him that he wasn’t suppressing his mirth enough. 

“Here.” Draco handed him the parchment with his inventory notes. “You were right. There are missing supplies, and the ones that I found are not all the same ones you have noticed, but some of them are.” Snape took the list with a disappointed scowl. “What do you think it is?” Draco asked.

The older man scanned over the list again. “I can’t account for everything that I have noticed since the beginning of the year, but I have narrowed down at least some of the ingredients.”

Draco raised his eyebrows. “Well, that is at least a start.”

“I think someone is brewing polyjuice.” Draco felt his entire body freeze at Snape’s words. He watched as Snape nodded his head at his calculating face. “Yes, I came to the same conclusion. They did it before, and she did brew it perfectly, all things considered.” Snape drawled in a rare show of complimenting a student. “But what need would they have for it now?”

Draco could think of a few harebrained schemes that the trio might come up with that would result in Potter somehow being handed the Championship. Most likely without even needing to do well at the two remaining tasks.

Snape began to rub at his forearm through his sleeve as he thought about this. It dragged Draco’s attention down to the action that he had caught his godfather doing fairly often as of late.

“Severus? Is something the matter?” Draco made a point to look down at the movement that Snape immediately stopped when Draco spoke. 

He instead raised his eyebrows at Draco with indignation. “Nothing to concern yourself with, Draco.” With his natural flare, Snape turned around and levitated multiple boxes off of his desk over to them. “Here.” He pushed them all into Draco’s open arms. “Take these up to Professor Flitwick before you leave. Tell him that they should all stay frozen for the entire night.” 

Draco balanced the boxes on one arm and lifted the lid of the top one. Inside were thousands of tiny snowflakes. Inside the box they could almost be mistaken for compacted snow, but like glitter, they each had their own individual shape and did not melt together. Draco couldn’t help the small smile that curled up the left side of his mouth. They would look breathtaking floating around the Great Hall tomorrow.

He shut the box again and looked back up at the posturing man before him. “A spectacular little spell you have done here. One might even think that you are trying to make this a memorable night for your students.”

Snape’s eye merely twitched before he turned around fully and walked away from Draco without another word. Draco gave a soft chuckle before leaving the potions room himself and making his way up to Flitwick’s office on the fourth floor. 

He handed the boxes full of beautifully crafted snowflakes off to the ever chatty charms professor without a problem. It wasn’t until he was making his way back down to the main entrance when his luck seemed to run out.

She was coming up the stairs as he descended them. They both seemed to notice each other at the same time, halting dead in their tacks. Draco felt like the air was punched from his lungs, the last image of her with her legs wrapped around Krum’s waist, burned behind his eyelids. Of course she was out after curfew and acting like it was a nightly occurrence. She seemed to be caught up in her own moment as well. Taking a deep breath in and closing his eyes to let the burning scene steel his mind, Draco forced his feet to move downward again. 

He didn’t look at her. Didn’t see her face scrunch up in pain. Didn’t want to turn to her and fall to his knees and beg for her forgiveness. Draco needed to be a man of his word. 

He had barely made it past her when the stairs lurched to the side. He instinctively threw his arm to steady her as the sudden movement caused her to miss a step and fall forward. Her wide eyes looked over to him in shock as his arm curled around her waist. Neither of them had anytime to think about the action though before the stairs came to a jolting stop.

Suddenly a blue energy field encased their section that had stopped in the middle of space, without connecting to another level, leaving them stuck without an exit.

“Bollocks,” Hermione sighed out in exacerbation, reminding Draco that he still had his arm tucked tightly around her back. Quickly removing himself from around her and stepping down to the next stair. “The staircases have been doing this all year.” She explained as Draco made his way down to the bottom of the staircase that was still connected to the second floor. The buzzing field cut him off a few steps above where they could get off. A hand held close enough to receive a static shock told him that they would not be able to just walk through whatever this was. Hermione lectured behind him. “The professors think that it is the castle trying to protect itself with all of these new and unfamiliar people here this year.”

Draco pulled his wand from the holster at his hip, casting as many spells as he could think of that might break them out of this. 

Hermione tutted behind him. “It won’t work. The only thing that seems to bring it down is one of the professors taking it down from the outside. They should be here soon. Though with the regularity that this has been happening and the unseriousness of its nature, they have been coming with less and less urgency.”

Draco ran to the top of the stairs and tried a few more spells. He needed to get out of here. Now.

“I’m sure they will get here as fast as possible.” Hermione said as he raced back down.

He refused to even look at her now. He could hear her frustration with his obvious aversion to her. He kept working at the energy field with no progress instead. 

Twenty minutes passed like that. Hermione had sat down on a step in the middle of their section. Leaning a shoulder to the railing and resting her head against the side. Draco had continued to pace up and down the stairs for the first ten minutes, then had situated himself at the bottom. Forcing himself to look away from her.

Her sigh of irritation sent chills down his spine in anticipation. He knew that whatever she was about to say next was going to change something in him forever.

“You win, Draco.” Her voice came softly from behind him. “I’m tired of fighting this, so you win. I will let you go, but I want you to know why I’m going to hate you for this.” Draco’s entire body tensed at her words. This was going to hurt but he had to be strong. “It isn’t just because the boy I love doesn’t want me back. No, it’s because I lost my best friend. Because that’s what you were, Draco. You were the person that I thought understood me best in the whole world. You were my home, my solace, and now you won’t even acknowledge my existence.”

She had quietly moved down to sit beside him while she spoke. Cornering him against the cold stone railing. Draco felt as if he couldn’t breathe. If he breathed her in now he was sure that he would break. His perfectly constructed wall would crumble into dust. She went on despite his clear discomfort.

“I lost you and I don’t even know what I did to make you hate me so much.” She says it almost to herself, it is spoken so softly and with so much pain. “If I hadn’t made my feelings so obvious, could we have at least stayed friends?” 

At this Draco loses the battle to keep his eyes off of her. He feels the emotion break through his mask as her pain becomes his own. He wants to reach out and touch her. To comfort her. To soothe the pain that his own madness caused. His hand twitches up from his side before he regains control, his cold and indifferent mask falling back into place.

“There is nothing that you could have done. We come from too different of worlds. This is always what was going to happen when I left school, Granger. It was inevitable that we would grow apart. I am not your best friend. You have Potter and Weasley for that. I am just the guy that your teachers made to babysit you.” 

It is the old wound that he knows will hurt her the most. That is why he says it. He thinks again of the letters that he found from Lily Potter to Snape, ‘Come hate me at a safer distance’

I'm keeping you at a safer distance. He thinks to himself.

“Different worlds?” Her tiny voice shakes as she repeats him, because of course that is what she focuses on. “So it really is because I’m a mudblood?”

The filthy word is like frigid ice to Draco’s system. He immediately turns to glare at her. “Don’t ever fucking say shit like that.” 

Hermione’s shoulders sag as she closes her eyes and lets out an irritated groan. “You can’t possibly be mad at me for coming to that conclusion. Not after you called me that not once, but twice, Draco!”

Draco didn’t really have an argument for that, so he turns away from her and runs both his hands through his hair.

“Wouldn’t it just be easier that way?” He lets out an exhausted sigh. “Thinking that I am just some disgusting blood purest.” 

“No.” She surprises him with the confidence in her answer, so he looks back over to her. She was looking back at him with a determination in her eyes that scared him. She began to move her hand over to him. Slowly like she might spook him, and Draco watched it inch across the distance between them like a snake about to strike. When it finally wrapped around his left forearm, it sent a wave of electric sparks all the way to his heart. “Losing you is not easy, Draco.”

At her words his eyes moved up from her hand on his skin to where she was looking at him with an understanding that he only ever saw in one other person in his life. 

“I will leave you alone if that is what you really want, Draco.” She continued on. “But only if that is what you truly want. Not just because it is what is easy, or because you think that is what is best for me. So think about it. Think about what it is you really want and then you decide.”

And as if they were waiting for this exact moment, Dumbledore and McGonagall came around the corner as Hermione finished speaking. 

With the right spell and a few waves of their wands, Hermione was on her way up to the Gryffindor dorms and Draco was left alone with his thoughts.

****

It was a beautiful night. The castle was perfectly decorated to represent a winter wonderland. All of her friends had helped her with her hair and her dress, so Hermione for the first time in her life felt beautiful. She blushed as all the other students openly gawked at her appearance. At first she thought it was just because she was on Viktor’s arm, but even Harry told her she looked beautiful. Ron had openly cursed and blushed when she talked with the boys after the first dance.

Viktor had been an absolute gentleman all evening. Dancing with her, laughing with her, complimenting her every chance he got. Hermione should have been happy, and she was, but something felt like it was missing all night.

That something was the blonde haired chaperone that Hermione was actively trying to ignore. She had spent the entire year looking for him and him never seeming to be around. Now he was everywhere she looked. It was like he was moving around the Great Hall to be where she was at all times. Hermione wouldn’t let herself believe that though. 

She wasn’t lying to him last night when she told him that she was tired of waiting for him to give in. She hated that she was willing to give him up, but that had clearly been what he wanted. So why was he torturing her now? Why did he have to look so bloody handsome in his wizarding dress robes? The fates truly hated her.

Viktor had gone to get them drinks and somehow she had actually convinced Harry to dance with her while Ron stepped on Padma’s toes next to them. 

“He truly is rubbish at that.” Harry tried to hold back his laughter at his best friend.

“To be fair to Ron,” Hermione coughed to hide her own giggles. “He did try to tell her that.” Neither of them could hold back their laughter anymore when Ron somehow tripped over Padma’s foot and tripped her up at the same time. Ron, hearing them, turned as red as a tomato and stomped off the floor.

Hermione was brushing back tears from laughter as Harry twirled her in a circle, stepping on her toes in the process. “I guess I shouldn’t really talk.” He laughed as they came back face to face. As they stepped back again, Hermione’s back hit someone behind her. She turned to apologize to the person that they bumped into and her laughter died.

Draco is standing there silently beside her and Harry. His eyes never leave Hermione’s as he speaks. “May I cut in?” 

Hermione swallows hard and turns back to Harry, who is looking to her for her response. Harry waits until she gives the smallest of nods before he places Hermione’s hand into Draco’s waiting palm. Harry takes a step back from them before speaking. “I will just be over at the table if you need anything.” Hermione still can’t seem to speak so she just nods her head again like an idiot.

Draco is gentle when he pulls her into the continuing song. It is clear that Draco is very familiar with this dance. It would not surprise Hermione in the least if he had dance classes growing up. Draco is not saying anything so Hermione doesn’t know if she is supposed to be the one to speak first, but she doesn’t know what to say. She thought she had made herself very clear last night on the stairs, so what was this dance supposed to mean?

As her frantic mind raced, the song changed to a slow waltz. Hermione stepped back from him thinking that he wouldn’t want to keep going, but he reached out and pulled her back into his chest. The move made her lose her breath. His right hand moved around to her back, while his left trailed a path under her right arm until his palm was tucked into her own. With them in their proper positions, Draco began to glide them along the dance floor. 

Hermione didn’t know what was wrong with her. She had been dancing with Viktor in a similar position for the whole night, but she didn’t feel anything then like she did now with Draco. Viktor had always kept his hand low on her back. Nothing that could be considered inappropriate, but low enough to feel the possessiveness of the gesture. Draco’s hand was in the proper dancing position over her shoulder blade. So why was it sending butterflies deep into her abdomen? She wasn’t even sure if he was aware of the way that his fingertips kept slipping under the back sleeve hem of her dress. The feeling was sending images to her head of other positions that they could be in with his warm palm placed against her naked back. 

Hermione blushed at these inappropriate ideas and had to look away from Draco. She decided it was more interesting to scan the room, looking at everyone around them. Her eyes snagged on Viktor who seemed to be caught at the drinks table with a group of students from Hogwarts. He smiled at her when he caught her looking. Hermione smiled back at him.

“What is it that you see in him?” Draco’s low voice vibrated against where their bodies touched.

“I like that he is willing to play make believe with me.” Hermione knows she is being petty but she can’t help it. She doesn’t even take her eyes off Viktor as she answers Draco. 

Draco is quiet again so Hermione can’t help but think that she has ruined the moment. When she peeks up at him through her lashes he is staring over her head. They continue turning along with the crowd and Hermione wants to cry. Draco’s voice almost shocks her when he speaks again.

“I have never known a life where something wasn’t expected of me.” Draco begins. “I have been told by my family and those around me that I am meant to do great things.” He raises their clasped hands together over Hermione’s head and uses the hand at her back to guide her into a spin. When she is facing him again he pulls her in closer than she was before. The hand at her back rests back in a way that his hand is nearly touching the side of her breast. It makes something in Hermione’s stomach clench. “Growing up I always thought that was a good thing. I wanted to do good, but in the past few years I have had this horrible feeling about the great things that are expected of me. That they don’t want me to do things for the good of our world, but for something far more sinister.” Draco is staring deep into Hermione’s eyes, in a way that has made her breathing quicken. “This feeling has made me think of all the good I have done so far. And of all the good things that I have done in my life, you are by far the best. I have never been more proud of anything as I am of you, Hermione. So you are wrong. I don’t hate you. I honestly don’t know how to.”

Hermione opens her mouth to respond to this when she feels an unspoken spell fall over her. She quickly realizes that it is a silencing spell that Draco has cast both wordlessly and wandless. Hermione is as impressed by him as she is upset with him. Draco gives her a devilish smile down at her as she glares up at him.

“Sorry, but I need to get through this before you talk me out of it.” Draco tells her. “You just have this way of taking the wind right out of my sails, and what I have to say is just too important this time.”

He waits for her acceptance before he continues. Hermione rolls her eyes and nods. It makes Draco laugh and Hermione can’t help but smile.

“It is you who is going to do great things, Hermione. I knew it from the moment that I met you. You are so good, so powerful. The wizarding world doesn’t deserve you.” His left hand leaves her hand to come up and brush her hair behind her ear. His hand lingers there to cup her cheek. “I don’t deserve you.” 

With tears forming in her eyes Hermione tries to speak but the spell won’t let her.

Draco gives a small laugh at her attempt. To Hermoine’s surprise his hand moves forward and his thumb brushes across her bottom lip. Hermione looks up at him shocked and he reluctantly moves his own eyes from her lips to her eyes before he speaks. 

“I just don’t know how to let you go. I don’t want to anymore.” He admits with a tortured sigh. 

Hermione realises that they are no longer dancing and that Draco has pulled them into a secluded corner of the Great Hall where no one can see them unless they are looking for them.

Hermione is emboldened by their seclusion and the implication of what Draco is saying. Realizing that she doesn’t need her words to get her feelings about the topic across, Hermione reaches up and cups his cheek with her hand.

To her amazement, Draco leans into the touch with closed eyes and a soft groan. Her heart soars. Hermione thinks that she must be dreaming, but if she is that she never wants to wake up ever again.

Draco places his hand over hers, keeping it there tucked against his cheek, as he begins talking again. “I don’t know what is going to happen with this war over the next couple years, if anything even does. No matter what though, Hermione, I need you to know. Come what may, I will always want the best for you.” He looks deep into her eyes as he says this and Hermione can’t help but think that he is really saying something different with those words.

Hermione can’t hold herself back any longer, pushing up onto her tiptoes. She tries to pull his face down to her own, but he stops her movement with the same hand on her lips. Hermione tries to groan but the spell keeps her silent.

He drops his forehead down onto hers instead. His eyes closed again. “Don’t tempt me. Not yet. Not when you came here with someone else.”

It is only then that Hermione remembers where they are and Viktor. When she cranes her head back to the lively dance floor, she catches sight of Viktor headed straight for them. He does not look happy.

Hermione grabs at Draco’s lapels and taps at her throat. Needing to be able to speak to him before Viktor reaches them. 

He only smiles down at her. “Merlin, you are so beautiful.”

Just then Viktor reaches them. Placing a hand on Hermione’s back. “I ‘dink I ‘vill take my date back now.” It is clear by his tone this is not a request.

Draco lets his hold on her go and takes her hand that is holding his lapels and brings it to his lips for a soft kiss. As he does he releases the spell on her.

“We will talk about this later, Draco.” Hermione informs him as Viktor begins to lead her away.

As they make it back to the dance floor Hermione catches Draco move across the room to where all of the teachers are standing. He speaks for a moment to Snape who nods at him. Then to Hermione’s ire Draco turns back to her with a soft smile before he is walking out the doors and leaving the castle for the night.

****

Draco wished that he could make Hermione believe that he is not avoiding her anymore, because he really isn’t. It is just hard to convince her of that when he has hardly had any time to spend with her over the past two months. He has rarely even had time to leave the ministry office since the Yule ball to go home and relax. 

He had even attempted to invite her over to his flat on one of the weekend days when she was down in Hogsmeade. They had made plans to meet up at Tomes and Scrolls before heading back to his place for dinner. He had been so busy with a mountain of paperwork that Barty had left him that he had not even been able to leave the office until long after she had been called back to Hogwarts.

Draco was not sure what had gotten into Barty as of late, but he was working Draco like a mad man. Constantly sending Draco out to get paperwork from different departments and researching magical instances that were popping up around England. Draco had a feeling that Barty was looking for someone, but didn’t want to tell Draco who it was. Which was making it harder for Draco to find the right information that Barty was looking for, since he wasn’t sure what was important and what wasn’t. It was like searching for a mirage.

Draco’s father was no better. Writing to him constantly about his search for this elusive yet extremely important family heirloom. Draco had spent any free moment looking around the castle for the bloody cabinet, and still found nothing. He was on the verge of giving up to spend the wasted time on things he actually enjoyed.

All this to say and even Hermione didn’t really have time for Draco either half the time. She had been spending most of her time not in class with Harry and Ron. They were trying to study hard for what Harry needed to do under the Lake. Hermione had even tried to get answers out of Draco one afternoon, when they were eating a quick lunch at the Hogshead. She had slapped his shoulder with a book when he told her that telling her would be cheating.

To Draco’s annoyance Hermione was even still spending a lot of time with Krum. She claims that she let him down after the Yule ball and that they are just studying together as friends.

Draco knows better than that. He is certain that Krum is not trying to be just Hermione’s friend. That is made very clear this morning as he waits with Barty, the other judges, and teachers for the group of champion’s companions to arrive in Dumbledore’s office.

He already knew that she would be here if not for Krum than for Harry, but still he is a little annoyed when Ron walks in as well, meaning that she is Krum’s ‘Treasure’.

After Dumbledore gives the four of them the speech as to what they are all doing there and what will be happening to them, Draco walks around to stand behind her.

“Krum considers you to be the most important thing in his life and you really think that he just wants to be friends with you?” Draco whispers behind clenched teeth.

“Well, Ron is here for Harry isn’t he?” Hermione quips back without turning around.

“Yes, and I think that is something those two need to explore a little deeper. Don’t you?” Draco mocks.

Hermione tries to look annoyed at him, but she laughs at this ribbing.

Ron hears her laugh and asks what is going on. He honestly looks a little green at the idea of being under the Lake for most of the day.
Dumbledore’s raspy voice breaks through their moment as he begins speaking again.

“Now if you will all follow me, we will be heading down to the Lake where we will prepare you for your time in the Black Lake.”

The group all files through his office doors and makes their way through the castle to the small boat house beside the lake. The four students are all spelled with a notice-me-not charm so that they will not be seen by any student that happens to be up at this early hour.

Once they are all tucked into the boat house room, the students are instructed to lie down on one of the four floating cots in the center of the room, so that they can be put to sleep. Draco quickly volunteers to be the one to cast the sleeping charm on Hermione. 

Although she is trying not to show it, Draco can tell that Hermione is nervous as she lays down on the cot in front of Draco. She swallows deeply before asking him, “Will I be aware of anything while I am down there?”

“No.” Draco consoles her. “You will close your eyes here, and the spell won’t break until you are surfacing in the Black Lake.”

Her voice is slightly pitched up with her anxiety. “Will it be safe for us all down there?”

Thinking back to all the negotiations that he had to go through with the merpeople, Draco struggles to answer and Hermione’s eyes go wide.

Draco takes her hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” He promises. She gives a shaky nod of her head and closes her eyes in acceptance. Draco puts her under and brushes the back of his fingers all along her sleeping face.

When he looks up Moody is looking at him with what Draco thinks is a slight smile and a creepy glint in his normal eye. The other eye is weirdly focused on Barty. The scene gives Draco a suspicious feeling deep in his gut. 

****

Dearest Draco,

I thank you for your sympathy, but as I told you before Lani and I have simply decided to go back to just being friends. We both feel that it is a better fit for us. It really doesn’t have any other outside reasons.

As to the question you asked before, I agree with Professor Snape.

The ingredients that you listed are definitely for at least two different potions. I agree with you both that at least one of them is Polyjuice. 

I think that the other has a high probability of being Felix Felicis. It is an extremely complicated potion to brew, but you and I both know that she is very capable of preparing something that is far above her grade level. 

These two potions certainly don’t look good for the trio if they are the ones brewing them though. 

Keep me up to date on what this all turns out to be. 

Love, 

Theo