"What are you talking about? Ron and Harry aren't right about you, Draco!" Hermione said, as if this was utter nonsense. "I know you didn't put any curses on me as well as you do!"
"Of course I didn't!" Draco assured her quickly. "That's not what I meant."
"Well then what did you mean?" Hermione insisted.
"They accused me of being a Death Eater. Hermione, I am one."
Draco winced as soon as the words were out of his mouth. What was he supposed to do, let her go on lying, though unknowingly, to her friends? She was defending him so wholly that it was like she really trusted him. No one in his life had ever put so much faith in him.
He couldn't ruin that trust by not telling her the truth. Though, at the same time, the truth might ruin the trust in its own way.
Hermione looked at the ground for what was probably a minute but seemed a lifetime.
"I thought you didn't care that I was a Muggle, and yet you devote your life to a cause that destroys my people?" Hermione asked, looking betrayed.
"Hermione, it's not like that! I never had to kill anyone, Muggle or Wizard. I doubt I will, not for quite a while yet. I guess you could say I'm a junior Death Eater. You don't get the mark on your forearm till you come of age, you just have to serve the Dark Lord and do as he tells you," Draco explained. "I didn't even choose to do that! My father dragged me to the initiation when I was twelve."
"Do you realize that Voldemort could tell you to kill Harry, or Ron, or even me, and you'd just have to do it?" Hermione insisted.
"The Dark Lord himself has not killed your darling Boy Who Lived, and you think I can?" Draco snapped, then took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, it's the Malfoy temper. Can't help it sometimes. Anyway, Hermione, he's not going to have me kill anyone right now, much less anyone important. Believe it or not, you and the Weasel are on his big hit list, too."
"Oh, that makes me feel so much better," Hermione sobbed. "I'm too high on Voldemort's death list to be killed by my boyfriend!"
"Hermione, please understand!" Draco begged. "If I was to try to do anything to get out of this commitment, I'd be killed so quickly no one would remember who had done it!"
"I need time to think about this, Draco," Hermione said. "It's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to accept."
"I understand, Hermione," Draco said sadly.
"I'd better go," Hermione said, beginning to walk away.
"Wait, Hermione, will I ever see you again? Like this, I mean," Draco asked.
"Draco, we can't just forget this ever happened," Hermione said. "At least, I know I can't. This is just a lot to deal with."
Draco really felt like throwing something at someone, but he couldn't let his temper get the best of him. Not now. So, he simply nodded.
"Harry and Ron will be worried," she said, and then she turned and walked away.
In the Gryffindor common room, Ron was pacing madly. "Harry, what time is it?"
The room was oddly deserted. Apparently, students had better things to do than sit around the common room on Saturdays.
"Add a minute and a half to when you last asked," Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"A minute and a half?" Ron asked, looking alarmed. "That long? Where is she? She should be here by now! It takes less than a minute and a half to kill someone!"
"Calm down, Ron!" Harry said. "She'll be fine. Malfoy knows that we'd know who did it if she turns up hurt. He's not that stupid."
Ron plopped himself down on a chair next to Harry. "I know that, but do you know how it tears me apart to see her acting like this? She probably doesn't even know what she's doing!"
"I know very well what I'm doing, thank you," came an indignant female voice.
"Hermione!" Ron called out, running to her. "Please tell me this is all part of one of those bloody brilliant plans of yours!"
Hermione sighed. "I could tell you that, but I'd be lying. I'm sorry, Ron, but I think I love him."
"You can't love the ferret, Hermione!" Ron yelled. "He used the Imperius curse or something!"
"You think he hates me enough to use an Unforgivable? Seriously, Ron! I know if I'm under a spell, and I'm not!" Hermione insisted.
"Maybe you're not as smart as I thought you were, Hermione!" Ron yelled.
Hermione chose this moment to stomp up to her dormitory in a huff, yelling, "Yell for me when you can talk to me like a civilized person!"
Ron turned to Harry, angry. "Why are women so impossible?"
"I dunno, mate, it's just their way of thinking, I guess," Harry said with a shrug.
"Then we need to talk to someone who does understand them," Ron said, determination in his eyes.
"Got anyone in mind?" Harry asked.
"My sister."
When they finally managed to find Ginny and drag her into the common room to talk, Ron had calmed down a bit.
"Now will you tell me what's up?" Ginny asked, annoyed. "I was in the middle of a very important conversation with Luna."
"Ginny, Hermione thinks she's in love with Malfoy," Ron spilled out, not able to contain the information any longer. "She was walking with him by the lake! She says she 'saw his true character' at the ball or some bloody junk like that! And when we tried to tell her she was obviously under a spell, she got all huffy and started snogging with him!"
Harry expected Ginny to be surprised, but she took this all in as if she had known for years. "Well, that's one more piece to the puzzle," she said with a nod.
"Puzzle? Ginny, you knew about this?" Ron asked indignantly. "You didn't tell me? What kind of sister are you?"
"I figured it was their business, Ron. It was totally chance that I knew. I saw them at the ball," Ginny explained.
Ron was still upset and looked like he was just going to continue yelling at his sister, so Harry got to the point. "What do you think we should do, Gin?"
"Let her do what she wants. She's a big girl now, and it's obvious that they care for each other," Ginny said without missing a beat.
Harry was willing to take Ginny's advice and let the whole thing drop, but Ron was much more persistent.
"Are you crazy? Ginny, this is ferret boy we're discussing, not some saint!" Ron exclaimed.
"Do you think you'd be happy if she was dating a saint, Ron? I think you'd give Dumbledore a lecture if you thought he had feelings for Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Dumbledore?" Ron asked with alarm. "He's far too old for her!"
Ginny sighed and turned to Harry. "Don't mind my thick brother. We think it was a birth defect."
"Really, Gin, please! There's got to be something else we can do!" Ron begged.
"Nothing that wouldn't totally strip Hermione of her trust for you, ruin your friendship, or both," Ginny stated flatly.
"Ron," Harry said suddenly, after being quiet for most of the conversation, "maybe you need to let this run its course. One of them is sure to dump the other, sooner or later. If they're a match made in heaven, God was on his day off at the time."
"What if they don't? What if Hermione never comes around? You both know why this means so much to me," Ron said, as Harry and Ginny traded glances.
"Yeah, we do, mate, and maybe it's time to just let it go," Harry said carefully.
"Let it go? Are you crazy, Harry? I-" Ron started, but never finished.
Neville Longbottom, impeccable timing intact, entered the room. "Oh, am I interrupting something?" he asked nervously.
"Just our insignificant conversation about how my best friend was snogging the enemy!" Ron exploded.
"You mean Hermione and Malfoy? I know that..." Neville started to say, but let himself trail off when Ron got a crazy look in his eye.
"AM I THE LAST PERSON IN THIS SCHOOL TO KNOW WHEN HERMIONE'S OFF SNOGGING SOMEONE?" Ron screamed at Neville, and then took off his shoe and started chasing him around the common room, trying to beat him with it.
Harry started to stop Ron, but Ginny held him back. “He needs to get his energy out, anyway,” Ginny said.
“But it’s not Neville’s fault!” Harry insisted.
“Don’t worry, he won’t hurt him,” Ginny assured Harry. “Hermione is sure to show up when she hears all the noise, and Ron will stop then.”
“What’s going on here?” Hermione’s voice boomed down into the common room, causing Ron to abruptly stop chasing Neville.
“How did you do that?” Harry asked Ginny, awed.
“Just call it a girl thing,” Ginny said with a little smile.
“I think I need to go…” Neville piped up, edging his way out of the common room.
Hermione continued to glare at Ron. “What the hell did you think you were doing, Ron?”
“I…well, Neville, you see, he…well he…” Ron struggled to speak.
“I thought so,” Hermione said. “Ron, why can’t you just try to be mature about something? Anything?”
“Oh, and Malfoy’s ever so mature, isn’t he, Hermione?” Ron snapped.
“More than you!” Hermione yelled. “He’s actually rather nice, too, once you get to know him!”
“Nice? Nice? You think the ferret is nice?” Ron demanded. “What is wrong with you?”
“Ron, why can’t you just understand?” Hermione asked, practically in tears.
“I understand all right! I understand that he has nothing more than I do except money, yet you obviously see something more in him! What is it, Hermione? What is it that Malfoy has that I don’t?
Oh, Merlin, Draco was right, Hermione thought. Ron does have a crush on me.
“Yeah, you heard me right Hermione! I like you! Didn’t you ever notice how protective I was of you?” Ron demanded.
“Ron, you’re just as protective of Ginny. I always thought…” Hermione let herself trail off.
“That you were just like my sister? You’re a lot more, Hermione!” Ron said angrily. With that, he turned and ran up to his dormitory.
A/N: Ron’s behavior, as you might have figured out by now, was one of the clues I mentioned a few chapters back. There were more in that chapter, though, one in particular. You’ll just have to wait and see!
Please review!