All the talk during breakfast the next morning was centered around Draco and Hermione. They had become the new couple on campus and like all popular couples there was an approving group and a hate group. It’s not a surprise that Gryffindors and Slytherins accounted for 75% of the hate group, but it was surprising to many that Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Ginny Weasley were part of the approval group. Hermione and Draco themselves skipped breakfast to escape the drama of it all.
Sitting next to her boyfriend in the hospital wing, Hermione was giving Draco the silent treatment, but he rather enjoyed it because then he could stare at her all he wanted and she would just glare at him and turn away. He thought it was cute, but wondered why she bothered to go visit him if all she was going to do was be mad. One more day on the bed and his finger would be fully recovered; and he still hadn’t snagged any kisses for being injured. When she started ignoring him, he looked up at the ceiling and counted the little dots, then, amidst his thinking, he realized something.
“Hermione,” he began. No response. He rolled his eyes and put a hand on her shoulder and spun her around forcefully. “Hermione! Quit being such a pain in my ass.”
She raised an eyebrow and looked down at his butt. She smiled sneakily and let out a fake sigh.
“Hermione, I just realized something,” Draco continued seriously. “You’ve never actually told me that you love me.”
Hermione instantly turned pink. She opened her mouth, but clamped it shut and thrust her chin in the air and looked away.
“Common. I wanna hear it,” Draco said in a whiny voice, puffing out his lower lip.
“No! Not like this!” she replied disapprovingly. “I’ll tell you when the time is right.”
“But I’ve told you hundreds of times that I love you! Why can’t you just say it once?”
“Because! It doesn’t feel right!!”
Draco frowned and leaned back on the bed. “Doesn’t feel right?” He felt something sour sprout from his chest. His eyes furrowed at the pain.
Hermione turned around after she realized what she said sounded like. “Draco, that’s not what I meant…”
Draco looked away from her, hurt.
“Look, I just…I’m not comfortable with saying things like that without meaning it.”
“So you don’t love me?” he asked sadly looking out the window.
“It’s not that, it’s just I’m not one of those girls who can freely say how I feel.”
“Okay. Well. When will you be “free” to tell me how you feel about me?”
Hermione frowned at having to answer such an impossible question. “I don’t know.”
“What if this doesn’t work out Hermione?”
Having never thought of them actually being together, she never worried about them breaking up; but now that he brought up the subject, her feelings inside were enough to tell her that she didn’t want them to be apart.
“What do you mean…‘doesn’t work out’?” she replied.
“I mean, now that everyone knows about us they’re not all going to approve. Lots of people will try to keep us apart and it just so happens that the greatest evil out there is the leader of their fan club.”
Hermione meant to frown but smiled at how he put the situation. “We don’t have to care about what they think Draco, and plus, how does Voldemort even know or even care about us anyway?”
Draco was shocked at the question; Hermione couldn’t have been THAT thick. “Hermione…I’m one of his little pawns remember? His little puppet that he likes to play around with at any point in time? I’m sure he’s figured us out by now…and I know he’s not very ecstatic about it. Plus, the last time I talked to him, he said you were dangerous, ‘filling my mind with dangerous thoughts’ to be exact, and I should stay away from you.”
“The last time you talked to him?!” Hermione screamed, having obviously missed everything Draco said after that. Draco could have sworn there was a fire blazing behind her, and her face shade went two tones darker.
“I can’t help it! I mean, one second I’m living my normal life, then the next, I appear in front of him and we’re talking like we’re best friends. I don’t remember our conversations very well, but I know that when I’m down there, I know everything. I think he’s using some sort of spell on me…”
“Well, when do you have your little hang outs? Do you know at least that?”
“Most of the time, it’s late at night, but sometimes it’s just random. Like the most recent one I remember is yesterday. I was with you…and then I suddenly vanished and was with him.”
“Yesterday?” Hermione asked while her brain was fitting together all the pieces. “Draco, I think I’ve figured it out,” she told him after a couple of minutes. “Voldemort put some sort of spell on you so that every time you fall asleep, you report to him, but I would have felt you leave yesterday night…”
“Unless if I cast a spell on you to be oblivious to everything that’s going on…”
“Right…and that would explain the night Dee thought you apparated into your room…”
“Wait, no it doesn’t. We know now that I go during my sleep, but Dee said I appeared out of thin air…I still can’t do that in Hogwarts.”
Hermione narrowed her eyes until they created a valley in between two huge eyebrows. She was flipping through the events in her mind and suddenly random flashes of images appeared out of nowhere. One was in a dark cave…she seemed to be tied up somewhere…then there was Harry, he was chained to the wall. She concentrated on those images and was suddenly hit by a flood of them. She saw Voldemort, then Harry lunging at Voldemort, then…Draco? She shook her head and looked back at Draco. “I think I just remembered something that Voldemort wanted me to forget.”
Draco raised an eyebrow.
“Do you remember a dark cave during one of your visits to him? And Harry and I were there?”
Draco put his hand on his chin like an inspector and closed his eyes. Hermione watched as he tried to remember something he had obviously forgotten.
“Aha! Yeah, I remember it now. I think,” Draco announced happily at last.
“And?”
“It had something to do with Dee…and I remember something about a memory spell that would make us forget everything once we passed through…a vortex?”
“Vortexes…of course! He could have created infinite amounts of them all over the school, there’s no spell to prevent that. And that’s how they’ve been ‘apparating’! Draco we’ve figured him out!”
“No, wait, it can’t be that easy. Maybe he wants us to know this information.”
“Maybe. And since we’re on the topic of things he wants us to know and things he doesn’t want us to know…can you tell me what those freaky things were behind your shelf?”
Draco sighed. He knew he’d have to tell Hermione sooner or later about Voldemort’s plan. “That’s his army,” he said as he took in a large breath. “And I’m his ‘key’ or something like that. I don’t know. He said I wasn’t real, and that Lucius and he created me before I was born. My destiny is to build his army and make him the evilest immortal on earth. Basically, once he’s done with me, I’m probably gonna disappear into oblivion…you never know, it might have been part of my destiny too.” Draco laughed out of sadness.
“Draco…” Hermione scooted her chair closer to him and put a hand on his back, rubbing him comfortably. He looked at her with his big innocent eyes that glistened with unshed tears. She put her hand on his cheek and brought him to her, and was just about to kiss him when his wand went off, tapping the table like crazy. She blinked repeatedly and pulled away. Draco huffed disappointedly. Hermione cleared her throat and announced that it was time for him to take his medicine. Draco frowned as he was served another cup of cruel and unusual punishment.
**
After breakfast, Ron and Harry met up with Hermione in the Entrance Hall for Charms. Today was a pretty relaxing day for them. First they had Charms, then they had History of Magic with Professor Binns, which everyone associated with nap time. The day went by pretty fast, they planned what they were going to do tomorrow night during the D.A. meeting in Charms and then Harry and Ron slept through History of Magic while Hermione took down fifteen pages of neat and well written notes. She said she wasn’t going to let Harry or Ron copy it, and they actually took her seriously for the first five years, but now they knew exactly what to do to change her mind. Hermione went back to the hospital wing after class and gave Draco the lectures they had, and also, a copy of her notes. Ron and Harry were furious about the latter. They tagged along with her this time because they figured that if Draco was going to be on their side during the war, they’d need to show him some support. When they went back to the common room, Hermione decided it was time to tell Harry and Ron everything about Draco.
“So you’re saying that Draco is working with Voldemort, but not at the same time?” Ron asked utterly confused.
“He meets up with Voldemort every time he falls asleep,” Hermione replied with a shrug.
“So all we have to do is watch him, wait till he falls asleep, and follow him, right?” Harry concluded.
“I guess, but don’t you think that’s a bit stalker-ish?” she replied.
Harry laughed. “No. We have to do what we have to do. And you can’t tell Draco about it because he said he can remember everything when he’s with Voldemort, but forgets things when he’s with us.”
Hermione nodded. Ron grabbed his stomach as it growled. He smiled feebly and said,
“Okay, now that we’ve got that settled, can we go eat? I’m starved.”
**
Draco got an unexpected visitor later that night. He was about to doze off when a girl swept into the hospital wing and scared him half to death.
“Geez Dee! If you wear anymore white they’ll have to declare you one of the newest ghosts here at Hogwarts!” Draco exclaimed when he identified his guest.
“I just came to make sure you don’t fall asleep,” Dee replied simply.
“What? How do you know about that?” he questioned suspiciously.
“That doesn’t matter. I can’t tell you anyway, because then you’d tell your buddy Voldemort when you fall asleep.”
“Okay, that’s fair. So what do you want?”
“I already told you! I want you to stay awake.”
Draco looked at her untrustingly. “That’s all you want? Just for me to stay awake?”
Dee nodded and drew a little X over her heart with her index finger. Draco approved and sat back on his bed. There was a very uncomfortable silence for a very long time, Draco thought that if this was her plan to keep him awake, it was working. He looked over at Dee, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts and didn’t mind the silence. Suddenly he felt a wave of heat hit him and when he looked back at Dee he could read her thoughts. Confused for a second, he quickly realized what was going on.
“Dee, it’s happening.”
“What? What’s happening?” she asked puzzled.
“I’m becoming him…Voldemort. Or he’s slowly taking over me,” Draco replied alarmed and a little out of breath, and then he grabbed his chest in pain.
“Right,” Dee replied nervously. When Draco lifted his head, she saw that his eyes had turned red and she instantly jumped out of her chair. “Umm. I think this would be the part where I scream and run out of the room, but since I’m supposed to be here to protect you, I’m just gonna scream and run to the farthest wall.” Dee did as she said and put a good 20 feet between her and Draco immediately. She drew out her wand and focused it on Draco.
“Don’t move, and I won’t attack you,” Dee instructed calmly.
“What makes you think you know any spell strong enough to even bruise me?” replied a voice that came from Draco, but wasn’t his.
“So we meet again Mr. Riddle,” Dee returned skeptically.
“Yes, we do meet,” he confirmed. “And you are?”
“You’ve forgotten already?” Dee responded, faking disappointment.
Voldemort scrunched up Draco’s face and then smiled when comprehension hit him.
“Dike Notis.”
“Ah, yes, do call me Dee.”
Voldemort laughed and began to throw off the blankets covering Draco, but Dee fired a freezing spell at him.
“I said, don’t move,” she reminded him.
Voldemort muttered something under his breath and her spell wore off, and he continued what he was doing. Dee watched completely flabbergasted.
“Your little spells are nothing, they can’t do anything to me. I am not Draco Malfoy anymore, I am The Dark Lord, I am the most powerful wizard on this earth.” By now, he had his forehead right on top of hers. Dee was trembling from fear and the only thing keeping her standing was the wall behind her.
“Now Dee. I need your cooperation okay?”
“No,” Dee replied through clenched teeth.
“Now, now. You must get over your anger about me and your father’s history. You must understand that what happened was a tragedy to not only you, but also me. I never wanted him to die, it was his disease that took over in the end.”
“Bull!” Dee screamed, on the verge of tears. “You were the one who ignited the disease in him! You were the one that caused it! It’s YOUR FAULT that he’s dead. And I swear to god, I’m not going to let you go.”
Voldemort laughed. “What are you going to do Dee? Kill me?” He laughed again, much creepier this time, having learned how to control Draco’s voice. “If you could kill me, I’d let you, but unfortunately, you’re just a waste of my time right now.”
“If I’m such a waste of your time, why don’t you get out of Draco’s body and go do something productive?”
Voldemort frowned. “That’s right. I do need you for something tonight. Oh and look, it’s about time to get started.”
“Get started on wha…” Dee began, but Voldemort shut her up with a kiss. She tried to push him away, but he was too strong, and literally on her. His hands violated her as they slid up and down her body. She had no idea why he was doing this until she heard the door behind them slam shut. At that exact same moment, Draco pulled away and gasped as he caught his breath.
“What the hell was that?!” he asked as he took his hands off of her and backed away. His eyes were wide and confused.
Dee looked at the door and back at Draco.
“We’d better go find Hermione,” was all she said.
**
Hermione ran all the way back to Gryffindor Tower, not stopping for anything, and shoving anyone who got in her way. She cried as the images of Draco and Dee replayed in her mind. Was this why Draco had asked her about what would happen if they broke up? Had he already fallen for someone else? Was she not enough for him? Her breath got caught in her throat and she cried even harder. She never even got to tell him that she did love him, but now that didn’t seem to be a problem. She felt anger slowly replace her sadness and she wiped away her tears and commanded herself to stop crying. It worked for all of two seconds, the two seconds that she wasn’t seeing Draco make out with Dee against the wall. She heard footsteps quickly approaching and ran even faster. The only place she could go now was the Room of Requirement, but that only brought back more memories of Draco. She heard him calling her from the hall she had just passed. She stopped running and entered the first classroom she saw. She shut the door and pressed herself against it, burying her head in between her knees as she continued crying.
Draco and Dee ran right past her without knowing it. They finally gave up on their search when they found an empty Room of Requirement. Disappointed, they headed back to the Slytherin dungeons. Draco went straight to his room and slammed the door behind him. He was about to kick his bed when he saw Hermione sitting there waiting for him.
“Hermione!” Draco exclaimed relieved. “I was so worried, what you saw, it was…”
“I don’t want to hear it Malfoy,” she replied coldly.
Draco was at a loss for words. “Malfoy?”
“You want to know why I’ve never told you that I love you?” she continued, ignoring the fact that Draco already looked like a brick had hit him straight in the face.
“I could never love you Draco. You are everything I hate. I was only using you. Now that I know everything I need to know about Voldemort, I don’t need you anymore.”
Draco, enraged and on the verge of punching Hermione, cut her off before she could say any more. “I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you Hermione, but I’ll just pretend that I didn’t hear any of that. I don’t know what you think you saw at the hospital wing, but now I really don’t care what you thought of it. In fact, I hope it hurt you. I hope it tore you down into tiny little pieces and ate you up from the inside.”
Hermione laughed. “Didn’t I just tell you that you mean NOTHING to me? I could really care less that you were making out with Dee. Honestly Draco, for a bad boy like you, you should know how this game is played.” And at that, she got up off the bed and left his room.
Draco screamed angrily and overturned his bed. Then he went on destroying everything else in his room. Hermione, outside of his room, grinned and left the Slytherin dungeons.
**
After collecting all of her thoughts, she stood up and told herself to get a grip. She dried her face and took in a deep breath before walking out of the classroom she was hiding in. Hermione had decided that perhaps she and Draco should break up after all. No one was going to support them except her friends, and now that Draco himself didn’t even want to be with her, she was the only person left in this game for two. She quietly walked back to Gryffindor Tower when she passed someone who looked eerily like her in the halls. She turned around for a better look, and suddenly the kid was gone. She shook her head and figured she was imagining things and continued her walk.
**
A couple death eaters were confused when they saw Hermione Granger walking around in their underground layer, but they soon caught on as they recognized that it was the work of a Polyjuice Potion. Voldemort pressed the Dark Mark on his arm and within two minutes, all his death eaters were gathered around him. It was then that he announced to the group,
“Young master Malfoy will be joining us again tonight, and the filthy Mudblood will no longer be a problem to us. Weasley, you will be rewarded for your assistance.”
One of the men in black nodded his head, and Voldemort resumed,
“With Draco back on our side, my army will soon be ready to fight. Macnair, gather the Dementors, Giants, and Werewolves. Tell them there will be an attack on Hogwarts this Friday, be ready for the final battle.”
**