The three of them stood there looking around. Harry noticed that they were in a room that looked very much like the hospital wing, and then he saw Draco on the bed and Dumbledore sitting in a chair next to him. Ron just looked as confused as ever.
“Ah, come in, come in,” Dumbledore said with a slight smile.
They walked over to where Dumbledore was sitting, and he conjured three more chairs so they could join him. Harry spoke first.
“Um, Professor,” he glanced over at Hermione before continuing. “What are we doing here exactly?”
“Well Harry, Draco has something he needs to tell you all. Actually he needs to tell you and Ron what Hermione and I already know. Then I believe, he has some things to say just to Hermione.”
Everyone’s gaze shifted to Draco; except for Hermione’s.
“Oh,” Dumbledore interjected. “One more thing, you will not want to hear what Draco has to say. I implore you however, to listen, knowing that I already know everything, and that there is nothing to worry about.”
Again, everyone’s gaze shifted over to Draco. He felt very uncomfortable in the spotlight. He swallowed as he tried to figure out the best way to not just tell them, but start the big confession.
‘Great. Just great, Dumbledore could have at least taken away their wands; they are going to curse me when they hear the words ‘death’ and ‘eater’ next to each other.’
“It is getting rather late Draco, so if you don’t mind.” Dumbledore still had his calm expression on his face and the faintest hint of a smile.
Draco looked from Dumbledore to Harry and Ron, and then to Hermione who was still refusing to look at him. He swallowed hard, and looked down that the sheets clenched in his hands. He didn’t know where to begin.
‘How the hell am I supposed to start!?’
“Try the direct approach,” Dumbledore said in seeming response to Draco’s thought.
Draco looked up at Dumbledore and nodded.
‘I’ll just suck it up and say it. Hermione doesn’t want to look at me, so it’s not like it can get any worse.’
“I’m a Death Eater,” he said very softly, since the room had been silent however everyone clearly heard him.
“What!?” Harry and Ron shouted in unison. Ron looked dumbfounded, and then rounded on Hermione.
“And you…” he couldn’t finish, instead he just stared at her.
Harry on the other hand, was staring incredulously at Dumbledore, who was staring at his wand as though he found it the most interesting thing in the room. He loved Hermione, but Malfoy being a Death Eater crossed the line.
“Professor, how can you be ok with this!?”
“Well Harry,” Dumbledore said calmly. “Why don’t you try letting Draco finish.”
Harry’s mouth hung open, but he sat back in his chair and shot a murderous glare in Draco’s direction.
Draco had sat the whole time staring down at his hands. He couldn’t make himself look up at a room full of people who wanted to kill him, except for Dumbledore that is. He rolled up his left sleeve, and showed them the Dark Mark.
“I took the mark over the summer,” he continued speaking in almost a whisper. “I was forced into it.”
“Forced!” Harry spat. “Yeah right -”
“I really was forced to take it!” Draco shouted interrupting Harry. “You don’t believe me fine, but I was. My parents where there, and the Dark Lord pretty much said that we would all be killed if I didn’t take it, so I did.”
Draco stared at Harry, daring him with to challenge what he had said. When Harry didn’t say anything, Draco continued.
“Just because I took the mark, doesn’t mean that I want it,” he stopped here; he didn’t think there was anything else he needed to say to them. He really just wanted to talk to Hermione. Silence settled over the room. Draco looked from Harry’s murderous glare, to Ron’s mixture of shock and anger, and then settled on Hermione’s lowered head.
“I think,” Dumbledore began. “That Draco has said all he needed to say to you. Now, if you Harry and you Ron, will come with me to my office, I would like to speak to the two of you.” He got up out of his chair and headed towards the door. Though Dumbledore had only addressed Harry and Ron, Hermione had also gotten up to follow them.
“Ms. Granger, I do believe that Draco here would like to speak to you,” Dumbledore said from the door.
“With all due respect professor, I don’t want to speak with him.”
The way she said “him,” made Draco flinch and look down at his hands again, which were now trembling slightly; he still needed to rest due to the Cruciatus curse Voldemort had used on him.
“You would be doing me a great favor, Ms. Granger, if you stayed and listened to what he has to say.”
After a few moments hesitation, Hermione sat back down in her chair.
“Splendid,” Dumbledore said brightly. “Now Ms. Granger, and you too Mr. Malfoy, when you are done having your little chat, I need you to come join us in my office.” With that he turned and left the room, Harry and Ron in tow.
*~*~*~*~
The moment the door closed behind them, silence engulfed the room. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Draco took a breath and looked up at Hermione. She was determinedly looking at her hands, which were resting lightly in her lap. He decided to give it a try.
“Hermione?” he ventured tentatively.
*~*
She heard him speak, but didn’t answer and didn’t look up at him. Instead she continued to look at her hands.
She wanted to curse him and be done with it. She wanted to curse herself for ever entertaining feelings for him in the first place. Shouldn’t she have known better?
‘What is wrong with me? I am smarter than this. I’m the one who thinks things through, so how did I end up in this situation?’
*~*
He could tell that she was reluctant to answer, and he didn’t blame her. He however was tired of chickening out of telling someone the way he felt; somehow he was going to tell her.
‘I will tell her, and that will be it, she’ll know. It probably won’t make any difference though.’
Draco sighed. “Hermione, will you please look at me?”
She lifted her head up, and he met her hurt and confused brown eyes. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was.
“I need to tell you something.” He could see the tears lurking behind her eyes; she was fighting them.
*~*
She heard him say that he needed to tell her something, and felt her hand cling to the side of the chair she was sitting in.
She looked up to meet his icy blue eyes. They held pain, but resolution. She was on the verge of tears, and had to use every ounce of her will power to keep them from overpowering her.
‘No, he can’t tell me. That’s not what he is going to say. I won’t let him say it. He can’t, it’s not possible that he does…Death Eater…Death Eater, he’s a Death Eater…’
“What?” she asked, her voice shaking slightly with her effort to hold back her tears.
*~*
Her “what” almost broke his resolve. He could hear the pain she was feeling when she spoke, and saw how hard she was working to keep from crying. He looked down at the Dark Mark branded on his left forearm. He couldn’t take off that mark, but he could prove it wrong. He looked back at Hermione.
“Hermione,” he hesitated as he saw her stiffen, as if steeling herself for the blow that was to come. “I…”
*~*
‘No, no, no, no, no! He’s going to say it! He can’t, he can’t!’
*~*
“…love you,” he said, his voice so soft that the slightest noise would have drowned him out.
Draco sat there waiting to see her reaction. She never broke her eye contact with him, and he watched as the feelings of happiness, anger, sorrow, and fright passed through her eyes all at once.
‘I said it.’
*~*
‘He said it. He said it. He loves me…Bastard! He lied to me! And not just any lie, he lied about serving Voldemort! …Why is this happening to me? … What am I going to do?’
She continued to look at him. She had let it happen twice; she had let him get to her, and both times had brought her suffering.
‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me,’ she thought. ‘I am a fool aren’t I? … Well not anymore.’
Her voice cracked as she spoke. “Dumbledore wants us to go join them in his office. I think we better get going.” She was still fighting her tears, but was slowly losing the battle.
She got up and headed towards the door, stopped and turned expectantly waiting for him to follow her.
*~*
Draco’s heart broke; something he would have never thought would ever happen to him.
‘She didn’t even respond to…’
Suddenly he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t think pain like this could exist. The Cruciatus curse seemed like a pinch compared to this. He knew that she was most likely to respond the way she had, but some part of him had still held on to one speck of hope. Now, her complete disregard of what he had said ripped through him like daggers.
‘I…I …I guess that’s all I can do,’ he thought to himself now having to fight tears of his own.
Though he was weak from his torture earlier, he willed himself out of bed and over to the door. He looked at her and she turned quickly, opened the door and exited. He followed her to Dumbledore’s office; she didn’t look back at him once. Had she looked, she would have seen that his face was stained with tears.
Your Eyes: The Beginning by GryffindorsHeir
Chapter Notes: just a heads up because i know a bunch of you guys will want to point this out, but i KNOW that draco's eyes are grey. i changed them to blue for the purposes of my story, please dont hate me too much for it
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