A/N: Well, that was quite a long "tomorrow," wasn't it? Sorry, everyone, but school is now unofficially over for me! I've finished my last assignment of the year, and my other big project is over. (This project inspired my next story that I'll probably be working on while I'm finishing this one, lol. It was also partly inspired by a songfic called "A Little Fall of Rain" that I could SWEAR was here on Portkey, but I can't find it here anymore…it had the lyrics to the song without Eponine and Marius' names…if you can find it, tell me, please…)
So now here's chapter 6. Oh, and the reviews!
Clair: Hmm, Hermione did change a bit that chapter…She'll be more fluffy in this chapter, I think.
Hermione and Harry 4Ever: Too short? Hehe…Working on length, lol. Draco starts to talk this chapter, so hold on!
Janie: Aww, you poor thing…I was enjoying the mindless sex, too, but, oh well.
Kat: Thank you for understanding my life. I go to a rigorous math and science academy thingy, so I don't get much of a chance to write. The year's almost over, though!
MissLexiRe: Thanks for the luck… ::catches luck from air :: I need it, lol.
Clyde: LOL, you reviewed all five chapters…not a bad thing ;) This story is going to be over 25 chapters; I have a plot map somewhere here, but I'm too lazy to find it.
Caroline and TB Jab Hurts: There will be plenty more where this came from. Please keep reading!
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Chapter 6 ~ I Can See
"Is this how you thank people for kind deeds, Granger? You would never understand," Draco said coldly. "Just leave me be, Granger, and I'll leave you be." The usual menacing tone of his voice was gone; he truly just wanted to be alone.
"What do you mean, leave you alone?" Harry asked. "You've been very non-Draco-ish lately."
"And you're complaining…why? I expected you'd be happy that I'm not cursing you out at every opportunity," he spat. "Quite frankly, I don't have energy to waste on you, Potter. Especially on your Mudblood girlfriend and your poor-as-shit friend Weasley." Draco was obviously forcing himself. His eyes looked tired; they had for weeks, and Harry was surprised that he had just now noticed the stress in Draco's voice. "Just let me go. Now." Hermione chose to ignore that he'd called her a Mudblood again, as well as the fact that he'd used a naughty four-letter word in describing Ron.
"Something's up, Malfoy. Tell us, or we get to see the amazing bouncing ferret again," Hermione hissed. Harry was getting scared of Hermione; he'd never seen her this angry before. "You have until the count of three.
"One." Draco sighed offhandedly.
"Two." Harry pulled his wand out to emphasize Hermione's point-as if it needed any more emphasis with her wand pointed straight in Malfoy's face while he was in a body bind.
"Fine," Draco said only moments before Hermione was about to say, "three". "My father wants me to be a Death Eater. Happy now?" He glared at him, his silver eyes like fire. They seemed to emit an unearthly, hoary glow in the dim corridor.
"He wants a scout on the inside, huh?" Harry asked uncomfortably; Voldemort's servants had indeed become more faithful over the summer. He wondered why Dumbledore acted as though nothing was wrong at the beginning of the year. There was no mention of the "old crowd", which he'd mentioned as Harry lay in the infirmary the previous year. In fact, Dumbledore didn't even let on that there was such a person as Voldemort-unless one decided to address him directly, of course. But why ask Dumbledore when they had a perfectly willing participant pinned to the cold stone wall?
"Speak, boy," Hermione commanded shortly. Harry almost laughed at the way her stone demeanor at that moment hid her true inner nature. Not wanting to ruin the tension of the moment, which was acting much to their advantage, Harry gazed steadily on Draco's mutinous face. "You'd better hope Filch doesn't find his way up here. Slytherins patrolling the halls around Gryffindor Tower aren't very well accepted around here, and I'm sure Filch would be happy to see your punishment is just."
"I'll take that back for her," Harry said icily. "You'd better hope Filch does come up here, because nothing he could ever do to you would be worse than what Hermione's got on her mind."
"What the hell do you want from me, then?" Draco hissed. Now that he'd realized the possibility of being found, he was being more cautious about his volume.
"I want to know which part of being a Death Eater means being nicer to Harry."
"I'm not a Death Eater."
"Don't play games with me," Hermione said, bringing her wand within an inch of his face.
"I'm not. I said my father wants me to be a Death Eater. I'd prefer tormenting you from afar to killing you, quite frankly." Harry didn't know whether he should find that comforting or unsettling. "Stop looking at me like that, Potter."
"Hey," Hermione said, her wand unwavering, "I'm the one giving orders here." The tone of her voice hadn't changed, and Harry didn't doubt that she'd curse him out-in both the verbal sense and the magical sense of the expression, as un-Hermione-like as that would be. Since she'd fallen in love with Harry, she'd changed-a lot. Harry couldn't recall a time when it showed as much as at that moment.
Draco sighed impatiently. He was scared, but he didn't want to show it.
"Maybe you should let up a little bit," Harry said gently to Hermione, resting his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. Hermione looked at Harry while trying to suppress her anger. Her gaze carried with it remnants of her rage, which, although it was directed at Draco, still saturated her eyes even as she turned to Harry.
"Harry," she said, not knowing what to say, "I don't trust him. You know I don't, and you know why I don't."
"But that's no reason to have him like this. Please, Hermione," Harry said gently, almost inaudibly. He put his hand on hers, and she slowly lowered her wand. She didn't break her stare from Harry's, emphasizing that this wasn't what she wanted to do.
"Understand," she said in a whisper so that only Harry could hear, "that I'm doing this only because you requested it of me."
"Thank you," Harry whispered in reply. Quite frankly, Harry didn't mind if Hermione bashed Draco's skull in; he would have done it himself, given the chance. Harry just worried about the ramifications of such an action.
"Are you two going to leave me out of your conversation and just let me die here, or are you going to do something?" Draco spat from the wall.
"Draco," Harry said, surprised that he actually used Draco's first name, "what reason do we have to believe that you're not a Death Eater? We should be heading off to Dumbledore's right now, just in case you're-"
"NO!" Draco shouted. "No, you can't."
"And why not?" Hermione said curtly.
"Because that's the last bloody thing I need right now, Granger. You have no idea what that bastard of a father did to me…" Draco's eyes glazed over just thinking about what a painful experience his summer had been. His face took on a faraway look, and Harry had to stomp his foot to drag Draco from his reverie.
"What do you mean, what he did to you?" Hermione asked skeptically.
"Have you ever seen the manor before?" he asked coldly. "Pray that you never have to. If I hadn't known it as home since I was born, I wouldn't want to live there. I swear there are still ghosts there, tortured to death in the dungeons in days gone by. The Malfoy name carries things other than gold and prestige, you know.
"One of those things involves being devoted to…him. Turns out that my father, my mother, and all of their relatives succumbed to Voldemort's power within weeks of his rise. That leaves quite a large pair of shoes for me to fill, don't you think?"
"I have no idea what it's like being a Malfoy," Hermione said shortly, "but if it involves being like you, I don't want to know."
"You just don't get it, do you, Granger?" Draco said, exasperated. "Pray that you never have to spend a night alone in those dungeons, hoping with all your heart that whatever malevolent specters still remain don't steal your soul during the night. You think you have it bad? Try being me." A long silence ensued. Hermione was drinking in Draco's words, still skeptical of his situation. Harry, after having heard enough, broke the silence.
"Finite Incantatem," he said silently. Draco fell to the floor, his body weak from having been pressed against the wall so powerfully. He raised his head to glare at Hermione before standing and brushing himself off. He cast cursory glances at Harry and Hermione before walking off in a huff.
"Go on ahead," Harry said to Hermione. "I want to talk to Malfoy." Hermione looked up at him, hesitant to let him go. She finally nodded and walked quickly to the Fat Lady's portrait.
Running as quickly as he could, Harry caught Draco as he stepped onto a moving staircase. The flight shifted just as Harry had stepped onto it, much to Harry's relief. Draco turned to see Harry behind him as he stepped off onto a landing.
"What the bloody hell are you doing following me, Potter?" he called out tiredly without turning to face Harry.
"I…I wanted to apologize," Harry stammered. Whatever Draco had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. Draco stopped dead in his tracks and spun around on his heel. He looked Harry straight in the eyes.
"What did you say?" he asked incredulously.
"I said I'm sorry…about what just happened," Harry said, calmly. He was almost shaking; he never thought he'd be apologizing, of all things, to a Malfoy. "We shouldn't have done that. I appreciate that you were trying to help."
Draco only stared at Harry, a combination of curiosity and confusion clouding his expression.
"Why are you apologizing? That was the least I deserved, I suppose, after the way I've tormented you."
"Why are you getting all soft all of a sudden?" Harry asked.
Draco chuckled uneasily. "After you've spent two months in a dungeon being tortured by your father, you really don't need any more pain in your life, be it received or dealt."
"I can't believe he'd do that to you," Harry said in disbelief.
"You've seen what he's like," Draco said with candor, his eyes unwavering. "Remember back in our second year, when you set Dobby free?" Harry nodded slowly, trying to recall that afternoon. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Your father was about to cast a spell on me, and Dobby stopped him," Harry said, trying to sum up what he remembered.
"That wasn't just a spell, Potter. He tried to kill you. But then again," Draco said thoughtfully, "if you've survived Avada Kedavra once, you must have been able to survive it twice."
"You mean he…" Harry drifted off, the stark realization hitting him in his gut. If Lucius Malfoy would kill Harry Potter-not just any twelve-year-old boy, but the Harry Potter-in the Hogwarts corridors only a few yards from Dumbledore's office, what was he capable of doing to his own son?
"Good Merlin," Harry whispered.
"Forget about it," Draco said. "If nobody can tell, they don't have to know. That means I don't want any of this going around. If I find that anyone knows about this, I will curse you straight through the stone walls of this castle."
Harry nodded uneasily. He felt horrible that Draco had to endure such at home; Harry had had to take the Dursleys' insults and abuse, but they were only Muggles. What if he'd been subjected to the same thing Draco had? Certainly, he wouldn't have been The Boy Who Lived for long.
"Good night, Harry," Draco said quickly, turning to go to the Slytherin rooms.
"Good night, Draco," Harry replied.
Harry watched Draco walk off and thoughtfully turned back to the Gryffindor tower. Hermione would doubtlessly be interested to know what had happened, but she'd still be horribly skeptical of Draco. Ron would think Harry was insane for even talking to Draco like a decent human being. Perhaps he was, but Harry was only doing what he felt was right.
Right on cue, Ron ran up to Harry the moment he was inside the portrait hole.
"What the blasted bloody blazes were you thinking, Harry?" he hissed. "No, I'll take that back. Were you thinking?" Harry sighed before explaining everything. Ron still had that look on his face that made Harry laugh inside, but he let Harry at least get through the portrait hole all the way.
He walked over to the fire and lazily threw himself onto a sofa. A startled cry made him jump up in a heartbeat; he looked down and saw Hermione where he'd just sat.
"I'm so sorry!" he said, sitting down next to her and putting his arms around her.
"I am, too," Hermione said.
"What? Oh…that. Look, I understand why you did what you did. Forget about it."
Hermione smiled at him before burying her face in his chest. Harry rested his chin on her silky brown hair, thankful that he had someone like Hermione. He didn't like relying on people, but he felt it was mutual between them.
"Thank you," Hermione whispered.
"For what?" Harry asked.
"For stopping me before I did something stupid. And for being my lover."
Harry smiled. "The first, I did because I had to. I love you because you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." Hermione smiled warmly back at him, pulling back from Harry's chest to look at his beautiful emerald eyes. They reflected the firelight into hers, illuminating her dark, hazel eyes for Harry to see.
He realized he'd never noticed how beautiful Hermione really was. He'd loved her, in the beginning, because she was intelligent, witty, brave, and loyal, not to mention that she was the best friend he'd ever had, aside from Ron. But now that he looked at her in the shimmering light of the fire, her eyes seemed to light up with a glow straight from heaven, and her hair seemed to him the softest thing in the world.
"What are you thinking about?" Hermione asked, seeing the pensive look on Harry's face.
"Thinking about what I can see that I couldn't before," he said gently. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Hermione said, wrapping her arms tightly around Harry's body. "I never want to let you go."
"You'll never have to," Harry replied, feeling the gentleness of her touch around him. At that moment, Harry knew that if nothing else on Earth was meant to be, he was meant to be in Hermione's arms, and she in his.
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I hope you all like it! I'll try to have the next chapter up tomorrow. Bye for now! Please review!