I don't own Harry Potter. All I have for myself is my original plot. Well, I hope it's one of a kind and I did add some characters of my own…They're basically characters not mentioned in any of the Installment of the HP books, now those are mine... This is the fourth part. Hope yah like it as much as the ones before it.
Chapter 4: Of Family and Death
After the Beginning Term Feast, Harry and Hermione lead the other prefects out of the Great Hall. The Prefects assisted the first years as well as the other students from their house towards their respective common rooms.
Harry, Hermione and Ron were left by the Portrait hole, which was the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"I have to get inside then. I think Lavender is waiting," Ron said mischievously to Harry and Hermione.
"Whatever happens mate, don't ever get caught," Harry joked and Hermione nudged him on the side.
"See you around Ron," Hermione said as he entered the common room. Their new password was `Chocolate Frogs'.
"I see he's happy," Harry exclaimed as he took Hermione's hand in his. "Now we have to look for Professor McGonagall so we can finally see where we will be staying.
"I'm glad he is. At least I'm not the only one happy around here," she muttered as she leaned her head on his shoulder. For the past two years Hermione loosened up a bit. She was still very sturdy when it comes to studying but the female side of her got out eventually. She started to put a little make- up nothing much just some lip-gloss and a blush not like she really needed it because when she looks up at Harry she seemed to be as rosy as ever.
They found Professor McGonagall in the Transfigurations classroom. She was currently going through some papers when she noticed the two entered the classroom.
"Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger I've been expecting you. I assume everyone is inside their respective common rooms?" she asked the two.
"Yes, Professor. We made sure everyone is settled in," Hermione answered for the both of them.
"Come along now. No time should be wasted. It's a big day tomorrow, the start of the classes. You two need all the rest you can get," she said as she rose to her seat and went straight to exit the door. Harry and Hermione followed her.
They found themselves in front of the Portrait of Godric Gryffindor that was only 10 paces away from the Portrait hole to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"What would you want your password to be?" McGonagall asked.
"You decide Hermione," Harry said.
"Well, friendship would be nice," she exclaimed.
"Friendship, it shall be," they heard the portrait say and the portrait hole opened. Inside was a smaller version of the Gryffindor Common Room. All things in it were either scarlet or gold. There was also a smaller hearth that was already lit with two couches right in front. There were study tables with lamps on one side of the room.
"Both of you will share this common room. You both have separate rooms if you go up that stairs you will find two doors facing each other. The one on the Right is your room Mr. Potter and the one on the left is yours Ms. Granger. You also have your own baths, which are located in your rooms as well. There is a secret passage you can use to go to any part of the castle instantly. It's behind that big red curtain over there. All you have to do is say the place you will go to before opening the door and when you pass through to the other side you're already there, " she said as she pointed to the big curtain beside the staircase to their rooms.
"This is great. Now I would never be late for Potions," Harry exclaimed.
Hermione just laughed quietly.
"If you will need anything two house elves are at your disposal. Dobby and Winky, they were both eager to assist you. All you have to do is call their names and snap your fingers," McGonagall said. "I shall leave you now. Good night, Mr. Potter, Ms, Granger. And oh… may I remind you Mr. Potter I know you have a liking for breaking the rules I hope to see more maturity from you this year." And with that McGonagall left them.
"This is awesome. We can invite Ron over. Now we have a place of our own," Harry exclaimed as he sat on the couch.
"Yes, we can but we also have to be responsible about our newly found privileges Harry. We still have to be good role models to those new Gryffindors and probably to the whole school," Hermione reminded him as she dropped right beside him.
"That would be a lot easier for me specially when I have you," he said as he leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.
That night they drift into deep slumber in each other's arms. They were sound asleep in the couch by the roaring fire of their own common room.
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Draco was lying in his bed. He was having a very bad dream. Someone in a place that looked awfully familiar to Draco was chasing his mother. She was running by the big fields near the Malfoy Manor. It was very dark and the rain was pouring very hard. His mother was screaming out. Asking for the man to stop. The man was angry and he hit Draco's mother so hard that she fell to the ground. She stood up and was running away. She was trying to get away from the man. Draco couldn't see who he was but he knew that she was scared of him. His mother was almost at the edge of the fields getting closer to the cliff. She was still trying to run away from the man and she was begging for him to stop hurting her. She begged him to stop what he was doing. She begged him not to make her son a death-eater. Then the vision of his mother falling down the cliff with her hands held up trying to ask for help. And the last word she heard her say was his name, "DRACO!"
He sat up from his bed all sweaty. His dream was so vivid. He saw his own mother die. He was so scared. `What if it's true?' he asked himself. He could hear himself breathe loudly. Now he wanted to see her, to see if she's okay. He loved his mother so much. She was the only person who understood him. Draco couldn't stop himself from crying. Good thing he was hidden behind his bed curtains, he wouldn't want the other Slytherins to see him in that state. He just sat there on his bed. He couldn't get back to sleep, the nightmare he had about his mother dying a most frightful way might haunt him again.
When it was almost dawn Draco got out of his bed took a hot shower, got dressed and went on with his early rounds. He got used to walking around the Dungeons while everyone's still snoring in bed. He would usually be the first one to go to the Great Hall for breakfast a habit he had gone used to since his first year as a Prefect. The only two people he would see there as early as he was, was Potter and Granger, whom he despised a lot or does he really? He could have sworn he wanted to make friends with Potter when he first met him in Madam Malkin's Boutique before he started at Hogwarts. Well, it was not like he knew who Harry was back then. He must have gone on the wrong foot by talking about Hagrid in an awful way. He even made an effort to talk Potter into joining him and his two friends on their first day at Hogwarts. It wasn't like Crabbe and Goyle were good friends to him, they were more like bodyguards who can't think on their own. Potter would have been a great alley but why would he do that. He's father had always told him he belongs to the other side, the evil side.
Draco finished his rounds at the Dungeons when he finally decided to go to the Great Hall. He got up from the dungeons and entered the entrance hall when he saw Ginny ascend from the flight of stairs most probably also on her way to the Great Hall.
"Why are you up so early?" he asked her. Not in his usual sarcastic tone. He didn't feel like portraying the Bratty Git that morning.
Ginny was a bit stunned by the question, especially since it came from Draco Malfoy. There were no traces of sarcasm in his question so she answered him.
"I just got up early. Didn't feel like staying stuck in bed when I'm actually wide-awake already. How about you?" she asked, and Merlin forbid she even gave him a smile.
He was uncertain but he smiled back at her, "I couldn't get any sleep at all."
They walked through the deserted Great Hall together. They moved towards their own house tables. They were the only two people in the hall and they were seated separately. Food appeared right in front of them just as they settled in their seats. Draco was about to start on his toast when he heard Ginny ask him a question.
"Come again?" he said, he didn't quite got what she just said.
"I said would you like to seat here and eat with me?" She slightly blushed. "No one's around and it's awfully lonely eating here alone," she said as she motioned him to join her.
He was quit reluctant about joining her but he also felt lonely and he finally decided to make his way to where she was. He thought that since no one was around to see them it wouldn't do him any harm eating with a Gryffindor. `Father, would probably hit me hard if he found out,' he shoved the thought away from his head and started to eat. He was now sitting across from Ginny at the Gryffindor table. They were awfully quiet at the beginning they just focused on the food on their plates.
"You're house must be almost as big as Hogwarts?" she asked trying to loosen up a bit.
"You could say that," Draco answered. If any of the Slytherins were around he could have been discussing to her the big rooms they have in the Manor. He'd probably compare his house to the Burrow and make fun of her in front of his crowd but at that moment he felt he could be himself. Just like him when he was around his mother. Of course he has to be the nasty sturdy boy when his father was around but in those moments alone with his mother he was just a regular teenage boy.
Ginny, didn't expect him to say too little about his home. She remembered his brother talking about how arrogant and blatant Draco was when he talked about his rich family and his very big house. This side of Draco that she was witnessing overwhelmed her. Harry, Hermione or even her brother would probably say she's making up stories if she told them about her breakfast with Draco. They talked about many things that they had in common. Surprisingly, they had a lot of them. Ginny even if she hated Snape like the rest of the Gryffindors, loved Potions. She was actually very good at it. Draco was also well of in that subject. He was almost as good as Granger but then again she was good at everything. Draco just had an upper hand since he was a Slytherin and Snape favored him a lot. They talked about the advance potions that Draco planned to work on this year. He even asked Ginny if she wanted to help. She actually agreed.
They were done with breakfast and instinctively Draco stood up from his seat.
"Ginny I was sorry about being rude to you yesterday and I better go now. You wouldn't want any of your Gryffindor friends or your brother seeing you with me," he said and he was about to walk out of the room.
"Thanks Draco and forget about yesterday," she said and gave him a beaming smile. "See you tomorrow."
He looked back at her and smiled, "Of course I'll be here," then he made his way towards the door.
Draco was in such a good mood that morning, he almost forgot about his dreadful dream about his mother. He was almost at the door of the Great Hall when Harry, Hermione and Ron entered the hall. Ron saw Ginny still on her seat.
"What were you doing with my sister?" Ron asked Draco with a stern voice.
"Weasel, I just had my breakfast and I never got near your sister. So if you don't mind my time is wasted here," Draco retorted and went past the trio. He couldn't believe he just lied about Ginny. `She heard what I said. I guess I won't be seeing her tomorrow,' he told himself.
"Ron, Draco surely won't talk to Ginny. You should know, that she's your sister. You think she'll actually go near him," Hermione tried to reason.
"She's right Ron. And in the looks of Ginny's face I don't think Draco bothered her at all," Harry seconded.
Ron couldn't believe what he was hearing from his friends. They were actually taking Draco's side. He just kept silent as they made their way to Ginny.
"What were you doing with that git?" Ron asked his sister with great authority.
"Ron, we didn't even talk and why would I? It's not like were friends," she lied. `I can't believe I'm lying to my own brother,' she thought.
"Good. Just stay away from that prat," Ron told his sister. "He's no good. You know he hates all of us."
"Ron, I don't think Ginny can avoid Draco as much we can. She's a prefect and Draco is too," Hermione reasoned.
"I can't believe this Hermione. After all the things that he had said about you…" Ron tried to argue.
"Ron, I'm not saying that Ginny should be close to Draco. I mean that it's silly but they can't avoid each other because they are both Prefects," she said.
"Here we go again. You guys shouldn't argue about this. For all we know Ginny was right. They never even talked. Right Ginny?" Harry asked her.
"Yup. Ron, I don't know why you're being so paranoid. Maybe I should call down Lavender so she'll relax you a bit," she grinned at him and left heading back to the Gryffindor Tower. `Is being friends with Draco such a bad thing?' she kept asking herself on her way out.
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Harry and Hermione attended to their duties of helping the first years to find their classes then they went to their own room. They had Transfiguration, Charms and Care for Magical Creatures.
The days went fairly well for all of them. Ron and Lavender are finally together, officially. Hermione and Harry aren't having problems as of the moment with their duties. Harry was getting ready for the coming Quidditch matches up on late October. They have an exceptionally good line up since Harry became Captain in his fifth year. Since Fred, George and Katie graduated from Hogwarts there were some new recruits in addition to the ones who replaced Oliver Wood, Angelina and Alicia. Ron was made the Gryffindor Keeper on their fifth year, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan their Beaters got in right after Fred and George left, Collin Creevey and Ginny Weasley took over after Alicia and Angelina and Tina Farrow became a chaser after Katie Bell graduated. They had been a very unbeatable team since Harry took over.
Hermione had been very supportive of his endeavors and she'd been helping him cope up with schoolwork since he had so many things going around. They spend most of their free time with Ron or the two of them would just stay in their common room by the fire on their favorite couch.
Ginny had developed a habit of getting up early and being the first one in the Great Hall. Hermione was the first one to notice this.
It was almost October and the Quidditch game would be starting. The students were all in the Great Hall having their lunch when Professor McGonagall accompanied by Professor Snape came in and asked for Draco to come with them. He was eating with his usual circle of friends namely Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and Millicent. He stood up and followed the two professors who both had fairly gloomy expressions on their faces.
"Wonder what they want with Draco?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione.
"Maybe he did something awful on some young Gryffindors and McGonagall found out. Maybe Snape is representing him like an attorney," Ron joked while he ate his roast chicken heartily.
"I don't think so. Professor McGonagall had a very sympathetic look on her face," Hermione pointed out.
"Then they might be telling him some really bad news then," Harry said.
Ginny was only listening to her brother and his friends' conversation, when the owls came in dropping off letters and parcels to the students.
Harry got a letter from Sirius who was with Remus tracking down death eaters. Finally the ministry had finally got some sense back and realized that the dark lord had truly made a come back.
Hermione a letter from her parents and Ron got a letter from Bill and a copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry was about to read Sirius' letter when the headline of the Daily Prophet took his attention:
Narcissa Malfoy Dead: Fell of a Cliff near Malfoy Manor
Harry's eyes widened. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. A picture of the dead body of Draco's mother was being inspected in the scene of the crime ministry enforcers. Even he felt sorry for Draco. He knew what it felt like to lose a parent after all he lost both. He showed the paper to Ron and Hermione.
"So that's why they wanted to talk to him." Ron almost yelled. "His mother died!"
"Poor Draco, it must be really hard for him," Hermione said sympathetically.
Even Ron felt sorry for Draco, not that he trusted him or anything but the lose of a parent must be really painful and Ron for one wouldn't want to experience it.
Ginny had heard enough. Draco needed her and she had to be by his side. Even if Ron protested against it she had to be there for him and with that she stood up and ran out of the Great Hall.
Ron was startled by Ginny's great exit. She almost caught everyone's attention. Hermione on the other hand figured out something that had been puzzling her about Ginny. She whispered something to Harry. She carefully told him her theory, doing it as softly as possible so Ron wouldn't hear her. Ron was at the moment very engrossed with reading the paper.
The body of Mrs. Narcissi Malfoy was found below a 300 ft. deep cliff near the Malfoy Manor. Lucius Malfoy, her husband had reported her missing the night before. He said that he had not seen his wife the whole day and got very worried. He called all his associates and family friends asking about her where about but he did not succeed in finding her so he asked for the help of the Ministry. The morning after his report, the body of his wife was found. Almost every bone broken from the very deep fall. He said in an interview and we quote: "Voldemort could have commanded one of his death eaters to kidnap and kill my wife because my son had testified that he had seen Peter Pettigrew at his sixth year. For all we know my life or my son's might already be in danger."
We in the Daily Prophet would like to extend our deepest Condolence to the Malfoys in this very unfortunate occurrence.
"Do you actually believe this?" Ron asked Harry.
"I don't know. But I have a feeling he had something to do with this," he told Ron.
"I have to agree with Harry. It's just so easy for this things to happen when people are starting to doubt him if he's really not involved with You-know-who," Hermione said.
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Ginny reached the door to professor's Snape's office in the dungeons. She had thought of coming in but hesitated so she just waited outside pacing around like worried parent.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall said before leaving the room. Draco followed her out of Snape's office.
Draco saw Ginny waiting for him outside Snape's office. He walked up to her really not knowing what to do.
"Draco, I'm so sorry," she told him and held him in a comforting embrace.
Draco didn't say anything but he felt a lot better having her near him. A while back in Professor Snape's room he felt like the whole dungeon was going to collapse over him any moment. His mother was found somewhere near their own house. They said she fell off the cliff. He remembered his reoccurring dreams of his mother. `Were those premonitions of what had happened?' he asked himself. `I didn't do anything about it.'
From the looks on Draco's face Ginny knew he was blaming himself for not being there for his mother. For the past month that she met Draco in the Great Hall for their very early breakfast meetings, he mentioned those disturbing dreams about his mother dying. Back then; she thought that he just missed her a lot and that he was just worried about her. They really never spoke about his father because Draco usually avoided that subject. She held him closely. He was crying now. It was the first time he saw him in that miserable state. All of the bad things that she thought about Draco had faded. He wasn't the arrogant, blatant, pathetic and sarcastic boy she knew since she entered Hogwarts. The young man she was holding in an embrace was a sensitive and understanding individual that she had only met for almost a month. And now he was broken and weak and she knew that she had to be there to help him pick up the pieces.
Draco was so thankful to have her with him. He was over flowing with grief and her mere presence gave him enough hope and reason to move on. She made him see so many things differently in just one month. He had learned from her a lot of things in just a short period of time. Crabbe and Goyle in the almost seven years they had been together thought him well, to be bossy and arrogant. She even pointed out the good side of being friends with Potter, Granger and her brother. Good thing those Gryffindor didn't realize he was getting soft. And he wasn't sure whether he liked it or not.
`My mother is dead. Why did she have to leave me like this? I still need you mother. Why on earth did you have to leave me? Why did you have to die that way?' he's mind was screaming. Then he realize he was sobbing very hard and Ginny was still there with him, holding him, trying very hard to make him feel better.
To be continued…….
[n/a]: Geez… my stories had been developing so slowly and because of this I had to do something about it. I finally skipped a month in their stay at school. I thought I would be making a 1 day at Hogwarts, one chapter routine so I really had to break the trend. I hope you like this chapter. I enjoyed writing this one. If you have time please read my other works. Just click my author name and you'll see a list of the stuff I've done. Thanks for reading and please review. I like reading reviews, helps my writing a lot.