The Blind Dragon

by Aikan
 
 

Chapter 4
Drache Blind
 

Hermione's POV

Dumbledore looked up quickly when he heard us approaching. His eyes were bright, falsely bright. He
smiled kindly.

"He's doing well for his condition," he said, and motioned us into a classroom a little way down the hallway.
When inside, he put a silencing charm on the room so that no one could listen at the door. Then he looked
at us in grim silence. I was the first to speak..

"What is his condition?" Silence followed.

"That green light, known as Padamenta, was sent by Voldermort." Both Ron and I nodded impatiently,
wanting more details.

"How it broke through the barriers, I don't know. The only way it could possibly happen is through a traitor
to this school summoning it while someone else, presumably Voldermort and 5 or 6 Death Eaters, was trying
to push it through. As for Harry.. It was meant to do much worse but thankfully didn't succeed. However, it
will be a week or two until he is strong enough to resume his normal classes."

There was a very pregnant silence. Harry...out for a week...there's no way...a traitor... All these thoughts
rushed through my brain as I stood there, confused. Ron wore a similar expression. Finally, he turned to
Dumbledore.

"What was it?" he asked quietly.

Dumbledore paused for a moment, as if hesitating to tell us what it was because of its severity. But he
continued. "A form of the Avada Kedavra curse. It takes an enormous amount of power from several
people and therefore can be sent a great distance. The traitor on the inside was alone, as far as we could
tell, because the force pulling it in was weak compared to the force of what must have been 6 or 7 death
eaters. The school's defences did their best, and luckily Harry was only weakened. Not that the fall from
his broom helped," he added. Once again, a large silence. Ron and I were too shocked to comment.
"Regardless, we don't have an idea who the inside traitor was." He looked at both of us expectantly. I
averted my eyes, and let Ron say it.

"Malfoy." he growled. "Who else? He hates Harry more than anyone, and with his father, I wouldn't put
anything past him." He finished, a strange glint in his eye. This time Malfoy had gone too far with him. And
with me too. Dumbledor nodded sagely.

"I think it's time we have a talk with him." he said slowly. We nodded simultaneously. Walking towards his
office, we passed Professor Snape, to whom he whispered something that made Snape's eyes grow wide
and walk quickly off in the other direction. I assumed he'd been sent to fetch Malfoy. I shuddered at the
thought of him. What a jerk. Doing this to Harry, right under our noses. That evening's conversation came
back to me. The bootlicker. How fitting. I felt anger well up in me as I thought of Harry barely conscious
for an entire week. He'd be caught. Oh yes, he would be caught.
 

Draco's POV

I looked up as Professor Snape walked into the common room, looking rather perturbed. It was unusual
that he come in at all: he wasn't exactly what you'd call a people person. He looked around quickly, then
focussed on me.

"Malfoy." he said sharply, his eyes holding a sharp glint. "Come with me please." I nodded to Pansy who
I'd been talking to, and followed him out the door.

As we walked down the hallway, nothing was said. Snape seemed deep in thought, and he didn't even look
at me. Just as I was about to ask why he'd brought me all this way, we a limping shape turning the corner
bumped into me. The boy, as was revealed when he disengaged himself from me, stepped backwards as
if in fear. It was Colin Creevey.

"What are you doing here at this time of night?" Snape asked harshly. Colin shrunk back even more.

"I...forgot some p..papers in the Astronomy tower, sir." Snape eyed him suspiciously.

"And you only returned to get them now?" he asked.

"Yes..I was working in the library on a project until now, and I realized they were missing.." he shivered
again, managing to look totally frightened. Snape seemed happy with his answer.

"Fine. But if I catch you again it'll be house points lost," he glared at him, "understand?".

I don't think Colin heard him because he was already halfway down he corridor. We kept on walking,
and withing a few moments were stopped at a gargoyle. He whispered something to it and it moved aside,
revealing a sliding door. After a few steps I found myself in a circular room containing Professor
Dumbledore, Ron Weasley, and - hoooh boy- one very angry looking Hermione. I froze. Brown eyes
glared at me, with enough feeling and vehemence to knock me flat. After a moment of silence, Dumbledore
looked me in the eye.

"Have a seat, Mr. Malfoy." He wasn't joking. What had happened? It had to be something about Potter,
with only the two of them there. Great. Bloody Potter getting me pulled into something I didn't want to again.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here," stated Dumbledor, "so I'll not keep you wondering. Mr.
Potter was magically attacked today by Voldermort." I flinched at the name. "It is believed that you, not
being a... friend of his, might have been involved." My mouth dropped open. Accusing me..I could see
the reasons why, but still..I had nothing to do with the Dark Lord's plans. I barely ever got wind of what
was happening, not being a "trusted" member of their group yet. And that had been just fine with me. I
didn't want to know. But now, I looked around in shock at the faces looking seriously, murderously, and
confusedly at me, I knew that I had been too close to the Dark side to be trusted.

"I swear I didn't...really...h-how, what happened?" I asked. I hadn't meant to sound weak, but I guess I
was surprised into it. This only made Weasley glare harder.

"A green flash came from nowhere and struck him. He fell a good 35 feet from his broom to add to the
injury." His eyes never left me. I looked up quickly as he described what had hit Potter. Before thinking,
I blurted, "But I don't even understand how the Padamenta curse works! I had nothing to do with it!" my
mouth snapped shut as I realized that I had just given away the little I actually did know. Ron snapped
his head towards me. His eyes betrayed how mad he really was.

"So, what are you saying?" he asked, his voice deathly quiet. "You're saying that you know the exact
name of a rare curse that has barely been described, and expect us to believe you? That after 6 years
of trying to hurt Harry," his voice was getting louder every moment, and his anger was getting hotter
and hotter, "we'll believe you when you say that you ‘didn't do it'? Come on, you gutless, half-formed,
lying little-"

"Ron."

Hermione, now standing up with an arm on his sleeve, looked at me, her eyes clear with realisation and
pain. His head swung around wildly to look at her. She took a deep breath.

"He didn't do it."

If anything could make him any more angry, she had just said it. He shuddered violently.
"You believe this?", he asked, pointing at me. "He's lied through his teeth to get us into trouble before,
and now, when it comes to Harry nearly being killed, you decide to test this worm's credibility? Come
on, I thought you were smarter than that." he paused to let his words sink in.

She looked him in the eye, and, her voice only a notch above a whisper, said, "He was with me the whole
time. He didn't do it."

Ron looked disbelievingly at her. He seemed to shrivel up and loose all his energy and anger. He fell onto
a chair. He looked tired, worn, and most of all worried. There was silence. Then Dumbledore cleared his
voice.

"I think that this has been a long enough day for all of us. Mr. Weasley, you can go back to your dorm.
Please don't worry, Harry will get better, just in a bit of time. Good night." Ron, barely looking strong
enough to walk now that his angry energy had left him drained, left. We all sat still until we head the sliding
door close.

"Well," he started, then paused at a noise. He whispered a charm, smiled apologetically at us, then started
again. "I'm glad that you told us that fact, Hermione. Without it, Mr. Malfoy would have been,..what's that
Muggle saying? Up the drain-pipe without a paddle? Oh, yes, the river. However, I'm afraid that because
there are no other suspects at this time, your actions will be closely monitored." He gave me a shrewd look.
"Apart from that, you may go. Good night." Hermione stayed seated and, in one last look back into the
room, all I saw was a head of brown hair. I walked down the steps and slowly out the door. What a night...
 

Hermione's POV

Dumbledore only kept me for a few extra minutes, probing a little deeper into my story, nodding his head,
and punctuating almost everything he said with a ‘hmm..'. Finally, he let me go, giving me one last piece of
guidance.

"Ron should be..calmed down by morning. Do explain to him - it will make things easier." I nodded, thanked
him, and headed down the stairs. I walked out the door and watched the gargoyle close. Incredible magical
things, I thought sleepily. Wonder what Newton would think of that.." I yawed.

A hand reached out of the darkness, covered my mouth, and pulled me into a darker corner. I attempted to
scream, but the hand muffled my efforts. The body pushed me gently but firmly into the wall to stop me from
kicking out. I stopped my futile efforts. Who was this person? Was it the person who had injured Harry,
now after me? Panic began to set in.

"Promise you won't scream?" asked a hushed voice. I recognised it slightly, but panic clouded my thoughts.
I started to struggle again. He (because the person's height, build and strength made that obvious) held me
closer, hugging me against the wall to hold me still. He leaned his head closer to mine, lips only centimetres
from my ear.

"Hermione?" he whispered. The fog in my mind cleared. It was the voice of Draco Malfoy. I relaxed in his
grip. Abruptly, I was aware of the closeness of our bodies. Him holding me tightly against the wall, my hands
against his shoulders. His hand having been removed from my mouth, was now resting on my cheek, stroking
it gently.

And you know what? It felt nice.

We stood there for a moment, just comfortable with each other. Then the stroking stopped. My eyes
fluttered open; I'd been so relaxed for a few seconds that I'd let them droop.

Oh no..this was where his eyes, if I could see them, would turn cold and he would push me away, suddenly
realising how wrong what we were doing was. I then would return to bed confused but with a little hunch
that it meant more than I thought. Then he'd go and do something horrible to one of my friends. Right?

Wrong

Instead, he slowly, gently, started to pull my face towards his. It felt so natural. I let him lead me. His lips
found the perfect place and we stood there for a moment, waiting to see what the other did. Neither moved,
and instinctively I gently nudged against him a little harder, his arms encircling my waist and pulling me snug.
It was a light kiss, not too long and when we came out of it, we stood for just one moment, our heads, noses,
lips only an inch separate. For that one moment, everything came crashing back: the rivalries, Harry, the fights,
the houses... And at that moment, we vanquished it. We broke through the house tension, the fighting, and
could let it all to just do one thing: love.

People often say that forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. Tonight as we kissed, we proved that theory wrong.
Draco tasted just as good, maybe even better, when I knew that I could have him.
 
 
 

A/N I'll leave it at that today. I'm afraid I'm leaving for a 5-day ski holiday, no access to comps, sorry everyone,
so it won't be updated for at least that long =(. However, the series is far from over (as long as I don't kill myself
skiing), and I will continue it as soon as I get back. Love, -Aikan
 

Back to Chapter 3
Chapter 5