Chapter 10: Aftermath

Draco methodically counted out the caterpillar eggs that he needed for his potion. Professor Snape was busy writing the rest of the ingredients on the board and seemed oblivious to the low murmur that was coming from Potter and Weasley. Draco gritted his teeth and started to grind the eggs in his mortar. He refused to look at whatever it was that Potter and Weasley found so amusing. Looking at Potter and Weasley would mean looking at her as well. 

"Mudblood," he hissed under his breath. 

Draco had been fuming inwardly ever since that night a little less than a week ago. He had waited for the fall out from his actions to come. For the Slytherins to disown him, for the whispers that would follow him through the halls, and for Potter and Weasley's furious glares. But nothing had come of that night out on the Quidditch pitch except for Granger's absolute avoidance of him and a strange emptiness that he easily dismissed as nerves over the game. He'd believed that Granger had ignored him before, but it was different this time. She didn't meet him in the library anymore and he never saw her in their room. She was still doing an equal share of the work, but when she did it, he had no idea. The day after the Quidditch game he had waited up in the room off the library all day, partly to avoid the superior looks that he had been receiving from the Gryffindors, but also to confront Granger. He assured himself that it wasn't because he wanted to see her, but because he wanted to make sure that she kept her mouth shut about his transgression. But she never came. In Arithmancy she sat as far from him as possible considering that they shared a table. Draco found her stony silence more infuriorating than any taunt she had given him. What made it worse was that she acted like he wasn't even there. How dare she try to ignore a Malfoy?

Crabbe and Goyle flanked Draco as he started to leave the class. Wonder-boy Potter and Weasley were waiting for Granger who was having trouble getting her book bag to snap shut, she always seemed to have problems working the clasp. He had an odd inclination to stop and do it for her, but Thomas, another of the blasted Gryffindors had suddenly leaned over Granger's shoulder and did it instead. Draco felt a flash of anger as Granger graced the other boy with a brilliant smile. Draco brushed past them and out into the hall, Crabbe and Goyle struggling to keep up with him. 

"Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco turned sharply and found himself standing before the Hogwart's Headmaster. Crabbe and Goyle both stepped back from the aging professor and cast nervous looks at Draco.

"If I may have a word?" Professor Dumbledore smiled amiably at Draco and then turned and walked away, leaving Draco no choice but to follow after him. 

Professor Dumbledore walked merrily through one corridor and then another, smiling and nodding at the passing students. Draco was beginning to wonder how much longer they were going to keep walking when Dumbledore finally stopped. Draco looked around and saw nothing but a stone gargoyle. The headmaster turned to the door and said something in a low voice that Draco couldn't quite catch. The gargoyle stretched its stone legs and ambled aside. Draco's eyes widened but that was the only indication of surprise that he let pass. The headmaster only chuckled softly to himself at this and led Draco up to his office.

Draco sat stoically in front of Dumbledore's desk. The headmaster was gazing at him in a way that was making Draco very nervous. The expression that the headmaster wore was one of expectation. With a start Draco realized that he was waiting for him to start talking.

"You wanted to speak to me Professor Dumbledore?" Draco fought hard against the derisive drawl that wanted to creep into his voice. Professor Dumbledore might be a crazy old coot, but he was powerful.

"Well Mr. Malfoy, I was hoping that you had something to tell me." Dumbledore looked at Draco, his blue eyes twinkling.

Draco nervously looked away from the old man. It wasn't that he had told Granger not to say anything, but for some reason he had expected her not too. 

Dumbledore waited a few more minutes for Draco to say something but finally he sighed slightly and pulled a letter from his desk.

"Your father has sent for you. You are supposed to take the train from Hogsmeade back to London. He seems to think that your personal safety is at risk under my care." Dumbledore stopped and waited for Draco's reaction. His brilliant eyes had momentarily stopped twinkling.

Draco wanted to jump to his feet and yell no, tell Dumbledore that he didn't want to go to Lucius, explain to him that Lucius would kill him or worse. He wanted to tell Dumbledore everything but all that came from his mouth was, "I see. When will I be leaving?"

"Mr. Malfoy, I have become aware of a rumor about Death Eaters in Hogsmeade. I think they may have made an appearance during your last visit there. Am I correct?" Professor Dumbledore stopped again to wait for Draco's reaction.

Draco clenched his hands and glared at the floor. All of the fears that he'd had about returning to the manor suddenly transformed into anger. He had trusted her not to tell. Before he could stop himself, before he could remember that he was sitting in the office of an acclaimed muggle-lover, he hissed out a word that would have sent most wizards into a fit of rage.

"Mudblood"

Dumbledore arched an eyebrow at him. "I assume that by that delightful adjective you are referring to Ms. Granger?"

Draco continued to glare at the floor. He felt betrayed, he knew better than to actually trust someone, especially one of Potter's friends. They were probably all up in their common room now listening to Granger retell the story.

"Let me assure you Mr. Malfoy that Ms. Granger has not betrayed any of your confidences." 

Draco looked up and met Dumbledore's sparkling eyes and he realized that the headmaster wasn't just referring to the Hogsmeade trip. He could feel himself start to flush and stood up suddenly. 

"Was there anything else that you wanted to tell me headmaster?" He didn't want to sit here with the older man any more. He was getting very tired of the knowing glint in the headmaster's eyes. 

"No Mr. Malfoy, there wasn't anything more." Professor Dumbledore told him, the amusement was gone from his eyes as he watched Draco leave his office, an expression of pity on his face at the boy's retreating figure.



Draco sat on the edge of his bed and looked at his half packed trunk. He wasn't quite sure why he was bothering to pack, if Lucius was angry enough, he certainly wasn't going to need his belongings. He sighed and started to go over Quidditch moves in his head. Concentrating on Quidditch helped keep his mind off of the more pressing matters. He soon found himself replaying the recent game in his head, looking for where his mistakes were. But as he thought about the game it all seemed to speed up and he knew where it was leading. He tried not to let the moment repeat in his mind, but it was already too late and he could see her warm brown eyes filled with concern and doubt. He had kissed her because he had been angry. Angry at Potter, angry at the world for letting get so close to the Snitch and then fail to the wonder-boy yet again. He had wanted to hurt Potter, to take something that belonged to him and make it his own. He had kissed her hard, wishing that Potter could see what he was doing to his girl. And then it had all changed, he wasn't angry anymore; he was only aware of her and that suddenly she was kissing him back. And for the first time, he realized that she might not belong to Potter. For one brief moment he had even forgotten what she was, but then she pushed him away. How dare she push him away? He hadn't been able to believe it. He was Draco Malfoy after, he was handsome and charming and he knew it. And Granger, well Granger was just a mudblood, but she'd had the nerve to push him away. Once it was over he had realized almost right away his mistake. He had allowed bushy-haired, know-it-all Granger to kiss him. He was furious with her, and with himself. 

"Damn mudblood. I hate her." He muttered. 

He knew that he hated her, every time he saw her with her friends, she seemed to have so many smiling Gryffindors around her, he felt so angry. He wanted to grab her and shake her when he saw her with all of them looking so happy. But he couldn't understand why he wanted to see her now. 

"She's only a mudblood." 

Draco sat up and kicked his trunk closed as he walked out of the dorm. He had no idea where Crabbe and Goyle were and he didn't really care. He casually strolled the corridors not really knowing where he was going. Draco eventually found himself outside of the library doors. Walking through the various shelves he felt a sense of peace that he hadn't felt in a long time. There weren't any Death Eaters in here, no Voldemort to join, certainly no Lucius, and no Granger either. 

He sat in a straight backed chair up in their room and looked around at the piles of charts, there was still so much to do, so much that he wasn't going to get to finish. He knew that she still came here regularly, but he couldn't figure out when. The rolls of charts were always moved around a bit differently than when he had last been there. In the fireplace, fresh ashes lay in the grate as if she had been here last night. But that was impossible, he had been there last night, and he had worked without a fire. 

"So when could she possibly have come here and had a fire?" Draco mused to himself as he stood looking at the fireplace. 

He looked at the dark ashes and pictured it burning merrily, crackling and popping. He could see her sitting at the desk with her brow crinkled in concentration. A different image came to him then as he thought, she sat before him, her eyes casting widely about the room trying to avoid his gaze. Her cinnamon eyes coming to rest on the fire as she had told him about Potter's cloak.

"Of course, the cloak." 

Draco couldn't believe that he hadn't realized it before. Granger must be sneaking into the library after hours. It made sense, he would never have thought that Granger could be so daring, but there really wasn't any other way that she could be getting her work done. Draco glanced at his watch; the great hall would have stopped serving supper two hours ago. He only had to wait. 



It was midnight when the door to the room opened quietly. He couldn't see her, but he could sense her presence. Draco sat in a high-backed chair facing away from the door. The room was dark and she didn't know that he was there. He sat without moving, simply waiting for her to come closer. The door closed behind her and a tiny click told him that she had locked it. He could hear her moving gingerly around the crates in the dark room. She knelt before the fireplace and whispered a spell under her breath and flames sprung up happily, illuminating the dark room. She gave a small sigh of relief and turned around to see Draco. Her eyes went wide and she tensed but Draco was already out of the chair. She had only managed to take a step back when he grabbed both of her arms and jerked her away from the fire. Seeing her standing there; illuminated by the fire like some sort ethereal being looking at him like he was monster had made him furious. He jerked her around and shoved her back into a chair. A little gasp escaped her but she didn't cry out. Draco let go of her arms and she sank back into the chair. He grabbed the armrests and leaned towards her, glaring. She shrunk farther back into the chair and just stared at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"Don't look at me like that." He hissed at her, he found that he didn't like her looking at him like that; it was somewhat disturbing.

"Then stop scaring me," her voice was barely above a whisper and she trembled slightly. 

Draco stiffened and then let go of her chair. He slumped down into the chair across from her and rubbed his forehead. He expected her to try and escape the room now that he wasn't forcing her to stay, but she sat without moving. 

"It took me a while to figure out how you were getting work done without my knowing it." He told her softly.

"I didn't want to see you." She told him in that whispering voice of hers that seemed so shaken. 

Granger had finally stood up and gone over to pick her book bag off of the floor where it had dropped when he had grabbed her. He tried not to notice that her hand seemed to tremble when she reached out for it. 

"Well I didn't want to see you either." He snapped at her. He didn't know why he was here. He didn't want to see her, but here he was and he didn't understand. 

"Stupid Mudblood," he muttered. 

Granger looked up at him, her fearful eyes were quickly beginning to acquire a furious glint. She seemed to swell with rage in front of him and then she whipped her bag right at him. Draco was so astonished that he only just managed to duck in time.

"How dare you? Who do you think you are?" Granger's hands were clenched into fists and she was trembling with rage.

"Me?!" Draco had jumped to his feet after ducking away from the bag. "I'm the one that is stuck with a mudblood!" 

Granger's eyes flashed at him and then she lunged towards him. She moved faster than Draco would have imagined and before he could even react she had slapped him. Draco's jaw dropped and he stared at her in shock but then tensed as she tried to hit him again. He grabbed her hands and gave her a hard shake. 

"I hate that name! I hate it so much! How dare you call me that? How dare you call me something dirty like that when you're only a step away from being a death eater. I hate it, and I hate you!" She struggled against him but he held her arms firmly and leaned closer to her.

"Well you won't have to put up with it anymore Granger," he whispered menacingly. 

"Please, don't tell me that my dreams have actually come true?" She snapped.

"I'm going home Granger, back to the manor, back to Lucius." He told her acidly. 

"What? Y...you can't do that. You can't go there. Not after what he did." Her furious eyes again held that concerned warmth that he found so compelling. She had stopped struggling against him and just stood staring. 

"You don't even know what he did Granger." He told her and then released her arms. He stepped back from her and looked into the fire. He felt suddenly tired.

"Well I can guess, I know that it wasn't anything good. You can't go." She told him sharply.

"He's sent for me, I don't have a choice. I'm leaving in a few days for London." Draco didn't look at her but was very surprised when she touched his shoulder; he hadn't heard her approach.

"Talk to Dumbledore, tell him what happened. You can trust him. If you tell him that you don't want to go, he won't let your father take you." Her amber eyes were fixed on his now.

"That crazy old man can't help me." He snapped at her.

"He's not crazy, he's brilliant!" Granger's eyes flashed angrily for a moment but then were filled with concern again. "Draco, you can't go back, you're not one of them." 

He started when she used his name, a sudden memory came to him, he hadn't remembered until now. "Draco please..." She had used his name before, after the manticore attack. It sounded strangely right coming from her. 

"How do you know that I'm not one of them?" He asked her softly.

"Because you told me that you weren't, and I believe you." She whispered.

Draco's eyes widened when she said this. He could see the trust in her eyes. He raised a hand and tucked a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail back behind her ear. Granger stiffened with this contact but she didn't back away. Draco let his hand gently touch her cheek and his fingers delicately traced her jawbone. Granger trembled ever so slightly. Draco leaned towards her, he had no idea why he was doing what he was doing, but he gently let his lips brush against hers. His fingers found their way to the back of her neck and he let himself stroke her curly hair. He looked at Granger's face; her eyes had drifted shut as she waited for him to kiss her. Forcing all of his doubts down, Draco tightened his grip on her hair and kissed her. She was leaning into him and her delicate hand came to rest on his shoulder. Draco deepened his kiss, wondering how kissing Granger could be better than kissing anyone else. He pulled her closer and pressed down harder on her mouth, caressing her lips with his tongue. The slender hand on his shoulder tightened on his robe and then abruptly pushed him back. 

"I...I need to go." She whispered in a hoarse voice and pulled away from him. "You'll talk to Dumbledore, right?" 

Draco nodded at her. He was forcing himself to take deep breaths, to calm down. He didn't understand it. At least the other time that he had kissed her he'd had a reason for doing it. This time though, there was no reason, no excuse. Granger pulled a silvery cloak out of her bag and slipped it on, she glanced at him before she pulled it up over her head. The door opened, closed, and then she was gone. Draco realized that he liked kissing her, and even more disturbing, a part of him wanted to kiss her more.