Fallen: A Thwarted Love Story, 8/12
Feb. 2nd, 2011 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bleedingangel84Harry made short work of pulling his cloak tightly around him, hoping against hope that the two lovers had not seen or heard him. Breathing a quick sigh of relief, he noted that they appeared too wrapped up in one another to have noticed anything amiss. With the immediate danger of his discovery past, Harry set to work trying to process what he had witnessed.
What would Hermione be doing with Malfoy? Harry couldn’t understand it. He felt as though the world as he knew it had come to an abrupt and jarring end. Malfoy had always been a git, especially to Hermione. Yet, here he was kissing her as if his continued existence depended on that action alone. Even more puzzling was the fact that Hermione responded to him in kind. Still frozen in shock from what he’d witnessed, Harry nearly missed the quiet farewells of the couple as they separated for the night.
* * *
Hurriedly disappearing into the entrance behind the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione seemed to float up the staircase to the girls’ dormitories, while Draco looked on to make sure she had gotten in undetected. The young Malfoy’s expression was tense as he looked around warily. The last thing he needed was to be caught lurking around Gryffindor Tower, especially with that accursed Mark burnt into his skin like a brand. Potter would have me jailed if he knew Hermione and I were together. Surely, it is quite unthinkable for a Death Eater to love a Gryffindor, much less the best mate of the Boy-Who-Lived, Draco mused to himself. Subconsciously tracing the outline of the Dark Mark through his robes, Draco silently thanked his lucky stars that Potter didn’t know of his ersatz affiliation with the Death Eaters. Hermione would be lost to him should Potter find out.
Walking silently back to the Slytherin dungeons, Draco had no idea that one of his worst fears had just been realized.
* * *
Harry’s eyes seemed to burn as he remained hidden under his Invisibility Cloak. He had seen Malfoy tracing that all-too-familiar pattern on his arm, and knew what it meant. He had expected to feel vindicated with the knowledge that Malfoy was indeed a Death Eater, but instead he felt only a deep sense of confusion and sadness on Hermione’s behalf. There is no way she could have been aware of this. Otherwise, she never would have let things progress so far with the lousy ferret. Maybe I should tell her what I know.That would serve the lying Slytherin right in the end. The Gryffindor’s vindictive thoughts came to a halt when he remembered the dreamy light in Hermione’s eyes as she and Draco had kissed. Harry had never seen her look so happy. Though he was reluctant to destroy that, he was willing to pay any price if it meant safeguarding Hermione from Voldemort. Merlin only knows what havoc he and Voldemort’s other followers may wreak if they aren’t stopped in time. He knew then that he had to tell her, regardless of her feelings for Malfoy. It was only a question of when.
* * *
The next few weeks found Draco with little time to spend on romantic matters as his mind was constantly pulled toward thoughts of battling Voldemort. Every spare moment was filled with the study and practice of Dark hexes and curses as well as powerful Shielding Spells. He knew that one would be foolish to go against Voldemort unprepared. He did not have the advantage of Potter’s luck in battle, but he possessed certain cunning of his own that he was determined to exploit to the fullest of his rather impressive abilities. Though he held prodigious fear of the creature he had been raised to know as his master, the thought of being free to share his love with Hermione openly was enough to inspire him to carry on with his training. His eyes would often drift over toward the Gryffindor table, only to catch Harry eyeing him with utmost malevolence. That in itself was nothing unusual, though he had several moments of anxiety wondering if Potter had somehow found him out. But if that were the case, he knew, Hermione would have hexed him faster than he could say “Rita Skeeter”. But, she had not. He could only wonder what exactly Potter was playing at, and hope that his whole plan did not come crashing down before he had a chance to confess all to Hermione. He could feel that the time to face Voldemort was growing nearer, and hoped only that he would live to tell the tale when the fight was done.