Something to Remember

Chapter 5: This Used to Be My Playground

Draco sat in his dormitory, so upset. He had gone up after Hermione had slapped Pansy, not wanting to deal with any of the drama any longer, and had an owl waiting for him from his father. In the letter, his father told him that he had played his cards right and got great information that was asked out of Crabbe and Goyle Senior and Snape, and that they were now being quite cruel to him, as they had wanted the honor to themselves. His father also told him to not let down his guard at school around Vincent and Gregory, as their families were no longer friendly, out of envy.

That explains today. Draco was depressed. He had no one now. Not his followers who looked up to him because their fathers have clearly told them the Malfoys were enemies in stealing their glory. The other Slytherins all seemed to think he and Hermione were dating, so he had no one. He was alone now. And to think, last year he had been something of a leader to his fellow Slytherins ....

What about Hermione? She clearly was standing up for you, not just herself. It was fabulous what she did ... though she's never acted like that, has she? So she's really fed up, I suppose. But she's making an effort with you isn't she? She invited you to sit with her ... and she's quite great, isn't she? Such a good friend to her friends, having her as a friend could be great ... well, had he ever had a real friend - other than girls wanting to get into his pants and guys who looked up to him, that is?

It was so much to think about, really. And next, he would have Transfiguration with the Gryffindors, just to endure, if possible, more torment. But then again, Pansy might be afraid of Hermione now ... hopefully. If anyone says anything else to any of us, I'll personally curse them into oblivion. Draco got his bag and left to Transfiguration.

He walked in, and there were two unoccupied seats: one next to Blaze (who suddenly put her bag down on the seat next to her) and one next to Hermione in the front. The tables sat four, and on the other side of her were of course, Harry and Ron. He sat next to Hermione anyway. He really did want to talk to her anyway, he had no one else, and if Potty and the Weasel had a problem with that, then they could fuck off. "Hey." He grinned at her. He didn't care that all around him people were staring at him and sniggering at him.

"Hey," she said kindly. They didn't have much time to talk after that, though, because Professor McGonagall told the class to settle down.

Immediately their professor began preaching about their O.W.L.s to them. "As you know, you O.W.L.s scores will determine your future -- where you will able to proceed in your studies, and what kind of career field you will eventually be able to go into. I cannot possibly stress the importance of your O.W.L.s any more than I have already done -- I must beg you to take your 5th year most seriously, and study ambitiously, to therefore achieve as many O.W.L.s as you are capable of," expressed Professor McGonagall sternly, as though a single student did not know the O.W.L.s were very important. Most of the students seemed to understand Professor McGonagall's concern; either that or they simply were used to her after four years.

"We will be working on transfiguring these pink pillows into a child's teddy bear. The Incantation is 'Comforte Tutus!'" She got into further detail about the specific details, and then they began.

**

The class made little progress. Some of the pillows seem to make slight change in form, but no one seemed to be able to be completely successful besides two -- Draco and Hermione of course. Professor McGonagall seemed to be in a state of shock that Draco and Hermione were effectively working together, getting along fine, and being civil. Glowing with surprise (though brightly), she awarded Gryffindor and Slytherin both fifty points a piece. As the class left, Draco noticed Harry and Ron hastily grab Hermione and insist they had 'homework and such' to do.

"Hermione! What is wrong with you?" asked Ron, who looked about six times angrier than Harry did.

"What?" asked Hermione in a false innocent voice.

"What is up with you and Malfoy suddenly becoming best friends?" asked Harry, trying to sound calm. "Now everyone has even MORE reason to believe you guys really are dating."

"Draco and I are not seeing each other, and we're not best friends," said Hermione in a would-be-profound voice.

"Yet you call him Draco now?" asked Ron angrily.

"We're friends now, okay? Don't look at me like that, Ron! He's a really good friend to me, and right now, way better than you all!" Tears were rushing down her eyes at this point. She stormed off quite upset.

**

Draco was in the library working on homework for his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. That old bat, Mrs. Figg, was a retired Auror who was actually very close to Dumbledore and knew a lot on the subject. He was quite shocked by her knowledge and even fascination with the subject. However, the woman frightened everyone with her obsession with cats. She was obsessed with the study of magical cats and their uses, and in her own time, the woman even bred kneazles. Regardless, she had assigned a hefty load of work which Draco intended to finish. And not out of coincidence, her first essay prompted the following question: How were kneazles used during the First War against the Dark Lord?

Draco began searching through books on kneazles and their uses, and soon discovered kneazles were basically very intelligent cats with a tail of a lion. More surprisingly, they often were domesticated as pets, and just as ably could be used as spies, too; they even had the ability to follow very, very specific directions given by wizards, among many other human characteristics. The topic was actually interesting to his surprise. But as Draco nearly finished his essay, Hermione came into the library all on her own with tears splashing down her face that she was unsuccessfully trying to hide. "Hermione?" he choked out, stunned.

"Oh, hi Draco," she said sadly, a little anxious-sounding. She looked quite miserable as she came to sit with him. He instantly put his essay away to finish later and waited for her to explain, but she simply said in a rather wistful tone, "As you can tell, I'm in a right state."

"What's wrong?" Draco asked seriously, and he was surprised that at the moment all he cared about was making Hermione feel better. It was so odd that two days ago they would have said they were worst enemies, yet in twenty-four hours they had become good friends. It was probably due to the fact that believe it or not, they were very alike in the way they thought.

"Harry and Ron are angry with me for talking to you," she said bitterly, after a bit of a silence. Draco could tell she wasn't at all blaming him.

"Well, they would be, they hate my guts. They'll come around though. You're their best friend. Just try to calm down," assured Draco. He wasn't the kind of person who told people what they wanted to hear over the truth. He told people what was the most constructive thing to say. Of course Potter and Weasley would react like that -- Hermione should have expected that as far as he was concerned. In the end Draco knew without doubt that Hermione would be fine.

She stopped sobbing a little. "And what about you and the other Slytherins?"

"Well, as you can tell, they love me to death," said Draco sarcastically, but he was smiling. Hermione smiled back.

"At least we still have each other right now ... as friends, of course," Hermione added quickly, thinking what she had just said sounded both odd and stupid.

Draco silently giggled at Hermione's comment. "You know, Hermione, you really are something to remember."

**

Two weeks passed by slowly. Harry and Ron had apologized to Hermione the very next day. They accepted Hermione and Draco were now friends. Nevertheless, the three boys flat-out refused to talk to each other, and still occasionally insulted each other. This didn't bother Hermione too much; she was simply delighted to have all her friends. The other Slytherins still did not talk to Draco much, but Hermione felt certain that there was more to it than just her. Whether she found out what it was, though, likely lied in Draco's hands, she privately believed...

Hermione, Harry and Ron had Mrs. Figg for Defense Against the Arts this year. They were originally both intrigued and mystified by this decision, but everyone went on to like Mrs. Figg quite much. She was fun, loose, and quite knowledgeable of the subject she taught and had some very good stories. Only her cat obsession was a little frightening.

At the present moment, Hermione and Ron were watching the Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts from the stands. As Oliver Wood was no longer there, the team was in need of a new keeper. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas were both trying out, which was very odd because they were best friends. Incidentally, the two were basically the best ones on the field tonight, as the others seemed to only have gone out to see what "Psycho Potter" (as the The Daily Prophet claimed he was now) was really like. Hermione and Ron could tell this really bothered Harry.

Seamus and Dean, as the chosen finalists, inevitably competed for the spot one-on-one, and in a vigorous ending Dean got the position. Seamus was quite upset, but took it very well and was really happy for his best mate. Seamus even admitted that Dean had flown better than him. The team was now perfectly complete, as all the players from last year were returning again, and to perhaps win the championship once again, too. Time would have to tell, but based on the look upon Harry's brightened face at the end of tryouts, there seemed to be some serious optimism flowing about already.

Hermione did not go back with Ron, Harry and the others afterward. She fancied a walk around the lake. Walking around the lake's lengths again and again, Hermione found herself feeling only more troubled the more she thought about everything. Her birthday was next week, September 28^th -- she would be turning fifteen. Most everyone had already turned fifteen, but her birthday barely made the October 1st deadline. Coincidentally, her birthday was also the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, so Harry and Ron were having a party for her in Hogsmeade. She was looking forward to this very much so.

Suddenly, Hermione heard a male voice shriek. And she thought she recognized it, too! The person who screamed sounded like he was in a lot of pain -- and the moment she heard it, after thinking about it, she knew who it was. And the only thing that mattered to her at that moment was getting to him. He sounded hurt, and she couldn't let anything happen to him. She briefly panicked, but followed the voice, running along as quickly as she could. He was in danger ...

"DRACO!" screamed Hermione. And there he stood, at the edge, by the lake: his face was bleeding. his shirt had been torn apart, and there were bruises and scratches all over him. The wounds were not fatal, but he was seriously hurt. And not helpfully, standing above him ready to induce more pain were none other than Crabbe and Goyle.

"...And tell your bloody father if he ever tries backstabbing our fathers again, or any of the others for that matter, that he will regret the day he was born!" spat Crabbe, and he kicked Draco, who yelped painfully.

But then in one abrupt momentous instant, at the same time Crabbe and Goyle noticed Hermione watching from the sidelines, and without hesitancy the two cowards attempted a run for it.

But she was too skilled for them. "Impedimenta!" Hermione bellowed at Crabbe and Goyle, and their pace immediately slowed down. "STUPEFY!" Crabbe and Goyle fell to the floor, completely stunned.

Gasping with shock, Hermione ran over to Draco and bent down. "Oh, Draco!" she exclaimed breathlessly, and held his head high up. "Draco, you're going to be okay, we just have to get up to the castle and take you to Madam Pomfrey!" She conjured a hovering stretcher, placed Draco on it, and quickly escorted him up to the castle.

**

"...Hermione has been gone a while," said a worried Ron suddenly. Harry and Ron were working on a project in the common room for Professor Sinistra, who had assigned them a project on Pluto. Ron was annoyed that he lacked the help he clearly needed. "I'm getting a little worried."

"Yeah, me too. It's been over an hour. We should go look for her," agreed Harry, for he had been wondering what was taking her so long as well.

Ron, though of course concerned for his best friend, was equably preoccupied with finishing the project, and Hermione could definitely assist with that. "Yeah ... let's go see if she's by the lake," responded Ron firmly. They still had some time before they were required to be in their common room, so Harry and Ron quickly left and proceeded downstairs, but just as they did they accidentally bumped into none other than Dumbledore.

"Harry, Ron, what a pleasant surprise it is to bump into you!" greeted Dumbledore. The Headmaster was smiling but did not look especially happy in any way.

"Sir, we were just looking for Hermione ..." started Harry, who was sure they'd need an excuse for rushing out this late.

But he was right away interrupted by a very serious-sounding Dumbledore. "Yes, naturally. Please follow me," Dumbledore told them calmly; though barely noticeable, the headmaster's tone was slighted by a profound graveness. "Urgent matters have just been brought into my hands, and I was actually looking for both of you, as I was certain you would be concerned--"

"Is Hermione all right?!" exclaimed Ron with a demandingness that could not be suppressed. He sounded both really angry and really concerned, frustrated in his ignorance of the situation.

Luckily Dumbledore did not scold him. "Yes, she is fine. Please, if you'll kindly just follow me to the hospital wing, you can hear from her yourselves."

Harry and Ron followed Dumbledore quickly.

**

"...So you found Malfoy being attacked by his ex-best friends, brainless Crabbe and Goyle?" said Ron amazedly, expecting to be corrected as he repeated back the story Hermione had just told them.

But no such corrections came. "Yes, because Lucius Malfoy stole their fathers' glory by using them to steal some information for You-Know-Who and then taking all the credit. And see, now Voldemort -- oh get off it, Ron -- is pleased only with Lucius. Needless to say Mr. Malfoy is pretty distant from the other Death Eaters right now, which explains some of the distance between Draco and some Slytherins, you know? So that's why Crabbe and Goyle both beat Draco nearly to death tonight, since their families are basically enemies now..." explained Hermione concisely, and for only the umpteenth time now. She wasn't too upset, though, considering Crabbe and Goyle were in serious trouble, and that Draco was slated to leave the hospital wing within the next day or two (hopefully). Things could be much less fortunate. If she hadn't found Draco in time, for instance, who knows what might have happened...

Don't think about that! Hermione shuddered to herself. Looking over at her friends, puzzled she could see Harry and Ron were pondering the situation deeply. Hermione knew that they knew this was not good news, regardless of how they felt about Draco. Voldemort was making progress, plain and simple. But what they didn't know was that Lucius had asked Draco to spy on Harry. That Lucius wanted to make Draco a Death Eater. Although Draco had told Hermione everything, he had explicitly forbidden her to tell a soul, so her lips were sealed.

Draco was never going to turn to the Dark Arts, though -- no matter what entailed. Hermione knew this to be true in her heart every time she heard him refute his father and Voldemort and the whole Death Eater destiny altogether. In the past couple weeks, he had told her how he had never despised Muggles at all; it was just his father pushing the horrendous ideals on him from birth, and the whole family symmetry which Draco used to feel he had to uphold. Still, Draco had gained a slight knack for tolerance from his mother, though, somewhere in-between all the "pure-blood superiority" lectures that he'd heard in the span of his entire life. Now, however, at this drastically different point it was starting to seem like Hermione and Draco had been friends all their life, when it had in reality only been a short space of time....

"Hermione, are you still there?" called Draco's voice from inside his room. A long interval of thoughtful silence had passed. Hermione glanced at Harry and Ron awkwardly, and then, flushed, entered his room. Though he was very sore, the moment she was walked in Draco's face brightened. "Hermione, thanks, just thanks. You saved my life, you know."

She sat by his side and began stroking his hair. Even beaten he was one of the most handsome people she had ever seen. She did not speak immediately, simply looking at him in a comforting way. "Draco, everything's going to be okay, I promise." She took a second, but then began singing. She had always been good at singing, but was usually too shy to ever do it. But Hermione didn't feel shy in front of Draco.

"This used to be my playground, this used to be my childhood dream. This used to be the place I ran to, whenever I was in need ... Of a friend ... Why did it have to end, and why do they always say .... This used to be my playground, this used to be our pride and joy. This used to be the place we ran to, that no one in the world could dare destroy ...This used to be our playground, this used to be our childhood dream, this used to be the place we ran to, the best things in life are always free ...Wishing you were here with me," she sang beautifully to him; soothingly, though quietly, she sung the very best she could for the fallen angel lying beside her. And as her song ended, Draco fell asleep dearly into what Hermione hoped was a very peaceful sleep.

**