Year of the Dragon

"Shhh! You'll wake him up!" Voices were floating across a sea of black.

"Well, he's been out cold for two weeks hasn't he? Isn't about time he woke up?!" harry groaned and fluttered his eyes open.

"Hermione...Ron...."

"He's awake!"

"...stop fighting..."

"We're not fighting," Hermione said with a broad grin on her face. "Oh Harry, we were so very worried about you. I spent a whole day in the library trying to read up on any complications that could have occurred as a result of being thrown like you were-" she paused and looked at Harry's confused expression. "You, er, you do remember, don't you Harry?"

"Oh no..."moaned Ron, "He's lost it!"

"Well, why didn't you tell me he was awake?!" snapped a very haughty Madam Pomfrey. "Come on, out of the way, out of the way now." She placed her hand on Harry's forehead, then waved her wand over his body slowly. She nodded, apparently having found everything in order, and reached for a green bottle. "Here, drink this," she ordered. Harry nodded and sat up, taking the bottle from her.

"Er, Ma'am, the whole thing?"

"Well, yes the whole thing Mr. Potter! You didn't think you could just sleep for two weeks after being tossed about the school and take nothing for it, did you?" Harry blanched, and turned to Hermione.

"Tossed around the school?" he asked, sounding rather ill. Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes and went to tend to a Second Year Ravenclaw who had been hexed with antlers by a Slytherin. Hermione waved away his fears.

"She's exaggerating. You got into it with Malfoy, and he cast some weird tossing spell on you."

"Tossing spell?" She nodded.

"Everto Exalto, I think."

"It's an outrage, Harry. The git only got two days of detention!" Harry ignored Ron's passionate outburst, his brow furrowed with thought. Hermione sighed.

"Okay. Something's bothering you. What is it?"

"I'd disarmed him. I'm sure I'd disarmed him, because I remember him asking for his wand back..."

"Then why didn't you give it back! Harry, you don't mess with people like the Malfoys. It's asking for trouble. Besides, you shouldn't lower yourself to his level."

"I know that, but I was remembering all the times he insulted us. I was just going to make him wait a second, nothing big. But he threw me without a second thought, and without his wand! How?" Ron and Hermione exchanged glances.

"I don't know," she whispered, "But I overheard Snape and McGonagall talking, and they didn't like it one bit. They're worried. They said he shouldn't have been able to do it in the first place." Ron made a sound of disgust.

"Who would like the idea of somebody as evil as Malfoy being able to hex you even if he forgot his wand? It's a disaster!"

"Still no word of Voldemort?" Harry asked, after taking a swig from the green bottle and grimacing.

"No, and that worries me too Harry. He has to be planning something awful, to be this silent for this long," she stopped and stared at Harry suspiciously. "If your scar had been hurting, you'd have told me or Ron, right?" Harry looked away guiltily. "HARRY! How long has it been bothering you for?"

"Ever since school started. No nightmares or anything, but it's been a dull ache in the background since we arrived. I just assumed that it meant he was planning something, but we already knew that so why worry anyone further?"

"Well for one thing, we'd have been certain!" Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay. So do we have any ideas as to what he might have planned? If I'm going to do some research to help out I have to have somewhere to start."

"I think Malfoy has something to do with it," Ron said conspiratally (A/N I know that is bad spelling).

"I think you're right Ron. I mean, he did something impossible when he tossed Harry without a wand...." Ron agreed enthusiastically.

"Exactly! You remember how he volunteered? He probably knew Harry would want to fight him, even if it was just to disarm him. I bet he had some sort of magical device ready in his pocket to throw him with. It was probably supposed to kill him, but he messed it up!" Hermione looked thoughtful. Harry and Ron looked as if it was already fact in their minds: they just needed to prove it now. Hermione agreed with them and said she was going to go do some research to back up their theory, while Ron stayed and kept Harry company. Ron looked a bit put out that she didn't want his company, but she ignored it. She grabbed her bag and made her way to the library. She sat down to think before she looked for books. Secretly, Hermione didn't quite agree with Ron and Harry's theory. She was sure Malfoy was evil enough to do something like that; everyone knew he'd be made a Death Eater as soon as he left Hogwarts, just like his father. But why on earth would Voldemort try to make Draco Malfoy kill Harry in front of two of Hogwarts most deadly teachers?

"He wouldn't," Hermione mumbled to herself, chewing on the end of her quill absently. Then she remembered the events before Malfoy had cast the Everto Exalto spell. Harry had disarmed Malfoy, and he'd seemed annoyed but not furious. Then he'd asked for his wand back...and that's where Hermione always stopped thinking about it. She stopped there, because after that point, it started to seem like the incident had been Harry's fault for being...not very nice. She sighed and decided to go look at some titles on the bookshelf and see if she got any hunches. "Let's see....101 Ways to Rule the Hallways Using Magic!....Womping Willows and How to Tame Them....ugh, this is getting me nowhere!" Frustrated, Hermione decided it was time to visit the Restricted Section. Looking around to make sure nobody was watching, she reached into her bag and pulled out Harry's Invisibility Cloak, slipping it on discreetly. She tip-toed to the Restricted Section and looked around. Nobody was even watching. It's probably easier to sneak in here in the daytime than at night! Hermione thought amusedly. She pointed her wand at the entrance and mumbled, "Alohomora!"

Stepping Carefully, Hermione began to read the titles of books as she passed. Then, as she came to a particularly old, crumbling pile of parchment, she got a familiar tingle up her spine. A hunch. She excitedly grabbed the book and placed it firmly in her bag. She had no clue what it was, but she'd learned not to take hunches lightly. A hunch was an ancient form of magic, and McGonagall had told Hermione that she was blessed with the ability to get them more than most people. Grinning stupidly, Hermione removed the Invisibility Cloak and left the library.

"Things will be getting a little bit more...difficult, for some people over the next year or so, depending on where their loyalties lie. You understand, of course?" The Sixth Year Ravenclaw boy nodded with a grin on his face.

"I understand perfectly." Draco nodded. He had decided to start with the few Ravenclaws he could be sure of, simply because they were intelligent and he knew he wouldn't have to deal with any stupid mis-apprehensions or questions. He turned around and left without another word to the boy. So far he'd had a little chat with 5 Ravenclaws, all boys. It wasn't that he was opposed to girls becoming Death Eaters, but he honestly didn't see as many girls being foolish enough to want to be Death Eaters. They had this bloody stubborn streak that also happened to save a good many of them. Consequently, Draco was observing them more closely before making his move.

"I hate this," he grumbled to himself as he made his way to the boys Prefect bathroom. Aside from boring meetings and taking points from some particularly annoying First Years, the Prefect bathroom privileges had been the only difference Draco could find between being a normal student and being a Prefect. Maybe there was some favoritism shown, but that was with the other Prefects, like Granger. Teachers rarely favored Draco, other than Snape.

"Orange peel," Draco said the bathroom's password and waited for the picture of the mermaid to move out of the way.

"Hello Draco, taking a bath?" giggled the mermaid. Draco raised an eyebrow at her. He was certain she'd been hitting on him for the past three weeks.

"Er, yeah," Draco had a wicked thought, and grinned, "I'm feeling very dirty, you know." Th mermaid blushed furiously, making it very difficult for Draco not to laugh, and swung open for him. "Thanks," he called back as she swung shut. He thought he heard her giggle a 'your welcome'. He shook his head. "Well, I am feeling dirty, after all that bloody recruiting," he muttered under his breath. He poured himself a hot bath and decided to relax for the rest of the night. After what he'd just done, he couldn't look anyone in the eye right now anyway.

"So let me get this straight," Ron said as he drew himself up in his seat, "You went to the library to find something useful, and then decided 'let's try the restricted section in broad daylight'. You got there, with no clue what in bloody hell you were looking for..." Hermione was tiring of Ron's lecture quickly.

"Yes, Ron, and then I got a hunch and found this book." She fixed him with a murderous glare, daring him to say anything else on the matter. Who did he think he was anyways? After all, Hermione had never failed in her research before.

"It is kind of odd Hermione, that you, with your sentiments towards Divination..." Harry started. Hermione bristled.

"Look, a hunch is not divination. It's more like a sixth sense..."

"A what?" asked Ron, who knew nothing about Muggle notions on the senses.

"A sixth sense," she replied, having no intentions of explaining, "And I'm perfectly aware of the irony that the book I ended up with was a book of prophecy. So don't comment on that, either, thankyou very much."

"Okay. We'll leave you alone, won't we, Ron?" Harry fixed him with a pointed gaze, his emerald eyes glittering with meaning. Ron muttered something and slouched in his seat.

"Okay, okay. So, have you found anything interesting in it yet?"

"Huh!" she sniffed irritably, "I just got it! And I'd really like some time alone with it, so I'm heading somewhere where I can be alone." Sensing she may have been too harsh, and noting the hurt looks on Harry and Ron's faces, she sighed and patted them each on the shoulder. "Sorry boys. I guess I'm just tired and Malfoy has me a bit on edge." They assured her they understood, and Hermione thought again how lucky she was to have such friends.

Twenty minutes later, Hermione was in her private 'study dungeon'. She'd stumbled upon it one day after an argument with Ron when she had been looking for some solitude. It had an antique work desk and a rather comfortable leather chair, (that was very nice indeed after a standard cleaning spell). It also had its own fireplace that added a warm glow to the room. Hermione was sure Dumbledore knew about it, and her use of it, and took his silence on the matter for consent. "One good thing that has come of all this tension between me and Ron," she mumbled to herself. Ron's immaturity bothered her to no end, and the small crush she'd had on him before was dwindling rather quickly. Now, she thought wearily, she just wanted things to go back to normal. Forcing herself into study mode, she pulled out the old book and began to leaf through it.

After two hours of reading, a very tired Hermione stumbled upon something she couldn't believe...but there was no mistaking what it was.

"Oh, no!" she cried, as she gathered her things and raced to the Gryffindor common room to discuss her findings with Ron and Harry.

The normally happy trio of friends sat in stunned silence around the now ominous looking old book on the table. Hermione glanced from Ron to Harry frantically.

"Well? Oh, Harry! What do we do??" Harry sighed.

"Well, we do nothing. I think it's pretty obvious that we're doomed." Ron nodded his agreement solemnly.

The prophecy that was responsible for their mood sat mockingly before them, it's gilded borders and illustrations serving to make it even more foreboding.

"Well," said Ron enthusiastically, startling Harry and Hermione, "Read it again then. Maybe there's some sort of catch we missed before." Hermione looked at him doubtfully but picked up the book and read:

"In the year where two of the last come between the 16, the Dragon will bring the Dark to triumph over the Light. The Dragon shall be capable of doing magic through sheer will. When the Dark One discovers his skills, his life will be taken from him under the Mark of Evil. Saved from the Mark: the Dark One's demise." Hermione gulped. "And I think we all agree on the picture?" The two boys nodded. Apparently, whoever had made this prophecy had also been a skilled artist, for drawn very plainly on the opposite page was a picture of the handsome Draco Malfoy.

"Well, time to go to Dumbledore then, isn't it?" sighed Harry.

"What can he possibly do anyway?" Hermione asked wearily.

"I don't know. It just seems like the most natural thing to do when faced with the end of the Wizarding World as we know it, isn't it?" Hermione agreed that it was. "And...he can do something about Malfoy." Hermione jerked her head up.

"Like what? Kill him?!" she shrieked. Ron cringed.

"Well, why not? What else can we do? If he lives, we all die! Not just us: everyone." Hermione shook her head stubbornly.

"We can't just kill Malfoy! I mean, I hate him as much as anyone, and this prophecy certainly confirms our fears but....wait...." she paused, re-reading the prophecy and looking thoughtful. "If you read it carefully, it never says he'll go to the Dark Lord."

"Um, Hermione, what does 'the Dragon will bring the Dark to triumph over the Light' sound like to you?!" Ron sputtered, obviously frustrated.

"Well, yes, that part is quite obvious, but it also says Draco's--"

"Malfoy's," Ron corrected.

"--Malfoy's life will be taken from him, under the Mark of Evil. Taken from him!"

"Okay, so what? Voldemort uses Malfoy in some creepy wandless magic ceremony as a sacrifice, and it causes the rise of Voldemort to spectacular power or something," Harry said bitterly, "How is this better for us?"

"Well, it means that we might be able to warn Malfoy, and keep him from being a Death Eater. If he has something to gain by keeping away from Voldemort, which I'd say he does: his life," Hermione lectured easily, "Then we avert the end of the world as we know it." She finished with a triumphant look at Ron and Harry, satisfied that she'd solved the puzzle. All of a sudden Ron got a sinister grin on his face that made Hermione very nervous indeed.

"Okay 'Mione," Ron said smoothly, "We'll just talk to Malfoy reasonably then-Oh! Wait, I nearly forgot...he HATES us!" Hermione frowned. "No, it's true Hermione and you know it. You at least have one advantage over me and Harry." He said, looking at her very oddly.

"What?" she asked suspiciously. The evil grin returned.

"An advantage that makes you the logical choice for who should talk to Malfoy."

"What?" she insisted.

"You're a girl," he said simply. Hermione wanted to strangle him.

Draco stared at the cruel letter sitting before him, which had just been delivered by his father's eagle owl; he had the scratches to prove it. He hadn't expected his initiation date to be so soon, and Draco did not take kindly to surprises. Perhaps that is why he simply sat there outside the Great Hall, unmoving. More likely though, it was because he thought of this as the precise moment his life ended, and he wanted to remember it.

Hermione flew down the stairs, clutching the prophecy to her chest and wondering how she was ever going to approach Malfoy. Harry and Ron had agreed that, while Malfoy hated all of them, and thought of himself as hopelessly above Hermione because he was Pureblood, she was still the best one to try to talk to him. "Besides," Ron had said truthfully, "You're by far the most diplomatic." It was with these thoughts that Hermione flew around the corner and tripped over Draco Malfoy, falling flat on her face. Draco's first reaction would normally have been to get angry, but his heart wasn't really in it right now. Torturing Potter and his friends was something Draco loved to do with his time...and he didn't really own his time anymore. If he ever had.

"Sod off, Granger," he muttered irritably. Hermione froze, then shook herself and picked up her book. Well, she thought, this is as good a time as any. He hasn't insulted me yet. Draco glanced up at Hermione, and despite herself she felt her chest constrict as his piercing gray eyes took her in. Stop it Granger, everyone knows the git is handsome. It's nothing new, she told herself firmly. "Didn't you hear me, Mudblood? I said sod off!" Hermione felt her blood boil.

"Listen Malfoy, I'm not exactly pleased at talking to you either, but if I ever hear you call me that again I will personally see to it that you never have a family!" she hissed through gritted teeth. Draco absently noted that the Granger girl had developed more of a temper. He had more serious things to think about though.

"Listen Granger, I know that it's your duty to rid the world of evil, alongside Potter and Weasley, but why don't you start with vampires or something? Leave us students in the hallway alone, hmm?" Hermione watched, stunned, as Malfoy ignored her and put his head on his knees. What is up with him?

"I have to talk to you," she managed to choke out. Malfoy shifted cold eyes to her. She gulped at the dangerous glint forming there. "It's serious," she added for good measure. Draco froze inwardly, wondering what she knew. He stood up, automatically putting on his characteristic swagger and smirk, and leaned against the wall.

"Talk." Hermione blinked.

"Er, well, I thought the easiest way to do this would be to show you this book..." Draco calmed considerably at this. He didn't know what she was up to, but if the best way for her to explain was in a book, she couldn't know he was going to be initiated on Nov.13^th. She handed him a very old book, and Draco felt his interest build despite himself. Contrary to popular belief, Draco was fiercely intelligent, and old books like this one made his day. He grabbed it from her, but Hermione noted that he made sure the book wasn't damaged.

"What the--" he stopped himself, and grinned. Hermione watched with interest. "Bloody hell Granger! I guess people have always known that I am a sexy Wizard!" he grinned broadly, and Hermione couldn't help but be impressed with the way he was handling this. If she had been shown a thousand year old prophecy that included her picture, she would have been more than a little freaked out. Maybe he's just stupid....

"It's a prophecy," she explained. Draco sneered at her.

"I can see that," he snapped indignantly. She must think I'm some kind of moron, he thought with disgust. "It's very interesting Granger. Unfortunately, I couldn't care less about some ancient prophet with an obsession with the Malfoy charm. Now if you don't mind Mudblood, I have things to do." He started to walk away. Hermione stood there, stunned for a moment. Then snapped out of it.

"Malfoy! Wait!"

"What? Oh, I'm sorry. Were you trying to profess your undying love for me? I'm not interested." He turned around and continued walking.

"Argh! Malfoy, just shut-up for a minute! I have to talk to you!" Hermione was now walking alongside Malfoy, trying to get him to stop. He stared straight ahead, and kept walking as if she wasn't there. Finally she stopped, frustrated and irritated at being ignored. "Fine Malfoy! Go ahead, become a good little death Eater and let yourself be killed!" she yelled, chest heaving. She was about to give up when he stopped and turned around, a look of absolute fury on his face.

"You don't know the first thing about me, Granger. You think all of us Slytherins want nothing more than what we get?!" he whispered fiercely.

"I, I--"

"What you're trying to say is that you have no fucking clue. My point exactly. I was tolerant today Mudblood because, because," he faltered momentarily, "Because today I begin the rest of my life," he continued, chuckling mirthlessly. "A rather significant point, don't you think? But if you ever bother me, even try to talk to me again, I'll kill you." He stared at her for good measure then stormed off to the Slytherin dungeons.

"Well," Hermione mumbled to herself as she walked back to the Gryffindor common room, "That was interesting."