Destiny Trilogy: The War

Chapter 6: And Her Robes Were Heart's-Blood Red

"It's so infuriating!" Hermione seethed.

She had been trying to get Malfoy to let her have a go at looking after their runespoor, bugging him during all the lessons they had with the Slytherins. Privately, Harry thought Malfoy had finally figured out what pushed Hermione's buttons.

They settled in their usual seats at the back of the class, Hermione eyeing the empty seat next to Malfoy that was usually occupied by Kera--Kera was accompanying Neville to the hospital wing after she had overdone her glamorie charm and turned poor Neville invisible from the knee up. It had been quite a sight to see her going up the stairs with a pair of half-legs following behind her.

"I have to talk to him," she muttered and made her way to front of the class.

Malfoy scowled when she sat down beside him. Before either could say anything, Snape entered the classroom. Hermione turned to look at Harry and Ron at the back of the class, but it was no use. She was stuck in this front seat for the rest of the class.

"We're doing theory today."

When Snape had turned his back to write something on the board, Hermione turned to Malfoy.

"When are you going to let me have that runespoor?" she hissed. Malfoy ignored her completely, taking notes in an elegant, cursive script.

"Malfoy--"

"Miss Granger..." Snape smiled nastily as he leant forward. "No one will begrudge you elevating your status in society by associating with Mr. Malfoy, but please refrain from doing so during my class."

Hermione turned white with indignation. "I'm not," she spat.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for your impudence."

Hermione trembled with anger but bit her tongue. She didn't say a word throughout the whole lesson, silently and furiously doing her work. When the bell rang, she threw everything into her bag in a very un-Hermione-like way and ran out of the classroom.

"'Mione!" Ron dumped his book bag on Harry and ran out after her.

She ran down the stairs into the girls' washroom on the first-floor--Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Ron looked around to make sure no one would see him go into a girls' toilet, then went in after her.

Only one of the cubicles was occupied and Myrtle was gliding round the area of the sinks.

"She's awfully upset," Myrtle told him in a hushed whisper.

Ron went up to the door of the cubicle and knocked. "What's wrong?" Ron asked. "'Mione, please come out."

He thought he heard some muffled crying.

"What did that bastard say to you?" Ron asked fiercely.

No answer.

"That does it, I'm hexing him into next week," Ron muttered, turning to find Snape.

"Ron!" Hermione opened the door worriedly. "I'm okay."

"What did he say?" Ron asked again, more quietly than before.

"Nothing," she lied. She turned away from him to hide the tears that were clouding her vision. Snape's words had hit a nerve in more ways than one.

Is that why you won't ask me out? Because I'm muggle-born?

There was an awkward silence. Ron looked around the gloomy bathroom, trying to look at anywhere but Hermione's tear-stained face. The tears had made her lashes look thicker and darker than they usually were.

Damn she looks pretty even when she's crying.

"Will you go to that Christmas Party thing with me?" He blurted out suddenly. He turned red, horrified. What had he just said?

She stared at him, her eyes strangely bright. For a moment she was tongue-tied as well.

"Yes," She gave him a teary smile.

Outside the bathroom, a pale blond-haired boy who had been listening at the door stormed away.

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

"Where do we go first?" Ron asked.

Harry was unable to answer for a moment, too caught up in inhaling the freezing air and enjoying the feeling of just relaxing and hanging out with his friends. Ginny was tagging along with them as usual, and Harry didn't know whether to be annoyed that he wouldn't be able to discuss anything Sirius related in her presence since she still didn't know the truth of what had happened in their third year, or relieved that she was now less shy and no longer had a tendency to drop things all over when she was around him.

"Let's go to Flourish and Blotts," Hermione suggested.

"No bookshops today," Harry said firmly. "I've had enough of books to last my life."

The teachers had been particularly generous with homework lately, and the number of Hogsmeade visits this year had also been reduced due to Voldemort's return. He wasn't going to waste his precious Hogsmeade weekend queuing up in a musty bookshop.

"But today's the opening for their new Hogsmeade branch!" Hermione exclaimed, as if that explained everything. "Besides, Ron absolutely has to get his own copy of 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them' if he wants to get past his O.W.L.s. He can't keep borrowing yours."

They were about to protest when Ron was accosted by Fred and George.

"We've got some guy stuff to do--"

"Top secret, can't let you or Ginny tag along..." The twins told Hermione, steering a bewildered Ron away.

"Harry, what's going on?" Hermione asked, equally bewildered.

"Erm...I'll go along with them to see what they're up to," Harry said, rushing off to join them.

Once they were well away from the girls, Harry stopped pretending to look anxious and wary, and grinned widely at Ron.

"You're in on this?" Ron roared.

"It's for your own good," Harry said, laughing at the murderous expression on Ron's face.

"Gerroff me! What the--" Ron spluttered as he was dragged into Gladrags Wizardwear by his collar.

And bumped straight into Kera Ladon.

"Erm...hi," Ron managed, straightening his robes and glaring at his brothers and best friend.

"Hello," She replied, rather amused by the commotion they had been making. "Buying new robes for the party?"

Ron turned a dark shade of red and mumbled something unintelligible. Kera wisely pretended not to have noticed anything. She exchanged some pleasantries with the rest of the boys, and then left the shop.

"You know, I swear that girl has only three expressions--mildly amused, mildly surprised, and mildly irritated," George commented when she was out of earshot.

"And may I ask what we're doing in here anyway?" Ron asked, annoyed.

"We're going to be nice and give you an early Christmas present," Fred said.

"So we're getting our dear, sweet little baby brother some dress robes to impress a certain witch," George added.

"What witch?" Ron spluttered indignantly, starting to resemble a tomato with red hair.

"He's in denial," Fred said sorrowfully.

"You need help, Ronald," George agreed gravely.

"Advice..."

"Guidance..."

"Therapy..."

"Etiquette courses..."

"A makeover..."

"A good whack on the head," Harry finished, grinning as he dodged Ron's arm.

"But where did you get the money?" Ron asked, trying to change the subject.

"We've made a deal with Zonko's for some of our products," George explained smoothly.

"Now choose something!" Fred said. "We're not spending all day in here you know."

"Why are you being so nice?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Oh just get on with it already!" George said exasperatedly, pushing him towards the racks of cloth. "Before we change our minds!"

"What about the two of you?"

"Nah. The ones we got last year are still fine."

"Dress robes, dear?" the witch at the counter said as she bustled over. "Any colour in mind?"

"Maroon perhaps?" Fred asked innocently.

"Or this spiffing neon-green?" George suggested.

"Blue, please," Ron told the witch, shooting death-glares at the twins.

"An excellent choice!" Fred said, ignoring Ron's expression.

"It'll go so well with your eyes," George agreed dreamily. Harry choked.

"Any pattern in mind, or just plain blue?" the witch chuckled as she placed bolts of cloth in every possible hue of blue on the counter.

"Oh, look at that! Isn't it absolutely sweet?" George squealed as he picked up one with a girlish pattern of forget-me-nots on it and put it against Ron.

"Or how about this one?" Fred asked mischievously, holding up one patterned with silvery spiders.

"Ah, made of acromantula silk, that one," the witch said cheerfully as Ron blanched.

After a whole series of absolutely insane suggestions from Fred and George, Ron finally decided on a plain deep blue robe, much to the twins' disappointment. Harry sighed, realising that this was the twins' last year. What were they going to do without them and their outrageous jokes and pranks?

A beam of rare winter sunlight reflected on the window glass caught his eye. Looking at the glint in window and the distorted reflections of his friends, he was suddenly over-come with a dizzy sensation...and then he was no longer in Gladrags Wizardwear.

An army made up of a menagerie of fearsome beasts and monsters standing in the mist, a few large creatures which seemed to be made of pure fire...a small circle of black-cloaked figures with masks on their faces, bowing before a hideously elaborate throne carved with twisting serpents, with real, life and incredibly huge snakes coiling at it's feet...and a trembling prisoner thrown down, in front of the monster in the throne, a tall, thin man with a weak chin whose bedraggled hair and untrimmed goatee might have been white if it wasn't covered with dirt and grime...

"Harry? Harry?"

Harry snapped out of his daze and looked around in shock. He was back in Hogsmeade, and the witch who had been fitting Ron's robes was putting on the finishing touches. There was barely a twinge in his scar, unlike previous occasions when he had ended up rolling on the floor in agony, but he wasn't complaining about that one.

"Was it another...?" Ron stopped, realising that the witch fitting him had paused to listen.

"No, I just...dozed off. It's nothing."

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

"You said were looking at a reflection?" Hermione asked, frowning as she pored over a musty book.

"Yeah. And it didn't feel as if it was happening now...it had a sort of distant feeling to it, like it was something happening in the future, or in the past. "

"That's a form of divination," she informed him. "It's called scrying."

"Trelawney's going to love you." Ron grinned.

"Have you told Dumbledore?" She took down another book from the shelf, quickly flipping through it.

"No," Harry replied. "I can't guess the password and all the other Professors are at Hogsmeade except Snape."

Hermione looked up from her book frowning.

"Now is not the time to--"

"I know that," Harry said exasperatedly, earning a glare from Madam Pince. "But try telling that to Snape."

"He ignored us completely," Ron agreed.

"Couldn't you try convincing him?"

"And get stuck in detention sorting potion ingredients all Christmas? That greasy git gave Harry detention the last time for looking for Dumbledore during Professor Binns's class before taking his own time getting help, remember?"

"But this is important, it's about Karkaroff!" Hermione protested.

"It was important too the last time, it was about two human beings getting their souls sucked out," Harry said fiercely. Hermione and Ron winced.

"Sorry," Harry muttered.

"'s okay," Ron mumbled, awkwardly patting Harry on the shoulder. Hermione turned away and pulled another book off the shelf.

"Is this the monster you were talking about?" Hermione said, pointing to picture of a fiery beast.

"That's the one," Harry agreed, leaning forward to read the caption. "A Balrog? I thought those were only found in Tolkien."

"Where's Tolkien?" Ron asked, puzzled.

"Not where, Ron," Hermione said, sighing. "He's a muggle author. Or at least I thought he was, until now..."

She flipped a few pages. "They're thought to be extinct," she told them.

"Great, so he's bring back creatures from the dead as well," Ron muttered as Hermione dumped a few more books into his arms and walked quickly to the other end of the library.

"Hermione, what are you looking for?" Harry asked, noticing titles like 'The Diviners' Guide To Prophecy' and 'Seers--Curse Or Gift' on the shelves.

"I'm trying to find out why you had that vision."

"Dumbledore said my scar gave me some links to Voldemort," Harry said.

"But it didn't hurt this time, did it? Besides, it still doesn't explain how you managed to scry for it without even trying," Hermione pointed out.

"Perhaps Harry's getting in tune to his Inner Eye," Ron sniggered from behind the huge stack of books in his arms.

"Hermione, you're reading too much into it," Harry said, smacking Ron on the back of his head and causing him to drop a couple of the books he was holding. "Let's go try Dumbledore's office again."

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

The girls were taking a long time getting ready. Harry fiddled absent-mindedly with his collar, while Ron paced behind him nervously, practically strangling the flowers he had bought for Hermione. Ron had convinced Harry to ask Ginny this time and Harry had just gone along with it. He didn't feel up to dealing with Cho just yet.

"I think that's them," Harry said when he heard some laughter from up the girls' dorms and a door closing shut.

"'bout time," Ron muttered. He turned to face the staircase and gawped.

Harry could hardly recognise Hermione and Ginny. Ginny was wearing the same white robes she had worn last year, but she had grown enough over the past year to fit them better. Her fiery hair, usually tied back into a simple pony tail, had been piled up upon her head in a slightly haphazard but attractive way and ornamented with pearly white clips. Hermione had apparently decided to use Sleekeazy's Hair Potion again this year, but her normally brown hair now had an interesting reddish tinge to it, as if she had used henna wash on it. Her robes this year were made of pale lavender satin with some sort of delicate embroidery at the hems. Both girls had used some pale pinkish makeup and were looking very pretty indeed.

"Did you wait long?" Ginny asked Harry shyly.

"No. You look good," Harry complemented her, causing her to blush to the roots of her hair.

Ron handed Hermione the now slightly limp flowers. "You look...nice," Ron said lamely.

Hermione smiled and slipped her hand into the crook of his arm. "Let's go, or we'll be late."

As they made their way down to the Great Hall, Ron's face twisted into a scowl.

Malfoy was standing at the top of the staircase. His midnight-blue velvet robes still had that ridiculous high collar he had worn last year, but this time, Harry was close enough to notice some sort of elaborate crest was stamped on the silver clasps which he realised had to be the Malfoy family crest.

"What are you doing here?" Ron snarled.

"I see you're not wearing that lacy maroon thing this year," Malfoy sneered. "Did Mudblood here decide you'd be a disgrace to her and buy you new robes?"

Before Ron could retort, Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls came giggling towards them.

"Draco, I've been looking all over for you," she gushed as she put her hand on his arm.

"And why would you be doing that?" Malfoy said, shaking her hand off and eyeing her over-the-top fuscia pink robes in open disgust.

"I can't just walk into the Great Hall without my handsome date, can I?" she said while trying to affect a kittenish pout. It was a big mistake, considering she had a pug-nose and a face that was just about as cute as a Blast-ended Skrewt.

That, plus the look of utter repulse on Malfoy's face was more than the four Gryffindors could take. Ron had stopped short of rolling on the floor with laughter, and even the girls had given up trying to hide their smirks. Malfoy was not amused.

"Did I even ask you?" Malfoy sneered cruelly.

Ignoring Malfoy's insulting tone, Pansy glared at the Gryffindors and tried to steer him away from them, but Malfoy forced open her grip on him roughly and pushed her away. Harry frowned. He might not like Pansy very much and quite frankly he could understand why Malfoy was trying so hard to disassociate himself from her, but this was going a bit too far. He stepped between Malfoy and Pansy.

"Mind your own busi--" Malfoy stopped abruptly, riveted by the sight of something behind Harry.

Kera was coming down the stairs behind them.

She was wearing a flowing robe made of silk in a dark heart's-blood red, with fine silver strands woven in a simple design on the sleeves and helm. Her hair still fell down freely in dark waves, unornamented. Her usual plain black wristbands had been replaced by deep red silk ones with the same silver pattern. While Hermione and Ginny had used paler makeup, Kera had chosen to paint her lips in deep glowing red, adding colour to her usual parlour.

But her attractiveness had a darkness about it, making Harry as wary as he was admiring. Something Malfoy could appreciate, if his father's choice of wife was anything to go by.

Regaining his composure, Malfoy smirked at Harry and pushed him aside, offering Kera his arm.

Quite a few people turned to look at the unusual Slytherin-Gryffindor pairing when they entered the Hall. Draco smiled smugly at all the attention they were getting. Perfect. He knew he'd picked the right partner. What better way to upstage Potter and find out the Gryffindor team strategies at the same time? Provided he'd be able to charm them out of her, of course.

The Gryffindor group entered behind him.

She looks beautiful tonight. Draco ignored the voice in his head. Of course, you think she looks beautiful everyday anyway, don't you? The voice smirked. He pointedly turned his back on the Gryffindors, concentrating on leading his date to their table. Little scheme to hog the runespoor to get her to go with you didn't work out? The voice in his head taunted him.

Her hair was no longer the unruly mess she bore with day after day, done up in a tasteful french twist. He watched her laugh and joke with the rest of the Gryffindors. She'd done something to her teeth, he realised. Probably something to do with that curse he shot at Potter the year before that had rebounded onto her. Realising that he was staring, Draco quickly looked away, forcing himself to pay attention to his date.

Of course Kera was pretty in her own right. In a dark sort of way perhaps. He tried to focus on making some sort of conversation with her. Remembering his original purpose, he tried talking about Quidditch. Quidditch was a safe topic, and it would distract him.

"Where did you learn to fly like that?" he asked. "I heard you didn't even need to get used to a new broom during your previous match."

"I had a good teacher," Kera replied. "And besides, it's not like I haven't been flying on that broom all summer."

She took a sip of water, moistening her lips a little. He had kissed other girls. He had even kissed Pansy Parkinson last year, if only because she was his date and he had a reputation to uphold--the suave, rich boy, who was perhaps a bit of a heartbreaker. But those were more of...inevitabilities. Damn it, he didn't want to kiss Kera. He wanted to kiss Granger.

There seemed to be a commotion coming from the dance floor. Draco turned and froze.

Weasley was kissing Granger.

No...not now, not this way. Draco closed his eyes and tried to get the whirlpool of emotions under control. Kera was watching the pair with some interest and Potter and the rest of the Weasels were grinning like idiots. From across the hall he heard someone wolf-whistle. Getting up with as much Malfoy dignity he could muster, he left the Hall, pulling a bemused Kera behind him.

Harry noticed Malfoy from across the room looking like he was about to have a haemorrhage, and then hurry out of the hall with Kera. For once, Draco had abandoned his two half-witted body guards Crabbe and Goyle. They sat by themselves, staring blankly into space. How fitting to see them in grey, mused Harry. Now they really look like a couple of boulders. He grinned at the sight of a very embarrassed Ron trying to shush the twins and reached for his goblet of water. Harry's head began to swim as he looked at the candlelight flickering on the goblet...an army of monsters led by a human monster.

"Do you want to dance?" Ginny asked him timidly.

Harry snapped out of it and shook himself.

"Yeah, okay."

The only thing left to do when you found out your team-mate spoke Parseltongue, was dating your arch nemesis, and a great war was about to ensue. Dance with your best friend's baby sister. Of course.