Poisoned

Chapter Thirteen

Where Draco asks for Hermione's help and has a lot of explaining to do

Draco waited for Hermione to fall beside him into the empty classroom and closed the door. He already expected the fuming look and the attempt to curse him, so he was quicker and soon was holding her wand. For a second he remembered it was Ginny who helped him with the summoning charm, but to think of her hurt too much for him to bear, so he kept his bored look. He knew it was making her more and more angry, but he couldn't help it. The girl was too predictable to cause him anything but boredom.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked, her fists clenched as if she was ready to fight.

"I just want to talk, that's all," he said while sitting in an empty desk casually, as if he wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. "How did you go in the exam?"

His insolence was annoying her, but she answered anyway, "I wasn't sure about the fifth question, but I think I did ok."

"The one about Veritaserum? That was easy, the answer is that it takes a full moon-cycle to mature."

"Oh, no!" Hermione exclaimed, so disappointed she even forgot how irritated she should be at that situation. "I got confused and thought it should be let to rest at a full moon night."

"No, that's the poison that causes the person to shout the truth while dying," Draco stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, trying not to show he had completely forgotten the name of that poison.

"Well, considering Snape only mentioned these potions in class and we never got to concoct them, I think it's not so unreasonable that I forgot and mixed the information up!"

"How could you forget? We heard Snape explaining that last year, while Umbridge was trying to get rid of you and your friends." Draco sneered as if he had suddenly remembered something. "Oh, yes. You're not your best when under pressure, isn't that right? Not quick enough at dangerous situations."

"I refuse to answer that," she said between her teeth.

"Fair enough. But speaking of dangerous situations, I gather Potter has been having those dreams of his, hasn't he?" At her surprised look, he continued, "And before you ask, it doesn't matter how I know, but what I know. And I know enough to be sure you'll be planning a trip to Hogsmeade very soon."

She didn't answer, but he took her silence as a yes. "Predictable. Once again, you're doing exactly what the Dark Lord expects of you."

"Harry has learned how to conceal his thoughts from Voldemort." Hermione stated, even though she knew it would be best if she didn't say anything.

"He's still a sixteen-year-old boy, and the Dark Lord is far more powerful and experienced than him. Trust me when I say he knows you're coming, and unless you have previous information, you're as good as dead."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, suspicious.

"Because I want to make a deal."

"A deal?" She rolled her eyes. "What made you think I would make a deal with you?"

"The fact that you haven't told anyone about what you saw that night in the dungeons." At her expression, he continued, "I was expecting a deranged Weasley to come and try to kill me for snogging his sister, but since that didn't happen, I figured you hadn't told him yet. Thank you, by the way."

She narrowed her eyes. "I didn't do that for you."

"I know, you did it for your friends. But Ginny is your friend, so you care about her. I also care about her-" At her deep sigh of disbelief, he stated in an angrier tone, "and I won't bother trying to convince you, so you'll have to take my word for it. I do care about Ginny, and I don't want her going out on one of your stupid quests to help Potter just to end up with another broken limb, or worse."

He had said it so forcefully Hermione didn't even think about arguing. She just tried to calm him, "Ginny doesn't know anything about our plans."

"Oh, Merlin, you call yourself her friend?" It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Ginny is much more perceptive than you think. I bet you that at this time she doesn't only know what's going on, but she's thinking of what she can do to help."

Hermione didn't say anything. Even though it had been several weeks since they last spoke, she noticed Ginny was quieter than usual, and also that she was always around, either talking to Neville or to Harry. And she could also remember that during an argument with Harry, while trying to make him forget about the dreams he was having, he did mention Ginny was more supportive, and showed more faith in him than Hermione ever did.

She had seen them talking in the common room after coming back from her patrols with Ron, but she was too busy trying to ignore her, without letting it be too obvious to Ron and Harry what she was doing, to think about how Harry could be sharing his thoughts with Ginny.

"Do you get it now?" Draco interrupted her thoughts.

"Even if she knows and is planning to come along, there's nothing you can do about it. She is quite obstinate."

"That's a very nice way of saying she is stubborn as a mule." Draco smiled, and it didn't escape Hermione his smile was unusually tender. "And you are right, there's nothing I can do about it. But we can do something."

It took several seconds for her to understand what he was trying to say, and even then she was still confused. "It doesn't matter, Malfoy. How can I trust that you're helping us, and not setting a trap? I bet that if we follow your instructions we'll end up falling right into your father's grip."

"My father won't be there this time," Draco stated after a long sigh, conscious that he would have to let her know more than he'd like to tell. He now looked so tired Hermione could almost pity him. But since she wasn't keen on doing it so easily, it merely annoyed her when he motioned for her to take a seat. She wanted to be free from his presence, but apparently he wouldn't let her go so soon, and since he was still holding her wand, there was nowhere she could go.

"It's not like I know it because he told me," Draco continued, in such a serious manner he almost didn't look like him. At least not like the Malfoy Hermione knew and hated. "He is used to just letting me know what he thinks I need to know. But Parkinson isn't so sensible when it comes to his daughter and tells too much, especially if she asks. So all I need to do is encourage her to ask questions, and in no time I have the answers." He shook his head in a mockingly affectionate way. "That silly twit."

"You show very little respect toward a friend of yours, someone who follows you around like you are a god, agreeing to everything you say."

"She does that to everyone she thinks that can be useful to her. That's how she keeps her reputation in our house, by being the Slytherin slut."

"You mean the Slytherin prefect, right?" Hermione tried to correct him half-heartedly, while wishing he wouldn't answer.

"That too, but she's hardly any good at it." He stated, quite matter-of-factly. At her shocked face, he exclaimed, "Come on, I've been patrolling alone for over a year!"

"I'm sure that came on handy when you needed to cover your snogging sections with Ginny!"

Draco flushed - can he flush? He never thought he could, but he was proving himself wrong. "That's not the point."

He soon recovered and continued while taking a parchment from his robes. "So back to the point, the information I didn't get from Parkinson, I got from a letter that Dumbledore received and left in his desk while kept me waiting."

He waved the parchment, indicating that was the letter he was talking about, which caused Hermione to exclaim, "Wait a minute! What were you doing in Professor Dumbledore's office? And how could you take a letter you knew-"

"Oh, save the lecture!" he cut her off. "As if you and your friends never did anything wrong in order to 'do the right thing', as you like to think. And what I was doing in Dumbledore's office is not of your business."

"It is, since this letter in your hands probably concerns the plans Voldemort has for Harry."

He sighed. "I was there to talk about my classes." Hermione clearly wasn't buying a word he said. "And the letter is from a reformed Death Eater. I won't mention names, and of course no spy would be idiotic enough to sign something like this, so don't even ask."

Draco sneered at this. If Theodore Nott hadn't been affected by the treatment bestowed upon his father the previous year, his father certainly had. He knew it was silly, but he couldn't help feeling satisfied at this. He could remember vividly Nott's gleeful expression while watching Lucius shout at Draco because of his OWLs last summer. Draco didn't know why the boy was so happy, since Nott had achieved even less OWLs than him, but now, to know that his father was betraying the cause the young Nott was so fanatic about, was like revenge.

He soon continued. "The letter doesn't explain the Dark Lord's plans for Harry, it just confirms they are hidden close to Hogsmeade, and they are planning to get closer by this weekend, to put a plan into action. You see, the Death Eater who wrote the letter is not in the best position before the others right now. But Parkinson is, so I could fill in the gaps."

Hermione was listening attentively, more than she'd like to. Draco realised she was now ready to be convinced. "I know Potter had a vision about a book, and he doesn't know what it is. I also know he talked to Dumbledore about it, but the headmaster knows nothing." He could see in her face she was half-convinced already, after all, he knew that what he was saying checked with what Potter must had told her. "And surely he couldn't know, even though it is something to do with the Longbottoms."

He saw the glint of surprise and curiosity in her eyes, what showed him he was on the right tracks to get her trust.

"As you may know, the Longbottoms were aurors during the first war. But as you probably don't know, Alice Longbottom had the habit of writing in a journal. Of course this journal would cause curiosity in any Death Eater because everyone knew she was working with Dumbledore and his Order, but there was also another thing. The aurors had been assigned to work with the Ministry's Unspeakables, and they were allowed full access to the Department of Mysteries during that period."

"They had hoped to find a way to vanquish Voldemort," Hermione realised. "But how do you know all this?"

"Dumbledore's side wasn't the only one to have aurors among them," he stated as if saying the obvious. "Moving on, when the Dark Lord got blown up by Potter, some Death Eaters believed that it had been part of a plan, and that the Longbottoms were a central key to understanding what happened. You do know that the prophecy could be referring to Neville, right?"

"Yes, Harry told us that. But how did the Death Eaters know about this journal?"

"The Longbottoms, along with the Potters, were being closely watched because of the prophecy. And remember there were traitors among their group."

Hermione frowned, her mind rushing. Draco didn't say anything; he felt it would be better to give her some time to think and let her break the silence, what she soon did, "So this journal is the book Harry's been dreaming about?"

He nodded, so she continued, "And what about it? Voldemort can't open it?"

"Sure he can!" he exclaimed, smirking.

"So he can't read it?"

"He already has read it, and it turned out to be disappointing. Alice Longbottom kept that journal to leave it to her son in case anything happened to her."

The girl couldn't help but feel touched at this, even though Draco's dispassionate tone didn't inspire any feelings. "I don't understand Voldemorts plans."

"The connection between Potter and the Dark Lord still exists, so they can both feel each other in a weird kind of way." He made a disgusted face. "This year Potter got closer to Longbottom, and the Dark Lord felt it, so he's intending to use it for his advantage. He knows that Potter won't resist saving Longbottom's parents if he can, so that's the plan."

"No, it can't be. After last year, he may have considered that Harry wouldn't fall for the same trap."

"Old habits are hard to break, and it's not like the Longbottoms are very dear to You-Know-Who that he can't dispose of them so Potter can feel guilty about not following his instincts. And from what I've been told, Potter is very anxious to face the Dark Lord again. Also let's not forget he doesn't know what that book is about, and he is getting curious."

Hermione sighed, knowing Draco was right, Harry was very curious about that book. But soon something struck her and she asked, "So that's why the Death Eaters attacked St Mungos, isn't it? To retrieve Frank and Alice, because they knew Harry would do anything to help Neville."

"That was one of the reasons, and not the most important one, but it doesn't matter now." he said briskly. He knew she was curious, but that conversation was taking longer than he expected, so he thought it was better to finish it soon. "Here is the deal: I tell you how to retrieve the book and the Longbottoms in the safest way possible, and all you have to do is stop Ginny from going with you."

"Are you crazy? After what you told me, we are not retrieving anything!"

"Yes, you are, or the Longbottoms will be killed." Draco stressed out the last words, and Hermione gasped. "And besides, how can you tell Potter all this? Are you planning to tell him that you talked to me? Do you really think he will believe that I want to help?"

"If we tell him the whole situation-"

"Except we won't tell him," he cut her, "because if we do, we are endangering Ginny and I. And the Longbottoms will be killed if you don't go. Killing them has always been the plan."

"Even still, how can I convince Harry to follow your plan?" she still tried to reason, something that was becoming quite difficult as her fear increased. "I can't go to him with a complete schedule of what to do and not explain where I got the information!"

"That's why this letter stays with you." Draco handed her the parchment. "You'll read it and see that everything you need to convince Harry is there. It mentions that the Longbottoms are about to be murdered, and it details their location. That's pretty much all he needs to know."

"I don't understand why Dumbledore didn't tell Harry all this. I thought he would do something about it," Hermione said in a tone that evidenced her despair.

Draco smirked again. "There are battles Potter has to fight for himself," he quoted what the headmaster had told him the night they talked about the situation. "But if we follow my plan, I'm sure there will be people to help you."

"How so?" she shrieked. "Either way, we're going straight to Vol-" she stopped, suddenly feeling as if he was so close he would hear her if she said his name. It didn't matter how unreasonable that seemed - the fear was too blatant to be ignored.

"No, you won't." He played with her wand in his hand. "Did I mention that the Longbottom's journal wasn't that dull after all? Alice was sure to let her son know about the prophecy, and she reproduced it in the pages."

Hermione went rigid, and he continued, "'But he will have power that the Dark Lord knows not'? 'And either must die at the hand of the other'?" Well, turns out the Dark Lord wants to play safer this time and test the prophecy. He wants to make sure no one can destroy the Boy Who Lived before trying himself. I think he's kind of touchy, you know, after all his failures to kill Potter," Draco mocked. "He won't be there."

The girl was about to sigh in relief when he continued, "But Bellatrix will be there, I'm sure you know her. She's my lovely aunt, I got to know her over the summer." He didn't seem pleased with the memories. "Mother said Azkaban didn't do her any good, but I happen to know she's never been a good strategist, even in her best days." He grinned in a way Hermione would find disturbing if she wasn't already so terrified. "That's why my plan will work perfectly."