Bleeding Roses

Chapter 5

Revelations

Draco and Hermione both lied on the beds in the Hospital Wing. As usual, Madam Pomfrey instantly healed them. Draco had nothing worse than scratches, but Hermione had a cut lip and slash on her cheek, as well as bruises. Although her ankle was no longer broken, it was still a little sore. All the wounds were healed, but Madam Pomfrey insisted that they would not leave, saying that she needed to make sure the potions they took had no side effects.

"Good thing we decided to become friends at the last minute," Hermione said in the evening after dinner. "If we still fought every five seconds, imagine what would happen to us. We'd have more than scratches and bruises."

"True," Draco said. "But that doesn't mean we have to get all mushy."

"I'd be really hard for you to get all mushy," Hermione said. "And I hate to think what could happen."

Before Draco could respond, someone shouted, "Hermione!" She turned and saw Harry and Ron coming in the Hospital Wing, looking very worried.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked.

"Of course I am," Hermione answered. "You know Madam Pomfrey can fix anything."

"That's not what I meant," Harry said. "It's that git over there."

Draco opened his mouth indignantly, but a look from Hermione made him close his mouth once more.

"Draco hasn't hurt me in any way!" Hermione said.

"It's Draco now?" Ron asked. "I knew something was going on between you two since you came back yesterday with his cloak!"

"Listen to me you two!" Hermione shouted. She had a sharp feeling of déjà vu. "Draco... yes, Draco... has not hurt me! He actually helped me a lot when I got injured! Witut him, I'd either be in a panther's belly or in pain somewhere in the middle of the forest! Also, would you please treat him like he's a human? He's my friend now--"

"WHAT?" Harry and Ron shouted in unison.

"Yes," Draco said coldly. "We're friends now. And there's nothing you morons can do about it."

Harry and Ron both glared at Malfoy. Hermione could almost see the smoke coming out from their ears. Ron's ears turned bright red.

"You little--" Ron swung his fists violently in the air.

"RON!" Hermione said. "Will you stop it?"

"Hermione!" Ron said, dropping his fists and turning to Hermione. "What happened to you?"

"Is there something really wrong about trying to get to know someone?" Hermione asked.

"But we already know him!" Ron said. "He's a egoistical, conceited, slimy, filthy bastard!"

Ron rubbed his temples in fury.

"What, did those big words give you brain cramps, Weasel?" Draco asked scornfully.

If Harry hadn't grabbed hold of the back of Ron's robes, he would have pounced on Draco and pounded him to a bloody pulp.

"Come on, you guys!" Hermione said desperately. "Why can't you guys just accept each other?"

"There's no way that I'll accept the Malferret!" Ron shouted.

"Yeah, like I'm actually going to accept the Weasel King," Draco said.

"Hermione, think," Harry said. "Six years of torment! Six years!"

"But it's not really his fault!" Hermione said.

"Of course it is his fault!" Ron said. "How can it not be?"

Draco caught Hermione's eye and held his breath. Was she going to tell them?

"Because you two didn't give him an easy time either!" Hermione said, and Draco breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well... well..." Ron's ears were red and he was struggling. "He started it!" he finally burst out.

"Can you even hear yourself?" Hermione said. "You three are acting so childish! We're all going to be adults soon and you still act like you were in first year!"

There was a pause when everyone was fuming.

"Well Hermione," Harry said calmly. "Have fun with Malfoy."

He withdrew something from his inside his cloak and threw it on Hermione's bed. Harry and Ron then turned their backs and left without another word. Hermione picked up the package and saw that it was a brand new book, and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans with a note attached to it. It said:

To Our Very Best Friend Hermione,

We hope you get better soon. In the meanwhile, we bought you a book that we thought might be interesting to you. Enjoy!

Get well soon!

Harry and Ron

Hermione grabbed the box of candy and threw it across the room. It collided with the wall. Bright beans flew out of the box and scattered on the floor. Hermione sighed and closed her eyes.

*****

The weary old Headmaster leaned back in his armchair, closing his eyes. He sighed wearily and shook his head. They were dealing with an almost hopeless case. This plan was bound to fail at some point or another. It just couldn't work. Not with those two.

A knock on his door shook Professor Dumbledore out of his thoughts. He stood up, ignoring the sharp pains in his lower back, and opened the door. In came three of his colleagues. None of them knew the purpose of this meeting. Professor Snape looked politely interested; Professor Vector wore a frown; and Hagrid looked curious. The Headmaster retired to his armchair behind his desk again, and put his fingertips together.

"First of all, I want to thank you for coming," he said. "I wish to discuss a serious matter about a prophecy which is linked to Harry Potter's prophecy."

The effects of these words were immediate. Professor Snape stirred in his seat, looking interested. Professor Vector and Hagrid exchanged a glance, and quickly turned back to the Headmaster for more information.

"This prophecy ensures the success of Harry's defeat of Voldemort." The three professors flinched at the mention of the Dark Lord. "Without the fulfillment of this important prophecy, Voldemort"--the professors flinched again--"may become invincible."

"What does the prophecy say?" Professor Vector asked.

"Two enemies, one Dark and one Light, of equal intelligence, ambition, and power will fall in love," the Headmaster answered, "and team up, combining their powers, to aid in the defeat of the Dark Lord."

"And who might these enemies be?" Snape asked, although he already knew the answer to that question.

"None other than Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger," Dumbledore replied solemnly.

"But that's impossible!" Vector remarked. "They share nothing but hatred toward each other. I've seen them at it in my class. They are bright students, but they waste their intelligence on insults!"

"This has occurred to me also," Dumbledore said. "That's when you come in. I hope you will, say, help make this prophecy come true, because prophecies do not always come true. Do not do anything obvious, because everything must happen by their freewill. Forced love will not work against Voldemort."

"What do yeh want us teh do, sir?" Hagrid asked.

"Make them spend as much time together as possible," Dumbledore responded. "Hopefully, they will get to know each other little by little and appreciate each other's company. However, you mustn't reveal this plan to them or anyone else for that matter. They may not know."

The professors sat silently, considering this new piece of information. Make them spend as much time together as possible... if they were lucky, the two students wouldn't have killed each other by then. None of the professors knew about the fragile (so far) and unusual friendship that Draco and Hermione were starting to develop.

Professor Dumbledore strolled over to his windows, looking at the yellowing grass and the barren trees outside.

"Have any of you noticed that snow seems to be coming late this year?" He turned around.

They nodded, looking puzzled.

"Well..." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and he smiled. "Once our Head Boy and Girl share their first kiss, the first snowflake of the year will fall."

*****

Hermione was miserable. She had never been more miserable in her whole entire life. First of all, Harry and Ron would not even look at her, let alone talk to her. Second, her teachers seem to be acting very strange. They insist on pairing her up with Draco for every single assignment. It was not the pairing that was bothering her. Au contraire, she was grateful to have someone who didn't avoid her and was willing to talk to her. It was the fact that her teachers, even Snape, kept shooting glances over at Draco and her. They seemed to be expecting something to happen. And lastly, since Christmas was coming, they had more Head duties than ever. Dumbledore even mentioned something about a Winter Dance, which they would most likely have to plan. The only comfort that she had, which sounded completely absurd, was Draco.

Draco seemed more like a friend to her than anyone else. The rumors of their friendship seemed to spread like wildfire throughout Hogwarts. Most were very disapproving of this bond, therefore, students from all houses started to ignore them. Hermione got the biggest blow, since many students looked up to her, and never thought that she would associate herself with people like Draco. Draco had it fairly easy, since three-fourths of the school hated him anyway. He was used to it. Slytherins were separated into two groups. Half felt disgusted that he decided to sink so low as to befriend a filthy Mudblood, but the other half supported him entirely, believing this was one of his latest schemes to get back at Harry.

The news of their friendship even reached the ears of their professors. Most of them seemed supportive of it, even Snape, for a reason Draco and Hermione could not fathom. Hermione thought that it might be because of inter-house unity, but Snape was never supportive of it... Hermione shrugged the peculiarity off and continued with her daily routine. Days passed into weeks, and soon, November was over.

December came with gusts of freezing wind, but still no snow. Even the students started to wonder about the lack of snow that year. It was very unusual for somewhere as north as Britain. Hermione blamed it on global warming, and tried to explain her views to Draco, who laughed. "Global warming?" he had said, amused. "You think it's some stupid Muggle theory?" She had glared at him and never brought up the subject again.

Hermione sat at her favorite table in the library, doing her essay on Potions. She knew that there was a History of Magic essay on the famous person due, but fortunately, Binns had postponed the due date. Her relationship with Harry and Ron hasn't improved by much. For the first time in two weeks, Ron had talked to her. He asked her to pass the ketchup very politely. However, he wasn't looking at her when he made the request, which did not make Hermione feel any better.

Suddenly, she heard two whispering voices. Annoyed that two students dared to disturb her "homework-time", she looked up from her essay. She immediately wished that she hadn't. It was Harry and Ron. Their heads were together, and they whispering in hurried voices. It seemed very suspicious. Hermione cleared her throat loudly, and her former friends looked up, looking surprised and scared at the same time.

Hermione stood up fluidly and walked toward them with her arms crossed.

"Tell me," she said coldly, "what were you doing?"

"Talking," Ron said furiously. "Is it against the law now?"

"And what were you talking about?" Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"It's none of your business," Harry answered.

"Why don't you go snog Malfoy now?" Ron asked.

Hermione puffed up her chest, her Head Girl badge gleaming. "I am Head Girl," she said. "I have authority and I can deduct points and put you both in detention for the rest of the year! Also, I have no romantic feelings toward Draco."

Ron and Harry exchanged looks.

"Hermione," Ron said, "we've been thinking--" He was interrupted by Hermione.

"Now that's a first," she said icily.

"We've been thinking," Ron said, his teeth gritted, "that if you like Malfoy's company so much more than ours, then we can sever our strained bonds once and for all."

"Guess what I've been thinking," she said, not letting her anger show. "Who I befriend is none of your business. If you were a little more open-minded, you will see that Draco's not really a bad person. However, you don't even take the time to get to know him and you already judge him."

"We already know what we need to know about him," Harry said.

"Everyone has faults," she said, "and those are just his faults. There is a good side to him. You only need to know how to look for it."

"Then his so-called 'good side' must be hidden a little too well," Ron said.

He looked over at Harry. Harry wasn't looking at him, he was thinking. Hermione had a really good point there. Not everyone was one hundred percent bad, maybe not even Voldemort. You only needed to know how to seek their good side...

"Harry," Ron said. "Let's not waste anymore of our time with Malfoy's lover. We have Quidditch practice."

Harry didn't move. He didn't even seem to have heard him.

"Harry!" Ron yelled in his ear. "We have to go!"

Harry shook himself out of his thoughts, and muttered, "y--yeah... we have to go."

Ron dragged him out of the library, leaving Hermione staring angrily at their retreating backs. Those gits, she thought. Those absolute gits!