The Battle of the Highest (Dramione)

Chapter 4: First Clue

*HERMIONE*

I wake up Crookshanks biting my toes. I laugh and kick him away softly, and he walks away and kneads the bed then sits down slowly. I sigh and get up, remembering last night's events. I walk into the common room in my pajama shorts and Gryffindor sweatshirt, taking notice of that I'm the last prefect to wake up.

"What time is it?" I ask.

"9:00am," Cho says. My eyes grow wide.

"WHAT?! I got to get to my lessons-"

"No you don't, Hermione," Zacharias says. "None of us do."

I blink.

"We have to train, right?" Cho says. "McGonagall said for us to train and figure out strategies for stuff, even if we don't know what the challenges are."

Suddenly the door flies open and I jump and Malfoy pulls out his wand.

"Who's there?" he shouts.

"Don't worry, Mr. Malfoy, it's just me." Professor McGonagall strides in and walks up to us.

"Good morning, everyone. Last time I came by, Zacharias was the only one awake. Now we can serve breakfast."

As she says this, house elves come in with trays of food, way too much for all of us. There's pancakes and waffles on one, sausage and bacon on another, eggs, toast, muffins... Practically all of the breakfast foods you can imagine. We all stare in awe at the trays as they pass by, catching whiffs of their scent.

"What's the occasion?" Cho asks.

"Why, this is what we're going to do for the prefects, who are always the competitors in The Battle of the Highest," McGonagall says in a matter-of-fact tone. "Every breakfast will be served to you like this. I want you all to wake up at the exact same time, at 7:00am everyday. You will have lunch and dinner in the Great Hall."

"What about lessons?" I ask.

"Not for you all," McGonagall replies.

"Fine with me," Malfoy mutters, and crosses his arms over his thin t-shirt.

"All right then," McGonagall says. "I'll be off. You all have a good day."

"Professor," Zacharias says. "What are we supposed to do today?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. Stay in here, wander the grounds, go to Hogsmeade... The teachers won't stop you because they know you don't have classes." She walks out, followed by the house elves, leaving us four standing around in the middle of the common room with trays and trays of food.



"I don't see how we can possibly eat all of this, especially having it each day," I say after eating a pecan swirl.

Cho shrugs. "Who cares. It's really good."

We all nod in agreement. I stand from the table and stretch.

"Well, I'm going to go get dressed so I can go out. See you all later," I say. I walk over to my door, but before I walk in my room I turn to the others.

"Do we wear our robes today?" I ask. Zacharias shakes his head.

"You don't have to," he says. "I'm not gonna."

"All right. See you all later.... Again." I walk into my room and shut the door behind me. I slide on a pair of skinny jeans and a loose white t-shirt and my combat boots. I brush my hair, go to the bathroom to brush my teeth, and grab my bag (the one with never-ending space) and put my books in it, then walk back into the common room. I say bye to Cho and Zacharias who are still eating, and Malfoy is nowhere in sight, so I walk to the door and up the stairs, down the corridors to get to the yard in the back of the school. I make my way over to the bridge, and lean my arms on the rail, taking in the scenery. Better do it soon, before the year is up. Then I'll never see it again.

I hear a creak in the boards of the bridge and I snap my neck around to the intruder of my serenity.

"Lovely, isn't it?" he says.

"What now, Draco?" He cringes at the sound of his name, but steps closer and I don't back away.

"I'm sorry," he says.

"For?" I retort.

"Being a jerk yesterday. I guess I should be acting a little kinder to you after what's being going on. The Battle of the Highest, the other night... I just feel really bad about it all."

"Well, umm... What are you trying to get at?" I finally snap at the end of the sentence. He steps in closer, caressing my cheek with his thumb. He leans into me again, and I again don't hesitate to move. I let him kiss me as he pulls me closer to him and I rest my hands against his navy t-shirt. Before we go any deeper I break away.

"We can't do this," I say quietly.

"Yes we can, Hermione. Why don't you want to be with me?"

"It isn't right!" I say. "You're a Slytherin, I'm a Gryffindor. And you're a Malfoy, a pureblood. Me... I'm a mudblood. What would everyone else think of us? They'd turn us away because we would have completely changed from what we've always been: enemies. Haven't you thought about that? What your friends and family would think of us?"

"I don't care what others think of us. All I want is to be with you. I don't care if others turn us away, at least we would have each other, Hermione."

"Why me though?" I ask out of curiosity. "Why not the other Slytherin girls?"

"You're more beautiful, more intelligent, more caring than them. You concentrate on logical things, which I find really attractive about you, unlike other girls who just hold on to me for their own person gains, and I feel nothing from them. When I'm with you, it's like I've been reborn to a new fantastic life and the life I used to know is gone!"

I feel my eyes tear up and I beg myself not to cry. I never knew I had that effect on Draco!

"Why do you find me attractive, Hermione?" Draco asks. "I've noticed you looking at me, trying to take glances, and you have that look in your eyes."

"I don't know really," I admit. "But I know that for one you're very handsome. And your eyes... It's like they've put a spell on me and suddenly I'm falling for you. You seem so mysterious, and I loved that 'bad boy' thing going on, and when you said you changed I knew you were doing it for a certain reason. And now I know that that reason is me."

"You love me even if I'm a death eater, Hermione?" he asks cautiously.

"I don't care if you were a death eater or if you still are. I want you to be happy and not have to worry anymore about being summoned and the Dark Lord and your father. I'm here, and that should make you happy!"

Draco smiles. A real, genuine smile! I know I brought out the good in him.

"I'll see you later," I say. I drop a kiss on his cheek and start to walk toward the castle.

"Can I come with you?" Draco asks hopefully. I raise an eyebrow.

"You don't care what everyone else says?" I ask.

"Not at all. As long as I have you, I don't care," he says, and takes my hand. I smile up at him and he back down to me.

"Well... Let's go. Want to walk around? Go to Hogmeade?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "Let's walk the grounds," he replies.

"Okay."




We end up walking around the school grounds, and so far, not one student has noticed me and Draco. We had walked completely around the school. And really? No one saw us. You would think they would, considering we're prefects and the competitors of The Battle of the Highest. With that you would think that we would avoid each other. But no. The whole walk Draco wouldn't let go of my hand.

"When do we start training?" I ask him, referring to the tournament.

"McGonagall never said," Draco replies casually. "But I'm sure there'll be something about the tournament tonight at dinner." I nod. "Speaking of dinner," he says, "what time is it?"

I look down at my watch. "Fifteen until 6:00pm," I say. "So we'd better get back."

Our walk back eats up most of our time until dinner. I glance into the Great Hall before we enter; it's packed, so we must be the last ones. I turn to Draco.

"I'll go first," I say.

"What happened to us being together on this and not caring what everyone else thought?" Draco says.

I sigh. "I'm just not ready for us to be public yet."

Draco lets go of my hand. "Go on then," he says when I don't walk away. I shake my head and take his hand back.

"No," I say. "We're together on this."

He smiles. "All right then. You ready?"

I breathe deep and nod. "Let's go."

We walk into the Great Hall and almost immediately everyone quits talking and look at me and Draco.

"I told you this would happen," I barely whisper to him.

"Who cares?" he whispers back.

"I'll see you later," I say and drop his hand. He nods and walks off to the Slytherin table, and I see his friends look at him in disgust. I walk to the Gryffindor table and sit done beside Ginny, across from Harry and Ron. Ginny smiles faintly. We realize that there's still no one talking.

Ginny looks about, then stands up and yells, "Well, back to your chatter, then!" Everyone immediately goes back to talking, probably about their new topic of interest.

"Thanks," I tell her.

"What's going on?" she asks, completely ignoring my thanks. I swallow.

"Umm... Nothing, really."

"Nothing? Really, Hermione?" Ron snaps. "So you waltzing in with the enemy is nothing?"

"He isn't an enemy to us!" I exclaim.

"He is to you, Hermione! Didn't you realize that when you got into the stupid tournament?" Ron shoot back.

"Well, Ronald, it isn't my fault I got put into it! And why would you even care about if I like him or not?"

That shut his mouth. Harry clears his throat.

"So when is the first challenge?" he asks.

I shrug. "McGonagall never told us," I say.

All he replies with is "oh".




After dinner, McGonagall stands and everyone falls silent.

"Attention, please!" she exclaims. "I would like to put out some information on The Battle of the Highest. The first challenge will be next week on Thursday, six days from now, on the second of October. And to my competitors..."

She pauses for several moments that feel like a lifetime.

"Prepare to be lost."

An uprising of voices fill the room, everyone shouting at McGonagall as she disappears behind a door by the teachers' table.