Draco and Hermione

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Later that night he remembered that he had to ask Hermione to keep the entire four weeks a secret when they were at Hogwarts, because he didn't want the entire school - especially not the Slytherin's - to know that he'd been with them. He wasn't entirely sure why he wanted this, but he figured that it would make his life a whole lot easier if everything went back to normal. And also, some of the Slytherin's parents were Death Eaters, and most of them were also supporters of Voldemort. They would be his only true friends when he returned to Hogwarts, and if they found out that he'd helped bring Voldemort down... that would also mean that he helped send their parents, and his own father, to Azkaban. That, plus the fact that he'd gotten close to Hermione during the four weeks, made him want to keep it all a secret from the rest of the school. It was the best way to make things go back to normal for him. He made his way downstairs as he was thinking about all of this, and he headed towards Ginny's room since the girls shared it. He knocked on the door quickly.

"What do you want?" snapped Ginny when she opened it and saw him.

"Granger. I mean, I need to talk to her," said Draco impatiently.

"Well it's late, she's going to bed-"

"I'll be out in a second!" came Hermione's voice from inside.

"Hermione-!" argued Ginny, and a second later the door closed. Draco rolled his eyes and waited, as he could hear arguing from inside the room and he wondered what they were talking about. He was also thinking about Hogwarts and the trial, and the fact that after tomorrow he wouldn't be able to talk to Hermione again for a long time. Before he could worry about that any longer though, the door opened again and Hermione came out, quickly closing the door after her.

"Sorry about that, she's still angry about you hitting Harry with the quaffle," explained Hermione as she looked up at him.

"And she doesn't want you talking to me?" asked Draco curiously. They headed towards the living room where the lounges were, to be near the fire.

"Well, no. None of them do, really, but it's not their choice," Hermione reminded him.

"Either way, it doesn't matter because I won't be seeing you after tomorrow," Draco admitted gloomily.

"That's not true. We can owl each other, and then we'll both be at Hogwarts again-"

"Yes but at Hogwarts, you have to keep this a secret," Draco began, as he turned to her.

"We've already talked about this, you said you'd talk to your mother - and it doesn't matter what other people think," insisted Hermione.

"I know, but it's more than that. If Slytherin's find out that I was with you guys for four weeks, they'll know that I helped bring You-Know-Who down. They'll blame me for their parents being in Azkaban, I'll be seen as a traitor-"

"But you're not a traitor, you did the right thing for everyone. And besides, only a few Death Eaters were actually Slytherin parents-" argued Hermione.

"You don't understand though, you're not in Slytherin, Granger. The ones who have parents in Azkaban will blame me, their friends will join them, and Slytherin is a close-knit house. They'll be my only friends in the castle, I can't afford to lose them," he went on in determination. There was a long pause after he'd said this as Hermione thought about it, and she eventually sighed and nodded in agreement. All of her friends were in Gryffindor and all of his friends were in Slytherin, they both deserved to keep their friends, and he would need them for the upcoming year.

"I'm not the only one who knows though. Ginny, Harry and Ron will all have to agree," she pointed out.

"Well, could you-?"