Defending the Dark (Dramione)

Chapter 10: A Good Soul

When Draco entered the meeting room the next day, he was greeted by the sight of a very frazzled-looking Hermione, arranging her papers. Her hair was pulled into a haphazard bun with numerous tendrils escaping, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked as he sat down.

Hermione barely glanced up. "I, uh, didn't sleep well last night."

"Wild night, huh?" He smirked at her. "Didn't think you were the type."

"No . . . I just met Harry, Ron, and Ginny for dinner."

"Did you tell them?"

"Tell them what?" She rubbed her forehead.

Draco rolled his eyes. "About our torrid love affair." He waved his hand. "About this, obviously."

"Yes." She sighed. "And it didn't go over very well."

"Shocking. What did they say? Lock me in the darkest cell in Azkaban and throw away the key?"

"Harry and Ginny were pretty reasonable, actually. Ron . . . not so much."

Draco snorted.

Hermione smiled slightly. "Did you really just use the word 'torrid'?"

Draco frowned and crossed his arms, muttering, "Stupid romance books."

"What, are romance novels all they give you to read in Azkaban?" Hermione laughed. "They're getting unique with their punishments."

"No, they don't give us anything to read in here." He grimaced. "They're all my mother had to give me. The Ministry seized our library when they arrested us. Too many 'dangerous' books on Dark Magic in there, apparently."

"Oh." Hermione pressed her fingers to her lips, sobering her mockery, then shook her head. "I guess those are better than nothing . . . Merlin, I'd go insane."

"Tell me about it," he grumbled.

"Well, anyway, I met with Luna Lovegood yesterday and she's agreed to testify for you. She, uh, also asked me to tell you hello and that she hopes you get released."

"She did?" Draco was genuinely surprised. He remembered the girl had been strange, to say the least, but he felt a small twinge of relief knowing someone in the wizarding world didn't hate every fiber of his being.

"Yeah, she also said you had a . . . good soul."

Draco laughed loudly. "Really? That's unexpected. Uh . . . tell her thanks, I guess. She's a nutter, but I'll take what I can get."

Hermione glared at him. "She's not a nutter! She's actually very insightful. She just sees things differently than most people."

"That's one way of putting it. You know, she never even seemed scared or upset when she was locked in the cellar. She used to ask me how I was doing though and—" he scrunched up his face "—something about how to get rid of the . . . Wrackspurts?" He looked at Hermione. If anyone knew what those were, it would be know-it-all Granger.

"Uh, yeah, Wrackspurts are kind of her thing." For some reason, Hermione's cheeks flushed pink as she said this.

For the rest of their time together, Hermione went over the questions she would likely ask Luna on the stand and asked Draco more details about her time at the Manor, just to make sure his story matched Luna's.

When their time was up and Draco walked back to his cell, he couldn't help noticing he felt slightly more relaxed than he had when he arrived that morning.