Dramione❤️

Chapter 1: The beginning of the end

NB: Many dialogues and scenes have been similarly chosen and adapted from "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" movie and book throughout this fan fiction so that the story feels real and authentic. Whilst I do not own the borrowed sections, the rest has been written by me.

The world is a dark place. My visit to Diagon Alley with Harry and Ron is only another demonstration of the horrors that are occurring during these hard times. No place can be defined as safe anymore. As we crouch, behind Borgin & Burkes, spying on Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix, Greyback and Draco in the midst of a dark, unpleasant evening, I realize how much the world has changed. Before my time at Hogwarts, I was oblivious that evil could ever exist in the world. The worst horror that I know of back then was the scream of a little child, shivering behind his mother, tugging on her skirt, afraid of having to sit in my parents' office for, in the worst of cases, the installment of braces. Poor him, he was so afraid. And now, this was a whole new level of fear: fear of being caught by Death Eaters, fear of every having to face Voldemort, fear of losing my best friends to a man without a name. As we peer through the window all we can see is that group of people walking through doorways, Narcissa's hand on Draco's shoulder, clutching her son tight to herself. I stretch my hands further so that I can get a closer look but before I can move my head further, Greyback's head turns and all three of us rush to retreat, crouching back down behind the brick shelter. Once his head turns around again, we get ready to look closely again but before we can even blink, the blinds fall down and all we see is darkness. 

"What just happened?" says Harry. 

"I don't know." Is all I manage to utter. In comparison, having to sit in the waiting room of two dentists does not feel like a bad idea.

***

Platform 9 and 3/4 feels so familiar. The 'Hogwarts Express' sign never gets old and never fails to make me feel at home. The butterfly effect in my stomach is just the same as six years ago, when I pushed my trolley through the brick wall at King's Cross for the first time. We walk into the train and, as usual, the three of us sit together. Inside our compartment, Harry starts talking. 

"Don't see you, it was a ceremony. An initiation." 

"Stop, Harry, I know where you are going with this and I just don't..." I say but am not allowed to finish because Harry interrupts me.

"It's happened. He's one of them." 

"Harry, you're barking if you think Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater. What would You-Know-Who do with a sod like him?" Says Ron.

"But Hermione saw it. His family, his mother, his mother, they're all part of this. It only makes sense if he is too."

"Harry, I don't know what I saw. It's too a strong accusation to make, we need to be careful, we cannot just blatantly accuse someone of being a Death Eater because of his family." I don't know why I have this instinct of defending Draco Malfoy. He has never been kind to me or to my friends but I always try to find the good in everyone and it just feels wrong to believe that one of my classmates could ever be capable of such horrible actions. 

"I don't understand the two of you. It's so obvious. It feels like you prefer to believe Draco Malfoy to your best friend." Harry gets up frustrated. Ron and I exchange a worried glance. Harry grabs the Invisibility cloak from Ron's hand: "I need some air." and before we could say anything, he opens the door and leaves.

"Harry... Wait! That's not what this is..." I get up and try to follow behind him but before I am able to, he had vanished into thin air. I walk back into the compartment and find Ron staring out of the window. 

"He'll be fine, Hermione. Just give him some time. It's not an easy time for him, that's all."

"I know. I understand he finds it hard to trust people - and I know Malfoy has never been particularly trustworthy - but it's just one of those accusations that needs more thought and evidence before it can be asserted."

Ron shrugs, clearly interested in changing the discussion topic. I sit next to him and lay my head on his shoulder. Finally some warmth in all this coldness. Comfortably numbed by this feeling, my eyes start to close and before I realize, we reach Hogwarts. As we start getting off the train I ask:

"Where's Harry?" We haven't seen him in quite a while. I really hope he is not too angry with us.

"Probably on the platform. C'mon." I follow Ron down the steps of the Hogwarts Express but a part of me does not want to immediately leave. Call it a sixth sense, but I knew that something was wrong. 

As I look at Hogwarts, there is a strange sense of comfort of being here. I can't believe we only have two years left in this place that we have called home for so long. I am thankful, in this moment, to be alive, to be accepted but, most of all, thanks to fitting in, to being finally able to flourish.We approach the Great Hall and find our usual places. I look around and notice first-years extremely excited and then sixth-years with annoyed faces, tired of having to do this all over again for the sixth times. Sometimes I feel like we are only ones who never get tired of this place. I look around again for Harry but all I see is Ron stuffing his face with pudding. I look at him with a death stare and my hands on my hips in a sense of disapproval.

"Don' you worry. He'll be 'long soon 'nuff."

I softly hit him, annoyed at his lack of concern: "Will. You. Stop. Eating! Your best friend is missing!" 

"Oi! Turn around, you lunatic."

"Harry! Thank Goodness you're okay. We -" I turn around to seek Ron's approval and notice him still stuffing his mouth full. "I was so worried! What happened to your face?" His face was covered in blood. 

"Why is it he's always covered in blood?" Sighs Ginny, 'Good question', I think to myself. 

The Choosing Ceremony is obviously the most exciting and overwhelming event of the year. Not only for the new arrivals, but also for us older guys. It is not only a moment to celebrate the starting of what we hope will be a prosperous and fruitful school year but also a moment to see our friends after a long summer. As the children clambered up the stairs, I could almost feel the same emotions I felt my first day again; that astounding feeling of happiness and fear and slight ecstasy. All eyes are on you and await for your house to be selected, for your destiny to be defined and for your future to finally begin.

A young boy with brown hair was called to sit. His slow, unsteady steps gave away his nervousness. I could almost hear him tell himself "one foot in front of the other, slowly, don't fall". His expression was impassive and as he sat on the chair, I could tell he could almost faint but at the same time reach for the sky. That was exactly the way I felt: this nerve-wracking experience gave you the energy to fly into space.

The lights in the Hall start to get feeble as all our gazes turn towards our Headmas, who stands tall and proud towards us. He raises his hands towards the ceiling and in that moment I notice the wounds on his hand. Who knows what happened to it...