2 Kids Who Are Not Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone

The Promise

Draco planned to find Hermione first thing the following morning and force her to talk to him, but as it happened, he didn't have to. He'd no sooner left the dungeons than she came up behind him unseen and seized him by the elbow. Wordlessly she marched him through the oak front doors and halfway across the grounds before shoving him behind a tree, eyes blazing.

"How does Dumbledore know about Norbert?" she demanded at once. Draco felt as if he'd been hit with a blunt object. That had been quick.

"Keep your voice down," he hissed. Hermione's eyes flashed dangerously.

"I will not keep my voice down!" she snapped. "I've just seen Hagrid in the Great Hall, and he's over the moon because Dumbledore arranged for him to visit Norbert in Romania over the summer! How does Dumbledore know, Draco?!"

Draco sighed and glanced around to ensure nobody was within earshot. When he was satisfied he told her, in a low voice, about his encounter with Snape the morning after their visit to the Astronomy Tower. As he talked, the anger on her face melted away, replaced by surprise, then horror. When he got to the bit about the Veritaserum, she gasped aloud. By the time he got to the end, her eyes were wide and her jaw was set with determination.

"Well, that settles it," she said firmly. Draco started.

"Settles what?" She opened her mouth, but he already understood. "Hermione, no! This doesn't prove anything about Snape other than that his social skills could use some work, and we knew that already, didn't we?"

"I can't believe you would say that!" exclaimed Hermione. "Draco, he threatened you--actually threatened you--because he thought you'd been helping Harry find out who's trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone--" she stopped cold, but it was too late.

"The what?" Draco asked, as dread crept through him for the five hundredth time that week.

"Nothing," said Hermione at once. "Forget it."

"I will," said Draco hotly. "And you've got to, as well! I know that's why you've become friends with them since the holidays, you're all sneaking around together and thinking you're going to be heroes or something, but we've seen how this ends, Hermione! I mean, have you already forgotten what we went through last night?"

"Of course not, but--"

"And speaking of last night, you've got to listen to me now." She sighed.

"Oh, Draco, I heard you, but you're not honestly suggesting that Professor Quirrell--"

"Stop it!" he exclaimed, beside himself. "You didn't hear me, because you walked away before I could finish telling you!" Hermione gave a deep sigh that indicated, quite clearly, that she wanted him to know how very much he was trying her patience.

"Fine," she snapped. "Tell me whatever you like."

"Last term, Blaise and I tried to steal Quirrell's turban," he said quietly, looking around once again in case anyone had crept up on them. "It didn't work and Snape caught us, but before he did, I caught a glimpse under the turban. It was only for a second, but I saw that face. I was pretty sure I was imagining things," he said, raising his hand to quell her as she opened her mouth to interject, "but I never forgot about it. That's why I asked if you'd ever heard of anyone having a face on the back of their head. In case I wasn't imagining things, I wanted to know what it meant. And Hermione...I swear that face we saw last night...that was the face. If what that centaur said is true...well...You-Know-Who is living under Quirrell's turban." Hermione made a sound of consternation and covered her face with her hands for a moment. As she let her hands fall, she took a deep breath.