Bittersweet

Chapter 10

“You didn’t know that he wasn’t a muggle!” yelled Barton Potter.

“It was dark.”

“DARK? Do you know what you have done boy! I should slash you right here and now!” Barton yelled again. “You have killed a junior wizard…. on the boundaries of HOGWARTS! Are you that dim-witted?”

“Sir, I’m sorry…I didn’t think you would mind,” said the grieved student

“In all my adult life…” he began. He looked solemnly to the side, ignoring Sam’s presence. He couldn’t believe that someone who has every intention of killing a muggle, goes to the Dark Forest-to Hogwarts to kill one. The kid was stupid, obnoxious and arrogant. Barton didn’t like the boy and couldn’t afford to have him ruining the plan Lucius and he had in motion. It was far too important. He had to get his revenge and he would not let anyone stand in his way. Before he could give the ‘waste of air’ his punishment, there was a knock on the door.

“Yes,” Barton yelled out impatiently.

Lucius Malfoy walked into the study.

“Leave Sam” Barton said and then pointed to the door. Sam didn’t hesitate and left the room promptly.

“What do you want?”

“We have a problem.” Lucius responded, while sitting himself in the chair previously used by the boy.

“If you are coming to tell me that a wizard was killed by Sam, I already know that. Really Lucius, you should get out more.”

“I’m not referring to that, you prat.”

“Then what are you referring to, because I’m just dying to hear some good news.” Barton said sarcastically.

“Our person in the inside has notified me that there is a change in pace.”

“From which candidate.”

“Granger”

“Granger…interesting.”

“How so?”

“The potion that was supposed to change her system has increased more than we expected.”

“Increased?” Barton said, astounded.

“Unfortunately, there was an incident”

“Incident?”

“Granger and Pansy Parkinson had a little miscommunication.” Lucius said laughing.

“This isn’t a joke Malfoy.”

“Maybe not, but it is quite humorous, you tried to make her weak and the reaction took a turn for the worst.”

“This is a disaster.”

“Well because of this, the Dark Lord wants to see you tonight.”

“You told him of this?”

“Of course I did,” Malfoy said malevolently. “This was your plan, it went sour, and so you will pay the consequences.”

“You wont get away with this, this plan will still go into motion.”

“I have no doubt in my mind that it will, but after your conversation with the dark lord, we will see who is in charge of whom.”

“We will see Mr. Malfoy, we will see.” Barton said angrily as he glared at Lucius Malfoy who was now walking out of his office in an approving way.

~~

“Do to the current situation; all students are to be inside the castle before sundown. Any student who does not follow these rules will be punished. All Quidditch practices will be accompanied by a Professor and will not be held after nightfall. Professor Dumbledore has also stated that any student using invisibility cloaks or the invisibility charm will suffer severe consequences. Please be advised that all outside owls have been postponed until further notice.” Professor McGonaggal said Monday morning in Transfiguration.

Harry, Hermione and Ron looked at one another. “Was there another killing?” Ron silently asked the group.

“I don’t think so,” Hermione whispered. “I think it’s just a precaution.” She added, while she held an icepack to her eye.

Harry nodded slowly, “They must not have any information on the two boys.”

Hermione was going to answer, but a girl sitting behind her was asking McGonaggal a question.

“Professor McGonnagal, will the Winter Formal be cancelled?”

There was a silent hush amongst the students. Winter Formal was what the students of Hogwarts waited all year for. The dance to dress up, dance and spend the night with your hunny. Most girls looked forward to the event, while the boys dreaded it. The dance had crossed Hermione’s mind and thought that there were more things to worry about than a dance. The death of Johnny Harbor came to mind.

“Professor Dumbledore has informed me that the dance is still to go ahead as planned.” McGonnagal said profoundly.

There was a sigh of relief from the females in the room, while the boys moaned.

“Shouldn’t they be worrying about more important thngs.” Hermione said louder than expected.

The girls behind Hermione scoffed at her comment. Hermione just rolled her eyes.

“Shh…Hermione.” Ron whispered back at her.

“Oh come on Ron, the dance isn’t the most important thing going on right now.”

Ron rolled his eyes and went back to looking at his Transfiguration paper that McGonnagal had given them earlier.
Throughout the day, Hermione had heard enough about the stupid dance that week. She didn’t have a date and didn’t really care. She had a black eye, a bruise on her arm and could care less if she even went. She had to go though. She was the Head of House and was required to make an appearance. Hermione sighed when she went into Potions that day, she really didn’t want to hear any crap from the Slytherins about her physical appearance.

Everyone in Hogwarts knew of her fight with that Pansy girl and it was currently the talk of the town, for everyone had whispered when she walked near them. They pointed at her arm behind her back and spoke of how she had “freaked out” and hit Pansy Parkinson from Slytherin for no reason-which was far from the truth to say the least.

Hermione didn’t care if people snuck behind her back and talked secretly about her. She had, had enough of the rumours and lies that it didn’t even bother her anymore. She knew people would talk and then it would get out of their system. She just didn’t want to make a habit out of it. She had no idea what made her verbally attack the Slytherin and had no reason to hit her.

Malfoy had made his decision to be with her, she was his fiancée after all, where was she to go off because of that. He smiled at her more now and she wondered if he would come see her anytime soon. They needed to talk about things and where things were going and if they were going to go anywhere. She was daydreaming about him more often and hated herself because of it. She didn’t know why she had to fall for someone like him…for him. There were other bad guys at Hogwarts, why was it Draco Malfoy? She didn’t have the answer to that question. All she knew was that she had feelings for him and that she couldn’t hold them back how hard she tried.

The Potions classroom wasn’t it’s quiet self when she walked in. Everyone was talking about the dance and whom they were going with and what they would be wearing. The noise however, quieted down when Hermione mad her presence known. The Gryffindor section looked at her, hoping that the Slytherins wouldn’t say anything and the Slytherins looked like they wanted to kill. Hermione was used to this by now though. She ignored the scowls and took a seat next to Harry and Ron.

The Slytherins continued to look, which annoyed Hermione. Professor Snape wasn’t there yet and so they appeared to be ready for war. Hermione was sick of it.

“Take a picture it lasts longer.” She yelled at them all.

The Gryffindors looked taken back, while the Slytherins rolled their eyes and continued to stare with hatred.

Hermione could see that Malfoy was ignoring the people around him and was staring at Hermione slowly moving his eyes toward the exit, trying to get her attention. Catching the clue, she slowly grabbed her stuff and walked out, yelling at her group of friends that she needed to go to the bathroom. When she left the room however, there was a cheer from behind her. She ignored how much they hated her.

When she reached the hallway, she walked to a nearby corridor and waited. Moments later, Draco had walked out into the hallway and saw her immediately sitting on the floor in the corridor. He ran over to her and saw that she was crying.

“Hermione, what’s wrong?”

Hermione slowly sat herself up, pushing herself to a standstill, while holding onto his arms.

“This whole thing, I hate it. I hate that I feel this way, that I have all this anger boiled up.”

“Had to get out sometime, you’ve had a lot kept in.” He said, trying to console her.

“The slytherins don’t help matters.”

“Don’t worry about them, I’ll deal with that.”

“And then there’s you, you and her.”

“I can’t do anything about that, you know that.”

“Yes, you can...just tell her that you won’t marry her.”

“You know that I can’t do that.”

Hermione sighed and turned away from him. Draco sighed and brought his body to face her again.

“You know how I feel about you.”

“Do I?”

“Of course you do, I care about you.”

“Prove it,” Hermione said dried tears accompanying her cheeks.

Draco smiled as he moved his body into hers. He slowly moved his hand along her hairline, removing strands of curly brown locks that were stuck to her face. Slowly covering his hands with her face. He kissed her forehead, then moved down to her eyelids that were still bruised, down to her cheeks, to the right and then the left, kissing her nose slightly, while moving kisses down to her lips, giving her one last slow kiss along her mouth. Releasing the kiss, he backed away slightly-she wouldn’t let him though.

She grabbed the back of his head and moved his face back onto hers. Kissing him madly and making it so they wouldn’t ever drift apart. The kisses continued. Hot breaths escaping each other-they were one, holding together, being in each others embrace. She longed for his touch, to caress her and to hold her there if only for a moment. Draco too longed to touch her and for her to touch him. He needed her, to keep him safe to make himself sane, she was his protector and he wanted her more than he could stand.

Lips locked, he moved his right hand off of her face, to her stomach, to touch her skin, which was so soft and tender. Warm touches glided himself into a new world of relaxation and worship. He slowly moved his hands upward toward her breasts. He smoothed his hands on her mounds of pleasure. He heard her moan in pleasure, bliss they hadn’t endured in a very long time. He slowly caressed her, moving his body closer to her, so there was no gap between them. Hermione slowly moved her hands to his trousers, when a sound of voices stopped her. She broke apart from Draco and looked around him. Draco and heard the sound too, for he looked around for who was speaking.

Hermione nodded her head to a group of figures in the distant. They were standing in a dark corner at the far end of the corridor. Hermione could tell that they were wearing robes and seemed to be in deep conversation. Draco and Hermione listened intently to their conversation.

“The Dark Lord has heard about the death and is speaking with Barton tonight about the next step.”

“Any word from Lucius?”

“Not as of late, as far as I know, we are still to keep undercover and report back to Barton as soon as new developments occur.”

“I see…very well, keep your eye on the girl and I will take care of the boy. Contact me with any new change.”

“Yes, sire.”

After the two men departed, Hermione and Draco looked at each other stunned and unable to speak of what they had just witnessed.

~~

“You’re father is behind that murder!” Hermione yelled at Draco later that night in the Astronomy Tower. They had decided to meet because of what they had witnessed earlier that day. She was completely astounded and some part of her new that he was behind this all. She had a gut feeling that he was working the murder.

“How was I supposed to know?” Draco yelled back, annoyed that she was yelling at him for something his father had done.

“How could you not know, your father is a death eater.” Hermione said, angry that he was taking this so lightly.

“So, I’m supposed to know every little bad thing he does, just because he’s a death eater.”

“No, I’m just saying…it was a given that he was apart of this.” Hermione said frustrated. She rubbed her eye that was swollen.

“Darling, I know you are frustrated, but you can’t let this get to you.” Draco said, moving his hand up and down her arm.

“I know, but people are dying. Those men are spying on us, they are death eaters on Hogwarts grounds and I…. now I can’t even identify who they are to warn Dumbledore.”

“I know that, but there is nothing we can do, we just need to keep an eye out.”

“And who is this boy and girl? What is going to happen to them.”

“I’m not sure,” Draco said, rubbing his forehead. He hated all of this, he hated that his father of all people was the cause for this and the cause for Hermione’s anguish. He needed to find out who those men were and who this Barton individual was.

Hermione couldn’t stand to be this way, couldn’t stand to be in a position where she couldn’t help. She needed to find out this information and soon. She would find a way to identify the man named Barton. She had a duty to protect the innocent. She felt that she had to.

“I’m going to find out who he is, if it’s the last thing that I do.”

“You will not!” Draco demanded.

“Excuse me?” Hermione said nonchalantly.

“I will not have you endangering yourself.”

“I don’t need your approval Draco, I will do as I please. Before we were together I was in more danger than you have been in your lifetime.” Hermione said, sticking her chest out in protest.

“Perhaps, but you were with Potty and Ronnikens, however, this time you are not.”

“I am perfectly fine taking care of myself, thank you.”

“Would you stop with the woman’s suffrage speech, I am worried about your safety, not that you can’t take care of yourself.”

“Fine.” Hermione said, giving in.

“I just don’t want to lose you to a Death Eater. They are extremely dangerous.”

Hermione sighed.

Hermione knew that it was a stupid idea to go guns a blazin’, but just doing nothing wasn’t a Hermione thing to do.
She needed more information before she went Eater hunting. She’d need Harry and Ron for that. She wasn’t going to get Draco in the middle of this, he had too much to worry about all ready.

“Well, I’ll speak with Harry and Ron about this.”

“You will not!” Draco demanded.

“Why not? They already know about Barton.”

“Maybe so, but this is my father and I have an easier way in figuring this out than them.”

“Is this that macho thing?”

“No,” Draco said grinning.

“Riiight.” Hermione said smiling.

“Anyway, we can worry about that in the morning. I’m more concentrated on removing that skirt from your lower body.” Draco said mischievously, while moving in for the kill.

“I bet you are,” Hermione laughed as she let Draco abuse the advantage of being alone at night.

He moved along her body on a carpeted rug that most wizards and witches used to their advantage while in the Astronomy Tower. He glided along her, removing the articles of clothing he felt unnecessary. Removing her shirt and skirt slowly but surely. He ran his fingers through her hair, caressing each lock of hair that he found immaculate. He kissed along her neck and she undid his pants in a way that only made him want her more.

Sliding his pants off with her feet, she sucked in every breath of his fumes. The feeling of him on her again gave her freedom that she thought she would never feel again. They eluded into the feeling of passion. Succumbing to each other’s needs for ecstasy. He gave her more pleasure of passion that she could barely control himself. He aroused her inner beings as he licked and sucked all the juices of her inner self. She enjoyed the ride as her hips kicked into the air with arousal, which sparked a feeling in Draco he never had felt before.

When she gave him his ride of enjoyment, he could hardly control himself. As she slid her mouth through the crevices of his arousal, he rose with enjoyment and he moaned with a feeling of uncontrolled obsession. She moved with his hips as he spoke to her call. Over and over again, she raised his ecstasy with a conclusion of power. A power that he no longer was resisting, but accepted openly. As they rode together and as he succumbed to the power of their embrace, there was no moon, but only daylight to brighten every feeling in their souls.

When he could not take the wet feeling of her mouth on his, he slowly pulled her onto the floor and felt her bosoms hit his chest. The feeling of the nakedness between them, took away that barrier that once trapped them. They were one as he inserted her surreptitious place.

As he made love to her, they looked upon her eyes and a feeling of strength that he new that he cared deeply for her and that she cared for him the same. He had never felt this feeling for anyone in his life and he knew that he would never again.

Hermione felt the same way as they moved to the music of their bodies’ motion. She could hear the ocean in their love making and wanted more than to be in his embrace for eternity. As they came together, they both knew what feelings they possessed for one another and that whatever happened in the future that there time was now and that now would last forever.